Since Mysterious had already reached Level 10, he gained zero experience from monsters in BeginnerVillage. Drops remained unaffected, but gear wasn’t his goal—he actively avoided every creature along his path.
"Actively" avoiding them wasn’t difficult; monsters didn’t densely block his way. Not once did he draw his Novice Sword.
Mysterious retraced his steps to where he’d encountered the Jungle Heavy Lizard King last night. As a Superbeing, his memory was exceptional. Though their meeting was brief, he recalled the exact spot.
"Hmm… right here. Then… this direction." After scanning the surroundings, he quickly pinpointed the Lizard King’s escape route.
Frowning slightly after confirming the precise bearing, Mysterious strode forward. Unaware of the beast’s nest or territory, he could only follow its trail. In this tangled forest, such tracking was near impossible—one slight deviation meant missing the mark entirely, not to mention the Lizard King might have changed direction. Only Mysterious could recall its path with absolute precision.
He had no other option. Though EndlessHorizon boasted high realism, it was still a game. The Lizard King’s footprints and disturbances had long since reset. In reality, a five-meter-long beast would leave unmistakable traces.
Yet the Lizard King had traveled from this forest all the way to the canyon south of the village—stealing from the Gale Wolf King. Its territory seemed absurdly vast. Finding it here would be incredibly difficult.
Fortunately—or perhaps due to quest design—after passing through spawn zones for Levels 7, 8, and 9 monsters, Mysterious finally encountered the Jungle Heavy Lizard King at the border of Level 9 and 10 areas.
"*Hssss—!*" The Lizard King seemed to be strolling. It froze upon seeing Mysterious, then unleashed a hiss thick with menace. It lowered its body, poised for battle.
"Long time no see." Having found his target, Mysterious waved like greeting an old friend, ignoring whether the beast understood.
"*Hssss—!*" The Lizard King’s hiss was its only reply.
This was their second meeting—they’d even fought before—but the Lizard King didn’t attack. Instead, it grew even warier of Mysterious.
(Incidentally, though Mysterious had slain the Dark Fiend and foiled its scheme, the village animals remained frenzied. Presumably, the goblin’s poison hadn’t worn off yet.)
In just one night, the Lizard King’s two wounds had fully healed, new scales replacing the old. Only their brighter hue hinted this was the same beast—unlike the Gale Wolf King, whose injuries showed no sign of recovery.
This confirmed Mysterious’s suspicion: the orb the Jungle Heavy Lizard King had carried was indeed the Holy Light Heart stolen from the Gale Wolf King.
In EndlessHorizon, wild monsters couldn’t rapidly heal damage inflicted by other monsters—the Wolf King proved that. Holy Light’s healing power was legendary. Only the Holy Light Heart could restore the Lizard King so completely, even regrowing its scales.
If the orb wasn’t the Holy Light Heart, Mysterious would have to track down the Wolf King. Though it was his quest item, EndlessHorizon’s extreme freedom meant other players might have looted it after killing the Wolf King… The Lizard King traveling such distances to fight was proof enough of that freedom.
Now only one question remained: Where had the Lizard King hidden the Holy Light Heart?
Normally, killing the designated monster would drop the quest item—no risk of theft. But given how the Lizard King had stolen it from the Wolf King, that guarantee felt shaky.
Especially since Village Chief Saya’s quest explicitly forbade killing the Lizard King.
As Mysterious pondered his next move, the Lizard King roared again—then attacked.
Mysterious charged forward, drawing his sword while dodging Earth Spikes erupting from the ground. He didn’t know the solution yet, but this was a Nightmare-tier quest. Fighting was inevitable. Since the Lizard King struck first, Mysterious wouldn’t hold back… Come to think of it, it had attacked first during their initial encounter too.
Besides, facing him was an 11th-Level Elite monster—the highest-tier threat possible in BeginnerVillage, or rather, impossible to encounter here. Against such an opponent, "holding back" was laughable when victory wasn’t guaranteed even at full strength.
During their first fight, the Lizard King’s injuries had slowed it. Now fully healed, its speed had increased significantly—but Mysterious, now Level 10 with gear upgrades, was also far stronger than before.
Seeing Mysterious charge, the Lizard King launched a few token Earth Spikes to hinder him. When Mysterious dodged and closed in, it swung its claws horizontally.
Facing the same attack as last time, Mysterious didn’t repeat his prior defense. Instead, he leaped without slowing, clearing the claws. Gripping his Novice Sword with both hands, he channeled his momentum and weight into a downward slash onto the Lizard King’s back.
[-1]
[-11]
Gray and red damage numbers floated above the Lizard King’s head—the first from Mysterious’s strike, the second from Reaper’s Mercy’s armor-ignoring bonus. With Reaper’s Mercy and his gear, Mysterious’s attack power had surpassed 50, rivaling average Level 10 players.
Unfortunately, his blow failed to pierce the Lizard King’s armor. Scale-covered creatures had far higher defense than fleshy ones—until their scales were broken. Combined with 1-Level suppression and Elite stats, even Mysterious’s full-strength attack couldn’t scratch the scales.
"*ROOOAR—!!*" The Lizard King bellowed in fury after being struck.
Mysterious disengaged, dodging its tail whip and creating distance. His inability to break its defense was part of his plan.
As the Lizard King turned, Mysterious pulled a small wooden flask from his pack. He yanked the stopper and downed its contents.
It wasn’t a healing or buff potion—it was malt liquor borrowed from Gray, the general store owner.
**Malt Liquor (Common)**
*Brewed from malt. Low alcohol content, but excessive consumption causes drunkenness.*
*Effect: Level Suppression -1 for 5 minutes (Effective below Level 10)*
*Drinking over 5 bottles within 60 minutes triggers drunkenness.*
Before leaving the village, Mysterious had visited Gray and Fengmian, the apothecary. As old comrades of Hu’s group, they’d readily aided his quest to retrieve the Holy Light Heart for Vivian.
Fengmian gave him two stacks of 24 Common Healing Potions (30 HP/sec over 10 sec), one stack of Common Mana Potions (10 MP/sec over 10 sec), and three Mini Emergency Potions (instant 200 HP heal). Regular shops only sold slow-heal potions; instant heals required the Alchemy profession.
From Gray, he’d taken two bear traps, ten throwing knives, and one Mini Bomb… but swapped the traps for five Malt Liquors after seeing their effect.
Mysterious grimaced after emptying the flask—he disliked the taste of alcohol.
As he drank, the Lizard King finished turning and unleashed Earth Spikes.
Dodging the spikes while closing in, Mysterious exploited the brief recovery time after its attack. He accelerated, closing the gap to deliver a Fierce Strike on the Lizard King’s left foreclaw.
[-1]
[-11]
The damage numbers—and the unmarked scales where he struck—cruelly confirmed his attack’s futility. Even without level suppression, the Lizard King remained a Tier-1 Elite monster, impervious to casual harm.
Unfazed by the lack of effect, Mysterious darted to its flank and slashed at the softer scales on its belly. Sparks flew as his blade scraped the armor, dealing 12 damage. Though still failing to break defense, the forced damage was 12 times higher—a small consolation.
The Lizard King’s scales proved absurdly resilient. By the time the first Malt Liquor’s effect faded, Mysterious hadn’t left a single scratch.
Seeing this, he abandoned drinking a second bottle. The liquor induced a faint dizziness, like real drunkenness. If he couldn’t pierce its defense without suppression, more alcohol was pointless.
Conversely, Mysterious proved how terrifyingly effective a Superbeing was in close combat. For five full minutes, he danced around the Lizard King, attacking relentlessly. Not once was he hit. He even focused strikes on one spot—but still failed to break the scales.
His attacks weren’t useless, though. Over five minutes, he whittled away over 1,000 HP in 12-point increments. But against the Lizard King’s 10,000+ HP pool, it felt insignificant.
Since focused attacks couldn’t break its defense, Mysterious stopped targeting specific spots. Unrestricted, his damage output surged immediately.
Originally, the damage per minute was just over 200. But after freeing up his output environment, it instantly more than tripled, reaching a terrifying 700 points.
Mysterious’s Novice Sword rained down on the Jungle Heavy Lizard King like a relentless storm, clanging incessantly as it steadily whittled down the beast’s health bar. The Jungle Heavy Lizard King was furious, trying every possible move to strike Mysterious, but it couldn’t even graze the hem of his robe. Its seemingly fierce counterattacks posed no real threat to him.
At Mysterious’s current damage output rate, he should have depleted the Jungle Heavy Lizard King’s ten-thousand-plus HP in under half an hour… Yet after ten minutes, the monster’s health bar hadn’t decreased further; it remained almost exactly where it was ten minutes ago.
But this wasn’t because Mysterious failed to deal effective damage, nor because the forced damage had stopped working. Instead… the Jungle Heavy Lizard King had started regenerating its health.
