BXBX NOVEL Chapter 168 - A Short Life
When Ryan and Alissa found the first dungeon of the area, they didn\'t know if they should feel thankful or not for the existence of the Succubus. They thought the monsters had run away from the area due to the succubus, but that wasn\'t the case. They were building their strength and using the area around the dungeon as a base. At least that was the case with the treants since there was a massive and incredibly dense forest around the dungeon. Still, the chances of the Giants Ants and Red Bats doing the same was pretty high.
"What is the plan?" Ryan asked.
"Burning all of them would be easy, but then you wouldn\'t receive any coin, and the other monsters would probably come to check things here," Alissa said. "So, our only option is to take them down one by one."
Ryan was glad that Alissa was using her head for a change, but he also frowned since her consideration was pretty annoying. True, he wanted the coins, but he wouldn\'t complain if she decided to monopolize the rewards. For the good or the worse, he was more working for her than with her. Regardless, Ryan used Appraisal to check a few things.
Treant – Lv 35
Health: 1.500/1.500
Mana: 500/500
Stamina: 300/300
Strength: 200 (+40)
Dexterity: 300 (+30)
Speed: 50
Intelligence: 200 (+50)
Endurance: 700 (+250)
Control: 450 (+10)
Mentality: 700 (+250)
Luck: 300
Recovery: 600 (+500)
Skill List
Offensive Physical Skills: Sharp Leaves Lv 30
Passive Physical Skills: Passive Recovery Lv 50
Spells: Earth Spear Lv 50
Support Skills: Earth Resistance Lv 100, Water Resistance Lv 100
Treants were troublesome like golems. In fact, they were even more annoying since they didn\'t have any obvious weak spots, and their recovery was quite high. In any case, that was only a problem for Ryan. Alissa, with her crossbows, could make the monster explode with just a single blow. Fortunately, making noise was fine since the other dungeons were very far away from their current position.
"Let\'s see… Bleed won\'t work in them since they don\'t have blood," Ryan rubbed his chin while considering his possibilities. "I can\'t use fire for obvious reasons, and they have high resistance against earth and water… wind isn\'t a good option against opponents that have high endurance. The number of enemies is too high, so Power Shot is no good… in that case…"
It wasn\'t the same thing as relying on raw power. Still, Ryan used Rapid Shot to attack the treants one after the other. Surprisingly, by using the skill a single time, he could fire three additional magic arrows and cause just enough damage to make the monsters fall dead.
You obtained 60 coins.
"Although I managed to save my stamina, I used more mana than I could recover thanks to Active Spiritual Recovery. Still, I can\'t think of any other way to kill these monsters as fast as possible without alerting the other species."
Ryan also had a high recovery, but since just to attack, he needed to use Incomplete Reptilian Transformation, his consumption of mana was incredibly high as well. Regardless, he didn\'t let that bother him. Although he could fight dragons, it was insane to compete against one in a fair and square competition.
While Ryan was trying to think of new ways to increase his efficiency in hunting the treants, he noticed that Alissa missed a lot of her shots. However, that wasn\'t really a problem since her bolts were bound to hit one or two treants behind her real targets. It was annoying because the monsters were slowly moving in their direction and because it looked like she wasn\'t fighting for real.
"Say, Ryan…" Alissa hesitated.
"Focus on the task in front of you," Ryan said. "Good grief..."
"Isn\'t that fine?" Alissa asked. "Those monsters will never reach us, and besides, you will be able to obtain a lot more coins if I don\'t focus all that much."
"That is a pretty interesting way to see the things," Ryan frowned. "I can\'t care less about it since they are monsters, but this is a war. Are you seriously fighting in a war with such an attitude? That is a lot of arrogance."
"My war is against those who have the information I want, not with those weaklings," Alissa declared.
"That sure sounds the words of someone who has the power of the dragons," Ryan said. "Let\'s hope that won\'t come back to torment you in the future."
"Anyway, what are you planning to do after we find the information we want?" Alissa asked.
"That is none of your business," Ryan replied.
"Everyone I met until now has a goal… you are the sole exception," Alissa said. "You fight because you have nothing else to do. You do your best to make sure Arthur isn\'t in danger, but only because you feel responsible for him, not because you actually want to protect him."
"So what?" Ryan asked.
"What I am trying to say is… you kind of look like those monsters," Alissa said. "They don\'t have a goal, and they only act based on their instincts."
Ryan frowned when he heard that. To be compared with the monster was unpleasant, to say the least, but Ryan was calm enough to realize that Alissa wasn\'t completely wrong about it. He indeed wasn\'t much different from monsters… just like them. When he sees a foe, he attacks without thinking. Ryan said to himself many times that he was fighting for his home planet, but was that really the case? If that were true, he would ally himself with others to make sure that they wouldn\'t lose the fight. Yet, he had no intentions of doing that…
"I guess you are right?" Ryan asked. "What is your point? Please, don\'t use this chance to say something cheesy."
"I am just worried about you…" Alissa said. "I learned something recently, and I fear that if you continue like this, you won\'t live for long."