Brandon was wearing his blue shoes when the mark in his field of vision suddenly disappeared.
?!
He was suddenly startled. He opened the map and found that the monster icon that had been marked at the beginning had disappeared.
That could mean only one thing.
The monster had been killed by someone else!
When he realized this, Brandon picked up his pace.
'Since you stole my gift, you will become my new prey as compensation!' he resolved.
As he rushed forward, he took less than a minute to reach his destination.
He stood on the edge of the rocky mountain and looked down.
The valley below was messy and there were boulders everywhere, placed like chess pieces on a chessboard. Every boulder was an obstacle. These boulders were ideal for Brandon's tactics.
In the center of the valley, there was a soul tomb. The statue on the tombstone was the head of a wild boar. Even though it had died, its sharp fangs made Brandon's skin turn cold.
That monster must have been very strong! Which meant...
The person who killed the monster was even stronger!
After carefully looking over, Brandon was surprised to find that the person who killed the monster was a beautiful blonde lady. She had silver armor, a helmet, and boots. In others words, she was fully equipped.
There were three knives hanging on her waist, and...
A katana?!
Looking at the appearance of the weapon, Brandon took a guess.
"I saw a white-quality katana in Grand Town. It's a little tricky!"
There were a few types of weapons he had found so far: dagger, longsword, greatsword, katana, spear, bow & arrow.
The bow & arrow were long-range weapons, and of the remaining five weapons, the katana was the most balanced.
It did not increase attack speed like a dagger, nor did it have any special advantages. However, it also did not reduce attack speed like a greatsword or have any other weaknesses.
In other words, the katana was a weapon whose effectiveness depended on its wielder.
The stronger a person was, the stronger the katana would be in their hands.
The attributes of the blonde girl in front of Brandon were very likely to be above his.
"Heh, it's great that she's strong, as it's a good opportunity for me to test it out. How effective is the harassing tactic when used against humans? The giant brown bear is a beast after all. Its intelligence can't be compared to humans."
"I'll take you as my guinea pig!"
After making up his mind, Brandon began to get into action.
When he descended to the valley, he saw that the blonde girl was facing the soul tomb with a contemplative look on her face.
Seeing this, he was delighted.
"Picking up equipment?"
"What a good opportunity!"
He quickly moved behind the blonde girl and stabbed her with his dagger.
[You have hit the target, causing 52 damage!]
No critical hit?!
Once again, there was no critical hit. Though Brandon was surprised, the experience he had accumulated in the past few times taught him not to stop.
Instant strike!
When the blonde girl was suddenly attacked, she was immediately shocked.
She instantly turned around and brandished her sword.
If Brandon had stayed any longer, even if it was only 0.1s, he would have been hit.
Annie Fox looked at the emptiness behind her and frowned.
No one?!
As a human and not a monster, she would not think that the attack she had just received was an illusion. Her armor value had actually decreased, and the notification that she was attacked was also real.
She made a violent charge, looking around the surrounding boulders, but there was still no one around.
"Could it be that someone is using a long-range weapon to attack?"
After checking all the boulders around her, she still could not find anyone, so she made up her mind.
"It's a long-range weapon!"
"I can't stay here for long!"
Since she knew that someone was aiming at her, she couldn't waste any more time here. Otherwise, she would be a live target.
Annie returned to the monster's soul tomb and prepared to pick up the equipment.
When she returned, she remembered the direction of the attack and made herself face that direction. This way, even if the archer wanted to ambush her again, she would be able to react in time.
However...
Just when she thought that her defense was complete, her vision suddenly turned red.
This was the notification of receiving an attack!
Someone had ambushed her!
Before this sentence appeared in her mind, her body had already reacted automatically and she swung her sword behind her back.
However, this slash missed again!
"Damn it!"
"Who the hell is it?!"
"The first attack was in the front, while the second one was at the back. Could it be a coincidence that two archers happened to target me?"
Annie gritted her teeth.
She looked at her status. Both attacks dealt 52 damage. Her armor had been shattered. Not only that, but her HP had also dropped by 44 points.
Now, she only had 236 HP left.
"No!"
"This terrain is too good for archers!"
"If I'm attacked by archers from both sides, I might die in the next second!"
"I need to leave this place as soon as possible!"
Although she was reluctant to part with those resources, she could only become the winner if she survived until the end.
She had always been competitive since she was young, so she did not want to be eliminated so early.
Annie ran out of the valley.
Suddenly!
Her vision turned red again, and her 236 HP was reduced to 80 HP!
The red light in her vision kept flashing, and her HP was reduced by another 5 points!
She was poisoned!
Annie was shocked, and at the same time, a person suddenly appeared in front of her.
He had a well-proportioned figure and a handsome face. It was Brandon.
"You..."
Before she could ask who he was, her consciousness suddenly fell into darkness.
She was stunned.
Brandon did not dare to relax and he stabbed again.
[You have killed an enemy (Annie Fox)!]
[All your attributes have been increased by 5 points (only valid in this game)!]
Looking at the blonde girl who had already turned into a soul tomb, Brandon heaved a sigh of relief. A relieved smile appeared on his face.
"Harassing a warrior, preliminary success!"
"The first two attacks were on the heart, but there was no critical hit. Moreover, the poison effect did not appear. It should be the characteristic of the purple armor, right?"
Looking at the soul tomb, Brandon opened it with excitement.
...
At the same time.
In an extremely luxurious villa, in a room on the second floor.
Annie Fox was teleported back to the huge soft bed. She opened her eyes in confusion. "I was eliminated just like that?!"
Her expression turned from confusion to disbelief. She grabbed her pillow and threw it out.
"Damn it!"
"What the hell is going on?!"
"What's the situation with that person? Why did he suddenly appear?!"
She couldn't understand.
"I have killed four people, acquired three skills, a full set of blue equipment, and purple armor. Yet I was tricked and killed!"
"Ahhhh!"
Annie rubbed her hair into a mess.
She could not accept this outcome.
Her skills were good, her equipment was good, and her attributes were high. In the end, she was harassed and killed by others. From the beginning to the end, she did not hit anyone. This kind of situation where she could only stand still and take a beating made her feel extremely aggrieved.
But in the end, she could only say hatefully, "Don't let me see you again!"
By now, she had figured out that everything was actually done by the last man who appeared. There were no archers at all.
It was just that man's sneak attack.
Annie did not know how that man did it. She just thought it was a strange talent.
But in her heart, she had already memorized that man's hateful face.