"Wow that was really impressive. I didn't know that you had also increased your Agility by that much already."
"I did take the time to increase my 'Agility of the Horned Rabbit' to Advance Level 2, I now have Agility +360 and surprisingly enough the effects of the increased attack speed from 'Dual Wield' still applies."
"I see. So that explains why you were able to shoot so many arrows and with your high Dexterity stat you were able to accurately hit all of the targets."
Smoke also couldn't believe what he just did. He was trying to act as cool and as calm as he could in front of the young future Hunters. However deep down inside he wanted to run, jump and scream 'AWESOME! That was so cool!'.
He did immediately realize the drawback of using bow and arrows. The quiver that Darius gave him only had a capacity of 100 arrows. The good thing though is that he could fetch the arrow back but that would mean that he would need to get close to the orchid mantis once more. Defeating the purpose of his ranged attack plan.
"Darius, this is really a great help but I'm afraid that I will quickly run out of arrows before I can manage to kill 50 orchid mantises."
"Hmm... I think I have one more thing that could help you out. Everyone return to your practice while I talk with Smoke inside."
Once inside Darius headed to his back room and quickly returned with a glowing red stone. The stone was emitting some heat it was about 6 inches long and had a rectangular shape.
"This is an ember stone. If you use this to sharpen your weapons they will gain some fire damage. If memory serves me right plant monsters are really weak against fire. You also mentioned that your damage against the poison slimes was small even with 'armor break of the armored armadillo' right? The reason behind that is that slimes have a unique ability to endure pure physical attacks. So by adding an elemental attack you will get to see some amazing results."
"So I could use this to sharpen the arrows making them into fire arrows! Darius you really are brilliant!"
"That too, but you could also use them on your knives. The job of enchanter can cast elemental attributes on weapons using this method you could get a similar effect. However weapons that are empowered by the ember stone can only hold its fire attribute for 10 hours. You would need to sharpen them again after that."
"But can't you just craft me an enchanted weapon then, that is embedded with the ember stone?"
"I could if I was a master blacksmith. Alas I am not. But if you seek an enchanted weapon with elemental attributes I seem to recall a dungeon in this Kingdom that had a sword imbued with the power of lightning. It's suggested level of entry is around 200 if I'm not mistaken."
"Right! Using the ember stone is really practical and useful. I think I can somehow manage with just these items."
Darius taught Smoke how to sharpen the knives and arrows using the ember stone. He was given a thousand arrows, it took about 1 hour to sharpen all of the arrows and the knives.
With everything in place Smoke set out again to face the most dangerous grocery pick up he has ever experienced.
In front of the entrance of 'Mandragora Forest' Smoke proceeded with his new ritual before hunting. He sharpened his knives and arrows using the ember stone. He was slowly getting the hang of it that he decreased the time to 50 minutes.
Smoke tried attacking the poison slime with his fire empowered knives and was very pleased with the result...
+ Attack hit poison slime. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1143.
+ You've dealt a fatal blow to the poison slime.
+ You've killed the poison slime.
+ You've gained 700 exp.
The poison slimes weren't giving such high xps anymore. Smoke planned to finish the quest within the 10 hour limit set by his fire weapons enhancements.
Smoke already saw the entrance towards the third layer of the forest before so going back there will be a lot quicker. He just needed to wipe out all the orchid mantises that would block his way.
As he entered the second layer, the layer of the orchid mantises Smoke switched to his bow and arrow. He began shooting all of the flowers in sight. Regardless if it was an orchid mantis or not he was planning to wipe all of them out.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1143.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1121.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1122.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1145.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1103.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1128.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1115.
+ Attack hit orchid mantis. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1151.
+ You've dealt a fatal blow to the orchid mantis.
+ You've killed the orchid mantis.
+ You've gained 4000 exp.
+ You've gained a level.
Smoke continued on picking off the orchid mantises one at a time. Once he saw the figure of the orchid mantis there was no escape for it. All the orchid mantises did was sway back and forth. As if trying to be a flower being blown by the wind.
Since his arrows hit practically at the same time there was no chance for the injured orchid mantis to react. It would fall dead to the ground after the 8th arrow hits it's body.
At first the orchid mantises continued to stand their ground away from Smoke trying to hide within the flowers. Despite that the dead bodies of the orchid mantises started to stack up around them.
As they saw that they were dying one by one at an alarming rate, their movements changed. The orchid mantises were enraged. The stealth that they were so proud of was no longer working for them.
Instead of dancing back and forth waiting for a chance to attack. The orchid mantises rushed towards Smoke they came at him eight at a time. Just the right number for Smoke's attack speed.
The orchid mantises were running towards a rain of arrows, falling to the ground at around 5 meters away from Smoke. From all the scattered dead bodies of the orchid mantises, it looked like there was an invisible force field that stopped them at that distance.
After almost 4 hours of non stop fire arrows the orchid mantises near the area were no more. He had gained a total of 3 levels and added them all to his Dexterity. Smoke quickly picked up as much fire arrows as he could, as he only had less than 6 hours left of fire empowerment.
All he could gather was 400 pieces of fire arrows, the rest of the arrows were buried under the pile of orchid mantis carcasses.
Smoke finally reached the center of Mandragora Forest. It was a clear field somewhat similar to the Maneator's Forest but instead of a cave there was a sole rickety tree at it's center. It was a huge rickety tree.
However the things that Smoke focused on were the root crops that were scattered all around the tree. He quickly took out his sacks and started collecting all of the root crops that the quest had required.
As he was about to complete the needed number of sacks for the potatoes. He felt a root grab him. It took hold of his feet rendering him immobile, unable to move the spot.
The next thing that Smoke saw was a huge wooden hand swatting him like a fly. He was thrown against a big tree still within the boundaries of the 3rd layer of the forest.
- Attacked by Tree Ent: ReenTe. You've taken damage. Health -3000
The rickety tree was a colossal Tree Ent it was the boss of this forest. It had used its root to grab hold of Smoke stopping his movements. The Tree Ent was very very very slow. He needed an immobile target in order to successfully hit it. He does however have a high attack power.
Smoke only had 693 HP left. In his excitement to finish the quest quickly he forgot to make the medicinal rabbit stew. He thought about eating something to regain some of his health but decided not to. Even at full health it would only take 2 hits for the Tree Ent to kill him.
The magic number being TWO. Smoke wasn't going to give him another shot. He was going to wipe the floor with this boss. Luckily the Tree Ent stayed at the center of his forest and continued to use it's roots into trying to capture Smoke.
Smoke felt the roots coming at him from all directions but he could easily sense them with 'Cunning of the Dire Fox' and dodge them within a hair's breadth.
While dodging he was also hitting the Tree Ent with his fire arrows.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1493.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1511.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1499.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1523.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1511.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1502.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1499.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 1493.
The Tree Ent's life bar indicated that it had a total of (197,969/210,000 HP) Smoke had more than enough arrows to deal with this boss.
Smoke was very careful not to get caught by the roots. The Tree Ent only needed one hit but Smoke was too fast for him.
The Tree Ent was slow but it's roots were not. They moved like fast whips making sounds as they break the empty air that Smoke was making them hit.
Smoke headed towards the left side of the Tree Ent. He maneuvered carefully towards his goal while continuing his rain of fire arrows. It took him 15 minutes to reach his destination but he finally reached it. The back of the Tree Ent was exposed!
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2239.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2179.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2211.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2123.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2209.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2200.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2215.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2228.
Smoke unleashed his fire arrows with his maximum speed. He was able to do a 10 volleys of 8 arrows for each attack. The life bar of the Tree Ent showed that it only had (63,243/210,000 HP) left.
The whole forest floor of the 3rd layer started to shake. The roots buried deeply underground started to rise and were slowly heading towards it's source, towards the Tree Ent. The thick roots were forming into an impenetrable root barrier.
Smoke saw that the life bar of the Tree Ent was also gradually increasing. It was using a regenerative ability. His fire arrows did no damage at all when it hit the thick roots. Realizing the situation he quickly adapted and switched weapons.
He dashed with everything he had towards the forming root barrier. He was aware of the thinner roots that were still targeting him and was also planning a way to get past the forming thick roots.
Barely making it in time, the root barrier was finally done but Smoke was already inside before it was completed. He swiftly drove both his knives deep in the back of the dying Tree Ent.
The regeneration ability that the Tree Ent had activated was disrupted as Smoke started his blitzing knife attacks. The Tree Ent's roots were desperately trying to grab him. It could feel that it was on its last few minutes of life.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2121.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2179.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2099.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2103.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2119.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2120.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2137.
+ Attack hit Tree Ent: ReenTe. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. BACK ATTACK. Damage 2098.
+ You've dealt a fatal blow to the Tree Ent: ReenTe.
+ You've killed the Tree Ent: ReenTe.
+ You've gained 90,000 exp.
+ You've gained a level.
+ You've gained a level.
+ You've gained a level.
As the body of the Tree Ent started to fade away, it left behind a precious loot.
+ Acquired rare amulet: Heart of ReenTe.
