Absolute Death Game
Chapter 45 Lone Journey

Xiao Buli and the other two, fearing that the Black Mountain Bandits would be waiting at their log-off location, did not dare to log back in yesterday afternoon, hoping that the silver-named mini-boss and the bandits had already moved on.

As he pondered this, he walked out of the newcomer area's computer room, and immediately, upon entering, heard Han Baiqiang and Li Baocheng's shouts.

"Don't run, they have a speed buff in mountain terrain, we can't outrun them! Let your pet hold off the leader, and we'll take down the smaller ones first," came Han Baiqiang's voice.

"Damn, that's some high damage, I'm running out of health, hurry up and take the aggro!" Li Baocheng yelled.

Xiao Buli was taken aback, thinking that these two guys were bold to have engaged the bandits.

He hurried over to look at their screens, where the two of them were facing three Black Mountain bandits, one Black Mountain Looter, and two Black Mountain Lackeys.

The Black Mountain Looters were White-Named Monsters, while the Black Mountain Lackeys were grey-named, also known as minions. Although grey-named, monsters part of a system usually had decent combat power, which is why Li Baocheng and Han Baiqiang were not taking any chances.

Right then, the Black Mountain Looter was tightly entangled by Li Baocheng's pet 'Ash Messenger,' while the two of them dealt with the two Black Mountain Lackeys, managing to fight effectively thanks to their decent skills.

One Black Mountain Lackey was being kited by Li Baocheng, his bow and arrows continuously hailing down on it. But his speed was ultimately slower than the pursuer, and since he was retreating, he was quickly caught up with.

Just as the Lackey charged at him with a red-tasseled spear, Li Baocheng moved forward rather than back, dodging the charge at the last moment with an Emergency Dodge, then swiftly got behind his opponent, finishing off the weakened foe with a Backstab.

"Well done!" Xiao Buli quietly cheered in his heart, as this player who played possum finally revealed his true strength.

Spin! With a powerful hit, Han Baiqiang made another bandit Lackey stagger back. Li Baocheng, having dealt with his own foe, immediately rejoined the fray. With the last Black Mountain Lackey going down, victory seemed assured.

One minute later, the remaining Black Mountain Looter was also taken down.

It was finally over, and the two exhausted victors began bandaging their wounds to restore health and Physical Strength while looting their spoils.

"Hahaha, they dropped money! These bandits are really loaded," exclaimed Li Baocheng excitedly, as he stripped the defeated monsters of their equipment.

"Where are you guys?" Seeing the fight was over, Xiao Buli sat down at his computer and asked.

"We've moved away from where we logged off. We planned to wait for you to leave together, but Old Han suggested we log in to check things out. As soon as we did, we ran into bandits and had to run all the way here. After shaking off most of the monsters, we were left with just three minor bandits; we've just taken care of them.

This godforsaken place doesn't even have a map; replaceing you would have been a hassle, so we headed north," they replied.

Xiao Buli sighed internally, thinking these two were really not considerate, not even waiting for him. It seemed he could only rely on himself.

However, they weren't logged off in the same place to begin with, and even if they had logged on together, they might not have been able to meet up. He wasn't worried about being on his own. With this game's severe death penalties, they might not stick together when danger arose anyway; better to go it alone.

After logging into the game and observing his surroundings, it seemed Xiao Buli's luck was a bit better than his two companions'. There were no monsters nearby, just Meatball loyally following by his side.

The man and his dog made their way through the woods toward the mountains, judging that the bandits were likely to target the main road through the Misty Forest since caravans typically moved by horse-drawn vehicles and could only take this road. By contrast, the mountains might be overlooked, and they might bypass them altogether.

He opened the world map while walking, and 99% of the vast map remained unexplored. However, significant locations like Dahuang Village, the Black Wasteland, the Misty Forest, his current location, and Nine Dragons City were marked.

He drew a line from his current position to Nine Dragons City, crossing unexplored territory, while the main road required a detour. Perhaps he could try to cut straight across.

Upon consulting the map again, and recalling what he had learned from the caravan owner, the main road through the Misty Forest was usually relatively safe, harboring the occasional wild animal but seldom bandits due to certain reasons.

The current appearance of the Black Mountain Bandits was likely an exception, so if he could bypass this mountain and avoid the bandits' ambush, the main road should be safe.

With that decision made, he set out for the mountain.

After walking some distance, he encountered an impassible cliff and had to continue around. To avoid danger, he let Meatball take the lead. Although Meatball wasn't much in a fight, it had an Agility skill that increased its alert range by 20%, allowing it to spot monsters in advance.

In his view, passing through an unexplored area carried significant risk, yet he believed his Luck Value of seventeen would see him through. Indeed, for over half an hour, they encountered only passive creatures like deer, rabbits, and pheasants.

The only threat was a lame lone wolf, which one man and one dog were not intimidated by; sensing low chances of victory in a fight, the wolf detoured around them.

But although he hadn't encountered any powerful monsters, the path became increasingly convoluted. The dense and layered woods around him dazzled the eyes. The sunlight, fragmented by the branches and leaves into countless broken columns of light, created an astonishingly realistic play of light and shadow. But this realism made him increasingly uncomfortable.

Fog had begun to rise, though not thick, but thick enough to further obscure his vision. He rubbed between his eyes, trying his best not to let the environment affect his mood, and as he circled around a patch of thorny bushes, Meatball suddenly stopped, whining and reluctant to move forward.

There's danger! He quickly realized and scanned the surroundings, but saw nothing. Then suddenly, the figure of a tiger appeared in his line of sight.

Xiao Buli tensed up immediately. He clicked on the tiger's name with his mouse. It was just a minor monster with a white name. But it was still a freaking tiger. If he were playing any other game, he wouldn't bat an eye at a tiger. In many games, tigers are just common minor monsters that even newbies could easily kill.

But because this game was so realistic, the strength of the tiger had to be measured by real-world standards.

If he were in reality, given an iron sword and a dog to face off against a tiger, what would the result be? He didn't need to think to know the answer.

Xiao Buli froze for a moment, but after a few seconds, he realized the tiger hadn't moved and didn't seem to have noticed him yet.

Thank the heavens; his Luck Value was not in vain. Now all he had to do was back away slowly.

With that thought in mind, he retreated backwards. Somehow, the tiger stood up and looked in his direction.

Damn it, he's been spotted! He immediately realized, and thought that even a wild dog had a level 1 Agility, so the tiger must have a similar skill and probably at a higher level.

Without hesitation, Xiao Buli turned and ran, glancing back from an over-the-shoulder view as he did. The tiger had indeed spotted him and was pursuing with light, swift strides. At that rate, he guessed it would catch him in less than ten seconds. Suddenly, a six or seven-meter-high cliff appeared in front of him.

Xiao Buli didn't think twice and jumped off, losing half his health points and emerging at the bottom with a limping DEBUFF above his head.

Limping: Due to an injury to your leg, your Movement Speed is reduced by thirty percent.

This is just my luck, throwing this at me now. But he couldn't afford to stop and continued to run ahead. The tiger reached the cliff's edge but didn't dare to jump. Just as Xiao Buli started to feel a glimmer of relief, he saw the tiger taking a side path around the cliff, clearly not giving up on the chase.

He still had to run. As he pressed on, the tiger didn't reappear, but he couldn't afford to stop. Running and running, soon he couldn't even see the path anymore and could only squeeze forward through the gaps between the trees. Unexpectedly, an open, overgrown field appeared before him, and a gate made of two stone statues emerged in his view.

The statues, resembling some unknown beast, were ferocious and terrifying, covered in moss as if they had been there for many years. On either side of the statues were dense barriers of thorns, tall and thick with no gaps, their thorns like the walls that separated the forest from the world behind the gate.

Through the entrance between the statues, a clear space and several paths leading in different directions were visible, like the entrance to a maze.

What kind of place is this? A hidden map? A mysterious dungeon? But that's not right; the entrance to a dungeon should have a light screen.

He was thinking and hesitating whether or not to go in.

Before he could come to a conclusion—

Aowu! A roar suddenly sounded from behind. Out of nowhere, the tiger pounced from the woods and landed a few meters behind him. Now, there was no choice but to enter.

Almost instinctively, he dashed forward, but he was still a few meters from the entrance, and he knew the tiger would catch up to him before he could get there. Ctrl+1! That was the default pet attack key. At that point, Xiao Buli couldn't worry about the consequences and immediately commanded Meatball to attack, then ran without looking back.

Meatball whimpered, seemingly unwilling, and charged at the tiger.

Pounce! Leaping into the air.

At the same moment, the tiger also launched into the air, pouncing toward the incoming attack. Meatball was helplessly flipped over, followed by a ferocious Rip and Bite—an advanced skill of ripping and biting. Meatball let out an indistinct whimper and was dead.

Xiao Buli had no time to feel sad and continued to run frantically into the area behind the stone statues. A few strides later, the tiger had not followed; he turned to look. At the edge of the gate, the tiger paced back and forth, unwilling to advance, chewing on Meatball's body while watching his direction warily.

Could there be some problem? He looked at his high Luck Value of seventeen again, the attribute evaluation—nothing short of a protagonist's halo.

That calmed him down a bit. Looking around, he noticed the thorny bushes were growing densely but not chaotically; they seemed to be following some pattern. Could it be that these bushes were planted intentionally?

He was puzzled and didn't know whether to continue forward or not. Looking back, the tiger still hadn't left, lying near the entrance, devouring Meatball's remains while keeping a vigilant eye on him.

With a bitter smile in his heart, Xiao Buli asked himself, what other choice did he have?