After accepting the quest, Wu Shaozhen saw its destination marked on the map and followed the route ahead. He crossed Black Bear Ridge and walked for quite a while longer before suddenly spotting a long fence forming a wall ahead. A large gate stood in the middle, guarded by two men dressed like bandits.
This area had originally been blacked out on the map and only lit up once he arrived. The map labeled it Black Wind Ridge, so the place ahead should be Black Wind Stronghold.
Wu Shaozhen crept closer and cast Insight on one of the bandits.
[Black Wind Stronghold Bandit] Level: 20 Health: 40,000 Physical attack: 450 Physical defense: 230 Spell defense: 150 Movement speed: 78 Skill: Eat My Blade: Swings the broadsword in its hands in a forward slash, dealing 160% physical attack damage to the target. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Level 20 monsters. Not bad, they shouldn't be too hard. Should I start clearing them here, or grind level 19 monsters first? Will fighting monsters six levels above me make me level up too fast?
Forget it. Since my talent has a cap, there's no need to look for level 19 monsters. I'll start grinding here.
Wu Shaozhen moved a little closer and was soon spotted.
"Who dares approach Black Wind Stronghold? Seize him!" The bandits didn't bother with courtesy and went straight for the capture. Both charged at Wu Shaozhen.
"Oh? Getting a little full of yourselves, aren't you?" Wu Shaozhen wasn't happy. These guys were way too arrogant.
He activated Extreme Speed, raising his movement speed above three hundred and his attack speed to 104%, or two strikes per second. He rushed in, struck each bandit twice, then ran away. After putting some distance between them, he activated Stealth and leisurely watched the two bandits inch toward death. Each poison stack dealt 337 damage per second, so two stacks dealt 674-just enough to kill them in a minute.
Just then, he felt something sweep over him, breaking his stealth. Two arrows struck him immediately afterward.
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"Shit, there are archers too?" Wu Shaozhen looked in the direction the arrows had come from. There were two arrow towers flanking the gate, each with an archer stationed inside. He hurried away from the towers and cast Insight on one of them.
[Black Wind Stronghold Guard] Level: 20 Health: 38,000 Physical attack: 480 Physical defense: 180 Spell defense: 120 Attack speed: 100% Movement speed: 85 Skill: Eagle Eye: Enhances vision and arrow accuracy. Can see through stealth skills.
"Damn, why did this guy have to have Eagle Eye? This is going to be tricky," Wu Shaozhen said, speechless. One alone wasn't much of a threat. His defense was high, so an archer could only deal a little over two hundred damage to him per hit. But their attack speed was fast-two arrows per second each meant four hits a second from the pair, costing him eight or nine hundred health every second. Their range was absurd, too. He had been attacked while at least a dozen meters from the towers. Even with Extreme Speed, reaching a tower would take three seconds, making it six seconds for a round trip. Six seconds? No question about it-he'd be dead.
"I can't fight them," Wu Shaozhen said helplessly. Then he spotted Silver Big Bad Wolf trailing far behind him, and his eyes lit up. How had he forgotten about his pet? He usually had no use for the wolf while grinding, but that didn't mean the wolf was weak. Now at level 12 with A-grade aptitude, Silver Big Bad Wolf had grown considerably stronger.
[Silver Big Bad Wolf] Pet Aptitude: A Level: 12 Health: 14,200 Mana: 1,300 Physical attack: 400 Physical defense: 280 Spell defense: 140 Speed: 60
Going purely by those stats, the wolf could already wipe the floor with Wu Shaozhen. His speed was a little low, but that wasn't a problem. After returning a pet to the pet space, its owner could choose where to summon it. He could summon the wolf directly beneath an arrow tower to tank the damage. With over ten thousand health and 280 defense, the wolf could take it.
"Nice, nice. If I replace my pet later, I should get a defensive one to tank damage. The Silver Wolf King is an offensive type, but he's already pretty tanky."
Soon, the two blade-wielding bandits fell to the ground. Not bothering to pick up the few copper coins they dropped, Wu Shaozhen returned Silver Big Bad Wolf to the pet space. He waited a minute for the summoning cooldown to end, then summoned the wolf beneath an arrow tower. Sure enough, both archer guards immediately began shooting at the Silver Wolf King.
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Damage numbers of 200 rose one after another above Silver Big Bad Wolf's head.
Wu Shaozhen didn't dare waste time. Silver Big Bad Wolf was buying these seconds with his health. He activated Extreme Speed and rushed forward.
In three seconds, he reached the base of the first tower. He climbed up, slashed twice in quick succession, and ran. With only thirty-eight thousand health, the archer guard would die to two poison stacks.
Once attacked, the guard switched targets from Silver Big Bad Wolf to Wu Shaozhen. Two arrows per second sent Wu Shaozhen scrambling, leaving him no chance to attack the second guard.
"Too hot here! Retreat!"
Wu Shaozhen hurriedly called Silver Big Bad Wolf to run. He couldn't return a pet to the pet space while it was in combat. Fortunately, the wolf was tough enough to still have over eight thousand health after escaping their attack range.
Now he just had to wait for that guard to die from the poison. The remaining one would be much easier to handle. But if just the entrance was this difficult, there might be loads of archers inside. What the hell was he supposed to do then?
"Sigh. One step at a time."
The first archer soon died. After waiting a little longer for Silver Big Bad Wolf's health to refill, Wu Shaozhen sent him forward again to draw fire, then quickly rushed in himself, slashed twice, and ran.
Before long, the second archer died from the poison as well. Level 20 monsters gave a full 300 experience each. With the 60% bonus for fighting monsters six levels above him, that became 480 experience per monster. Even after sharing 20% with Silver Big Bad Wolf, the four bandits had earned Wu Shaozhen 1,536 experience.
After the second archer died, what sounded like an alarm bell suddenly rang inside the stronghold. Bandits immediately began rushing out.
"Holy shit, they can do that?" Seeing things turn ugly, Wu Shaozhen put Silver Big Bad Wolf away and took off.
Sure enough, he hadn't run far before looking back to find the entire entrance packed with bandits. Some carried blades, some shields, some bows, and others staves.
"Damn, good thing I ran fast, or I'd have gotten a free trip back to town." Wu Shaozhen was frustrated. Were these bandits really that well equipped? They were practically an army.
"I really dug myself into a hole." Wu Shaozhen looked at the mob behind him, uneasy. Among the hundred-plus bandits who had come out, over twenty were archers and nearly ten were mages. Getting close meant instant death. Even Silver Big Bad Wolf wouldn't last more than a few seconds.
"What now? I'll have to lure them out separately and kill them, but the archers all have the same aggro range. I'll die as soon as I get close."
"Sigh, not having ranged damage is such a pain. And they happen to counter an assassin's stealth perfectly. So annoying." Wu Shaozhen looked at the three scrolls sitting in his bag: a [Luck Scroll], a [Damage Immunity Scroll], and a [Petrified Skin Scroll].
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Wasn't this the perfect time to use the [Petrified Skin Scroll] he had previously scorned?
His current physical defense was 246. Using the scroll would raise it to 492, leaving those guys completely unable to break through his defense. His spell defense would also reach 432, which should let him withstand ten mages without much trouble. Although he didn't know their stats, they were probably similar to the others, with spell attack no higher than 500.
Most importantly, the scroll lasted five minutes-plenty of time for him to apply two poison stacks to every archer and mage.
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