Arthur's skill weakened the Man Faced Walking Tree's stats that were crucial to it.
Its dexterity was already on the lower side, and now it had fallen to a bare 7. This was something most players at this point wouldn't have unless they were just new.
Its Toughness didn't fall as much as it was already on the higher side, but it would still factor into better damage dealing.
~TWANG~
"Heavy Shot!" Val did as was advised and pulled her bow to the maximum, while her mana flowed into the bowstring.
~WHOOSH~
And once it was stretched to the max, she let go of the string the arrow shooting forward at a great speed.
~PAKH~
The arrow tore through the softer bark of the Man Faced Walking Tree on its chest and hit its vulnerable interior.
[-8% HP!]
"It worked!" Val shouted in joys seeing the damage pop up.
Arthur saw this and was impressed seeing that she figured out the weaker spots this easily.
"Time for me to get some hits in as well!" Arthur rushed in activating another skill of his. "Wide Sweep!"
Dietrich turned into a blur and spun in an arc, cutting through the tough bark of the Man Faced Walking Tree.
~CRACK~
The spear head sawed through the bark with ease, showing Arthur's power. After all, his Strength stat greatly exceeded the Man Faced Walking Tree's toughness and Dietrich was also a strong weapon.
[-11% HP!]
"GUOOOOO!" The Man Faced Walking Tree growled in anger and lifted its branches.
~rustle~
The branches moved and turned into a Hammer Shaped limb.
"It's using a skill, stay back!" Arthur said as he jumped to the side.
~BOOM~
The Man Faced Walking Tree used Hammer arm and stuck the ground, missing Arthur by a foot.
Still, the impact was strong enough to make the ground shake. Arthur would have lost his footing, if not for the fact that he knew to expect this.
He rolled to neutralize the momentum and spun around to attack.
The Man Faced Walking Tree's Hammer Arm skill was a bit slow and needed time for it to recover, which gave Arthur just enough time.
"Rapid Thrust!" Arthur couldn't get the right angle to hit the weak spots of the Man Faced Walking Tree from the back, thus used the faster skill to chip away at its bark.
[-2% HP]
[-2% HP]
[-2% HP]
The series of attack did little damage but it was all done in a single spot, causing the tough bark there to be broken.
"There it is," Arthur spotted the soft white Phloem of the Man Faced Walking Tree and knew it was best part to strike.
"GUAHHH!" But the Man Faced Walking Tree had also recovered from its skill and swung its branches, trying to push Arthur away.
~CLANG~
Arthur used the spear to deflect the branches from hitting him while Val shot a couple more arrows to distract the monster.
[-0% HP]
[-0% HP]
[-1% HP]
Most of her attacks bounced off, but one of them managed to break through some of the tougher bark.
[+1% HP] [Forest's Vitality!]
While it didn't do enough damage, it was still enough to make the Man Faced Walking Tree pissed and glare at Val with its woody brown eyes.
"Wrong choice." Arthur narrowed his eyes and thrust the Key Spear with great force. "Skewer!"
~CRACK~
Dietrich glowed lightly as it tore through the soft Phloem of the Man Faced Walking Tree.
[-42% HP]
[Critical Hit!]
The attack did wonders on the Man Faced Walking Tree and toppled it from a mix of force and the pain. Sap bled out of the wound and caused a grassy smell to spread in the area.
~THUD~
The Man Faced Walking Tree collapsed on its face, while the Key Spear was still stuck in it. Arthur let go of the spear, as he didn't want to be pulled along it and instead let Val get a few more hits in.
[+1% HP] [Forest's Vitality]
"Hit its bottom! There should be soft sprouts there!" Arthur called out while moving out of the way.
The Man Faced Walking Tree was extending vines from its legs, trying to whip them at Arthur.
~THUD~ THUD~
~SNAP~
[-6% HP]
One of Val's attacks hit a bottom sprout like a bullseye and caused more sap to leak out.
[+1% HP] [Forest's Vitality]
Val ran around to get a better position too, and pulled the bow string to a max. Her Skill had come off cooldown!
"Heavy Shot!" She used it again, trying to hit the open mouth of the Man Faced Walking Tree.
[-16% HP]
And sure enough, the arrow pierced through the lip of the Man Faced Walking Tree and hit its softer interior.
"GUHAAAAA!" The Man Faced Walking Tree cried in pain, but Arthur was about to force it into more.
~RIP~
Arthur pulled out Dietrich from the Man Faced Walking Tree while it was distracted and stabbed it back in!
[-22% HP]
[Fatal Hit!]
The attack was enough to end the life of the maddened sentient tree, and causing its branches to fall down.
>Player Arzhur has killed the Man Faced Walking Tree!<
>Player Val has assisted in killing the Man Faced Walking Tree!<
>Player Arzhur has obtained 8% Experience!<
>Player Val has obtained 25% Experience!<
"That… was… AWESOME!" Val jumped in joy.
She had never thought that she would be able to fight against a monster like this with such efficiency before.
'Though this is all because of Arzhur… he actually knew about the weaknesses of this thing.' Val understood. 'How did he know about them though? Did an NPC tell him?' She wondered.
Arthur glanced at the joyful Val and couldn't help but chuckle. He was reminded of his own newbie days and had acted like this too on several occasions.
Of course, as time went by he learned more and knew doing this could be dangerous. One could be distracted in celebration and be ambushed.
The one ambushing could be a mob in the best case and a fellow party member in the worst.
Backstabbing wasn't exactly uncommon and trust was hard to obtain as things got more serious in the game. Even among E-Sports team, one could end up getting betrayed despite the threat of contract hovering above them.
Betraying one's team or party was considered as breaking their contract and would obviously have legal ramifications. Despite that, people still did it when there was an overwhelmingly tempting opportunity.
'I should let her enjoy for now.' Arthur decided against interrupting her, as he didn't wish to spoil her happiness.
Thankfully, Val realized that it was getting awkward and calmed down too.
"What do we get from this tree?" Val asked, looking at the Man Faced Walking Tree that was changing a bit. "Huh? It's face disappeared." She observed.
"Yeah, it was a tree that became sentient through magic. Now that it has lost its life, it will go back to being a non-sentient being." Arthur replied. "Perhaps it might even grow back one day."
"I see…" Val didn't know how Arthur knew all this, but found it interesting nevertheless.
She didn't even consider the fact that Arthur might have a stronger Appraisal type skill. That sort of knowledge would only be learned by players a few months later.
While she thought this, Arthur moved towards the dead tree and started hacking away at the part where its face used to be.
~CHOP~CHOP~CHOP~
The bark was removed before the softer interior was revealed. It took Arthur a minute to cut through it as the object he was looking for was rather deep inside.
~CLANG~
The blade it something rigid, making a different sound causing Arthur to stop.
"And here it is," Arthur said before prying out a small green marble like object from the bark.
"What's that?" Val asked before using the Inspect Skill. "Plant Core?" She saw the name but didn't obtain much information.
>Dragon's Insight has been successfully activated!<
~DING~
——
Target: Small Plant Core
Info: A few plants that mutate can have this in them and plant type monsters will all have a core within them.
Uses: 1. Can be used directly to restore a small amount of Mana
2. Can be used in addition to other materials to make potions.
3. Can be used in the manufacture of magical weapons.
——
"Something that can be very good for you." Arthur replied not telling her the exact uses just yet.
"For me?" Val asked in surprise.
"Yes, I'll give this to you if you promise me something." Arthur stated his conditions.
"What?" Val inquired.
She didn't mind Arthur having requirements of his own, as the Small Plant Core wasn't hers. Arthur was the one who had brought her here and shown her the quest. He had also done the most damage and told her how to hit the weaknesses.
Thus his claim on the loot was the highest.
"I'll give this to you, if you promise not to mention to other players that I am also a player."
"Huh what?"
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