Chapter 17 – Lizardmen Massacre

Atlas suggested as they continued walking further away from the city, "They are close to us and worth a lot of EXP. I'm sure that there are more Lizardmen there than Goblins at this level."

"Understood!" She replied in an energetic voice, "At least we will get enough materials for our equipment. Swamp is also a good place to mine ore."

"That's true. As long as we don't get too greedy and hunt slowly, we should be fine against Level 15 Elite Lizardmen too."

Swamp was a great place to farm. Not only was it full of Lizardmen, but it also had other monsters such as Swamp Toads that gave out Alchemy materials. On top of that, some higher level materials like Green Gemstone and Cerulean Ore were also available there.

Unlike other hunting grounds surrounding Rudina City, though, the Swamp area was slightly hard to reach. This area could only be reached by walking across the plateau into a dense forest at a certain point.

Once players walked across the forest and arrived at another plateau, they would arrive at the swamp that stretched across for a few kilometers. This was where Lizardmen usually lived, most of them were level 12 with a few level 15 Elites.

But the trip from Rudina to Swamp wasn't free from danger as there were many monsters everywhere in this area. If players didn't take precautions or brought insufficient equipment and knowledge, they would die without knowing how or why they died.

This was also one of the reasons why there weren't many players hunting in Swamp.

For Atlas and Ferin, there wasn't any problem with this location because they knew the path with a lower monster's spawn rate.

After crossing a plateau and walking through a dense forest with a low spawning rate of monsters for 10 minutes, they finally arrived at the entrance of the Swamp.

"Finally." 

Ferin heaved a sigh of relief once they crossed the plateau and arrived at the edge of the Swamp area. She stretched her sore body a bit and looked at Atlas with a happy smile on her face.

She looked around, her ears twitched around as she took in the scenery while standing beside him. "Ah~ This reminds me of when we traveled around before."

"You're right. I remembered you tripped on that tree root back then." Atlas chuckled softly.

"Meanie At." She pouted cutely upon hearing his response.

Ferin and Atlas had explored most of Horizon Online during their previous life. Not all areas in the game were easy to reach, especially since some could only be reached by unlocking the Teleport Pad in a specific city.

Still, they had many memories in this game together. Playing a game together was a great way to bond and spend time with your lover.

"Alright, let's get ready to hunt." Atlas stretched his hand and held the staff tighter. "Our victims have heard of us and showed up on their own already."

"Let's do this!" Ferin unsheathed her sword from the scabbard and yelled in excitement.

A group of Lizardmen suddenly emerged from behind the tree and bushes not far from where Atlas and Ferin were standing. And once they were in the crazy couple's sight, they were immediately greeted with a warm greeting of a fireball shot right at their faces.

"[Fireball!]"

Boom!

"Strike!" Ferin exclaimed excitedly at the explosion. She lunged forward without waiting for the smoke to disappear, using it to hide herself from the lizardmen.

Her sword was drawn. It turned into a blur as it swung. Two lizardmen with lowest HP after being hit by [Fireball] were killed. They disappeared into red hexagons.

[Ding! 2x Level 15 Lizardman has been defeated!]

[2x Lizardman Hide obtained.]

"5 left." Ferin's ears moved as she suddenly stopped and jumped to a different direction. She swung her sword again.

The lizardman she approached raised its own sword to prepare to block her. However, a bluish bolt suddenly appeared on its side, hitting it, and forcing it to drop its defense.

"Fer." Atlas yelled, his staff still pointed forward after casting [Mana Bolt].

"Thanks, At!"

Ferin didn't waste the opening Atlas made.

"[Dash]"

Her speed doubled instantly and she reached the lizardman. With a few quick slashes, she took it down. The lizardmen around her now attacked her at once, noticing the danger she posed.

Three swords came from different directions. Ferin raised hers, deflecting two of them and sidestepped to dodge the last one. She counterattacked with a wide slash, chipping their HP.

After that, she immediately jumped away as a fireball crashed into them, turning them into red hexagons in the air.

A lizardman was left. It was blown away by the shockwave created from the exploding fireball.

As it crashed against the tree, Ferin ran toward it and activated her skill.

"[Dash]"

Her sword gleamed from the sunlight. She stabbed it against the Lizardman's head and killed it swiftly.

[Ding! 2x Level 15 Lizardman has been defeated!]

[4x Lizardman Hide obtained.]

[1x [Common] Steel Spear obtained.]

"That was fun." Ferin swung her sword to get rid of the water on the blade and sheathed it. "Let's find another group, At! Your [Fireball] is really strong."

"I know. While this staff's attribute isn't that good, the [Fireball] skill is useful for early gameplay. Lv 5 [Fireball] isn't something that I can use before Level 20."

"True. The damage is also high, and it also explodes to provide area damage. We are really lucky!"

Indeed they were.

"Let's find the lizardmen. We need to reach Level 15 before the night cycle. After that, let's log out and rest."

"Let's massacre them."

That word held a literal meaning.

For 5 hours straight, they hunted and hunted the Lizardmen. They only took a break to recover Atlas' MP and Ferin's HP because she got hit a few times when she lowered her guard.

Materials and [Common] weapons and armors piled up in their inventories.

And at the end of it, they reached Level 15 and returned to the Rudina City to log out.