Is this really a Game?!

[Battle has been concluded, distributing experience...]

-          Lvl 34 Iron-scaled python killed, 3 500 exp gained

-          Lvl 35 Abomination killed, 4 000 exp gained

-          Rank B Gauntlets of Impurity acquired

-          Rank B Scaled Boots acquired

[The players have earner 7 500 exp and 80 S coins, distributing …]

[The player has earned 1 250 exp and 13 S coins ]

[Battle has been concluded, distributing subordinate experience ]

-          Lvl 35 Iron-scaled python killed, 1 000exp gained

[ Subordinate has killed 1 monster, 1 000 exp earned ]

"Well, fighting these high-level enemies can really be disappointing sometimes, I mean, only 7500 exp total, come on man," Shadow complains as he shakes his head while looking at the two giant corpses in front of them.

"It may be so, but killing them is the best way to get more equipment, the weaker our opponents are, the fewer chances of them dropping anything, not to mention that whatever they do drop is just trash for us right now." Wolf takes the two items and puts them in the inventory, it was not a good time to distribute them right now, not to mention that they weren't anything special as they all had Rank B armor pieces on them anyway.

"Yeah, I guess you are right, but still, we didn't even get to use any of those new items we got from the boxes, those were also disappointing, to think I would get a Rank C item…" Shadow thinks back to when they opened the diamond boxes, everyone got at least a Rank B item, he was the only unfortunate one to only get Rank C gloves that he threw away. Of course amongst them some managed to get Rank A items, but they were quite different compared to the usual ones and they still haven't had a chance to use them.

Laura and Beast glance at each other and smile at Shadow and his reaction, the two of them were the ones that managed to get Rank A items from the boxes, Shadow's reaction back then was priceless.

They all head deeper into the forest, the enemies that could be found there were powerful, that much was certain, but they were confident that unless the enemy was an evolved level 40 or above they would be fine.

The trees deeper in the forest became more and more lifeless while the fauna was sparser, many weird monsters inhabited this part of the forest. They hadn't come across any other abomination so far but there were giant spiders that made webs that covered a big area of the forest, the spiders were about 2 meters long and their webs were incredibly hard to break, Tank got covered in them while defending against a spider and if not for Wolf who was able to burn the web quickly he would have been in danger.

The long legs of the spiders were tough and were quite sharp at the ends, enough to skewer people with ease. Their chelicerae ( spider jaws ) could cut through even the tough trees with relative ease, one could only imagine what would happen if it bit one of them.

In the end, however, they had a clear weakness, fire. Wolf was able to use his ability to its fullest against them, their webs were useless against his golden fire while their bodies burned easily and after a while, they were able to kill all 6 of the level 30+ spiders that attacked them.

Another group of enemies they had come across was a group of satyrs. The satyrs were about 1.6 meters tall, their upper body was the same as a human's while their lower body was similar to a horse's. They had two legs with hooves instead of feet and their whole lower body was covered in a thick layer of fur. When they encountered the party the satyrs looked carefully at them before staring at Laura. Their gazes soon turned excited as they slowly approached the party with no regard for safety.

A fight soon followed, the satyrs were, well, they weren't very good fighters, to be honest. Compared to the other monsters of the same level they were without a doubt the weakest, of course, it was not that they didn't have their strengths. For one they were incredibly fast as their horse legs allowed them to run fast and jump incredibly high. Their physical strength was great and their blows were heavy, unfortunately, they didn't know how to use it properly and it was easy for anyone that was experienced to dodge and counter their blows.

Their vitality was incredibly high as well, even after suffering multiple wounds from the party they still charged at Laura with a frenzied look in their eyes. Their lower members were on full display as they were fully charged and ready to go. Even when Laura attacked them with her powers from long-range they still continued to look at her lustfully.

They were taken care of quickly, their physical strength and great vitality only let them struggle longer while allowing them to do basically no damage to any of the party members. It was obvious that they were at the bottom of the food chain here and that they were mostly going to be monsters that players will fight against to get some good loot and exp in the gray part of the Ironbark Woods.

Of course, it would be very unfortunate if a squad of players lost, especially if there were female members amongst them. The satyrs were the same as the ones from mythology and they were incredibly lustful, one could imagine the fate that would befall the poor women that get caught by them.

The next enemy the party had encountered was one that gave them some trouble. After dispatching the satyrs and venturing further in the forest they came across four large boars. The boars were over 5 meters long while being slightly above 2 meters tall. They managed to hear the party at almost the same time they laid eyes on them.

They quickly stood up and glared at them before puffing and charging at them.

[ Lvl 36 Dire Boar ]

The boars were of a different kind compared to normal ones. Their powerful, muscular bodies moved quickly while their long and thick tusks were able to puncture through the trees with barely any effort. They had two large fangs that were visible even when their mouths were closed and thick fur covered their whole body.

Their attacks were not hard to dodge, they mostly charged towards Reign and the others while sometimes trying to use their tusks to penetrate their bodies. Fighting them head-on was not a bright idea as even Tank had a hard time blocking them and keeping them rooted to the spot thanks to their ferocious strength.

Their thick fur made it hard for weapons to cut through and even Reign's katana had some difficulty cutting it, of course since it was a Rank A weapon it was still able to cut through the fur and inflict damage, it was only a bit harder compared to other monsters.

Shadow's daggers again were the weapons that were able to pierce through their defense with relative ease, thanks to the unique property of the weapons having the acidic poison while no special skills they were incredibly hard to block. The huge boars however didn't worry about the small wounds that Reign and the party managed to inflict on them, their bodies were much larger than theirs and the wounds they inflicted were relatively small.

That was all, of course, that had happened before Reign and the others started using mana and their abilities. Fur can be a great defense, but when it came to defending against fire it was probably amongst the worst, Wolf's flames were able to inflict great damage to the boars that screamed in agony when the flames covered them.

Reign's lightning wasn't able to shock the boars well, but when using lightning stab his katana was able to stab through their bodies easily while the lightning wreaked havoc inside of them. Beast's monsters were also able to help out this time, they jumped on top of the boars as they used their claws and fangs to inflict damage upon the boars that tried their best to get them off, only to be attacked by the others every time they tried to do so.

It was not as if Reign and the others came out of the fight without any wounds, Tank was attacked multiple times and his arms were numb at the end of the fight after blocking the charge of the boars so many times. Even though their charge and attack patterns were simple they still managed to hit Reign and the others a couple of times, part of that was because Reign and the others became a bit too relaxed, while another part was because the boars could explode with incredible speed from time to time.

Finishing up the boars they decided to rest a bit. They moved a bit further from the place of the fight before sitting down on a couple of rocks. It was only after 10 minutes of resting that they heard sounds of fighting coming from nearby, the interesting part was that they were able to hear shouts and the sounds of metal hitting one another, quickly they got up and went to see what was happening.