Chapter 161: Undead Archer
Level 35 Undead Creature, 700 HP, Physical Attack 64–86; Magic Attack 30–37; Physical Defense 32–43; Magic Defense 15–18; Agility 100 points.
Proficient in Corrosion Arrow, Soul Arrow, Corpse Poison Arrow, Bone Arrow, Quick Step...
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The moment the Undead Archer emerged from the "moat," I retreated from its effective attack range. Activating "Insight" to retrieve stats unlike any undead creature outside the Forgotten Castle, I stood frozen in place.
Undead Archer... isn't this...
Isn't this the undead magical beast guarding the "Lost Secret Chamber" that Holts told me about? Why would it appear here?!
While I was struck with bewilderment and doubt, the Undead Archer had already made its move. A pair of ghostly green lights flashed rapidly within its eye sockets, as it lowered its massive black bone bow, exerted force, and charged straight toward me...
"Damn it!"
So fast! It was almost as fast as my own maximum speed in a normal state!!
Alarmed, I did not dare to hesitate. The Black Swamp Magic Bow flipped swiftly through my hands. Draw the arrow! Nock the bow!
The exact instant the Undead Archer stopped to reconcentrate its magic arrow, I blasted out a "Slow Arrow"...
In such a tight window of time, aside from making sure I hit the target, I didn't dare linger to aim for vital spots. Nor could I... because an undead creature's vitals were almost exclusively its eyes. Unless using precision aiming, hitting them was practically impossible!
"Target hit. Dealt 107 damage to the Undead Archer."
Fortunately, the Black Swamp Magic Bow belonged to the top-tier Grade 3 category, with a base weapon attack equivalent to 51–57. Combined with the 20% attack increase from the Slow Arrow, converted magic attack could also deal very considerable damage.
Furthermore...
"Slow effect triggered! Duration: 3 seconds!"
Watching the Undead Archer's speed instantly plummet from over 120 agile points straight down to a level inferior to even that of a low-level skeleton soldier, a proud smirk immediately crept onto my lips, and my heart instantly relaxed.
Although I didn't have a monstrous hidden class talent like Dr. Ye, even a Tier 35 high-tier undead magical beast had no choice but to let me slaughter it when hit by a Slow Arrow boasting a success rate as high as 55%.
Silently retreating to twenty meters away, I stood my ground, quickly pulled out three arrows, and nocked them together!
I drew the bow with ease, aiming at the Undead Archer as it struggled to stride forward...
The three-in-one combined shot had just finished preparation when the Undead Archer happened to step one foot into the twenty-meter effective attack range!
Without the slightest delay, all three arrows shot out like lightning!
As the Undead Archer was blasted out of its slow state by the three attacks, its HP plummeted by more than half in rapid succession... Almost simultaneously, the Undead Archer's stats refreshed rapidly in my mind once more. Following a single three-in-one combined shot, the Undead Archer's HP had dropped to a mere 167 points.
This discovery immediately filled me with pleasant surprise and joy.
I had no idea that "Insight" possessed not only the ability to retrieve data, but could also track the target's HP amount at any time, anywhere. This way, I could completely arrange my subsequent attacks based on the Undead Archer's remaining HP, maximizing the savings on time and MP consumption.
Realizing this, I immediately felt much more at ease.
Quickly retreating, I drew the Black Swamp Magic Bow once again...
A ranged shot combined with a basic attack directly pierced the Undead Archer and knocked it to the ground:
"Killed Undead Archer, gained 375 experience points!"
...
Running quickly over to the vicinity of the Undead Archer's corpse, aside from two dozen silver coins, the black bone bow previously used by the Undead Archer was also lying on the ground...
"If only this were Silver-grade equipment."
Pondering this, I swiftly stuffed the bone bow into my backpack, picked up the silver coins, and then sent a voice transmission to Falcon to inform him of the discovery here.
"An Undead Archer? Really?!"
Falcon hadn't expected to find clues to the secret chamber so quickly, and instantly became excited.
"I'm certain of it. However... I still haven't figured out where the secret chamber actually is. You keep pulling the skeleton mages, don't let them turn back, and I'll look around."
"No problem! Be careful yourself, don't accidentally get killed by the Undead Archer!"
Falcon's words left me feeling rather depressed: "Do you have that little confidence in me?"
"Hehe, you never know." Upon learning that a clue to the secret chamber had been found, Falcon started joking with me as well. I smiled, gave him one more reminder, and then turned around to approach the moat filled with skeletal remains.
The Undead Archer had suddenly popped out from the pile of bones in the moat. Coupled with the quest details about the "undead" that Holts had told me, I could basically conclude that the secret chamber should be hidden beneath the moat.
However, the exact location of the passage leading down to the secret chamber still remained to be confirmed.
As I pondered, I had already drawn close to that ghostly, terrifying river of bones. The ability bestowed by Eagle Eye allowed me to clearly perceive just how terrifying this lonely hellscape under the night sky truly was!
The guy who designed this kind of scenario quest was a total freak—no wonder no one had ever discovered this legendary lost secret chamber before... Coming to a place even ghosts would fear at night, while having to deal with the nearly endless skeleton mages outside the castle and coming into zero-distance contact with this death zone, anyone with even slightly weak nerves would probably suffer nightmares for days.
...
The moment I got close, right in the middle of the bone pile in the moat directly ahead, an abnormality occurred once again!
This time, two Undead Archers nimbly scrambled out from the pile of bones... Left and right, two pairs of glowing green eye sockets locked directly onto me, and they quickly reached down to grab into the pile of bones at their feet.
"Damn it!"
I cursed out loud, planted my feet firmly, and swiftly grabbed three arrows from my quiver and nocked them into the string...
"Creak!"
The Black Swamp Magic Bow stretched taut abruptly!
The exact moment the two Undead Archers grabbed their bone bows from the bone pile, one of them was fully struck by the "three-in-one combined shot." The continuous impact almost knocked this Tier 35 high-tier... crashing heavily onto its sitting position in the bone pile. With a muffled, raspy roar of anger, the Undead Archer beside it had already raised its bone bow.
I did not hesitate. Taking advantage of the moment they straightened their bodies to prepare for an attack, I turned and flew backward—the attacks of a Tier 35 high-tier magical beast were not something an archer could endure head-on. If they landed a solid hit on me each, I would bite the dust; after all, defense and tanking monsters were never an archer's strong suit.
Fighting high-tier magical beasts using speed and technique to win was the absolute truth!
With my previous experience, after retreating several meters, I quickly stood my ground, directly blasted the untouched Undead Archer into a slow state, and then used two ranged shots and one regular shot to finish off the Undead Archer whose HP had already been more than halved.
The last one left was much easier to deal with. I fired the Black Swamp Magic Bow in rapid succession, executing a three-in-one combined shot...
There were no major harvests this time; the two Undead Archers only dropped a little over fifty silver coins.
Clinging to the mindset that waste is shameful, I packed up the spoils of war and once again slowly approached the moat, feeling a lingering sense of trepidation in my heart: This time... three Undead Archers shouldn't pop out again, right?
Yet, the moment that thought crossed my mind, the bones in the moat surged violently...
The next instant!
Four Undead Archers crawled out unhurriedly, a sight that almost made me pass out on the spot.
Damn it! I figured this quest wouldn't be easy to do... but I never expected it to be freakish to this extent! Every time I wiped out a wave of Undead Archers, the next wave doubled in number...
Damn it... if I have to kill a few more rounds of this, my meager pool of MP won't even be enough...
A wave of oppression weighed on my heart, yet my hands did not slow down in the slightest. I unleashed another three-in-one combined shot, immediately activated Quick Step, and sent a voice transmission to Falcon—I had to request backup.
...
Two minutes later, the "lives" of the four Undead Archers came to an end, though Falcon was also in quite a wretched state at the moment. It was his first time dealing with high-tier magical beasts possessing both ranged attack capabilities and high mobility, and he had nearly exhausted his...
Although his accuracy and operational skills left me somewhat speechless, the situation finally stabilized afterward. Moreover, if he hadn't helped me tie down one of the Undead Archers, under the concentrated assault of four Undead Archers, the tiny bit of MP I had left would probably have run out long ago.
Having learned this lesson, I finally didn't dare to rashly approach that moat again. I obediently sat down to rest, waiting for my MP to slowly regenerate.
...
When my MP finally returned to its optimal state, I approached the moat alongside Falcon.
Moving to the spot where the Undead Archers had been lured out previously... the moat was dead silent.
"They're gone?"
A wave of joy welled up in my heart, and subconsciously, I stepped forward directly, setting foot upon the mountain of accumulated bones in the moat...
A sudden transformation occurred!!
A powerful suction force suddenly surged from the moat beneath my feet...
...
Falcon, who was joyriding with the skeleton mages twenty meters away, came to an abrupt halt!
Rubbing his eyes hard: "Where did he go?"