Chapter 80: Chapter 77 Entering the Pool of Radiance
In the rumbling roar, the scene shifted, and a world of green and white appeared.
âBoom! The enormous body of the Flying smashed into the water, creating giant waves. Amid the violent rocking, Da Fei assessed the surrounding situation.
The white was water shining with white light, the green was thick tree roots gleaming with green light. An endless water forest was formed by countless tree roots entwining. The forest stretched upwards like a giant net draped from the Underground Sky, which resembled a green starry sky, emitting a faint green glow.
In the forest, there was water; in the water, there was the forest. The huge body of the Flying was like a small boat on this forest waterway.
âTask Hint: You have arrived at the Pool of Radiance. The epic quest âPurifying the Pool of Radianceâ officially begins. Please kill all the monsters in the Pool of Radiance.
At this time, a large area of red dots on Da Feiâs small map resembled dense clouds. This was the radar effect of the God-level Reconnaissance Technique.
Da Feiâs eyelid twitched in surprise. Were there really so many monsters? He quickly pulled out his telescope and scanned the tree root forest, taking a sharp breath. Countless huge beetles, as large as dogs, were crawling on the roots! Were these all monsters?
âJuice-sucking Demon Worm: Attack? Defense? Life? Damage? Attack Speed? Move Speed? Special Skill: Flying Creature.
Damn! Never mind the power of these bugs, just their sheer number made Da Fei suspect their ammunition wouldnât outlast these beetles! And this was just this area; who knew how many more there were in other regions? Was this purification asking him to kill all these bugs cleanly?
At this moment, Catherine jumped down from the cockpit, âCaptain, thereâs no wind at all. Our ship canât move! Captain, please give the next command.â
Action? Where to? Thousands of monsters were right on the tree roots nearby, no need to move. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, since they were here, itâs time to start with these bugs.
Da Fei waved his hand, âPrepare for battle, eliminate the insects!â
Catherine laughed heartily, âGot it!â In an instant, the Jungle Hunters on either side of the shipâs rail began changing formation, forming a hundred-man square.
âJungle Hunter: Attack 6, Defense 5, Life 14, Damage 5-8, Attack Speed 13, Move Speed 13, Commander Value 2, Recruitment Price 410 Gold Coins, Special Skill: Double Shot, Piercing, Precise Shooting, Arrow Formation, Melee Penalty.
This was the Level 3 Soldier Jungle Hunter, the pride of the Elf Clan, undoubtedly the strongest Level 3 Soldier. Its damage value and recruitment price rivaled those of Level 4 Soldiers. Its special skill, Double Shot, had already surpassed the damage standard of Level 4 Soldiers. In one monthâs production, once the Jungle Hunter attacked, it had the imposing manner of a seventh-level long-range soldier Titan. Moreover, its inherent Piercing skill made its special skill Double Shot extraordinarily effective, and Double Shot maximized the Elf Clanâs high luck trait. Therefore, in battle, the Jungle Hunterâs formation was like a rainbow of light rising and falling, dazzling to the eyes.
Furthermore, the Jungle Hunterâs high Attack Speed of 13 was every other raceâs long-range unitâs nightmare. Even if the opponent was the neutral Mage Academyâs strongest long-range soldier Titan, it was likely to be shot down by the Jungle Hunters in the first round of assault. In short, once the Jungle Hunters fought without restraint, defeat was guaranteed.
However, the flaw of the Jungle Hunters was also evident; their low blood was heartbreaking, and they werenât immune to spiritual magic. Compared to Titans, with their abundant health, high defense, and full immunity, there was still a qualitative gap.
Now, as the first battle was at hand, no carelessness could be allowed. Da Fei had 4 Free Skill Points left. Previously, while studying as a navigator, he learned one level of Archery; there wasnât much to say about these 4 points, they all went to upgrading Archery.
âSystem Prompt: You spent 1 Skill Point to learn Intermediate Arrow Skill, increasing the damage of heroes and long-range units by 20%.
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âSystem Prompt: You spent 1 Skill Point to learn Master-Level Archery, increasing the damage of heroes and long-range units by 50%.
Of course, apart from the Elven Academyâs three long-range units where archery was a required course, other racesâ long-range units were rare and not powerful; learning archery wasnât worthwhile. But when Archery reached Master level, it could combine with Master-level War Machine Science, and the sub-skill Crossbow Master to create a new machine-learning sub-skill: Triple Crossbow!
âTriple Crossbow: After mastering precise archery, heroes gain insight to maximize the function of the crossbow cannon, firing three arrows in one shot. The cost is that the durability of the crossbow cannon will continue to decrease. (Note: Sub-skill combinations require both disciplinesâ main skills to reach Master level to appear. How can you play with interdisciplinary combinations without graduating from any current disciplines?)
So, for machinery flows, Archery still had its uses. From this perspective, the Elf Clan was actually well-suited for the humanâs common Crossbow Gun Turtle Formation, where a circle of long-range units surrounded the crossbow cannons, and melee units, especially Unicorns immune to magic melee, surrounded the long-range units, firing happily. Whether in terms of firepower or protection, it was much stronger than the humans.
However, this would sacrifice the Elf Clanâs mobility advantage, which was absolutely more of a loss than a gain for the Elf Clan. Similarly, for the Hell Race with only one Banshee long-range unit and extremely dependent on crossbow cannons for the opening strategy, Archery was quite a dilemma.
Now, with the skill in place, the arrow formation was ready, and the arrows were strung.
As a master, Da Fei certainly wouldnât recklessly shoot all the arrows, fearing that the enemy would suddenly charge. In the game, due to the high-speed movement easily dodging attacks, flying troops, especially small high-speed flying troops, were almost unsolvable for conventional forces. Once encountered, to achieve no damage, aim carefully with an accurate shot! Otherwise, flying troops wouldnât give long-range units a chance to reload.
Moreover, insects often have the attribute of gang fighting, so the current task was to lure them out.
Da Fei instructed a Jungle Hunter beside him to shoot at a beetle on the tree root.
Swoosh swoosh! Two arrows left the string, -5! The beetle burst open with a splash of white juice.
âSystem Prompt: Your unit killed a juice-sucking beetle. You gained 4 Experience Points.
âSystem Prompt: You gained incomplete information on the juice-sucking beetle.
Damn! Such a weakling with 5 blood points!
And at the moment the beetle was killed, all the beetles on and behind the tree roots were alarmed! Hundreds and thousands of beetles flew over in a dark mass! Indeed, they had the gang fighting attribute!
A golden light descended from the sky!
âSystem Prompt: Your Vice Hero, Selvia, cast the master-level Light Magic âRighteous Powerâ on your troops, increasing their attack by 15. The magic duration is 1 game day.
Da Fei waved his hand, âShoot!â
Boom boom! Two layers of arrow rain shot out, looking like white fireworks blooming in the air. The insect swarm burst under the piercing of the arrow rain. With the heroâs attack attribute and skill magic bonus, the Jungle Huntersâ damage more than doubled! Especially Katrina, leading 18 hunters with her all-attack pirate command, flipped the damage by five or six times!
With such high damage, piercing through five or six beetles with one arrow was easy! This was the desired effect! If they directly ambushed the beetles on the tree roots, not only would they not achieve large-scale damage, but they would also provoke the beetles behind the tree roots. Wouldnât that be caught off guard?
The first battle was easily won, and Da Fei also breathed a sigh of relief. The tree roots cleared of beetles leaked a milky-white liquid like sieve holes.
However, looking at the beetlesâ weak blood defense attributes, like those of farmers, and then looking at the mass of red clouds on the small map, Da Fei felt something was very wrong.
Was this task really about clearing these bugs? And this was just a nearby area, which was only a tiny part of the Pool of Radiance map.
Did they have enough ammunition for the entire ship? Plus, there certainly wouldnât just be these weak beetles, right? How long would it take to clear all the bugs from the entire map? And now, with no wind, the ship wasnât moving; they had to use the Magic Sail? Would the sailâs magic be enough for Da Fei to clean the area with one go around?
Da Fei felt a sharp pain in his gut! He had assumed that with a powerful hero and a giant cannon, defeating some BOSS monsters would be a piece of cake, and a mere epic quest would be no big deal. But it turned out to be such a situation? If his ship were a pirateâs mast rowing ship, it would be better; now what? Itâs more helpless to not be able to use power and more unbearable not to be able to finish using power!
As he pondered, a buzzing sound came from the sky, and Da Fei immediately became alert!
Again, it was beetles! Hundreds of them flew in from somewhere and pounced on the tree roots just cleared, sucking again!
Damn! Donât tell me these beetles are unlimited? If thatâs the case, this is clearly telling Da Fei that the taskâs key wasnât to kill these small beetles! Instead, he had to destroy the insect nest?
Thatâs it! Once Da Fei figured it out, he pulled out the Blood Eagle Flute and selected âuse.â An invisible, misty Flying Eagle soared into the air; in a moment, Da Feiâs small map shrank again, becoming a sea of red. Damn, relying on the small map was getting less and less useful; better to share the vision with the Flying Eagle.
Da Fei controlled the Flying Eagle, heading in the direction the insects came from, experiencing the scenery rushing up like flying in an airplane. The treasure was too useful! Damn, I really wouldnât want to return it!
Finally, he found it! A massive, wriggling tumor entwined by tree roots with countless tendrils and countless flesh holes, where innumerable beetles flew in and out!
Damn, thatâs so disgusting, this must be it! Just wait, Iâll destroy you!
(The Command Power was calculated wrong yesterday, itâs corrected now. Apologies for the busy unit inspection this week.)