[Instance: Death Valley]
[Background: In ancient times, a century-long war ravaged this world. Under the leadership of Prince William, the Burning Legion was finally defeated and sealed within this hidden valley. Since then, the valley has been abandoned, leaving behind only the bones of those who perished in the war. Over the endless years, an undead army has risen here. To prevent the undead from wreaking havoc on the living, Prince William buried a powerful artifact in this valley, eternally suppressing the undead. However, the artifact has attracted countless greedy eyes. One by one, treasure hunters have entered, and one by one, they have been buried here. Death Valley has since become a forbidden zone on the Oracle continent.]
[Greedy human, are you prepared to become one of the undead?]
Alexander closed the panel without a change in expression.
The instance description had given him several key pieces of information:
1. The valley was filled with undead.
2. There was a powerful artifact hidden here.
3. Greedy adventurers would meet their demise.
But none of this deterred Alexander from his primary goal: farming experience.
He drew his sword and took a few steps forward. In the distance, a few skeleton soldiers began to stagger into view.
[Undead Soldier - Elite]
[Level: 25]
[Attack: 30-45]
[Defense: 69]
[Speed: 10]
[HP: 1200/1200]
[Skill: Soul Burn—10% chance to ignite the player's soul, causing a burn effect that deals 8 HP per second for 3 seconds.]
As soon as the undead soldiers entered Alexander's field of vision, they sensed the intruder and began clattering toward him, their bone swords rattling in their skeletal hands.
After reviewing their stats, Alexander relaxed. These undead soldiers weren't as tough as the Bloodthirsty Sand Crabs he had fought earlier, so he wasn't too concerned.
Activating his Insight Eye, green weak points appeared on the skeletons' bodies.
[Weak Point: Striking this area will deal 4x damage.]
Alexander swung his sword at the glowing spot.
Critical Hit!
Damage: 104
Bleed effect triggered: HP -10 per second.
Weak Point hit: 4x damage.
With a single strike, the skeleton lost 426 HP, reducing its health by a third.
Alexander's second strike didn't trigger a critical hit, but it applied a second stack of the Bleed effect. In just four seconds, the first Undead Soldier collapsed into a pile of bones.
The Windblade wasn't limited to a single target. In fact, any enemy within the sword's swing radius was hit equally, meaning that even though seven or eight skeletons had rushed at him, Alexander was dealing damage to all of them simultaneously.
In just ten seconds, he had cleared the first wave of skeletons.
But it seemed like this was just the beginning. As Alexander looked up, he saw another wave of Undead Soldiers approaching—this time, there were five times as many.
Before he could even check his loot, the new wave of skeletons was upon him.
This time, it took Alexander a full minute to cut down the horde. By the end of the battle, the ground around him was littered with bones, and his health had dropped by 348 points.
He quickly gathered the loot, but before he could inspect it, another wave of skeletons appeared—this time, over a hundred of them.
At that moment, a notification finally popped up in front of him.
[Quest: You have cleared 2/5 waves of skeleton soldiers.]
[Prepare for the third wave!]
Alexander had no time to rest. He steeled himself for the next onslaught.
This time, the skeleton soldiers at the front looked different. They were larger, wielded better weapons, and wore bone armor.
As they charged toward him, Alexander quickly opened their status panels.
[Skeleton Lieutenant - Elite]
[Level: 30]
[Attack: 45-58]
[Defense: 124]
[Speed: 16]
[HP: 1500/1500]
[Skill: Soul Pierce—Ignores defense, directly dealing 50 damage and stunning the target for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 8 seconds.]
[Weak Point: Striking the neck will deal 5x damage.]
Alexander raised an eyebrow. These were upgraded skeletons?
And this was just the entrance to the instance. According to the booklet Jessica had given him, the monsters at the start of an instance were supposed to be the easiest to clear. The deeper you went, the harder it got.
If these skeletons were already this strong, what kind of monsters awaited him further inside?
Was this really a newbie instance? Or was it just this difficult because he had entered alone?
The third wave of skeletons was closing in.
Though his mind was racing with thoughts, Alexander's hands moved instinctively.
With Insight Eye active, no weak point could hide from him.
He swung his sword at the green marker on the skeleton lieutenant's neck.
-175!
5x damage. Even without a critical hit, the strike dealt 175 damage.
Crack!
The skeleton lieutenant's head was severed, rolling to the ground at Alexander's feet.
Alexander kicked the skull away and continued his assault.
Even without its head, the Skeleton Lieutenant could still swing its sword. But Insight Eye quickly provided a new prompt:
[Weak Point: Striking the right shoulder joint will interrupt its skill and deal 3x damage.]
Without hesitation, Alexander stabbed his sword into the shoulder joint.
Critical Hit!
Weak Point hit: -234
Bleed effect triggered.
1 stack of Bleed: HP -10 per second.
The damage wasn't massive, but after three consecutive strikes, the skeleton's right arm was severed, rendering it unable to use its skills.
In just a few attacks, Alexander had reduced the skeleton's health by half.
Meanwhile, the surrounding skeletons, though not directly targeted, were still taking damage from his wide swings.
Though it seemed like a lot was happening, only ten seconds had passed since Alexander had decapitated the first skeleton lieutenant.
Looking at the endless waves of skeletons still pouring toward him, Alexander felt the pressure mounting. He couldn't afford to play defensively—he needed to end this quickly.
So, just like before, he focused on dodging attacks while maximizing his damage output.
Fortunately, there were only two Skeleton Lieutenants in this wave. Though the fight was tough, Alexander managed to kill all 118 skeleton soldiers within five minutes.
"Two more waves to go," Alexander muttered to himself.
He pulled a health potion from his bag, downed it in one gulp, and then grabbed two more, holding them in his mouth.
Because the fourth wave of skeletons was already approaching.
This time, there were 150 skeletons, and the number of Skeleton Lieutenants had increased to five.