{-Briarwood Grove-}—Silver Level 5-7 Area.
-A once beautiful grove now overgrown with dangerous, magical thorny flora and fauna inhabited by Thornwalkers, sentient plant humanoid-like creatures, along with Briarweb Spiders and Gloombriar Shrooms that use the thorny landscape to their advantage. The grove pulses with corrupted energy, creating a hostile environment.
-Key Features: Dense, twisting thorny bushes, dark energy pulses, and overgrown ruins.
-Monsters:
—Thornwalker—Silver level 5 to 7.
— Briarweb Spiders—Silver level 5 to 7.
— Gloombristal Shrooms—Silver level 5 to 7.
The party entered the creepy forest full of thorns. Fortunately, not all thorns were poisonous, but the monsters here were most poisonous.
The party entered with Chimera Viperfiend clearing the way. With this tanky guy, no traps, thorns, or poison could block their path.
Being resistant to poisons and even able to absorb them, Chimera Viperfiend was a bane of monsters in this area.
It wasn’t long before they killed their first batch of monsters, numbering six.
[You have devoured Silver level 6 Thornwalker Spirit.]
[You have gained +0.5 Health.]
‘Oh?’ Almond’s eyes twinkled. ‘So, it works on Silver level 6 monster spirits. It’s only half a stat point, so I suppose I won’t get more.’
But there was no harm in trying since he didn’t lack Spirits.
[You have devoured Silver level 7 Thornwalker Spirit.]
[You have gained +0.5 Health]
‘Alright. I guess that’s how it works.’
‘I am sure to gain more stats from level 8 since I know that for sure, but I guess any lower, and I’ll only get half a stat point per type of monster at levels 6 and 7. That’s one stat point, so it’s still worth it.’
“Alright, I’m done. Let’s continue.”
The party continued as it went deeper into the forest, but instead of going roundabout like in the Shimmering Fen, they followed the map to take the shortest route to get out so they could reach the Frostbite Cliffs before the evening.
After all, there was no need for excessive farming here since they had already reached the maximum level possible on the first floor thanks to farming in the hidden area, White Polan’s lair.
Almond started using some Spirits of monsters from White Polan’s lair to make space for monster spirits of Briarwood Grove.
He increased his stat points, even if it was only one stat point per type of monster here.
[You have devoured a level 6 Gloomblister Shroom Spirit.]
[You have gained +0.5 Perception.]
[You have devoured a level 7 Gloomblister Shroom Spirit.]
[You have gained +0.5 Mana.]
[You have devoured a level 6 Briarweb Spider Spirit.]
[You have gained +0.5 Focus.]
[You have devoured a level 7 Briarweb Spider Spirit.]
[You have gained +0.5 Health.]
An hour later, the group successfully left the Briarwood Grove.
There was a distance of a bit over one kilometer until they reached the Frostbite Cliff area at the top of the mountain, but before that, they had to kill the Wandering Fairy.
Wandering Fairy—Silver level 10 Boss-type Monster. A mage-like monster that used whatever area she was to her advantage using her nature magic.
Evolving nearby plants and guiding wandering monsters to her command, along with using direct nature-magic skills, was her specialty.
She could very well be the toughest boss monster to defeat if one was unlucky, but that also meant that if a party used their brains and isolated her properly in a small area, she could be easy to defeat because she wasn’t that tough.
Unfortunately for Wandering Fairy of this period, Almond and the gang were her worst enemies due to having two talented attackers with high-ranked skills and three more with much versatility along with a bunch of items.
After the party found Wandering Fairy, they didn’t attack directly but waited for her to wander toward a relatively barren area with more stones and less greenery due to the rocky terrain.
It took over forty minutes of stalking the fairy, but they had time to waste, so they leisurely stalked the monster until it wandered to a disadvantageous area.
The rest was easy. The battle started with Chimera Viperfiend’s Nightmare Mist skill, causing the Wandering Fairy to flinch and cower.
If she had seen anyone, then it would’ve taken time, and she could have used a skill before Nightmare Mist took effect, but by getting stuck with Nightmare Mist first out of nowhere, the effect was quick, and looking at Almond, Lily, Natalia, and Alfred caused her to cower slightly, prompting her to escape first instead of attacking.
But how could she escape?
Almond and Lily were swift in their attacks.
Lily shot a Bog Slither Arrow while Natalia used her debuff skill, Sparkling Dust.
The arrow quickly caused vines to produce as it ensnared the Wandering Fairy, ensuring that Sparkling Dust took effect.
Half a second later, Almond arrived with a super fast dash aided by Gravity Repel, the cold blade of his sword targetting Wandering Fairy’s neck.
But this wasn’t a boss monster that died just by getting beheaded. It was a boss monster with some tricks.
Her fallen head produced vine-like threads that rooted on the rocky ground, causing the ground to crack before a golem formed.
‘Viperfang Shot.’
Chimera Viperfiend blasted four orbs with snake-head designs with open mouths and gleaming fangs ready to bite from its snake-like arm’s hands.
Alfred unleashed an Icicle Spear Shot at the golem’s lower body, making it freeze on the ground and immobilize it.
Natalia and Lily attacked its original body since it was also capable of using skills, while Almond unleashed a devastating full-powered sword attack on the golem with the fairy’s head.
There was a striking weakness to both after this transformation, which was why Almond aimed to behead her.
For the golem’s body, it was a core right below the head, tucked inside a rock safely.
For the headless original body that made a makeshift head with leaves and vines, it was the heart area.
Lily threw a dagger and stabbed one into her heart while Natalia used Light Pebbles to destroy her wings, preventing her from flying.
Meanwhile, Almond’s sword squarely pierced through the rocky throat and destroyed the core.
[Congratulations. You have defeated the field boss—Wandering Fairy.]
[10,000 gold coins to each party member.]
“Let’s see if it dropped a rare grade,” Natalia grinned.
“Nope. I don’t see it,” Almond said as he looked at drops on both spots. There were a total of five materials, but no item drop of rare or uncommon grade.
Lily was about to say something, but her pupils suddenly shrank, and she turned around, her daggers in a criss-cross position before her.
Almond also turned as he heard some sound and saw a group of ten people.
“Damn, you killed Wandering Fairy?”
