leonardwarren Chapter 6 Near Forest Cave
Chapter 6 Near Forest Cave
"Go, you fanged little devil!"
With a low shout from Xia Tong, two fanged imps, like wild dogs let loose, charged toward a lone Grik soldier.
Xia Tong followed closely behind, responsible for finishing off the attackers.
In terms of single-target attack power, the damage dealt by Xia Tong's honed Royal Army straight sword is significantly higher than that of a lone wolf.
"Hoo!"
The Grek soldier spotted the enemy, and the decaying longsword whistled through the air as it thrust straight at Xia Tong.
Xia Tong's eyes remained calm, her steps light and quick, and she easily dodged to the side.
Before he could even bend down and stand up...
Whoosh!
A fanged imp leaped high into the air, using its wings to glide and land precisely on the shoulder of the Grik soldier.
The forked hand axe in its hand gleamed coldly as it plunged it deep into the soldier's unprotected neck!
puff!
Blood gushed out from his neck like a fountain.
Bleeding effect triggered!
This attack caused fatal damage!
The Grik soldier's body swayed violently, then he froze completely.
Xia Tong seized the opportunity, glided forward, and plunged his longsword deep into the soldier's heart through the gap in his armor.
Then, he stomped on the corpse and pulled out the longsword.
puff.
The body fell to the ground.
With the harassment and bleeding from the fanged imps, it took less than half a minute to take down a fully armed Grik soldier.
He didn't even break a sweat.
Finally, there's the routine "corpse looting" part.
Xia Tong stripped the equipment off the opponent and looted their runes, not even letting go of a broken throwing knife strapped to their leg.
"Let's go, let's find our next prey."
Xia Tong whistled and led his gang of thugs deeper into the dense forest.
........
three days later.
Islay Church.
"A total of 1350 runes."
After counting the pile of worn-out armor and weapons in front of him, the wandering merchant, Kale, looked up and said.
The two shook hands.
Golden runic energy flowed from the wandering merchant's body and merged into Xia Tong's body.
Xia Tong closed her eyes and sensed it; the amount was exactly as described.
With the runes he's accumulated from grinding monsters these past few days, he's now quite wealthy.
.........
Night falls.
Xia Tong sat beside the blessing and silently prayed.
"Melina."
Points of blue light converged, and Melina's figure materialized, slowly sitting before the warm light of the blessing.
In the pitch-black, cold night, this blessing, as warm as a candlelight, seemed especially comforting and reassuring.
Melina looked at Xia Tong and asked softly:
"Is it going to be upgraded again?"
"Yes."
Xia Tong extended her left hand.
Melina also reached out her hand, and their palms pressed tightly together.
"What attribute points do you want to increase this time?"
"strength!"
Xia Tong did not hesitate.
"OK."
As Melina led the way, a deep chanting began.
The massive runes accumulated within Xia Tong's body began to burn and melt, transforming into pure golden energy that slowly merged into his limbs and bones.
The feeling of this growing power is intoxicating.
The upgrade was completed quickly.
Xia Tong glanced at her panel:
[Character Data]
Rating: 9
Holds 515 Runes
Vitality: 13
Concentration: 20
Stamina: 10
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 18
Faith: 2
Sensing: 10
He casually tossed the King's Army straight sword in his hand, and it did feel much lighter, as if it had become a part of his body.
Over the past three days, Xia Tong has almost completely wiped out the Grek soldiers in the dense forest near the checkpoint.
By selling stolen equipment and extracting runes directly from their bodies, Xia Tong leveled up to level 9 in one go.
The vast majority of points were allocated to Strength, followed by Vitality.
"15 points of strength is enough to wield a greatsword with one hand."
Xia Tong clenched her fist, feeling the surge of power within her body.
"It's time to get that King's Army Greatsword."
Compared to straight swords, the Royal Army Greatsword has higher porosity and possesses a very powerful combat skill – [Arrow Step (Upward Slash)], which can directly launch light enemies into the air.
............
The next morning.
Xia Tong once again passed through the dense forest near the checkpoint.
The surroundings were exceptionally quiet, and even the birdsong could be clearly heard.
"No one will suddenly jump out and try to kill me anymore."
Xia Tong felt a pang of emotion; he had already purified this area.
"I remember... in the game, there's a place called [Near Forest Cave] at the foot of this dense forest cliff ahead of the level."
"There is a very useful amulet there."
After a morning of searching.
He finally discovered the hidden cave entrance in the shadows at the bottom of the cliff.
Compared to the small cave where Xia Tong used to live, which was only big enough to hide in, this cave was much more spacious, with a high entrance that could accommodate four or five people walking side by side.
Before even reaching the cave entrance, a strong, fishy stench wafted towards us.
That's the smell unique to a wild animal's den.
From time to time, you could hear rustling sounds coming from inside, as well as teeth-grinding clattering sounds.
That was the sound of wolves gnawing on bones.
To avoid being surrounded and beaten by a pack of wolves, Xia Tong cleverly shook the soul-summoning bell.
Jingle Bell!
As the clear, crisp sound of the summoning bell rang out.
The figures of two fanged little devils were slowly outlined, landing on the ground with a dull thud.
Another bell rang.
Three stray wolves then appeared.
Including Xia Tong herself, there are a total of six combat units.
"With 5 helpers, clearing the beginner dungeon Near Forest Cave should be a game-changer."
Whoops!
The torch was lit, and the orange-red flames shot up, dispelling the darkness at the cave entrance.
Holding a torch, Xia Tong led the large group slowly toward the depths of the cave.
Sudden.
In the torchlight, three pairs of bright green eyes appeared in the darkness ahead.
Those were three large gray wolves.
"Little devil! Throw the magic pot!"
Xia Tong immediately issued the order.
The fanged little devils were very cooperative, their movements perfectly synchronized.
Whoosh!Whoosh!
Two dark brown magic pots pierced the darkness, striking precisely at the three pairs of green eyes.
boom!
After the magic pot shattered, it burst open with a cloud of blue-purple magical light.
The magical flames instantly engulfed the wolves, causing massive splash damage.
"Awooo—!"
At the same time, the three lone wolves summoned by Xia Tong rushed forward and confronted the three of their kind in the cave.
Wolves attacked each other, their screams of tearing and biting filling the air.
The fanged imps are even more insidious. Taking advantage of their small size, they use their forked hand axes to launch sneak attacks from the side from time to time!
suddenly!
With a sizzle!
A wolf's belly was slashed open by the forked hand axe of the fanged imp, blood spurting out, and even its intestines were hooked out!
Bleeding effect!
The Fang Imp's forked hand axe has extremely high bleed accumulation.
Soon, the wolves that had blocked the road were turned into corpses.
After dealing with the sentries on the perimeter, Xia Tong continued deeper into the cave.
"Wait, what's this?"
At a corner, he saw a skeleton nestled against the rock face.
In the embrace of that skeleton, there was something that shimmered under the torchlight.
Xia Tong picked it up and saw that it was a golden rune that emitted a faint glow.
"This is the Golden Rune[1]".
Melina's voice rang in my ears.
She is currently in a semi-physical spirit state. Although she cannot directly help Xia Tong fight, she can still act as an encyclopedia.
"Crushing it will grant you 200 runes."
Xia Tong put away the runes and continued on her way.
After dealing with several more wolves lying in ambush, Xia Tong picked up a ceramic jar with cracked edges on a platform.
【Cracked Teapot】.
Xia Tong stroked the rough pottery jar, her eyes somewhat dazed.
This cracked pot can be used to make various throwing tools, and it can also heal itself after being broken, allowing it to be reused.
once Upon a time.
Beneath the divinely inspired tower of Galid, Xia Tong was tortured to the point of near death by that perverted apostle of the divine skin.
It was this cracked pot that was used to create the Sleeping Pot, which made that arrogant apostle of the God Skin sleep like a baby, and that's how he obtained the legendary weapon - the Hunting God Greatsword.
The greatsword used to hunt gods accompanied him all the way to the bottom of the sacred tree.
They walked up to "Michaela's Blade" Malenia.
Marlene.
That was Xia Tong's favorite character in the game, and also the one she felt most heartbroken about.
However, after defeating Malenia, what followed was not joy, but a deeper emptiness.
Before each game session, Xia Tong would have her character sit quietly for a while beside the giant crimson flower of decay, next to Marlenia's empty wooden chair.
"What are you thinking about? You seem to be daydreaming."
A crisp and pleasant sound reached my ears.
It was Melina calling her.
"There seems to be a very powerful being inside the fog gate ahead."
Xia Tong snapped out of her daze and carefully put the cracked teapot into her backpack.
"It's nothing... I just thought of an old friend."
Melina asked curiously:
"Is it a girl?"
"Uh, yes. But she's very strong, extremely strong... She lives under a giant tree year-round."
"She lives under the tree year-round, is a woman, and is very strong..."
A figure instantly flashed into Melina's mind.
But after thinking about it, I realized it was impossible.
She is a powerful demigod, the most elite fighter in this border region.
How could this be connected to this fragile, fading newcomer in front of me?
While she was lost in thought, Xia Tong had already composed herself and walked towards the doorway in front of her, which was filled with swirling yellow mist.
That's the sign for the BOSS room.
"There is a powerful being behind us; we must be extremely careful."
Melina solemnly instructed.
"rest assured."
Xia Tong took a deep breath and passed through the fog gate.
As vision cleared, the scene before me slowly unfolded.
It was a spacious natural stone chamber.
In the center of the stone chamber, a huge figure crouched with its back to Xia Tong.
Hearing the intruder's footsteps, it slowly turned around, revealing its terrifying face.
It was a deformed half-human, half-beast.
It was over two meters tall, its entire body covered in dirty, grayish-white long hair, with dried bloodstains and rough scales faintly visible among the hair.
Its back is severely hunched, as if it were carrying some kind of curse, but its two forelimbs are particularly well-developed and muscular.
In its hand, it tightly gripped a rough and enormous dismembering scimitar that was taller than Xia Tong himself.
【Farum Azra's Orcs】!
This ancient orc from the Sky City stared intently at Xia Tong.
"roar--!!!"
It let out a heart-wrenching roar, causing rubble to fall from the cave ceiling.
Then, carrying that heavy yet deadly giant scimitar, it charged fiercely towards Xia Tong like an out-of-control tank!