The system notification sound increased by a full nine rings.
Yun Xi did not want to harvest more rat lives, but all the low-level rats she could kill in one strike were already dead.
Only three medium-sized rats and the rat leader remained.
The Village Chief was fighting the basketball-sized rat leader. Hada and the middle-aged man were each dealing with a medium-sized rat, while the remaining one had set its sights on Yun Xi, who had attracted just as much aggro.
The medium-sized Rat Fiends were completely different from the small rats. Their health reached 200 points, and their speed and strength were on an entirely different level as well.
All the small Water Arrows Yun Xi condensed were dodged by it. She only regretted that she had not yet learned the Immobilization Technique.
Yun Xi had cast ten small Water Arrow Techniques earlier, consuming 200 points of spirit energy in total. She now had only 90 points of spirit energy remaining.
Even if all 90 points of spirit energy were exhausted, she could only deal a total of (29*1+90) points of damage, which would only deplete about half of the rat's health.
Yun Xi did not panic. Without making it obvious, she extracted a White Crystal into her hand and began absorbing the spirit energy within.
As she felt the spirit energy inside her slowly increase, Yun Xi swiftly dodged the charge of the medium-sized Rat Fiend.
"Little girl, watch out!" The middle-aged woman agilely dodged while holding the young girl, not forgetting to remind Yun Xi to stay safe.
She only regretted that she was not a sorcerer. Holding her younger daughter left her constrained; otherwise, she could have gone forward to help as well.
The twins split up, with one going to help their elder brother Hada and the other choosing to help Yun Xi by restraining the Rat Fiend for her.
However, both twins had assigned their attribute points to Spirit Attribute. Their physiques were no different from Yun Xi's, and even though they had learned martial arts from their father, the role they could play was minimal.
After surveying the situation on the field, Yun Xi realized that she did not need to insist on killing this medium-sized Rat Fiend. She only needed to hold out until the Village Chief dealt with the rat leader.
But plans could not keep up with changes. All of a sudden, the rat leader seemed to cast a special Abnormal Art, and black mist began spreading from its body.
In an instant, the bonfire went out.
Yun Xi inwardly cried out that something was wrong. They simply could not afford the price of the bonfire going out.
Sure enough, the rats seemed to have divine assistance.
Under Yun Xi's spirit-energy vision, she saw the medium-sized rats' health bars increase directly from 200 to 300—a full 1.5-fold difference.
This was the difference between having a Guardian Spirit Flame and not having one.
If her guess was correct, then under the rat leader's close-range strange-energy pollution, the bonfire could no longer be relit.
The Village Chief and Hada's fireballs landed on the bonfire at the same time, but just as Yun Xi had expected, the extinguished bonfire did not react at all.
Not only that, if they did not quickly deal with the rats and relight the bonfire, many strange creatures in the wild would follow the scent of humans and come over.
By then, even if the Village Chief was a powerful Intermediate Sorcerer, he would still be unable to protect everyone.
The pressure on everyone instantly increased.
The only thing worth celebrating was that, with one of the twins helping her maneuver, Yun Xi's spirit energy finally recovered to full. She had used two White Crystals in total—equivalent to two Gold Coins, or 20,000 Copper Coins.
Perhaps because the bonfire had gone out, Yun Xi felt that the medium-sized Rat Fiend seemed rather smug. It thrust out its belly, seemingly showing off its 300 points of health.
Seizing the opportunity, Yun Xi acted decisively, casting the Water Arrow Technique and Water Ball Technique at the same time. She launched an attack of (29*1+100)*2=258 points.
This was the strongest attack Yun Xi could launch at her current stage, consuming 200 points of spirit energy in total.
The Water Arrow and Water Ball struck the Rat Fiend head-on, sending it flying more than ten meters away.
Its 300 health dropped to 42.
Striking while it was down, Yun Xi cast one final Water Arrow Technique that consumed 20 points of spirit energy, dealing a total of 49 points of damage and killing it instantly.
[Ping, congratulations, player. Freedom Attribute Points +2.]
One of the twins was closest to Yun Xi and had clearly witnessed the scene. He could not help staring in stunned disbelief.
Was this the strength of a sorcerer? No, that was not right. Why was their elder brother not this strong?
The black mist was too dense. Even after Yun Xi activated her spirit-energy vision, she could not see the Village Chief and Hada's battle clearly.
She had 70 points of spirit energy remaining. Yun Xi calculated as she extracted a White Crystal and absorbed it, moving toward Hada's location.
The Village Chief was very strong, and the middle-aged martial artist's level was not low either. They most likely did not need her help. Hada was only a Beginner Sorcerer, so facing a Rat Fiend with increased health was surely extremely difficult.
Of course, Yun Xi was also doing this for herself. Killing malicious strange creatures could bring her benefits. No one could refuse Freedom Attribute Points or Freedom Skill Points.
The twin behind Yun Xi did not follow her. He chose to head toward the bonfire to look for his mother and younger sister.
As Yun Xi drew closer and closer to Hada, the scent of blood gradually reached her.
Yun Xi quickened her pace again. With no time to think further, she immediately assigned the Freedom Attribute Points she had gained from the battle evenly to Spirit Attribute and Physique.
In an instant, Yun Xi's speed increased by roughly twofold.
When the bloody scent at the tip of her nose reached its limit, Yun Xi finally saw the scene before her clearly.
The other twin was already lying in a pool of blood, while Hada had raised his chopping knife and was fighting the Rat Fiend to the death.
His spirit energy had long since been exhausted. It was truly no easy feat for him to hold on until now.
Just as the Rat Fiend was about to tear into his neck—
Yun Xi's spirit energy had recovered to 180 points. Without hesitation, she launched her strongest Water Arrow and Water Ball attacks simultaneously, dealing 129+109 points of water-element damage.
The Rat Fiend's remaining 180 health was completely wiped out in one blow.
[Ping, congratulations, player. Freedom Skill Points +2.]
Hada had no time to thank Yun Xi before he passed out.
Yun Xi hurried forward to examine the condition of the two brothers. Fortunately, they were still breathing.
A loud boom came from the distance. It seemed that the Village Chief's battle with the rat leader had also reached its conclusion.
Sure enough, almost in the next instant, the black mist completely dispersed, and the bonfire quickly blazed back to life.
"Hada, are you all right?" The Village Chief swiftly "flew" over, obvious concern showing in his clear eyes.
"Village Chief, I just checked. They're seriously injured." Yun Xi responded quickly.
The Village Chief exhaled. As long as they were not dead, it was fine.
He quickly fed both of them a potion, then looked toward Yun Xi.
"Adventurer, are you hurt? Take this." The Village Chief handed Yun Xi a potion of the same kind.
Yun Xi was flattered. "No need, Village Chief. I wasn't hurt."
"Huh?" This time, it was the Village Chief's turn to freeze.
A newly born adventurer had faced a level-two-or-higher Rat Fiend and actually escaped without injury?
Then he remembered that new adventurers were generally immune to damage, so he did not dwell on it.
Before you continue