Chapter 17: Forest of Exiles

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The forest of exiles was a sizeable indigenous forest west of the Town of Exiles. The gap between the levels of monsters within the forest was vast, ranging from the 20s to the 50s, and there were also many kinds of monsters that dropped decent items. It was supposed to have been a popular place for people to hunt and level up.

However, to level here, one had to face off not only against monsters that were adept at hiding, but also members of the rebel army who were always in squads. As such, players who were not strong enough did not dare to set foot inside the forest.

Feng Luo’s face was painted with a thick layer of camouflage oil paint, and his combat uniform was coated with special bug repellant. He held his M110 and walked quietly on a forest floor that was littered with dry leaves.

Most people who had never been in an indigenous forest before would probably have assumed that it would be thick with all kinds of vegetation and that one’s field of vision would be narrow. One might have thought that blazing a trail would require the use of a hunting blade to cut through the plants blocking one’s view.

In fact, this sort of situation would only occur in a rainforest. Drier indigenous forests featured few plants or vegetation on the ground, and although sunlight was limited, it was not all that dark. This was because the indigenous forest of the northern climate could support 100-year-old trees that stood over a dozen meters tall. These tall, straight trees allowed for a great deal of empty space below them. As such, upon entering the forest, one would actually find it more spacious.

Although a forest like this limited a Sniper to an extent, the effect was not great, so Feng Luo still held the M110 in his hands and did not switch to the Desert Eagle.

Carrying a weapon was necessary because the density of monsters in the forest was anything but low. Monsters entered his field of view practically all the time.

Pang!

−1433!

A Level-42 Mutant Mountain Monkey with black fur and dark green pupils hung in a tree. It had intended to ambush Feng Luo, but Feng Luo had detected it in advance. With one shot, Feng Luo hit the arm of the monkey holding the tree branch, dropping it from the tree branch that was over ten meters above the ground.

“Eek!”

Although the Mutant Monkey was hit in the arm and dropped to the ground, the forest floor was covered with layers of leaves, and it did not suffer much from the fall.

As soon as it hit the ground, the Mutant Monkey leaped up. Murderous intent emanated from its dark green pupils. All four of its limbs moved to grasp the large tree trunk, and it rushed toward Feng Luo.

Pang!

−3767!

However, it was still in the air when Feng Luo’s second shot reached the Mutant Monkey. In a bloody spectacle, a high-temperature rotating bullet entered its neck from one side. The force generated from the rotation of the bullet minced flesh, muscle, and blood vessels. By the time the armor-piercing bullet exited the other side, the wound was the size of a salad bowl. The neck of the Mutant Monkey was broken straight away by the close-range shot. Five meters from Feng Luo, its body dropped like an empty sack into a pile of leaves on the ground.

Most agile monsters such as this one had low HP. Two shots, totaling around 5,000 damage, had instantly depleted the HP of the Mutant Mountain Monkey, killing it.

However, after the Mutant Mountain Monkey died, several gray crystals and a pack of blood tonic burst onto the ground, which struck Feng Luo as an uncommon occurrence. Normally, when monsters died, they dropped energy crystals, materials, and—very rarely—equipment or equipment parts. Items like supplies were only dropped by Boss monsters and not by normal ones. It seemed like the monsters in the forest of exiles were somewhat unique.

Feng Luo put the Grade-E blood tonic, which could only recover 500 points of HP, into his backpack and continued moving forward while carrying the M110.

Since the mission did not specify which captain of the rebel army he had to kill, he could kill any rebel army captain to satisfy the mission completion requirement. Based on the mission information, the rebel army often sent teams into the forest of exiles to hunt and kidnap players. These teams were normally in squads.

A small squad would have at least 10 members, a medium squad would have at least 30 members, and a large squad would have 90 or more members. Feng Luo’s mission target was a captain of a medium-sized squad the rebel army, which meant that the number of enemies he would face could be over 30.

The average level of a member of the rebel army was over Level 40. Considering the strength of monsters in War, there was no way Feng Luo could fight and win against 30-plus soldiers with high AI, let alone four Elite monsters (one medium squad would also contain three captains of small squads). It was a good thing he was a Sniper and could utilize a long-range assassination tactic to complete this mission. As such, this mission was not impossible.

However, the situation in the forest of exiles seemed a bit out of the ordinary. It had been over half an hour since he had entered the forest. He had already traveled over five kilometers, but he had not yet encountered even one member of the rebel army.

Aren’t there supposed to be a lot of small rebel army squads in the forest of exiles? thought Feng Luo.

As Feng Luo pondered this, he heard a vague sound from somewhere close by.

Huh?

Feng Luo listened carefully and immediately recognized the source of the sound.

I can hear machine guns, sniper rifles, and even the explosions of fireballs in the distance, thought Feng Luo. Could it be that there are players battling monsters ahead?

Apart from setting the pain perception to 50 percent, Feng Luo set the game’s other perception levels to 100 percent. As such, his hearing was very good, and he immediately distinguished the situation through the sounds.

In War, not everyone would set the perception settings to the maximum. This was because the higher the perception settings were, the more realistic the game would become. And in some situations, a highly realistic situation could be extremely uncomfortable to players! Examples included the feeling of drowning underwater or traversing a desert with a temperature of over 50 degrees Celsius, with the agony of being under the hot sun without a drop of water to drink—or even situations like the one faced by Lonely Gunner earlier, when his clothes had caught on fire. As a result, most people would limit the perception level to a range that suited them.

Relying on the maximum perception setting, Feng Luo quietly headed toward the source of the sound. After moving forward for about 300 to 400 meters, he discovered that, just as he predicted, people were engaged in combat with monsters within the forest of exiles. Moreover, the number of players was quite high. Within Feng Luo’s field of vision alone, which was mostly blocked off by trees and vegetation, there were 20 to 30 players. They were fighting a group of green-eyed Mutant Mountain Monkeys numbering in the hundreds.

Although the monsters had the advantage in terms of numbers, these players were quite strong. They were completely dominating the Mutant Mountain Monkeys that outnumbered them.

These people seem to be from a guild, thought Feng Luo. Are they here for a mission?

Feng Luo observed the battlefield through the scope of the M110 from a hidden position over 100 meters away. He noticed the same symbol on the chest of each of these people. It was obvious they belonged to a particularly powerful player organization. But it was probably not an organization from Silvermoon City, since Feng Luo had never seen this organization’s symbol before.

Oh, right, thought Feng Luo. Maybe their mission is related to the rebel army. If there is a chance, perhaps I can follow them from behind and use this as an opportunity to complete my mission!

A plan took form in Feng Luo’s head as he observed the battle from his hidden location. During missions in War, if there wasn’t a strict condition requiring the player to complete the mission alone, it normally meant that others could help. The main mission holder just had to play a main role in the process. In a killing mission like this, for example, the condition would normally be that one’s contribution during the hunt reached a certain ratio, in addition to landing the final hit.

It was not that Feng Luo had not considered forming a team with others to complete this mission; it was simply that, first of all, he was used to moving alone, and second, one could not really be at ease when forming alliances with red-name players from the Town of Exiles.

However, encountering this party by coincidence was undoubtedly an opportunity. With so many players present in the depths of the forest of exiles, there was no way they were there to simply hunt and level up. It was possible they were trying to complete missions, too.

Missions in the forest of exiles were practically all associated with the rebel army. If this group of players was to encounter a squad belonging to the rebel army, perhaps Feng Luo could take out a captain in the chaos.

As he thought about this, Feng Luo shifted his scope and focused on a player who was in the middle of talking, protected by several Heavy Armor Warriors. He appeared to be the commander of these players.

From around 200 meters away, Feng Luo could not hear what the person was saying, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t guess the meaning behind his words. After all, fluency in lip reading was a skill that was compulsory for a professional international mercenary.

After “listening” for a while, Feng Luo confirmed the objective of this group of players. It was indeed to do something in the rebel army camp. As for the details of what they intended to do, the person who appeared to be the commander did not talk about it in detail. But knowing that their objective aligned with his was enough.

Looks like my luck is pretty good today, Feng Luo thought.

After that, he discovered something else that slightly shocked him. Just 50 meters in front of him, there were two scout players hidden on a tree.

They hid between the leaves, and their gazes were focused on their surroundings and on their flanks. It was only because Feng Luo had been careful in his movements and had found a place to hide out of habit that he had not been discovered by the two.

Interesting! Feng Luo thought.

Why would they have scouts defending them in secret while fighting in the forest?

Just what are they defending against? The rebel army?

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