After accepting the quest, Ethan followed the marker on his map toward the objective. After crossing Black Bear Ridge and walking for a while, he spotted a long wooden palisade forming a defensive wall. A large gate stood in the center, guarded by two men dressed like bandits.
Originally, this area was shrouded in darkness on his map, but as he approached, the details became visible. The location was labeled Blackwind Ridge, and ahead of him lay Blackwind Stronghold.
Ethan carefully crept closer and cast Insight on one of the bandits.
[Blackwind Bandit]
Level: 20
Health: 40,000
Physical Attack: 450
Physical Defense: 230
Magical Defense: 150
Movement Speed: 78
Skill: Taste My Blade! – Swings a large blade forward, dealing 160% physical attack damage. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
"Level 20 enemies, huh? Not too bad. Should I clear this place first, or go find some Level 19 monsters? Would fighting something six levels above me make me level up too fast?"
After a brief moment of thought, Ethan shrugged. "Since my Talent Potential has a limit anyway, I might as well start here."
As he moved closer, the two bandits quickly noticed him.
"Who dares trespass on Blackwind Stronghold?! Seize him!" one of them barked before both charged at him without hesitation.
"Oh? You think you can just take me down like that?" Ethan smirked, unimpressed by their arrogance.
Activating Rapid Speed, his Movement Speed soared past 300, and his Attack Speed reached 104%, allowing him to land two slashes per second. He rushed forward and struck both bandits twice before retreating. The poison from his attacks quickly took effect, inflicting two stacks for a total of 674 damage per second. Within a minute, the bandits would be dead.
Just then, Ethan felt a strange sensation sweep over him, and his Stealth was abruptly dispelled. Almost instantly, two arrows flew toward him.
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"What the—Archers?!" Ethan's gaze shot toward the source of the attack. Two guard towers flanked the gate, each housing a Blackwind Sentry wielding a bow. Quickly backing away, he cast Insight on them.
[Blackwind Sentry]
Level: 20
Health: 38,000
Physical Attack: 480
Physical Defense: 180
Magical Defense: 120
Attack Speed: 100%
Movement Speed: 85
Skill: Hawk Eye – Increases vision range, improves accuracy, and reveals hidden enemies.
"Seriously? They have Hawk Eye?" Ethan frowned. This was a problem. Individually, the sentries weren't too threatening, each only dealing around 200 damage per hit. However, their attack speed was insane—firing two arrows per second. That meant in just a second, Ethan would take nearly 900 damage. Worse, their attack range was ridiculously long. Even when he was over ten meters away, they had already locked onto him. He'd need at least three seconds to reach the tower using Rapid Speed, and by then, he'd be close to death.
"Damn, this won't work," Ethan muttered. Then his eyes landed on Silverfang, who was following behind him. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
"How did I forget about you?"
Silverfang was usually unnecessary for Ethan's grinding, but that didn't mean the pet lacked combat power. Now at Level 12, its stats had significantly improved.
[Silverfang] (Pet)
Grade: A
Level: 12
Health: 14,200
Mana: 1,300
Physical Attack: 400
Physical Defense: 280
Magical Defense: 160
Movement Speed: 60
Stat-wise, Silverfang was already stronger than Ethan, aside from its speed. But that wasn't a problem—he could summon it directly under the guard towers, letting it tank the damage instead.
"Alright, new plan. Maybe I should get myself a tank-type pet in the future," Ethan mused. Silverfang was an attack-based pet, but it was still tough enough for now.
Soon, the two bandits succumbed to their poison. Ethan ignored the copper coins they dropped and instead dismissed Silverfang into his pet space. After waiting one minute for the summoning cooldown, he resummoned it directly beneath the towers.
As expected, both archers immediately redirected their fire at Silverfang.
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Each arrow dealt around 200 damage, but with 14,200 HP and 280 Defense, Silverfang could take the hits.
"Now's my chance!"
Activating Rapid Speed, Ethan dashed forward, reaching the first tower in just three seconds. Climbing up, he struck the sentry twice, infecting him with two stacks of poison before jumping off and retreating.
The poisoned sentry immediately switched targets to Ethan, showering him with arrows. With one archer still active, going for the second tower was too risky.
"Abort mission! Run!"
Ethan quickly called Silverfang to retreat as well. Since he couldn't unsummon pets during combat, he had to make sure it got out safely. Fortunately, Silverfang still had over 8,000 HP remaining after escaping the sentries' attack range.
A minute later, the first Blackwind Sentry collapsed from poison damage. Once Silverfang's HP fully regenerated, Ethan repeated the process, taking out the second sentry. Five minutes later, both towers were cleared.
Just as Ethan was about to approach the stronghold, a warning bell rang out. Moments later, a horde of bandits stormed out from the gates.
"Oh, come on… Are you serious?!" Ethan's face fell. Without hesitation, he turned and ran.
Glancing back, he saw over a hundred bandits gathered at the entrance. Among them were swordsmen, shield-bearers, archers, and even mages.
"They have an entire army in there?!"
Ethan was dumbfounded. With twenty-plus archers and ten mages, charging in was a death sentence.
"Great, I really screwed myself over this time…"
He started brainstorming. "I need to separate them and lure them out in small groups. But if all the archers share the same aggro range, I'm doomed."
"Damn it, being a rogue sucks sometimes. If only I had some long-range attacks."
Then, his gaze landed on his inventory, where three scrolls lay:
[Luck Scroll]
[Protection Scroll]
[Petrified Skin Scroll]
A realization hit him. The Petrified Skin Scroll, which he had previously dismissed as useless, was exactly what he needed right now.
With his Physical Defense at 246, using the scroll would double it to 492, making him nearly immune to physical damage. His Magical Defense would also increase to 432, allowing him to tank multiple mages at once.
With five minutes of invulnerability, he had all the time he needed to poison every single archer and mage in the stronghold.