Chapter 97: Secret Card

Chapter 97

Secret Card

Boom!!

The explosion from the Fire-eyed Yellow Cat impacted the tree where Ellie was perched. The blast radius covered more than 1 square meter. Fortunately, Ellie had slashed down the beast before it exploded, causing the blast to occur at the trunk of the large tree, affecting some of the other Fire-eyed Yellow Cats nearby.

Ellie used the tree fork to steady herself, while with her other hand she tried to fend off the approaching Fire-eyed Yellow Cats, now less than a meter away. Despite her having already taken down the first 3, their numbers were still over 10, rendering her initial attacks less effective. Some of the cats were faster, letting their companions to attack from below the tree while they leapt from adjacent trees to assault Ellie from her blind spots.

Of course, the cats didn’t know that Ellie had a detection ability like a surveillance camera, allowing her to evade all their attacks. Even so, their well-coordinated attacks posed a significant challenge for her. If it weren’t for the power of her purple mushrooms, she might have already been swarmed and killed.

When she felt she couldn’t handle the rear attack, she let the spores of the purple mushrooms take over, buying her a little more time. Meanwhile, she wielded her sword fiercely against the enemies. Unfortunately, her sword wasn’t of the highest grade; otherwise, the beasts might have fallen with a single strike.

Swish! Swish!

The sword in her hand slashed forward with increasing proficiency. Despite this, the dangers of close combat took their toll on her several times. Small wounds from missing scratches made Ellie’s body visibly weary. If it weren’t for her desire to train without revealing her identity, she might have already pulled out her rake to fight with abandon.

"Rawrr!!!" As Ellie leaned forward to deal with a Fire-eyed Yellow Cat in front of her, a roar from behind forced her to twist mid-tree. The sudden movement, combined with the effects of the previous explosion, caused her to lose her footing. The branch she had initially stepped on had been blown to bits, leaving her legs dangling with no support.

The girl spun until she was hanging upside down, barely escaping attacks from both sides. The Fire-eyed Yellow Cats paused in confusion before realizing their target was now the girl dangling from the tree.

"Tch!!"

Ellie felt a bit frustrated. She had made a mistake. Since arriving in this world, her body wasn’t strong enough to fight without error, despite her days of training. Her agility was still lacking, not to mention her previous life as an office worker. Back then, finding 30 minutes a day to exercise was an achievement. Some days she only had 3 hours of rest, leaving no time to train her body for flexibility!

"Gather!" The small figure had no time to think twice. The beasts swarmed, aiming to tear her arm from the tree, while others prepared to leap at her, hoping to latch onto her face and rip Ellie’s head off.

With only 2 seconds to spare, Ellie called upon the power she trusted most in this world: her "faithful Purple Mushroom."

Upon hearing the command to gather, the little purple mushrooms, which were diligently absorbing power as the spores, sprang together at her call. In an instant, the nearly invisible spores began to take shape. The mental connection between Ellie and the mushrooms was strong; they were linked in spirit. So, before the purple mushrooms were fully ready, Ellie had already anticipated their move and let herself fall.

Above, the Fire-eyed Yellow Cats also fell because their target had suddenly decided to let go from such a height. The cats roared, unafraid of the fall since their bodies had an agile movement. When fell, they could handle it with minimal damage. However, their target was the human, Ellie, who dared to attack them. No matter what...they intended to tear her throat out, killing her like she had done to their fallen comrades!

Unexpectedly, a strange creature suddenly appeared on the ground. It resembled mushrooms they’d seen before but with bizarre colors. Not only was the color of the mushroom unusual, but its body expanded from nothingness to a size of 1 and a half meters in just 3 seconds. It was astonishing.

Thud!

Ellie’s small body landed on the head of the large mushroom. Its softness provided her with comfort. She had wondered what would happen to her body after falling from over 15 meters. It wouldn’t have been good if she ended up a broken mess.

"Phew!" A sigh of relief escaped the girl’s lips. Meanwhile, the cats that fell with her were utterly confused. They knew the purple entity seemed dangerous, but it was too late to avoid it now.

Thud!! Thump!

The cats’ bodies landed safely on the mushroom’s cap. However, just as they were about to descend from the level 3 Purple Mushroom, their eyes hadn’t even had a chance to adjust before the mushroom had already swallowed them up, disintegrating them into dust.

Naturally, this decomposition was on Ellie’s command. Her Purple Mushroom seemed quite pleased with this delicious treat, and its gaze conveyed a clear desire for more.

Unfortunately, no matter how much the Purple Mushroom gave her an eager look, these cats were the opponents Ellie had initially set her eyes on. Thus, before the Purple Mushroom could devour all the cats, she needed to hone her combat skills first.

The Fire-eyed Yellow Cats, having witnessed their comrades become food so easily, refrained from attacking swiftly. Some retreated to avoid confronting the strange power of the Purple Mushroom, while others remained unyielding, circling and looking for an opportunity to strike.

Ellie knew she couldn’t fight them one-on-one, so she entrusted her back to the now 2-meter-tall Purple Mushroom, instructing it to decompose any beasts that attacked as its food. The mushroom relished this order.

Focusing on the enemies waiting in front, Ellie stepped away slightly from the mushroom, bent down to retrieve a chain knife she had discarded earlier, and yanked out the unlucky cat. She readied herself for another round of battle.

Clang, clang, swoosh!

Ellie wrapped the chain around her arm to facilitate movement. The 200-gold-coin knife was quite affordable considering its quality. Both the length of the chain and the sharpness of the blade should have made it heavy, but it posed no problem for someone with arms as thin as toothpicks like hers.

Swoosh, swoosh.

Using the chain’s momentum to increase her attack force, her goal was no longer to pierce through the beasts’ bodies but merely to inflict wounds.

Ellie planned that after returning to Erel City this time, she would switch her weapon to a chain flail with spiked balls to increase the damage inflicted, or perhaps a chain sickle if the weight wasn’t too much. A whip capable of inflicting wounds might be even better. All these options would need to be tested again. With woman frail body, she could only wield a few types of weapons effectively.

"Meow!!" The first Fire-eyed Yellow Cat found an opportune moment after circling the girl three or four times. It finally realized that the scary Purple Mushroom wasn’t moving. Despite its intimidating appearance, the large mushroom didn’t attack, meaning it wasn’t truly an enemy. So, for the Fire-eyed Yellow Cat, its only enemy was the girl!

Ellie was already cautious. Seeing the beast move to attack, she immediately prepared to counter. Instead of throwing her knife directly, she used the movement and spread her palm forward. The previous chain momentum enhanced her attack. Ellie aimed her strike horizontally, targeting the cat’s belly, the most vulnerable spot.

The small beast was very quick. After leaping into the air, it had about 3 seconds before reaching Ellie. She threw her knife just as it jumped, but the sweeping motion had its time. Therefore, the slightly excessive sweep to the front caused the blade to only graze its hind legs instead of the sensitive belly.

Whoosh!!

Knowing her attack wouldn’t stop the cat, so Ellie quickly dodged!

She stepped back just 2 steps, allowing her to evade the attack given the beast’s small size. However, the Fire-eyed Yellow Cat didn’t give up. Seeing its attack fail to harm its enermy, it leaped again.

Ellie remained focused, tracking every movement through the spores on the ground. The injury to the cat’s hind leg weakened its attack. She gauged the leap’s distance accurately, then pulled the chain back. This was precisely why she chose a chain knife initially.

As it was pulled back swiftly, the sharp knife tip straightened and plunged into the enemy without the enemy realizing it. Before the Fire-eyed Yellow Cat’s claws could reach her, Ellie stabbed it from behind!

Luckily, the beast hadn’t had the chance to use its eye-exploding skill, otherwise, Ellie might have sustained some minor injuries. However, this method of fighting could only be used against the Fire-eyed Yellow Cats once.

Seeing their comrade killed this way, and realizing that the terrifying mushroom wasn’t moving, as long as they avoided attacks from behind, they could proceed. So, the cats regrouped.

Although there was no data indicating their strength in coordinated attacks, Ellie couldn’t help but admire their teamwork. With such relentless attacks, if a lone hunter without many secret cards encountered them, they might not survive.

"Yowl!!"

"Meow!!" The Fire-eyed Yellow Cats roared as if signaling each other. In an instant, their small bodies lunged at Ellie in unison!

The girl prepared herself for their attack. However, something unexpected occurred. The spores detected the presence of someone she wanted to avoid on the path she had taken earlier.

Ellie wanted to continue fighting the cats but didn’t want to reveal her secret card, the large Purple Mushroom. So, what should have been a prolonged battle had to end abruptly. Ellie silently apologized to the Fire-eyed Yellow Cats for misleading them into thinking it would be a fair fight!

In an instant, the Purple Mushroom leaped forward, crushing all the unsuspecting beasts to death at once. Those further away were attacked by spores, decomposing completely.

After issuing these commands, Ellie’s small figure vanished into the forest. The 2-meter-tall mushroom disintegrated into more than 1 hundred thousand tiny spores, which floated in the air, trying to hide in the bushes or the ground.

Just 1 minute after Ellie had left, a tall, lean figure in a full cloak appeared. It was that large man! Initially, he had followed her to the wrong location, but after encountering a pack of beasts and finding no traces of a fight, he realized she hadn’t gone that way.

So, he retraced his steps and started over. Although it took him more than 1 hour, he finally felt that he was close to the position of the novice hunter he wanted to befriend.Noticing the fresh bloodstains of the beasts, he deduced that the small-framed young hunter couldn’t have gone far....