Chapter 13: A Chance Encounter with Adventurers

【Ding! Congratulations on leveling up to Lv18!】

【Ding! Congratulations on leveling up to Lv19!】

Just from a single wave of goblins, he leveled up twice in a row.

“Awesome!”

Leo clenched his fists excitedly.

With 10 free attribute points in hand, he didn’t hesitate and evenly distributed them again between Constitution and Spirit.

【Name: Leo】

【Level: 19】

【Class: Summoner】

【Title: Guardian of Blackwood Ridge】

【HP: 960/960】

【MP: 800/800】

【Strength: 5】

【Agility: 6】

【Constitution: 48】

【Spirit: 80】

Close to a thousand HP and eight hundred MP.

With this physique, even some knights specialized in frontline combat might not be as durable as him.

More importantly, at level 19, he could learn a new skill.

Eagerly, he opened the skill panel.

Under the Necromancer Summoning branch, a brand-new icon quietly lit up.

【Skeleton Mage: Mana Cost 60, Duration 30 minutes, 80 HP, 5 Attack (Can cast ‘Weakness Curse’ and ‘Slow’)】

【Skill Description: A skeleton that can think, although the brain might not be very useful.】

“Holy crap, a support mage!”

Leo’s heart skipped a beat.

Defense reduction and slow—these were must-have divine skills for challenging high-level bosses.

He immediately activated the skill.

A skeleton clad in tattered mage robes, wielding a bone staff, appeared before him.

Unlike the other skeleton warriors, the ghostly blue flame flickering in its eye sockets seemed brighter, faintly radiating a glimmer of… intelligence?

“From today onward, my team is officially the ‘Hexagonal Squad’!”

He felt confident enough to stroll anywhere outside the deepest parts of the Black Forest.

Just as he was about to find a stronger monster to test his new team’s strength, a sudden, urgent shouting and chaotic footsteps drifted faintly from the depths of the forest.

“Run! It’s catching up to us!”

“Help! Somebody, please save us!”

“Damn it! Why is there an Iron-Bristled Porcupine King here?!”

The voices were filled with unmistakable panic and despair.

Leo paused for a moment.

“Huh? Someone’s there?”

He immediately ordered one of his shadow wolves to slip into the shadows and scout ahead.

A few seconds later, the shadow wolf sent the scene it witnessed directly into Leo’s mind through the mental link.

About five hundred meters ahead, in a small clearing among the trees, a group of adventurers was fleeing in a miserable state.

Their team composition looked fairly standard.

A heavily armored warrior, a dual-dagger-wielding rogue, a ranger with a longbow, and a female mage chanting spells.

Four people in total.

But their condition was utterly pitiful.

The warrior’s shield was shattered halfway, his armor scratched with deep and shallow wounds.

The rogue’s one arm hung limply—obviously dislocated.

The ranger’s quiver was mostly empty, his face painted with terror.

Behind them, a giant wild boar, roughly the size of a small freight wagon, thundered after them with earth-shaking steps.

The boar was covered in steel-like black bristles, two long, thick tusks glinting with cold metallic light, and blood-red eyes brimming with violence and madness.

【Iron-Bristled Porcupine King – Lv22 (Elite)】

“An elite monster?”

Leo raised an eyebrow.

Elite monsters in the game were not comparable to ordinary monsters.

High HP, strong attack, tough hide, and usually a couple of extremely annoying skills.

These four adventurers were probably only around level 15 or 16; it was a miracle they hadn’t been wiped out on the spot by a level 22 elite.

“Wind Blades!”

The female mage finally completed her chant, and several cyan-colored wind blades howled toward the Porcupine King.

However, the wind blades only sparked faintly upon hitting the steel bristles of the beast, failing even to scratch its hide.

“Roar—!”

The enraged Porcupine King accelerated suddenly, its massive body turning into an uncontrollable battering ram, charging straight at the rear guard—the heavily armored warrior.

“Shield Wall!”

The warrior roared, holding his shattered shield firmly before him.

“Bang!”

A dull, heavy sound.

The warrior, along with his shield, was blasted away by an overwhelming force.

His body traced a powerless arc through the air before crashing hard into the ground far behind. His fate unknown.

“It’s over…”

Despair instantly consumed the faces of the remaining three.

Leo observed everything through the shadow wolf’s perspective.

His heart remained unshaken, even mildly entertained, as he commented.

“Tch, the main tank is down; this fight’s over. Classic newbie wipeout.”

He stroked his chin and began to consider.

Should he intervene and save them?