Chapter 44: Rocket-Like Advancement and the Twisted Pact

"Roar!!"

"Howl!!"

The monsters surged forward, their furious roars echoing through the air.

What was even more astonishing was that they seemed to possess a rudimentary understanding of tactics.

A portion of the beasts charged toward Lü Bu and Ying Zheng, who were encircled, while another group broke away without looking back, rushing straight for Song Qi not far away.

It appeared they intended to execute a decapitation strategy.

Confronted by the monsters’ onslaught, Song Qi showed not a trace of fear.

With a cold sneer, he beckoned with his right hand, and the Sky Piercer Halberd materialized out of thin air at his command.

A flash of white light sliced through the air.

Several flower demons froze mid-leap, and then—

Rip!

[Experience +2113]

[Experience +1604]

[Experience +2216]

...

The mutated flower demons, who had been baring fangs and claws only a moment before, exploded in a burst of green sap that splattered across the ground.

[Soul Link LV2 (6/10): The Summoner may designate a summoned creature to share all its attributes and skills for thirty minutes. Cooldown: twenty-one hours.]

With a Level 2 Soul Link, combined with Lü Bu’s formidable attributes and battle-honed skills, Song Qi was completely assured of his safety in this dungeon.

"Just as I expected..."

"Once they realized I was a Summoner, they deliberately refrained from attacking my summons, hoping to lure me in."

"But these lesser monsters shouldn’t be so intelligent."

"If my guess is correct, there must be two highly intelligent leaders among them."

"And... these monsters give so much experience..."

Watching the experience bar surge by over two thousand with each kill, Song Qi’s heart raced with excitement.

He still had a rare fivefold experience card he’d saved for a long time.

If he used it now, each monster would yield nearly ten thousand experience points!

At level 20, he needed 1.1 million experience to level up.

In other words, as long as there were a hundred or so monsters here, if he used the fivefold experience card, he could level up immediately and save several days of dungeon grinding.

The only issue was that once this dungeon was cleared, any remaining time on the experience card would be wasted.

There were no other repeatable dungeons nearby.

He looked up, roughly estimated the number of monsters, gritted his teeth, and pulled the fivefold experience card from his inventory.

"So be it! Once I hit level 21, I can enter intermediate dungeons. The gains there will be far greater than this!"

With that, he crushed the experience card.

[Ding! You have successfully used an experience card. Current experience gain multiplier: 500%!]

Hearing the system prompt, Song Qi’s heart settled.

"Lü Bu! Ying Zheng! Kill them all for me!"

"At your command!" *2

Boom!

Creak!

With every swing of the halberd, splinters of wood flew as the giant treants roared in fury.

One after another, massive forms crashed to the ground with a thunderous thud, the dull sound of their bodies hitting earth unending.

Mutated giant treants, who could drive low-level professionals to despair, were nothing more than playthings in Lü Bu’s hands.

With agility barely in the double digits, the treants posed no threat to him whatsoever.

In the heart of the sea of flowers stood Ying Zheng, with four Terracotta Warriors once more at his side.

The mutated flower demons shrieked as they hurled themselves at him, yet even approaching Ying Zheng proved futile.

The four Terracotta Warriors, each boasting a thousand points in all attributes, formed a battle formation, encircling Ying Zheng. Their spears of condensed yellow sand thrust out relentlessly—strike, withdraw, thrust again.

There were no fancy techniques—just pure, unending thrusts!

Yet under this barrage, the flower demons fell in droves.

Their kill rate even surpassed Lü Bu’s by a considerable margin!

[Experience +10534]

[Experience +10440]

[Experience +8149]

...

The melodious chime of experience gained put Song Qi in excellent spirits.

His experience bar, which had ticked up slowly before, now surged upward at a speed visible to the naked eye!

At this rate, he would level up in less than half an hour!

"As I thought, farming monsters above your level is the real way to go!"

Song Qi marveled as he cut down the beasts charging at him.

This pace was utterly intoxicating.

With another sweep of his halberd, he struck again, but this time, instead of the familiar scream of a flower demon, his weapon became wedged between thick, sinewy vines.

He looked closer.

This was a far larger flower demon. Hidden within its petals, a pair of purple eyes gleamed—not with mindless savagery, but with intelligence.

Monster: Mutated Bloodthirsty Motherflower

Level: 45

Strength: 623

Constitution: 1425

Agility: 489

Spirit: 611

Skills: [Vine Bind] [Regeneration] [Camouflage] [Command]

Description: A monster leader mutated for unknown reasons. Compared to its kin, it possesses greater intelligence and physical prowess.

...

The motherflower had clearly planned this well—first sending ordinary flower demons to lull Song Qi into carelessness, then, at the moment his guard was lowest, using the thickest vines to deliberately block his weapon.

Once it blocked the attack, all the vines would swarm at once, binding Song Qi’s weapon tightly!

All it needed was to delay him, even for a moment.

Immediately, it commanded the surrounding flower demons to mount a desperate, all-out assault!

Yet, unfortunately...

Song Qi not only remained unruffled, but even revealed a knowing smile.

"A level 45 boss? Excellent."

"In that case... Reckless Fury—activate!"

In the next instant, Song Qi’s pupils turned a blazing crimson!

His aura became wild and terrifying.

With a 500% boost to all attributes, his strength instantly exceeded five thousand!

Rip!

With monstrous force, his weapon broke free of the motherflower’s binding vines in a flash.

The mutant motherflower’s tough body was sliced cleanly in two without the slightest resistance.

Thick green sap gushed from its severed wounds.

"Eeeeee!!"

The mutant motherflower’s howl was shrill and agonized.

"So noisy."

Another slash fell.

The wailing ceased instantly.

[Experience +41330]

The enormous purple blossom split in two, its core shattered and tumbling to the ground.

A monster leader that could have troubled even a party of intermediate professionals had been slain with ease by Song Qi alone.

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the main quest. Reward: Five lucky draws!]

With the motherflower’s death, all the mutated flower demons seemed to lose their minds in an instant.

Their previously coordinated assault dissolved into chaos, and they began attacking the nearest enemies at random, clawing and flailing without reason.

Most of all, they feared Song Qi, who had slain the motherflower, not daring to approach.

"I only intended to earn a little extra, but ended up completing the main quest as well. An unexpected windfall."

"Besides..."

Song Qi turned to look at the motherflower’s shattered core.

A faint light shimmered there.

Though half-hidden by the sap, he could make out a small object, not very large.

"A skill book? Or some special equipment?"

He stepped forward and picked it up. A line of information flashed before his eyes.

[Ring: Twisted Covenant]