Chapter 15: Chapter 14: DANCE OF DEATH UPON THE BRANCH
My heart pounded hard, pumping digital adrenaline throughout my body’s network. Down below, only about a dozen meters from where I was perched, a giant-sized monster with pitch-black fur as thick as steel armor was sniffing the ground. Grizzly King. The monster that had sent me back to the resurrection altar with a single deadly slap yesterday afternoon was now standing right beneath my feet. The glowing red aura emanating from its body marked its status as the Level 20 Area Boss feared by all beginner players in StoneBrook.
"Opportunity won’t come twice," I whispered in my heart, suppressing the fear that had briefly surfaced.
Using my light body, I quickly climbed higher up the old tree with lightning-fast movements. I moved to a much higher branch, about ten meters from the ground, where the dense leaves could hide the striking silhouette of my silver hair. This position gave me an extraordinary tactical advantage: a perfect vertical angle to aim at the most vital points, while maintaining a safe distance from the reach of its giant claws.
I took a deep breath, stabilized my heartbeat, and began activating all my combat skills.
Sssss...
A small, light green wind vortex began dancing at the tips of my right fingers as I activated [Wind Element] at level 5. The wind spun at high speed, enveloping a regular wooden arrow I had nocked onto the bowstring. Not stopping there, I immediately combined it with the active skill [Power Shot] at level 10 and the passive effect of [Bow Mastery] at level 20 that I had just broken through.
Thanks to the new skill [Vital Shot], the visual coordinates in my field of view suddenly displayed a flashing red dot right on the Grizzly King’s right pupil, the fatal weak point that would multiply my attack damage if a Critical Hit was triggered.
With my extraordinarily high DEX (42) and INT (33) boosting the wind element, I drew my bowstring to its maximum limit. My wooden bow emitted a faint creaking sound, enduring the extremely dense magical energy load.
"Take this, you damn bear," I muttered coldly.
Wuuussshh!
I released the bowstring. The arrow enveloped in a spinning wind drill shot through the morning air at a speed almost impossible for the naked eye to follow. The wind friction created a sharp, deafening whistling sound.
Jleb!
GRAAAJJJHHH!
An extremely terrifying roar of pain instantly shook the silence of the Eastern Forest. My arrow struck with perfect precision, piercing straight into the Grizzly King’s right eyeball all the way to the base. The spinning wind drill at the arrow’s tip exploded inside its eye socket, destroying the area boss’s internal nerve tissue.
A glowing red damage number immediately floated above its head:
[Critical Hit! – 340 Damage!]
Its originally thick green health bar (HP) plummeted sharply by almost a third in a single attack. However, my joy didn’t last long.
Ding!
[System: ’Grizzly King’ has entered [Rage] mode due to fatal damage to its blind spot! All physical stats increased by 30%, aggression level reached maximum!]
"Damn, it didn’t die instantly!" I whispered anxiously.
The bear’s remaining left eye now burned bright red like blazing embers. With a chest-shaking roar of fury, it raised both of its giant claws and began slamming the tree trunk where I was hiding with terrifying power.
BUM! BUM! BUM!
The massive old tree trunk shook violently, nearly making me lose my balance on the branch. Wood splinters and leaves rained down around me. If I fell down in this [Rage] mode, I would definitely die within seconds.
Without wasting a single millisecond, I immediately activated my most valuable new skill: [Stealth] at level 1, combined with the passive effect of [Slow Walking] at level 20.
Syuuutt...
My body silhouette slowly faded, perfectly blending into the shadows of the leaves and dense branches. All traces of my presence, breathing sounds, and even my character’s scent completely disappeared from the game’s tracking system.
The rampaging Grizzly King suddenly stopped its claw strikes. Its giant head turned left and right, sniffing the air in frustration. With only one eye left and the sudden loss of visual target due to my Stealth effect, the giant bear looked extremely confused. It paced around under the tree, growling in frustration because it couldn’t find the one who had blinded it.
I held my breath on the branch, monitoring my stamina bar that was slowly recovering thanks to [Stamina Regeneration]. I deliberately made no movements, patiently waiting until the area boss’s [Rage] mode naturally subsided.
After about three minutes of tense silence, the glowing red aura on the Grizzly King’s body slowly faded, indicating its physical stats had returned to normal, though it remained in a high state of alertness.
"Now... round two," I whispered cruelly.
I nocked another arrow, channeled the wind element, locked onto its remaining left eye, and released the next deadly shot.
Wusss! Jleb!
GRAAAOOORRR!
The battle cycle repeated. The moment it was hit by the second shot, the bear went berserk again, and I disappeared back into silence using the Stealth and Slow Walking combination trick.
I had to admit that this hit-and-run tactic from atop the tree felt very cheap and unknightly. However, in this realistic and cruel world of Second World Online, surviving and winning battles by utilizing environmental advantages was true tactical intelligence. I didn’t have thick iron armor like Arthur to withstand physical blows, so shadows and tree branches were my best shields.
After nearly forty minutes of this extremely mentally draining guerrilla warfare, this one-sided battle finally reached its climax.
The Grizzly King’s health bar now had less than five percent remaining. Its giant body was covered in arrow puncture wounds and flowing digital blood. It looked very weak, its footsteps no longer as powerful as before.
I stood tall on the tree branch, drawing my bowstring for the final time. This time, I let the wind vortex on my arrow spin at maximum capacity until it emitted a very bright silver-green glow.
"Your journey ends here, Forest King," I whispered softly.
Wusss!
My final arrow shot forward, piercing straight through the center of the bear’s forehead, penetrating its hard skull with absolute elemental power.
CRACK!
The Grizzly King let out a very weak, long groan before its several-ton giant body finally collapsed, slamming into the ground with a loud thud. The next second, its massive corpse exploded into millions of beautiful golden light particles swirling into the air, leaving behind several loot chests on the ground.
The moment the boss’s body disintegrated, a very magnificent and loud silver bell sound suddenly echoed throughout the entire Second World Online server, audible to every active player no matter where they were.
Ding!
[System Announcement: Congratulations to Player ’Syl’ for successfully defeating the Eastern Forest Area Boss: [Grizzly King] (Level 20)!]
Ding!
[System Announcement: Extraordinary Achievement! The Eastern Area Boss has been defeated for the first time (First Clear)! Player ’Syl’ is entitled to additional reward bonus: 3 Skill Points (SP)!]
Ding!
[System Announcement: The eastern gate seal has been broken! The advanced area [Whispering Forest] and access to the mid-level city are now officially open to all players!]
These three consecutive global announcements echoed with magnificent resonance, leaving a brief silence across the digital world before triggering a real storm.
I sat weakly on the tree branch, leaning my back against the rough trunk. The wooden bow in my right hand felt extremely heavy. My entire body was drenched in sweat, and my head felt very dizzy from the extraordinary mental fatigue of having to maintain absolute focus for nearly an hour without making even the smallest mistake.
"Hah... hah... this was really exhausting," I muttered while wiping the sweat from my forehead.
Maintaining the Wind Element visualization and Vital Shot precision constantly had truly drained my brain wave concentration capacity to its limit. However, the moment I glanced at the bottom-left corner of my vision, that fatigue instantly vanished, replaced by immense shock.
The Global Chat box was now scrolling upward at an insane speed, like a flood breaking through a dam. Millions of messages flooded in per second, making my chat screen look like an unreadable blur of light.
I tried to stabilize the chat scroll speed to read some of the incoming messages:
[Handsome_Warrior]: CRAZY!!! Who is this Syl?! A solo player?! Defeating a Level 20 Area Boss alone on the second day of the server?! No way!
[Ranger_Pro]: Isn’t Syl that beautiful albino Elf girl who went viral on the forum this morning?! For real, she’s not just all looks and big chest, her skills are actually monstrous!
[Clan_DragonSlayer]: To Player Syl, we from the DragonSlayer clan offer the position of Vice Head of the Ranger Division with an extremely fantastic real-world monthly salary! Please contact us immediately!
[Solo_Gamer]: The hardcore clans who were complaining on the forum yesterday are all mentally crushed together! Hahaha! They said it would take a week to defeat the area boss, but it was finished alone by a beautiful Elf girl in just hours!
I could only stare at the world chat screen with a wry smile adorning my thin lips. The impact of my achievement was far greater than I had expected. My figure, which was initially seen only as visual eye candy on the forum, had now transformed into the first living legend on the Second World Online server.
However, behind the excitement of casual players, the biggest impact of this world announcement actually struck the egos of the top hardcore player groups and major clans dominating the frontline. In private clan chats that were leaked to the public, the competitive atmosphere suddenly heated up to boiling point.
The leaders of major clans felt extremely challenged and provoked because the First Blood of the first area boss was taken by an unknown solo player instead of their elite groups. They began issuing emergency orders to all members to increase hunting intensity, preparing to attack the Stone Golem at the western gate and the Goblin King in the north tonight as well to save their clan’s pride.
"Good... let them compete busily in the west and north," I muttered while jumping down from the tree branch with a very graceful movement, landing right in front of the pile of Grizzly King’s loot chests waiting for me on the ground.
The afternoon sunlight pierced through the gaps in the Eastern Forest leaves, shining on me as I stood alone in the post-storm peace. With the abundance of SP points I had gained from the world bonus earlier, I knew that my steps in the Second World had only just begun, and no clan in this world would be able to catch up to the shadow of my footsteps.
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