Inside the underground cave, the battle turned into a tug of war.
The fire ape was very good at fighting. It moved up and down like it was walking on flat ground. There was no obvious pattern to its movements, and it was hard to predict its movements. The whole cave was its battlefield, and there was not much terrain that the players could use to their advantage.
If not for the fact that Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul had guns, they would have been injured by the fire ape already.
"This is not good. We have used up quite a lot of bullets, but we have not done much actual damage to the monster." Laughing Soul told Xiao Tan, "Perhaps before it dies, we will run out of bullets."
Xiao Tan was standing in a triangular position with her, guarding against the fire ape that might come at them from any direction and angle. Hearing that, he said, "I have an idea."
"Go ahead," Laughing Soul replied.
"I will drink a recovery potion first to recover my health," Xiao Tan said. "Then I will put the gun away and fight it in close combat."
Laughing Soul turned to look at him. "You don't need to fight to know who will win, right?"
"It's fine, I can see that already," Xiao Tan said. "This thing's strength is its speed, and its attack power is very normal. Even though it is troublesome that it is covered in fire, if you think about it from another perspective … that does not mean that its defense is very strong. It only means that when we fight it in close combat, we will have to take some damage. " As Xiao Tan said that, he put away the shotgun and took out his main close-combat weapon — the Damascus Dagger.
"If I give up on the gun and focus on close combat … I should be able to keep up with its speed." Xiao Tan continued. "As long as I can touch it, I can use Bee Sting to drain its health. That is better than using bullets."
"If you want to fight like that, I won't be able to cooperate with you," Laughing Soul said. "With my shooting ability, the chance of hitting a target that moves at high speed is less than thirty percent. That is even more so when you are fighting with it. I have to avoid it and hit it at the same time … "
"No need, I can handle it alone." Xiao Tan interrupted, "If I feel that I'm in danger of being killed, or if I can't beat them, I'll run back here. At that time, you can cover me and give me time to catch my breath and recover."
"Okay then, be careful …" Laughing Soul could not think of a better idea, so she had Xiao Tan try it. After all, Laughing Soul's fighting mastery was only Level E, so when facing a super Agility-based boss, unless there was a party member with crowd control skills, she could only provide cover.
"Okay, understood." When Xiao Tan replied, he had already consumed a bottle of Life Points Recovery Potion. Almost at the same time, the Fire Ape barked again. It suddenly flashed out from behind a rock and attacked again. This surprise attack happened to be close to Xiao Tan's side, giving him an opportunity to cut into the battle.
Xiao Tan did not take the ape's fiery claw head on but leaned to the side to avoid the attack. When he brushed past the Fire Ape, he used the shortsword in his hand to poke at the monster's fur. The bleeding effect of the title skill, Bee's Sting, was applied, and it came into effect from that second.
In reality, Xiao Tan was just being humble when he said, "I should be able to keep up with its speed." After this series of tests and observations, he was ninety percent confident that he could keep up with its speed, which was why he said he wanted to end the battle on his own.
When Xiao Tan spoke to Laughing Soul, he purposely acted weak because … one, he considered Laughing Soul's competitive personality and wanted to take care of her pride. Two, he liked the feeling of being worried by someone.
"Roar!" After the Fire Ape was injured by the skill, it was enraged. It roared and turned to charge at Xiao Tan again.
The monster lived up to its reputation as an agile monster. After it was attacked, it only took a short time for the follow-up attack to arrive. It turned its head, took a step forward, and punched with both fists. It was another dangerous attack. It had to be said that the Fire Ape's attack was somewhat similar to that of a martial artist. Its momentum was quite fierce, and the blazing wind created by its fists was not inferior to the wind created by a martial arts master's palm.
Facing this surprise attack, Xiao Tan did not panic. He maintained his defensive stance and took several steps back, easily nullifying the attack.
Xiao Tan was never in a hurry. Under normal circumstances, he was someone who could keep his composure. He had great patience. Unless he was scared out of his wits by something he was afraid of, he would rather not make a move unless there was a suitable opportunity.
If he attacked, it meant that the enemy had exposed their weakness.
Even though the Fire Ape was ferocious, it was just a monster, and its intelligence was limited. After it was injured by Xiao Tan and its consecutive attacks missed, it became agitated. Relying on its bestial nature, it charged forward and waved its fiery claws wildly.
Xiao Tan saw it charge at him, but he did not retreat. He saw that when the Fire Ape waved its claws, its abdomen would reveal its weakness. Therefore, he bent his body and slashed with his short sword. When he passed by the Fire Ape, not only did he cut it, he also added a second layer of Bee's Sting to it.
In the two rounds of battle, Xiao Tan had used up fourteen percent of his Stamina Points. Thankfully, the loss of Life Points was minimal. When he was close to the Fire Ape, he would lose one percent of his Life Points every two seconds. As long as he was one meter away from the Fire Ape, the damage would no longer be there.
On the Fire Ape's side, even though it did not suffer much damage, the bleeding effect had been stacked twice. As an Agility-based Boss, its Health Points were not high to begin with. Earlier, it had been grazed by the bullets and had lost some of its Health Points. With the two-minute bleeding effect, it was on the losing end.
What Xiao Tan needed to do was to maintain his patience and ensure that he was not hit by any fatal attacks. He needed to bait the Fire Ape to continue attacking so that the monster would bleed even faster.
However, at that moment, the Fire Ape suddenly gave up on Xiao Tan. It turned around and charged at Laughing Soul.
The monster could see that Xiao Tan was quite fast, so it would be pointless to continue the chase. Even if it died from exhaustion, Xiao Tan would still be fine. Therefore, it decided to give it a try.
Laughing Soul saw the fire ape charging at her with all its might. Naturally, she was not going to sit there and wait for her death. She turned around and hid between two large rocks. She quickly retreated to the side of the wall. That way, the fire ape would only have one direction to attack her.
When the monster charged at her from the only angle, the bullets from the MP5 in Laughing Soul's hand poured out. Using the terrain advantage, about sixty to seventy percent of the bullets hit their target.
After Laughing Soul finished the magazine of bullets, there were more than ten bullet holes on the Fire Ape's body. Blood poured out from the wounds, but that did not stop it from moving. Since it was giving its all, it would not stop because of an attack of this level.
The fire ape let out a final roar. Its ruby-like face lit up with a red light. It spun around, and the long tail behind it whipped out like a flaming whip. The ruby at the tip of its tail was like a red iron cannonball, heading straight for Laughing Soul's chest.
Laughing Soul's position could indeed limit the angle of attack, but at the same time, she lost the space to maneuver. She did not expect the monster to take the bullets from the assault rifle head on and attack with all its might. If she had known this would happen, she would have swapped out the sniper rifle. Even though this was a short distance, if she used the sniper bullet, even if the monster did not die, it would lose an arm or a leg.
Seeing that the tail was about to hit her, Laughing Soul had no choice but to block it. She prayed silently that her Life Points would be enough to survive this heavy attack.
With a whoosh, a gust of hot air brushed past Laughing Soul's face.
The Fire Ape's attack missed …
Laughing Soul stared with her large, watery eyes as she looked at the unbelievable scene before her in shock.
A cold light came out from the Fire Ape's throat.
At that moment, if one looked behind the Fire Ape, they would see a figure in an assassin's outfit standing close to the burning body. A steady and precise hand pierced a dagger into the monster's neck despite the roasting flames and penetrated it with all its might.
With a thud, the Fire Ape fell forward, and Laughing Soul saw Xiao Tan behind the monster.
When the monster lashed out with its tail, Xiao Tan was already inches behind it. He did not care about the damage caused by staying close to the Fire Ape's body. In that second, he was like a cold-blooded butcher. Perhaps it was a flash of inspiration in his medical knowledge, or perhaps it was the awakening of a natural talent for killing. Xiao Tan's eyes, at that moment, accurately and swiftly locked onto the only fatal point on the Fire Ape's body.
The Fire Ape's neck was punctured, and it caused the tail that it lashed out to deviate. Due to inertia, just as it was about to hit Laughing Soul, it missed her.
"Huo … Huo huo huo … So hot …" Once the monster fell, Xiao Tan returned to his usual dazed self. His action was like he had been scalded while eating a baked potato. He tossed the dagger back and forth between his hands. Since the dagger was a heat conductor, he could not hold it properly.
Laughing Soul walked forward and lowered her head to look at the monster's body. Then she raised her head and pointed the barrel of the MP5 at Xiao Tan (because Laughing Soul had connected the flashlight to the gun). She shone the light on his face and said, "I really didn't expect you to be so reliable at such a crucial moment."
"No, no … I was just lucky, just lucky …" Xiao Tan said politely, but he could not hide the truth on his face. He smiled brightly and even touched the back of his head with one hand. The only thing left was for him to say shyly, "I am not that lucky."
As the two spoke, the Fire Ape's body on the ground quickly combusted into ash. Only the red crystal at the end of its tail remained on the ground.
"This should be one of the two stone slabs, right?" Xiao Tan said as he bent down to pick up the stone.
Since the monsters in Thriller Paradise would not drop any equipment, even Xiao Tan knew that this was most likely a quest item.
When he first touched it, the stone was quite hot. Xiao Tan almost lost his grip on it, but once it came into contact with the player's hand, the originally diamond-shaped red crystal quickly turned into white light and changed its shape. When the white light disappeared, the red crystal had turned into the shape of a magatama. It looked like half an Eight Trigrams.
— — — Name: Stone Slab (Yang)
Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Function: Together with the Stone Slab (Yin), it can be embedded into the Eight Trigrams stone plate on the stone door to open the stone door.
Can be taken out of the scenario: No
Remark: As a key, this thing's shape and theory are hard to understand. — — —
After obtaining the Yang Stone Tablet, Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul explored the cave again. They wanted to see if they had missed anything so that they would not have to return to the same spot later. In the end, they did find something. Inside the gap of one of the stalagmites, Laughing Soul found a consumable item.
— — Name: Rock Chip Crystal
Type: Consumable
Quality: Normal
Function: Restores fifty percent of the player's Life Points after use and increases the recovery speed of Life Points for a certain amount of time.
Can be taken out of the scenario: Yes
Remark: The recovery effect is not affected by the consumption of Life Points Recovery Potions.
This item should be some kind of compensation for the player, just like the recovery items dropped by the boss in some games. Obviously, the system also believed that there was a price to pay to kill this Fire Ape. Either it was the exhaustion of Life Points or other resources. In any case, it would not be so easy to kill.
However, for the two 'rich people' there, this kind of consumable item was never lacking. It would be good if they could find it, but it did not matter if they could not find it. If they thought it was necessary, they could buy more than one hundred Life Points Recovery Potions. If they did not have enough inventory, they could just buy more inventory.
Laughing Soul handed the Rock Chip Crystal directly to Xiao Tan. After all, he had contributed a lot to deal with the Fire Ape. He had not only consumed the Life Points Recovery Potion, but he had also sacrificed quite a bit of Life Points to save the damsel in distress. Xiao Tan did not reject it.
The two of them circled around the cave and went back along the path they came from. A few minutes later, they passed through the intersection again and walked into the tunnel on the right side of the intersection.
The tunnel was not long; it looked like it was symmetrical to the tunnel on the other side. Five minutes later, another cave appeared before them. The cave was not big. It was oval-shaped, and the rocks on the walls reflected a greenish blue glow when the light shone on them. The center of the cave was almost completely filled by a pool, and there was only a standing area around the edge of the cave.
When the two stood beside the pool, they could feel a chill wash over them. It was obvious that the temperature of the pool was extremely low. They used the flashlight to scan the cave but did not find anything of value. It looked like the stone slab was at the bottom of the pool.
Xiao Tan squatted down and used his finger to touch the surface of the water. He pulled his hand back from the cold. "Wow … This must be the legendary 'no ice at zero degrees Celsius' …"
"F * ck me." As Laughing Soul said that, she tied the flashlight to her clothes. Her Special Forces outfit had many functions. There were buckles around her shoulders and thighs, and they could be used to fasten small objects.
"Hey … it's really cold," Xiao Tan reminded her.
"It's fine." She used her hand to wet her face and neck. Even though her expression did not change, she was thinking, I'm freezing …
"You can't shoot underwater. If there's any danger, swim back immediately," Xiao Tan said in a concerned tone.
"I know," Laughing Soul replied impatiently.
"How about this, if you don't come up for air in three minutes …" Xiao Tan was cut off before he could finish.
"Stop wasting my time!" Laughing Soul turned to glare at him. Then she took a deep breath, ran two steps, and jumped into the water.
The cold water enveloped Laughing Soul from head to toe. She resisted the pain and forced her eyes open. However, her vision was still blurry, and the flashlight only allowed her to see a limited distance. However, she gritted her teeth and swam toward the bottom of the pool.
Even though Laughing Soul looked like a cheerful girl who liked to laugh, she was actually a very stubborn person. She refused to admit defeat, especially to the idiot on the shore. She had rushed into the water because of a selfish thought. Since you are willing to be burned to save me, I am willing to endure the cold to retrieve the item.
Normally, a person in normal clothes could only survive for a few minutes in freezing water, and that was the time they could survive if they were still. In reality, due to the numbness caused by the low temperature, loss of mobility, or blindly struggling due to fear … most people would drown before they reached their limit.
Therefore, Laughing Soul's choice was extremely dangerous. Xiao Tan was a doctor after all, so he knew about this. That was why he kept reminding Laughing Soul, but she did not appreciate it. If anything, she felt like she had been underestimated.
Time slowly passed, and every second felt like an eternity.
One minute … two minutes …
In the blink of an eye, five minutes had passed. Even someone who was good at swimming would have come up for air by now. Even though one would not faint from drowning in the game, one's Life Points would decrease.
Xiao Tan could not wait any longer. He crawled to the bank and used one hand to press down on the miner's hat. With his other hand on the ground, he closed his eyes and poked his head into the water. He had no idea how far he could see, but he wanted to give it a try.
To his surprise, just as Xiao Tan opened his eyes, Laughing Soul appeared not far away from him. Since Xiao Tan had his whole head in the water, he did not hear the sound next to him.
Laughing Soul climbed to the bank rather awkwardly. By then, she had already placed the quest item inside her inventory, and she sighed in relief.
She smoothed the hair that stuck to her forehead and face back. She turned to look at the idiot who had his head in the water, and she could not help but smile.
As the saying goes, a lotus grows from clear water, a natural carving. At this moment, although Gu Xiaoling's face was pale from the cold, this made her face look even more sparkling and translucent like jade, delicate and beautiful. Unfortunately, Xiao Tan did not get to see the smile on her cheeks and the longing in her eyes.
Several seconds later, there was a splash, and Xiao Tan was kicked into the water. He crawled out of the water with a confused expression and turned back to look at the bank. "Hmm? When did you get behind me? "
"I've found the stone slab. Let's go," Laughing Soul said as she turned to walk away.
"Huh? Then why did you kick me into the water? "
"Sigh … What an idiot." Laughing Soul snickered and ignored him as she continued to move forward.
"Hey! Wait for me! "
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