Chapter 288: The Orchard 5
Draco and his two companions entered the next zone after blinking towards it. Now that Draco had identified a solution to his problems, he didn't want to waste any more time farting about.
He only had 1 year get everything done and he had already spent 1 day trying to master his movement speed boost in futility.
The next zone had a different kind of fruit tree spread out across its region. The types of monsters that resided here were also very different from the types that had appeared before in the former zone.
｢Name: Agile Nibbler - Specialist Rank monster
Level: 69
HP: 650,000/650,000｣
｢Name: Large Stomper - Specialist Rank monster
Level: 71
HP: 1,200,000/1,200,000｣
｢Name: Naughty Swinger - Specialist Rank monster
Level: 70
HP: 600,000/600,000｣
｢Name: Wild Chomper - Specialist Rank monster
Level: 70
HP: 700,000/700,000｣
Draco made out four main types of monsters. They were the Agile Nibbler, Large Stomper, Naughty Swinger and Wild Chomper.
The Agile Nibbler was essentially a golden squirrel the size of a dog, and its two buck teeth were as sharp as fangs, while its claws that were usually made for climbing bark glinted with malicious intent.
The Large Stomper was a white elephant with tusks that were curved like sickles. Not only were they flat like a blade, but they had sharp edges on either side. Its feet were also much wider than typical elephants, and even their lightest of steps would leave a deep print on the earth.
The Naughty Swinger was a black-furred monkey that used its hooked tail wrap around tree branches to swing about. They had large canines and their eyes displayed a sharp intelligence as well as a mocking intent.
The Wild Chomper was an ant the size of a wolf, and its large, steel-like mandibles snapped shut menacingly. Its beady eyes displayed little intelligence, but its kind certainly made up for it with their overwhelming numbers.
If the first zone was like a beginner area, meant for those who entered the orchard to get used to the system here, then this next zone that was nearby was an intermediate one.
As such, the number of monsters had increased, and so too had their battle prowess. The moment Draco and his companions entered the zone, these beasts rushed them without wasting a moment.
The Agile Nibblers avoided every arrow Draco shot over with disgusting ease, as if they were able to foresee where he would shoot. Even his Star Shot Technique, which increased the sheer velocity of each arrow tremendously - as well as his insane Dexterity - were unable to change this fact.
Qiong Qi pounced on a Wild Chomper, but his claws were unable to break its exoskeleton. He could only leave white lines on its carapace, as well as a measly 150 damage done.
Before he could leap back, another Wild Chomper grabbed him with its mandibles. Qiong Qi tried to break free as best as he could, but it was like he was being pressed down by a giant.
The strength of its grip did not allow him to even struggle to hard. As such, Qiong Qi's eyes became red and he actually used one of his skills that had some use in such a close range.
Lion's Roar!
｢Lion's Roar - Active skill
Effect: Send out a powerful soundwave that impacts enemies within 3 meters. All enemies within this range are stunned temporarily.
Duration: 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
Qiong Qi wanted to cry. His powerful skill that should have been able to stun a whole Field Zone for days on end was only able to stun within 3 meters of his body for 3 seconds! 3 seconds!
However, this was not the time for him to act difficult. He immediately pried himself free from the grip of this Wild Chomper that had been stunned.
Qiong Qi tried to create some distance between himself and these monsters so he could mount a counterattack, but he saw a shadow cover his form and enlarge itself quickly.
When he looked up, he squealed like a pig. A large white leg was coming down upon him with extreme force, and he scrambled to dodge it. However, he had been too slow, and the leg came down upon him.
BOOM!
The earth trembled as the foot of the Large Stomper smashed down. When it raised its leg once more, one could see a Qiong Qi shaped hole in the earth, and the Lion slowly pulled himself out of it.
The damage done to him was practically non-existent, but the force of it had shook his brains up. He wobbled on the spot like a drunkard, a <Dizzy> appearing on his status bar.
Unfortunately, this made things worse, as the same foot came down upon him once more, and his dazed mind unable to warn him quickly enough to avoid it.
KABAAM!
Qiong Qi was smashed down once again, re-starting his <Dizzy> status effect and leaving him temporally out of the battle.
What made things worse was that after seeing that its prey was unharmed after two consecutive stomps, it called over its buddies who took turns making holes with the lion's body.
All Draco and Clarent could hear were loud booms, and they could only pray for his wellbeing after being stomped on so many times.
The Naughty Swingers acted like the Silent Spinners of the previous zone. They flitted between the trees with insane agility, spitting out seeds from fruits at Clarent.
These seeds moved like bullets, and the Dragon was having a hard time dealing with this. In fact, many seeds struck him, as the Naughty Swingers were not as simple-minded as the Silent Spinners.
Not only were their shots much faster, but much more coordinated. As they were the most intelligent of the bunch - almost human-like in that aspect - they even managed to plant traps for Clarent in the way they shot.
His flame could certainly char the seeds, but if he incinerated the ones in front of him, more came from the right, left and behind him. They were too fast.
Just like before, he was forced into a passive state as he had to continuously use his basic flame breath and melt all seeds that came at him from all directions.
After all, unlike Qiong Qi, he could easily die if the damage on him had stacked high enough. As such, he dared not even slack with his defense.
Once again, this left Draco to face two types of monsters on his own, which were the Agile Nibblers and the Wild Chompers. It was exceedingly easy for him to kite the Wild Chompers, but the Agile Nibblers gave him a tough time.
They could close onto him quickly while avoiding each of his shots. They were like miniature bullet trains that could weave around freely. Of course, Draco had dealt with such speedy monsters before, like the Magic Hind.
This was where the beauty of the Phoenix Cry Arrow showed itself, as its Sonic Wave passive could damage these speedy fellows no matter how fast they thought they could dodge.
Still, the issue was that the Agile Nibblers were not ranged monsters like the Magic Hind which had used magic while keeping a distance from Draco.
The Agile Nibblers were like the Ferocious Chargers, in that even while being attacked, they constantly tried to close the distance between themselves and Draco.
The key difference was that the Ferocious Chargers were beasts of momentum. They needed a period of time to build speed until they became unstoppable, allowing Draco to cripple them by firing when they were about to reach that threshold.
The Agile Nibblers were beasts of acceleration. In essence their initial speed was the same as their top-speed, so they never needed to 'wind up'. They were easily able to close the distance on Draco.
Even his kiting was not good enough. He tried blinking away, but they caught up soon enough. It was clear that should he have had even a normal class at Rank 2, it would be truly hard to fight off these beasts.
However, Draco never expected it to be easy. This was a Divine tier Unique Quest, if just any Rank 2 fellow stood a 10% chance of completing it, then that would be utter bullshit.
Draco was thankful he had reached the second threshold in Dexterity, otherwise he would have already been trapped by these fellows and nibbled to death!
However, he still did not attack them, rather focusing on the Wild Chompers that were skittling after him. Since they were the large majority of the monsters here, it would be best to get rid of them first.
Each normal hit from the Phoenix Cry arrow dealt 1,500 damage, but he was relying more on the flat 2,000 damage from the Sonic Wave passive to weaken them.
At a rate of 3 shots per second, he dealt 360,000 damage per minute with just the passive alone. Truly, Legendary items were things that no one should be allowed to possess, as they were overpowered as hell.
In two minutes of kiting, Draco was able to kill a large majority of the Wild Chompers that were chasing after him, but the Agile Nibblers were still being extremely annoying.
He continually had to use mana shields to push them back when they got close, as they clawed at him. A single attack from them shattered the mana shield with ease, dealing damage to Draco's mind, and it was piling up.
Why was Draco wasting time fighting them like he was some average scrub? Well, he needed to level up his Star Shot Technique. Even after he acquired level 2, he would still have to fight like this as he would have to generate bow skills first.
However, Draco did not use Angel's Blessing this time around, as he wanted Qiong Qi and Clarent to suffer. He could eventually kite his enemies to death, but those two were wholly suppressed and couldn't even fart.
At least Clarent was still alive and was only losing health slowly after being hit by seeds that escaped his flame. Qiong Qi was getting waffle stomped repeatedly like he was a bug.
Instead, Draco used a skill that Zaine gave him which was just as good.
｢Mind Blast - Active Skill
Effect: Send out a wave of mental energy that stuns all enemies within 30 yards.
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 1 hour｣
This was much weaker than the Rare Angel's Blessing skill, as that one had a range of 10 miles and a duration of ten minutes, but that was on paper. The reason this skill had a short duration and a long cooldown was because it was a stun.
Stun skills were the most powerful skills in any RPG.
What Overcharge? What Omega Beam? All of them were dogshit in front of the almighty skills that had stuns. One could blast a person with Omega and they'd have a calm expression, but any gamer who received a stun would panic, no matter how good their temperament.
Every monster within the range of Draco stopped and froze on the spot due to the stun, especially the Agile Nibblers that were always on his heels.
Immediately, Draco began blasting them like mad, even using subjective magic on the arrows to increase their damage as well as their splash effect through wind.
He simply erected a mana shield around him to ward of the incoming Wild Chompers while he bombarded the Agile Nibblers. His rate of fire increased from 3 per second to 5 since he was now focused and overclocking himself.
What he was doing was extremely dangerous. The power of the Wild Chomper's mandibles were something that had even captured Qiong Qi, so his mana shield would shatter immediately.
Draco could only deal 100,000 damage in these ten seconds, but it was enough for him. It did not kill the Agile Nibblers who had 700,000 HP - even with the damage he did before - but it yielded a much different benefit.
Draco fired one last arrow, and this one seemed different from the others. It spun slowly as it hurtled towards it target, and the spinning force seemed to generate a vortex that pulled everything towards it.
This was Draco's first bow skill, Vortex. He had comprehended it just now, right as his Star Shot technique broke into level 2!