Chapter 613: Repulsive disease Startled by the ruckus of their tribesman’s murder, the other Ndipaya barbarians bawled in succession. Their yells were incredibly distinct, filled with repet.i.tive and unceasing m.u.f.fled ‘wo wo wo wo’.
They wielded simple wooden s.h.i.+elds and pikes as they pressed towards the invaders. Fortunately, the corridors of these huts were incredibly narrow, preventing them from swarming in for a gang bang.
Dried torches were smeared with animal fats at the tip, supplying adequate illumination as well as waves of a repulsive charred stench. Even if they were dropped into the water, they could still be used if they were picked up quickly.
Borrowing the fiery incandescent light of flickering torches, the trio realized the Ndipaya barbarians had a pair of strange red eyes. Their twin canine tooths were slightly protruding, and what was more horrifying, were the solid soybean sized warts contaminating their skin. Those were signs of their sweat glands experiencing a mutated evolution. Those sweat glands could secrete out their bodily fluids and odour, to prevent them from contracting deadly pestilences, as well as repelling a portion of marsh creatures and blood-seeking leeches.
After crossing arms with them, the trio discovered that though the Ndipaya barbarian’s wooden s.h.i.+elds appeared simple and crude, their durability was supremely upscaled; probably due to a certain colloid matter being smeared on its surfaces.
Even Brother Black’s bullets couldn’t penetrate those s.h.i.+elds. Even after unloading a shuttle of chained bullets, he realized that his bullets merely appeared like chrysalis embedded deep into their wooden s.h.i.+elds.
Upon closer clashes, Sheyan realized the colloid substances smeared were dry and appeared with mildly green and red vestiges. It was as though a certain algae species was ground before bring blended with blood paste, and left to dry in the sun. That should be the reason those wooden s.h.i.+elds were so tough and mysterious.
Fortunately, Reef’s ‘Shattering Cardiac Roar’ exhibited its immense effectiveness here. With a furious roar, even Sheyan felt a feeling of instability stirring within him, while the rooftop straws were bluntly blown away.
Instantaneously, the nearby Ndipaya barbarians stumbled unevenly as the speed decline effect became impressively distinct. Moreover, the damage dealt was also astonis.h.i.+ng.
In this instance, Sheyan could fathom how formidable a Growth-hunter was!
Although Sheyan had battled a Growth-hunter before, he hadn’t personally witnessed an ordinary contestant maturing into one. Hence, he couldn’t make a comparison previously.
Right now, he could feel that every movement made by Reef had truly undergone a qualitative change. Probably also due to Reef’s constant acc.u.mulation of strength and improvement, but it also revealed the extravagance of a Growth-hunter promotion; how terrifying was this!
All of a sudden, Sheyan was sc.r.a.ped by a Ndipaya’s pike, causing him to stagger backward. Although this attack didn’t break through his defense, the nightmare imprint still transmitted a warning.
[ You are infected with the disease: Mild Hemorrhage Fever ]
[ Your body temperature soars to 39 degrees. Your organs and conjunctiva have started bleeding. Mauve spotted pimples will erupt at your torso and shoulder regions ]
[ All attributes drops by 5.5% (Factored in weakening from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’). During combat state, all attributes will additionally decline by 1% in every 15 seconds, for a maximum of 15% decrease of all attributes. Only by maintaining 38 minutes (Factored in weakening from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’) of non-combat state, will your immune system eliminate this disease ]
"Indeed, it’s here." Sheyan immediately felt a headache.
These Ndipaya barbarians were evidently exceedingly adept at dealing with long-range a.s.saults, where their dull brown decorative wooden s.h.i.+elds could effortlessly block away incoming fiery bullets. Nevertheless, their strength wasn’t high and striking away their s.h.i.+elds in battle wouldn’t be that tough. Following that, long-range combatants could then seize those opportunities to teach the Ndipaya barbarians a lesson.
Yet the problem lied in this – to engage in close combat with numerous Ndipaya barbarians, it was impossible to not receive damage from them. This alone provided a huge chance of contracting disease!
After slaying 5 Ndipaya barbarians, Sheyan was on the verge of vomiting blood from this repulsiveness. He had once again contracted another disease!
[ You are infected with the disease: Dengue ]
[ Your body temperature continues to heat up. Your brain becomes dizzy, while your livers swell and your bones ache ]
[ Your accuracy drops by 31.7% (Factored in resistance from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’). During combat state, your accuracy will additionally decline by 1% in every 15 seconds. Only by maintaining 38 minutes (Factored in resistance from defense and innate ability ‘Stronghold’) of a non-combat state, will your immune system eliminate this disease ]
Although the battle capabilities of these Ndipaya barbarians weren’t dynamic, contracting diseases from them during battle would indeed cause one to feel speechless.....all attributes plunging, missing 1 strike within 3.
Moreover, these barbarian s.l.u.ts were incredibly enduring! This was something both Sheyan and Reef could sorely feel as they fought shoulder to shoulder. Furthermore, these were merely the most ordinary opponents of their preliminary entry to this world!! They hadn’t even encountered wretched boss tier barbarians!
After an excruciatingly drawn-out battle, when those eight Ndipaya barbarians were finally exterminated, Sheyan and Reef both slumped to the ground.
Then leaned against the wooden railings as they panted heavily. Even Brother Black was flicking his hands and lamenting aloud.
"Boss, for the sake of gunning down those barbarians, I practically wasted ammunitions that can annihilate an entire reinforced company!"
But when Mogensha noticed the pandemic effects plaguing Sheyan and Reef, he could only obediently shut his mouth.
After this one battle, without a doubt, these Outer Tribe Ndipaya Barbarians had given the trio an impression of troublesome, mystifying, diabolical and incredibly durable.
Fortunately, after this battle concluded, their bravery had successfully moved the hearts of those recruited native aborigines. They started to wors.h.i.+p the trio with devotion and proactively began collecting the battle spoils.
One had to acknowledge that though the risk of this hidden world was immense, its rewards were relatively aplenty. Of the eight Ndipaya tribesmen, four of them dropped keys. After activating the keys, the battle loots were as following:
They acquired a total of 5,300 utility points.
[ Golden Sand: Valuable object ]
[ Description: A simple woven sack filled with golden sand ]
[ Value: You can retain it as a souvenir, or exchange it for 3,000 utility points ]
********************
[ Scarlet Salvia]
[ Type: Herb medicine ]
[ Description: This is a vegetation grown in the wetlands. Growing amidst such vile and nasty conditions, it possesses resistive capabilities towards vile environments ]
[ Usage: After consuming a ‘Scarlet Salvia’ herb medicine, you can instantly recover 5% HP and expel a single disease on your body ]
[ Details: When this herb medicine withers, its medicinal effects will disappear. It is best consumed within 48 hours ]
[ Details: Perhaps you can follow a fixed prescription to concoct a more potent medicine. Of course, that is if you can acquire other herb medicines ]
Even though this was the wetlands, Sheyan still attempted to employ his ‘Pirate Captain’ plundering ability to ransack the corpses of these Ndipaya barbarians.
In the end, he acquired three ‘Evil Moss s.h.i.+eld’, of which he handed over to his native underlings. He also acquired two ‘Declay Pikes’.
At this moment, some of those native underlings sprinted before Sheyan and waved their arms, while concurrently spewing incessant chants of ‘wuliwali’ before falling to the ground in tears.
Sheyan perceived that these natives probably discovered something, and followed them towards the largest stilt hut.
Ash grey pots crafted with crude handiwork filled the interior. They were all at least 1.4 metres tall and had openings that could fit a native’s neck. These pots were arranged along both sides of this hut, looking as though they were safeguarding a stone altar in the middle.
Large chunks of bacon were placed on this stone altar. Actually on close inspection, those were actually human limbs. These limbs were strangely bound by black strings. These strings were initially moss green but were dyed black by blood. The natives then said that this was rumoured to be a culinary technique, one that could entrap the enemy’s soul within its corpse; preventing the corpse from easily rotting and enhancing its flavour. Of course, those strings were easy carved out by the natives, and carelessly flung to the ground.
As for some natives, they were currently weeping over the limbs that were used as food; thinking that these were their kin who had been unfortunately captured long ago, and now used as ham.
Instead, Sheyan’s eyes were fixated onto a chest in the middle of this hut.
This was a mediocre looking chest, nailed together by wooden slabs.
As it turns out, minute gold fragments, diamonds and other precious gems were embedded on its surface; making it appear somewhat out of place. One of the native then straightforwardly ran over, carried the chest over, and rocked it. However, he couldn’t open it and could only spread out his arms to express his helplessness.
Sheyan then retrieved it and noticed a large keyhole on this chest. Obviously, it was an extremely simple and crude keyhole.
Brother Black then located a random wooden twig, and toyed with the chest until it finally opened; revealing that the Ndipaya barbarians weren’t advanced in the area of anti-theft.
After opening it, they discovered a large sack of ‘Golden Sand’, which could be sold for 10,000 utility points.
There was another exceptionally queer stone slab inside the chest.
The stone slab’s material quality was roughly between metal and rock, and had an extremely sleek surface; as though it had been smoothed out several times. It was probably an item that had been safekept for generations, and after picking up the stone slab, the trio simultaneously received a notification.
[ You have acquired a "Broken Pa.s.sage Seal (1/4)". Only by piecing together the whole Pa.s.sage seal, will one receive the qualifications to enter the Ndipaya Tribe’s Inner Reaches ]