I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

After listening to Hua Zitong's analysis, Li Wu immediately felt more confident.

Indeed, his newly mastered [Insightful Purification Arrow] was practically created to counter all sorts of disgusting debuffs.

Highly poisonous? As long as it can be identified as an "abnormal state," he can dispel it!

"Alright, let's do it!" Li Wu's fighting spirit was ignited.

Without further delay, the two set off immediately, heading towards the misty swamp to the west of the village.

The entrance to the Misty Swamp is a sparse mangrove forest.

The further in you go, the muddier the terrain becomes, and the air begins to fill with a damp smell of rotting plants and moisture.

Grayish-white mist drifted through the forest, making visibility very low.

"Hiss—"

The two hadn't gone far into the swamp when a swamp serpent lurking in the mud suddenly sprang out, baring its fangs and lunging at Hua Zitong, who was walking ahead.

Hua Zitong reacted extremely quickly. Without even turning her head, she swung her sword sheath and precisely struck the snake's vital spot.

boom!

-88!

The venomous snake let out a scream and was instantly knocked unconscious.

Li Wu reacted swiftly, firing a burning arrow that precisely pierced the snake's head, taking away its last bit of health.

-289!

[System notification: You have killed the Swamp Serpent, gaining 20 experience points.]

"The monsters here, though not high level, are all cunning and like to ambush," Hua Zitong warned.

"Hmm." Li Wu nodded subconsciously, his attention completely focused on the other system notification that had just appeared.

[Ding! The talent 'Soul Devourer' has been successfully triggered!]

[You have successfully absorbed the life energy released by the swamp venomous snake. Luck +0.04, Intelligence +0.04]

When the talent is promoted to the legendary level, the luck and intelligence values ​​increase by a factor of 4!

In other words, his rate of improvement has increased once again!

Li Wu was overjoyed!

However, he didn't show it too obviously and continued to follow Hua Zitong forward.

With their previous experience, the two worked together even better.

Hua Zitong was responsible for leading the way, using her extraordinary senses to detect the dangers lurking in the shadows in advance.

Li Wu followed behind her, responsible for remotely eliminating the monsters that were discovered.

Along the way, they encountered many Swamp Stalkers and Venus Flytrap, but the two of them dealt with them easily.

These ordinary monsters, which were not even level 10, posed no threat whatsoever to the two level 12 "experts" with their excellent equipment.

Soon, they ventured deep into the heart of the swamp.

The surrounding fog became even thicker, to the point where you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.

The stench of decay in the air was mixed with a pungent, sweet, and fishy smell that made one feel dizzy and lightheaded.

[System notification: You have entered the 'Poisonous Miasma' area. You will lose 10 health points per second.]

A purple skull icon appeared in both players' status bars.

"This is it." Hua Zitong stopped in her tracks, her expression turning serious.

The miasma alone can cause 10 points of damage per second, which is indeed fatal for ordinary players.

But for Li Wu and Hua Zitong, this damage was nothing to worry about.

Li Wu didn't even bother using the Purification Arrow; he simply shot Hua Zitong with a Healing Arrow, which restored all the blood she had lost.

His own health is fully restored thanks to the passive effect of [Siphon Arrow], which allows him to replenish his health by killing just a few small monsters.

"The BOSS is in that poisonous pool ahead. Shall we go straight there?" Li Wu asked.

"No, don't rush." ​​Hua Zitong shook her head. "Before we kill the BOSS, we need to deal with some troublesome little things first."

"little things?"

Hua Zitong didn't explain, but pointed to a huge, completely dead mangrove tree not far away.

"Use explosive burning arrows to bombard the canopy of that tree."

Although Li Wu didn't understand, he still did as instructed.

He drew his bow, and a [Burning Arrow] whistled out, striking precisely the canopy of the massive, withered tree.

boom!

With a loud bang, flames shot into the sky.

At the very moment the flames erupted.

"Buzz—!!!"

A chilling, dense buzzing sound suddenly erupted from the burning canopy!

Immediately afterwards, a huge, dark cloud-like shadow surged out from the tree canopy and swept towards the location of Li Wu and Hua Zitong!

"Holy crap! It's a wasp!"

Upon closer inspection, Li Wu realized that the dark mass was actually made up of enormous hornets, each the size of a fist, with purple stingers!

Swamp Poison Bee

[Level: LV13]

【Life: 500】

Attack: 45

[Characteristics: Acts in groups; attacks are highly poisonous.]

There were at least a hundred of these venomous bees; it was enough to trigger trypophobia in anyone who saw them.

"These poisonous bees are the BOSS's 'guards'," Hua Zitong said calmly. "If we directly challenge the BOSS, they will be alerted. At that time, we will face an attack from both the BOSS and the swarm of bees, and we will surely die."

"Therefore, we must clean them up first."

That's it!

Li Wu suddenly realized.

This woman is so thoughtful.

"Leave it to me!"

Looking at the overwhelming swarm of bees, Li Wu's face showed no fear whatsoever, but rather a hint of excited smile.

Against monsters that are numerous but have low health, his [Explosive Burning Arrow] is simply a god-tier skill!

"Hua Zitong, step back, don't get caught in the crossfire!"

Li Wu shouted, then instead of retreating, he charged straight at the swarm of bees.

The arcane bow in his hand was drawn into a full moon, one after another.

hum!hum!hum!

One after another, burning arrows were fired at an extremely high frequency at the swarm of bees in the sky!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Terrifying explosions occurred one after another in mid-air!

Huge spherical flames exploded within the swarm, devouring the swamp bees in droves!

-278!

-286!

-289!

……

The damage numbers, densely packed, poured out of the swarm like a waterfall.

These level 13 poisonous bees were as fragile as paper under Li Wu's AOE bombardment, shattering at the slightest touch.

A "rain" of wasp corpses began to fall from the sky.

In less than thirty seconds.

Li Wu single-handedly slaughtered more than thirty swamp bees.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of charred corpses.

It also gave him 1 point of luck and intelligence!

"Done."

Li Wu clapped his hands, a hint of lingering satisfaction on his face.

The feeling of clearing out such a large area was just so exhilarating.

"Let's go, it's time to meet today's main character."

The two traversed the ravaged battlefield and continued deeper into the swamp.

Soon, the surrounding scenery changed again.

The vegetation on the ground had completely disappeared, replaced by a toxic pool that emitted purple bubbles and a foul stench.

The poisonous pool is very large, covering an area of ​​over a hundred square meters.

The pool water had an eerie dark green color, was as viscous as glue, and had some animal skeletons floating on it.

The poisonous miasma throughout the swamp seemed to emanate from this poisonous pool.

In the very center of the poisonous pool, an enormous black shadow was lurking.

It was a snake.

A giant snake, larger than anyone could imagine.

Its body is thicker than a bucket, and it sits in the poisonous pool. The part that is above the water is like a small mountain.

What's most striking is that it has nine ferocious snake heads growing on its neck!

Each snake head was the size of a millstone, its mouth filled with sharp, venomous fangs, and its scarlet eyes gleamed with cruelty and bloodlust.

[Highly Venomous Hydra (Wild Boss)]

[Level: LV15]

【Life: 20000】

Attack: 134

[Skill: Venom]

The moment Li Wu saw the giant snake, his heart skipped a beat.

Just its size and aura are far more terrifying than the previous [Contaminated Lake Spirit]!

However, its health and attack power are completely incomparable to Lake Spirit's!

"Are you ready?" Hua Zitong's voice rang in his ear.

"Hmm." Li Wu took a deep breath and nocked an arrow.

"Remember, we only have one chance."

Hua Zitong's expression also became extremely serious.

"Once the fighting begins, it cannot stop. It must be resolved in the shortest possible time!"