"You're going to scold me, aren't you, Brando?"
"No. Come here, and be careful." Seeing Roman's timid expression, Brando couldn't help feeling both exasperated and amused. But when he looked up, he saw three juvenile Withered Beasts had already appeared on the rock where he and Roman had been standing. He looked around again. In just a short while, these shrub monsters had surrounded them from all sides. After the undead group had been wiped out, they had become the only targets in the canyon. In particular, the future Merchant's Daughter was holding the faintly glowing Gleaming Thorn, and the magical weapon attracted these Golden Tree's demon servants like a candle in the darkness.
And it truly was a candle in the darkness.
Brando could almost hear the Golden Demon Tree's craving for magic shrieking in his mind, but he didn't even dare think about it. Time was of the essence, and they might even encounter a Treant. They had to leave this place before that happened. He turned and asked Freya, "How is it? Can you keep going?"
Freya nodded.
"Then we'll go up from the other side. Take your sword, and be careful." As he spoke, he handed the girl's sword back to her. Although the Withered Beasts had already occupied the high ground on this side, there wasn't a single shrub monster in the opposite direction.
In fact, these animated plants weren't fast. Their efficiency at climbing and advancing over the crisscrossing rocks was only about the same as that of ordinary people. However, they made up for it with their numbers and familiarity with the terrain. Their attributes were high, giving them exceptional stamina and resilience. Brando knew he had to find a way to make these monsters stop.
He couldn't help looking toward the higher ground.
Freya placed her blood-covered hand against the rock wall and flinched from the pain. But she gritted her teeth, tore off a strip of cloth from her sleeve to wrap around her hand, then grabbed the sharp rocks and climbed up.
Brando saw this from behind and couldn't help sighing inwardly. But he had little time. He took the Gleaming Thorn from Roman, protected Freya as she climbed, and then turned back. By then, two juvenile Withered Beasts had already crawled up from below.
"Brando, hurry up!" Roman called.
Freya was so tense that her face had gone pale. She immediately lay on the rock and reached a hand toward him.
But Brando had no mind to respond. The two shrub monsters had little intelligence. They had already half-risen and were hissing threateningly at the young man.
In a sense, Withered Beasts couldn't be considered intelligent life forms in the first place. They were merely puppets of the Golden Demon Tree.
Brando slashed with the sword in his hand. A glimmer of light in the darkness made the two monsters recoil slightly. But just as he tried to seize the opportunity to turn and grab the future Valkyrie's hand, they let out low growls and pounced.
You want to die!
Brando's anger flared. He used his 2.1 Energy Levels of Agility to push off the rock wall, leaping through the air over the backs of the two shrub monsters. The moment his feet touched the ground, his upper body had already settled into the most standard attacking stance.
A horizontal slash.
Freya let out an "Ah" and finally realized how far she was from Brando. Her talent wasn't outstanding, but what she was proudest of was that she could work harder and focus more intently than ordinary people. Her swordsmanship being first among the Buchi Militia didn't mean her talent with the sword was exceptional. Few people had noticed how much sweat Freya had shed for it.
That was also why Maden admired her and made her the militia captain.
Her swordsmanship foundation could only be called solid, but Brando was more like a blade tempered through countless trials. If he had to describe it with one word, it was "clean."
One sword passed through, and a head fell. There wasn't the slightest mistake.
A ring of silver fire sprang from the Withered Beast's severed neck. It immediately turned into a mass of flame and collapsed onto the ground. The other Withered Beast let out a shrill scream, and one of its claws suddenly extended as it swung at him. In truth, a Withered Beast's claws were far longer than most people realized. They rarely revealed this before attacking, and many people had died because of it. But Brando couldn't be fooled.
Come on, he'd already fallen for it once in the game. How could he fall into the same pit a second time?
He had been guarding against this move all along. Now he raised his sword to block, and the shrub monster's claw struck the Gleaming Thorn, bursting into a cloud of silver sparks. The Withered Beast screamed and staggered backward, but although Brando was puzzled, how could he give up such a perfect opportunity to attack?
He lunged forward, and the Elven Treasure Sword in his hand drew a striking silver line. In truth, he had performed this sort of counterattack eight or ten thousand times in the game and was thoroughly familiar with it. However, his physical attributes and skills were far from keeping up at this moment, which made him feel extremely awkward. His timing, especially, was nowhere near what it had been.
He thought that an Iron-ranked swordsman could easily dodge this strike of his, but the juvenile Withered Beast didn't yet have that ability.
A sword pierced its throat.
Scalding silver flames surged from both sides of the leaf-shaped blade. In the blink of an eye, they reduced the Withered Beast to a pile of ashes. Six golden motes of light danced through the night sky before merging into Brando's chest.
To be honest, the damage Purification inflicted on undead and dark creatures was far greater than Brando had imagined. However, he had never seen anything similar in the game, so he had nothing to compare it with—
"Brando, you're actually this amazing!" Roman stared blankly for a moment.
Freya was even more stunned, unable to speak. She had originally believed Brando was a militia member from Brags. But now that she thought about it, he must have been lying to her. She wasn't stupid. How could a militia member be this powerful?
In fact, neither she nor Roman had even begun to master swordsmanship. They didn't understand that a swordsman's level was truly judged by the balance of speed, strength, and technique. Brando's speed and strength were still far from enough. But in terms of technique alone—thanks to his past experience, he could barely execute many techniques that lower-ranked swordsmen had never even imagined.
But this actually meant little, because without the corresponding level of strength to support them, many techniques were nothing more than empty forms. His leap just now, for example, had only worked because the Withered Beast's Agility was low. If he were facing another person, he would never casually use such a move.
Come on, without awakening the "Elements," wouldn't he just be a target in midair?
Brando had no time to enjoy the astonishment of the two beautiful women. He had already noticed more Withered Beasts climbing up. He hurriedly signaled Freya and Roman to continue upward, while he instinctively glanced at the two piles of Withered Beast ashes. It was like a sort of gaming instinct. It was rather amusing—he simply wanted to see whether they had dropped any equipment.
But naturally, there was nothing.
It seemed things were still somewhat different from the game. Didn't Withered Beasts basically drop one or two copper coins? He couldn't help shaking his head before turning around, grabbing the rock wall, and climbing up.
A juvenile Withered Beast had 1.2 Energy Levels of Agility. Although an adult's strength and physique far exceeded those of monsters at the same level, its Agility was even lower, only two-thirds that of a juvenile. Brando had 2.1 Energy Levels, and Freya, as a militia member who had received standard training, couldn't be lower than 1.2 Energy Levels either. Only Roman was somewhat weaker among the three, but with Brando and Freya's help, they still weren't much slower.
Thus, the three of them climbed along the sharp rocks, gradually widening the distance between themselves and the shrub monsters. The latter had seemingly endless stamina, however, and pursued them relentlessly. Several minutes passed in this chase.
This was when the advantage of Physique became apparent. Apart from Brando, who was still neither flushed nor out of breath, Freya had begun to pant lightly. As for Roman, her small face had long since gone as white as paper. Yet when Brando offered to carry her, she refused stubbornly.
Brando couldn't help looking back. The monsters were trailing several dozen meters behind them. Fortunately, their intelligence wasn't enough to support an attempt to circle around ahead of them. Otherwise, the three of them would have been finished long ago. Even so, this wasn't a solution. It was only a matter of time before they were caught, and a juvenile Withered Beast's 3 Energy Levels of Physique were higher than Brando's.
He couldn't help looking toward the distant cliff. Fortunately, it wasn't far away anymore.
But at precisely that moment, Roman shouted breathlessly, "Brando, look over there—!"
Their protagonist instinctively turned his head. His eyes narrowed as he saw a giant Withered Beast, roughly three people tall and moving with astonishing speed, emerge from a crevice in the rocks and appear in front of them.
What the hell! An elite individual—a patrol leader! If Brando had encountered something like this in the game, he probably would have been delighted for half a day. But now, he only felt like cursing. This was an altered version of the Withered Beast that had shared the Blood of the Golden Tree. Not only were its Physique and Strength exceptional, but its 1.7 Energy Levels of Agility were also no worse.
"Freya, Roman, get to the cliff. There are grappling hooks in the backpack. As long as you find a way to climb up, these low-level demon servants won't be able to follow for the time being!" He made the decision at once, took off his backpack, and threw it to Roman. He was the only man here, so of course he had to take responsibility for holding off the rear guard.
In the game, male and female players were equal. But as a basic matter of online etiquette, the male character in a team usually took the initiative to handle the rear guard. So at this moment, Brando made his decision almost without thinking.
"I'm staying with you," Freya said.
Brando glanced at her and saw the resolve on the future Valkyrie's face. Knowing he couldn't persuade her, he could only nod. Besides, he truly needed a helper. At the very least, Freya could fill that role admirably, unlike Roman, who skipped militia training every few days and was determined to become a merchant.
"Roman, go. We're counting on you now."
"Mm, Brando!" The Merchant's Daughter understood, of course. She hugged Brando's backpack and nodded desperately before turning and running in that direction.
The Elite Withered Beast reached them in a few leaps, while the Withered Beast herd in the distance was still roughly forty meters away. Brando and Freya exchanged a glance and estimated that they had about thirty seconds to finish this battle.
"Its claws are three meters long, so watch their range and spread out. It can also shoot the thorns on its body. They're poisonous, so be careful to dodge them head-on—"
Freya gripped the sword in her hand nervously and took a breath. Although she didn't know why Brando knew all this, she also knew he wouldn't lie to her. Thus, she tried her best to remain calm and nodded.
Brando flexed his hand. It felt somewhat stiff; the Paralysis Toxin had begun to take effect. He opened the panel and saw that his Agility had already dropped by 0.1 Energy Levels. Even so, he couldn't help glancing at the Elite Withered Beast and sighing inwardly. In the game, an Elite Withered Beast serving as a patrol leader only dropped money—more than ten silver coins. Surely he wouldn't get no benefit at all here?
Thinking about what had happened before, that seemed entirely possible.
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