Capítulo 81: A Familiar Face

The Crimson Glade was a vast forest. To reach the coordinates Stivi had shared, Samar had to traverse deeper into the map, until he reached the very center.

On his way inside, he encountered a variety of monsters ranging from Lv 11 to Lv 14. Scarlet Skirmishers were the weakest of them.

Samar avoided most of them, but some he just could not get away from, like the Lv 14 elite monster, the Emberwolf Rider.

—-

Emberwolf Rider (Elite)

Lv 14

Attack: ★★★★☆

Defense: ★★★★

HP: 2100

Skills: Ember Spittoon, Fire Fang, Burning Blade

—-

The Emberwolf Rider had high movement speed and a ranged attacking skill, Ember Spittoon, which made escape impossible for Samar.

Every time he tried to get out of its range, the Emberwolf would spit tiny embers that did not deal much damage but were deadly accurate and inflicted burns on the target.

Samar had lost almost 60% of HP, enduring the onslaught of the monster.

He had lost less than 20% of his health combined in all his encounters so far. Yet, this single elite monster had brought his Health Bar all the way down to orange.

The Emberwolf Rider rushed past him with its red-hot saber slashing into his back. Its attack took away 45 points of his health, leaving only 41 HP.

This meant Samar could not even afford to endure one more of such attacks!

More importantly, the attack had narrowly missed his head, as if the Kobold was toying with him. The Kobold turned around with a mocking smile as the Emberwolf slowed and came to a stop in the distance.

"Bastard, this is it for you!" Samar angrily roared as he finally decided to attach his Tier 0 Power Shot skill to the special skill, Homing Arrow. Immediately after, he activated the new skill, Homing Power Shot.

To achieve maximum damage, he decided to use one of his newly forged Rune Arrows. Combined with his active set effect, 'Flame Ward', the Fire Rune Arrow would deal an additional 25% of Fire Magic Damage.

Homing in on the Kobold riding the Emberwolf, Samar released the arrow.

Twang!

The sound of the vibrating bowstring echoed in the damp and silent forest after the arrow was shot from the bow. As the fiery red arrow flew towards the monster, the Emberwolf Rider charged at Samar with fire burning in its mouth, a precursor to its Fire Fang skill.

It ran in a zigzag path to avoid the arrow while closing the distance between them. Little did it know the tactics that worked in the past, would not work this time.

The arrow changed its trajectory, closely following the kobold. No matter how it swerved, the Emberwolf Rider could not get rid of the arrow and it was finally shot through its head in the end!

-610 (Crit)

A huge number popped up on the Emberwolf Rider's head, wiping off 30% of its health and the smug grin on its face. It was replaced by primal fear as its health fell to a mere 15%.

Before the Emberwolf rider could recover from its shock, Samar activated the skill, Rapid Shot.

-83

-80

-83

-85

Samar did not trigger a single critical hit, but there was no need to. The Emberwolf Rider had already collapsed to the ground dead, after eating just four of the ranger's arrows.

Samar huffed and took deep breaths to calm his thudding chest. He had not felt this close to death even when he had fought against a Field Boss, the Dark Tusk Boar.

Just as he was about to drink an HP recovery medicine, the notification for killing the Emberwolf Rider arrived.

[You have killed Lv 14 (Elite) Emberwolf Rider. You have received 1175 Exp.]

Immediately after, Samar was bathed in the white light, advancing his level to 11 and recovering all of his lost HP. That was not the end of the notifications.

[Bow Mastery +12]

[Congratulations! Your Bow Mastery has improved from Initiate stage to Intermediary stage.]

This was great news! Intermediate Stage Bow Mastery offered just a 10% damage boost on the surface, but it was the hidden effects of the Mastery skills that were truly important.

After reaching the Intermediary stage, Samar felt like his actions while wielding a bow had become even more unrestricted.

For example, at the Initiate stage of Bow Mastery, he could not notch more than one arrow on the bowstring and shoot it, creating an imitation of the skill 'Triple Shot'.

However, he was no longer restricted from doing so after reaching the Intermediary Stage.

The problem was the accuracy of such shots… Well, he could only say it is a bargain to pay 20 Silvers and learn the skill 'Triple Shot' compared to the time and arrows he would waste trying to imitate the skill.

Samar shook his head to get rid of the wandering thoughts and picked up the Emberwolf Hide, Sharp Steel Saber, and a coin pouch dropped by the Emberwolf Rider.

The loot made him grin from ear to ear. As difficult as it was to kill the Emberwolf Rider, its drops were truly worth it.

The Emberwolf Hide could be sold for 30 Coppers. He had also gained another 8 Coppers from the coin pouch. However, the truly valuable drop was the Sharp Steel Saber.

The Sharp Steel Saber was a Lv10 White-Wood Grade weapon that would fetch at least one Silver if sold in an Elven Store and more if sold to players.

All in all, he had acquired goods worth a Silver and 40 Coppers after killing just one Elite Emberwolf Rider. He really wanted to continue farming these Emberwolf Riders, but he had a meeting to attend.

A few minutes later, he reached the coordinates sent by Stivi. His journey had brought him to the shore of a huge scarlet lake at the center of the Crimson Glade.

The surface of the lake was absolutely still, giving an impression that it was not water but blood that filled the lake. Surroundings of the lake were equally silent, without even a single chirp of a bird or an insect.

The eerie silence was unnerving by his lonesome and Samar searched for Stivi and the mysterious R4. He soon spotted her on the other shore of the lake, bathed in a crimson glow.

She was talking to an Elf with a huge build, who he assumed was the R4 from the Grandeur Guild. As Samar walked over, Stivi saw him from the corner of her eyes.

She nudged the R4 and announced, "He's here."

She had this strange mischievous glint in her eyes that said 'I-am-up-to-no-good' when she announced his arrival.

ViolentBear, the R4 standing beside her slowly turned around, and Samar found his face vaguely familiar. It was as if he knew him but couldn't place how he knew him or from where.

"So, you are Samar." ViolentBear said, speaking in a strange way as if he was forcing himself to sound differently from how he usually would.

"I am Violent Bear," He said, extending his hand for a shake. At the same time, his eyes scanned Samar from head to toe, taking in the grades of his equipment.

"Yes, I am him." Samar responded, accepting the handshake while looking at the R4 strangely. He also took notice of the equipment Violent Bear was wearing to gauge the difference between them.

Violent Bear had a Black-Stone Grade round wooden shield and the long spear in his hands, clearly of elven-make, worth nearly 30 Silvers.

Even though his Arm Guards, Shin Guards, and the Head Gear emitted a glow of White-Wood grade equipment, they bore the same patterns indicating they were part of the same set.

However, none of his other equipment impressed Samar as much as the Bronze-Copper grade chainmail on his torso. Its grade was impressive but its price was even more so.

Samar had seen this same piece in the Auction house and its selling price was a whopping 5 Gold Coins!

'Truly, a pig would fly if the guilds poured enough gold!' Samar thought in his head, while eying his expensive equipment covetously.

Violent Bear silently withstood his gaze but began to grow uncomfortable as time passed.

Noticing his awkwardness, Stivi cleared her throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Samar, Violent Bear wants to check your skills, So, we have come up with a way to test you. We will raid the Field Boss of this forest, Sanguine Serpent, Vormi under your command."

Stivi declared, shocking Samar speechless.

This was not an ordinary monster or a mini boss but a freaking Field Boss! She wanted just the three of us to raid it! Is she out of her mind?

Samar was outraged. He wanted to protest against the test but Stivi had already thrown the Rock in her hand into the lake before he could stop her.

The pebble skipped across the still water and reached all the way to the center of the lake before slowly sinking to the bottom.

The air became heavy with tension. Samar gulped, and a few moments passed in a tense silence but nothing happened.

Just as Samar was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the water in the lake splashed as a giant human face emerged from the surface, dragging its huge serpentine body behind it.

The serpentine Vormi looked around only to notice the three of them standing close to the shore.

Immediately her face contorted in anger as she spat out a word with utter hatred and disdain, "Elves!"

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