Chapter 52 - One Hit Kill, Absurd Damage

Arthur and Point Blank walked through the dense elf forest, heading toward the place where the monsters were causing trouble. The pegasus had been tied up inside the elven settlement. Imra promised it would be well taken care of.

"Finally, we’re going to kill some monsters," Point Blank said, bouncing along. "Suzy and Tower are already level 12, can you believe it? I’m still level 11, and you’re at 10."

Arthur’s level wasn’t climbing as fast anymore. Shadow Cloak no longer fed him 5% of her EXP now that their contract had been undone, and Azure Dragon, his new contract, was still low level. The little EXP he got from it barely made a difference.

"We’ll catch up to them soon," Arthur said. "And don’t get hung up on just levels. There’s a lot more behind it, like equipment. Remember, I came here looking for the blueprints to craft the level 15 and 20 items."

It was nice being at the top of the level ranking, having your name up there, almost like free advertising. But level wasn’t everything. Items, titles, rewards from special quests, it all factored into the equation. Arthur, for instance, with the dragon bloodline he’d received, was the strongest player. No one else had the same amount of attributes as he did.

"How do you know there’s gonna be equipment blueprints here? Actually, how do you know this forest so well?" Point Blank asked.

"My master told me some things," Arthur replied.

Bram was the only explanation he could give her. If he told her the truth, she would think he was losing his mind. And he didn’t want to share that with her anyway.

"The one from one of your videos? The guy who looks all dirty and drunk?"

Arthur laughed. "Yep, that one. But he’s pretty impressive. Don’t let the wrecked look fool you."

"Oh? I want to meet him one day," she said.

Arthur had no idea when he would see Bram again. The man was back in the Dragon City, and the price to teleport there was just too high at the moment.

The forest was dense, which was to be expected, but it also got dark the farther they moved away from the elven settlement. There were no more lamps lighting the way. The only light that passed before their eyes came from fireflies drifting slowly back and forth, blinking like Christmas lights.

A strong smell of dampness filled their noses, something like wet earth. Moments later, rain came down. Even with the tree canopy giving them some cover, plenty of water still hit Arthur and Point Blank.

"It rains a lot here," Point Blank pointed out. "Totally different from the snow we got used to not long ago."

"Yeah, very different from the harsh winter in the Kingdom of Aldora. Honestly, I like it here. There must be some cool fish to catch in the lake nearby."

Point Blank laughed. "Here I am all worried about leveling up and catching up to my friends, and you’re thinking about fishing. We really think differently."

"You don’t need to push yourself so hard," Arthur said. "There are plenty of crazy people who’ll fight for the top of the level board. What matters is having fun and finding other cool things to do."

The level ranking wasn’t the only one. There was even an encyclopedia of fish, of weapons and armor, of furniture, and even a rank for whoever had caught the biggest creature. In Arthur’s past life, the rank one of that leaderboard had caught a thirteen-ton kraken, which still made him curious to this day.

’How the hell did that fisherman pull that off?’

"Cool things to do? Like you with your fishing? And your item crafting?"

"Exactly. And look, the level ranking has some prestige, but once they release the arena rank, that’s what really shows power. Whoever wins the most duels is always the most respected. Like I said, there’s more to power than just levels."

Once again, Point Blank wondered how the hell Arthur knew about these other rankings that hadn’t even been released yet, but she didn’t ask too many questions.

It was hard for him to keep his mouth shut. Knowing everything he knew about the game, it was only natural that some information would slip out...

After walking for like 30 minutes, they finally reached their destination.

The place where the monsters were causing trouble was almost like a swamp. It rained so much in the forest that some areas had flooded, almost like a forced biome change within the forest itself.

From a distance, they could see the creatures causing trouble. Huge crocodiles! They looked similar to the ones someone would find in the real world, but these were bigger, and their scales were more like spikes jutting outward.

[Marsh Spiky Crocodile]

[Level: 15]

A level 15 monster. Arthur had already expected to find that kind of monster there, after all, it wasn’t his first time visiting the swamp. Point Blank, on the other hand, got a little uneasy seeing them.

"Can we really take down a level 15 monster with just the two of us?"

She wasn’t confident at all about facing that creature, which was understandable. Point Blank was used to leveling with a group of 3 players, fighting monsters at a similar level, or at most 1 level above hers.

Now a monster 4 levels above her, and 5 above Arthur? That was way outside the usual.

Arthur, though, was completely calm. With his bow’s high base damage, plus elemental damage, and his Sniping Shot skill, killing the monster wouldn’t be too complicated.

[Sniping Shot - Active Skill (Lv. 1)]

[Description: Focus for up to 3 seconds before combat to fire a powerful, precise shot at an unaware target.]

[Effect: Deals 250% Weapon Damage + 80% Agility as Physical Damage. Guarantees a Critical Hit and ignores 50% Armor if used out of combat.]

[MP Cost: 20 MP]

[Cooldown: 90s]

He had put all his points into agility, and with the dragon bloodline he’d received, his base agility was already at 73 points! That was ridiculously high.

Add the agility he got from contracts, items, and his title, and it went past 100 points. Everything combined, it came to a total of 113 points, which was impossible for any player at level 10! A normal player would only have 45 points to distribute at that level.

Arthur’s damage was about to become absurd, and he wouldn’t even need to use Stealth to add more damage. This would be total overkill with Sniping Shot.

’This skill has a long cooldown for a reason. It’s almost like a bazooka shot.’

He pulled the bow off his back, nocked an arrow, and started channeling the skill. Adding the weapon damage, 80% of his agility, ignoring 50% of armor, and on top of that a critical hit, which guaranteed 2x damage, that poor crocodile didn’t have much of a chance of surviving.

Point Blank pulled her bow out too, but kept watching Arthur’s movements. She hadn’t unlocked Sniping Shot yet. That skill was only unlocked at level 15.

A strong concentration of mana gathered around the arrow, making it glow a bluish color mixed with a yellowish tone. The power was so strong that Arthur’s hair and cloak started to fly, along with the grass beneath his feet.

A wind effect formed around his body, creating a light circle of wind under his feet.

And then he released the arrow, which flew toward the crocodile so fast it was hard to follow with the eyes.

His bow, with the Soul Augment that increased damage by up to 15% depending on distance, made a big difference in the final damage.

The moment the arrow hit the crocodile, half of its body was torn off! The power was too destructive. The damage number appeared for Arthur and for Point Blank too, after all, she was in a party with him, and she was left speechless.

[952 Damage Dealt]

That was the final damage of his attack... That was simply absurd for a single hit. It was almost 10x the damage Point Blank was used to seeing.

"W-What the fuck was that?" she said.

She blinked a few times, even rubbing her eyes to make sure she was really seeing that damage and it wasn’t some kind of illusion.

Even after rubbing her eyes several times, the damage was still there, and the crocodile lay dead on the ground, all of it from a single bow shot.

"Dude, how do you deal that much damage? You’re way more skilled than me at playing a Ranger."

Arthur smiled. "Like I said, level matters, but other factors come into play when you want to measure power. My bow is special, with ice elemental damage, so I end up dealing more damage than you. Not to mention the skill and the other bonuses from my items."

Point Blank wasn’t jealous of what he’d done, it was more like admiration. She shook her head and said, "Impressive, seriously. Teach me how to be strong like that."

"First step, hunt down the rest of the crocodiles," he said. "And I don’t want to do it alone, so give me a hand."

"Sure, sure."

The two of them started clearing the swamp, killing a large number of crocodiles.