"Am I far enough now?" thought Li Wei. He ran for a full 5 minutes, in case the boa would chase after him. Only then did he finally relax. Dying there would be catastrophic. He would be sent to the graveyard at Algate City but his horse would remain there, not only making his trip a waste but he would also have to pay a fine.
He started to relax when he did not see anything chasing after him. Catching up his breath for a moment, Li Wei resumed exploring the area for more Shining Alyssums. He finally had one but needed 4 more to upgrade his ring.
The forest was vast; Shining Alyssums were not the only plants he could collect. Many wild herbs and fruits could also be seen. Li Wei hesitated whether to collect those or not. He had limited inventory space after all but in the end, he decided to collect all of them since he could just toss them away if he needed space. He did not know the price of these items nor their uses, but the more the better.
It did not take long for the area around Li Wei to be emptied of all the collectible resources, especially the wild berry bushes he found. But he did not dare stay for too long in a specific area. Beasts were still roaming around and could kill him easily.
An hour later, Li Wei finally came across his 3rd and 4th Shining Alyssums. He had already found another one after the boa's, in an open area. Since he did not find any beasts nearby, Li Wei stealthily grabbed the lonely flower and added it to his inventory.
Now, Li Wei was hiding inside a bush under the shade of a tree. In front of him, at about 20 meters, two Shining Alyssums were basking into the sunlight. The only problem was, a flock of Scarlet Macaws was playing around the open area. The Scarlet Macaws were level 13 birds. They stood among the weakest beasts of this forest but were very sly and always remained in groups.
The Scarlet Macaws were similar to the parrots near Little Root Town. They had weak bodies and would easily fall after a few strikes but they had relatively high levels due to their ability to fly and sneak attacking. They were good targets for Rangers but the bane of other classes.
In front of Li Wei, 3 Scarlet Macaws were flying in circles, chasing each other. Another group just left the area going deeper into the forest. Three Scarlet Macaws definitely represented a challenge for Li Wei but it was not impossible.
The latter was not thinking of defeating the 3 Scarlet Macaws. That would take a lot of effort and involved too many risks, he just wanted to sneakily take away the Shining Alyssum. Slowly brushing past the leaves, Li Wei took a few steps forward, keeping a reasonable distance from the 3 birds and the flowers.
When he finally estimated that he was in the right spot, Li Wei put back one sword in his inventory before grabbing 2 throwing needles with his free hand. Taking one last look at the surroundings, he broke into a sprint towards the Shining Alyssums.
The 3 Scarlet Macaws immediately noticed the intruder. They stopped playing and shrieked loudly. Scarlet Macaws were very protective of their territory and now, someone was invading it. They immediately gained some height to get a better view of that invader.
As the Scarlet Macaws saw that it was only a human, and a weak one at that, they became furious. How could a puny human invade their territory? The 3 Scarlet Macaws simultaneously dived towards Li Wei. But they instantly saw a ray of light leave the hand of the human and fly towards them.
By instinct, they broke their formation and scattered to avoid the ray of light. Taking a closer look, they quickly saw that it was a shiny piece of metal, but they did not have time to observe it properly as another ray of light was leaving the human's hand.
The 3 Scarlet Macaws became more cautious, they evaded the attack and prepared to attack the human when they suddenly noticed something. The intruder just grabbed the Shining Alyssums of their territory.
"Shriekk"
Enraged, they immediately charged at the human thief but were only greeted by two more throwing needles. They made a quick spin to avoid the needles but this time, they did not retreat but instead gave chase to the thief.
Li Wei was very satisfied, "Already 4... I only need to find one more" said Li Wei to himself, but he did not have much time to enjoy himself as the 3 Scarlet Macaws were flying towards him.
He immediately threw two more throwing needles before escaping as fast as he could. Some of the needles he threw earlier already came back to his belt. The enchantment was very useful. There was only a small delay to the activation of the enchantment. They would return 5 seconds after landing somewhere.
"Shriekk Shriekk". Behind him, Li Wei could hear the flapping of the wings of the Scarlet Macaws and their high-pitched screams. They were clearly calling for reinforcement. He did not dare delay.
Using his sword, Li Wei quickly moved aside some branches in front of him as he continued to run as fast as possible. Fortunately, the forest was not very dense. Li Wei could clearly see in front of him and avoid the obstacles but that also meant that the Scarlet Macaws could easily see him.
He tried to throw more needles at the Scarlet Macaws, but doing that was very hard when he was running, especially since he did not want to slow down to properly aim behind him. The Scarlet Macaws were slowly closing the gaps between them. Li Wei suddenly rolled to the side, barely avoiding the peck of one of the Scarlet Macaws.
"These birds are really persistent," thought Li Wei. Quickly getting up, he tried to escape once more in another direction.
But another Scarlet Macaw flew in front of him to block the way. "Shriek" It immediately flew to peck Li Wei.
"Since you want to get into attack range yourself, then come," exclaimed Li Wei in his heart. He immediately grabbed his other sword from his inventory and took a defensive stance.
As the Scarlet Macaw's beak was about to land on his chest, Li Wei quickly raised his swords in an X shape to protect him. But the other 2 Scarlet Macaws were not idle. They both quickly attacked from different angles, one aiming at his shoulder and another at his leg.
Jumping to the side, Li Wei swung his swords at the 2 Scarlet Macaws trying to sneak attack him. They easily dodged the swords by simply changing their trajectory, one retreated while the other continued forward and landed a few pecks on Li Wei,"-17","-15".
But as the Scarlet Macaw was about to retreat, Li Wei mercilessly struck his sword at the bird's wing,"-21", taking away about a third of its HP.
The Scarlet Macaw was surprised and disoriented, but Li Wei did not have time to follow up as the other 2 Scarlet Macaw immediately came to rescue their friend.
Thinking that the Scarlet Macaws would drop the matter, Li Wei once again tried to escape. Unfortunately, the birds were vengeful; not only did the human steal from them but he also injured one of them. They quickly chased after him but this time, were more cautious.
"F***, these birds really won't let me leave. They just have to wait for a few days for the Shining Alyssum to respawn… There is no need to chase that much!" exclaimed Li Wei. As he ran, he came across several other beasts but fortunately, the beasts did not attack him as he did his best to avoid their aggro range.
Li Wei was already running as fast as possible, but the birds were slowly closing the gap, he felt like a deja-vu. It was the same situation he experienced when chased by the mine bats in the sealed mine, but this time, the environment was much more open.
"Shrieek"
Seeing that they were not dropping the matter, Li Wei got an idea. He quickly took a sharp turn behind a tree to change direction and the 3 birds quickly followed him. A few seconds later, he once again took a turn behind another tree, but this time, he immediately stopped behind the thick stem of the tree, out of view of the birds.
"2"
"1"
"Now"
He internally estimated how long it would take for the birds to go past the tree. It was a gamble. When he thought it was time, Li Wei raised his 2 swords and brought them down.
[Cleave]
The 3 scarlet Macaws had no idea of the trap. They flew in formation and were about to go past the tree when suddenly, they noticed the swords swinging towards them. The 2 Scarlet Macaws at the edge of the formation quickly dispersed to avoid the blades, but the middle one had no time to do so."-31","-22"
Two numbers popped up above the bird's head as the sword went through its body. Coincidentally, it was the Scarlet Macaw that was previously injured by Li Wei. It was flying at the center of the formation since it was the safest place, but it was what cost it its life. It did not even have time to let out a shriek that it fell down, lifeless.
The 2 Scarlet Macaws immediately screamed at the death of their friend and viciously dived towards Li Wei.
The latter did not have time to raise his sword to defend himself and pecks landed on his shoulder,"-14","-16".
[Earth Wall]
As he took damage, Li Wei immediately used his ring's skill, not as a shield but to prevent the Scarlet Macaws from escaping. It was their nature to attack in a hit and run style, and as he predicted, the birds flew back a few meters right after pecking Li Wei.
Unfortunately, a wall of earth was there to block their path. The wall Li Wei chose was very thin, which reduced the time taken for its formation. In Li Wei's plan, the wall did not need to be thick since he thought the birds would not even hit it. They would instead try to avoid it. And he was right. In front of the brown wall, the 2 birds stopped for a moment unsure of what to do, but they quickly picked a direction to escape.
One chose to go around through the right while the other tried to escape from above. But the Scarlet Macaws were unlucky. The second it took them to avoid the wall was all Li Wei needed to raise his sword again.
Seeing one of the Scarlet Macaw trying to go around the earth wall, Li Wei quickly took this opportunity to stab the bird to death. The first sword strike stabbed the Scarlet Macaw at its wing while the second hit its tail, "-21","-24".
The damage dealt was not enough to bring the Scarlet Macaw down; it still had a third of its HP.
But just as the bird successfully arrived at the edge of the earth wall and was about to go around it, it immediately felt a sense of danger. It turned to look at the human as a wind blade flew across its body, taking away the rest of its HP.
"Shriekk"
The third Scarlet Macaw immediately screamed, but it did not dare launch another attack at the human. Even as it saw that the human did not have much HP left, two of its friends already died to the human's tricks. He might have other trump cards under his sleeves. Instead of attacking, it flew upwards to keep its distance from the dangerous human.
The two looked at each other for a moment, until the Scarlet Macaw decided to quickly go and bring the other Scarlet Macaws to fight the human.
Li Wei was relieved when he saw the bird leave, but he knew he could not stay there for long. His HP was low, but he kept a strong posture to try to intimidate the Scarlet Macaw. With the threat temporarily gone, he quickly took out two Health potions and drank them in quick succession.
He did not know where the Scarlet Macaw went, but he knew that it was dangerous to stay there. He quickly went to the Scarlet Macaw's corpse.
"Collect"
2 new items instantly appeared in his inventory, "Scarlet Macaw Feather" and "Scarlet Macaw Meat". Having obtained what he wanted, Li Wei quickly left the scene.
A few minutes later, a group of 7 Scarlet Macaws arrived at the scene, they were being led by the one that just escaped from Li Wei. Arriving at the scene, "Shriekk", the one that looked like the leader let out a loud scream. Upon receiving the order, the birds quickly dispersed to look for the human intruder.
...
Li Wei was still running away from the place he fought with the Scarlet Macaw. He could tell after being chased for so long by the birds that they would not let him go easily, especially after he killed some of them. He did not know how far he needed to go to leave their territory but chose to run towards the Gassian Lake since he did not see any birds in that vicinity.
Fortunately, Li Wei did not encounter any beast upon escaping. In fact, the surroundings were very quiet. He finally came into view of the Lake when he suddenly noticed a silhouette on the side.
It was a little girl. She did not look older than eight but what was strange was that her skin had a trace of blue, even her hair was dark blue. She seemed to be floating in mid-air, innocently looking towards Li Wei with her large blue eyes and a warm smile.
But a shiver ran down Li Wei's spine as he noticed that just behind the little girl, a gnome was leaning against a tree. Although it looked like it lost consciousness; it was obviously injured and in pain.