Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Giant Force Black Apes
Jiang Kai did not want anyone to discover his tracks. He quickly entered the forest, heading in the direction of King's Valley.
While on the move, he took out the information card Hu Yan had given him and found the details about King's Valley.
In King's Valley, there were over twenty types of monsters, including Giant Force Black Apes, Iron Armored Lizard Dragons, and Ghost Banshees.
In Destiny's Calling, monsters of the same type often gathered in one area. Among them, there were both low-level and high-level ones.
For instance, in King's Valley, you could see low-level Giant Force Black Ape cubs, as well as full-grown Giant Force Black Apes.
Among monsters of the same level, their strength was divided into five tiers: Ordinary, Elite, Battle General, Commander, and King. The higher the tier, the stronger the monster.
Of these, the first four tiers of monsters would respawn endlessly when killed. Only "King-level" wild monsters, once killed, would never reappear.
Apart from the "King-level" boss of a species, King's Valley also housed eight powerful beings, generally referred to as Map Bosses.
As for special item drops, monsters of Elite and above had a small chance of dropping "Nuclear Soil." Battle General and higher monsters had an extremely small chance of yielding "Blood Essence Crystals" after being dissected. Commander-level monsters had an extremely small chance of producing "Heavenly Bones" upon dissection.
The value of Nuclear Soil required no further elaboration. As long as it could be brought to market, it was guaranteed to sell.
Meanwhile, Blood Essence Crystals were extremely important in Destiny's Calling for equipment crafting, optimization, and enhancement. Heavenly Bones were key medicinal catalysts for improving talent levels.
Additionally, King-level monsters were guaranteed to drop a "Summoning Skull," while Map Bosses would always drop a "Wild Totem." By gathering all the Summoning Skulls and Wild Totems within a map, one could set up a formation to summon the "Guardian Lord" of that region.
The strength of a Guardian Lord was unimaginable. The more territory conquered by Huaxia Nation, the stronger the Guardian Lord became.
Ordinary people were entirely incapable of dealing with such a boss. Even if an army were thrown at it, they would only be sacrificing themselves in vain.
Once a Guardian Lord was summoned, Huaxia Nation would dispatch powerful warriors from the War God Hall to take action.
Even so, those beings—godlike in the eyes of ordinary people—could not guarantee victory. If they failed, the Guardian Lord would lead a beast army to reclaim the territory, withdrawing only after driving forces back from vast swathes of land.
Currently, Huaxia Nation's territory was stuck at 98,000 square kilometers because they could not defeat the most recent Guardian Lord.
Of course, the so-called pioneering required repeatedly attempting to defeat the Guardian Lord. Therefore, all major zones were striving to collect Summoning Skulls and Wild Totems.
Hu Yan's information card included details on King-level and Map Bosses.
[Currently, seven Summoning Skulls and one Wild Totem have been obtained in King's Valley. The remaining King-level bosses total 17, and there are 3 Map Bosses. Their approximate locations are as follows.]
Jiang Kai frowned, "Why did he give me this? It's as if I could actually take them on."
Still, the information about the Summoning Skulls and Wild Totem piqued Jiang Kai's interest.
Seven Summoning Skulls: Supreme Guild held two, while Glory Guild, Black Tortoise Guild, Underworld Guild, Black Thunder Guild, and Heavens Guild each had one.
Each Summoning Skull was worth 7 million Star Coins, equivalent to 70 million Alliance Coins.
Meanwhile, the Wild Totem had been acquired by the military, and its value was unknown.
"Damn, these are all astronomical prices." Jiang Kai couldn't help but sigh. Compared to the skulls, Nuclear Soil was worthless junk.
After some thought, Jiang Kai decided to focus on the practical.
Why should he be thinking about Summoning Skulls now?
"Still, the information card's marked positions do make it easier for me to avoid these powerful bosses."
While Jiang Kai was walking through the forest, he suddenly heard the sounds of combat nearby.
He quickly put away the information card, drew his Chasing Nine Tribulations, and crouched as he moved toward the source of the sound.
Before long, he found an open area where a seven-man team was surrounding and attacking a beast.
The beast had a face like a monkey, pitch-black all over, over three meters tall, and extremely muscular.
Its back was covered in black rock-like formations that had fused with its body, resembling barnacles on a reef.
"A Giant Force Black Ape of the Earth element?" Jiang Kai squinted slightly as he hid in the bushes, observing the battle.
The seven hunters had "Heavens" embroidered on the chest of their clothing. Four of them surrounded the black ape, while three stood in the outer positions.
"Shanshan, data analysis. This earth-element black ape's defense is too strong; it's hard to break through." a burly middle-aged man shouted loudly.
He wielded a double-edged greatsword with both hands, clad in purple-black leather armor, constantly swinging his weapon to prevent the black ape from breaking free.
Behind him, a delicate-looking girl glanced at her wristwatch and reported, "Captain, evaluation complete. Earth-element Giant Force Black Ape, approximately 15 years old, considered youth stage. Strength: 172. Agility: 68. Constitution: 142. Mental Power: below 20."
"Earth-element defense bonus is 20 points."
The middle-aged man snorted coldly, "Level 15… Our average level is 19. We should be able to handle it. Focus on attacking its chest—its back defense is too high."
At that moment, the Giant Force Black Ape roared furiously, leapt into the air, and swung its arms down toward the captain.
Suddenly, a man holding a shield rolled into position, raising his shield to block in front of the captain.
With a thunderous boom, the shield bearer and the captain were both sent flying.
Fortunately, the shield absorbed most of the impact. The two quickly regrouped and surrounded the black ape again.
"Damn, 170 strength is no joke. If it hits a few more times, even the Dragonbone Shield won't hold up."
"Agility is its weakness. Du Lei, use paralysis venom on its legs! Everyone else, get ready—attack immediately after Du Lei succeeds."
A man in cloth clothing slipped behind the black ape, took it by surprise, and threw a vial at its legs.
The vial, made of some special material, shattered upon impact, spreading a dark green liquid that coated the black ape's legs.
Seeing their chance, the four fighters launched a fierce assault.
Despite their teamwork, the battle was still extremely dangerous. After more than ten minutes, the fight neared its end. The Giant Force Black Ape's chest was covered in wounds, and its breathing was labored. Its eyes were dull—it was nearly at its limit.
However, the Heavens Guild's team wasn't unscathed. All four melee fighters were injured, with one in critical condition receiving treatment.
Jiang Kai shook his head. "So this is what a real hunt looks like?"
A seven-man team, average level 19, well-equipped and highly coordinated, had struggled just to kill a level 15 Giant Force Black Ape?
No wonder everyone said the difficulty of Destiny's Calling was hellish.
As the team cleaned up, Jiang Kai quietly slipped away.
Avoiding detection was still the best way for Jiang Kai to evade the Black Tortoise Guild.
Once far enough away, Jiang Kai checked his wristwatch.
The screen displayed six words: "Unknown Beast, Dangerous."
"That's all it says about the Giant Force Black Ape? Seriously?" Jiang Kai was speechless. It seemed the 3,000-Star Coin watch he'd bought was a scam.
Its database wasn't updated, and it couldn't evaluate monster stats. It was only good for recording and payments.
With little support from his equipment, Jiang Kai could only rely on his analysis.
"I remember the Giant Force Black Apes here are mainly of the Wood and Earth elements. Both have strong back defenses, so you have to aim for the chest."
From observing their battle, Jiang Kai had picked up some combat experience.
Just as he was about to move on, a sudden noise came from behind.
He quickly turned around.
From the dense forest, three massive beasts emerged one after another.
Their backs were covered with thick, vine-like armor, as solid as turtle shells. The largest of the three was three meters tall, and even the smallest was close to 2.5 meters.
Their pitch-black eyes locked onto their prey.
Seeing this, Jiang Kai froze.
"Damn it…"
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