Looking across the shore of Assassin's Lake, a dark red and eerie blue small tower appeared among the sparse withered trees in the forest. From a distance, Allen noticed that the "bricks" making up the small tower seemed to be "human" heads.
"What is that?"
"How did I not notice this small tower during the trial two days ago?"
The bloody sight made his blue cat eyes contract instantly. Allen couldn't help but adjust the swamp hag on his back and quicken his pace.
As he drew closer, the appearance of those "bricks" became clearer—it really was a bunch of drowners' heads. At the same time, a red shadow flashed past the bushes under the tower.
"Wait!"
"Something seems to be moving there!"
Allen quickly stopped, and as he looked closer, a familiar feeling arose.
"Hey, isn't this the place where I killed those two Foglets?"
He remembered the illusion of the little boy played by the Foglets, squatting right in the bush where the red shadow appeared. Looking to his right, the water of Assassin's Lake happened to contract at this point. No doubt about it. This was indeed the place where the Foglets appeared during the trial.
A few more steps forward, the red figure once again flickered in Allen's vision. Not only that, but there seemed to be several similar hunched figures moving back and forth in the bushes under the drowner tower.
Something's not right!
That must be some kind of monster!
Allen instantly became alert.
"Crunch, crunch, crunch!"
Given such a strange situation, Allen didn't intend to take risks. He stepped back on the snow, moving closer to Assassin's Lake. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The wind direction suddenly changed again. Almost at the moment the wind changed, the blood shadows in the bushes all raised their heads.
Bloody, unidentified chunks of flesh fell from their mouths. The terrifying, bloodstained, vicious faces twitched their noses slightly, then suddenly turned to look in his direction.
Allen's heart instantly tightened.
"Clang!"
The silver sword unsheathed. Magic flowed within him, and his thumb and index finger curved slightly, tracing a triangle in the air.
Quen Sign.
A faint golden light flashed across Allen's body.
Following that, amidst the sound of clinking bottles, he quickly took out the last bottle of necrophage oil from his potion bag and swiftly poured it on the silver sword. These monsters, resembling humans but moving on all fours like dogs or badgers, were undoubtedly ghouls. The targeted enemy for necrophage oil.
"Crunch, crunch, crunch!"
Before he could finish applying the sword oil, the four fierce ghouls had already charged at him. Their huge bodies brought a whooshing wind, sweeping the snow off the ground. The momentum made Allen feel immense pressure, like four small mountains rushing towards him.
In the blink of an eye, The ghouls, with their overwhelming momentum, entered within five steps of Allen.
"I can't let them just rush in like this!"
Allen's mind turned quickly. He threw away the crystal bottle, retreated a few steps, and leaned against a human-sized stone. Then he mobilized the magic within him, curled his middle finger, and pushed forward.
Aard Sign.
"Bang!"
The semi-transparent telekinetic shockwave, mixed with snow, instantly reached the four ghouls.
It interrupted their charge.
"Roar!"
The ghouls roared loudly, stimulated by the shockwave of the Aard Sign. Unfortunately, unlike drowners, ghouls moved on all fours, and their center of gravity wasn't affected by this blow. But Allen felt a bit more confident—if they could be interrupted by a level 1 Aard Sign, these ghouls couldn't be too strong. The snow blown away by the shockwave fell from the sky.
Allen seized the moment of the ghouls' stiffened state caused by the shockwave, stepped aside to make the ghoul in front of him block the others. Then he spun and slashed. The silver light flashed, and the ghoul used its sharp and sturdy claws to meet Elsa.
"Swish!"
The seemingly sharp and sturdy claws were instantly split in two.
"Roar~"
Red blood spurted out, and the ghoul let out a miserable cry, stunning Allen.
"So weak?"
Allen was taken aback, almost getting hit by the ghoul's counterattack. He thought he would at least have to clash with Elsa a few times, but he cut its claws off with one slash.
"Still influenced by the swamp hag's strength, my attributes are already so high. How could I not easily defeat a common monster?"
Though the swamp hag's level was high, being overpowered by a common monster still gave Allen a sense of frustration. It made him have some wrong perceptions of the true strength of the monsters around Assassin's Lake.
"Slash!"
With a spin, he beheaded the injured ghoul. Then he slightly tilted his head, easily avoiding the blood spraying from the severed part.
Allen mobilized the magic within him, curled his index finger, and quickly pointed forward.
Igni Sign.
The shockwave mixed with high temperature, with the motion of his hand, swiftly burned toward the remaining ghouls. Unfortunately, the freezing weather around Assassin's Lake and ghouls, unlike drowners, which secreted flammable fluids, didn't catch fire. They were just struck by the shockwave and high temperature, causing them to flee in confusion. But for Allen, that was enough.
"Roar, roar, roar—"
Amidst the successive miserable cries, Allen dashed forward, spun, dashed again, and spun again.
On the snowy ground, the ghouls' blood splashed like ink painting mountains and rivers. When Allen finally stopped his spinning sword dance, the area around him was already stained red with blood.
"Ding!"
[Monsters "Ghouls" Lv14 Eliminated!]
[Reward Calculation: Overcoming the Enemy, Base Rating D, Beheading Intimidation +3 - C, Outnumbered Victory +3 - B, Bullying the Weak -2 - C+]
[Final Rating: C+]
[Loot Obtained: Ghoul Heart Essence 4, Small Experience Bead 7, Ghoul Treasure Chest 3]
[Ding! Monster Guide "Ghoul" Activated]
[Ding! Hunting Task: Ghoul I Activated. Accept?]
"Phew~"
After the "ding ding ding" sounds in his mind ended, Allen let out a sigh. The system prompts during each hunting calculation were always noisy. Fortunately, the demon hunting journal seemed to ensure there were no dangers around before settling, so it didn't affect much, just a little moment of noise.
Opening the hunting calculation system message with a thought, Allen glanced at it and sighed. These ghouls were indeed low level, higher than regular drowners, but still subject to level penalties.
Before the mountain trial, he noticed this point. When the character level exceeded the monster by five levels, an "overwhelming strength" penalty term would appear. Unlike other evaluations, which added up to three points at most, the "overwhelming strength" penalty term deducted more points the greater the level difference, until the rating was reduced to F.
An F rating didn't even give the guaranteed ghoul heart essence. But fortunately, the "outnumbered victory" term, although only added up to three points, could offset the "overwhelming strength" penalty by the extra number.
After accepting the hunting task, looking at the evaluation just above passing, Allen sighed.
"If only I could control when to settle myself!"
Then he put away the demon hunting journal and looked into the forest. The eerie drowner tower was now unguarded.
...….
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
102. How to Increase Critical Hit Rate?
103. Plan Failed.
104. Are You a Transmigrator Too?
105. The Charity Job.
106. What Are You Talking About?