78 Sleeping Shadow

Lunge!

Lu Fengyi closed the small distance he had placed between a Silver Fanged Bat and himself in an instant before slashing across the body of the bat, placing a final damage value above it before allowing it to fall to the ground.

While the spell did not help much in terms of killing the enemy faster, it granted him more leeway in how far he backed away, since every 10 seconds, he would be able to gap close in an instant, allowing him to re-engage without too much of a penalty against enemies with longer reach.

From the time he had entered the cave, Lu Fengyi had already traversed hundreds of metres in and defeated tens of bats, some of which had already reached level 4. If not for his always increasing skill and experience in the way of an assassin, he would have died multiple times over to the higher levelled monsters.

Generally, caves were a prime position to hide chests and other goodies due to the darkness of the area and also the easy justification to put numerous obstacles in the way of the treasures. He had already defeated majority of the easier monsters, leaving the most probably obstacle to be terrain.

Dusting himself off, Lu Fengyi strode deeper into the cave, now much more relaxed than he had been at first. The width of the cave narrowed as he went deeper, however before long, the path lead to a large cavern that seemed as large as a cathedral. Looking around, Lu Fengyi realised quickly that he was the only one in the cavern as there was not even a single enemy in sight. Of course, he did not let down his guard, in case there was a surprise attack from a hiding boss monster or some other unknown enemy.

From his previous experiences, game developers loved to hide loot inside two different types of places, the ones that were hard for one to discover, almost impossible to find, and the ones that were blazingly obvious, yet obvious enough that it becomes undiscovered for times to come.

Walking to the centre of the cavern, Lu Fengyi made a quick scan across the protruding sections upon the walls, however there was no distinct glint of a chest despite his efforts. The rest of the cavern was similarly empty, evidently unable to hide anything without being at least slightly within vision range.

On the opposite side of the cavern to where Lu Fengyi had come, there was a single continuation of the cave, however this one was much larger than the entrance to the cave system, reaching tens of metres high and several metres in width. Just as he had gathered up his courage to approach the entrance, heavy footsteps sounded from inside, reverberating against the walls and reaching Lu Fengyi's ears.

Knowing that this was no normal mob, Lu Fengyi moved quickly into the shadows before attempting to cloak himself from sight. While he didn't have any stealth skills or escape skills, he could at least do this much to reduce the chance of being seen.

As he had expected, the enemy that had just come out was no ordinary mob, but instead a boss!

Cave Ogre (Leader): Level 6

Health: 250/250

Holding his breath, Lu Fengyi stayed as still as possible as he watched the ogre walk slowly across the cavern. While the health did not seem very impressive, Lu Fengyi was sure that not only would his attacks do minimal damage to the boss, it was very likely that he would be killed in a single hit from the enemy. If he was discovered, who knew what would happen to him. Death? Losing experience and equipment?

Lu Fengyi could feel his lungs screaming for air, however he held his breath until the sounds of the ogre completely disappeared. Taking a few ragged, yet silent breaths, Lu Fengyi lined himself against the wall before moving slowly towards the large entrance that he had approached earlier. While it was most definitely dangerous to move towards such a place, it had its merits as well. If he was able to pick up some loot, he wouldn't mind dying and losing experience as it was generally a good trade off.

Upon reaching the entrance, Lu Fengyi peered carefully in, making sure that there weren't any imminent threats before entering silently. In the distance, he was just able to make out the faint glowing outline of a chest. Heart pumping with adrenaline and fear, Lu Fengyi dashed quickly towards the chest before beginning to unlock it.

「System: Opening chest… Estimated Completion: 20%… 50%…」

Although the opening of the chest was quite fast, Lu Fengyi could not help but look backwards several times, checking it the arm or leg of the ogre would appear around the corner, possibly spelling his doom.

「System: Chest successfully opened! Time taken: 12.0 s」

Lu Fengyi opened the chest and began feeling inside. Aside from some loose coins and clothes, the pleasant touch of a skill book was also present. Pulling it out, Lu Fengyi quickly read the contents.

Skill Book: Sleeping Shadow

Description: Cause target's shadow to turn on them.

Requirements: Incantation ( 1 second )

Properties: Slow enemies in a 7 metre radius by 10% and reducing their damage output by 12% for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 1 minute

Restriction: Shadow Assassin

Lu Fengyi's eyes widened in surprise as he read through the skill. Although it was nothing fancy, just the fact that it could provide an AoE type debuff was already extremely enticing. While 12% damage reduction didn't seem like much, if he were to influence even a dozen mages in a small scale team fight, the flow of the battle would reverse entirely, favouring his allies for a solid 5 seconds, allowing them to sweep the floor clean of extras.

Without any hesitation, Lu Fengyi applied the skill book, watching as another square of his skill bar lit up with a shiny icon. Gathering the rest of the loot within the chest, Lu Fengyi moved towards the opening before sprinting across the cavern towards the cave exit. If he was lucky enough, the ogre would be out hunting, preoccupied with other matters which would in turn, allow him to escape unscathed. From his entire time in the cave, not only had he gained a skill book, but he had also gotten 12 bronze coins from the chest and 5% worth of experience from the mobs, quite the solid heist.

Deciding to take his chances, Lu Fengyi dashed out with his greatest speed before following the light around every corner, reaching the outside of the cave in no time. To his great relief, the ogre was nowhere to be seen, and even if it was in the general vicinity, Lu Fengyi believed that his speed would be able to allow him to escape.

Just as he exited the cave, sounds of battle rang constantly from only just over the closest hill. While his priority would be to get away safely, Lu Fengyi submitted to curiosity, following the sound from over the hill.