Chapter 34 – Cat Dad's Spiritual Root Crystal Farm
Xiaomao and Slave One descended to the second level again.
As soon as they walked down the stairs, the four elite wardens a hundred meters away noticed them. They barked and bore fangs, threatening Slave One and Xiaomao.
As Xiaomao was wary of the floor boss, he chose not to use the barbed bolt. He used the rough ammo and focused on one monster at a time.
Slave One knew what he had to do. He cast the Tree Skin spell on himself and used another hand to fire a water bullet at the nearest gnoll.
PU
The bullet seemed faster and sharper this time. It went through the first warden's chest and leather armor.
353!
Additional damage from the M.ATK showed some results. Xiaomao didn't regret adding all points to Slave One's INT.
However, Slave One could only shoot one bullet every 5-6 seconds. The DPS was on the low side compared to his normal attacks.
Xiaomao followed up. He aimed at the injured gnoll's crotch area!
Although the warden gnoll's upper body was protected by half-plate mail, the lower area was unprotected!
The bolt whizzed in the air and pierced the jewel of the first gnoll, dealing double critical damage!
Then, the explosive bolt did its job.
BOOM
The explosion dealt another critical damage and knocked the pack of warden gnolls off the ground. They were sent tumbling and rolling because of the blast impact.
Just like that, the first warden gnoll went down. It exploded items and everything was automatically collected into Xiaomao's inventory.
Xiaomao immediately checked if the items that he had been searching for were there. And he wasn't disappointed.
Ding
<You have received G1 Crystalized Wood Qi x 1.>
<You have received G1 Crystalized Metal Qi x 1.>
Aside from the Hyen Set equipment, monster card, and random crafting ingredients, the dead warden gave Xiaomao two red-named items.
They were consumable items that Xiaomao had been looking for.
…
Crystalized Wood Qi
This little rock is the materialized Wood Qi. Although it seems shiny like a gemstone, it is more valuable than the regular gems because of its Qi.
Item Type: Consumable
Effect: Permanently increase Wood Spiritual Root by 1. Ineffective when your Wood Spiritual Root is higher than 50.
…
Xiaomao smirked. These crystals were the reason why Xiaomao chose not to increase his spiritual roots with free allocable points.
In his previous life, these crystals were more precious than diamonds. Each crystalized Qi of every element could be sold for 10 million USD as investors sought them for their NFT characters.
The supply of these crystals was also limited as it was a red-named item. These crystals could only be dropped by elite monsters level 35 or above, and the chance of getting one was less than 0.1%.
As a result, every elite monster's spawning point in dungeons was usually monopolized by guilds and real-world organizations. The monopoly became worse after the Landlord Patch had been applied as investors could simply buy lands and become nobles. Even monster dungeons were considered private assets!
However, Xiaomao was the only one in this dungeon. All elite monsters on the second level and below belonged to him!
Seeing the items, Xiaomao was motivated. He laughed.
"Kill! Kill! Kill, munya!"
While Xiaomao was shouting, the three elite monsters had just recovered from the stun. They roared and tried to get closer to Slave One and Xiaomao.
Xiaomao narrowed his eyes as he had an idea. Instead of aiming at their mouth or head, he pointed his crossbow at the crotch of an elite warden. He didn't care if they wore pants or armor leggings now.
POEK
Another explosive bolt hit another dangling jewel of the second warden.
DOUBLE CRITICAL!
836!
BOOM
DOUBLE CRITICAL!
920!
The combo of Nut Cracker Title's effect and the explosive bolts worked well here. With just one bolt, the second elite gnoll vanished.
Moreover, the explosion stunned the two other warden gnolls. They tumbled to the ground and struggled to get up because of the explosion.
Slave One fired another water bullet at the third gnoll while Xiaomao sent another one to the fourth warden's nuts.
BOOM
The fourth warden suffered two-hit double critical damage and turned into ash. The third warden was also heavily injured.
Xiaomao switched his ammo type to save some explosive bolts. He fired a normal one, aiming at the nuts as usual.
POEK
124!
Unfortunately, the shot missed the target. It hit the gnoll's thigh instead.
ROAR!
The surviving gnoll recovered. He kicked the ground and charged toward Xiaomao.
But Slave One blocked his path. He raised his wok like a buckler while he raised his club, ready for a counterattack.
Seeing Slave One in front of him, the gnoll thrust his spear!
DONG!
The spear hit the wok. Unfortunately, it only changed the spear's trajectory.
PUEK
The spear slipped through the rough defense stance of Slave One and hit the latter's shoulder.
15!
The damage was light!
Slave One faintly smiled as the Tree Skin spell prevented the spear from biting deeper into his flesh. He swung his club and smashed his opponent's head.
The smack hit the gnoll's face, breaking at least four teeth. It staggered backward because of the club's attack output.
Seeing an opportunity. Slave One fired a water bullet into its mouth.
CRITICAL HIT!
490!
The water bullet in its mouth decreased its HP by 30% in one hit.
As the gnoll was too close to Slave One, Xiaomao couldn't use another AOE attack. He reloaded a regular bolt and fired another one to its head.
POEK
Right into its right eye! Its HP was now less than 10% after all the accumulating damages from the AOE explosions and other attacks.
The injured gnoll whimpered in pain and pulled the bolt out of its eye.
Ding
<You have inflicted a Bleeding status effect on the Warden Gnoll Level 40.>
"Crap, munya."
Although Xiaomao used regular ammo, they sometimes caused bleeding when the monster's health dropped to a certain extent.
Because of the bleeding status effect, the gnolls within the dungeon howled. More packs of hyena-like men rushed toward the prison hallway again.
But this time, the Mama Warden led the pack and sprinted toward them. She ran on all four as if she was a hunting wolf.
Xiaomao sent an explosive bolt on her way, hitting one of her feet.
BOOM
The explosion paused Mama Warden for two seconds. The fur of her injured foot became charred, and the bolt was still stuck in her flesh.
Mama Gnoll bit the bolt and pulled it out. It didn't cause a bleeding effect, and her HP barely decreased.
Xiaomao didn't give up. He concentrated his shots at Mama Gnoll's feet, stopping her from getting closer.
As the explosion continued, the mobs behind her got caught in the explosion, and their HP bars gradually decreased. The blasts also stunned some of them, slowing them down.
Still, a few gnolls leaped over Mama Warden slipped through the blasts.
"Get ready to retreat, munya."
Slave One slowly retreated up the stairs while he shot back a water bullet to deal random damage to the pursuers.
While Xiaomao was retreating, he fired another explosive bolt randomly at the crowd in front of Mama Warden. However, it hit someone's crotch and exploded.
DOUBLE CRITICAL!
859!
And the explosion followed.
BOOM
DOUBLE CRITICAL!
986!
The explosion caused tremendous injuries to the mobs and the target gnoll. It was enough to insta-kill the target and a few monsters nearby.
Unfortunately, as Xiaomao shot at other gnolls, the Mama Warden could move. She crouched for a moment and leaped forward.
Her leap was so powerful that she jumped over Slave One and Xiaomao. She landed behind them and stood on the stairs.
Instantly, she cut off the escape path to the upper floor.
Mama Warden didn't move from the spot. She observed Xiaomao and Slave One's actions while blocking the exit passage. Then, she looked up to see the barrier between the ground floor and her dungeon floor.
"…"
Mama Warden narrowed her eyes. Then, she turned toward the two intruders.
AWOOOOOOOO!!
Mama Warden suddenly howled like a wolf. Her voice echoed in the dungeon.
AWOOOOOOOO!!
Responding to her call, the other gnolls deep inside the dungeon also howled. The entire cave trembled, and some ceiling rocks dropped to the ground.
RUMBLE
Beyond the hallway of the prison area, 200 regular gnolls and 20 elite wardens barked and sprinted toward there at their full speed!
Now, every monster on this floor was coming this way!
Slave One stopped retreating while Xiaomao kept firing at the pursuing mobs behind Slave One.
Xiaomao clicked his tongue as he had mentally prepared for it.
'This fight will be troublesome, but I need to do this eventually! I know that all boss monsters can adapt to players' play style, but damn! She's too smart!'