42 Abes Forest 2 (1/2)

”Am I far enough now?” thought Li Wei. He ran for a full 5 minutes, in case the boa would chase after him. Only then did he finally relax, dying there would be catastrophic, he would be sent to the graveyard at Algate City but his horse would remain there, not only making his trip a waste but he would also have to pay a fine.

He let out a sigh of relief when he did not see anything chasing after him. Catching up his breath for a moment, Li Wei resumed exploring the area for more Shining Alyssums. He finally had one but needed 4 more to upgrade his ring.

The forest was vast; Shining Alyssums were not the only plants he could collect. Many wild herbs and fruits could also be seen. Li Wei hesitated whether to collect those or not, he had limited inventory space after all but in the end, he decided to collect all of them since he could just toss them away if he needed space. He did not know the price of these items nor their uses, but the more the better.

It did not take long for the area around Li Wei to be emptied of all the collectible resources, especially the wild berry bushes he found. But he did not dare stay for too long in a specific area. Beasts were still roaming around and could kill him easily.

An hour later, Li Wei finally came across his 3rd and 4th Shining Alyssums. He had already found another one after the boa's, in an open area. Since he did not find any beasts nearby, Li Wei stealthily grabbed the lonely flower and added it to his inventory.

Now, Li Wei was hiding inside a bush under the shade of a tree. In front of him, at about 20 meters, two Shining Alyssums was basking into the sunlight. The only problem was, a flock of Scarlet Macaws was playing around the open area. The Scarlet Macaws were level 13 birds. They stood among the weakest beasts of this forest but were very sly and always remained in groups.

The Scarlet Macaws were similar to the parrots near Little Root Town. They had weak bodies and would easily fall after a few strikes but they had relatively high levels due to their ability to fly and sneak attacking. They were basically good targets for rangers but the bane of other classes.

In front of Li Wei, 3 Scarlet Macaws were flying in circles, chasing each other. Another group just left the area going deeper into the forest. 3 Scarlet Macaws definitely represented a challenge for Li Wei but it was not impossible.

Li Wei was not thinking of defeating the 3 Scarlet Macaws, that would take a lot of effort and involved too many risks, he just wanted to sneakily take away the Shining Alyssum. Slowly brushing past the leaves, Li Wei took a few steps forward, keeping a reasonable distance from the 3 birds and the flowers.

When he finally estimated that he was in the right spot, Li Wei put back one sword in his inventory before grabbing 2 throwing needles in 1 hand. Taking one last look at the surroundings to make sure nothing will go wrong, he broke into a sprint towards the Shining Alyssums.

The 3 Scarlet Macaws immediately noticed the intruder, they immediately stopped playing and shrieked loudly. Scarlet Macaws were very protective of their territory and now, someone was invading it. They immediately gained some height to get a better view of that invader.

As the Scarlet Macaws saw that it was only a human, and a weak one at that, they became furious, how could a puny human invade their territory? The 3 Scarlet Macaws simultaneously dived towards Li Wei. But they instantly saw a ray of light leave the hand of the human and fly towards them.

By instinct, they immediately broke their formation and scattered to avoid the ray of light. Taking a look, they quickly saw that it was a shiny piece of metal, but they did not have time to observe it properly as another ray of light was leaving the human's hand.

The 3 Scarlet Macaws immediately became more cautious, they evaded the attack and prepared to attack the human when they suddenly noticed something. The intruder just grabbed the Shining Alyssums of their territory.

”Shriekk”

Enraged, they immediately charged at the human thief but were only greeted by 2 more throwing needles. They made a quick spin to avoid the needles but this time, they did not retreat but instead gave chase to the thief.

Li Wei was very satisfied, ”already 4... I only need to find one more” said Li Wei to himself, but he did not have much time to enjoy himself as the 3 Scarlet Macaws were flying towards him.

He immediately threw 2 more throwing needles before escaping as fast as he could. Some of the needles he threw earlier already came back to his belt. The enchantment was very useful, there was just a small delay to the activation of the enchantment, they would only return 5 seconds after landing somewhere.

”Shriekk Shriekk”, behind him, Li Wei could hear the flapping of the wings of the Scarlet Macaws and their high pitched screams. They were clearly calling for reinforcement, he did not dare delay.

Using his sword, Li Wei quickly moved aside some branches in front of him as he continued to run as fast as possible. Fortunately, the forest was not very dense, so Li Wei could clearly see in front of him and avoid the obstacles but that also meant that the Scarlet Macaws could easily see him.

He tried to throw more needles at the Scarlet Macaws, but doing that was very hard when he was running, especially since he did not want to slow down to properly aim behind him. The Scarlet Macaws were slowly closing the gaps between them, and surely, Li Wei suddenly rolled to the side, barely avoiding the peck of one of the Scarlet Macaws.

”These birds are really persistent huh!” thought Li Wei. But there was nothing he could do, quickly getting up, he tried to escape once more.

But another Scarlet Macaw flew in front of him to block the way. ”Shriek” It immediately flew to peck Li Wei.

”Since you want to get into attack range yourself, then come,” exclaimed Li Wei in his heart. He immediately grabbed his other sword from his inventory and took a defensive stance.

As the Scarlet Macaw's beak was about to land on his chest, Li Wei quickly raised his swords in an X shape to protect him. But the other 2 Scarlet Macaws were not idle, they both quickly attacked from different angles, one aiming at his shoulder and another at his leg.

Jumping to the side, Li Wei slashed his swords at the 2 Scarlet Macaws trying to sneak attack him. They easily dodged the swords by simply changing their trajectory, one retreated while the other continued forward and landed a few pecks on Li Wei,”-17”,”-15”.

But as the Scarlet Macaw was about to retreat, Li Wei mercilessly stroke his sword at the bird's wing,”-21”, taking away about a third of its HP.

The Scarlet Macaw was surprised and disoriented but Li Wei did not have time to follow up as the other 2 Scarlet Macaw immediately came to rescue their friend.

Thinking that the Scarlet Macaws would drop the matter, Li Wei once again tried to escape but the birds were vengeful, not only did the human steal from them but he also injured one of them. They quickly chased after him but this time, were more cautious.

”F***, these birds really won't let me leave”