Chapter 7 - The salamander struggle

When he joined the place, he saw a similar scene to when he went to get flowers: there were a lot of half-formed parties trying to get more members. He then remembered to call his friends.

Tronk was able to come, so he did, but Fabien told him he had a slight fever, but he still felt pretty badly, so he didn't come.

Tronk suggested that they find another player to fill the gap, but Igor was confident in his abilities. He also showed him the cape, and told him its characteristics.

"How did you get it?"

"Oh, I bought it since I saw it in the market at the village."

"And how much did it cost?"

"Four silver."

"Four silver?! And to think I barely have above thee…"

With renewed energy, Tronk started walking to a good hunting spot, far from anyone but, but with a low amount of salamanders.

He picked a spot where only one would fight him, as he wasn't sure he could fight more than one at the same time, and didn't want to underestimate them.

They were all bigger than he expected, and he could see how they would bring a long and challenging fight, so they started.

More specifically, Tronk gave him some fire resistance buffs and a mobility debuff for the salamander.

He later saw how those were greatly needed, as even after that, they were still as fast as he was, but that made sense, since they were level 12.

Largon struck first at a salamander that was going full velocity in his direction, but it managed to dodge, and it tried to attack him, but he was also able to slide to the side and finally hit it.

With a bit of disappointment, he saw how the enemy's HP only depleted by 7%, and he realized that it would take 15 hits if he wanted to defeat it at this rate.

In the next encounter, the salamander attacked first, but Largon's lizard body was able to dodge it, and he tried to attack it.

Surprisingly, the attack worked, but he then realized that was because it powered through it and was able to hit him.

The attack was blazing hot, and added to the initial 10% of HP lost, his final verdict in this attack was that he lost 20%, as the multiple fire resistance effects he had softened it.

Shortly after, his health was replenished as a healing spell reached him.

"Thanks Tronk"

"No problem"

He thought this strategy might work for a while, but healing took a lot of energy, and Tronk wouldn't be able to help him after a while, so he decided to be more careful.

This train of thoughts was interrupted as the salamander he had fought earlier had come back for more, so he defended himself, and tried to counterattack it, but that didn't work.

As far as it was a 1v1, Largon was certain he could defeat them, but things would get bad if other salamanders appeared.

"Ugh, this is hard"

At last, after 5 excruciating minutes that seemed like 15 to Largon, they managed to beat one salamander.

Although Largon was the one that dealt 95% of the damage, Tronk also used debuffs, and if not because of his healings, he would have already died twice.

Largon then quickly checked the drops: 1 salamander meat and 4 salamander scales.

Largon kept the scales, as he needed them for his quest, and Tronk got the meat, which, if treated correctly, could give a slight health buff.

That was perfect for him, as he specialized in that type of thing, so this reward distribution made perfect sense.

Shortly after, another salamander spawned while they were resting, so they began to fight.

This fight was as difficult as the last, maybe slightly more, as it was one level higher, but after much struggle from both parts, as energy was getting low, they managed to defeat it.

"Phiew, this is taking waay too long"

"Yeah I agree, this is very tiring"

"At least I got one more scale than before"

"Well, wouldn't make sense otherwise, as its higher level"

"That's true"

Same as before, while they were recuperating, a salamander appeared, so they prepared themselves.

Then, while they were in the middle of the fight, another salamander appeared.

"Well, technically this is a 2v2, so how bad could it be"

That's what Largon said, knowing very well that this fight would probably be the hardest he had encountered after joining the game.

After one salamander attacked, Largon had to block, and within that slim margin, the other salamander could hit him.

If Largon attacked, it blocked, and tried to counter, so Largon would dodge, going directly to another salamander, when they managed to exchange blows.

After seeing how he had only half his health after six minutes and that his companion was almost out of energy, he decided to activate his scale armor.

He had 5 minutes to defeat a salamander at 20% HP and another one at 60% HP. It would be hard, but he still tried.

After some parries, dodges, and counterattacks, and a lot of tiredness later, he managed to defeat one of them. He also got a level up, which renewed his hope.

After 5 minutes, he still hadn't beated the opponent and was on the verge of falling from exhaustion, and he was also at 10% HP when suddenly he heard his companion.

"Wait a second!"

Instantaneously, his health went up, as Tronk had recovered from his energy loss, and two minutes of teamwork later, they managed to beat the other one.

He now had 18 scales, so they didn't need a fight that intense, so they searched for the lowest level salamander, and managed to find one that was level 9.

A small fight later, at least in comparison, he had all the things necessary for the quest, so he decided to go see Zokar, the blacksmith, to see if he approved the contents of his gift.

While going there, he made a quick visit to a place where he could sell what he had, as he had 21 salamander scales, and he found some stuff he hadn't sold from when he went grinding in that forest.

In total, he got 70 copper from all that, and then he proceeded to enter the place he meant to go from the start: the blacksmith.

"Hello?"

"Oh guess who's here, if not Largon"

"Yeah, I have gotten everything necessary for the gift, but just wanted to do a last minute check before handing it out"

"Ok lets see… to be honest, I wasn't expecting you to be so fast, everything is perfect!"

After a quick talk, Largon went to see what was up with Thoren and the Draco Store.