Blood seeped out from the gaps between her pale fingers and dripped onto the ground.
Merlinsera covered the wound on her abdomen with all her might, her pretty face as pale as a sheet.
Dragons' regenerative abilities were far superior to humans. Although she was severely injured when she killed the pursuers, the wound on her abdomen had already recovered by 70% after more than a month. But Merlinsera didn't expect that when she broke the seal in front of her, the huge recoil would be so strong that the almost healed wound reopened!
The tropical rainforest she was in was really strange. It wasn't big, but she couldn't get out no matter how hard she tried. Once she walked to the edge, she couldn't break the invisible barrier no matter how much strength she used. After more than a month of hard work, she gradually realized that she was in a strange array, and the person who built the array was probably much stronger than her.
So Merlinsera tried to break the array. After a hard search, she finally found a square stone that seemed to be the core of the array. However, when she tried to touch it, she was blown away by the tsunami-like elemental power from the stone.
This scene made the Shadow Dragon feel an unprecedented excitement. Because Merlinsera sharply sensed that the elemental aura inside the stone was completely different from the aura emitted by the array …
To Merlinsera, who was desperate, this meant that there might really be a legendary treasure hidden under the array!
She took a deep breath and tried hard to suppress her chaotic emotions. She began to seriously think of a way to break the array.
*****
Five days later.
"Formation! Shields up! "
"Fill the gap! Spears up — "
"Kill!"
On the snowy battlefield, the shouts of the sergeants rang out. After the muffled sound of heavy objects hitting shields, the screams of snow monsters pierced by spears filled the air.
Akasha, who was wrapped in a thick cloak, stood at the back of the team. The light in her hands was constantly flashing. Beside her was Natha, who was holding a bow and shooting arrows. The wood elf archer's movements were mechanical. She just kept shooting arrows, and the huge snow monster in the distance fell to the ground while holding its head in pain …
Forty fully-armed infantrymen were fighting against twenty snow monsters. The surrounding forest was sparse, and when they looked into the distance, they could vaguely see a sparkling lake.
Dressed in military attire, Sodelor was supervising the battle from the front. Seeing that the soldiers had completely suppressed the Snow Monsters' momentum, he waved his hand and said to Irwin and the others, who were already eager to try, "Go!"
After saying that, the twenty barbarian "mercenaries" immediately joined the battle. They were equipped with well-made hammers and axes, and their momentum was amazing. After they charged into the battle from the flank, the snow monsters immediately lost their ability to fight back and were harvested like wheat.
"Awesome!"
Irwin, who was holding two axes, laughed wildly. When he waved his hands, large snowflakes appeared. The barbarians' talent as a berserker was on full display. When they were excited, they could even fight the snow monsters alone. They were strong and invincible.
However, Roddy and Sodelor were already used to this kind of victory. The snow monsters' intelligence was too low. They had no armor, no formation, and did not know how to use weapons. Apart from their strength, they had no advantage. In front of the elite infantrymen, they were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. Thus, while the barbarians were overjoyed at killing the snow monsters, Roddy's expression remained calm. He was even … a little distracted.
Since leaving the barbarian village, the team of sixty had traveled north in the snow and finally arrived at their first target, Tar Lake. This was the fifth battle they had encountered in the past few days. But what surprised the soldiers was that their commander, Roddy, seemed to have predicted all the battle locations and the number of enemies they would encounter. Thus, he did not panic when fighting, and there were no casualties until now.
The snow monsters fell one by one, and the battle ended quickly. The elite soldiers in heavy armor breathed deeply and did not seem tired at all. On the other hand, the barbarians led by Irwin were panting. Due to the "Dragon Slayer's Mark" and the eight-level difference, this situation was already expected. Thus, Roddy did not advance rashly. Instead, he let Sodelor give the order.
"Rest for two hours. Start a fire and cook. We will approach the lake in the afternoon."
After the order was passed down, Sodelor, who had walked around the battlefield, walked to Roddy's side.
"There seems to be something wrong with these snow monsters."
"Hmm?" Roddy turned his eyes in surprise. "Tell me about it."
"In the past month, they weren't as violent as they are now. In the past, they would flee as we killed them, but none of the snow monsters we encountered these days retreated. They all fought to the death. "
After saying this, he shook his head. "Hopefully, I'm just overthinking it …"
Sodelor's words made Roddy realize that he had inadvertently overlooked this problem. His impression of snow monsters was that they bullied the weak and feared the strong. When their HP fell below 5%, even Boss-level snow monsters would choose to flee without exception.
This was the setting of "snow monsters" in the game. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any changes. But now, everything had changed. Roddy frowned and thought about it, but he could not find a suitable reason to explain it.
"It shouldn't be a big problem. Just tell everyone to be careful."
Sodelor nodded. Without saying anything else, he turned and left.
There were no enemies to be wary of in this ice field other than the snow monsters. Thus, the team was much less guarded. After fighting for more than a year, Roddy's knowledge of leading a team was much richer than when he was a "lone ranger." At this time, the soldiers in the team had meat and salt for every meal. The good treatment kept the morale high, and the barbarians who had just joined were amazed.
After resting, Roddy went to talk to Irwin and the others. A group of tall barbarians greeted him loudly. They were sincerely convinced by this short leader. After more than a month of fighting, they had gradually gotten rid of their fear of the snow monsters. Now that they had killed so many, they even felt a little unsatisfied.
"You are all natural warriors. Just hunting in the village is really burying your skills."
Irwin scratched his head with a silly smile and replied, "Leader Roddy is right. I always feel that setting traps to catch wild boars is really boring. I feel much better after killing these snow monsters!"
His loud voice echoed in the snow, and the surrounding barbarians echoed in agreement.
This scene was exactly what Roddy wanted. The barbarian mercenaries in the game were worthy of being the "king of cost-effectiveness." Other than being not very smart, they were not lacking in anything else. If used properly, their power was even comparable to the charge of light cavalry. Coming to the North to expand such a source of troops was much more important than getting the formula for the longsword.
"Do well. I will never mistreat the soldiers who follow me."
Roddy wanted to pat Irwin's shoulder, but the other party was too tall for him to reach. He could only smile and punch Irwin in the chest. Then, he returned to where Akasha was and took the hot soup she handed him to warm up.
Two hours later, the team arrived at Lake Tar according to the plan. Roddy began to "solo" the monsters here according to the steps in the game. After "blocking" a dozen strange fish that were more than five meters long in the lake, the soldiers who had been holding their breaths swarmed forward under orders and used ropes to drag them up to the shore. Then, they easily chopped them into sashimi.
The battle ended easily in less than half an hour. Roddy waved his hand and ordered his men to go into the lake to fish up the spoils.
The strange fish were covered in bone armor and looked very fierce. But they were helpless against a shameless "solo king" like Roddy. They didn't even get a chance to fart before they became experience points. This quick and risk-free solution surprised Sodelor and the others. But after following Roddy for a long time, this kind of thing was nothing to be amazed about. After looking around the big fish, Akasha and the others quickly turned their attention to the things that the soldiers gradually fished up.
It was already afternoon. Although it was the warmest time of the day, the actual temperature was still -20 degrees Celsius. However, the lake water that should have frozen long ago was like a hot spring. After the soldiers entered the water, they didn't feel cold at all. After diving five or six meters, they fished up a pile of shiny stones from the bottom of the lake. When he saw these icy blue "stones," Roddy's heart that had been hanging in suspense finally relaxed.
"This thing feels a little strange," Akasha said curiously as she picked up a piece in her hand.
Akasha curiously picked up a piece in her hand. Her eyes widened in surprise. She turned to Rody and asked, "Why is it soft?"
"This is' Water Essence, 'a product of the condensation of the water element."
Roddy reached out and took a piece. His gaze confirmed his judgment in the property window that jumped out.
Water Essence
Excellent Consumable
Use: Release all the elemental power contained in it.
The icy blue "Water Essence" was like jelly. When he kneaded it with his fingers, it would slightly deform, but it still remained spherical. Although it was very small, Roddy knew that such a piece of Water Essence contained almost the energy of nearly a hundred ordinary Magic crystal!
The reason why Roddy had gone through so much trouble to come to the northern part of the Glacier Plain was to obtain these treasures that had once been plundered by the players. The "Water Essence" before him should be enough to complete the "start" of Elsen City.
The soldiers didn't understand what it was. They just fished up these blue "stones" again and again. The burly barbarians were bored to death and chatted at the side. Natha stood on the periphery and watched the surroundings. Everything went smoothly and peacefully as expected.
However, after hundreds of pieces of Water Essence were fished up, a sudden noise from the soldiers made Roddy raise his head.
"Sir, there's a big guy down there!"
These veterans thought that Roddy was looking for treasures. So, they all touched the strange things at the bottom of the lake and moved them up. Roddy heard them and turned his head, just in time to see three or four people working together to push a black thing ashore …
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