Chapter 20: West Territory (1)

Daniel confidently moved forward, cutting down every plant that stood in his path. Because there were no longer any attractive butts in his sight, Daniel was more focused than ever.

"Hm? A grape tree?" he observed with a stoic face, eyeing a small tree barely a meter tall. From beneath its leaves hung round berries of a brownish hue. Serafina tensed immediately.

"Be caref..." Serafina began, trying to warn Daniel. However, with a calm expression, he thrust his short sword into the bunch of grapes. Grape juice flowed along the blade and dripped to the ground.

A system message popped up in front of Daniel.

[You have killed Threat Monster, WineWorm.]

[You have earned 10 experience points.]

[You have earned 50 points.]

[You have obtained an item.]

"How did you know?" Serafina raised an eyebrow in question.

"Do you think you're surrounded by fools and you're the only smart one?" Daniel retorted, his face impassive, turning to Serafina. Serafina frowned. Daniel moved on.

After a few minutes, the number of grape trees started increasing. With a calm demeanor, Daniel pierced each bunch of grapes. Suddenly, multiple system messages appeared before him.

[Level up!]

[The "Wisdom" attribute increases by one point.]

[Due to the monster's poison, your weapon gains an additional effect.]

[+10% chance of paralysis.]

`Not bad,` thought the young man, `But how does the system allocate points? Why did the "Willpower" attribute increase last time, and now "Wisdom"? That's not what I wanted to improve right now,` Daniel shook his head, `I'll figure it out later. Now, I need to focus on more pressing matters.`

"Stop," Serafina suddenly commanded. Daniel froze and slowly turned to Serafina. The girl looked tense. "Three monsters ahead. I've encountered them before. Threat rank monster – "Blood Bush". I'd prefer to avoid battling them."

"I'd prefer not to waste time detouring. How dangerous are they? There are two of us and three of them, ranked 'Threat' like the 'Mountain Monkeys', so they shouldn't be much trouble."

"I don't know how you managed to defeat all four Mountain Monkeys, but I'm sure you didn't do it in their territory," Serafina said, giving Daniel a stern look.

"So what if I didn't?"

"Monsters become several times more dangerous in their own territory. Even a 'Filth' can give you a heap of problems."

A memory flashed before Daniel, of narrowly defeating the 'Mountain Macaque', which had nearly finished him off.

"These 'blood bushes' are currently in their territory. Unlike the 'Monkeys', they operate as a single unified organism. I suspect they can communicate telepathically. Of course, they aren't as agile as the 'Mountain Monkeys' and their defenses aren't as strong, but they aren't easy to approach, especially when there are three of them."

"And why is that?"

"I can't say for sure, but most likely they possess magic, or maybe it's their skill, but they can summon gusts of wind that significantly slow down your movements. Moreover, when this monster's flowers bloom, they begin to shoot bloody thorns, which significantly increase the bleeding parameter in your status. In other words, it's a very troublesome enemy. I don't know how proficient you are with a sword, but even if your skill is high, it will be impossible to deflect all the thorns. We need a shield. Only with it will we have a chance."

"What if we try to sneak up on them?"

"Impossible. The Bloody Bushes are almost entirely covered in eyes. It sees and feels everything around."

"Eyes... Now that's interesting," Daniel mused.

"Do you have a plan?" Serafina raised an eyebrow.

"Who knows," Daniel replied indifferently, summoning two stones.

***

Three "Threat" rank monsters slowly roamed amidst the undergrowth of the tropical forest.

The Bloody Bushes looked intimidating. Each of the monsters was at least 6 feet tall, with the tallest reaching a full 6 and a half feet.

The monsters had thick and curved branches, covered in many small, multicolored flowers and round little eyes, located right between these flowers. The bush stems were dark brown, and the leaves dark green with red veins.

As if in a trance, they circled a small clearing. If the Mountain Monkeys could be mistaken for sentient beings, these seemed more like zombies. They seemed uninterested in anything around them, simply waiting for something. Maybe, like zombies, they waited for food to come to them, or perhaps they were guarding the territory they wandered.

Who knows. Neither Daniel nor Serafina were interested in that now. They needed to get past them. Suddenly, Daniel leapt out from behind a tree onto the clearing and immediately dashed towards the tallest of the three monsters.

They instantly snapped out of their trance. The attention of each was now on him. They abruptly halted and stared at Daniel with their round, intimidating eyes. With an indifferent expression, Daniel held a short sword in his left hand. He ran towards the monster, sword out, piercing the creature with his icy gaze.

However, unlike the primates, it was hard to confuse or frighten the corrupted plants. Daniel's indifferent face had no effect on them. They immediately attacked him without hesitation.

The flowers on the monsters bloomed. In an instant, thorns began to shoot out from the flowers. Like bullets at high speed, they headed straight for Daniel.

CLANG CLATTER CLANG

With an unflappable expression, Daniel parried every thorn flying at him. Seraphina looked on in astonishment at the young man.

`How is he... Who is he...` - Seraphina observed Daniel closely, hiding in the bushes. Daniel was almost upon the monster. He thrust his blade forward, preparing to pierce the bloody bush.

However, each of the three monsters suddenly summoned strong gusts of wind, pushing Daniel back and slowing his movements. The remaining flowers on the bloody bushes bloomed again, and thorns flew at Daniel from all sides. There was no way he could fend them all off. It was the end for Daniel.

Or so the monsters thought. Suddenly, one of the stones flew straight into the eye of the tallest monster, making it let out a shrill, ear-piercing scream that echoed throughout the forest. The sound was so unpleasant that even Seraphina covered her ears. After three seconds, the stone materialized back in her hand.

But Daniel ignored the noise. Instead, he took advantage of the situation. The wind from the tall bloody bush had significantly weakened, so without hesitation, the swordsman lunged at the tallest monster, ignoring all the thorns coming his way.

Yes, Daniel had become faster, but he couldn't dodge all the thorns. A few hit his shoulder and side. One thorn missed his balls by half a millimeter.

The bloody bush finally recovered from Seraphina's blow and was about to summon another strong gust of wind to repel Daniel, but it was too late. Daniel's blade pierced the Bloody Bush all the way through.

Daniel expected some kind of juice or something resembling the monster's blood to run down his blade, but it remained clean. Instead, the Bloody Bush began to wither and darken rapidly. Its leaves started to fall off, and eventually, the monster crumbled into pieces. System messages popped up in front of Daniel.

[You have killed a Threat Monster, Bloody Bush.]

[You have earned 50 experience points.]

[You have earned 35 points.]

[You have obtained an item.]

Thorns continued to fly at Daniel, but this time from two sides. The two bloody bushes didn't react to their comrade's death. What's more, they just stood in place, keeping their distance from the young man.

`Pity, I was hoping they'd freak out like monkeys and charge at me...`

Daniel moved determinedly toward the bloody bush, his sword leading the way, deflecting the flying thorns aside.

However, the monsters' supply of thorns wasn't infinite. Each time they shot thorns, the flowers on their bodies would tighten into a bud, after which the monsters would have to wait for the flower to bloom again before attacking with thorns.

Now, all the flowers on the monster closest to Daniel had tightened into buds. The monster tried to summon a gust of wind to repel Daniel, but a stone suddenly flew into one of its eyes, causing the monster to let out a piercing scream.

The second Bloody Bush tried to assist its wounded comrade, rapidly launching a rain of thorns at Daniel, but it was halted by Seraphina.

Two flying stones thrown by her found their mark, hitting the monster's two round eyes. Not wasting a second and taking advantage of the monster's brief vulnerability, Seraphina swiftly leaped out of the bushes. With the grace of a lady and exceptional agility, Seraphina rotated her body 180 degrees, delivering a devastating and sharp kick to the Bloody Bush. It met its end instantly.

Several system messages popped up in front of Seraphina, which she ignored. The girl calmly returned her foot to the ground, slowly lowered her hands, taking a deep and refreshing breath, shedding all the tension.

Seraphina opened her eyes and looked at Daniel, who was pulling his sword from the remains of the Bloody Bush, and in front of him, three system messages suddenly appeared.

[You have killed a Threat Monster, Bloody Bush.]

[You have earned 50 experience points.]

[You have earned 75 points.]

[You have obtained an item.]

"Your skill with the sword is notable," Seraphina approached him, crossing her arms over her chest, "Where did you learn it?"

"Who knows," Daniel replied indifferently. Seraphina sighed.

"We'd better take a short break here and rest for five minutes. I don't sense any enemies nearby. It's relatively safe here. It's better to do it now because there won't be another opportunity later. About a kilometer from here is the water source I mentioned earlier. However, it's heavily guarded. We'll have minimal time to quickly quench our thirst and refill your flask. But once we leave, our situation will get even worse, so there's no telling when we'll get another chance to rest," Seraphina looked sternly at Daniel.

Daniel nodded.