Chapter 198 A Fight to the Death (Part 1)
Even if Ye Ci knew a lot about Fate in her past life, a long amount of time passed after she reincarnated from her last life into her current self. There were things she had forgotten about the game. One of them was the Abandoned Altar mentioned by the mayor of Dark Clay City. Ye Ci knew that something was wrong with the altar, but she could no longer remember the details of the quest.
However she wasted no time, immediately travelling to the altar. Since I've accepted the quest, I might as well get to the place and improvise if I run into trouble. If she had to be meticulous when playing the game, wouldn't it ruin the fun? Wouldn't it be like writing a computer game? The game would cease to be fun and interactive. Weren't sudden events and being unpredictable the best part of video games?
Something that even she as a reincarnated person was unable to foresee was very thrilling. You could never know what happens next. Will you return with huge amounts of rewards? Or will you die in an attempt to gain those rewards?
Ye Ci could barely contain her excitement. She was increasingly bored with her repetitive life. The sudden turn of events was a good change for her.
She headed to the north eastern corner of the Swamp of Sorrows. The population of players began to thin down, as she headed further north. Even before she reached her destination, she could no longer spot any players in the vicinity. Ye Ci stopped and surveyed her surroundings on Ol' Four's back.
The plants in the area were denser than the other parts of the Swamp of Sorrows. While the Swamp of Sorrows was normally covered by low growing shrubs and moss, the place was filled with tall, lush trees. Not even a shred of sunlight was able to penetrate the dense leaves. The air was filled with the smell of decay, silently screaming out warnings of danger towards Ye Ci.
"Ol' Four, what's in there?" asked Ye Ci as she caressed the thick skin on Ol' Four's neck.
The beast was very quiet. It stood silently under Ye Ci like a tame cat. Ye Ci's voice was soft, even she was not sure if the question was meant for herself or was it for Ol' Four.
Ye Ci's surroundings were quiet. It was just too quiet. She narrowed her eyes and looked around, there was nothing but fog. It was the only way to get to the Abandoned Altar.
Ye Ci was not afraid. However, she was also reluctant to risk her life. After all, it would be very inconvenient to retrieve anything that she might drop in this place upon her death.
After surveying the dense forest, Ye Ci decided to continue her advance. Instead of galloping ahead in full speed, Ye Ci advanced slowly and cautiously towards the Abandoned Altar deep within the forest.
Even Ol' Four took light and careful steps without any commands from Ye Ci. As a T-rex that lived in the jungle since its infancy, vigilance and ferocity were traits that were ingrained deep in its bones.
A gust of wind suddenly passed by, and Ol' Four's pupils contracted as it stooped down. Ye Ci noticed something wrong with the wind as well. Noticing that the wind came from her left to the rear, she jumped into the air and grabbed hold of one of the thick vines. Turning around, Ye Ci fired her crossbow at the direction of the wind.
Her actions were fluid and confident. It was as if she was part of the jungle, and could adapt to any situation in the wild. As the bolts left her crossbow, Ye Ci finally caught sight of her assailant.
It was a snek.
It was a gigantic snake with a body as thick as her thigh. The snake's dark green scales gave off a dangerous aura, and its triangular head an indicator that it was poisonous. The snake was thrashing on the ground. Although her shots did not hit anything vital, one of Ye Ci's bolts has buried itself between the snake's upper and lower mandible, piercing the soft flesh in the snake's oral cavity and causing great pain.
As an opportunist, Ol' Four immediately pounced on the snake, determined to tear it into pieces. Despite its fierce appearance, the snake was a lvl 40 monster, which meant that it had a lower level than Ol' Four, placing it at a grave disadvantage. Before long, Ol' Four tore the snake into shreds.
The experience points Ye Ci received by killing the snake was even higher than that of the Ogres in the Mausoleum of Blades. Despite that, the snakes were well concealed in the forest. It was very hard to spot them unless they chose to attack. It would otherwise make the forest a good leveling spot.
They carefully picked their way towards the innermost depths of the forest. Although nothing really dangerous happened en route, there was a never ending stream of minor incidents. They ran into countless monsters during their journey. Although the monsters were easy to deal with, a bad feeling gnawed at Ye Ci's heart.
The monsters were tough opponents that would give any player who was not of the Hunter class trouble even if they were at the same level as Ye Ci. The monsters however, did not move in packs. What troubled Ye Ci the most, was the fact that all the enemies she fought were poison type enemies.
Scorpions, centipedes and various soft bodied insects stood in their way. Their poison was not strong, but the effects of the poison could be stacked. With potion making as her Life Skill, Ye Ci would always have a lot of antidotes with her. Ol' Four almost died when it was beset with 7 stacks of poison, losing 2,000 hit points every 3 seconds. Had Ye Ci not given the Antidote to Ol' Four, his first death would happen in this forest.
With such encounters, Ye Ci could almost be certain that the Abandoned Altar had a formidable guardian that was very good with poison attacks.
Was there a poison-type BOSS in the Swamp of Sorrows? Ye Ci's memory was fuzzy. There seemed to be such a BOSS, but his name was lost to her. She had only set foot in this map once in her last life, and did not stay for long. She did not have a very lasting memory of this map.
I guess I'll just have to improvise.
A BOSS with poison damage was not as easy to deal with as a physical damage BOSS, but it was not impossible to defeat.
After traversing through the darkest part of the forest, the light ahead became clearer. Although the scenery was still as dim as the rest of the Swamp of Sorrows, it was leagues better than the forest behind her. The place was more spacious, and the trees were thinner. Ye Ci could spot the wooden altar from afar.
The air was filled with an unpleasant smell. It was the stench Ye Ci had noticed before entering the forest. As opposed to the faint smell from before, the odor in this place was vomit inducing. A black column of smoke rose from behind an undergrowth. It seemed to be the source of the unpleasant odor.
Ye Ci jumped down from Ol' Four and dismissed her pet. She then slowly crept towards the source of the black smoke in stealth. It was way too quiet. With the exception of the black smoke, an indicator of the presence of an unknown life form, there was nothing else in the vicinity.
Ye Ci was on alert. After all, your opponent would always deal a fatal blow when you are relaxed. This would place you in a grave advantage.
However, danger would still find its way to you even if you were careful. Such misfortune happened to Ye Ci. Despite paying close attention to the terrain while in stealth, even after being careful and constantly changing her course, she still found herself immobilized.
Lowering her head, Ye Ci noticed that her feet were bound by thorns, forcing her out of stealth. A debuff appeared in her status bar: Entangled, duration: 10 seconds.
Thorny Entanglement was a skill unique to Druids. As there was no system message notifying Ye Ci that she has been attacked by a player, the only other explanation was that she was under attack by an NPC Druid. After identifying the class of her assailant, Ye Ci lowered herself and drew her crossbow. She surveyed her surroundings, and a Werebeast in robes, holding a staff appeared from behind a tree. "Foolish Elf! You've fallen into my trap!" sneered the Werebeast.
As he spoke, the Werebeast began channeling a spell, "I'll be sure to wipe out your inferior race this time! You Elves do not deserve to be in this world!"
In Fate, Elves and Werebeasts were races that were born in the forest. They share some similarities in general, but were very different as well. These 2 races were not on friendly terms. As forest-dwelling races, both the Elves and the Werebeasts were always competing against each other. Even after peace had been established between both races, there still existed members of the two races that could not let go of their past resentment.
The Werebeast Druid who was standing in front of Ye Ci was a fine example. He despised the Elves.
His characteristic finally reminded Ye Ci of his identity.
Werebeast Shaman Buru.
Buru was once the high priest of the Werebeasts. His reputation and fame reached the apex amongst his kind. However, he was an extremist. Since young, Buru believed that the Werebeast race was the superior forest-dwelling race, and viewed Elves as the inferior race. He even thought that Elves should not be part of this world, and always massacred any Elves that had the misfortune of crossing paths with him.
It was an act that was originally not frowned upon by the masses, as both races were locked in a fight for superiority. When the Dark Lord Naga conspired to conquer the entire Jiama Continent, every race on the continent cast aside their differences and united against the Dark Lord. The Werebeasts and the Elves signed a peace treaty, ending the war between Werebeasts and Elves that lasted for hundreds of years. Werebeasts and Elves alike were forced to lay down their arms and joined forces in the fight against Dark Lord Naga.
Despite that, many members of both races were opposed to the peace treaty. Buru was one of the Werebeasts who strongly opposed the notion. Even after the peace treaty was signed between the 10 races of the Jiama Continent, Buru resumed his conflict with the Elves, and had even butchered Elves as a form of protest to the peace treaty.
In the face of the threat by Dark Lord Naga, Buru and others like him were sinners who threatened the unity of the races. Despite the protests by Elves and Werebeasts alike, Buru and his followers as well as Elves who acted just like them were banished by the council of the 10 races.
Buru was enraged by the decision. However, he was powerless against the decision of the majority.
This course of action was crucial for the survival of the 10 races. For Buru and his followers however, it was a cruel decision. He was robbed of his position as the High Priest, and lost his pride as Werebeast. This served only to fuel his already burning hatred towards the Elves.
Because of his story, Buru was very well-known in Fate. He was known for slaughtering any and all players that have the misfortune of running into him, as well as his tendency to torture any Elven players to death in unimaginable ways.
Ye Ci remembered that she had a battle against this BOSS in her past life. At that time however, she was a lvl120 player, and she was able to defeat the lvl50 BOSS easily before it could even cast any of its abilities. Because of that, Ye Ci was very unfamiliar with Buru's abilities. She could faintly remember a discussion between players: Buru was not only good with poison attacks. He could summon pets that would aid him in battle. He was a very formidable BOSS.
If she knew the strategies of taking down the BOSS, it would pose no challenge to her. But without prior knowledge about the BOSS, taking it down would be hard.
The lvl120 Ye Ci was able to kill the BOSS with one strike, but the lvl42 Ye Ci was in a pinch. Ye Ci was not afraid of trouble. After all, it was a game. A game without difficulties would be meaningless.
Ye Ci had no confidence of taking down a lvl50 BOSS with a lvl42 character. But, even with the slightest glimmer of hope, Ye Ci would fight to the end.
Translator’s note:
兽人 literally means “Beastman” but then I remembered they call em “Werebeast” in No Game No Life and well… “Werebeast” sure as hell sounds 50,000 times better than “Beastman” so I’ve decided to use the term “Werebeast” for Buru’s race.
How’s everybody doing? Jimmi is doing fine thanks for asking ahahahaha….. What am I talking about lmao… *looks at the chapter number* Oh golly gosh! We’re at Chapter 198 already? Damn! 198… 199… 200… OH 200!!! We’re nearing that 200 Chapters milestone soon people! WooohooOOOOO!!!
And uhh.. Calling to all the artistic souls out there, you know what Jimmy wants the most from you… FAN ART! FAN ART! FAN ART! FAN ART! *chanting continues* Aherm aherm… So uhhh if you wish to submit any fan arts, feel free to send them to me via email to !
If you have the monies to spare…. You can uhh… Donate to Reign of the Hunters! XD This will help Jimmi out a lot… Like… A LOT! GIB ME MONIES FOR FOOD!!! (shameless af)
Don’t forget that we have teasers next page! First in the comments type: FIRST BLOOD!
Desu Vult.