Chapter 32 – Living Trees Forest.
[You have slain: Magic Living Tree – Level 84.]
[You have leveled up. You became level 86.]
"Fuck me. Is there no end to these bastards?" – asked Avalanche.
"Don't ask me. I already lost the count." – replied Phiul.
"Well, I leveled up freaking 5 times after we got here. So, I guess we killed freaking many." – said Forge.
"Let's do a quick break and recover a bit before moving out." – suggested Try.
"Yea. Let's do it." – said Avalanche.
We spend already 4 or maybe 5 hours stuck in this bloody forest.
When we first entered the forest, we didn't encounter that many enemies, but the further we went in, the more monsters and stronger variants begin to appear. It slowly made things way harder.
The further we went in, the slower our pace became.
Our strategy was simple: Avoid the enemy. Since we didn't want to waste time fighting monsters and just try and find the leader ASAP.
But obviously everything went to hell. There was WAY more monsters in this bloody forest than we though. In the end we sometimes had no choice but to fight our way through the monsters.
The monsters weren't hard to beat, but the problem was that the more powerful ones could take hit or two, this obviously meant that beating them would take bit longer.
And to make matters worse, among the living trees we sometimes saw one of the strongest variants: The bronze living tree.
Not only they could take hit or two, but they also deal one as well. We can kill them, but they are freaking annoying.
Honestly our lineup was me and the Avalanche as the tanks with Try as the support and Phiul as our damage dealer, but we were forced change our tactic. Me and Avalanche are now using the great axes with very high attack power.
Why?
Well, if we were fight for too long, we may end up attracting some living trees groups nearby and we would have to fight even more living trees at the same time, pretty much we would suffer more damage and waste even more time. So, we had to change our strategy.
Currently we are trying to kill the enemy as fast as possible and move further.
Kill enemy fast so no reinforcements will show up. – Simple strategy but effective.
The strategy kind of works, but things can't be obviously too easy. We are still going pretty slow and me and Avalanche are taking more damage since we swapped our weapons from shields and axes to the great axe.
We are forced to take breaks here and then to recovered even a little bit.
"Maybe we should have went with the entire group." – said Phiul.
"Well, no point regretting it now. We are already quiet deep inside of enemy base, so maybe the enemy leader isn't that far away." – said Try.
"Try is right. If we try going back, we will obviously end up taking another 3 hours or more to escape this place. On top of that, the enemy may end up making even more living trees or even more bronze living trees and that would obviously make things way harder. The capitan guy said himself the more time passes, the more monsters will be created." – said Avalanche.
"Our best option right now is to try beat the enemy leader on our first try. On top of that, we don't know how much time we have left before those living trees destroy the outpost and all." - added Forge.
"Fuuuuuuuucck... Don't have flame thrower or something Forge?"
"If I had one, I would already be using that. Besides, aren't you are fire mage?"
(Flamethrower huh? I kind want to make one when I have a chance.)
"I'm but those bastards besides having high [Physical Defiance], they also have high [Magic Defiance]. I wish I could just burn them all, but as you saw, it didn't worked. Even when I'm using my most powerful spells, some of them can survive that." – replied Phiul.
"The only good thing about our situation is that the commander guy gave us map update for us, the map of the forest. At least we can tell if we are making progress or not." – said Phiul.
"But we didn't even searched 1/3 of this forest or anything. On top of that the numbers of the monsters is putting lot of pressure on us all. If we are not careful enough, we may end up fighting the horde of them all at once." – said Forge.
"Well, we were trying to just stay in single line if possible and we couldn't spread our field of search too much because of the monsters." – said Try.
"But we may be getting closer than we thing. The number of monsters and the stronger variants appear more frequently could suggest that we are getting closer to the enemy leader." – said Try.
"Right. Try is correct. We may or may not be currently on the right track, but the problem still stands regarding the monsters. We are somehow managing thanks to the equipment made by Forge, but we don't have infinity number of potions and Try may end up running out of MP in critical moment when somebody would need healing."
"Even having one of die will affect our chances of succeeding the quest. We may even be forced to escape out of the forest if by any chance somebody on our sides dies." – said Avalanche.
"Yea. It may be impossible to progress with only 3 people in the party, so we need to be extra careful so that nobody dies." – said Phiul.
(This is way harder than I though. There is too many enemies.) – though Forge.
(Normally I would be happy right now because of the materials from the monsters, but I got a fuking wood.)
(Normal wood. Nothing like special or anything. Straight up a wood you can get from the trees.)
(The wood from the living trees turn back into normal wood after they die, same goes for the magic wood and bronze wood, they both turn into normal ones after the living tree death.)
(Honestly saying, one of the reason I was most looking forward was their wood. I saw them being able hit or two from the tree eating lizards, so I thought maybe the stuff I got from them would be pretty good, but NO. Dev just said straight in my face "Fuck you in particular." I got some bronze wood, but that amount I got I could probably easily just get myself from cutting down some trees.)
"…."
"This is annoying." – said Forge while looking towards the sky.
"Well, there is no use denying that this quest IS annoying. But maybe the rewards will be worth it at the end." – said Try.
"And who know? Maybe we will get something as good as those items you got from the kobold chieftain." – said Try.
"Let's just hope so. None of the quest in the beta were as hard as this one. Usually, the harder quest means better rewards, so maybe we should be optimistic about situation." – said Avalanche.
"Huh, I though you did harder quest before during beta period." – said Avalanche.
"Nope. In beta the quest were pretty simple like: Slay X amount of enemies or gather this and that. They wasn't anything like puzzle quests or anything. The quest were later disabled because of many bugs happening here and there, but that didn't affected people much."
"Honestly saying, the quest now are more interesting. Some are annoying, but they at least better than ones from the beta period." – said Avalanche.
"Well, obviously you couldn't enjoy doing quest in beta because of the bugs appearing nonstop. Sometimes monsters would instantly respawn when you kill them during the quest or sometimes the rewards get erased for some reason when you try to claim it."
"There is also the fact that some quests during beta period were made very poorly or rushed and they kind of ruined fun of doing the quest."
"Now its WAY better than before. Quest can be enjoyed. Some possess challenge while some possess interesting story. Even simple quests or daily quest are quiet well made."
"Huh. Didn't know that. I only heard that the quest were bugging too much and the developers had to suspend them for the rest of the beta period." – said Forge.
"Well now you know. Honestly saying, even if this is bit annoying quest, it does provide a nice challenge. You can't brute force your way through it, you need to think and act careful. In the way, its enjoyable." – said Avalanche.
"…."
"You know…... I think you are right." – replied Forge.
"When I was doing that kobold base quests, I was enjoy beating and finding those dungeon, even though in some parts it was indeed annoying, but I was quiet satisfying whenever I manage to find the dungeon and beat it."
"Even that boss monster of the finally dungeon was way stronger than me and the only reason why I won back there because I kind of needed to think my every move."
"Honestly saying. It was hard, but I did had sense of satisfaction when I beat him and even rewards, I got from him got me very excited." – said Forge while looking at the items he got from the kobold chieftain.
"Truth to be told. All I wanted to do in this game was to just craft stuff, at first, I wanted to try and see how the crafting works in this game and later on I got fascinated by it. But as time went by, I kind of enjoyed hunting monsters and doing quests like any other players, it does have its own charms that crafting items cannot give. Hunting and crafting both had some annoying moments but it also have fun and satisfying parts as well."
"See? No use being negative. Maybe all of this will pay off big time." – said Try.
"Yea, but we still have to deal with the lizards later on." – said Forge.
"Oh shit. You are right. I totally forgot we had to deal with that lizards later on." – said Phiul.
"Not goanna lie. I kind of forgot about those lizards as well." – said Avalanche.
"Anyway, I think we rested long enough. We should move out before some living trees find us." – said Avalanche while getting up.
The party got up and beginned their search for the enemy leader once again.
1 hour later.
"…."
"…. Based on the map, we are near the lake locations, but how do we go there?" – said Forge.
An army of the living trees was blocking the party path to the lake.
"We never encounter group as big as this one. They are spready everywhere, so sneaking by them is impossible." – said Forge.
"However, considering their size, there is a good chance that we are finally getting near the enemy leader." – said Try.
"But, how do we go past them?"
"Frontal assault may seems like our only option, but it's risky with those numbers." – said Avalanche.
"Well, we can't go around them or anything, so we have to fight them head on." – said Phiul.
"I know what you mean, but the problem is that fire power. If we had someone like Quicy or Kitty or Hype that specializes in damage, it would make things easier." – said Avalanche.
"However, you need to remember if battle prolong for too long, the nearby living trees will also join in and that probably won't a small reinforcements but a big one."
"We need to somehow kill all those living trees and quickly get past them before enemy reinforcements arrives to our location."
"We need to do it fast or we all get overwhelmed." – said Avalanche.
"Phiul. Are the [Earth Crack] and [Fire Eruption] skills ready for use?"
"Yea. I saved them just like you asked me to, but you do realize that I can't get them all with this right? The stronger ones will probably survive if they are hit with the only one of those."
"Then we have to gather them up. Here is the plan."
Avalanche begin explaining his plan.
"Got it? As soon as I gave signal, fire the [Earth Shake] first and then [Fire Eruption]. After the enemy is deal with, run straight towards the lake."
"Now then, let's begin the party."
Moments later.
"…."
"…"
"…?"
One of the living trees noticed some sort of noise and turned its head around, only to see a ball of fire coming straight at him and then hitting and killing it.
This act obviously got the living trees attention, making them turn around and see Phiul in the plain sight near them.
As soon as they did saw her, they all beginned charging at her, while she herself begin to run away from them.
The huge group of the living trees begin chasing the girl through the area filled with trees. After some time, the girl stopped running and instead pointed her staff towards the enemy.
While the enemy were approaching her, suddenly beneath their feat, the ground turned black and small blades could be seen appearing all across the ground surface.
[Priest Of Darkness – Path Of Suffering] skill.
[Path Of Pain]
[Skill level: 1/2] [Cost: 200 MP] [Cooldown: 8 minutes] [Category: Spell / Dark Element / Curse]
[Apply a curse on the ground. The curse will damage to all enemies whenever they walk on the cursed area or making one of their body parts touch the ground surface, the curse will also apply the debuff that slows movements speed to the enemies inside of the cursed area.]
[Damage deal: (10%)/20% of the caster current [Intelligent] stat as dark element magic damage.]
[Movement speed reduction: (10%)/15%.]
[The curse applied to the area will last for (15 seconds)/20 seconds.)]
[The area affected by the curse will double if the skill reaches level 2.]
The ground beneath the living trees changed, slowing them down by a little bit, but not making them back down in the slightest. All the living trees kept charging towards the girl, until -
"[Earth Wall]."
[Advance Earth Mage] Skill.
[Earth Wall]
[Skill level: 2/4] [Cost: MP 100] [Cooldown: 30 minutes] [Category: Spell / Earth Element]
[This skill can possess up to 1/(2)/3/4 charges. Each charge possess its own cooldown.]
[When used, create a wall made out of earth that can function both as terrain and as a protection.]
[The endurance of each wall depends on the user current [Intelligent] stat.]
[This skill allows user to use more than 1 charge when creating a wall. Each additional charge used will increased the wall size and its endurance.]
A pair of two walls appeared on the left and right side, right next to the living trees. The living trees didn't seem to care and continue charging, however as they were about to get to the girl, Forge and Avalanche appeared from behind the walls with both of them carrying a great shield and stopping the living trees advance.
"NOW!" – Shouted Avalanche.
Moments ago.
"The living trees aren't that smart or anything. They just go straight towards the enemy and we will use that."
"Phiul will create a pair of earth walls from the sides. The living trees will obviously not go around them, but instead all of them will definitely go straight between the walls."
"After they charge is, me and Forge will try and block the front. The enemy will be boxed and will allow Phiul to hit them all with her spells." – said Avalanche.
Back to the present.
"[Earth Crack]!"
[Advance Earth Mage] skill.
[Earth Crack]
[Skill level: 1/1] [Cost: 300 MP] [Cooldown: 10 minutes] [Category: Spell / Earth Element]
[Create a powerful single eruption of the earth energy on the solid surface in the form of the crack. The crack instantly explodes, dealing 400% damage equal to the caster current [Intelligent] stat. Deals earth element magic damage.]
[The enemies hit by the attack will be stunned for 1 second.]
A shining yellowish cracks appear underneath the living trees and moments later a sound similar to the explosion could be heard. Dealing damage to the living trees.
"[Fire Eruption]!"
[Advance Fire Mage] skill.
[Fire Eruption]
[Skill level: 1/1] [Cost: 300 MP] [Cooldown: 10 minutes] [Category: Spell / Fire Element]
[Shoot a sphere of concentrated fire in the chosen location that will detonate upon contract or when set of manually.]
[When the sphere explodes, it will release a massive amount of fire in each direction, dealing 400% damage equal to the caster current [Intelligent] stat. Deals fire element magic damage.]
[Enemies hit by this skill will be applied with BURN effect that will deal 0.5% of their max hp as fire element damage for 10 seconds.]
Phiul shot out a bright sphere that flew between Forge and Avalanche and traveled to the middle of the enemy group, before moments later hitting one of the living trees and causing an explosion to happened.
The explosion engulfed all the living trees and as soon as the flames disappeared, Forge with Avalanche beginned chopping down the enemies with their axes while Phiul and Try were attacking from afar.
"Considering how tanky the living trees are, I say that they somehow survive that two attacks. That is why we will instantly go and kill any living trees we see that survived the barrage of the Phiul attacks."
"The key here is the time. We need to kill them as fast as possible and run away before other living trees arrive and surround us. Simply put, it will be race against the time." – said Avalanche before the battle.
The party killed the living trees left and right that had survived the ambush.
Moments later, the last remaining living tree was taken care off.
"Now! Run for it!" – shouted Avalanche.
The entire party begin running away, heading straight towards the lake.
{{EXTRA}}
[Blacksmith]
[Blacksmith is a class that specializes in crafting stuff mostly related to the combat such as armor or weapons, but that doesn't mean that they can't create non weapon or non armor items. Creating items will provide the user will EXP based on their creation. It is still possible to craft without this class, but having it makes things way easier and also allows you to create something you wouldn't be normally be able to make.]
Max level 10.
Grow per level:
[Strength] +1.5
[Agility] +1
[Intelligent] +1
[Physical Defense] +1.2
[Magic Defense] +1.2
[Health] + 1.3
[Mana] + 1.4
[Stamina] + 1.4
Skills:
[Blacksmithing Knowledge – Level 1/1] [Passive]
[Provides the user with basic knowledge about blacksmithing art and it also records some of the items you made in the past.
[Wood Carving – Level 3/3] [Passivate] [Active] [Category: Production]
[Passive: Helps users with crafting that uses wood, cutting, carving and others.]
[Active: Increases the performance of the skill. This skill can be adjusted at any moment, changing the power of it.]
[Basic Blacksmithing – Level 10/10] [Passive]
[Improve user blacksmithing art. Helps user while crafting items. Doesn't help while creating food or potion type items.]
[Equipment Repair – Level 1/1] [Category: Production]
[Using this skills allows you to repair an item. Repairing process cost MP and SP for every second use and also requires user to of some blacksmith tools when trying to repair item of the choosing.]
[Black Smith Technique: Salvage – Level 2/2] [Category: Production]
[Allows you to destroy an item via "Salvage" and acquire some of the materials used for the crafting. Can only use salvage on the items you made your self.]
[Hard Worker: Blacksmith – Level 1/1]
[While outside of the combat for 30 minutes, this skill activates. Provide 0.5% regeneration to HP, MP and SP for every second. This skill will deactivate when user enters the combat.]