Elite Withered Beast

"You're going to scold me, aren't you, Brando?"

"No, hurry over. Be careful." Seeing Romane's cautious demeanor, Brando couldn't help but feel both exasperated and amused. He looked up; three young Withered Beasts had already appeared on the rock they had occupied earlier. He then looked around again. These shrub monsters had already surrounded them from all sides in just a short while. After that undead squad was wiped out, they became the sole targets in the canyon. Especially since the future merchant lady was holding the glowing Gleaming Thorn, a magic weapon that was like a torch in the darkness, attracting these magical servants of the Golden Tree.

And it was indeed like a torch in the darkness.

Brando could almost hear the Golden Demon Tree's craving for magic screaming in his mind, but he didn't dare to even think about it. Time was urgent, and they might even encounter Treants. They had to leave this place before that happened. He turned back to ask Freya, "How is it, can you still hold on?"

Freya nodded.

"Then we'll go up from the other side. Hold your sword and be careful." As he spoke, he handed the girl's sword back to her. Although the Withered Beasts had occupied the high ground from this side, there wasn't a single shrub monster on the opposite side.

In fact, these animated plants were not fast. Their climbing efficiency on the crisscrossing rocks was only about the same as an ordinary person. However, they had the advantage of numbers and familiarity with the terrain, as well as high constitution, which meant excellent stamina and resilience. Brando knew he had to find a way to stop these monsters.

He couldn't help but look up towards higher ground.

Freya placed her bloodied hand on the rock face, wincing in pain. But she gritted her teeth, tore a piece of cloth from her sleeve to wrap her hand, and then climbed up, gripping the sharp, pointed stones.

Seeing this, Brando couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. But he didn't have much time. He took the Gleaming Thorn from Romane's hand, protected her as she climbed, and then turned back. Two young Withered Beasts were already climbing up from below.

"Brando, hurry up!" Romane's voice called out.

Freya's face had also turned pale with nervousness, and she immediately propped herself on the rock and reached out her hand to him.

But Brando had no time to respond. Those two shrub monsters had no intelligence; they had already half-raised themselves and were hissing threats at the young man.

In a sense, Withered Beasts were not considered intelligent life forms to begin with. They were merely puppets of the Golden Demon Tree.

Brando slashed the sword in his hand. A faint glow in the darkness made the two monsters flinch back slightly, but just as he was about to take this opportunity to turn back and grab the future Valkyrie's hand, they let out a low growl and pounced.

Seeking death!

Brando's anger flared. He used his 2.1 Energy Level agility to push off the rock face, flying through the air over the heads of the two shrub monsters. The moment his feet touched the ground, his upper body was already in the most standard attacking stance.

A horizontal slash.

Freya gasped, "Ah," and only then did she realize how far she was from Brando. Her talent was not outstanding, but her greatest pride was her ability to be more hardworking and focused than others. Her being the top swordsman in the Bucci Militia wasn't due to her exceptional swordsmanship talent, as few people noticed the sweat she poured into it.

This was also why Maden admired her and made her the militia captain.

But her swordsmanship foundation was merely solid. Brando, however, was like tempered steel, and if one word could describe him, it would be "clean and efficient."

One slash, one head falls, not a single mistake.

The headless Withered Beast sprouted a ring of silver fire from its severed neck and immediately turned into a fiery figure, collapsing to the ground. The other Withered Beast let out a piercing shriek and swung a claw that grew incredibly long. In fact, the Withered Beast's claws were much longer than most people realized, but they rarely showed it before attacking, causing many to meet their demise. However, it couldn't fool Brando.

As if! He had been tricked once in the game, how could he fall into the same trap again?

Therefore, he had long been prepared for this. He raised his sword to block, and the shrub monster's claw struck the Gleaming Thorn, exploding in a burst of silver sparks. The Withered Beast shrieked and retreated repeatedly, but Brando, though confused, couldn't pass up such a good offensive opportunity.

He lunged forward, the elven sword in his hand cutting a striking silver line. In fact, he had performed such aggressive attacks countless times in the game, and he was very familiar with them. It was just that his physical attributes and skills at this moment were far from catching up, making him feel very awkward, especially the timing of his sword strikes, which were off by miles.

He thought that a swordsman of the Iron rank could easily dodge this sword strike, but unfortunately, the young Withered Beast didn't have that capability yet.

A sword through the throat.

Hot silver flames rose from both sides of the leaf-shaped blade, and in an instant, the Withered Beast turned into a pile of ashes. Six golden orbs of light danced in the night sky before merging into Brando's chest.

To be honest, the "purification" effect on undead and dark creatures was far beyond Brando's imagination, but he had never seen anything like it in the game, so he had nothing to compare it to—

"Brando, you're actually this strong!" Romane exclaimed, stunned.

Freya was even more speechless. She had initially believed Brando was a member of the Brags Militia. But thinking about it now, it seemed more likely that this young man had deceived her. She wasn't stupid; how could a militiaman be this powerful?

However, both her and Romane's swordsmanship hadn't even begun to scratch the surface. They didn't understand that a true swordsman's level was judged by the balance of speed, strength, and technique. Brando's speed and strength were still far from it. But if one were to talk about technique alone—due to his past experience, he could still barely execute techniques that many lower-level swordsmen wouldn't even consider.

But this was essentially meaningless, as many techniques without the corresponding strength level to support them were just a facade. For example, his aerial maneuver just now was only possible because he took advantage of the Withered Beast's low agility. If he were facing someone else, he would never casually use such a move.

As if! Without activating his "Elements," wouldn't he just be a target in mid-air?

However, Brando had no time to enjoy the astonishment of the two beauties. He had noticed more Withered Beasts climbing up. He quickly gestured to Freya and Romane to continue upwards, while he subconsciously glanced at the ashes of the two Withered Beasts. It was like an instinct from the game, which was funny—he just wanted to see if any equipment had dropped.

But, as expected, there was none.

It seemed there were still some differences from the game. Didn't Withered Beasts have a basic drop of one to two copper coins? He couldn't help but shake his head and turned back to grab the rock face and climb.

The agility of young Withered Beasts was 1.2 Energy Levels. Although adult Withered Beasts far surpassed monsters of the same level in strength and constitution, their agility was actually lower, only two-thirds that of the young ones. Brando had 2.1 Energy Levels, and Freya, as a properly trained militiaman, wouldn't be lower than 1.2 Energy Levels. Among the three of them, only Romane was slightly weaker, but with Brando and Freya's help, their speed wouldn't be much slower.

Thus, the three of them climbed up along the sharp rocks, gradually widening the distance between themselves and those shrub monsters. However, the latter had invincible stamina and relentlessly pursued them. The chase lasted for several minutes.

It was at this time that the advantage of constitution became apparent. Except for Brando, who was still breathing steadily, Freya was already starting to pant a little. As for Romane, her little face had long turned as pale as paper, but when Brando offered to carry her, she adamantly refused.

Brando couldn't help but look back. Those monsters were about tens of meters behind them. Fortunately, their intelligence was not enough to support them in flanking ahead, otherwise, they would have been in trouble long ago. But even so, this couldn't go on. Being caught was only a matter of time. The constitution of the young Withered Beasts, at 3 Energy Levels, was even higher than Brando's.

He couldn't help but look up at the distant cliff. Fortunately, it wasn't far now.

But just then, Romane, out of breath, shouted, "Brando, look over there—!"

Their protagonist subconsciously turned his head, his eyes narrowing. He saw a giant Withered Beast, about three meters tall and moving with great speed, emerge from a rock crevice and appear in front of them.

What the hell! An elite individual, a patrol leader! If he encountered something like this in the game, Brando would probably be happy for a long time, but now he only felt like cursing. This thing was an mutated version of a Withered Beast that had shared the Blood of the Golden Tree. Not only did it have outstanding constitution and strength, but its agility of 1.7 Energy Levels was also not inferior.

"Freya, Romane, you go to the cliff. There's a grappling hook in the backpack. As long as you can climb up, these low-level magical servants won't be able to catch up for now!" He decisively took off his backpack and threw it to Romane. He was the only man here, so of course, he had to take responsibility for covering their retreat.

In the game, although male and female players were equal, as a basic form of online etiquette, in most situations, the male character would take the initiative to cover the retreat in a team. Therefore, Brando made this decision almost without thinking.

"I'll go with you," Freya said.

Brando glanced at her, seeing the seriousness on the face of this future Valkyrie. Knowing he couldn't persuade her, he could only nod. However, this was also because he genuinely needed a helper. At least Freya could excellently fill this role, unlike Romane, who was often lazy during militia training and aspired to be a merchant.

"Romane, go quickly! We're counting on you now."

"Okay, Brando!" The merchant lady obviously understood. Clutching Brando's backpack, she nodded fiercely before turning and running in that direction.

The Elite Withered Beast leaped several times to reach them, while the pack of Withered Beasts in the distance was still about forty meters away. Brando and Freya exchanged glances, estimating they had about thirty seconds to end this fight.

"This thing's claws are three meters long, so be mindful of its attack range. Let's stand a bit further apart. Also, it shoots thorns from its body, and the thorns are poisonous. Make sure to dodge its frontal attacks—"

Freya gripped her sword tightly, a little nervous. She took a deep breath. Although she didn't know why Brando knew these things, she knew he wouldn't lie to her. Thus, she tried her best to remain calm and nodded.

Brando clenched his fist, feeling a bit stiff. The paralyzing poison from before was starting to take effect. He opened his status panel and saw that his Agility had dropped by 0.1 Energy Level. Still, he couldn't help but glance at the Elite Withered Beast, sighing a little. In the game, Elite Withered Beasts, as patrol leaders, only dropped money, a little over ten silver coins. Surely it wouldn't be completely without benefit here?

Thinking back, it didn't seem impossible.

(PS. So few favorites, please favorite! So few recommendations, please recommend. So few clicks, please click. All the stats are so low, I'm rolling around begging!)