Novel Boss
Chapter 50: Corpse-Stained Shirt, You Could Ask Them
Just then, a piercing scream suddenly tore through the sky.
"Jeremy, help! Help me!" Ritchie's loud plea for help came from not too far away.
Turning towards the source of the noise, Jeremy's face darkened instantly.
Ritchie was halfway inside the mouth of a man-eating plant, with only his legs kicking frantically outside.
His cries were coming from within the plant itself.
[Man-Eating Plant (Common)[
[Level]:lv21
[Attack]:1277-1316
[Defense]:273
[Skills]:Swallow, Digest...
[Note]:Weak defense, very slow speed.
Jeremy didn't have time to ponder why Ritchie had been devoured by the man-eating plant.
He quickly pulled out the Blaze Knife from his storage space, his figure swift as lightning, and charged forward. With a swift slash at the stem of the man-eating plant, he hastily rescued Ritchie from its maw.
"Ah, gross! It stinks!" Ritchie climbed out of the carnivorous plant's mouth, looking utterly frantic.
He wasn't injured, just covered in a sticky yellow liquid, emanating a foul, pungent odor all over him.
"How did you end up inside a monster's belly?" Jeremy pinched his nose, his face full of disgust.
Right now, Ritchie looked as if he had just been fished out of a sewage pit.
"I thought it looked so cute, so I wanted to touch it. Who knew it would just swallow me in one bite." Ritchie said furiously, adding, "If I ever encounter it again, I swear I'll pluck its leaves out!"
The rest of the group struggled to find words.
This guy's sense of beauty was seriously questionable.
The man-eating plant was a dull yellow with its petals covered in dark brown spots. They couldn't see anything remotely cute about it.
Jeremy massaged his temples.
Ritchie had been somewhat normal before, but ever since his awakening, he had become increasingly reckless.
Especially a few days ago, during his job change, he had somehow lucked into obtaining a rare profession called "Shadow Assassin."
This profession not only allowed him to manipulate shadows to attack but also to transform his body into a shadow, becoming immune to various kinds of damage.
Since then, Ritchie had been more unruly than ever.
Shaking his head, Jeremy, no longer willing to deal with this fool, tightened his grip on his knife and alerted the others, "Stay sharp, the monsters are coming."
The noise Ritchie had made attracted the attention of some nearby cannibal ghouls. These lean figures were already approaching them greedily, stone spears in hand.
Among them, Jeremy spotted an elite cannibal ghoul.
[Cannibal Ghoul Warrior (Elite)[
[Level]:lv25
[Attack]:2297-2363
[Defense]:773
[Skills]:Charge, Swing, Throw...
[Note]:Average strength, relatively fast, weak spot is the head.
This cannibal ghoul was muscular and wielded a stone club wrapped in bandages. It stood over 2 meters tall, with bulging muscles, significantly larger and obviously tougher than the average cannibal ghoul.
Hearing this, Claire and the other women drew their weapons.
With vigilant faces, they watched the approaching monsters, ready to fight at any moment.
All three women were of rare professions, each wielding a magic staff.
Claire's profession was that of a control class called "Mind Manipulator."
Emma belonged to the support class, known as the "Life Shepherd."
Bonnie, on the other hand, was an offensive class called "Frost Elf."
A player's ability usually determines their profession, with talented players typically not ending up with poor professions.
However, this wasn't absolute. Some players with average abilities and professions could still transition into rare professions, much like Ritchie.
"Roar!!!"
At that moment, four cannibal ghouls charged towards them, baring their fangs and claws.
"You guys go ahead." Jeremy didn't rush to act but decided to first observe the others' combat.
As a support, Emma naturally stayed protected behind the rest.
She waved her staff, surrounding everyone with a green aura of life energy that significantly boosted their stamina.
Claire stood at the forefront.
Her eyes shimmered with a purple glow as she used her formidable mental strength to conjure a transparent shield in front of her, blocking the monsters' attacks while simultaneously assaulting and controlling the cannibal ghouls with her psychic powers.
Bonnie stood beside Claire.
Her ice-blue hair moved as though caught in a breeze, her presence emanating cold. With a wave of her staff, she sent a flurry of glowing white snowflakes towards the monsters.
These seemingly gentle snowflakes cut through the monsters like sharp knives, leaving wounds behind.
Ritchie was more cunning.
He hid within the shadows of the monsters, occasionally striking with his knife or even manipulating their shadows to backstab them.
After watching for a while, Jeremy gained a general understanding of their strengths.
He figured that once their levels increased a bit more, he wouldn't need to accompany them for leveling up.
However, they were still incapable of dealing with elite monsters on their own and needed his intervention.
With that assessment in mind, Jeremy turned his attention towards the cannibal ghoul warrior.
To him, this elite monster was no different from the regular ones.
"Disaster Blade!"
With a thought, his Blaze Knife instantly turned a dark red, and a violent aura erupted from him.
"Boom!"
Jeremy burst forward, the ground beneath his feet exploding.
His figure, like lightning, appeared in front of the cannibal ghoul warrior in the blink of an eye.
His long blade trailed phantoms in the air as he swung it towards the neck of the ghoul.
Black blood spurted as a head was launched into the air!
The cannibal ghoul warrior's eyes still held confusion.
It didn't even have time to react before Jeremy decapitated it with a single strike!
Bonnie stared at the scene, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.
She knew Jeremy was strong, but she hadn't expected him to be this powerful.
This was a level 25 elite monster!
And he had killed it with a single blow?!
Looking at the ordinary cannibal ghouls she had struggled to kill, Bonnie's previously good mood soured.
The expressions of the other three didn't change much.
Claire had always been aware of Jeremy's strength.
Emma thought this was to be expected.
As for Ritchie, he simply didn't care.
[You have killed a Level 25 Cannibal Ghoul Warrior (Elite), gaining 21,079 experience points!]
The kill notification appeared before everyone, but the experience gained varied among them.
This was because the experience from monsters wasn't evenly distributed but calculated based on the damage and contribution each player made within the team. The player who landed the killing blow would receive the most experience.
Simultaneously, Jeremy's passive skill "Seven Sins - Gluttony" activated.
A white light orb drifted up from the corpse of the Cannibal Ghoul Warrior and merged into Jeremy's body.
[Passive Skill 'Seven Sins - Gluttony' Activated!]
[You have randomly gained 3 points of Strength attribute!]
Although it was only 3 points, Jeremy was quite satisfied.
His skill hadn't leveled up yet, and given the monster's low level, the small attribute gain was expected. Besides, the Tier 6 energy crystal was too precious, and Jeremy didn't want to use it to level up his skill.
After Jeremy killed the Cannibal Ghoul Warrior, the group of ordinary cannibal ghouls all stopped in their tracks, their eyes clearing significantly.
The greed vanished from their eyes, replaced by deep fear and awe.
Fear of the strong wasn't exclusive to humans, monsters felt it too.
Some of the ghouls began to retreat, attempting to flee.
Of course, Jeremy wasn't about to give them that chance.
A pale blue glow emerged around him, and his speed instantly surged.
"Shadow Step!"
Jeremy's figure suddenly vanished.
What followed for those ghouls was a massacre.
[You have killed a Level 21 Cannibal Ghoul Archer (Common), gaining 2,840 experience points!]
[You have killed a Level 22 Cannibal Ghoul Assassin (Common), gaining 3,291 experience points!]
[You have killed a Level 24 Cannibal Ghoul Hunter (Common), gaining 3,973 experience points!]
...
Kill notifications appeared one after another, and Emma and the others were illuminated by the glow of leveling up.
Jeremy didn't kill all the monsters himself but left them nearly dead for the four to finish off.
This way, both Jeremy and the others gained a substantial amount of experience.
By the time Jeremy finished off all the monsters, Claire had reached Level 17, Emma and Bonnie had reached Level 16, and only Ritchie was at Level 14.
Having not really farmed monsters before.
Jeremy shook his head, picking up all the dropped items.
To his surprise, this time there was even a Silver-grade piece of equipment among them.
[Equipment]:Corpse Cloth Tunic
[Type]:Armor
[Grade]:Silver
[Quality]:Blue (Common)
[Attributes]:Spirit +30, Stamina +30
Jeremy glanced at the equipment's attributes and tossed it to Ritchie.
"Why give this to me? This equipment isn't suited for me!" Ritchie was bewildered.
The equipment's attributes clearly favored mages, so why give it to an assassin?
Jeremy casually replied, "You can ask them if they want it."
Ritchie, puzzled, passed it to Emma and the other two.
After a brief inspection of the tattered, brownish-yellow tunic, all three decisively shook their heads.
"It's hideous. You keep it." Bonnie said with disgust.
Ritchie: "???"