64 – Slow Death
「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Another three bolts pinned themselves on the Ogre Devourer, eliciting furious roars that brought over two normal Ogres.
Now this was a bit troubling. Nie Yan glimpsed at the Ogre Devourer’s health bar—only a third remained after thirty minutes. If he put aside this Sub-Elite monster to deal with the normal Ogres, its health would return to full, and his work would go to waste. Whatever! Finish it off first!
Nie Yan accelerated his rate of fire as the two normal Ogres joined into the battlefield. The pressure he felt rose precipitously.
There was no end to the three monsters’ pursuit. They made attempts to surround and kill him, but they underestimated his agility. He was as slippery as a loach; through the gaps between several large trees, he shot bolts that seemingly came from nowhere.
An enraged roar came from the Ogre Devourer’s throat, and it swung its enormous club at Nie Yan—but the swipe could not reach him. The two normal Ogres weren’t of any help to the Ogre Devourer either due to Nie Yan’s meticulous pathing. Not only that, they even became obstructions. Every time it attempted to move, there were two Ogres blocking its way like brainless pigs.
Nie Yan was unperturbed by his perilous surroundings. When he prepared to fire another round of bolts between the trees with one knee on the ground, the Ogre Devourer’s eyes suddenly emitted another dark-red light.
Shit, it’s Petrifying Gaze again!
Nie Yan put away his crossbow and rolled under the cover of the trees.
MISS!
Nie Yan now had a greater understanding of Petrifying Gaze after successfully avoiding the skill three times—he’d be able to dodge so long as he hid behind a tree when it started casting.
Before he even found his footing, however, a massive shadow loomed from above. An Ogre had circled behind Nie Yan, avoiding his detection entirely, and its enormous club strewn with nails smashed down.
Nie Yan didn’t have the slightest thought of staying still; he threw himself forward, out of the club’s range of attack.
「Boom!」
The impact left a small pit and sent fragments of stone and dirt into the air.
Nie Yan had no issues imagining his fate if he had delayed by even a second.
The knockback effect from the Ogre Devourer’s attack would have sent him flying.
Disastrous consequences would occur during the two seconds it’d take to travel through the air, fall to the ground, and climb back up.
Nie Yan regained his stability, but much to his surprise, he had been surrounded by the three Ogres during that time. With their clubs raised high into the air, the Ogre Devourer and two normal Ogres approached steadily.
I’m done for. It seems that this is the end of the line. Such an accident was beyond his expectations. He swept his gaze over the surroundings: his path had been completely sealed by several large trees and the three Ogres. There was no escape in sight.
The Ogre Devourer bellowed and a deafening roar reverberated through the forest. It raised his club, then slammed it down at Nie Yan.
Within the blink of an eye, a spiked club covered his entire field of view—he could even see the individual nails embedded in the wood. Nie Yan tried retreating; however, the two Ogres flanked him from behind. His situation couldn’t be any direr and his heart felt like it was going to burst out his chest. In the brief moments before his seemingly imminent demise, he happened to notice the branches in the tree above.
They were roughly eight meters from the ground and flourished with leaves of a vibrant green. However ordinary they were, they seemed like an extension of a holy tree.
There! Nie Yan leapt to the side, slipping away from the Ogre Devourer’s club. He put full force into his legs and jumped, simultaneously shooting a line of webbing from the Ring of Woven Silk.
The power of his jump brought him three meters in the air, while the Ring of Woven Silk ejected a line of webbing of roughly five meters’ length.
The line of webbing shot through the gaps between the leaves and stuck on the branches. He was suspended in the air, but with a nearby foothold, he leapt up again and flew past the Ogre Devourer’s head.
「Boom! Boom! Boom!」 Three clubs smashed onto Nie Yan’s position, sending dirt and pebbles scattering into the air
However, no blood nor flesh stained the ground.
All three Ogres’ attacks struck naught but air and earth; their dazed expressions revealed their confusion.
Upon landing, Nie Yan bolted to build up some distance. He stopped between two trees and knelt. With his right hand supporting the crossbow and his left finger over the trigger, he shot three bolts.
「Put! Put! Put!」
Although the Ogre Devourer had briefly lost its target, the oncoming attack prompted it to turn its head towards Nie Yan, whereupon it raised its club and charged.
Contrary to expectations, Nie Yan did not stop shooting, even when the Ogre Devourer had approached.
Seeing as the enormous club was about to crush him, Nie Yan didn’t dare to hesitate. He rolled to the side and evaded the Ogre Devourer’s attack.
Its health had already been dropping quickly, and since Nie Yan now intensified his assault, the Ogre Devourer would soon fall.
Only forty or so health remained. Nie Yan circled to the Ogre Devourer’s back and withdrew his crossbow. He unsheathed his dagger and pounced at this Sub-Elite monster.
Vital Strike!
Lacerate!
Taking advantage of the few moments the Ogre Devourer took to turn its head, Nie Yan’s dagger left deep gashes on its back and scarlet blood stained the air and earth.
Nie Yan’s new set of equipment raised his attack significantly. In addition to the extra thirty percent given to a Thief when striking monsters from the back, he dealt fairly impressive damage.
As it felt a sharp pain shoot up from its back, the Ogre Devourer waved its club and let out a miserable roar.
Due to his honed reflexes, Nie Yan ducked his head as he could sense an object quickly flying towards his head.「VOOM!」A giant club swiped over his head, only missing by a hair’s breadth.
Phew! Too close. He raised his dagger and struck the Ogre Devourer’s chest with Assassinate.
At last, the final sliver of its health dwindled away. A short stagger, then its colossal figure collapsed.「BANG!」Dust rose into the air and gently floated amidst the thunderous noise.
From the side, the two remaining Ogres charged towards Nie Yan. He quickly fished the items from the Ogre Devourer’s corpse and backed away swiftly before he retrieved his crossbow and fired rapidly while darting between the trees. The normal Ogres’ strengths weren’t all that noteworthy, nor were their health points even close to the Ogre Devourer’s. So, when facing the assault of Nie Yan’s fire, they both fell to the ground in quick succession.
The party of Ogres was now dead, finally allowing Nie Yan a brief respite. Another field boss down. If it weren’t for such an ingenious method of killing monsters, there was absolutely no chance Nie Yan, with such a great disparity in levels, could have challenged that Sub-Elite monster and come out alive. This was the culmination of countless players’ knowledge in his past life.
He glanced at his experience bar—it had risen greatly once again. The Ogre Devourer had thick skin, high health, strong attacks, and a special ability: Petrifying Gaze. As a result of all those factors, the experience it was naturally a generous amount. By killing the Ogre Devourer, Nie Yan received a tenfold experience bonus as a reward—his experience bar rose by thirty-seven percent, and he was now Level 5 with nearly three-fourths of his experience bar filled.
Nie Yan had only killed one Elite monster and one Sub-Elite monster—Gato the Lion King and the Ogre Devourer respectively—yet the amount of experience other players obtained after grinding for several days could not even come close to what he received from those two monsters. His level was rising like a rocket! One would never feel greater satisfaction in grinding normal monsters than killing Elite monsters levels above themself. Unfortunately, there were quite few Elite creatures that could be killed by using terrain bugs or special techniques, and since Elite monsters had quite a long respawn rate, Nie Yan could only take this slowly.