Chapter 16 Ruin Depths (1/2)

”Sigh…”

Looking at the dust-covered ground, Rhode wiped the sweat on his forehead, feeling a little tired. Along the way, they had encountered about fifteen or sixteen Will-o-Wisps. If they were a five-man party, it would have been easy, but right now, there was only one person with combat ability other than Rhode. So, there was no way to conquer it like the usual dungeon raid like before. He couldn't find a tank to help hold the aggro while everyone else would attack. Thus, he could only act as the bait and ask Lize to weaken the enemy with Healing Light before finishing it off himself as fast as possible. The Will-o-Wisp was at least a level 10 Elite monster, so even when its defense was weakened, it was still difficult to deal with. To make a critical hit, not only must he use Star Mark on his hand, he also needed to attack its vital points.

After all, Rhode wasn't an NPC. Even in the game, to make such a high demand for the attack would consume a lot of energy. Not to mention that Rhode was using his true body right now. If it was in the game, he could still replay if he failed. But if he failed here, that would be the end of his life.

To Rhode, this kind of pressure was really hard to bear. He raised his head, looking at the fog that surrounded the ruins. And after making sure that there were no more monsters, he felt relieved.

”Mr. Rhode, how about we take a break for a while?”

Lize looked at Rhode with worry in her eyes. As a Cleric, she did not really understand what Rhode was trying to do, but she was able to feel his current pressure.

”Not now...”

Rhode shook his head. Although he had cleared the monsters here, he always like there was something dangerous watching him. He studied his surroundings carefully, but still couldn't figure out the where it was. According to his memories, they should not have reached the BOSS area, so there shouldn't be an overly dangerous encounter yet. Moreover, he was very familiar with the monsters here, all of them should have been cleaned up already.

So where is this feeling coming from...?

Rhode looked around again, but he could not find anything abnormal. At that moment, the fat merchant suddenly screamed.

”Ah!!”

”What happened?”

Rhode and Lize hurriedly turned around and saw Matt's pale face. One of his hands was holding the bag, while the other one was slightly trembling, pointing towards the fog behind them.

”Just now, there was a black shadow over there...”

”Black shadow?”

Lize looked at the direction Matt had pointed towards, but beside the dim light emitting from the fog, nothing else could be seen.

”No way...”

”Get on the ground!!”

At that moment, something flashed through Rhode's mind; he finally understood what he was feeling previously. Then he shouted while pushing down Lize's head down, forcing her to crouch.

”Swoosh!”

Almost at the same time, a black shadow flashed through the air. Rhode could feel a cold claw brushing past his head, leaving quite a painful feeling.

Damn it!

Rhode's heart immediately sank. He finally realized what was that 'Black shadow.' It was a Gargoyle!

In the legends, the Fog Ruins was once a lively and glorious town, but after the trade route was abandoned a Mage moved here to save his loved ones. He decided to study the forbidden death magic in this abandoned town. In the end, his spell failed, and the Mage also died. But the death magic did not stop there; it created a thick fog and hordes of undead monster.

In this dungeon, the most dangerous creature was the Gargoyle that was left to protect the Mage's belongings. It was a level 15 Rare Elite monster!

If it was in the game, Rhode would have been very happy because the Rare Elite monster was—well, very rare. Even if he ran to the dungeon a few times, it was still almost impossible to see it even once. However, he couldn't feel happy now since his opponent was a level 15 monster and even a flying one on top of it. Not only could it move flexibly, but it was also on a totally different level from the Will-o-Wisp because Lize's Healing Light had no effect on it. Moreover, the Gargoyle's body was extremely hard, an ordinary attack could only cause a scratch. This was definitely going to be a bitter struggle!

In the game, Rhode had run the Fog Ruins dungeon for more than thirty times but he still had never seen the Gargoyle, so he almost forgot about it. Now that he entered the dungeon with his true body for the first time but he already encountered it?

Is this considered good luck or bad luck?

However, Rhode no longer had time to complain because the danger was right ahead.

A head-on attack was useless since his level was less than 10. Challenging a level 15 monster was an almost impossible thing to do. Even with Star Mark, his attack was still limited.