Chapter 96: Portal
"How did you know there was treasure inside that tree?" Violet asked.
Even if the tree was guarded by numerous monsters, the existence of treasure was far from certain.
It could simply have been their nest.
"I saw it myself while flying around with my wings. Light was coming from inside that tree, and the monsters had gathered around it. That light should be a sign that treasure has appeared. This is a common occurrence in the Moba World," Abel answered confidently.
"Aren’t the monsters there affected by your Light Bottle?"
"No. It works, but only on monsters up to Level 30. That chicken is Level 31, so it’s the only one unaffected. I almost died from its long-range attacks."
"Well, then I’ll go. Just watch from here. Once the chicken is dead, you can come over. And don’t do anything that might interfere with me unless you want to go back without your wings."
After saying that, Violet leaped across the ravine, and her figure disappeared while she was still in midair.
Abel frowned slightly at her words, but he didn’t have the courage to complain.
Violet immediately started running after landing.
The entire ground was covered with dry leaves, yet her footsteps made no sound at all.
She spotted numerous monsters hanging from the trees. Most were about the size of a human or twice as large, with levels ranging from 21 to 25.
Some were three times the size of a human and had reached Level 30.
They clearly possessed high agility, along with powerful physiques, claws, and fangs.
With so many of them around, it wouldn’t be easy for Violet if she had to fight them all. She focused on moving forward, getting closer and closer to the enormous tree.
Her gaze locked onto one of its branches.
A chicken was sitting on it. Even while sitting, it stood around three meters tall.
It was a rooster with a colorful body, predominantly orange.
(Monster Level 31!)
The System informed her.
Compared to the other monsters, this chicken looked far less threatening.
It might even have been sleeping, despite having its eyes open, because its body remained completely motionless.
The tree had an open doorway, but it was right beside the branch where the chicken was sitting.
Enzo wondered if it would be better to send Violet directly through that doorway.
If she could get inside without fighting, that would obviously be preferable.
She could kill the chicken afterward.
But suddenly, the chicken’s eyes locked onto Violet’s position.
Enzo was stunned.
Whoosh!
The chicken immediately spread its wings. Sharp feathers shot out from them toward Violet.
"How is that possible?"
Enzo couldn’t believe it.
Violet had actually been detected.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
She struck at the feathers with her claws, which were as hard as steel.
Even with their sharpness, her claws could barely cut through the feathers.
The monkeys nearby were also attracted by the sound of the clashes.
They looked confused because they could only see the feathers being knocked away. Not only could they not see the enemy, they couldn’t even sense its presence.
Before long, Enzo became even more shocked.
The chicken continued firing more and more feathers. They seemed endless, as though it could never run out.
They were also becoming faster.
Whoosh!
Violet leaped into the air, and the chicken immediately adjusted the direction of its attacks toward her.
It had truly detected Violet.
Violet still didn’t dare reveal herself because if the monkeys saw her, they would join the attack as well.
She was gradually becoming overwhelmed in midair, forcing her to use her dagger with her left hand to deflect the feathers.
Realizing that things were becoming increasingly dangerous, she brought out the Mountain Elephant Shield.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The shield was much sturdier.
The feathers shattered into pieces upon striking it.
’Could it be because of this fog?’
After observing everything carefully, Enzo realized how the chicken had detected Violet.
Violet was invisible, but her presence hadn’t truly disappeared.
Her presence was practically disturbing the fog in a certain area.
Watching from the screen, Enzo could clearly see it.
If he were standing there himself, he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
From any angle, it would be extremely difficult to detect.
The fog was also thin, making it seem as though there wasn’t any fog at all.
If the fog had been thick, it would have been even harder to notice unless someone possessed eyes capable of seeing through dense fog.
The chicken could somehow perceive it.
Enzo wondered how its eyes worked.
After all, none of the monkeys had noticed anything.
Whoosh!
The chicken leaped into the air and began flying, continuously firing its sharp feathers.
Enzo guessed that it had realized Violet was relying on her shield and wanted to circle around her to attack from every direction.
"Instant Death!"
He pressed a button.
Violet immediately unleashed Instant Death on the chicken.
Shua! Shua!
The effect was immediately apparent.
The chicken suddenly seemed to become incredibly heavy, causing its wings to struggle to lift its body.
The faster it flapped its wings, the more force it exerted.
BANG!
It crashed to the ground.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Violet fired dozens of Mana threads toward the chicken from different directions, and her gaze immediately followed their paths.
Even though the threads were incredibly thin, she could see the way they pierced through the fog.
But could the chicken dodge them?
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the chicken started running.
There seemed to be some kind of power activated in its legs, making it incredibly fast—far faster than the Mana threads.
It quickly ran around Violet while continuously firing feathers.
Before a single feather could reach her, the chicken had already circled around her.
As a result, hundreds of feathers came from all directions.
Even if she jumped upward, she might not be fast enough.
And finally, Violet entered Slime Mode.
Her figure became visible as she transformed into a slime.
The surrounding monkeys finally noticed her.
Enzo could have made Violet release clones from the shield, but doing so would consume far too much Mana.
It was better to remain a slime for a while.
Of course, this meant Instant Death was interrupted.
She couldn’t use her abilities while in this mode.
Shua! Shua!
The feathers passed straight through her, colliding with one another.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
She leaped toward the chicken, returned to her normal form, and unleashed Instant Death again while concealing her figure.
She had noticed that the monkeys were beginning to look as though they wanted to join the fight.
But she frowned.
Just as she was about to attack, the chicken had already run away and fired another barrage of feathers.
It seemed Instant Death had only prevented it from flying, while its physical strength remained formidable.
Enzo figured this chicken might actually be harder to kill than other Level 31 monsters.
Clang! Clang!
Violet could only raise her shield once again to block the incoming feathers.
Apparently, the chicken wanted to use the same trick to attack her.
"Let’s see if you can survive this."
Violet’s voice was cold.
Without being seen, her head transformed into that of a bull.
Then a dark sphere appeared.
It rapidly expanded, swallowing everything around it and turning the daytime into complete darkness.
The chicken seemed to hit an invisible wall, coming to an abrupt stop.
Violet could see clearly in the darkness and noticed that the chicken’s eyes had lost their light, as though it had suddenly gone blind.
The only reason she had released this domain was to counter its eyes.
If it couldn’t see, Violet should have been able to kill it from the beginning.
She lunged toward the chicken before it could run again and slashed at its neck with her claws.
Shua!
The chicken’s neck was as hard as iron, but with Violet putting all her strength into the attack, she managed to sever it.
Enzo would have been shocked if the chicken had another trick to survive.
If it did, then it truly was a top-tier monster.
DING!
(Your character has killed a Level 31 Monster. You and your character have received 100,000,000 EXP!)
(You have received 500 SP!)
[Level: 25]
[EXP: 500,000,000/700,000,000]
[SP: 8,550]
The notifications appeared on Enzo’s screen, causing him to frown.
A Level 31 monster had only given him this much.
At the same time, the chicken’s body immediately shrank.
Even its severed head shrank along with the body.
Blood sprayed from its severed neck.
Still in Invisible Mode, Violet picked up both the head and body of the chicken.
"Hahaha, Muller, you’re really strong. You killed that chicken so quickly."
Abel came through the air while laughing.
He was carrying his Light Bottle, which continued to emit a bright glow.
Even though it was daytime, the light was still clearly visible.
It wasn’t a permanent item, but it should still last for quite some time. However, it seemed the energy inside it was being depleted faster here because the monsters being illuminated were of a higher level.
The monkeys merely glanced at Abel before ignoring him, as though he were one of their own.
Afterward, he landed in front of Violet, who revealed herself.
Although her stamina had been depleted, Violet acted as though nothing was wrong.
"You’re not going to ask for a share of this chicken’s corpse, are you?" Violet asked coldly.
"Of course not. You earned it yourself," Abel replied without complaint.
What he wanted was the treasure, not the meat.
"Good. You’re smart. We’ll enter the tree together. My instincts tell me there shouldn’t be any danger."
"If your instincts say so, then it must be safe," Abel replied.
An Assassin’s instincts were among the best.
Because of that, he was completely confident in her judgment.
Violet went in first.
Then she leaped toward the doorway of the tree and landed perfectly.
At first, she couldn’t see clearly inside.
Only after landing did she realize that the interior contained a spacious room, large enough to be considered a house.
Shock immediately appeared on her face.
The upper section of the walls was actually a portal, exactly like the portal in Sanctuary, though much smaller.
"How can there be a portal here...?"
Abel was also extremely shocked when he saw it.