Abyss Domination - Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Chapter 76 — Half-Elven Ranger

Translator: SaltyTank

Editor: AyaSnow

 They found only limited loot . The two split the spoils evenly, each netting around 30 Gold Derahls . It was a pretty small sum even with just the two of them, let alone if they’d been in a typical squad of five adventurers; each member would then only get 10 or so Gold Derahls . Monsters rarely gathered in large groups in the wild, thus finding even a small pack of gnolls by themselves without any intel beforehand would take half a day . Because of this, the EXP and profit gain of venturing into the wilderness could only allow adventurers to advance to Grade 4 at best . Those who were past that stage would travel to the Underdark or even the Abyss to further train themselves .

 After the battle, Soran received a notification telling him that he had earned 1200 Slaughter EXP, with each gnoll averaging at around 200 EXP . It was understandable, considering that not many of them had advanced into gnoll warriors, and Soran only killed half of the dozen gnolls to begin with . Additionally, as the battle's difficulty level was low, Soran only gained 1 point in Sneak, probably from the initial strike in which he used Backstab while sneaking . Backstab required precision, because it would only activate when the strike hit a critical spot, making it difficult to use unless the user was hiding and could aim precisely .

 There was a saying: 'Only use seventy percent of your strength in your punches . ' The philosophy behind it was to prevent over-committing to the strike so that a person could retract his arm after landing a hit . However, if striking through utilizing one's waist and legs was considered using one hundred percent strength, then abilities such as Backstab and Sword Form—Heavy Hack would be using a hundred and twenty percent strength, bringing out the full strength of the entire body . As such, most users would take in a deep breath to increase their body’s oxygen content to fuel the skills .

 High-grade close-quarters combatants all had special skills . The skills may not belong exclusively to their professions, but not everyone could learn them either . There were plenty of skills that belonged to this category . One example was meditation . Before the monk profession gained popularity, training through meditating was almost non-existent . However, currently, even warriors would undergo meditation to bring out their full potential . Some people from Earth also had similar abilities: despite being physically asleep, their minds remained awake, and their senses were heightened up to tens of times .

 Those with high-grade professions would undergo harsh training in order to forcefully awaken to these special abilities . As ascetic monks took this to the extreme, they were the strongest amongst all monks .

 When in certain states, such as being extremely relaxed and tranquil, a human’s reflex time could reach the degree of a few milliseconds within the game world . High-grade close-quarters combatants could even dodge bullets, and sword saints and monks were even more proficient in evasion than most . Soran once saw a few sword saints training together, and they all had extraordinary innate reflexes from their profession . Legendary sword saints could probably even split bullets firing out of a machine gun .

 While rogues were also agile, their reflexes were not that extreme . Only those who become shadowdancers could achieve such agility . However, there was a training exercise commonly known as 'speedrunning' that could help enhance one's agility and reflexes . It basically consisted of sprinting repeatedly with increasing intensity . One might even be able to run on water after training long enough .

 Back in the forest, the duo continued their original mission of scouting out the place . They tracked down monsters whenever they came across traces, and sometimes they would hear the sounds of other scouts fighting . As they were still at the periphery of Whiterun, there were no signs of any lizardmen or ogres . These fights were just warm-ups for the true fight to come, and they served to enhance team chemistry among adventurers . If they did not cooperate beforehand, they might make mistakes due to being unfamiliar with each other's fighting styles .

 By evening, the army had already reached the boundary of Whiterun, the region where Soran and Yarse had been . The scouts went on to check out the dense forest ahead, and casualties finally occurred when they encountered ogres . An adventurer’s waist took the brunt of an ogre's mace, and by the time priests arrived, he had already died .

 Late that night, Soran and Yarse returned to the army camp and ate their rations since they’d finished their mission early .

 "Looks like Whiterun plans to annihilate the monsters in one go . " Yarse jumped to join Soran on the four-meter-tall rock he was sitting on, handed him a bottle of liquor, and continued, "It's about time for the regular clean-up operation that happens every five years anyway . Heh, those nobles . They probably took a lot of the money assigned to the operation for themselves . "

 The army cleared out monsters at certain intervals, mainly to prevent an outbreak of monsters . They reproduced like weeds, their numbers growing year by year . A gnoll would give birth to a whole bunch of pups at once, and with enough food, they could grow into a large tribe in just three years . Due to having lower intelligence than humans, monsters grew up and reproduced faster than humans to make up for their disadvantage .

 Soran waved his hand at the offered bottle and said, "I don't drink . "

 The ranger did not seem to mind and drank the liquor himself .

 "Those in front met trolls . I heard that three died . The army’s already sent their wizards over . "

 Trolls?

 Soran startled upon hearing the word and asked in a serious tone, "Wait, trolls are already at the borders?"

 "Yeah…" Yarse frowned in response .

 He took out his arrows and cleaned them one by one . True adventurers loved their equipment as though it was part of their own bodies . The ranger even tested to see if the two arrows he had used today were still in good shape by balancing them on his fingers . He was obviously a brilliant longbow archer, which was rare among half-elves .

 "That's not a good sign, you know," Yarse continued . He finished sharpening the tip of the two used arrows with his sword before placing everything back where it belonged . "Those annoying bastards just won't die . They're really tough to handle if you’re unprepared . I hope it's not the entire tribe migrating . Have you ever heard of the Battle of the Grey Hills of Autumnfall?"

 "No . " Soran lightly shook his head .

 Yarse carefully removed the blood stains from his sword and began to speak with a tint of nostalgia in his tone . "It was five years ago . Hill giants took over the Black Iron Ogre Tribe's territory and forced them to move away . Those fellas settled down within Autumnfall’s territory . It was still fine when they were few in number, but they were hard to handle once they reformed their tribe .

 "A lot of us died in the battle . Over half of the half-elven army suffered casualties . Even the five hundred elite longbow archers were almost annihilated . These humans may have great equipment, but they don't seem a lot stronger than the half-elven army to me . "

 The ranger lifted his shirt to reveal a long centipede-shaped scar on his stomach . "I was lucky to survive . I got hit with a flying axe in the stomach . My intestines probably got shortened by a chunk too . I retired from the army and roamed from city to city, and now I’m just trying to earn a bit more before I get too old to do such work . Gotta save up some money for the future, you know . "

 Yarse laughed; it seemed like he really wasn’t that young after all . He must have

gone through plenty of battles to be so experienced .

 Adventurers who fought up close would quickly experience a decline in combat prowess due to aging . Unlike wizards, who become stronger the longer they lived, close-quarters combatants' abilities dropped over time . If one was unable to enter the Realm of Legends, where age would no longer be a concern, they would inevitably grow old and die of old age . It was already considered pretty decent for middle-aged humans to be half as strong as they had been in their prime . Despite having more experience, their physical state was already nowhere as good as before .

 As half-elves aged slower than humans, if Yarse was already planning to save up some money and retire for good, he was probably almost fifty years old already . Even though half-elves could live for up to a century, their agility would drastically decrease upon reaching the fifty-year threshold . They might still look young, but their bodies no longer had the vitality of youth . A lot of rangers would then turn to divine magic to at least be somewhat useful . In fact, most high-grade rangers knew a few low-level divine spells for this reason .

 Soran remained silent

 It was a simple interaction between two solo adventurers . Yarse was trying to be friendly with Soran so as to establish a good relationship with him . In such a large-scale battle, it was necessary to have someone who was at least somewhat trustworthy to watch his back . Soran, however, did not want to speak about anything personal with a stranger he had met not too long ago . He simply extended his hand and said, "We'll leave the front to the army . We'll be fine as long as we are careful . "

 Yarse shook Soran's hand, then drank another sip of liquor .

 "Although you look human, I feel like you're a half-elf . My intuition has always been spot on," he commented idly .

 The two actually did not converse all that much . They by no means trusted each other, but at the very least, they knew that they would cover for one another in battle . That alone was enough for both of them; the chances of surviving were a lot higher than if they were fighting alone in such a chaotic environment .

 A bugle call could be heard from the army camp . A team of fully armored warriors was carrying back a troll corpse . After noticing the dead troll, the atmosphere among the adventurers turned heavy . Trolls had extraordinary regenerative abilities, and they were hard to kill without using fire or acid . They had even greater Strength than ogres, and their Constitution was above 20 the moment they were born, with most reaching up to 25 sooner or later . They could regenerate their limbs and even their heads .

 If trolls appeared in such close proximity to the city, who knew how many monsters had flooded out from their original habitats? It looked like clearing the roads would be a much harder task than expected . Soran could only hope that the army had overwhelming strength over the monsters; their equipment was designed to slay dragons, and he could even see some heavy war machinery in the army camp .