Battle the Toad King

With 100 Toad Skins nearly collected, Ye Luo had grown tired of killing young toads. He planned to kill two more to complete the mission, then move on to higher-level monsters. Thinking this, he swung his Novice Sword and viciously struck a young toad in the eye. A purple damage number popped up: '106'.

"Eh, not bad luck. A critical hit plus a Vital Hit actually dealt 106 damage." Ye Luo gave a soft exclamation, but when he saw the two glowing orbs on the ground, he was even more delighted. Besides a Toad Skin, there was also a piece of equipment.

After killing so many monsters, Ye Luo had seen purple damage numbers several times. He knew they only appeared when a critical hit was combined with a Vital Hit. As the name implied, a Vital Hit meant striking a monster's weak point. It dealt orange damage and generally increased damage by 30% to 50%.

He picked up the Toad Skin and copper coins, then the dropped equipment's attributes appeared:

Toad Armguards (Armguards * Novice Village Equipment)

Defense: 3-3

Equipment Durability: 100/100

Required Level: 1

It was equipment he could use, so Ye Luo immediately put it on. His defense rose to 10, making it no worse than that of players at the same level.

"Hehe, not bad luck. I got another piece of equipment." Ye Luo smiled, in quite a good mood. "After I kill one more young toad, I can finish this mission. With my current defense, I won't lose much health fighting level 2 or 3 monsters. I might not even need to take pills."

"Croak!"

Suddenly, a dull croak rang beside Ye Luo's ear. Following the sound, he saw a toad two or three times larger than a young toad staring at him. Its bulging eyes held a trace of anger, and it looked ready to devour someone.

"What a huge toad. Could it be a boss?" Ye Luo exclaimed, hurriedly inspecting it.

Toad King (Minor Boss)

Level: 3

Attack: 9-10

Defense: 15

Health: 2000

Skill: Toad Poison Bullet

Toad Poison Bullet: The Toad King condensed poisonous gas within its body into an energy projectile. Attack increased by 20%, and the target became Poisoned, losing 5 health per second for 20 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Seeing the Toad King's attributes, Ye Luo sucked in a breath of cold air. With his current strength, fighting it would likely mean nine deaths out of ten, especially that Toad Poison Bullet. Leaving aside its 20% attack boost, losing 5 health per second for 20 seconds after being Poisoned was already more than he could endure.

Not just him—even any player below level 3 would likely meet their end against it. They could not possibly kill the Toad King within two or three minutes, and with their usual 100 to 200 health, they could not withstand two Toad Poison Bullets.

"What should I do? Give up?" Ye Luo muttered, but he quickly discarded the thought. "Bosses are incredibly rare in Novice Village. If I miss this one, I might never encounter another. I'll take the gamble. Players don't lose levels from dying before level 10 anyway. If I win, it'll be worth it. They say boss monsters are guaranteed to drop equipment."

It was not that Ye Luo was arrogantly overconfident. After careful analysis, he believed he had a certain chance of winning against the Toad King.

He currently had ten Minor Blood Recovery Pills, enough supplies to sustain him. He also had Minor Detoxification Pills, which could make him immune to low-grade poison attacks. By his estimation, they should negate the poison damage attached to the Toad King's Toad Poison Bullet. After all, Minor Detoxification Pills could even protect against the miasma of the Poisonous Swamp, while the Toad King was merely a level 3 minor boss.

Having made up his mind, Ye Luo calculated the distance, then swung his Novice Sword at the Toad King's eye. With a pfft, the Toad King dodged aside. His attack only struck its head, and a yellow damage number appeared: '17'.

With an angry croak, the Toad King's sticky tongue shot out like lightning and struck Ye Luo. He felt a sharp pain and lost 9 health, which was barely acceptable.

Yet Ye Luo was dissatisfied—not with his own attack, but because he had failed to dodge the Toad King's attack.

"This Toad King's attack speed is much faster than those Young Toads'. I actually failed to dodge it at first. I need to be faster next time." Ye Luo muttered to himself. Though he was thinking, his movements did not stop as he swung his sword again.

After that strike, Ye Luo immediately retreated. This time, he successfully evaded the Toad King's attack, greatly boosting his confidence. He attacked and dodged while calculating the Toad King's attack rhythm.

However, the Toad King's attack speed was somewhat faster than that of the Young Toads, and its attack range was also slightly greater. As a result, his chance of dodging successfully was not high. On average, he could only evade one out of every three attacks.

Half a minute later, the Toad King had lost 200 health, one-tenth of its total health, while Ye Luo had only 48 health remaining—not even half.

Seeing this, Ye Luo decisively swallowed a Minor Blood Recovery Pill. A green number appeared over his head, and he immediately recovered 30 health. Over the next ten seconds, he would also regain 3 health per second. Combined with the Battle Soul Crystal's automatic healing, his health was almost fully restored within ten seconds.

Ye Luo quickly calculated that he only needed five or six minutes to kill the Toad King. With Minor Blood Recovery Pills to sustain him, he had a high chance of lasting through the fight.

With that thought, Ye Luo continued attacking. Suddenly, the Toad King's belly swelled high, and a dangerous aura spread out.

Ye Luo's heart stirred. He knew the Toad King was about to use a skill, so he swallowed a Minor Detoxification Pill without hesitation while swiftly dodging.

Sure enough, the Toad King activated its skill. A fist-sized emerald energy projectile howled toward him like lightning, and Ye Luo could not dodge it at all. His body jolted with intense pain, and a yellow '20' appeared above his head. The health he had just regained dropped once more.

That was not all. The energy projectile shattered, and a wave of foul-smelling venom splashed toward him, making him nauseous just from its stench.

But to Ye Luo's delight, no continuous damage numbers appeared. Clearly, the Minor Detoxification Pill could negate this poison attack.

Seeing that, Ye Luo felt greatly reassured and continued attacking. This time, he was luckier. His sword pierced the Toad King's eye, and an orange damage number, '24', appeared. It was clearly a Vital Hit.

Ye Luo became even more energized, attacking with greater focus. At that moment, he seemed to return to the days when he practiced swordsmanship. He was wholly absorbed, seeing only his target and nothing else.

He attacked and dodged continuously, swallowing Minor Blood Recovery Pills whenever his health fell below 50. As Ye Luo grew more focused, his success rate at evading the Toad King's attacks gradually increased, while the Toad King's health steadily declined.

'1800', '1500'... '800', '500', '300'...

Although the Toad King used Toad Poison Bullet several times during this period and inflicted considerable damage on Ye Luo, he had Minor Detoxification Pills to negate the poison and Minor Blood Recovery Pills for supplies. His health remained above the danger line.

Not far away, a female player witnessed the scene. She calmly watched everything. After inspecting the Toad King's attributes, Ye Luo's level, and the damage he dealt to the Toad King, she quickly calculated Ye Luo's attack power with her abilities.

"This Ye Luo Zhi Qiu has around 15 attack and around 10 defense. He's level 2, so he should have put all his attribute points into All Attributes." The female player spoke indifferently. Then, after calculating something, her beautiful eyes lit up. "He has two pieces of equipment, legguards and armguards. That means his base attributes are terribly low, probably only 1 or 2 points. Could he be the Peerless Waste widely discussed in this Novice Village?"

Although players could not inspect other players' attributes with inspection devices, they could determine what equipment someone was wearing. This woman excelled at analysis and gathering information. Someone in her team had happened to obtained identical equipment, so she knew the attributes of both pieces.

Though she was only guessing, her tone was quite certain. After reaching that conclusion, she muttered, "It seems he accepted the Heavenly Tribulation Trial Mission just like I did, but he sacrificed far more base attribute points than I did. Based on the principle that greater sacrifice brings greater rewards, the benefits he gains after completing the mission should also exceed mine."

Then, the female player noticed Ye Luo's movements as well, and her brows furrowed slightly. "His movements are strange. He seems somewhat unaccustomed to this style of combat. But judging from the angles of his attacks and his footwork, he should be an expert in real life. That means he only started playing games recently."

"To have reached this level despite only recently playing games, he is no simple person. Once he grows, he will become a rare expert." The woman pondered, but she did not step forward. Her expression remained cold. "I'll wait until he grows stronger. At the very least, he needs to complete that Heavenly Tribulation mission. Otherwise..."

Thinking that, the woman stopped watching, turned around, and left to complete her own mission.

Ye Luo was completely absorbed in the battle and did not notice that a female player had watched him for several minutes. Still, given his temperament, even if he had noticed, he would not have cared.

The battle continued. After using nine Minor Blood Recovery Pills, Ye Luo finally killed the Toad King. He had only 45 health remaining, and looking at his sole remaining recovery pill, he said, "It looks like I need to settle things with Elder Hua and learn alchemy as soon as possible. Otherwise, if I encounter another boss like this later, I won't be able to beat it at all. That would be frustrating to death."

As he slowly recovered health, Ye Luo began inspecting his gains from this battle.

The Toad King gave Ye Luo 3,000 energy experience and 10 reputation. He finally reached level 3 and continued adding all his points to strength. His attack had now reached 23, his defense 11, and his health 140. His strength had risen another step.

With no time to celebrate his level-up, Ye Luo hurriedly inspected the items dropped after the Toad King's death.

After the Toad King died, its corpse dissolved into a flash of light. Several glowing orbs and five silver coins floated where it had fallen.

Ye Luo casually picked up the silver coins, then turned his attention to the glowing orbs. One of them contained a Toad Skin, though it was much higher-grade than the Toad Skins he had previously collected for the mission.

Toad King's Skin (Tier 3 Tailoring Material)

Description: Skin formed from the condensed essence of the Toad King's entire body after its death. Quite tough, it can be given to a tailor to create a fine piece of equipment.

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