“It's a class-holder! We're saved!”
Apart from Hilda, who had long known Lynn was approaching, the young Rogue was the first to react, calling out with joy.
Seeing the strongest monster on the field instantly killed by reinforcements, the others felt their spirits lift. Driven by the desire to survive, a fresh wave of energy surged through them.
However, as an evil race, upon seeing their leader slain, the gnolls let out long howls to the sky. Far from feeling fear, the monsters attacked the encircled adventurers even more frantically, desperate to take a human down with them even at the cost of their own lives.
The party's Shield Guard barely managed to block a gnoll's strike with his shield before losing his balance and tumbling to the ground.
A nearby Gnoll Thrall didn't miss the opportunity, snapping open its bloody maw and lunging straight for the Shield Guard's unarmored neck.
Just as despair filled the Shield Guard's eyes, an arrow suddenly flashed into the corner of his vision. In the next instant, it transfixed the Gnoll Thrall's waist. In the blink of an eye, the creature was pinned firmly to the grassy ground, twitching in agony a few times before the shaft trapped it motionless in place.
The Shield Guard looked in the direction the arrow had come from and saw a silent brown bear appearing at the edge of his sight.
A bugbear?
A bugbear that could use a bow?!
Aguda, currently unaware that the adventurer had mistaken him for a bugbear, notched another arrow onto his bowstring but didn't fire again. Lynn had just told him to hold back.
Aguda could tell that Lynn enjoyed hunting just as much as he did. Thus, he wouldn't touch the prey Lynn liked—besides, these monsters didn't look particularly appetizing anyway...
Lynn, who hadn't had time to save the Shield Guard himself, gave Aguda a quiet thumbs-up in his mind before seeking out his next target. With Lynn joining the fray, the tide flipped instantly. Only three gnolls and four Gnoll Thralls were left putting up a stubborn last stand.
The Monk and his companions knew about Lynn's “special habit” of hunting monsters, so while ensuring their own safety, they intentionally held back in combat, merely ensuring the monsters had no chance to swarm Lynn.
As for the young adventurers, they had long since run out of energy to fight back.
Thus, the battlefield became Lynn's personal stage. Leveraging the accelerated thinking granted by his high Intelligence attribute, he could accurately assess the situation and understood how to maximize his killing efficiency.
Watching Lynn move with complete freedom across the field, the Rogue apprentice watching from the side felt a wave of envy. How wonderful would it be if he were a class-holder-level Rogue? Maybe then he could easily combo ranked monsters to death just like that. This was how a Rogue should be!
The young Rogue felt his blood boiling as he watched, but returning to reality, he was forced to accept the truth that he was merely an ordinary apprentice with no power to resist ranked monsters.
Under the onslaught of fresh combatants like Lynn and the Monk, it took hardly any effort for the remaining gnolls to be converted into Bloodline Points for Lynn.
“Slew one gnoll. Gained Bloodline Points (Gnoll) x2.”
“【Kidney Strike】 Mastery +1. Current Lv.2 (1/20).”
After killing another gnoll, the Skill 【Kidney Strike】 finally leveled up.
“Kidney Strike Lv.2 Skill Effect - Backhand Kidney Strike I: When 【Kidney Strike】 is activated immediately following 【Backstab】, power is increased by 30%.”
Power increased by 30%?
That was no small boost.
Lynn felt that with this effect enhancing Kidney Strike—which was already quite powerful—it might even compete with Magic Missile in terms of damage under specific conditions.
However, in most environments, due to the nature of physical damage, its destructive output probably still fell short of Magic Missile.
Unfortunately, this world lacked instruments to measure the power of attacks...
Hm... then again, maybe not.
After all, since magic devices existed in this world to measure physical attributes, perhaps someone had created a device to measure Skill power as well.
The Mages' Association might have one.
Lynn flicked the blood off his short sword and sheathed it, thinking to himself that it was about time to visit a blacksmith shop to get a proper weapon. Given his current strength, he could consider switching to daggers or a higher-quality short sword.
“Hello, I'm Hilda, leader of the Fire Shield Party. Thank you so much for your help!”
Unnoticed, a woman with flame-red hair appeared before Lynn and extended her hand to him.
Though the wounds and bloodstains stood out starkly against her fair skin, they did nothing to diminish Hilda's heroic demeanor. If anything, they lent her a battle-worn allure, softening her sharp, fierce edge with a hint of charm.
“Hello, I'm Lynn.”
He reached out and politely shook her hand, letting go almost immediately.
Even so, Lynn noticed the thick calluses on her hand, indicating she practiced swordsmanship rigorously on a daily basis.
“Ah! You're—”
Just then, the Rogue apprentice nearby finally got a clear look at Lynn's face and shouted out in surprise.
Lynn looked at the apprentice in confusion, feeling certain he had never met the young man before. He wondered why the person looked so startled upon seeing him.
Realizing that Lynn didn't know him, the Rogue apprentice quickly explained, “I was at the Guild the day Mentor Damon came, so I saw you then!”
So that's why. Lynn nodded. He hadn't expected to be somewhat famous among the Rogue apprentices in the Guild.
The Rogue apprentice turned around and began telling his companions about Lynn's deeds. Hearing that the Rogue who had just comboed a ranked monster to death wasn't even an official class-holder yet, but merely an apprentice, everyone was thoroughly stunned.
Especially the Rogue apprentice himself.
He had initially assumed Lynn was so powerful because he was an official class-holder, never imagining that Lynn was an apprentice just like him.
It was quite a blow to his morale.
Fortunately, their party already had a Fighter who could kill ranked monsters by trading blows with a single 【Whirlwind Slash】, so the Rogue apprentice, being accustomed to such blows to his ego, didn't stay down for long.
In this world, geniuses had their own paths, while ordinary people had their own ways of living.
At that moment, Hilda handed a small cloth pouch to Lynn.
Lynn took it and looked at Hilda in confusion.
“According to the adventurers' rules, since you saved us, half of our quest reward belongs to you. There are two gold and four silver coins inside—please accept it. Additionally, the spoils from these gnolls are all yours as well.”
There's a rule like that?
Lynn glanced at the Monk.
The Monk nodded.
For adventurers, falling into danger while out on quests was a common occurrence.
Therefore, to encourage mutual aid among adventurers and prevent ungrateful behavior, the Adventurers' Guild had indeed established such a rule. If anyone refused to fulfill it, the matter could be reported to the Guild for disciplinary action.
After all, if someone had ill intentions, they could simply stand by and watch others die to loot all the deceased adventurers' belongings. The Guild naturally couldn't let those who were willing to lend a helping hand to strangers lose out.
Seeing Lynn accept the reward, Hilda finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She added, “If you ever need anything in the future, please contact me at the Oak Inn on Rosemary Avenue. As long as it's within my power, I will do my absolute best to help you.”
...
Monster Game Patch Notes (7.28):
In light of player complaints, we retrieved the in-game performance data for “【Rune】: Burst Step” and found that it did not meet the designers' expectations.
Therefore, we have decided to hotfix and buff “【Rune】: Burst Step.”
The range of Burst Step has been adjusted from 5m to 6m, and the dash duration has been reduced from 0.3s to 0.25s.
Adjusted Effect: After casting a spell, you can dash 6m in any direction within 0.25s without consuming stamina.
Rate on N.U.
