I barely had a mont to catch my breath before one of the periter guards roared and lunged at , crashing its heavy limbs down to the spot where I had just stood. Just in ti, I rolled to the side, my buckler scraping against the roots as I pointed my sword at it.
“Co on, then,” I muttered, rising to my feet.
The creature charged again, its bark-armored arms swinging in crude but powerful strikes. I t it head-on, raising my buckler to absorb the blow and deflect it to the side. The impact jolted through my arm, but I held my ground, using the force of the clash to pivot behind the monster. My passive footwork skill, Predator’s Step, must’ve triggered, as my movents beca quick and erratic.
I managed to dash behind the brute’s exposed flank and activated Heavy Slash. My blade carved deep into its lower back, tearing through thick bark and sinew, leaving a gash so severe it nearly split the creature in half. Not stopping there, I jumped upward and sliced straight through its neck. Its head tumbled to the ground like a volleyball as the rest of its body collapsed to the ground.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Brute Lv.41].
You have gained 510 EXP.
With a few monts to spare, I glanced at what the others were doing. Boris was still holding strong against the mob. His iron form glead under dappled sunlight as he hurled another of the woodland creatures through a hollowed-out hut, causing the structure to collapse in a heap of broken branches and dust. He was a total beast.
Michelle, on the other hand, continued her barrage from above, still targeting the larger targets that were slower to react. Every one of her shots always struck a brute directly in between the eyes, causing it to stagger and slam blindly into its allies.
We were like a three-person army cutting through the enemy ranks.
With the shaman dead and their defense lines in disarray, the tree-like monsters couldn’t form an effective counterattack. But the fight wasn’t over yet.
There were two more brutes around the totem. One of them was still reeling from my earlier assault, whereas the other stood tall and uninjured. I quickly dispatched the wounded one without much issue, then, switching to my spear, I lunged at the second brute and drove the tip straight between its yellow glowing eyes.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Brute Lv.41].
You have gained 510 EXP.
You have leveled up.
You have hunted [Grovedweller Brute Lv.41].
You have gained 510 EXP.
You have leveled up.
Killing level forty and above monsters has never been this easy previously… I sure have grown. Though, to be fair, most of the credit probably belonged to the new equipnt and the stat boosts they provided.
Regardless, I turned my attention to the totem. It pulsed faintly with the faith contained within, almost as if reacting to the fallen shaman’s death.
Good. This should be enough as an appetizer.
I approached it cautiously, raising my hand toward the carved surface. As my hand touched the wooden surface of the totem and began absorbing the faith within, a strange resistance pushed back and attempted to corrupt my thoughts. But compared to the altar that the thralls used to worship an eldritch abomination, this was nothing. Completely incomparable.
You have absorbed the power of faith contained in the totem.
You have gained 95 Plausibility.
How tasty.
Once I’d relished the euphoric feeling of the contained faith and absorbed everything within, I turned around just as the last wisps of faith faded from the totem. It was just a carved stump now, nothing more.
Around , the battlefield was almost concluded. Most of the tree-like monsters had already been taken care of by Boris and Michelle, and their makeshift dwellings had been almost all destroyed. The village—if one could even call it that—lay in ruin. Cracked huts, broken roots, and scattered debris littered the clearing like the aftermath of a storm.
Boris stood amidst the wreckage, panting slightly but still grinning as he stretched his arms. Several of the larger corpses lay in a heap around him, becoming a testant to his imnse power. His Strength stat had to be close to, if not exceeding, two hundred by now… though his iron form undoubtedly amplified both his physical might and durability to absurd levels.
Michelle dropped down from the tree line a mont later, wiping sweat from her brow. I noticed that her quiver was nearly empty, though I knew she’d packed extra arrows in her inventory for precisely this kind of extended engagent.
“Everything handled on your end?” she asked as she approached.
“Yeah,” I replied, nodding toward the totem, where the shaman’s dissolving corpse still lay nearby. Only its staff remained, half-buried in the dirt.
Boris gave a thumbs-up. “This went smoother than I expected. Not bad at all. Hahaha!”
Indeed.
I was fairly certain that even a group of five average Bet-rank divine warriors wouldn’t have been able to take down a settlent like this in a single sweep. Normally, they’d resort to luring enemies out in small groups, laying traps, and slowly whittling down the numbers. Even then, the risk of casualties couldn’t be entirely ruled out.
For the three of us to take down the entire settlent so cleanly—and without sustaining a single injury—was nothing short of impressive. It was safe to say our combat capabilities were well above average, far surpassing most of our peers.
I took a mont to glance over the scenario details to confirm whether we had successfully destroyed one of the settlents.
Destroy 2 monster settlents. (1/2)
Satisfied that we were on the right track, we began scouring the area for any loot worth taking. Unfortunately, these monsters didn’t leave behind much of value—just clusters of hardened, yellow resin-like substances scattered among the remains.
Grovedweller’s Resin
Grade: Common
Type: Crafting Material
A resin secreted by mature Grovedwellers. While it doesn’t hold high monetary value, it has a wide range of applications in crafting due to its adhesive properties.
Not exactly a treasure trove, but it was better than nothing since the quantity was quite a lot.
Aside from that, I picked up the shaman’s gnarled staff and gave it a closer inspection.
Totemroot Staff
Grade: Uncommon
Type: Magic Staff
A crude staff carved from ancient forest roots and infused with residual corrupted mana. Though primitive, it channels nature magic with surprising efficiency.
Durability: 21/21Grants 2 Magic PowerEnhance the efficiency of nature-related magic.
“Well, it’s better than nothing,” I mused. A magic staff—even one of uncommon grade—could still fetch a decent amount of soul coins.
With one down, there were four more to go.
“Let’s move,” I said after we’d rested up for a solid half hour, enough ti to catch our breath and recover most of our stamina.
They both nodded without complaint.
Michelle had already replenished her quiver from her inventory, while Boris looked like he hadn’t taken so much as a scratch despite cutting through two dozen or so enemies. I double-checked my gear—everything was intact and ready to go.
With Michelle taking the lead, we navigated the forest with relative ease. Still, even with her Tracking skill, it took us nearly an hour before she finally picked up signs of another settlent. We made a point to avoid stray beasts and wandering monsters along the way—we couldn’t afford to waste stamina or risk unnecessary injuries. This forest truly was massive, almost unnaturally so.
“Footprints. Big ones… I think they belong to the sa creatures we fought earlier,” she said, crouching and pointing toward a trail leading deeper into the woods. “And there’s a lot of them.”
“Great.” Boris grinned, clearly looking forward to round two.
We followed the trail in silence, moving through thick foliage and tangled roots as the trees around us grew taller and more twisted. The light above dimd gradually, blocked out by the thickening canopy, and long shadows stretched over the moss-covered ground. The deeper we ventured, the more I began to feel a faint, oppressive pressure in the air—as though corrupted mana was thickening the atmosphere around us.
I couldn’t say for sure. My Mana Sense was still stuck at level one, and I hadn’t found the ti to train it properly.
After another fifteen minutes of quiet trekking, Michelle suddenly raised a hand to signal a stop and pointed through the trees.
“There,” she whispered.
Through the trees, partially hidden behind hanging vines and thick bushes, another village ca into view. This one was larger than the last, and its layout was more structured. Dozens of the sa bark-skinned creatures moved about—so tending to carved totems scattered throughout the area, others pacing along the periter, scanning the forest for signs of intruders.
“Second round. Sa as the first?” Boris asked with a wide grin.
“Mhm.” I nodded, eyes narrowing as I studied the settlent’s defenses. “But I’m willing to bet this one won’t go down as easily.”
“Haha! What are you afraid of? I’m here!” Boris thumped a fist to his chest with pride. “We’ve leveled up quite a bit from taking out the first one. I just hit level twenty-one.”
Whoa. He’s already higher level than ?
Of course, it wasn’t surprising. He’d personally handled most of the enemies and fought on the frontlines without pause. I was sure that Michelle was not far behind my level as well.
“Of course, I’m not getting ahead of myself,” Boris added, being as level-headed as usual. “If things look bad, we pull back.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I said, appreciating that he was a person I could trust my back on.
“There’s a high branch with good visibility,” Michelle chid in. “I will get into position in a minute.”
“All right, let’s do it.”
As I gave my confirmation, we moved into position and got ready.
A similar scene happened just like before, with Michelle first picking off the larger monsters once she was in position—each arrow loosed claiming a life. The bark-skinned beasts fell silently, one after another, but it didn’t take long before the others realized sothing was wrong.
The mont they turned toward the disturbance, Boris burst from the opposite side of the village like a juggernaut, charging into their flank with intense montum. He bowled over two creatures in an instant, slamming them into the dirt before swinging his fists into a third, sending it flying through a wooden barricade.
Their formation crumbled in an instant.
This ti, as well, I used that opening to strike from a third direction, weaving through the confused ranks as my eyes locked on the biggest totem at the village’s center. And more importantly, the shaman standing beside it.
Unlike the last one, this shaman was more alert, its staff already swirling with green energy. Vines began creeping along the ground around , reacting to my presence.
I activated Wind Rush, blasting forward with a burst of speed and slicing through the vines before they could entangle my legs. But as I was about to swing my sword to the shaman’s neck, a scream rang out from behind.
“Aaah!”
It was Michelle. There was no mistake.
Sothing must have gone wrong.
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