Chapter 3: Element Bottle
…
“This fatty has such high perception.”
Below the rock wall, Roger patted off the dirt on his hands and breathed a sigh of relief.
That fat zombie should be the [Red Tide Corpse Queen].
Fortunately, he noticed something was amiss in advance through Qi Divination, and then jumped directly off the cliff with his extremely fast response.
Otherwise, it was very likely that the monster would discover him!
He was also lucky that his profession [Hermit Ranger] had associated expertise of [Light as a Swallow].
If it were anyone else who was falling from a cliff of more than ten meters, it must cost them more than just a handful of mud.
…
[Light as a Swallow (1st Circle Expertise): Your bouncing and vertical leaping ability are extremely strong. When falling from a high place, you’ll gain ‘glide’ and ‘slow fall’ effects]
…
In addition to the extraordinary senses, Roger was more concerned about the tent where the [Red Tide Corpse Queen] was located.
“There are three possibilities.”
“The first possibility, is that there are other people in the canyon, and these Red Tide Zombies had been artificially created.”
“This possibility is not low, as cultists are everywhere on Mystra.”
“The second one is that the Red Tide Corpse Queen has evolved extremely high wisdom, and had shame and privacy, so she is the only one qualified to live in a tent, while other Red Tide Zombies are still walking around in a muddle.”
“The third kind is more brutal. The Red Tide Corpse Queen may have been transformed from a living person, and she retains the memories of her past life!”
No matter which possibility, the difficulty of the task had imperceptibly been increased.
According to the information from the lord’s mansion, the Red Tide Zombies were mostly between LV3 and LV5.
The Red Tide Queen was an elite monster of LV5.
To kill all these monsters alone was obviously difficult.
But Roger had no intention to withdraw.
He consolidated himself on his spot and fell into deep thought.
Through his observation just now, Roger gathered the following information:
There was only one exit from this canyon, and the exit could accommodate about five or six people walking in parallel.
The number of Red Tide Zombies in the canyon was about 30.
The tent should be the area where the Corpse Queen stayed for the longest time, and the tent itself may also be more important.
…
“Looks like I’ll need to go for it.”
Roger thought for a short while and opened his backpack.
In the compartment that was filled with Sand Soft Grass, there were about a dozen finger-length glass bottles.
The glass bottles contained viscous liquids of all kinds of colors. They looked very beautiful as they glimmered under the sun.
He took out a bright yellow one and put it in the palm of his hand to inspect it carefully.
…
[The Element Bottle (Lightning): High Concentration of Lightning Element Extract]
[Magic Abundance: 9]
[Throw/detonate: within the effective explosion radius, lightning damage is 80*4; damage outside the radius is greatly reduced]
[Maker: Roger]
…
Roger gently stroked the outer shell of the element bottle, feeling a little reluctant.
It was because such a small glass bottle was equivalent to about 8,000 magic explosive frogs!
That’s right, the high-concentration lightning element extract in the element bottle had been extracted from the parotid glands of the Explosive Magic Frogs with Lightning properties.
However, the lightning element stored in the parotid gland of individual Explosive Magic Frog was very limited, and its magic abundance was also very low.
It took years of accumulation and enrichment to get one such powerful element bottle.
Whether it was the investment in time or the investment in effort, it was not something ordinary people can afford.
Even the pharmacist who taught Roger to make the element bottle only made about a dozen element bottles in his lifetime.
According to the pharmacist himself, although the power of the element bottle was not small, it required the maker to capture a huge number of Explosive Magic Frogs, and the cost-effectiveness of the production was really too low.
Only a professional frog hunter like Roger could easily create so many bottles.
…
Just past noon.
After checking that the element bottle was functional.
Roger cleanly installed the element bottle on the stone at the entrance of the canyon.
Next, it was time to gather the monsters.
With the help of the rope, he once again swiftly climbed up the cliff on the east side.
This time, he didn’t see the Red Tide Corpse Queen, she was most probably inside the tent.
He tied himself to the rock wall, then freed his hand to grab the bow and arrow he was carrying.
Another distinguishing feature of Hermit Ranger was that the profession had many specialty weapons, which included bows and arrows.
Roger unskillfully lit the arrowheads of a few arrows with flint.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled on the bow and shot an arrow.
The action was smoothly done in one go!
Unfortunately, maybe because it was windy, or maybe because it had been a long time since he last shot an arrow, this arrow was very off the mark, and surprisingly the Red Tide Zombies didn’t notice any abnormality.
Roger was not embarrassed, instead, he lowered his head to adjust the bowstring.
After all, he was not an expert, let alone a professional shooter. It was extremely normal for him to miss at such a long distance.
He prepared ten arrows, it would be fine as long as one of these arrows attracted the attention of the monsters.
After a while, he held his breath, drew the bow, and shot again!
This time, the burning arrow with fire sparks drew a beautiful parabola across the canyon, and finally plunged into the tent where the Red Tide Corpse Queen was located!
A blood-curdling weird shriek resonated immediately.
Roger no longer hesitated, he swiftly shot out one after another fire arrows.
After a short while, thick black smoke rose up in the canyon.
The Red Tide Zombies finally found Roger.
With several sharp weird shrieks, they slow-movingly walked towards the exit of the canyon.
Roger activated the Qi Divination Technique and firstly located the position of the Red Tide Corpse Queen.
Unexpectedly, the Corpse Queen seemed to be enraged and was staggering towards the exit with other zombies.
He waited and observed for a while, then jumped off the cliff and climbed up a big tree less than 30 meters from the mouth of the canyon.
Behind this tree was a narrow winding trail.
If there was an accident, Roger would escape through this trail.
The trail led to the caves in the foothills of Yuntai Mountain, where Roger was most familiar.
As an adventurer with [Steadiness] expertise, leaving a way of retreat for himself was the most basic thing to do.
Although the expertise [Steadiness] actually had another meaning.
…
[Steadiness (1st Circle Expertise): Your hands are extremely steady, and you can hardly make mistakes when engaging in life skills; and in battle, your weapon hit is adjusted by +3]
…
At the mouth of the canyon, black smoke was surging.
“It’s coming.” Roger reminded himself in his heart.
The value of the Qi Divination Technique was fully portrayed at this moment.
Although the black smoke obstructed his vision, he could still tell the approximate location of the monsters by virtue of the blood-colored air columns of different thicknesses.
The air column from the Red Tide Corpse Queen was the thickest.
Roger stared at her intently.
She was almost at the position.
He quietly took out a slingshot.
Among all the throwing weapons of [Hermit Ranger], the slingshot was Roger’s best.
He would miss no target within a range of 100 meters, the accuracy was much better than with bows and arrows.
“Just a little closer.”
At this time, the army of Red Tide Zombies had approached the position of the element bottle.
Roger hoped to wait for perfect timing. It would be best to wipe out the Red Tide Corpse Queen at one go, while other Red Tide Zombies did not matter as much.
But at this time, the dense, blood-red air column actually stopped moving forward.
Not only that, she actually took a step back.
But then, she took another step forward.
Surprisingly, the Red Tide Corpse Queen appeared to be lingering just outside the explosion radius of the element bottle!
This made Roger hesitate for a while.
Because if this dragged on, the army of Red Tide Zombies would have passed the position of the element bottle!
“What a cunning monster.”
“What kind of freakish perception.”
Roger suddenly came to a realization.
This was the Red Tide Corpse Queen’s trick to confuse him!
She must have sensed the threat of the element bottle, and also sensed Roger’s location!
As soon as he thought of this, Roger no longer hesitated and tightened the slingshot in his hand.
Clang!
The small pebble smashed the element bottle located among the crowd of zombies, making a crisp sound.
The bright yellow liquid burst out violently, and along with the volatilization of the anticoagulant, the high concentration of lightning element began to attract nearby magic power, and the chemical reaction proceeded!
Rumble!
Loud thunder appeared suddenly.
Bright flashes of lightning danced like snakes.
A dazzling light appeared at the mouth of the canyon for a brief moment, and then the light dimmed as it was replaced by the raging lightning snakes.
Even Roger who was on the tree felt a slight numbness—he could be immune to the damage produced by the element bottle, but he could not remove the numbing effect caused by the lightning.
Since even Roger was like this, the Red Tide Zombies within the explosion range felt even more unbearable.
Most of the zombies were killed on the spot under the ravages of the violent lightning element.
A very small group of Red Tide Zombies struggled a bit before they headed to the underworld along with their companions.
Roger’s panel was filled with rows of kill notifications.
“Killed 28 of them in one go, that’s quite okay.”
He jumped down from the tree.
Ignoring the remaining ordinary monsters, Roger headed straight towards the direction of the thickest air column.
Suddenly, he stopped.
A fat monster rushed out of the smoke.
Her entire body was covered with crimson-colored pus, her facial features had been blurred, and her skull was clearly visible.
Her speed was extremely fast, which was in stark contrast to the clumsiness she showed before.
Almost in the blink of an eye, she rushed to Roger.
Right at that moment, her bone claws with only fragments of flesh hanging tore through the air and made a sharp whistling sound, shooting straight at Roger’s face!
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