Kyle’s reddish-black mail glittered in the morning sunlight as he moved around with a flash. Erald knives flew past him one after another, scattering the enemy formation and giving him the chance to catch the monsters off guard.
“Hehehe…It’s great to have equipnt that suits your style.”
Lauren was tasked with attacking the monster team from the side. With her new boots she didn't have to hide behind for attacking, sothing she was quite pleased about.
Their role was to stop enemies from organizing their troops and block their retreat. Zyrus fought on the frontline and drew their aggro, playing the role of a tank and a main attacker. His every move resulted in the death of an enemy.
*Thrust*
-100
Exp 180
The runes on the Bloodspine spear glead as they absorbed the fallen kobold's blood. By fighting against different monsters like goblins, trolls, orcs, and so on, he could improve his skill by quite a margin.
This was the first and closest group on their way to the Monster’s main camp. After briefing Kyle and Lauren on the battle plan Zyrus decided to set off imdiately.
‘As I thought, they still need so practice,’
Zyrus dodged the arrow shot by a goblin archer and closed in on an orc. If not for Lauren, he would’ve killed them a dozen tis by now. Goblins had low HP and high numbers which made them a perfect prey for her.
This team of monsters had a combination of kobolds, goblin archers, and orcs. Although they weren’t able to earn Exp by killing normal goblins, it was a different matter for goblin riders and archers.
*Grrrooll*
Zyrus ducked sideways to dodge the orc’s mace and used his foot to make the latter trip.
*Slash*
-150, -100
Exp 300
After two consecutive slashes on its neck, the orc had its blood absorbed as well. He was very satisfied with his new weapon. It had a high attack power with an amazing blood drain ability. He was even more excited about the possible synergy between the blood fusion talent and his spear.
“Support Kyle in finishing off the kobolds. I’ll deal with the orcs,” Zyrus ordered Lauren and moved towards the center of the enemy group.
Kyle was more efficient at dealing with humanoid monsters while Zyrus had an upper hand against the big ones.
A spear couldn’t compete against dual swords when it ca to close combat, and when it ca to dealing with large opponents, the swords were useless. Things changed when mana and weapon aura were involved, but that was a different case altogether since that had nothing to do with the physical shape of the weapon.
*Thrust*
“Kurgh-”
-150
Zyrus pulled out his spear to defend against the upcoming blow, leaving behind an orc with a gaping hole in its neck.
Exp 300
Close to half of the monster team was wiped out after just a minute. Lauren killed two goblin archers; Kyle dealt with the sa number of kobolds and this was the fifth monster that fell at Zyrus’s hands.
[Eye of annihilation]
His red eyes glared at the three orcs who were rushing at him at the sa ti. He saw their critical weaknesses, but that wasn’t all. His enhanced eyesight and intelligence allowed him to make split-second decisions.
*Clunk*
Zyrus grunted in pain as one of the clubs struck him on his thigh. This was intentional as he had used both ends of his spear to block the remaining two orcs.
The monsters outnumbered him, but their wits were lacking. In their minds using a weapon was better, so they did just that. All three of them raised their clubs at the sa ti.
‘Gotcha.’
Zyrus dropped his spear and retrieved two javelins from his inventory. He was faster than the orcs and his weapon had a better reach, not to ntion their fanged mouth were wide open due to their habit of growling.
*Thrust*
He ducked while stabbing the two orcs in the palate. There wasn’t enough montum in his attack, but it was enough to penetrate through the soft tissues of their mouth.
This book's true ho is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
-100,-100
Just like he had done before, he tripped the third orc and finished it off with two slashes on the neck. The remaining two were blinded by pain and rage, so dealing with them was even easier.
Exp 300
Exp 300
Exp 300
[Level up!]
All stats 1
Zyrus deactivated his Eyes of Annihilation and looked at his HP. He had lost a total of 30 points in this short skirmish.
‘Not bad, but it’s lacking if I want to deal with the bigger foes.’
Mana was his forte. Without it he was no better than a seasoned hunter who knew how to take advantage of the terrain and the enemy’s weakness. This was fine against low-level mobs, but all tricks were rendered useless against a truly powerful enemy.
On the bright side though, after improving his other skills his strength would rise exponentially once he awakened mana. The bright text that appeared once the fight was over further proved this notion.
[Congratulations! You have reached stage two of “Basics of Sojutsu”]
Current Effects:
Effects: ATK 22, Crit rate 6%, Crit damage: 12%
CD: None
‘Nice, now I just need to get a skill for throwing javelins.’
Zyrus’s next short-term goal was to learn how he could apply basics of Sojutsu to his javelins. A new effect was unlocked after reaching stage three of a skill. It wasn’t random; the system judged the players’ performance and granted them the effect that was most suitable.
Zyrus wiped his sweat and walked back to the other two who were panting for breath.
“Everything ok?”
“Yeah…haah…mostly. Runnings’ fun and all, but now I’m tired.”
“Sa, except I lost 50 HP,” Kyle added with a pale face. It looked like he had gone a bit overboard with his skill.
“Keep the HP loss below 30. It’s hard even for , but you should try nonetheless.” Zyrus sat down and gave them a few suggestions from what he’d observed from their fight.
Losing so HP was alright as long as the wound wasn’t serious. All of the players had natural HP regen when they were out of combat. Eating food and getting good sleep added an extra bonus, so recovering a third of one’s HP was no big deal.
The three of them had killed a group of 16 monsters in a short duration. And this was just the start of their long journey. The more strength they preserved before attacking the next team, the better.
“You’re really fast at dealing with them!”
“It’s because they don’t have any special trait,” Zyrus replied in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Or maybe your weapon's just overpowered.”
“What, you jealous?”
“Kinda.”
“Tch.. look at him, his swords are practically trash grade.” Zyrus pointed at Kyle who had reduced five kobolds to minced at.
“That doesn’t count, he has a ridiculous skill as well,” Lauren argued in an unconvinced tone.
“You don't need high attack right now, focus on agility.”
“Well…If you say so.”
“Believe , you’ll realize how strong you are when you fight against monsters like trolls and ogres.”
“Yes, so just focus on killing goblins for now.” Kyle chid in after looking at the pouting Lauren.
Zyrus grinned as the duo started bickering as usual. He opened his status and looked through the whole screen. Nothing much had changed in his status from the level up.
Well, there was one thing. Coins. A lot of them at that.
The worst possible thing one could get from the mystery box were copper coins. Zyrus had more than four hundred of them. With his total ‘wealth’ he could be considered a tycoon among the players.
There was just one issue though.
There was no place in the tutorial where he could spend this money.
Zyrus bent down and drew three simple paths. A stone was placed on each path as the representation of a powerful monster.
“Alright, look here. We’re going to attack a bigger group after this.”
He pointed at the path where the stone was closest to them and farthest from the monster camp.
“Got it. I have a question though.” Kyle looked over and pointed at the other line, one that had a river running through it.
“Go ahead,” Zyrus started walking and gestured him to continue. They had to start moving as blood was likely to attract more monsters.
“Why not the other path? We can sneak close to the camp undetected up until the last day, and the terrain is good for ambush.”
“Good observation, except for one thing,” Zyrus pointed a finger at his head and asked,
“Think like their leader. You’ve called all your forces to attack the humans’ camp, so who would you be least bothered about?”
“The group that’s farthest? They should be the last ones to arrive,” Kyle’s eyes sparked in understanding.
“Bingo. And there’s more to that. They won’t halt their ambush if the farthest group was late, but what if the one closest to them goes missing right before they were about to attack the human camp?”
“…It was an oversight on my part.”
“Rember to not be biased against them just because they are monsters. We’re no longer the most intelligent species around.”
Zyrus gave them useful tips and fixed their mistakes. Every ‘Tutorial area’ would connect with one another after the one-week period was over.
Another weeding out would begin after that, marking the true beginning of their journey. Those who failed to improve in that period would die without a doubt. He had to prepare them in advance because he wouldn’t be with them at the ti.
He had a different task to accomplish. One where none could follow him.
After walking for another two hours, they arrived at a high mound. The terrain ahead was full of moss-colored boulders and dark green vegetation. On the other side of the mound lay a narrow crossing, and there stood their biggest hurdle towards reaching the monster’s camp.
|ӂ | Race: Troll |ӂ |
Level: 9
Strength: 18
Agility: 4
Intelligence: 3
Vitality: 25
ATK: 50
DEF: 50
Trait: Active Regeneration (Recovers 9 HP/sec during combat), Heal (When out of combat for more than 30 seconds, heal for 100 HP)
The three of them read through the orange-green status screen. Its border was adorned with a thick skull entwined with vines, a fitting match for the troll race.
“My ti to shine!” Lauren whispered and readied her knives. The troll wasn’t alone. Around four orcs and five goblin riders were visible from their relatively high vantage point.
“Let’s take out the goblin riders first,” Kyle added as a battle plan ford in their mind. The troll’s low agility and intelligence coupled with the terrain created a good opportunity. There was just one issue.
“I’ll take three, you snipe the last one.”
“Got it,” Lauren replied and used her shoes to climb a nearby tree.
Zyrus also took out his three javelins. The goblin riders could jump over the boulders with the help of their wolf mounts, so it was important to kill them first.
[Eye of Annihilation]
His eyes glinted in a red hue as he aid at the farthest goblin rider. He moved his left foot forward and leaned back his torso. His eyesight was in line with the javelin’s tip and the goblin rider’s absolute weak point.
His muscles beca taut as he channeled all his strength into his front leg and the throwing arm. In the next mont, his javelin tore through the air and blasted apart the goblin’s neck.
It was a great way to start the fight.
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