Chapter 36: Battle Against the Group of Mages

The rest of the battle was much easier. As long as he didn’t get stunned, the four bandits couldn’t take down Wu Shaochen. After several back-and-forth encounters, he finally wiped out over twenty bandits.

This battle took just over ten minutes. In total, he had eliminated 146 bandits, plus the four gatekeepers, bringing the total to 150 bandits killed. The speed was absolutely unimaginable for any player—after all, these were level 20 monsters.

The 150 bandits gave Wu Shaochen a whopping 57,600 experience points. He was about to level up again so quickly after his last one. Meanwhile, Silver Wolf, who had been standing at a distance, also leveled up by 13 levels.

His Undying Body stat increased by 150, bringing his total health growth to 545, with his health now nearing 3,000 (2,976).

He opened his bag to check the two items that had just dropped.

[Roundwood Shield]
Black Iron Level
Health +200, Physical Defense +20, Magic Defense +10, Block Chance +2%
Additional Attributes: Constitution +21
Required to Equip: Shield Warrior

[Attack Speed Ring]
Black Iron Level
Attack +60, Attack Speed +6%, Additional Attributes: Agility +22
Required to Equip: Archer, Assassin

The attributes were decent. The black iron equipment dropped by level 20 monsters was already comparable to bronze equipment dropped by level 10 monsters. He equipped the Attack Speed Ring, replacing the Toad Ring that had been a basic item. His health decreased by 20, but his attack increased by 52, attack speed rose by 5%, and his agility increased by 22.

The shield was then put up for auction with a 30-minute bidding time.

Afterward, Wu Shaochen carefully approached the mountain stronghold. Along the way, he didn’t encounter any more bandits. Upon entering, he noticed the layout of the stronghold, which expanded in layers. The outermost buildings were rather simple and likely housed the lower-ranked thugs. The middle layer had much better buildings, indicating that these were likely the homes of those with higher status. The largest building at the top was probably where the leader lived.

There appeared to be no one on the bottom floor, as they had likely all gone out. Wu Shaochen cautiously moved toward the middle layer. Fewer buildings were found here, but the monsters should be much stronger.

As he walked up, he soon saw several groups of bandits. To his surprise, all the monsters in the middle layer were mages, which suggested that mages held a high status in this stronghold. The ones that had just left likely came from this area, and it seemed that no mages resided on the lower floors.

He hadn’t taken a close look at the mages’ attributes before, so he used Insight to check.

[Black Wind Stronghold Warlock]
Level: 20
Health: 36,000
Magic Attack: 480
Physical Defense: 120
Magic Defense: 180
Movement Speed: 68

Skill 1: Fireball – Launches a fireball that deals 120% magic damage to the target. Cooldown: 3 seconds.
Skill 2: Freeze – Launches an ice spear that deals 130% magic damage to the target and reduces their movement speed by 30% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

The mages had two skills: Fireball and Freeze. Wu Shaochen, watching from a distance, saw that there were only five mages in front of him. Killing them wouldn’t be difficult, but he was worried that if he rushed in, more mages might appear, and he wouldn’t be able to escape.

“Wait, I almost forgot. This character doesn’t have Eagle Eye.” Wu Shaochen activated Stealth and quietly crept closer. The mages were unaware of the danger and casually chatted.

He circled around to survey the area. The mages were stationed in several spots, and although the distances weren’t too far, it would take them at least three to four seconds to reach him. With this time, he could poison three or four of them, then escape.

After thinking it through, Wu Shaochen wasted no time and silently approached the mages. He activated Extreme Speed and quickly began applying poison. Each mage was hit with two layers of poison, and in the time it took for them to react, Wu Shaochen had poisoned three of them. They only started shouting and running after the damage was done.

He pursued them for another three seconds and poisoned two more. Only one mage managed to land a Fireball on him.

Seeing more mages rushing over, Wu Shaochen turned and ran, with Fireballs and Ice Spears raining down on him, reducing his health by nearly 2,000 points. But it didn’t matter. Before more mages arrived, he had already escaped their attack range and continued running in the distance.

The mages could only watch helplessly as their enemy disappeared. Their speed couldn’t keep up.

After a minute, Wu Shaochen returned. The five mages had already fallen, but in their place stood twenty-five more, all vigilantly watching their surroundings.

“This is going to be tough,” Wu Shaochen muttered, a bitter smile on his face. If twenty-five mages focused their fire, even Silver Wolf wouldn’t be able to hold out.

“Should I use a Body Protection Scroll?” Wu Shaochen was torn. The Body Protection Scroll was a guaranteed life-saver, but using it now felt wasteful. But without it, he didn’t know how to proceed.

“Maybe I should go grind for a while and come back later?” Wu Shaochen thought, quickly shaking his head. If he left to grind, the bandits would respawn, and everything he had just done would be for nothing. Besides, leveling up a couple of levels wouldn’t significantly improve his overall strength.

“Forget it, I’ll give it a try first. If it doesn’t work, I’ll use the scroll to save myself.” Wu Shaochen made up his mind. He checked that his skills were off cooldown and activated Stealth again to approach the mages. This time, he activated Extreme Speed and began applying poison in a frenzy.

The mages were startled by his sudden appearance, and chaos broke out. At close range, the mages found it hard to lock onto Wu Shaochen, and only a few Fireballs landed on him. This situation lasted only a few seconds before the mages scattered to evade him.

“Hey, they’re not dumb!” Wu Shaochen grinned. With the mages scattered, they now posed a lethal threat, so Wu Shaochen pursued them, aiming to catch up and keep poisoning them. However, even though Wu Shaochen moved quickly, the mages had already spread out, and he could only poison four of them. As he kept going, Fireballs and Ice Spears kept landing on him, and his health dropped rapidly.

Desperate, he drank a red potion for sustained healing and a quick recovery potion to stabilize his health. He continued chasing the mages but, after poisoning two more, his health once again hit rock bottom. Fireballs and Ice Spears continued to strike him, forcing him to tear up the Body Protection Scroll.

A faint golden light enveloped him, protecting him from all incoming attacks. Not daring to waste time, Wu Shaochen rushed at the remaining mages, knowing he only had eight seconds left. He had to leave at least two seconds to escape.

The mages had scattered too far apart. Even with Extreme Speed, Wu Shaochen only managed to poison seven of them in the remaining time. After that, he had to flee.

With the golden light fading, Wu Shaochen opened his Void skill and managed to dodge the final barrage of attacks. He successfully escaped.

“Should’ve left a bit more time to escape,” Wu Shaochen thought, but at least he made it out alive.

Now, all that was left was to wait a minute for the cooldown and then return to collect the corpses. There were only six mages left, which wasn’t much of a threat anymore.