Chapter 26

Chapter 26: The Hunt Has Begun!

Within the marshlands.

The gray dwarves yelled at the sky while shooting arrows.

They still didn’t understand what Roger’s look meant.

That was the kind of horror that only the Explosive Magic Frogs could comprehend…

Toughness Value.

A very special sub-divided attribute.

It represented the body’s resistance to negative states.

However, it should be noted that resistance was not the same as immunity.

To make an analogy, if a person were injured, with a high toughness value he could resist the numerous negative states brought about by the injury: pain, fainting, movement constraint, etc.

However, the wound was still there, and he could not be immune from the injury.

Therefore, high toughness did not mean high immunity.

Even so, Toughness Value was still an attribute that was worth investing in.

In battle, a higher toughness value could allow for a greater error tolerance for adventurers.

Moreover, a full toughness value could allow a person to drag on his life for more than ten seconds in extreme situations such as cardiac arrest, throat being cut, and head having exploded!

The effect of delaying death was not to be underestimated.

This world had such things as resurrection scrolls.

Sometimes, ten seconds were exactly what it took between resurrection and being turned forever into ashes!

So, when Roger confirmed that the new attribute was indeed Toughness Value, he did not hesitate to tighten the reins.

He was signaling Misha to turn back.

Flying Dragon Beast’s relatively low intelligence made it difficult for Misha to understand Roger’s intentions.

But there were gray dwarves’ crossbow pointing at them at the front, and there was its owner’s residence behind them. Roger was pulling hard on its neck.

So it just struggled for a while, then reversed the direction of flight.

Roger did not return to Dragon Tooth Village with it.

After they went out of the gray dwarves’ sight, he jumped directly from the back of the Flying Dragon Beast!

1st circle expertise [Light As a Swallow] once again played an important role.

Both Gliding and Slow Fall took effect.

With a swoosh, Roger landed lightly.

He rolled a few times on the ground, exhausting the last trace of momentum.

Then he quickly grabbed the backpack, and with several leaps, he disappeared into the reeds.

The hunt had started!

…

In the southern part of the Yellow Stone Island, near a clear lake.

Two slanted old locust trees obscured the afterglow of the setting sun.

The mist that could be seen by the naked eye rose from the surface of the lake and carried by the breeze was the peculiar rough voice of the gray dwarves.

They seemed to be cursing something.

Roger couldn’t understand the language of the gray dwarves.

But he could barely make out that these gray dwarves were sentries patrolling around the Yellow Stone Island.

Their purpose should be to prevent anyone from leaving Yellow Stone Island.

After finding the group of gray dwarves who had attacked him, Roger did not act rashly.

He walked along the periphery of Yellow Stone Island for some distance, and as expected he found another gray dwarf outpost less than five kilometers away.

“Are these the pioneers of the Marshland Gray Dwarves?”

“They have surrounded the entire Yellow Stone Island, it looks like a huge conspiracy.”

“I wonder how many people are there in their main force.”

Roger did not dare to be the slightest bit careless.

He knew very well that the gray dwarves and the explosive magic frogs were not prey of the same level.

These gray dwarves had the same level as him, and they had structure and organisation, with astounding defenses and sophisticated weapons.

If not for their low intelligence, they could almost be considered as an elite army.

And judging from the setting of the guard outposts, the leader of the gray dwarves had a certain level of intelligence.

“Rachel mentioned that the refugee leader named Humphrey united the gray dwarves…”

“I hope they can withstand the pressure.”

Roger sneaked back to his original position quietly.

Whether the Dragon Tooth Village could withstand the large-scale attacks of the gray dwarves and the refugees was very important to his success.

In order to be able to hunt down enough gray dwarves safely, he had already been prepared for long-term guerrilla.

And this required them to attract enough firepower from the front.

Otherwise the situation would be very troublesome.

…

Dragon Tooth Village.

The restless Flying Dragon Beasts formed a group and circled the big banyan tree in low altitude.

The fires lit up the shadows of the busy villagers.

Reinforcing the fence, moving the supplies, or preparing for the battle…

It happened so suddenly, and they had too much preparation to do.

Outside the medical house.

Rachel, whose face was drained of colour, was trying to comfort the frightened Misha.

After a while, Misha finally calmed down and led the other Flying Dragon Beasts to look for an open space to rest.

“How is it? What happened?”

Cindy’s expression was grave.

This kind of thing had never happened before — the Flying Dragon Beast had returned, but the rider was nowhere to be seen.

“Not sure. Misha refuses to communicate now.”

Rachel bit her lip unconsciously, “I found arrow marks on its wings. He may have been shot and fallen.”

“Has the number of gray dwarves become so dense? I had told her to change directions…”

Cindy shook her head. “Humphrey was more prepared than we had thought.”

“This is a tough battle. We really need you, but now, you must take a good rest.”

Rachel insisted with a stern face, “I have to find him. What if he is not dead…”

Cindy straightened her back.

“Master Roger will be fine.” Beside them, someone suddenly interrupted.

Rachel shifted her gaze to look at him.

Eric walked over from the darkness holding a pile of rocks. He said earnestly, “Let me tell you a secret. No matter how strong a monster is, Master Roger can kill it with only one move at most.”

“Although the gray dwarves are indeed very powerful for us…”

“…Master Roger can wipe them out as easily as turning over his palm!”

Rachel was silent for a while before reluctantly agreeing to go back to rest.

…

“These gray dwarves are really a little tricky!”

Among the grass by the lake, Roger, who had been hiding for a long time, couldn’t help but scratch his hair in frustration.

The tricky point about them was mainly their Rough Stone Skin.

This trait allowed the gray dwarves to have super defensive power, and non-critical attacks had no chance of taking effect at all.

As for the critical locations, Roger had been observing for a long time and had only found the back of the neck and eye sockets as the gray dwarves’ Achilles’ heels.

And perhaps the crotch too.

But the gray dwarves did not give Roger any chance for such an in-depth inspection…

“It’s time to do it.”

Roger took a deep breath and gently pulled on the rope beside his hand.

On the quiet lake, there was a sudden thumping sound.

The gray dwarves on the locust tree all stuck out their heads to see what happened.

But the fog was too thick, and they weren’t able to tell the specific situation at all.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

A few crossbow arrows shot past, but there was no other movement.

Immediately, three grumpy gray dwarves jumped down from the tree.

They splashed around in the water for a while, and then went ashore to patrol with their crossbow arrows.

And on the other side of the locust tree that was close to the shore, a nimble shadow climbed up silently under the cover of night.

There were only two gray dwarves left behind on the locust tree.

Roger was light and feline-like.

Under the effect of Cloud Mist Footwork, it didn’t take long before he climbed above a gray dwarf.

“Psst.”

The Green Beetle Sword pierced all the way from the back of the gray dwarf’s neck, directly penetrating its heart.

…

[You killed a Marshland Gray Dwarf]

[You’ve received 12 XP]

[Your ‘Toughness Value’ has been slightly improved]

…

[You’ve used assassination methods to kill a monster for the first time, you have achieved a new milestone – Assassin’s Creed]

[You have accumulated 11 milestone points and you can redeem milestone rewards, do you want to redeem it?]

…