Realm of Certain Death? (3)

Five minutes later, the battle ended.

After Li Wei slit its neck with his hunting knife, the Rathian's massive body collapsed to the ground, utterly dead. Li Wei, too, slumped to the ground, panting heavily.

"The Yian Kut-Ku is nothing compared to a real flying dragon monster. The Rathian is a true monster, it's incredibly powerful!" Li Wei exclaimed sincerely, staring at the Rathian's corpse.

He knew very well that this Rathian was only a lower-level creature; if it were a higher-level one, it was uncertain who would live or die today. Thinking of the higher-level Tigrex from last night, Li Wei's expression grew increasingly serious.

"Even an A2-level creature is no match for a high-ranking Tigrex. Is this the difference?" Li Wei clenched his fists tightly. This was a rare situation he had encountered since entering Shadow Street.

In the past, his opponents were all human. Whether they were characters from the story world or reincarnators, they all had their weaknesses. By using his strengths and attacking their weaknesses, he was naturally invincible. In fact, apart from the initial trial when Li Wei encountered a life-threatening situation, all other missions went smoothly.

Because as long as it's a mission, there will never be a true death situation; as long as it's a mission, there will always be a 'way out.' What Li Wei needs to do is seize the 'way out' and perfectly complete the mission.

But this time, the way to survive is a direct confrontation of strength, and the monsters in this mission world are definitely stronger than the reincarnators. It's difficult to make up for this 'disadvantage' with schemes and calculations.

Just like when facing Rathian, even if Li Wei accurately predicted the opponent's attack methods and brought the Rathian to the brink of death, a simple counterattack from this monster could instantly take Li Wei's life.

Life and death hung in the balance; this was the result of a severe imbalance of power!

Is it a dead end?

No, Li Wei didn't think so. In this mission world, one could collect materials to craft armor and weapons to fight monsters, which was the 'way out' of this mission. Imagine if he didn't have armor; Li Wei would have been instantly killed in that attack.

Wu Yue, who died last night, also met the same fate. Despite having a way out, he blindly believed in his own abilities, and as a result, he met a tragic end, dying in the jaws of beasts.

Furthermore, it's essential to study the monster's attack patterns. Li Wei believes he's better at this than anyone else; last night, he had already roughly memorized the Tigrex's movements.

Therefore, the key to this mission is to craft powerful armor that can withstand Tigrex's attacks, weapons that can penetrate its armor, and to become familiar with and counter the monster's attack methods; otherwise, certain death is inevitable!

At that point, it will truly be a situation of certain death.

After resting for about ten minutes, Li Wei, somewhat exhausted, stood up, walked to the Rathian, and began harvesting materials.

"Obtained Rathian scale..."

"Obtained the Rathian's fire pouch..."

"Obtained the Fire Dragon's Fluid..."

"Obtained the Essence of the Fire Dragon..."

These were the materials Li Wei had dug from the Rathian's corpse and severed tail—a truly bountiful harvest. Like other monsters, the corpse would disappear after the materials were taken.

After the Rathian's corpse disappeared, only devastation remained, demonstrating the intensity of the battle. However, Li Wei knew that an even more brutal battle awaited him.

On the list of materials for crafting the weapon 'Beast Soul', Li Wei had already obtained all the materials obtainable from the Rathian. This meant that Li Wei had already killed one of the six great flying wyverns. He could have still searched for traces of the Rathalos in these hills, but given Li Wei's current condition, if he were to encounter Rathalos, he might be the one who gets killed. Therefore, Li Wei decided to return to the Hunter Village to rest and recuperate, and also to change his armor and weapons.

Li Wei took out the Farcaster and slammed it down at his feet.

Thousands of miles away in the desert, the great wizard sat on a huge boulder, meditating and recovering his magic. Last night's battle had made him truly realize how terrifying this world was.

That a single monster could be so powerful; if Liu Yuchen hadn't appeared at the end, he probably would have died in the jaws of that Tigrex, just like Wu Yue.

Beside the Grand Wizard, Liu Yuchen sat quietly on the ground, holding a huge sword.

"Your actions last night were too reckless!" Liu Yuchen suddenly said.

His tone lacked any respect for an A2-level expert; on the contrary, it carried a hint of reproach. However, the Grand Wizard, contrary to his usual behavior, wasn't angry. Instead, he chuckled and said, "I did miscalculate. I didn't expect the high-ranking Tigrex to be this strong. If you hadn't arrived in time, my old bones would probably be in grave danger!"

"If I hadn't used 'Void Stealth' to escape in the end, I would have been killed by that Tigrex. So, we still need to reconsider the mission!" Liu Yuchen waved his hand, ending the brief conversation.

A glint of light flashed in the great wizard's eyes. He didn't speak further, but closed his eyes and continued meditating.

Hunter Village, Blacksmith Shop.

The blacksmith's wife sat on the wooden platform in front of the door, clutching Li Wei's Hunter Armor that he had taken off. After a long while, she said, "You really risked your life! If that Rathian had been any stronger, it would have torn your belly open. Even a god couldn't have saved you!"

Li Wei, on the other side, could only force a smile, "Grandma, I have some materials here. Could you please make me another piece of armor? Also, I'd appreciate it if you could make me a weapon too!"

The blacksmith woman shook her head and went back into the house.

A moment later, she took out a piece of armor made of a mixture of metal and Fire Dragon skin and handed it to Li Wei, along with a bone greatsword.

"This was made with your materials. The quality is just average, but it's much better than this Hunter Armor and high-grade hunting knife. Oh, and give me the materials for making the 'Beast Soul' too, so you don't lose them!" the blacksmith granny reminded her.

After thinking it over, Li Wei decided it would be safer to hand it over to the blacksmith's wife first, since no one in this hunter's village dared to mess with her.

During this process, many reincarnators came to buy and make armor and weapons. However, these tasks were all handed over to the blacksmith's two disciples. As for Li Wei, who killed the A-level expert Lin Kun, he was already known to the reincarnators in this mission world, so they all avoided Li Wei like the plague.

With new weapons and armor, Li Wei ventured out of the village again. This time, he also bought a barbecue grill. In this mission world, you can obtain the item 'barbecue' by cutting and cooking the meat of wild creatures, which can restore stamina to some extent after consumption.

Wearing brand-new armor, Li Wei flew through the air towards another Jungle.

This armor is the 'Rathian Armor', while the rest of the body remains in Hunter Armor, though its defensive capabilities are significantly stronger than before.

The weapon was a greatsword called 'Colossus,' made of a mixture of dragon bone and metal, possessing astonishing destructive power. However, this sword was extremely heavy; according to the blacksmith granny, the density of dragon bone itself was very high, almost comparable to metal. As for why she was given this greatsword instead of the small one-handed knife she had initially chosen, the blacksmith granny kept it a secret, saying that she would find out later.

Li Wei tried it out, and sure enough, the greatsword was incredibly destructive. It only took two strikes to take down an ordinary Velociprey, provided that the strikes hit vital points.

After flying for about an hour, Li Wei found himself surrounded by dense forest. Looking around at the terrain, Li Wei nodded and then leaped down.

This is where he first encountered the Yian Garuga.

If you want to acquire hearing protection (Earplugs) skill equipment, the Yian Garuga Helmet is a pretty good choice. Of course, the materials needed to craft this helmet also come from the Yian Garuga.

Carrying the 'Colossus' on his back, Li Wei searched through the dense Jungle, encountering several Velociprey which he quickly dealt with. Soon, Li Wei sensed a 'roar' coming from afar.

"Yian Garuga?" Li Wei remembered the sound and quickly moved forward.

Judging from the sound, it seemed that someone had already begun hunting the Yian Garuga. If someone beat him to it, Li Wei would suffer a great loss. So he quickened his pace and flew towards the direction from which the sound came.

At this moment, there were indeed people hunting Yian Garuga, but these hunters were suffering heavy casualties. The ground was littered with mangled corpses, clearly torn apart by sharp claws. In addition, five people were still fighting with the Yian Garuga.

Among them were Bao Ling and Sharp Axe, both acquaintances of Li Wei.

After leaving the meeting place, the two went to the village chief and accepted the mission.

Indeed, things are as Li Wei and the others said: Reincarnators with combat power below A-level can receive missions from the village chief, and the difficulty of the missions varies depending on the Reincarnator's combat power.

Bao Ling is B3 level, Sharp Axe is B2 level, so the missions they receive are naturally different. Bao Ling's mission is to hunt Plesioth, while Sharp Axe's mission is to hunt Yian Garuga.

In this mission world, because hunting missions are the main focus, many reincarnators who receive the same mission will temporarily team up to carry out the mission. Therefore, Sharp Axe joined a hunting team of seventeen people, and Bao Ling joined to help.

The makeshift team quickly located the Yian Garuga's habitat. However, to their utter surprise, the Yian Garuga was incredibly powerful.

In a single encounter, they killed the temporary squad leader, a B2-level reincarnator with druidic nature powers. The remaining members also died one by one in the ensuing battle, leaving only Bao Ling, Sharp Axe, and three other reincarnators.

However, it seems unlikely that this can last much longer.