Chapter 174
Capture Alive?
"Option two: Shrink to hide," the girl’s soft whisper broke the silence. With the enhanced speed granted by the ancient rune and her Soft Jade technique, she climbed the tree swiftly and gracefully.
She instructed the little Blue Apple to leap forward, its body as small as a gnat, so that the Versekal wouldn’t notice something approaching.
Ellie’s plan was to use the little Apple as a decoy to draw the Versekal’s attention. Once it was positioned opposite her, she would let it expand. When the Versekal saw the enemy and focused solely on the little Apple, Ellie would seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. It was a simple task to deal with them this way.
Of course, the Purple Mushroom was even more beneficial than any other asset. That’s because she herself wouldn’t be able to see the location of the Versekal when they turned translucent. Thus, with the spores to pinpoint the locations, Ellie could see as if their invisibility was nullified. Meanwhile, the Nocturnal Rabbit was ready to glow, masking their positions if the Versekal noticed an enemy behind them. The glow wouldn’t affect its master, giving Ellie the chance to deliver a finishing blow!!
The plan began the moment the little Apple reached its designated spot. Ahead of it were about 4 Versekals, who typically didn’t attack together. If one could harm the target, it would claim the prey for itself. This made things easier for Ellie...
“Option One: Expand the body to act as a protective shield”
Boom. Thud!!
The little creature, once the size of a pinky fingertip, had now expanded to nearly 2 meters tall. The frog-like Apple leaped, almost killing all the Versekals in a single bound. Its sudden appearance startled the small beasts, but their instincts allowed them to dodge just in time. Otherwise, Ellie might not have needed to lift a finger.
Of course, if she were fighting slow-witted or untrained opponents like the beasts in 4th-floor forests—such as humans—the sudden appearance of the little Apple might have really slaughtered them without them realizing it.
Swish!! Swoosh!!
The Versekals’ tongues lashed out to attack the little Apple simultaneously in their panic. They turned translucent in an instant. If it weren’t for the rooted spores, it would have been impossible to pinpoint their locations now.
The Versekals weren’t stupid. They shifted their perches to confuse their enemy, making it difficult to pinpoint them. As a result, her little Apple was continuously assaulted, paralyzed by the poison. If this continued, it might really die!
Ellie didn’t wait any longer. She never intended to let her little creature suffer. In a flash, she drew her ultimate bow, bought for 200 gold coins. She took just a moment before firing it swiftly.
Thwack!! Thud!
Thwack!! Thud!
With 2 consecutive arrows, each hit its mark, bringing the translucent bodies crashing to the ground. It seemed these two attacks made the remaining 2 Versekasl realize the real hidden danger. Seeing their comrades without the translucent abilities, they immediately knew that their comrades had fallen, so they turned away from the little Apple and charged toward the direction of the arrows.
The Nocturnal Rabbit was already waiting, ensuring the enemies couldn’t reach its master. It leaped out and used its Moonlight Bomb to attack immediately.
After using its power, its body seemed drained of all energy. Ellie was slightly surprised but realized that it was only a level 1 beast. They didn’t use her botanic powers as a foundation for their abilities, so only beast potions could enhance their combat levels.
Ellie quickly ended the attack and placed the little one back into the pet ring. Next time, she would need to plan better if she wanted to use the little one for hunting again. Otherwise, the fragile Nocturnal Rabbit, not born for combat, might face trouble.
Thwack!! Thud!
Thwack!! Thud!
The 2 arrows hit their targets swiftly, causing the Versekals to fall like raindrops. This time, Ellie’s archery practice hadn’t been in vain. At least she had become more proficient with the bow, and her accurate double-shot at the moving enemies would earn the admiration of even the most seasoned hunters.
However, just as the Versekal hunt concluded, a sudden glint of a weapon reflecting sunlight made Ellie dive down. The little Apple was already waiting, wrapping its green plant-like tongue around its master’s waist and lifting her onto its back just in time, preventing her from falling and getting hurt.
The weapon thrown at her was made of steel, resembling a boomerang but wrapped with a chain in the middle. That chain would have surely pulled Ellie down if it had ensnared her. If it missed, it would fly back to its owner, making it quite an effective weapon.
"Kee, Kack Kack."
"Kee, Ki, Ki, Kee." Looking below the tree, she saw small green figures about 1 meter tall jumping around, as if celebrating their successful attack.
Or it could be said that...their real aim had been to knock the girl out of the tree!
As the weapon from the first attack flew back, the largest goblin caught it. The lustful look in its eyes disgusted Ellie. At the same time, the other goblins banged their iron shields loudly. It was just like the hunting scenes she had seen on nature shows, where hunters scared wild animals by making loud noises to confuse them.
It seemed these goblins had combat skills similar to those of ancient humans. This showed they possessed significant intelligence. It was no wonder they could rule the city around this area despite being physically weaker than the beasts around them.
or 5 goblins slowly spread out, surrounding Ellie while banging their shields noisily. The girl remained unresponsive; she wasn’t a wild animal to be startled by the clanging. However, she wasn’t in a hurry to attack them either.
She had already said...she came here to train as Luke!
“Kee!!” As if they thought they were ready, one goblin signaled the others to attack. Ellie knew her little Apple had been attacked earlier, so she called it back to rest. Though the little Apple seemed quite reluctant, it complied without resistance.
When the large, frog-like figure of the little Apple suddenly disappeared, the two goblins attacking from behind were left without target. It was no surprise they stumbled from attacking. Ellie took a step back first. As the long-handled hook weapon hit the ground from the goblin’s stumble, she spun around and kicked the green wrist, making it lose its grip on the hook.
“Kee!!”
Facing close combat, the goblin opened its mouth wide, revealing sharp fangs, aiming to tear into Ellie’s shoulder. However, the girl was already waiting. After spinning and kicking the goblin’s arm, she grabbed her chain knife!
Ellie didn’t stab deep into its mouth till it pieced through the back of the head, even though she had the chance. She knew her body wasn’t strong enough to pull it back in a short amount of time. Instead, she spun around, like dancing, to the goblin’s back and pulled the chain handle toward herself. Her small hands gripped the knife handle, slashing the back of its neck with all her strength.
She didn’t stab straight through because of her previous experience. Instead, she used a side-slash and the spinning force of her body to increase the impact. As a result, the 1-meter-tall goblin collapsed before her eyes, causing the other 4 goblins to freeze in shock.
The goblin closest to Ellie, who had fallen from losing its balance initially, scrambled away to regroup. It hid behind the largest goblin, and all 4 of them exchanged glances, trying to gather their thoughts. The girl in front of them was not as weak as they had assumed.
But...
Their greed and lust for a female outweighed their hesitation. Previously, many humans had wandered into their territory, but that had stopped recently. This change was certainly because humans had learned to pay passage fees to other cities, preventing random spawns. Therefore, encountering a human prey had become a rare event.
These goblins primarily relied on mass reproduction. While mating with other goblins was common, finding a different species to bear offspring was highly desirable. This crossbreeding would introduce new genes into their lineage, much like the leader of this group, whose mother was a female from the neighboring giant ape tribe. Although she was the weakest and physically impaired in her tribe, to the goblins, she was an excellent breeding partner.
Thus...in their eyes, Ellie was a prize they couldn’t let go! Capturing a human female would earn them great rewards from the tribe leader!
“Kee!!!” The goblin leader commanded again, rousing the spirits of the remaining 3 goblins. However, they were not foolish. Although they wanted to keep this glory for themselves, they knew the value of a human female was too great to hog the reward alone.
“Ki Ki Ki!”
“Kee!!”
The leader ordered the tall, skinny goblin in the group. It accepted the order and dashed off immediately. Ellie understood that it had been sent to gather more goblins.
She stretched her neck to warm up. She needed to see how many reinforcements would come. If she could handle them, it would be excellent training. But if there were too many, she would need to defeat these goblins quickly and retreat to the city. She didn’t want to end the fight by decomposing their internal organs; otherwise, only the Purple Mushroom would benefit from the training...Ellie still wanted to use them as combat practice targets.
Seeing its comrade run off to carry out the task, the large goblin leader knew its job was to stall Ellie until the others arrived and finished Ellie off in one go. However, if it had enough time, it would try to finish her off right away.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The leader spun its weapon, preparing to attack Ellie, who was now alone. The other 2 goblins waited for an opportunity to strike while Ellie was preoccupied with the leader’s weapon. One goblin wielded a large spear, while the other held two small knives, both clearly suited for close combat. The leader was the only one capable of long-range attacks.
The goblin leader wasn’t just good at long-range attacks; it could also use its large body and fists to strike enemies. Its movements of extending its leg suggested that if Ellie turned her back to look at its weapon, she would be dealt a fatal blow!
“Kee!!!”
Whoosh!!!
Ellie watched the goblin’s skillful use of its weapon. Even though they didn’t use magic power, their intelligence made them formidable opponents. She didn’t watch for the weapon’s return trajectory, contrary to their expectations. The 1-meter-tall goblins, unable to stop their advance, charged at her, intending to attack from behind. But since Ellie didn’t focus on her back, they had to split up to distract her.
One goblin thrust its spear into an opening Ellie had deliberately left, while the other used its short knives to divert her attention. The leader clenched its fist, aiming to knock her unconscious. Their goal was to capture her alive, not kill her!
“Kee!!” As the spear was about to pierce through the gap between Ellie’s arms, she let out a soft laugh. Her two hands, holding the chain knife, were handling with the goblin’s attack, preventing her from defending herself from another blow. However, these goblins seemed a bit too low in intelligence. They should have considered the sudden disappearance of her little companion. Did they not think it might reappear?
Boom!!!
Just as the wooden spear was about to reach her, the large goblin suddenly felt a jolt from behind. It turned out they had been attacked from the rear instead. The first poison bomb had been deployed unexpectedly. The blast threw them off balance, but the true danger from the little Apple wasn’t the explosion itself, but its deadly blue “poison”!!
Ellie caught the spear aimed at her from the first goblin and drove it into the ground, ducking just in time to narrowly avoid the returning boomerang, as if she had eyes on the back of her head. The spear embedded in the ground halted the boomerang’s path, and the chain wrapped around it like a gripping hand. Caught off guard and with the poison seeping into their bodies—even though it was only Level 0 poison—the goblins began to cough up blood.
They would have never thought that the weapon to end their attack would be the sharp edge of their own leader’s boomerang...
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