Chapter 187 Determined (3)

Jake dealt with the other monsters in the same manner. As long as he used mana and stamina without a care, he was basically unstoppable against monsters of that level. Still, soon he had to use some potions for him to keep up with that pace. Still, even if he used all the coins he obtained after killing them in potions, he would barely be able to recover the energy spent.

Fortunately, Jake's hard work paid off… before the sun could set, he found a forest… a very weird forest. One could easily call it the forest of death since so many undead trents were close to each other, and their combined poison probably could kill anyone. Nevertheless, Jake didn't find a hill or a mountain, so he could tell that their dungeon was an underground one, and those creatures were guarding it.

"Well now… What should I do?" Jake rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Jake wondered how come the people of that world could let the trents grow in number to the point where things could become that troublesome. They weren't a problem by themselves, but they sure became a problem when they were left alone and managed to create such a line of defense. Jake just now realized that they were probably the best type of monster to create a line of defense like that. Even if they lose a few of them against a proper army, they could take down a lot more enemies with their Poisonous breath. Only mages and archers would have some advantage against them.

"I guess I could use my shurikens alongside Concentrated Strike, but recovering them would be impossible before I use all of them," Jake thought. "Attacking head-on is definitely suicide. Even if a direct confrontation is my style, there is no fun or bravery in dashing to death."

Jake had to find a way to recover his shurikens… Come to think of it, Boomerang Shield could work, as long as the monsters don't use numerous vines to stop it. The only problem was the fact that Boomerang Shield couldn't work with Concentrated Strike. Their effects didn't work well together.

Jake decided to wait until it got dark since it would be easier to surprise the enemies that way. He was still hidden, so the enemies weren't aware of his presence. While he was waiting, he considered his options. He could try to learn the technique behind Boomerang Shield, but that probably wasn't something he could replicate by himself after a couple of hours. The other thing he could do was to just damage the trents enough to make them look for him while the shurikens were piercing their bodies. However, it was hard to believe that such a plan would go the way he wanted. Another idea that he had was to use Flames of Wrath on the border of his Fury shields. That certainly would make him able to kill the trents in a single hit while it would negate the vines that might touch it and try to stop it.

"However, I can't make flames of that size so often… Being angry is quite tiring, after all," Jake thought.

The last idea was the weirdest of the ones that Jake had thought: he had decided to attach some of his shurikens to his fury shield. They would add some extra damage since they would spin and cut anything in their paths while mimicking the spinning of the dark flames.

Jake didn't want to damage his shield, but he couldn't think of any other idea. Making bigger shurikens wouldn't work… He needed to use the Boomerang Shield, after all. In any case, using some extra claws, Jake made some screws and added them to the central part of the shurikens. After that, he made the holes on the shields to attach firmly four of those shurikens. It took a while for him to finish that, and the final result was like the weapon that the villain of a slasher movie would use.

Chaotic Fury Shield

p Endurance + 20, Strength + 20, Health + 20

Durability: 50/50

"Not bad, I guess…" Jake thought.

While Jake managed to improve the shield and make the system recognize the changes, he couldn't master it again and obtain more bonuses. It even lost one of the original effects, but Jake already had it, so it was fine. Nevertheless, Jake carefully added the shurikens so that they wouldn't pass the border of the shield. Otherwise, the effects of Boomerang Shield wouldn't take place. In any case, Jake used the skill as a test on a tree, and he frowned when he saw chopping it completely.

"I guess my increased strength helped with that," Jake thought. "The real problem is the high pitching sound."

Jake realized it only now, but the higher his strength, the more powerful and faster the attack would be. Adding to the extra piercing power of the shurikens, the projectile was making a high-pitched sound that was hard to miss…

"Can't have your cake and eat it at the same time, I guess," Jake thought.

Jake had already wasted plenty of time, so it was time to put his plan into action. While using Stealth, he slowly approached the forest of monsters. Only the leaves in the heads of those creatures were making noise, so Jake assumed that they were sleeping. It was better to do that to conserve energy since they had nothing to eat.

"I can imagine some monsters eating humans, but not those things…" Jake thought. "Speaking of which, how do monsters survive for a month when they only protect their dungeon?"

Before Jake could get more sidetracked, he shook those thoughts out of his head and prepared to attack. He found a small bush in which he could hide behind, and then without wasting time, he finally attacked. The monsters got wary of the sound made by the shield, but they never saw it until one of the undead trents was almost cut in half by the shield.

After flying in a wide arc, the shield returned to Jake's arm. He stopped and looked around for a moment to see if some of the trends had managed to see the projectile moving. They probably saw, but in the darkness of the night, they soon lost sight of it. The trents began to move because they could see their fallen comrade, but they couldn't see the enemies. Some of them even used Poisonous Breaths in order to attack any invisible enemies. Still, naturally, Jake was too far away from their range.

"I guess this will work… I will have to be a lot patient, but I can recover my stamina three times faster than they can respawn, so it will be fine," Jake thought.

Jake won't be able to gather the loot now, but it was a small price to pay for his safety. Although the smell of poison was like the highly concentrated smell of smelly shoes, he could withstand it once their numbers decreased to not insane levels.

In any case, Jake resumed sniping the enemies with his shield. He made sure to pick up some angles where the shield would pass some obstacles before hitting the enemies and returning to make sure that the trents would always lose sight of it. Still, he didn't expect it to go so well for so long.

Although Jake assumed that they were pretty stupid, the trents began to move around their vines to block the projectiles, even when they didn't know where they would come from. In the end, it didn't help since they were cut down as hell. Their sole purpose was to poison their targets. They couldn't be used as defensive walls.

In the end, Jake did that for several hours until the enemies began to move around and search for him. They moved in groups of three as if that would change anything. In the end, Jake couldn't help but smirk… he had been a troublesome foe, but fighting with Vare had been a lot more fun.

"Well, let's finish this… hmm?" Jake frowned when he looked behind and saw some massive lights coming from the city.

He had checked the place several times along the night, but the lights coming from it were a lot weaker… why all of a sudden would things change? Jake didn't like that, and the timing couldn't have been worse.

"I need to check it…" Jake thought and then clicked his tongue. "Why now of all times when I am finally making some progress here?"

Jake sighed and then dashed toward that walled city. Just to be safe, he equipped his dark cloak and then put away his shield and Flamberge. At the same time, he equipped his greatsword. Maybe that wouldn't change much, given that he was probably the only person that had headed toward that direction that day. Still, he would try to keep his identity hidden in case something big was happening… perhaps that was why his instincts were warning him earlier.

Jake tried to speed up while using potions to recover his stamina, but he soon stopped because he reached an area that seemed weird. He had passed through that earlier, but he didn't feel like that before, and it wasn't because of the darkness of the night. Jake looked around for a while, but he couldn't tell what was off… The area didn't have any obstacles that could block his field of vision against enemies. So, it seemed like a weird place to lay an ambush, and why would someone lay an ambush for him in such a place?

"Those two? Even if they are good at hiding their presence, they shouldn't be good enough to hide their armor from my eyesight in a place like this," Jake thought.

Jake knew that there was no point in waiting, so he decided to move, but he didn't drop his guard. In the end, he did the right thing because a barrage of knives was thrown at his face before he could take ten steps from that spot. He jumped to the side, but before he could land, someone suddenly dashed toward him as if they had appeared out of thin air and aimed at his beck with a knife.

Jake didn't have to hold back against humans who had no qualms about ambushing another human to kill them. He swung his sword at the enemy after enveloping it with his Flames of Wrath. The enemy tried to block his attack, but the flames were moving like a chainsaw again, and in the end, the knife and the enemy were split cleanly in two.

You received 25.555 coins.

Jake quickly turned around to prevent the attack of the other enemy. Still, he only saw that guy stopping in the middle of its dash and then firing, throwing knives like a machine gun. They sure were good at that, but Jake managed to block those with his greatsword. Before he could do anything else, he saw the enemy moving away. They planned the ambush and failed at killing him instantly, and they still had the nerve to try to run away.

Jake kicked the ground and used Explosive Touch to chase that guy, but by using those skills, he could only keep up with the enemy's speed. He used his speed buffs, but the enemy had those as well. Without any other choice, Jake used his shurikens, but the enemy managed to dodge almost all of them. The last pierced his leg and made him fall. It was over… However, when Jake approached to interrogate the enemy, he saw that guy piercing a knife against his own heart…