"Water! Condense!"
A clear chant quickly began, and a transparent water curtain spread out, forming outside Qin Ruo's Water enchantment. This was a little trick he created, which was suitable for both offense and defense—Aquaband.
The timing of the Aquaband's formation was very precise! Concurrently, several Galewind Wolves that were enraged by the Frostburst cast Windblade at him. Under the wolves' continuous angry howls and the friction in the air, the flora around them was damaged in a flash! Even though the pieces of shrub left behind were a mess, they clearly displayed the power of the Windblade.
However, just as the Windblade was about to reach Qin Ruo, it crashed into the transparent water strip, which seemed too weak to block anything…
Every single Windblade attack penetrated the transparent Aquaband as it splashed loudly.
Qin Ruo had been a little nervous earlier, but at this moment, he heaved a sigh of relief due to his masterpiece. Aquaband did not have much of a weakening effect. Nonetheless, Windblade, the Tier 3 attack skill, was slightly dampened by Aquaband.
As he had expected, by the time the Windblade hit his Aquabarrier, it had lost its lethality as well as its strong penetrating power. With that, the threat posed against Qin Ruo who was inside the barrier also dropped to the lowest level. The injury it caused could be completely cured with some Healing Potions.
However, Qin Ruo did not have time to drink the Healing Potion to recover his HP. The best way to deal with dozens of Level 35 Galewind Wolves was to initiate a full-scale assault on them! Seizing every second was crucial to surviving and annihilating them.
It was the only way for him to leave the jungle alive.
"Ice! Explode!"
When Qin Ruo uttered the word "ice", the Aquaband immediately turned into solid ice. At the mention of the second word, the ice shattered, unleashing a deafening blast as well as a powerful force.
More than a dozen Galewind Wolves that were casting Windblades while approaching him were caught off guard. All the wolves were slammed onto the ground by the impact of Frostburst, letting out sharp yelps of pain.
Qin Ruo did not dare slow down. With firm footsteps, he began walking backward. He did not have time to count the number of Galewind Wolf casualties there were in his previous attack. The longer he could endure the skirmish, the more likely it was for him to escape.
Meanwhile, he siphoned some of the water in the air to form a defensive Aquarampart as a precautionary measure.
Ice shards from the blast smashed into the Aquarampart, and automatically assimilated with it. Soon after the Frostburst, a chaotic scene lay before a dumbfounded Qin Ruo.
The situation was a little unexpected. Half of the Galewind Wolves that were so vicious merely moments ago had now collapsed. As a matter of fact, the remaining Galewind Wolves had all lost their spirit to fight, staring warily at the crushed ice and Aquaballs in the air, no longer advancing towards Qin Ruo.
After warding off a wave of powerful Windblades with the Aquaband, the dazed Qin Ruo finally came to a realization, heaving a long sigh of relief.
The current, still surviving Galewind Wolves were all in their weakened state. That was the reason why they would treat any foes with absolute hostility.
The ice shards, a byproduct of Frostburst, were scattered across the surface. Their presence could deal minor damage to any approaching hostiles while also lowering their movement speed by 10%.
The Galewind Wolves maintained their guard due to the knife-like shards on the ground. Unable to approach, they could only cast Windblades from their current positions. However, the strength of their Windblades had also weakened by 20% due to their exhaustion. In other words, this group of weak Galewind Wolves… were no longer a threat.
At this point, Qin Ruo had finally relaxed and even held a slightly "favorable" impression of the group of a**holes deep within Kane Jungle. At least they did not leave him with a pack of Galewind Wolves that were still at their prime. Otherwise, he would not have been able to relieve himself of his plight with just a few non-lethal Frostbursts.
After he eliminated the remaining Galewind Wolves, Qin Ruo was not in a rush to pick up the loot scattered all over the place. As the adventurers would normally say, safety first!
After two successive Aquaheals were cast to quickly replenish his physical strength back to its optimal state, he inspected his surroundings carefully, ensuring that there were no other threats nearby. He then started to collect all of the items that dropped from more than 40 Galewind Wolves.
During the entire month he spent in Kane Jungle, not only did his level increase to 35, his other skills were also upgraded to Advanced, one of which was the Gathering Skill that he was currently using on the Galewind Wolves.
Unfortunately, after going through two battles, there were quite a number of injuries on the 40 Galewind Wolves, thus lowering the quality of fur. Their fur was worth no more than a total of 15 gold coins.
The only rewarding thing among the dropped items was a green necklace, which was a type of Blue Equipment. The acquisition of this accessory compensated for the disadvantageous situation Qin Ruo had experienced.
Being able to survive the attack of a wolf pack, and accumulating more than 10,000 Experience as well as a Blue level accessory was already something exceedingly rare.
Even though 10,000 Experience Points (EXP) were not that much, the Blue accessory was something of value. Accessories dropped by Wind monsters like the Galewind Wolf usually possessed properties such as speed boosting. If you were lucky, you could identify the equipment and obtain the best stats, which was a favorite among warriors, Bandits, and Elementalists.
Storing the necklace, Qin Ruo hatched another plan.
"Hehe… the gain today is more than enough; Galewind Wolf's Mana Core, and a Blue necklace worth a total of more than 1,000 gold coins."
This was not a small amount. After selling them and turning them into materials, he would get eight attempts to craft a Tier 3 Magic Scroll; coupled with the two pieces of Magic Scrolls he currently possess, he was probably able to complete the task… after which he would be able to use the small fortune he amassed to level up.
However!
Speaking of the two Magic Scrolls, Qin Ruo's heart tingled a little. Lifting his head up, he glanced in the direction of the Galewind Wolf King's respawn point. All of a sudden, his heart began to pound!
Galewind Wolf King!
Besides the dual attribute Mana Core that would surely be dropped, at least 1 to 2 Violet, or even Gold Equipment could be dropped… If only he was not snatched by others at the last minute in the past, he could have killed the Galewind Wolf King!
Was it wise to attempt bossing?
Qin Ruo was in a dilemma!
Although he did not know what was happening at the respawn point of the Galewind Wolf King, he was sure about one thing—the party of players who attracted the wolf pack had to have met with some kind of bad situation, leading to their annihilation. This was the only explanation as to why the wolf pack backtracked.
If this was true, the Galewind Wolf King and its two Elite Tier Galewind Wolf Guardians were probably in their original position…
Hence, Qin Ruo decided at once. He quickly consumed a small Mana Recovery Potion worth 30 gold coins to replenish his less-than-half Mana Points (MP) to an almost full tank. He then disappeared into the darkness.
To reach his location, dead players needed at least twenty minutes to travel from the nearest town, which was more than enough time for Qin Ruo to slaughter the Galewind Wolf Guardians, and also lure the Galewind Wolf King out of everyone's sight.
If he succeeded, he would get the items dropped by the Galewind Wolf King and the two elite monsters. It would allow him to change his equipment and begin his journey towards Tier 4 as he prepared to join the ranks of the Masters; if he failed, he would at most lose a level and a piece of equipment. If he did drop an equipment, he could just run back and pick it up later…
To hell with it! He would just go for it!
***
Adventurers were originally a group of professional players who precariously balanced interest and risk; yet, what surprised Qin Ruo was, when he arrived at the destination with a stirring feeling in his heart, there was already a three-person team engaging the Galewind Wolf King in battle. The fight was already in full swing.
On the battlefield, a gigantic golden wolf as tall as a human was howling unceasingly. It maneuvered around the spacious clearing and attacked from time to time. Glowing underneath the wolf's feet were four balls of flame. Every step it took left trails of ember, illuminating the dark jungle. One could probably wonder if those flames would have lighted the whole Kane Jungle on fire!
Needless to say, the gigantic wolf was the Galewind Wolf King. Anyone who saw it would not have had any problems identifying it.
However, it was now being obstructed by a Berserker, fully equipped with Blue Tier Equipment. He was armed with a giant shield while wielding a giant, Violet Tier one-handed axe. He withstood an attack from the Galewind Wolf King with just this equipment, not backing down even a little!
Damn, the Berserker was indeed the most dauntless class of the close-combat warriors. When facing an elite Boss with more than 1,000 physical and magical damage, he could still endure for such a long time…
Qin Ruo lamented his own weak disposition for a while.
But, when he saw the Berserker's casting rate of "Light of Recovery", and how his actions lacked dexterity, his lament evolved into disdain. An unmeasurably deep disdain could now be seen, reflected in his eyes. Apparently, the Berserker was a Human Shield Berserker, who relied on a Radiant Priest. Even though a talent like that was very well sought after by teams, once this meatshield was left without a Radiant Priest, he would amount to nothing…
What was the point if one could only prove its value with the help of others? There was no denying that to deal with a Boss with high HP as well as high combat capabilities, the combination of a "punching bag" and a Radiant Priest was a good shortcut.
The only firepower in the team was the Electromancer next to the Radiant Priest, who appeared to be at Tier 3. He had a complete set of Violet Tier Equipment (Equipment Tier Ranking: White, Blue, Violet, Gold, Dark Gold) and seemed to be quite wealthy. Unfortunately, his attacks were rather monotonous, particularly when he engaged in magic attacks with the Galewind Wolf King. He still had to waste a few seconds to re-activate his Defense Magic, which had been destroyed.
Qin Ruo could not help but feel dizzy. He honestly could not stand it anymore.
Oh God, did they plan to just keep using this method to drain the Galewind Wolf King of his energy and kill it? Draining a Tier 3 Elite Boss with 100 Magic Defense and 20,000 HP?
Criticizing them deep in his heart, Qin Ruo remained hidden in a dark place. With his knowledge of the Galewind Wolf King, he knew that it would not be willingly contained by these three "novices" with sub-par tactics for much longer.
Despite the fact that he did not have any interest in a kill-steal (KS), he did not mind having these three novices continue to drain more of the Boss' HP before it killed them all. If these three guys were truly lucky, he would treat it as entertainment as it did not consume too much of his time.
Nevertheless, after the previous incident, Qin Ruo maintained guard up at all times especially while he is deep within the jungle. Who knew if there was anyone with ulterior motives hiding somewhere in the dark?
Suddenly, Qin Ruo felt a throb in his heart…
In the next moment, the air became arid. In a speed barely noticeable to the naked eye, the water vapor drifted and converged at a dark place by the shrub.