Chapter 23
Qiao Ning still had some rat meat in her hand, intending to use the same trick to distract the unicorn giant lizard king during the battle. However, this guy was smarter than its kind and was not tempted by the food, keeping his eyes fixed on Qiao Ning who was attacking it.
Not only is the giant lizard king much larger, but it is also twice as strong as an ordinary unicorn lizard. If it swept down with its tail, Qiao Ning would be crippled if she didn't die. She probably wouldn't even have a chance to take medicine before she would kick the bucket.
The effect of the Spring Wash Gloves reducing the monster's attributes by half has been triggered. Qiao Ning slashed down, and black flames erupted around the giant lizard. This is a special effect of the Flaming Blade Technique, where flames burn the body. After being triggered, subsequent attacks on this monster will deal double damage.
The Giant Lizard King's health and defense were terrifyingly high. Even with the enhancements from Qiao Ning's two equipment effects, she managed to land several hits without killing it, and one of them even struck its neck, a vital spot.
It has a strong recovery ability; as long as it is not killed in one hit, the injuries it suffers will recover rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
However, this restoration seems to have some side effects; the giant lizard king's speed is decreasing and its strength is greatly reduced.
Qiao Ning, who had been dodging and waiting for the right opportunity to strike, immediately sensed that the giant lizard king was in poor condition. She didn't dare to stop wielding her black flame bone blade and kept slashing down.
By the eighth strike, the Giant Lizard King's thick health bar was reduced to a mere sliver of health. One more hit and it would be finished!
At this moment, Qiao Ning was severely injured both internally and externally, and was nearly exhausted. Just as she was about to deliver the final blow, Qiao Ning suddenly received a system notification—
The One-Horned Giant Lizard King has entered a berserk state! Its base stats have doubled, and it has instantly recovered one-third of its health!
Qiao Ning almost coughed up a mouthful of blood!
I finally almost killed the monster after fighting it for ages, but then its berserk state triggered, and it healed back so much of its health! This is ridiculous! This game is awful!
Qiao Ning originally wanted to save the defensive ring once, but now it seems that she can't save this ten-minute invincible defense to save her life. If she saves it any longer, she will die under the bloody maw of the One-Horned Giant Lizard King.
Qiao Ning immediately activated the invincible defense of her defensive ring. A pale golden light shield instantly appeared around her, blocking all of the One-Horned Giant Lizard King's attacks without even a ripple on the surface of the shield. It truly was an invincible defense.
Now, Qiao Ning can defeat the Giant Lizard King, but the Giant Lizard King can no longer harm Qiao Ning.
However, the Giant Lizard King in its berserk state was completely irrational and had ridiculously high defense. With only a third of its health remaining, Qiao Ning whittled it down for a long time, finally managing to kill it one minute before it respawned.
The sound of the giant lizard king falling to the ground was like a skyscraper collapsing, shaking the ground.
The ten unicorn lizards in this area respawned. Qiao Ning looked at the new unicorn lizard king that had reappeared in the distance and had no motivation to fight it again.
Fortunately, as long as she didn't enter the attack range of the giant unicorn lizards, she was safe.
Qiao Ning found a relatively safe place and lay sprawled on the ground for a while.
After resting for a long time, my stomach was growling with hunger, but my body was still very tired, as if I couldn't recover no matter what.
Something's not right with her!
Qiao Ning opened the system's main interface, intending to check her personal attribute panel, but unexpectedly found that a yellow bar had appeared below her experience bar—stamina points.
Its stamina was almost depleted, turning a deep red, indicating a system warning.
Qiao Ning's heart skipped a beat. If this thing were to fall and disappear, would she suddenly die?
Thinking of this, Qiao Ning forgot about collapsing on the ground and quickly got up to check her backpack.
She had just killed the One-Horned Giant Lizard King, and it dropped a ton of loot. She was too tired to hack and slash properly, only glancing at it briefly. She vaguely remembered seeing several medicine bottle-shaped items among them; could they be the ones that restore stamina?
Newly acquired items in your inventory will have a red dot on their icon, and clicking on the item will display detailed information, including its origin. Therefore, it's easy to identify which resources were dropped by the Giant Lizard King after its death. Additionally, the system information will contain a detailed record of rewards.
The Giant Lizard King gave Qiao Ning 5000 experience points, plus:
Green Inner Armor (Purple), +4000 Defense, 2 pieces
Skill Cards: Paralyzing Gas *3, Group Freeze *3, Fireworks *2, Thorns *2
Stamina Potion (Small) *2 sets (10 bottles per set, each bottle restores 5 stamina points)
Besides these, there are also 20 pieces of monitor lizard hide armor, which weren't dropped when killing ordinary monitor lizards before. It's unclear how to use them yet, but based on Qiao Ning's past experience, these materials will most likely be used to forge equipment and weapons later on.
Compared to the meager loot dropped by the Rat King, the Giant Lizard King's rewards are far greater. The Rat King is like a poor peasant compared to a wealthy tycoon.
Are there such large wealth disparities even among monsters?
After Qiao Ning drank five bottles of stamina potion in a row, her stamina bar finally changed from a glaring dark red to yellow—meaning that although she was not yet at full strength, it did not affect her normal activities.
The fatigue that she couldn't recover from before disappeared in less than a minute. Qiao Ning is still tired, but not to the point where she couldn't even get up like before.
A small stamina potion restores only 5 stamina points, while a full stamina bar contains 100. A yellow warning light appears when stamina is below 50, a light red warning light appears below 30, and a dark red warning light appears only when stamina is below 10. After returning to the highway area, 5 stamina points are restored every hour.
Qiao Ning's stamina was down to only 8 points, putting her in a very dangerous state. After drinking 5 small stamina potions, her stamina was restored to 33 points.
Thankfully, in this game, no potions take up much space in your stomach, otherwise you'd be full just from drinking them.
With only 33 points of stamina, Qiao Ning felt insecure, so she downed another 10 bottles. Once her stamina had recovered to 83 points, she carefully put away the remaining 5 stamina potions, clicked on the map, and prepared to teleport to the Black-tailed Hyena's area.
Since I'm already here, I'll feel uneasy if I don't finish the task while I'm at it.
From fanged rats to giant lizards, after hunting so many wild beasts, Qiao Ning's swordsmanship became increasingly skillful, and her movements became more crisp and clean, allowing her to maximize her agility, attack, and other attributes.
The black-tailed hyena is a level 1 monster, and hunting a single one is very easy for Qiao Ning now. The trouble is that it attacks in groups, and as soon as it spots you with its eyes or sense of smell, it will immediately launch a swarm attack.
Even ants can kill an elephant when they are numerous. When hundreds of black-tailed hyenas attacked together, Qiao Ning was in an even worse state than when she fought the one-horned giant lizard king alone.
Qiao Ning regretted collapsing to the ground to rest after killing the giant lizard king, and that she hadn't discovered the stamina unlocking feature immediately. Otherwise, if she had come earlier to kill the black-tailed hyenas, she could have used the ten-minute invincible shield to quickly clear them out.
It's too late to say anything now; all we can do is grit our teeth, take potions, and kill monsters.
Nearly two more hours passed, and Qiao Ning had wiped out hundreds of black-tailed hyenas. Perhaps because they were too low-level, no beast king appeared in the hyena pack, only a few elite hyenas with slightly higher attributes.
A total of 2500 experience points, 450 hyena pelts, 2 sets of small stamina potions, and 1 skill card - Shadow Bite were obtained.
The rewards are disproportionate to the effort. It seems I'll have to keep targeting high-level beasts in the future, otherwise I'll waste my stamina without getting many loot.
Qiao Ning wasn't in a hurry to drink the stamina potion. Anyway, she was going to leave here and return to the highway area. After returning, she would automatically recover 5 points every hour, so there was no need to waste her time drinking the potion now.
Looking at her experience bar and her full backpack, Qiao Ning used the return card with satisfaction.
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