Have You Heard My Whistle?

The tedious yet blissful monster-slaying grind continued for a week.

Over that week, Isabelle faithfully carried out Lu Yao's orders, frantically harvesting Corruptors in her Sword of the Forest form. Whenever her mana ran low, she temporarily retreated, then resumed the attack after it naturally recovered.

Lu Yao estimated that, counting those who resurrected after death, she had slaughtered more than ten thousand of them.

However, once Isabelle reached level 26, she could no longer level up.

"My lord, the Corruptors are too low-ranked. Fighting them can no longer provide me with any experience or help me improve and comprehend my abilities."

That was how Isabelle explained it.

Lu Yao felt a small pang of regret.

It seemed the plan of using Corruptors to power-level Isabelle all the way to the cap would not work.

Still, even so, that week of monster slaying had brought enormous gains.

Now, when she activated the Holy Sword, Isabelle's combat panel looked like this.

[Apostle Lv26] Sword of the Forest · Isabelle

Health Points: 325/325

Mana Points: 615/615

Damage: 39

Defense: 37

Speed: 18

[Wisdom Lv26]

Wisdom is the key for Apostles to hear a God's will. The higher the level of Wisdom, the easier it is to improve and comprehend various abilities.

[Lingering Prayer Lv6] (30 Mana Points)

Pray to the Sea of Lingering Souls to temporarily awaken the slumbering dead and gain their aid. The type of dead depends on the ability level and Mana Points.

[Sword of the Forest Lv1] (100 Mana Points)

[Isabelle's Exclusive Ability] Isabelle summons the Holy Sword, greatly enhancing all combat attributes. Its duration and enhancement depend on the ability level and Mana Points. After combat, Isabelle creates some Forest Elemental Creatures. Their number and type depend on the ability level and the strength of her opponent.

Isabelle's stats had risen dramatically.

Now, relying solely on her incredible speed and extremely high attack frequency, she could cut down and pierce through Corruptors in one Holy Sword combo.

The whole battle truly looked like Lu Bu riding Red Hare, mowing down ordinary soldiers with unstoppable force.

Besides that, the additional effect of [Sword of the Forest] activated frequently, creating an elemental creature called [Forest Wolf] from the corpses of vast numbers of Corruptors.

[Forest Wolf LV13] [Created by Isabelle]

Health Points: 248/248

Mana Points: 40/40

Damage: 8

Defense: 8

Speed: 7

[Evasion Lv7]

Can evade damage from certain attacks. The weaker the target compared to itself, the higher the chance.

[Pack Tactics]

When gathered together, they gain greater combat power. The more there are, the stronger the enhancement.

[Forest Elemental LV1]

A Forest Elemental Creature that benefits the rapid growth of forests. All attributes are enhanced in forests. The effect depends on ability level and Health Points.

An individual Forest Wolf had worse stats than a Corruptor, and its attack was even lower than that of a lower-level [Striped Lynx]. It was not built for duels, but its [Pack Tactics] ability was a powerful buff.

This time, by killing more than ten thousand Corruptors, Isabelle had created a total of sixty LV13 Forest Wolves.

When those sixty Forest Wolves gathered together, [Pack Tactics] transformed their stats.

[Forest Wolf LV13] [Created by Isabelle]

Health Points: 248/248

Mana Points: 40/40

Damage: 10

Defense: 10

Speed: 9

Lu Yao ran the numbers with a calculator.

The numerical scaling of Pack Tactics was roughly 0.5%. In other words, if one hundred Forest Wolves gathered and acted together, each wolf could perform at 1.5 times its normal combat stats.

In group combat, Forest Wolves actually had the advantage against Corruptors. The greater the pack, the stronger it became.

Given how balanced their stats were, with solid offense, defense, and decent speed, they were an exceptionally gifted combat species.

Lu Yao ordered Isabelle to have the pack of Forest Wolves temporarily station themselves in the mountains and cut off the unavoidable route between the Salt Pool Tribe and the Garlic Tribe. That would prevent the Corruptors from suddenly going mad and attacking outward, endangering the Garlic Tribe.

The situation was basically under Isabelle's control. The newly spawned Corruptors of the Salt Pool Tribe no longer posed any threat to her.

Isabelle had essentially reaped all the benefits available from the Corruptors, and both her level and strength had risen. It was time to begin the next attempt.

Lu Yao gave the order: investigate the castle.

Isabelle charged into the castle.

Lu Yao clicked on the castle and, sure enough, entered another instance-world screen.

The castle was far larger inside than it appeared from outside. Within was a stone-paved hall, with headless corpses hanging in the air and bloodstains covering the floor, leading all the way into the depths underground.

Corruptors constantly rushed out to attack along the way, but Isabelle cut down every enemy and continued her exploration.

The underground had been excavated into pit after pit, each one filled with white powder. Corruptors occasionally crawled out from within them.

Other Corruptors tossed all kinds of mangled corpses into those pits, seemingly using the bodies to create more of their kind.

Beside every pit that bred Corruptors was a narrow trench, filled with viscous green fluid, as though some evil ritual were being performed.

Following the trail of that slime, Isabelle slaughtered her way into the deepest part of the subterranean cavern.

The space suddenly opened up. A giant corpse was chained to the broad stone wall at the back.

Four curved horns grew from the giant's head. His skull was all that remained, and faint flames flickered within his hollow eye sockets.

His body was covered in slashes. The wounds and flesh had long since rotted away, leaking viscous green bodily fluid. The fluid ran onto the ground, becoming the catalyst that gave birth to the Corruptors through the trenches below.

Facing the Decaying Giant, an exclamation mark suddenly appeared above Isabelle's head.

"Forrest?!"

Lu Yao took one look and felt that he had heard the name somewhere before.

Wait, wasn't that the Forest God's chief Apostle?

This giant was him?

Lu Yao awakened the cactus in the potted plant beside him. "Little Fire, is Forrest a giant?"

The Cactus Follower said respectfully, "Lord God, Mr. Forrest is indeed from the Giant Race. He is a reliable and powerful Apostle, as well as the Forest God's most capable right hand."

Unfortunately, the Forest God had fallen, and this chief Apostle's body had become a machine for producing Corruptors.

Lu Yao returned his attention to the screen.

He discovered that the giant Forrest's posture was strange. Forrest knelt on the ground with his arms pulled upward into the shape of a cross, as though he were atoning for something or worshipping something.

Behind the giant's shell stood an even taller stone statue.

It was a very strange sculpture. It looked like a humanoid tree, covered in branches of varying lengths but bearing no leaves.

Lu Yao moved the cursor over the statue, and a name immediately appeared.

[Whistleblower God Statue].

--Outlander, have you heard my whistle?

The words made his heart shudder.

Lu Yao finally realized what the stone statue was.

It was a person covered all over in short whistles.

Those whistles were like some kind of organ spread across his body, growing from his head, shoulders, chest, arms, and face. The image was so physically unsettling that Lu Yao had instinctively avoided thinking in that direction.

A tall knight in black armor slowly condensed above Forrest's skull.

Above his head appeared: [Blood Knight Nevid].

"God-Defiler, die."

The Blood Knight wielded a crimson greatsword and transformed into a blur as he charged at Isabelle.

Thanks to Drizzle Dreamweaver for supporting with 500 Qidian Coins.