Chapter 137: The Little Girl Playing with Firecrackers
It wasn’t until Yuliya watched the ghost Sofia step into the church first that she became certain of one thing.
I’ve been sheltered! This must be an adaptive church that can differentiate between friend and foe.
After a five-minute breather, Yuliya was back on her feet, ready to follow Sofia in completing their grand explosive endeavor.
The area with the magic circle was shrouded in thick black mist, and all kinds of unidentifiable objects were crawling out of the ground. Talk about a perfect explosive playground!
After blowing up a few spots, Yuliya wiped nonexistent sweat from her forehead and checked her player map.
She’d been at it for over an hour, and she had barely covered one-tenth of the entire city.
And that was with a guiding NPC helping her avoid a lot of detours.
Without Sofia, she’d probably have doubled her running time!
“Sofia, this huge city must have at least a hundred spots just like this, right?”
“Yep, over a hundred!”
“So, do we have to check them all one by one?”
Over a hundred spots? At their current pace, factoring in that the closer they got to the city center, the trickier it would be, it would conservatively take them an entire day!
Not happening. Yuliya didn’t have time to waste here.
“That seems a bit tight for time,” she admitted.
Sofia tilted her head, thought for a moment, then silently clapped her hands, “Let’s start with the important places. This way!”
Sofia changed direction, and Yuliya immediately followed.
“There’ll be five or six small magic circles on this route, and then we’ll reach the big one!”
“Awesome!” Yuliya pumped her fist. “I bet blowing up the big magic circle will be super satisfying!”
“You really are an explosion enthusiast.”
“Don’t you think the moment of the explosion is beautiful? The thrilling process, the pleasing sound, the wonderful aftermath?”
Sofia floated along, resting her chin on her hand, nodding, “You might be onto something.”
“Right? We totally get along! Too bad you’re a ghost and can’t get in on the fun—or else I’d let you try it too.”
“What a pity.”
As they chatted on, they moved forward, giving the impression they were not threading through a danger zone but touring historical sites, with not a shred of tension.
Yuliya should have felt a bit nervous, but with the radar, she was golden!
Sofia should’ve been taking it easy too, but nothing a new friend wouldn’t blow up could solve. If it couldn’t, just blow up two!
After blowing up six small magic circles and visiting the church twice, they finally reached the place Sofia had mentioned.
Yuliya glanced at the map: they were deep into Black Raven City now, practically in the inner city.
Looking ahead at the so-called big magic circle, a dense cloud of smoke obscured the gigantic round moon, completely swallowing it whole.
In that black mist, shadows flickered in and out, like lurking spirits ready to pounce.
She could even smell a pungent odor from afar, like countless unidentifiable things fermenting together for way too long.
“Wow, this is something else. Staying here too long is nauseating. Do you smell that…? Oh right, you’re a ghost.”
“I can’t smell it, but I can responsibly tell you to be very careful here. The monsters inside are not to be trifled with like the ones we’ve seen before.”
“Yeah, I’ll be careful.”
The monsters they had encountered before had little ones at level twenty-nine or thirty, and the elite monsters were usually two levels higher.
These monsters were already about three or four levels higher than those found in the low-level exploration points outside Black Raven City.
Every level up meant an increase in all attributes. Although there wasn’t a level dominance effect within five levels, facing monsters that were just one level higher meant a ten percent decrease in monster-slaying efficiency because of the attribute boost.
But this difference wasn’t a big concern for Yuliya; she’d still take them out in one hit and stab when necessary. Real damage disregarded defensive boosts.
However, since she had no idea about the monsters here, caution was the name of the game.
Applying old tricks, Yuliya started luring the snakes out of their holes.
Wait, before that, she asked Sofia, “No ghosts nearby, right?”
“None.”
“Great! That boosts my odds by at least fifty percent!”
Yuliya ignited the beginning of her chaos.
But instead of diving straight into the thick of it, she lightly tested the perimeter of the black mist.
With that explosion, a little calamity revealed itself.
The monsters were still those pesky undead types, but they’d leveled up to thirty-one!
Not too shabby, completely acceptable levels.
Yuliya began moving forward step by step.
Each explosion appeared simple, but it had more than just an explosive effect; it also helped disperse the mist.
You could bet this mist strengthened the monsters. If Yuliya ventured into it, the corrosion debuff would sh**t up, causing all her attributes to plummet.
She picked away at the mist like it was dessert, slowly consuming its coverage.
And while this mist would continue spewing forth even if she didn’t destroy the core magic circle, it would need time to reconvene—a time gap substantial enough to resolve any encounters.
Yuliya proceeded steadily, resembling a little girl playing with fireworks.
Except these firecrackers had a bit more kick.
Once she’d carved out nearly a third of what was once a cylindrical black mist now morphing into a ball shape, the monsters could no longer contain themselves.
A furious roar erupted from the mist, and in the next moment, a horde of various monsters charged out, easily numbering in the hundreds.
“Sofia, you might want to take cover…”
Before she could finish her sentence, she turned to find the ghost little loli was nowhere in sight!
“Smart girl, hiding quickly. Better for you, though—what’s about to happen might be a bit too intense for minors.”
With that, Yuliya’s lips curled into an evil smile.
She watched the mob of monsters surge toward her, now less than fifty meters away, her grin growing wider.
“First wave, let’s go!”
With a thunderous boom, earth exploded, rocks burst into the air, and clouds of dust swirled, mixing with a variety of severed limbs and skeletal remains.
Forget fancy moves like the Gungnir spear or the Buddha’s palm—those were cool, but not efficient!
When it came to clearing monsters, explosions took the trophy. They could be quite beautiful too! This was pure violent aesthetics.
The only downside? Those sucker firecrackers needed some time to set up, and since they were skills, you couldn’t just pack them away for later.
Once the dust settled, Yuliya waved away the clouds and charged forward with her fist raised.
The violent spectacle was done; now, it was time for a heartwarming little skit.
Little fists are coming for your chest!
