Chapter 34: Black Wind Fort

After accepting the mission, there was a marked destination on the map. Wu Shaochen followed the markings on the map and walked forward. After crossing Black Bear Ridge and walking for a while, he suddenly saw a long fence in front, surrounded by a wall with a big gate. There were two bandits dressed in a similar manner guarding the gate.

Originally marked as black on the map, it became illuminated as he approached. The map indicated Black Wind Ridge, so the Black Wind Fort should be ahead.

Wu Shaochen quietly approached and used the "Insight" skill on one of the bandits.

[Black Wind Fort Bandit]

Level: 20

Health: 40,000

Physical Attack: 450

Physical Defense: 230

Magic Defense: 150

Movement Speed: 78

Skill: "Take This Slash": Swings the big knife in hand and deals 160% physical attack damage to the target. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

Level 20 monster, not too difficult. Should I start clearing from here or go for level 19 monsters first? Would leveling up too quickly be a problem if I kill monsters that are 6 levels higher?

Forget it, since there's a talent limit, there's no need to go looking for level 19 monsters. Let's start grinding from here.

Wu Shaochen approached a bit closer, but was quickly spotted by the bandits.

"Who dares to come to our Black Wind Fort? Seize him!" The bandits showed no mercy and immediately tried to capture him. Then the two bandits charged towards Wu Shaochen.

"Huh? You dare to disrespect me?" Wu Shaochen felt unhappy with their audacity.

Activating extreme movement speed exceeding 300 and attack speed reaching 104% (2 attacks per second), he charged forward and gave each bandit two strikes before quickly running away. Creating distance, he activated stealth and leisurely watched the two bandits slowly walking towards their death. With 337 poison damage per second, stacked twice, it would be 674 damage per second, just enough to kill them in one minute.

However, at this moment, he felt something sweeping past, and his stealth was broken. Immediately, two arrows were shot at him.

-234

-234

"Damn, there are archers too?" Wu Shaochen looked towards where the arrows came from and noticed two arrow towers on each side of the gate, each with an archer on top. He quickly moved away from the position of the arrow towers and used the "Insight" skill once again.

[Black Wind Fort Guard]

Level: 20

Health: 38,000

Physical Attack: 480

Physical Defense: 180

Magic Defense: 120

Attack Speed: 100%

Movement Speed: 85

Skill: Eagle Eye: Enhances vision, increases arrow accuracy, and can detect stealth skills.

"Damn, how does this guy happen to have the Eagle Eye skill? It's a bit tricky." Wu Shaochen said helplessly. Although individual attacks didn't do much to him with his high defense, the archers' fast attack speed of two arrows per second meant getting hit by four arrows in one second. That would result in a loss of eight or nine hundred health per second. Moreover, their attack range was quite far. Just now, he was attacked when he was at least ten meters away from the arrow tower. Even if he activated extreme speed, it would take him three seconds to reach the arrow tower's position, which meant a total of six seconds to go back and forth. In just six seconds, it was clear that it would be impossible to survive.

"I can't fight like this," Wu Shaochen said helplessly. Suddenly, he noticed the Silver Wolf following behind him from a distance. His eyes lit up. How could he forget about it? He never used it when grinding monsters, but that didn't mean it wasn't strong. It had reached level 12 and had an A-tier aptitude, so its strength had greatly improved.

[Silver Wolf]Pet

Aptitude: A

Level: 12

Health: 14,200

Mana: 1,300

Physical Attack: 400

Physical Defense: 280

Magic Defense: 140

Speed: 60

In terms of stats, it could already surpass Wu Shaochen, except for its slightly slow speed. But that wasn't a problem. When summoning a pet from the pet space, he could specify its position. He could summon it directly under the arrow tower and let it tank the damage. With over 10,000 health and 280 defense, it could withstand the attacks.

"Great, great! It seems that if I want to change pets in the future, I can choose a defense-type one. This way, it can tank the damage. The Silver Wolf King is an attack-type, but it's already quite tanky."

Soon, the two bandits with knives fell to the ground. Wu Shaochen didn't bother picking up the few copper coins on the ground. He recalled the Silver Wolf into the pet space and waited for the 1-minute summon cooldown to end. After that, he summoned the Silver Wolf under the arrow tower as planned. The two archer guards immediately started shooting at the Silver Wolf King.

-200

-200

Damage numbers of 200 popped up above the Silver Wolf's head.

Wu Shaochen didn't waste any time. This was the time the Silver Wolf King exchanged with its life. He activated extreme speed and charged forward.

In three seconds, he reached the first arrow tower. After climbing up the tower, he quickly attacked twice before retreating. Two layers of poison were enough to kill the archer guard with only 38,000 health.

Once attacked, the guard redirected its attention from the Silver Wolf to Wu Shaochen. With two arrows per second shooting at him, Wu Shaochen jumped and dodged, unable to go for the second guard.

"Tight situation, retreat!" 

Wu Shaochen quickly called the Silver Wolf to run. In battle mode, he couldn't directly recall his pet. Fortunately, the Silver Wolf had thick skin and managed to escape the attack range with over 8,000 health remaining.

Next, he waited for the poison to take effect. Dealing with the remaining archer would be much easier. However, it was already difficult just outside the entrance, and there might be many archers inside. That wouldn't be good.

"Well, let's take it step by step."

Soon, the first archer died. After waiting a while and seeing the Silver Wolf's health fully restored, Wu Shaochen once again sent it ahead to draw aggro. Then he quickly charged forward, attacked twice, and retreated.

Before long, the second archer also died. A level 20 monster gave a whopping 300 experience points, and with a 60% experience bonus for being six levels higher, each monster yielded 480 experience points. Even if 20% was given to the Silver Wolf and the remaining four bandits, Wu Shaochen still gained 1,536 experience points.

After the second archer's death, an alarm bell seemed to ring inside the stronghold. The bandits inside started rushing out.

"What the hell? Can it be like this?" Wu Shaochen realized something was wrong and quickly recalled the Silver Wolf before running away.

Sure enough, he hadn't run far when he looked back and saw the entire entrance of the stronghold filled with bandits. There were ones with knives, shields, bows and arrows, and even staves.

"Damn, luckily I can run fast, otherwise I'd be heading back to town for free," Wu Shaochen muttered. Did these bandits have such complete equipment? It was almost like facing an army.

"I really dug a hole for myself." Wu Shaochen felt regretful as he looked at the group of bandits behind him. Now that over a hundred bandits had come out, there were more than twenty archers and around ten mages. If they got close, it would be game over. Even the Silver Wolf wouldn't last more than a few seconds.

"What should I do? I need to separate them and lure them out to kill, but the archers have the same aggro range. If I get close, I'm done for."

"Ah, it's troublesome without any ranged damage. The Assassin's stealth is directly countered, which is really annoying." Wu Shaochen looked at the three scrolls lying in his backpack: one Lucky Scroll, one Body Protection Scroll, and one Stone Skin Scroll.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. The Stone Skin Scroll that he had previously despised, wouldn't it be perfect for this situation?

His current physical defense was 246. By using the scroll, his defense would reach 492. Those guys wouldn't be able to break through at all. His magic defense would also reach 432, which should be enough to withstand ten mages. Although he didn't know the mages' attributes, they should be similar, with magic attack not exceeding 500.

Most importantly, the duration of this scroll was 5 minutes, which would be enough for him to apply two layers of poison to all the archers and mages.