Slaying the Scouts

Under the hazy darkness of night.

Soren's figure darted out, weaving through the dense tropical jungle at high speed towards the distance. He wasn't unfamiliar with this terrain; years ago, when he came to the Overseas Islands to complete a Legendary Tier mission, Soren had clashed with the most skilled Tracker among the natives. These guys possessed incredibly powerful tracking abilities, able to track targets through footprints, scents, and the environment. Soren's own tracking skills had improved considerably from his encounters with them.

Snap!

Soren lightly touched a large tree with his toes and then slowly landed on the ground.

There were many messy footprints before him. Although much of them were covered by weeds, the traces left by rapid movement and changes of position were still very clear. Soren raised his hand and parted the weeds to search, finding traces of something being dragged away, somewhat like heel marks left by scraping the ground. He found a little dark red blood, but not much, indicating that the battle had ended quickly. Soren could already imagine what had happened: his pirate scouts had been suddenly attacked, and before they could react, most of them were killed, one of them managed to escape, while the others were dragged away.

"They all look like experts!"

A cold glint flashed in Soren's eyes, and a Cruelty expression appeared on his face. He slowly said, "Take out these scouts first. They seem to be the elite of the native tribes!"

Jungle warfare is different from flatland warfare.

The most common battles here are skirmishes and ambushes. Even a fourth-tier professional can die at the hands of a lower-tier professional skilled in tracking and hiding. This is because there are too many environments for ambushes and many natural traps that can be used. Many skilled Tracker can kill other professionals who are five levels or more higher here. The most dangerous abilities of these natives are tracking, hiding, and trapping, followed by their use of Blowgun and hidden weapons.

But!

This time, they might not be so lucky. Because the Rogue are also experts in this area!

Soren moved swiftly along the trail of grass. His tracking skills weren't exceptional, but they weren't so bad that he'd lose track of tracks left only today. Skilled Ranger could even trace tracks left days ago, and identify the type of enemy who left them. Therefore, Soren always valued his tracking abilities. He moved quickly along the grass, certain that the elite natives hadn't returned to the tribe. Because they wouldn't know the number of Soren's men unless they approached the camp.

--"Shadow Hide!"

After crossing a stream, Soren's figure gradually disappeared into the night.

He heard a slight noise.

It was a scream!

It seemed that not all the pirate scouts sent out during the day had perished; one or two had been brought back alive. A murderous glint appeared in Soren's eyes. Enveloped in shadow, he approached the mountain wall from which the faint screams had come. Many parts of the Overseas Islands resembled the Ireland coastline; the terrain here was completely different from the Southern Continental Shelf. Before Soren lay a natural cave, suggesting the enemy was quite familiar with the surrounding terrain. This cave had likely been untouched for a long time.

It was somewhat dark inside, and the cave wasn't very deep.

Soren heard another faint scream and saw a faint light inside the cave, suggesting there was another corner in the cave.

He didn't recklessly Stealth in.

Soren reached out and touched the ground, carefully observing his surroundings. His Darkvision allowed him to see as clearly as in daylight, and he quickly discovered a rather clever alarm trap. The natives were cunning, and their living environment was harsh; someone who could so easily wipe out the pirate scouts Soren had sent out couldn't possibly be completely unprepared at night.

Soren's trap skills aren't enough!

He glanced at it and knew he might not be able to dismantle the trap without making a sound. And even if he were lucky enough to do so, it would take far too long. He watched as Soren reached out and clung to the edge of the cave, then crawled in little by little along the corner, almost suspended in mid-air, just managing to avoid the alarm trap by a centimeter or two.

Anyone who touches the trap will be immediately alerted!

The screams continued.

The cave was filled with loose rocks, so Soren had to move carefully. He heard Common and a native language, but he couldn't make out what they were saying because screams from inside interrupted the conversation.

It seems like they're interrogating me!

Soren dared not be careless. His figure approached slowly in the darkness. As he rounded a corner, the scene before him came into view. He saw five natives smeared with paint. These natives had dark skin, but it wasn't like that of a typical Black person; rather, it seemed to be a mixture of Black and Native American skin. These men had larger bone structures, noticeably larger than those of Continent Native. They were torturing a pirate scout. The pirate being tortured was already mangled beyond recognition, his breathing very weak, and he didn't seem to last much longer.

There was a native man nearby who looked different; the only obvious difference was that he wasn't covered in paint.

A cold glint flashed in Soren's eyes!

He recognized the native as one of his escaped Slave, and because he understood the Common, he was helping to translate the interrogated information into the native language.

One, two, three, four, five.

Soren's eyes were filled with murderous intent. He crept closer to his enemy, who seemed to be the leader of the natives and had been asking questions.

"Backstab!"

--"Shadow Assassination!"

A cold, gleaming light suddenly flashed!

Soren's figure emerged from the shadows, his Legendary Scimitar, Icetail, flashing with a cold light as it pierced the heart of the native chieftain in an instant. The blade tip went through his chest from his back, and before the man could even process the shock on his face, he died by Soren's hand.

A row of data quickly appeared:

"Successfully Shadow Hide!"

"Shadow Assassination Initiated!"

"Backstab activated!"

"Backstab successfully executed, dealing 116 (+10) piercing damage to the target!... Piercing the target's heart!... Triggered a lethal Saving Throw throw!... Target's lethal Saving Throw throw failed!..."

"Target dead!"

"Extracted target's Soul Energy, gaining 3250 Slaughter Experience points."

Data on the Slaughter Experience came to light.

Soren Neutral guessed the opponent's approximate strength; he was likely an enemy of class level 15 or higher, a chieftain-level figure in a native tribe. The opponent appeared to have more than a hundred Hit Points points, but because the heart had been pierced, the opponent hadn't passed the lethal Saving Throw check, so he couldn't withstand the attacks for as long as some of the enemies Soren had encountered in the past.

--"Sword Momentum: Whirlwind Dance!"

After ambushing Backstab the enemy leader, Soren did not retreat. On the contrary, he charged forward, conjuring another Scimitar in his hands, which he spun around and slashed at the other two enemies in front of him.

Caught off guard!

This is the most common reaction to a surprise attack. Many people are caught off guard, which greatly reduces their ability to Dodge and Parry.

This is when your abilities are truly tested.

One native almost instinctively dodged to the side, then rolled away to create distance. However, the other native was a fraction of a second slower and was cleaved in the chest by Soren's blade, with a large section of his lung severed. The former was a native with the Evasion Feat, while the latter clearly lacked a strong Dodge Feat and would inevitably be a fraction of a second slower in the face of an unexpected situation.

Slurp!

The natives reacted quickly to the sudden appearance of Soren, who had killed their leader.

They launched a swift counterattack.

However, instead of drawing his weapon, he swiftly pulled out a Blowgun, and with a few faint flashes of cold light, Steel Needle- like Blowgun shot out, hitting Soren's body, but failing to achieve their intended effect.

--"Stoneskin!"

The Blowgun failed to penetrate Soren's Stoneskin; these highly anesthetic Blowgun were completely ineffective.

Clang!

The Blowgun fell to the ground, but Soren suddenly leaped out and slashed at the heavily wounded enemy with his sword.

A row of data quickly appeared:

"Shadow Assassination Initiated!"

"You dealt 56 (+10) points of cleavage damage to the target!... You dealt 26 points of cleavage damage to the target!..."

"Target dead!"

"Extracted target 'Soul Energy, gaining 2150 Slaughter Experience points."

Soren's sword strikes are incredibly fast!

Almost simultaneously, as the Icetail blade in his right hand struck the enemy, the Scimitar in his left hand also cleaved into the enemy's abdomen. Having mastered [Greater Two-Weapon Fighting], Soren could almost achieve a 'double-edged sword' effect, his two Scimitar capable of fighting independently. As soon as he killed the native before him, his left hand almost instantly reversed direction, parrying the attack from the side, then he lunged forward, swinging his right sword to slash at the enemy's arm.

Clang!

With a spurt of blood, three fingers were severed.

thump.

Soren's twin blades flashed with cold light as he twisted and severed half a hand. At the same time, a distorted shadow appeared beside him, followed by the sight of two heads falling to the ground.

--"Shadow Assassination!"

--"Summon Shadow!"

--"Sword Momentum: Decapitation!"

Soren's gaze was icy, and without the slightest hesitation, as the summoned shadows entangled the enemy, he swung his blade fiercely towards the enemy's head.

Thump!

A headless corpse lay on the ground, Soren was covered in blood, and only one enemy remained before him.

...(To be continued~^~)