Chapter 38 - SILENT MARSH
LUO YAN dashed towards a monster and then slashed using the left dagger and then he immediately followed it with a slash using the other dagger. He then finished it off with a horizontal slash using both daggers. The monster immediately dissipated.
He looked down at his hand holding the twin daggers, a bit dissatisfied. The action he did just now was similar to one of the active skills of the Assassin class - Triple Rush. It's one of the active skills he could clearly remember when he was still playing the PC version. It could inflict damage to enemies by slashing three times as you rushed. The faster your speed, the more damage you could inflict to your opponent.
But just now, it didn't really give the effect he wanted. His speed was probably still too slow. Which meant that he really needed to be an Assassin first before he could perform the active skills he remembered. He could still immitate those skills but it wouldn't give him the desired effect he wanted. This result was not really that surprising. He just wanted to test it. Now that he knew the result, he would no longer ponder over it.
He continued moving forward and just kill the monsters he met normally.
Luo Yan was on his way towards the area where the Silent Marsh was located. It was on the West side of the Crescent Woodlands. He didn't evade all the monsters that came his way. He fought them head-on. It was another good way to grind levels.
By the time he reached the area of the Silent Marsh, he leveled up again. Now he's level 13. He smiled and was quite satisfied with this. Then he went and walked towards the Silent Marsh.
The moment he did, he truly understood why it was called that way. Because, just like what the Elder told him, there was literally no sound around. He couldn't even hear the swishing of the leaves or any other sounds at all. Add that to the dark envinronment and it just made this place more eerie. Not to mention, so much creepier. Even if he didn't want to, it still gave him goosebumps.
Luo Yan took a deep breath and finally looked around. Just like what its name said, the place was a marshland. It was wet and damp, dominated by herbacious rather than woody plant species. On the far right, he could see a lake. It was not too big but not too small either. The huge moon above could be reflected on its surface.
He continued to look around, searching for that cave the Elder told him about. Almost instantly, he saw it at the far end. Even at this distance, he could see that it's a big cave. If he stood in front of it, it would probably look much bigger. Well, it was able to house a dragon, so it's only natural for it to be big.
Luo Yan decided to search the surroundings first. If he didn't find Filli, then he would grit his teeth and enter the dragon's cave. He first went to the direction of his left. As he did, he truly couldn't hear anything at all. Not even his own footsteps.
Wait- not even his footsteps?
If he remembered correctly, the Elder said that this place was 'silent' because the surrounding monsters were afraid to wake up the dragon. He could understand that. But his footsteps? Don't tell him that his footsteps have its own conciousness and it was also afraid of the dragon? Because that's just bull. Then how about the trees and the plants around this place?
Could there be other reason why this place was so quiet?
Before thinking more about that problem, he decided to complete his search first. After meticulously going through the west area, he found nothing out of the ordinary.
Then he went to the area where the lake was. He didn't notice at first when he first entered the Silent Marsh, but there were small silver lights floating above the lake. It looked quite beautiful. At one glance, one would think that these silver lights were similar to lights emitted by fireflies. But when Luo Yan looked at it carefully, they were actually very, very small glowing flowers. Its appearance was almost similar to the round seed head of a dandelion flower.
Luo Yan tried to look where these silver lights were coming from and he saw a silver lotus at the center of the lake. It emitted a faint silvery glow. Those silver lights were obviously coming from the silver lotus. He became even more curious. So he went and poked one of the glowing silver lights.
The moment he did, the silver light suddenly bursted. And then a gray smoke appeared and enveloped Luo Yan's whole body. All at once, he felt that his whole body was paralyzed. He couldn't even move a finger. No, more accurately, it's like his whole body was turned into a suspended state.
Then he fell straight into the lake.
The feeling of drowning immediately filled him. He wanted to close his eyes but his whole body couldn't move. Then he saw something - or rather, someone - floating below the silver lotus. The person's body was tied by the roots of the silver lotus.
It was the missing Filli!
His eyes were open but there wasn't any light in them. His whole atmosphere seemed lifeless. As if the silver lotus was slowly consuming his vitality.
Then several roots of the lotus rushed towards Luo Yan. Because he couldn't move, he was easily constrained by the roots. The tighter it got, the more his HP decreased. He couldn't do anything at all. Until everything around him suddenly turned black. A status window appeared in front of him.
[Dear player, you currently don't have any HP left. Would you like to return to the nearest resurrection point?]
Luo Yan widened his eyes in disbelief. He actually died?!