"Take a look at them," Almond said, sharing details of the items.
[Willowbee Poison Bomb]
-Grade: [Uncommon]
-Type: [One-time use item]
-Effect: [A bomb that explodes upon impact and covers a 5-meter radius area into a poison mist that slows and damages everyone within, with a chance to paralyze them if inhaled.]
-Use: You can throw it after infusing 10 Mana points, and it will activate at the location where it is impacted by anything.
The bomb was palm-sized, etched with Willowbee's characteristic patterns.
"This is amazing," Lily blinked to see if she wasn't mistaken, clearly impressed. "It's even better than those recently developed potions."
"Five-meter radius is not small either," Natalia grinned, "Damn, Almond. You can make some sick stuff, eh? Let's see the others."
Lily curiously looked at the dagger's window panel next.
[Willowbee Dagger]
-Grade: [Common]
-Durability: [100/100]
-Duration: [1 day]
-Attack: [15]
-Effect(s):
—> 15% chance of paralyzing.
-Spirit Effect(s):
—> Infusing 10 Mana in the dagger will increase the paralyze chance to 50% for 2 seconds.
—> Feeding a spirit to this item also extends its duration of existence.
"Eh? So it doesn't last long unless you feed it a Spirit?" Natalia raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Almond nodded as he glanced at Lily. "Take them. You'll use them better."
"Thanks," Lily smiled and took the three daggers as she put them in the storage pouch. "These are pretty good. At least, this paralyzing effect will work on monsters of Bronze rank up to level 10."
"So, is it hard to get the spirit or easy?" Natalia asked.
"One monster's death gives me one spirit," Almond faintly smiled. "So long as we hunt monsters, I won't run out of spirits."
"That's good," Lily nodded as she chuckled, her eyes showing eagerness, "Your class lives up to its rank. I also can't wait to upgrade mine."
"That reminds me, what's your class and its rank?" Natalia pouted and shared her status with Almond. "Here's mine if you are curious."
[Natalia]
-Adventurer rank: Bronze.
-Level: 8
-Class: Mirage Witch (B).
-Vitality: [100%/100%].
-Mana: [250/250].
-Stats:
-Physical:
↳[Strength: 15 |Health: 12|Stamina: 12]
-Mental
↳[Mana: 25|Focus: 15|Perception: 14]
"Here," Almond said, revealing his status, but added, "Don't tell anyone about this class. Only you two know, and I don't trust anyone else with it."
"That means you trust me, eh?" Natalia cheekily grinned and looked at Almond's status before she suddenly exclaimed.
"Fuck you! SS-rank class?!" Natalia's eyes almost popped out of her sockets.
…
"Are you sure about this?" Lily somberly looked at Almond.
"Yeah," Almond grabbed the shield and felt it as he moved it around. "It's light and will work in case plan A fails. Let's kill it before anyone else does."
[Willowbee Shield]
-Grade: [Uncommon]
-Durability: [200/200]
-Duration: [2 days]
-Physical Defense: [41]
-Magical Defense: [38]
-Effect(s):
—> 15% chance to retaliate with a dart if attacked by a melee attack.
—> Feeding a spirit to this item also extends its duration of existence and recovers 50% durability.
"Geez, I am getting fidgety," Natalia wryly smiled, her heart beating faster. It wouldn't be strange if Blade Mantis suddenly pounced on them any time now.
They were too close to it. The only reason it hadn't discovered them was because it was taking a rest and drinking water.
Because when it usually starts roaming for hunting, it easily discovers prey within 50 meters of itself.
"Your clone is crucial," Almond said, "And this is the best time to kill the Blade Mantis. If we kill it while we are below level 10, the chance to drop that rare-grade sword increases, and…"
Almond paused and looked at his common-grade sword before continuing, "I want a better sword."
Lily resigned upon seeing that Almond was adamant about killing the Blade Mantis. "Alright, let's do this. If you get that Rare-grade sword, you won't have to fear anyone on this floor, given your crazy sword mastery."
Almond nodded, feeling a rush of adrenaline and thrill.
It was time to execute their plan.
The trio crouched behind a tree at the edge of the pond area that was surrounded by bushes and trees. The clearing was about 12 meters in radius, with the pond itself covering a 5-meter span in the center.
Natalia conjured her clone and made it walk around the area silently.
It wouldn't be strange if the Blade Mantis found them. The only saving grace was that it wasn't in hunting mode, which allowed them to initiate against this hunter, who usually takes the initiative in attacking others.
Almond knew this was a good opportunity, and he wanted to grasp it.
As Natalia's clone covered halfway distance and reached the west side of the pond, the Mantis' antenna moved, and its head looked up before turning straight at Natalia's clone.
The mantis was drinking water from the southeast side of the pond while the trio was hiding behind the tree on the south side.
There was only around 10 meters of distance and some bushes between them and the Blade Mantis.
'Please, don't sense us and go after the clone,' Natalia thought as she looked at the Blade Mantis through her clone, her eyes soon meeting its eye.
'Fuck, it's two meters tall with those crazy scythe blades. One attack, and we would die,' Natalia stepped towards it, entering the pond area.
The moment her clone moved, the Blade Mantis' black eyes glinted red, and it dashed like a wind.
It was time!
The plan was to paralyze it with daggers and Almond finish it off with a full-powered attack of his sword at its neck.
Lily and Almond swiftly entered the pond area as they activated their Physical Enchantment, eyeing the Blade Mantis' back!
*Swoosh…Swoosh!*
Two daggers empowered by Lily shot at the Blade Mantis, who hacked both of its blades at Natalia's clone in an X-shaped motion, cutting it instantly.
Its eyes rotated as it also saw the daggers and moved, but it couldn't dodge them completely as both daggers stuck in its middle-body area, which was the widest part of its body structure. It had a rotund carapace part that seemed to contain its main bodily organs, and Almond had told her to aim in this area.
This area ensured that daggers would strike it and might also increase the paralyzing chance.
After getting struck with the daggers, the monster's attention shifted to Almond, who was coming at him like the wind, his sword glowing as he empowered it with Mana in a perfectly synched swinging motion according to his dash.
Feeling the threat, it wanted to move but suddenly found itself paralyzed.
There was a 50% chance of both daggers to paralyze it, and one of them succeeded!
'Die!' Almond's dash was fast, and his hand swung at deadly precision as he converted the burst of speed to increase his swinging force.
His Physical Enchantment gave a 100% boost to his Strength, so his Strength stat was higher than Blade Mantis, who had 45 Strength!
Its defense was naturally lower!
'Beautiful…' Lily's eyes saw the dash and that arc of sword Almond swung with the sword, her perception and skill allowing her to see this motion very clearly.
But…right before Almond's sword was about to strike the neck of Blade Mantis, his sword exploded!
Blade Mantis screeched in pain and anger while Almond's heartbeat instantly quickened.
'Fuck, fuck! I used too much Mana to empower this shitty common-grade sword, it couldn't handle it!'
The sword was destroyed right before its blade could cut off that head! Almond had used the sword a lot already, so its durability was already low!
'It's not over!' Almond's pupils shrank to the extreme, his heartbeat loud enough to fill his mind, but his focus remained steadfast.