Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Life Deprivation
Translator: 549690339
Clearly, attempting to push forward with just over a hundred Silver Heroes wouldn’t work by conventional means.
That’s just how it goes. High intelligence monsters aren’t going to sit idly by and watch Li Yao slaughter their kin.
These are organized and disciplined intelligent beings. They won’t recklessly rush forward like wolves, nor will they allow intruders into their territory.
The leader usually coordinates the attack and keeps it orderly.
For example, in the case of Li Yao, he knows that with a hundred Silver Heroes, he wouldn’t walk away unscathed.
Especially deeper within, if surrounded, his small stature would stand no chance against a Naga Mage’s onslaught without any healing assistance. Once he falls, everything else will fall into chaos.
Therefore, he chooses advantageous terrain, utilizing cliffs or buildings to ensure the Naga extermination squad never fully encloses him.
As a result, not only is the loss of Li Yao’s Silver Heroes decreased, but Li Yao also has room to avoid area spells which might instantly kill him.
However, the Naga leader is strategic in both attack and retreat. He repeatedly adjusts the Naga’s battleform, causing a great deal of trouble for Li Yao.
Li Yao wants to kill the leader to sever the command chain, but the leader has always stayed far from the battle, preventing Li Yao from seizing the opportunity.
However, pushing further towards the ruined buildings is his limit.
With no mountains or large structures around, the Nagas begin gathering troops from another direction to ambush him.
“This should be the place. If I’m wrong, I’ll have to start over.”
As the Nagas close in on him, he barely has room to dodge.
While guarded by the Silver Heroes, Li Yao approaches a gap in the ruins.
As far as Li Yao knows, this Abyssal Temple has three entrances, and this crack is one of them.
The other two are located inside a bay and in the water.
He obviously can’t rush into the one inside the bay, and as for the water, even though he could hold his own against a melee Naga, diving into the water would be pure suicide.
However, the situation was that this area had already been developed into a linear dungeon. Not fully explored, even Li Yao couldn’t confirm if the connection was true this time.
Li Yao pulled out a large two-handed hammer and began hammering away at the spot, unable to enter even after shrinking himself.
The number of Silver Heroes quickly dwindled, and the defense became increasingly difficult.
“Damn it, only ten seconds left then I will have to start over.”
Li Yao started sweating. The rock here was indeed well-preserved after being soaked in seawater for tens of thousands of years, but it also meant that it had been thoroughly corroded by the sea – if not, trying to destroy the reinforced temple building with a hammer would have only been a pipe dream.
Now his safe space was getting smaller. The Silver Heroes were few, and if he couldn’t break through, he would have to retreat and start from the outside all over again. Of course, because of this operation, if he had to start again, the difficulty would definitely increase a lot, and it would be a toss-up whether he can replicate his last performance.
Other than the explosion of spells, the cries of battle, as well as Li Yao smashing the crack with his hammer, nothing else could be heard in this area.
“Damn it, I hope I didn’t choose the wrong place. Strength of the Minotaurs, one last time!”
Li Yao, becoming increasingly frenzied, once again invoked the Strength of Minotaurs and brought his hammer down fiercely.
Crack, crack…
With the sound of the rock splitting, Li Yao felt the ground give way and he started to fall.
Angel’s Wings!
The place was full of dust and dirt, and Li Yao couldn’t see clearly what was below him. As a reflex, he activated Angel’s Wings.
However, tragedy struck Li Yao. He would have been fine if he continued falling as he was, but with the abrupt stop from the wings, he was instantly hit by falling rocks.
-385
“Dammit, I can’t believe this is how I’m going down.”
Li Yao couldn’t help but cry out in pain. His head was hurting tremendously, and he tumbled down uncontrollably.
His vision was poor, and his head was spinning from the blow. He had lost control of his body and fell along with the rocks.
Splash…
Li Yao choked on a few mouthfuls of water before finally coming up for air, with his health already down to less than a third. If it weren’t for the fact that he was underwater, he’d be long dead.
“Damn it.”
Just as Li Yao was able to see clearly, he saw a shadow overhead – a huge rock hurtling towards him.
Magic Spider Silk!
Li Yao was pulled towards a rock wall by his magic spider silk.
The rock scrapped past his body and fell into the water, making a thunderous splash.
“This is ridiculously thrilling,” Li Yao muttered to himself as he clung onto the rock at the edge of the water.
Li Yao, noticing the vines growing on the rock, had an idea. While in the water, he couldn’t regenerate health normally. But then he remembered an ability of the Touch of Darkness.
Life Deprivation!
The vines that Li Yao’s hands were holding were suddenly entangled by his seemingly inert mist-like vine tendrils until, animated by the Touch of Darkness, they quickly extended outward.
A warm flow of green, peaceful energy of life streamed into Li Yao’s body, replenishing him.
+50+50+50+50+50+50+50…
Li Yao’s health rapidly regenerated. No bread or even entry-level life potions could compare to it. After a while, his health was completely replenished.
“System: You have deprived a Thousand-Year Vine of life. Your maximum health has increased by 200, your natural resistance by 50, and you have temporarily learned the spell Vine Entanglement, which lasts for 2 hours.”
Vine Entanglement: Detonate the Touch of Darkness, summon a sturdy vine to entangle a target for 6 seconds. Attacks will break the control effect.
Li Yao was left stunned for a moment. He hadn’t expected gaining such an effect from absorbing a vine. It was truly beyond his expectations.
“Indeed, there’s more to the gift from the queen…”
Li Yao reviewed his Touch of Darkness’ properties once more, then fell into contemplation before testing out its properties once again. He came to the revelation that siphoning off different things granted variance to his bonus attributes. For instance, absorbing a bug gave him but an increase of 1 Dexterity.
Li Yao concluded that the bonus attributes from the Touch of Darkness corresponded directly to the strength of the life source he extracted. The stronger the life form, the more significant the benefits he reaped.
This equipment piece was extraordinary and could be utilized in various ways, depending on the user’s wits. And it made Li Yao even keener to find the second shard of the Touch of Darkness.
After a while of research, Li Yao drank an Underwater Breathing Potion and started swimming around in the deep waters, searching the Abyssal Temple.
After a few minutes of swimming, Li Yao finally noticed a glimmering light. Just as he was about to swim towards it, he spotted a glowing golden chest.
Li Yao was instantly filled with joy. Compared to fighting bosses, he preferred opening chests, especially high-level ones.
They usually contained an abundance of loot, including an excellent chance of high-grade items. What’s more, discovering them in hidden places was significantly less physically and mentally exhausting than boss fights.
Li Yao quickly swam down towards the chest and opened it cautiously.
The first item Li Yao pulled out happened to be a Skill Book.
Arrow Mystery ・ Sound…