Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Cunning Monster

The foul wind blew onto his face.

Roger leaped back calmly and composedly avoided the monster’s bone claws.

The Red Tide Corpse Queen uttered no word and swiftly launched another attack. She threw herself forward again fiercely, her bone claw grabbing at one after another of Roger’s vital parts.

Fortunately, Hermit Ranger was adept at dodging.

In just a few seconds.

Roger demonstrated his agility, escaping this round of soul-stirring attacks. He managed to find a gap between the monster’s attacks, rolling on the ground skillfully, pulling away from the monster.

“Her attacks are fast, and the attack speed bonus should be at least +5.”

“The pus and stench on her body are both highly toxic and cannot be touched.”

“The level of her intelligence cannot be determined for the time being, but it’s clear that she is not a monster who knows nothing but being reckless.”

Roger calmly stared at the Red Tide Corpse Queen who temporarily stopped her attacks, and his brain ran wild, quickly analyzing the characteristics of the monster.

Thanks to the Qi Divination Technique, he could predict to a certain extent the attack route of the Red Tide Corpse Queen, which allowed him to have the upper hand in close combat.

In fact, in the previous round of attacks, he had at least five opportunities to counterattack, and he was sure that every opportunity could cause a lot of damage to the monster.

But he still didn’t make a move.

Because of the profession of Hermit Ranger, no matter what weapon he used, gathering momentum would be the most important.

This profession’s battle was all about a bolt from the blue!

Coupled with Roger’s cautious character, he wouldn’t attack easily without being 100% sure.

“I need to observe more carefully.”

As he thought so, the Red Tide Corpse Queen moved again.

This time, she no longer took on the aggressive attack since the beginning, but pressed on methodically with every attack!

Although the terrain outside the canyon was a little wider than the inside, it was overgrown with weeds and rocks nevertheless.

She seemed to want to take advantage of the rough terrain to force Roger to make mistakes.

But Roger did not panic at all.

With Qi Divination and Hermit Ranger’s innate agility, he simply played hide-and-seek among the grass with the Red Tide Corpse Queen.

Twenty minutes later.

Roger stood on a stretch of scorched land, adjusting his breathing.

Not far away, the Red Tide Corpse Queen made a heartbreaking roar, but the balls of blue-green flames surrounding her were fading away little by little.

The Qi Divination Technique showed that her condition was declining sharply.

“Looks like it’s almost done.”

Roger held on to the sword in his hand tightly, his attention was highly focused.

After more than 20 minutes of fighting, he gained a comprehensive understanding of the Red Tide Corpse Queen:

This was a monster with strong explosive power!

In the explosive state, her speed and strength would be close to the peak of the 1st Circle profession.

Her common moves were: [Straight Attack], [Claw Strike], [Enhanced Claw Strike], [Wraith Fire], [Stun] and [Acid Mist].

Among them, Straight Attack, Claw Strike, and Enhanced Claw Strike were all close combat skills.

The claws of the Red Tide Corpse Queen carried corpse poison. Once slashed by her, the consequences would be disastrous.

And the magic she mastered was also very practical.

Whether it was Wraith Fire or Acid Mist, it could limit the opponent’s movement space to a certain extent, creating a perfect opportunity for close combat.

And the unpredictable stun technique can make oblivious adventurers stumble!

Unfortunately, her opponent was Roger.

His full magic resistance meant that he could be immune to the effects of all magic spells, unless he encountered circle number suppression!

Roger was not afraid of the magic attacks of this monster at all.

However, in the early probing, he was still trying hard to avoid the magic attacks by the Red Tide Corpse Queen, creating an illusion that he was afraid of Wraith Fire and Acid Mist.

In fact, as long as he wanted to, he could even swim in a more concentrated acid mist pool that was produced by the Corpse Queen…

“Here is my opportunity.”

Gradually, the Red Tide Corpse Queen’s desire to attack greatly diminished.

But Roger changed his previous defensive style and started to test the boundaries of the monster little by little along the edge of the blue-green flame.

This made the Red Tide Corpse Queen a little annoyed, and she waved her bone claws ferociously in appearance but feeble in essence.

Indeed, whether it was speed or strength, her attacks were much more lacking than before.

Suddenly, Roger stepped forward swiftly, directly over two layers of wraith fires, and approached the Red Tide Corpse Queen.

The monster was taken aback and hurriedly defended against the move.

Large swathes of wraith fire rolled over and surrounded her.

To her surprise, Roger just made a false attack, lowered his head to avoid the wraith fire, and returned to his original position.

After this, there was not much flame left around the body of the Red Tide Corpse Queen.

“Has she been completely exhausted?”

Roger was not completely sure of this.

But he knew that all his preparations had been completed.

It was time to kill the opponent.

Thinking this, he lowered his center of gravity and attacked aggressively with his sword.

At that moment, both his speed and momentum reached their peaks.

He was fast as lightning, completely ignoring the wraith fire and acid mist surrounding the monster, and rushed in front of her.

Whoosh!

The sword wind howled, followed by a simple and unpretentious chop.

In the sharp howl of the Red Tide Corpse Queen, Roger’s sword, as if cutting tofu, sliced through her bone claws, forearms, shoulder blades, chest cavity, and pelvis all into halves!

Suddenly, the wraith fire went out, and the acid mist subsided.

The Red Tide Corpse Queen was severed by the sword.

But Roger frowned.

“There was no kill notification!”

A strong sense of danger arose in his heart.

The corpse that was sliced into pieces by him made a strange crackling sound, and small balls of wraith fires jumped around it.

“It’s the [Corpse Explosion Technique]!”

Roger dropped his weapon and pounced outside regardless.

But it was still a little too late.

With the corpse of the monster as the epicenter, an explosion spread out without any warning.

For some time, sands, rocks, and weeds were flying everywhere.

The terrifying explosion shook the canyon with endless resonation of the loud boom.

A huge crater appeared in the place where it exploded.

“Hehehe…”

“What a tricky opponent.”

“Fortunately, I have my trump card.”

Among the smoke, there was a vague sound.

Accompanied by this sound, a pitch-black skeletal frame was fitted together under the wraith fire.

Not only that but on her empty skeletal frame, buds of flesh covered with yellow pus started growing at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Not far away, Roger squatted on the ground, squinting his eyes as he inspected the cunning monster.

…

[Red Tide Corpse Queen LV5 (Elite), HP 79, Defense 15, Weak Lightning]

[Skills: Straight Attack, Claw Strike, Enhanced Claw Strike, Wraith Fire, Stun, and Acid Mist]

…

He blinked, and the data obtained by the Qi Divination changed.

…

[Red Tide Corpse Queen LV6 (Elite), HP 99, Defense 18, Weak Lightning]

[Skills: Straight Attack, Claw Strike, Enhanced Claw Strike, Wraith Fire, Stun, Acid Mist, and Corpse Explosion]

…

He blinked again.

The flesh buds on the Red Tide Corpse Queen’s body was growing even faster!

…

[Red Tide Corpse Queen LV7 (Elite), HP 109, Defense 21, Weak Lightning]

[Skills: Straight Attack, Claw Strike, Enhanced Claw Strike, Wraith Fire, Stun, Acid Mist, Corpse Explosion, and Red Tide Sky]

…

“F*ck!”

“What a wretched monster.”

Roger cursed in anger.

“What?”

“You’re not dead?”

The Red Tide Corpse Queen, who was promoted by two levels straight, finally noticed that Roger was still alive.

“Who are you?”

Her tone revealed her surprise.

“The person who’ll be sending you to hell.”

Roger stood up and patted the dust on his body. He glanced at his data panel a little displeasedly, and finally pressed the confirmation option.

“Ha ha…”

The Red Tide Corpse Queen laughed contemptuously.

However, she swiftly discovered with horror that with her every laughter, the seemingly mediocre adventurer in front of her would become even stronger!

Immediately, she no longer dared to laugh.

But something that made her more desperate happened.

Although she stopped laughing, Roger’s strength and momentum were still rising steadily!

“No, this is impossible.” She rushed over hysterically.

“What is impossible…” Roger flexed his muscles, and quickly walked over to pick up his sword, and slashed as he turned to his back!

“Who doesn’t have a trump card these days?”

…

On the data panel, rows of notifications appeared continuously.

…

[Your level is raised to LV6]

[Your attributes have been enhanced]

…

[Your level is raised to LV7]

[Your attributes have been enhanced]

…

[Your level is raised to LV8]

[Your attributes have been enhanced]

[You have acquired a new skill]

…

[You’ve killed the Red Tide Corpse Queen]

[You’ve obtained 5 XP]

[You’ve killed an elite monster for the first time, you have achieved a new milestone – Try Your Hand]

[Your pain resistance is slightly increased (Red Tide Corpse Queen)]

…