Chapter 44 - 44 41 Battling the Mountain Bandits Again

44: Chapter 41: Battling the Mountain Bandits Again 44: Chapter 41: Battling the Mountain Bandits Again “This guy looks pretty fierce.” I Want to Be Immortal hid behind the bushes, watching the Lost Soul Mountain Bandit in front of him, and said with some concern. It was a burly man wearing studded leather armor. The dilapidated armor could not conceal his imposing stature; broad-shouldered and thick-backed, he carried a large saber on his shoulder, its rusty blade seemingly still stained with blood, giving off a murderous aura. He casually picked up a Strategy Guide lying nearby and flipped through the Monster Introduction. [Lost Soul Mountain Bandit: Humanoid Monster, randomly possesses a Combat Skill, drops various White Board weapons and Equipment, and with some luck, Basic Skill Books. However, their combat strength is rather formidable. It’s better not to engage them solo early on. I once tried to solo one and nearly died.] “Don’t worry, I’ve fought these things before. It shouldn’t be a problem with two people,” Xiao Jie said calmly, yet with a hint of sorrow. Han Luo had died here before. He shook off the gloom in his heart and started to plan their tactics. “We’ll only take on one at a time, make sure not to pull too many! If more than two are drawn, just run away. First shoot arrows to reduce the bandits’ health as much as possible, then finish them off at close range. Once in melee, be sure to surround them. The one facing the enemy should focus on defense, and the one attacking from behind should deal damage. Retreat immediately if the bandit starts glowing red.” “I’ll be the one to pull the aggro. Okay, I’ll count to three, and we shoot arrows together.” “1——2——3!” As they spoke, both pulled their bows——and let the arrows fly! Whoosh! Whoosh! The fixed-point shooting was quite accurate; the bandit was hit by two arrows at once and immediately howled and charged towards them. “Keep shooting!” Xiao Jie shouted as he drew his bow and fired another arrow, hitting the bandit straight in the chest, -9! I Want to Be Immortal was a bit flustered, his second arrow off-mark, flying over the bandit’s head. Seeing the bandit closing in, Xiao Jie did not shoot again. Although he had time for another arrow, he would not have time to switch weapons if he did. “I’ll take the aggro!” Quickly switching to a shield and Yanling Saber, Xiao Jie charged at the bandit. I Want to Be Immortal also switched to a sword and shield and circled around to the bandit’s back. The bandit swung his saber down hard, but Xiao Jie didn’t try to clash blades with him; instead, he raised his shield to block. Using a shield for Blocking was much simpler than parrying with a sword; all you had to do was right-click. Bang! Bang! The bandit’s saber kept hacking down on Xiao Jie’s shield. Xiao Jie didn’t strike back. With a 2-on-1 advantage, it was only right to go for a just Backstabbing. I Want to Be Immortal moved behind the bandit and stabbed at the back of the swinging bandit. -17! The damage from the Fine Steel Long Sword was quite impressive. With a Furious Roar, the bandit turned and swung his saber at I Want to Be Immortal, who was prepared and immediately raised his shield to Block. “Good, just like that. Now it’s my turn to deal damage!” Xiao Jie, seeing the bandit’s back to him, slashed with his One Cut, Two Pieces skill. Thwack! -56! With weapon damage at 300%, this blow was explosive, instantly taking a quarter of the bandit’s health. After chopping, Xiao Jie immediately raised his shield, expecting the high damage to attract the bandit’s aggro back to him. Indeed, the next second, the bandit’s saber came swinging at him. The two exchanged slashes and stabs, and after a few rounds, the bandit’s health was nearly depleted. But the bandit didn’t choose to flee; he roared and made a motion as if dragging his saber back to Charge. “Back off!” Xiao Jie yelled. Both retreated at the same time. The bandit took a powerful step and dragged his saber toward Xiao Jie, swinging it downwards in a Horizontal Slash. Combat Skill——Horizontal Slash! Unfortunately for him, both had already backed off a few meters, his slash hitting nothing but air. Xiao Jie took advantage of the bandit’s skill cool down and wide opening, quickly closing the distance. Combat Skill——One Cut, Two Pieces! Swish! The bandit’s face split open with a line of blood where the blade passed, and with a scream, he fell to the ground, dead. Only when he saw the bandit fall did Xiao Jie breathe a sigh of relief. No matter how confident he was, facing this monster that had left a psychological shadow on him still unavoidably made his heart race. Fortunately, the combat proceeded exactly as he had calculated, and he solved his enemy without losing a single drop of blood. He checked the loot, 24 Wen, and a pair of pants had also dropped. [Hemp Pants (Leg Guard/Poor quality) Leg defense +4. Item Introduction: Crude long pants made of hemp, able to provide the wearer with some warmth and minimal protective effect.] Such crappy loot, and it’s even gray—but—it’s still of some use. “Do you want these pants?” Xiao Jie asked out of habit. “Uh, Feng, you take them first.” Xiao Jie was just being polite; I Want to Be Immortal had leather leg armor, so he naturally wouldn’t care for this trash. He directly put on the pants. This kind of trash gear would be embarrassing even to sell in shops in other games, but in this game where resources were scarce, it was precious. If he could grind a few more, maybe he could assemble a full set. “Let’s continue.” The fights that followed were exceedingly repetitive. The two of them firmly adhered to the plan they had made earlier, picking off lone bandits. The archer would whittle down their health, and the melee fighter would backstab, spending an entire hour before successfully killing all the solitary bandits on the mountainside. They had killed a dozen or so, and the fighting itself didn’t take much time; most of it was spent scouting and avoiding the rest of the bandits. There was no helping it; Xiao Jie was somewhat confident facing 2 against 1, but he didn’t dare take on 2 against 2. It’s not that they couldn’t win. In fact, after an hour of fighting and getting used to the bandits’ combat style, he was now 80 to 90 percent sure he could take on a bandit alone. While I Want to Be Immortal’s skills were not as good as his, they were certainly not weak, and with a full set of good equipment, taking on a single bandit would likely yield a 50 to 60 percent chance of victory. But even a 10% chance of failure was a risk he was absolutely unwilling to take. Killing monsters for leveling was a long-term job. A single attempt with a 10% failure rate, what about 10 times, 20 times? A mistake was just a matter of time. Fortunately, these bandits were distributed across a hilly area with varying elevations and numerous mounds and hillocks. As long as you found a high spot for observation and figured out the bandits’ distribution and a safe route, it was quite secure. These bandits dropped not only three pieces of White Board Equipment but also more than 300 Wen. They split it, 150 each, which was much faster than Chopping Wood or Sheep Herding. It was just a shame that no Skill Books dropped. It seemed that his luck was really good that day, to get a Skill Book from the first monster. Xiao Jie checked his Experience Points, he needed just over a hundred more to level up. However, all the solitary bandits in the vicinity had been killed, and those left were either in groups of twos and threes or the respawned ones were too close to each other, easy to ADD. In the distance, on top of a hill, he could see a crude outpost surrounded by wooden fences, with a few tents inside, vaguely making out several bandit figures. That was probably a bandit lookout point. Such a stronghold might have an Elite Monster respawn, and there could even be good loot like treasure chests to grab. But considering they were currently scared of facing two bandits at once, the idea of raiding a bandit stronghold was promptly dismissed. Xiao Jie didn’t even dare to risk getting closer. “Feng, how about we pull two at a time? I think I can handle it,” said I Want to Be Immortal. “No way! Two would be too dangerous,” Xiao Jie categorically refused. Despite the ease of two against one, Xiao Jie knew very well that their attributes and damage output were not higher than the bandits’—a one-on-one fight, while having a chance of success, would spell the end if they failed just once. And a bandit only dropped a few dozen Wen and trash White Board gear. To risk his life for such meager rewards was not worth it. “Then let’s go grind the Lost Soul Walking Corpses,” suggested I Want to Be Immortal. “Lost Soul Walking Corpses?” “The ones that look like dried-up corpses, those are the lowest level monsters, easy to kill. They don’t give much experience, but it’s still more than deer or sheep or whatever.” “Have you killed them before?” “Many times.” Xiao Jie remembered seeing a bunch of corpses the day he searched for I Want to Be Immortal, which must have been those creatures. “Alright, let’s grind the Lost Soul Walking Corpses.” Mountain bandits usually spawned on slopes and hillsides, animals in the forest, while the Lost Soul Walking Corpses preferred to spawn around roads and ruins. The two carefully made their way down the slope, through the small woods, arriving at a pathway between the trees. This was where I Want to Be Immortal had been grinding the Lost Soul Walking Corpses the other day, but to their surprise, they found the area empty. “Huh, why are there no Lost Soul Walking Corpses? I ran into several here that day,” I Want to Be Immortal expressed in puzzlement. Suddenly—Ding-ling-ling! Ding-ling-ling! A cold and eerie copper bell sound began to ring from afar.