“Hey, friend! Thank goodness someone finally made it here.”
It sounded exactly like the opening line of an NPC quest.
So Liu Xuan asked, “What happened to you?”
“My name is Bell, and I’m a warrior. I was planning to go to the center of the forest and reclaim the logging camp, but the monsters along the way were too powerful. Making it this far has already pushed me to my limit.”
Liu Xuan: What a load of nonsense. You’re only level 5...
“Do you need me to escort you back?”
Bell shook his head. “No. I wanted to ask—are you heading to the logging camp?”
“I am.”
“Then getting to the logging camp is more important. Just give me a few healing potions, and I can make it back on my own.”
Liu Xuan looked over the other man’s battered, disheveled appearance. “Are you sure?”
He had played a few games before. Sometimes, a player’s different choices would lead to different outcomes.
Could it be that if he simply gave Bell the potions, Bell would die and the quest would fail?
According to the usual formula, he had to insist on escorting Bell back and show how kindhearted he was. That would be the perfect ending, right?
As a result, Liu Xuan questioned him again and again, testing every approach he could think of, but Bell continued to shake his head.
“No. I know my own condition. You don’t need to worry about me. Reclaiming the logging camp is more important.”
Liu Xuan even tried to forcefully help him to his feet, but Bell refused that as well. It seemed there really were no other quest branches.
In the end, Liu Xuan could only give Bell two bottles of each of the three types of healing potions. They weren’t expensive, anyway.
Besides, now that his maximum HP had increased, his health regenerated extremely quickly. He basically had no use for the potions.
At first, Bell tried to refuse, saying he didn’t need so many, but after Liu Xuan insisted repeatedly, he finally accepted them.
Liu Xuan mainly wanted to see whether giving more items would result in a better quest reward.
But after Bell drank the healing potions and thanked him, he simply dragged his battered body away.
He gave Liu Xuan nothing.
“Do I have to wait until I return to the village to receive the reward?”
Liu Xuan shook his head. There was no way he was going to make a special trip back just for the reward from a side quest.
The round trip alone, not to mention the monsters along the way, would take at least an hour.
So he bypassed the giant bear’s skeleton and continued forward along the path.
After walking for less than two minutes, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.
He hadn’t been hit by a single rock in quite a while.
Where had the monkeys gone?
The moment the thought crossed his mind, rows of eerie green eyes suddenly lit up in the woods ahead.
Then, one gray wild wolf after another, each half a man’s height, emerged from the shadows and surrounded Liu Xuan. There were at least fifteen or sixteen of them, and they had even cut off his retreat.
[Shadow Wolf]
Level: 6
Attack: 40
HP: 400
Skill: [Armor Rend] Each time you take damage from a Shadow Wolf, your armor is reduced by 5 points for 15 seconds. This effect can stack. (Note: Armor can be reduced below 0.)
Their stats were even lower than those of the [Mischievous Monkeys], but they appeared in packs and possessed an armor-reducing skill.
Together, those traits made them far more dangerous than the Mischievous Monkeys.
Take Liu Xuan, for example. With his current 20 points of armor, the first bite would deal only 20 damage, but the second would deal 25.
If all these wolves pounced on him at once and took several bites, his armor would immediately drop below zero, effectively leaving him vulnerable to increased damage.
Before long, each attack would be dealing sixty or seventy damage.
And they even knew how to set up an encirclement. There was no way to run.
“The game really does have it in for players,” Liu Xuan remarked.
Then he smiled.
“But that doesn’t affect me.”
With his current HP, so what if he let them bite him?
Besides, with [Nightmare Incarnation], these monsters’ [Armor Rend] could barely stack at all.
Liu Xuan beckoned to the pack of wolves in front of him. “Come on~”
Apparently provoked by Liu Xuan, the lead [Shadow Wolf] let out an angry growl. The dozen or so wolves immediately leaped at him.
Liu Xuan didn’t move, allowing them to sink their teeth into him.
The instant they bit down, the wolves fled back in terror the way they had come.
By the time they finally recovered from [Fear] and turned around to attack again, the [Poison] on their bodies erupted.
One after another, they collapsed to the ground, transforming into experience for Liu Xuan.
“Killed [Shadow Wolf]. Gained 3.5 experience points.”
“Killed [Poisoned] monster. Base HP +1.”
“Killed [Shadow Wolf]. Gained 3.5 experience points.”
“Killed [Poisoned] monster. Base HP +1.”
“......”
The Shadow Wolves dropped some bones and teeth, which were probably also materials for crafting equipment.
After picking them up, Liu Xuan quickened his pace. When he encountered more [Shadow Wolves] farther ahead, he avoided them whenever possible. When he couldn’t, he cleared them out without much effort.
Half an hour later, he finally reached a clearing in the forest.
Several simple wooden huts stood in the center of the clearing, while piles of freshly cut timber that had yet to be transported away were stacked beside the road.
This was the logging camp the village chief had mentioned.
However, the logging camp had now been occupied by a group of humanoid creatures that looked like porcupines.
They wore black leather chest armor, leaving their backs exposed and displaying quills thirty to forty centimeters long.
Some carried logging axes, while others held crude, round wooden shields shaped like pot lids. Every one of them looked savage and ferocious.
[Porcupine Warrior]
Level: 7
Attack: 66
HP: 800
Armor: 10
Skill: [Throwing Hatchet] When a Porcupine Warrior’s HP falls below 20%, it throws its axe at the target, dealing physical damage equal to twice its attack power. Afterward, its attack power is reduced by 30 points.
[Porcupine Shieldbearer]
Level: 7
Attack: 60
HP: 800
Armor: 20
Skill: [Shield Block] When receiving a physical attack from the front, the Porcupine Shieldbearer has a 10% chance to use its shield to block all damage.
At the center of the logging camp, seated beside a large cooking pot, was an even larger figure.
It stood at least three meters tall.
A terrifyingly oversized weapon rested to its left. It looked as though it had been made from a saw used to cut timber.
To its right stood a door-sized wooden plank, which it used as a shield.
[Porcupine Chief (Boss)]
Level: 8
Attack: 120
HP: 3,500
Armor: 40
Magic Resistance: 10
Skill: ??? (Cannot detect boss skills of bosses whose level is not lower than your own.)
“Hiss...”
Was this the strength of the main quest monsters?
Never mind the boss—even the ordinary mobs had over 60 attack and 800 HP.
They also possessed considerable armor and skills.
This area clearly hadn’t been designed for a single person, or even a single party, to tackle.
Rather, it was meant to be defeated collectively by everyone in this battlefield.
It could be considered an outdoor world event like those found in certain MMORPGs, where the entire server could participate.
Still, as far as Liu Xuan was concerned, there was no reason he couldn’t handle it alone.
The ordinary monsters would be easy to deal with. The only thing he needed to be careful of was the boss, since he couldn’t see its skills.
But with more than forty thousand HP, it would probably be difficult for anything unexpected to happen to Liu Xuan.