Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 96 The Burning Crevice

12 seconds was a short period of time. Before Ye Ci could put a significant distance between them, Garrison had defrosted. Apparently Garrison was completely angered by Ye Ci. After the ice melted away, Half-Eyed Garrison let out a roar. The roar shook the sky itself, creating sound waves that swept through the forest. Despite Ye Ci’s best effort to run away, she was unable to escape the effects of the soundwave and her HP dropped rapidly.

“This fella is truly OP.” Ye Ci cursed out loud, and immediately drank a Health Potion to replenish some of her HP. She then continued desperately dashing forward.

Garrison was just too big. In front of such a massive creature, it was just a waste of time for Ye Ci to even try to outmaneuver Garrison with her balance and agility. That was why Ye Ci gave up on maneuvers like jumping around on tree branches, and instead opted to just dash madly through the forest.

There were a lot of tall trees in the forest, and Ye Ci would always dart through between them. This hindered Garrison, who was in pursuit, greatly, and managed to slow it down.

The temperature of the air was rising rapidly.

As Ye Ci ran, perspiration formed on her forehead and flowed down through her hair, seeping into her leather armor. The wet feeling surrounding her body made Ye Ci uncomfortable. She raised one of her arms, wiped away sweat from her face, and drank another Speed Potion. If she was running in the correct direction, she was getting closer and closer to the Burning Crevice.

A normal monster would stop chasing after a player once they’d moved out of a certain range. They had their own territory, and couldn’t be bothered with leaving the place. Epic Monsters, however, were different. They had the same behavior as dungeon monsters: as long as you’re not dead, they’ll never give up. But even the monsters in dungeons were conscious about their range limit. As long as you leave the dungeon, you’re safe. An Epic Monster, however, was a different story. It appeared in the wild, and could move anywhere in the map. As long as you weren’t dead, as long as you didn’t flee into a dungeon, its aggro would always be on you, and you could never escape from it.

Half-Eyed Garrison was irritated by the thick branches, and he suddenly jumped up. Of course, his jump height was lacking, but that was not the point. The point was that when it landed, Garrison swept its tail that was a thick as an electric pole at the trees.

The movement of Garrison’s tail produced sharp gusting winds that stung the back of Ye Ci’s neck. Sporadic cracking sounds followed after the wind. Ye Ci stole a glance backwards, and saw that all the trees around Garrison, no matter how thick they were, had all fallen, forming a fan shaped clearing. It was a horrible sight to see.

Ye Ci cursed inwardly. She could imagine that if she was hit by the skill, she might’ve died without even having time to feel the pain.

Waves of heat assaulted Ye Ci’s senses. It seemed that she was getting nearer and nearer to the Burning Crevice, while Garrison was also getting closer and closer to her. At long last, the trees in front of Ye Ci parted, and a wide open space appeared. The ground was charred black, with scorching hot air rising from the ground. Ye Ci took a deep breath and jumped down the crevice.

Quicker than words can tell, right at that moment before Ye Ci leapt into the air, Garrison activated another Epic-tier ability, Stampede. He shot out like an arrow discharged from a bowstring… No, it was more like a derailed atomic bomb, dashing towards Ye Ci.

Fortunately, Ye Ci threw herself high enough into the air, and Garrison could barely scratch at the soles of her feet before falling down the crevice. Ye Ci took in a deep breath, it was too dangerous. Had Garrison collided with her in midair, she would’ve been killed.

Despite dodging Garrison’s Stampede, Ye Ci still had to obey Newton’s First Law. She fell into the crevice right after Garrison. The gushing wind sliced at her ears, while the surging heat wave scalded her skin.

The bottom of the Burnice Crevice was covered with soil that was charred black, with thick smoke rising from the ground. There were even places where lava was visible with glaring red. Garrison was much heavier than Ye Ci, which meant that it fell faster than Ye Ci. Garrison kicked up a lot of dust and smoke as it impacted on the ground, clouding Ye Ci’s vision.

Just then, Ye Ci activated Featherfall, and her body immediately became light, and the speed that she was falling became slower and slower. She landed at the bottom of Burning Crevice softly, just like a feather.

According to the National Library, the crevice was carved out by Naga’s claw, which had charred the ground with its demonic energy, and the resulting flames burned for years, maintaining a scorching temperature. Anything that set foot on that plot of land would lose HP rapidly as a result of the burn.

The place was just too hot. Ye Ci was sweating even more than she was previously. Before long, a ‘dehydrated’ status appeared in her status bar, and the movements of her body became slow. She took out a bottle of Refreshing Spring Water and drank a mouthful. The Refreshing Spring Water immediately brought refreshment to Ye Ci, and she greedily gulped down more of the sweet spring water.

After taking care of the debuff, Ye Ci began searching for the carcass of Garrison. She had landed a kick on Garrison during the fall. She did not know if she dealt any damage, but if she got lucky, then all the equipment dropped by Garrison would belong to her.

Although the odds were not on her side, Ye Ci could still feel the joy just by thinking about the equipment that would be dropped by an Epic Monster.

Ye Ci was able to locate Garrison quickly. It fell not far away from Ye Ci, but was hidden behind a gigantic boulder, which was why Ye Ci did not see it right away. After climbing onto the boulder, Ye Ci immediately discovered that her hopes of getting her dream equipment was gone…

Because that fella was still alive despite falling down from such a high place. 90% of its HP was gone, but it was still alive. It laid on the ground, gasping for air. The rise and fall of its stomach was slow. It seemed that it was still quite alive.

Perhaps Garrison had not seen Ye Ci, as when Ye Ci climbed onto the boulder, Garrison did not move at all. It laid still, gasping for air.

Do I kill it? A thought arose in Ye Ci’s mind, but she immediately gave up on the plan. It was an Epic Monster. Even if it had like 10% of its HP life, Ye Ci had no means to kill it. Even if she could kill it, it would take her several hours to do it. But this place that they were in had a burning effect. It was not a good place for a prolonged fight. The thing that Ye Ci was wary about the most was that this monster could move, and would definitely kill her if she was spotted. It was definitely not worth it.

After pondering about her possible actions, Ye Ci decided that it was better for her to run away. Even though it was an Epic Monster, even though the equipment dropped by this monster was mouth watering, Ye Ci was at a disadvantage and she was running out of potions. She would definitely lose her life in a prolonged fight.

After reaching a decision, Ye Ci turned around to leave. But right at that moment, she slipped and a rock rolled down the slope. An alarmed Ye Ci tried to catch the rock, but she failed. The rock tumbled towards Garrison’s leg.

Oh shit! Ye Ci immediately ducked down, pressing herself close to the boulder, and activated Disguise. Her body immediately blended as one into the background. Ye Ci remained still while fixing her eyes on the rock, which smacked into Garrison.

Ye Ci closed her eyes, praying that she would not be discovered by Garrison. However, it was very unlikely as their 19 levels difference meant that Garrison could see through her Disguise very easily.

What Ye Ci had not expected was that Garrison simply trembled slightly when the rock connected with its leg. This… Was very peculiar. Epic Monsters were usually very sensitive to their surroundings, but it did not even move when the rock connected with its leg. The word ‘abnormal’ could not even fully describe the situation.

Ye Ci felt the urge to cast Identify on Garrison, but such action would deactivate her Disguise. What if she was discovered?

Making up her mind, Ye Ci jumped out and tumbled behind another rock. After a few seconds, Ye Ci slowly rose up and cast Identify at Garrison after sensing no activity. Garrison’s status popped up before her.

Half-Eyed Garrison

Race: Dinosaur

Level: 48

Category: Epic Monster

Abilities: Tearing Bite, Tail Whip, Stampede, Tremor

Status: Crippled

HP: ????

As expected of an Epic Monster. Even when its portrait was showing that it had only 10% of HP left, the exact amount of its HP was still hidden. Ye Ci narrowed her eyes at the status that had caught her attention: Crippled.

Crippled, as in unable to move. Ye Ci had pulled such a thing off on Wandering Cloud, and the results were very remarkable. She had not expected such a thing to happen to an Epic Monster.

However, that was not the point.

The point was that being crippled meant one thing…

Epic Monster or not, Garrison, that was unable to fight back at its current state, was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

There you go people! Jimmi proudly presents Chapter 96!!! Well I guess I still managed to churn out like 3 chapters this week despite the tight schedule, are you guys proud of me?? *shameless* xDD

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! If you wanna reward the team (especially Jimmi) for the hard work, hit that sponsor button at the right side of the page, as hard as you can!!! Or you can uhhh… Go to my Patreon page, link also at the right side of the page #makeJimmisPatreonGreatAgain xDD (how shameless)

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