"Corruptors" was an umbrella term for a special category of mini-bosses. According to the game's lore, they were errant souls that were manipulated and twisted by the dark forces to do their biddings. As the name implied, they were mainly tasked with causing death and decay wherever they go, as well as corrupting the local flora and fauna to set the stage for the dark force's invasion.

All Corruptors shared some basic abilities. Besides quick and powerful limbs which they utilized in close to medium range fights, they had various hexes and curses. They could also control the corrupted animals to a limited degree. Their shared weaknesses were sunlight and items that are "blessed" such as holy water.

The similarity ended there. Each Corruptor had a different form, attack pattern, special attacks and spells based on which kind of soul they use to be. Most tend to be weak against magical attacks and resistant against physical attacks, but there are exceptions.

The figure in front of Manco, for example, had access to a rare spell called 『Soul Tethering』. For a limited duration, it would bind a character to a location and force them to respawn there upon death.

The spell was not a curse. In fact, it was often used as a support spell. Manco had more than once used Soul Tethering scrolls to save himself the trouble of running from the town to a boss location in case he died.

The Corruptor had just used the spell on him, forcing to respawn in this cave. Normally he would welcome it as saving him time. In this case, however, each time he died here, his equipment would lose some durability. Since he could not repair them, if he could not figure out how to beat this boss in time, his gears would break one by one and subsequent fights would only grow more difficult.

"Looks like I've only got a few tries, huh?" he muttered.

While the Corruptor was still busy monologuing, he went over his inventory, listing every item that could be of use in the fight. Aside from his weapons he had some trapping supplies.

- Crossbow

- Four types of bolts (regular, armor-piercing, sickle head, split-head), about 100 each

- Heavy dagger

- Minor poison (5 vials)

- Minor paralyzing potion (5 vials)

- Blessed morning dew (2 vials)

- Gwyndham's vial of water

- Sinew cord

- Ropes

- Silver-woven ropes

- Small net

- Stakes

He considered the geography again. The rocky chamber they were in was vaguely circular in shape, about 30 meters in diameter. The ceiling was uneven, from 2 meters to 10 meters high. The cottage was at the middle of the chamber. The narrow pathway he was dragged through was at the south edge. At this moment, the pathway was blocked by a boulder, next to which the Corruptor was standing. Manco was standing several meters away from it. The cottage was behind him, about 10 meters away.

In order to figure out the Corruptor's move set and attack patterns, he would probably have to die several times.

"… I'll rend your flesh from your bone, and swallow your soul!"

The Corruptor ended its speech and glared at Manco. Then it stood up to full heights and extended all of its limbs as if warming up.

Aside from the relatively human-looking arms and legs, it possessed two additional appendages on its back. These back-mounted limbs were a mix between insect legs and tentacles, having both solid joints and prehensile parts. They were thick at the base and slim at the tip and were about 2 to 2.5 meters long.

"I'm gonna enjoy this!" A growl came from its shrouded, featureless face.

*Whoosh!

Stepping forward, the Corruptor struck out with one of its back limbs.

Having been prepared, Manco ducked. The tip of the limb flew past his head with a blur. He retaliated with several mana bolts and retreated a few steps.

-3!

-2!

-3!

Cackling, the Corruptor walked towards Manco. Blocking the mana bolts with its limbs, it accelerated and closed in on him. 'This thing is resistant to magic attack,' he calmly noted, unsheathing his dagger.

-23!

-27!

The appendages from its back struck him square on the chest. Their tips were hardened and felt like two blunt spears. He was knocked flat on his back, wheezing for breath.

'Shit it's fast!' Cursing silently, he rolled to one side, barely avoiding an appendage stabbing down where his face had been a split second earlier. He slashed at the limb several times. He definitely hit something, but could barely feel any resistance, like he was hitting a bag of cotton.

-5!

+1

-6!

+1

'Healed by poison. Got it!' Manco concluded. Which makes sense, considering its nature. The paralyzing potion did not seem to work either.

Giggling as if tickled, the Corruptor jumped back toward the large boulder. Manco got to his feet, rubbing his chest. The few exchanges just now clearly ended in the Corruptor's favor.

"You're pretty fast! This is gonna be more fun than I thought!"

'Fun my ass!' He thought as he readied his crossbow and loaded a split-head bolt.

The Corruptor resumed its attack. It rushed straight in again.

*Twang!

-14!

-1

-1

...

As the bolt hit its torso, Manco dove out of its way. Loading an armor-piercing bolt he whirled around, fired, and scored another hit at its side for 7 damage. He fired the third bolt, but the thing swiftly retreated while swatting the bolt out of the air.

Keeping itself at a safe distance, the Corruptor began pulling out the bolts. The armor-piercing bolt came out easily, but the split-head one made it struggle somewhat. As the name implied, after striking the body, the two blades hidden in the head would expand outward so that removing the bolt would gouge flesh out of the wound.

"Graaaagh!"

-13!

-1!

-1!

...

With a pained grunt, the Corruptor forcefully yanked out the split-head bolt, which carried with it a chunk of black flesh. A tar-like substance oozed from the wound, which closed after a few moments.

"Not bad, not bad," bobbing its head, the thing commented.

Having apparently decided against toying with him more, the Corruptor pressed its assault fiercely this time.

All its limbs were a blur. The two human-like hands sprouted razor-sharp claws, which Manco could barely block or dodge. The back limbs apparently had a mind of their own, slipping through his defenses and either tripped him or attacked him from bizarre angles.

A back limb curled around his left foot and pulled hard. Falling on his face, Manco struggled to adjust himself. Twisting its body, the Corruptor flung him away like a stick. Tumbling head over feet in a rough landing, he could barely get his feet on the ground when they were swept out from under him. As he was struggling to recover from the dizzy state, the thing grabbed him up by his feet and lifted him up so that they were face to face.

Looking at him, it sneered: "Is that all you got, human?"

Then one of its clawed arms swiped at his face, ending his life.

〔 You have died. Cause of death: Killed by a Corruptor (unique variant) 〕

〔 Item durability decreased. Please avoid dying too often 〕

〔 No items dropped for characters below level 20 〕

〔 Time until respawn: 4m55s 〕

〔► To Menu 〕〔 Log out 〕

Manco hit Return to menu.

In the menu room, there were two raised platforms representing two character slots that he could use for free.

Suspending on one of the platforms was the character named Manco. His eyes were closed as if sleeping. Hovering next to him was a timer counting down until he would be respawned.

〔 4:42 〕

〔 4:41 〕

...

Stepping closer to his character, Mahn Li opened the inventory.

All equipped armor and weapon each had the durability reduced by 5 or 6 points, much higher than a normal death. It would take about 5 more deaths for the piece of equipment with the lowest durability - the crossbow - to break.

In the probing fight just now he did not use any health or mana potion, except for one Redberries juice vial after entering the cave.

Furrowing his brows, Mahn Li mentally listed the things he had learned.

- His health pool was too low. Just a casual swipe was enough to wipe out a sixth of his health bar.

- Tanking was impossible while dodging and parrying attacks were also difficult. He could not keep up with four limbs at close range. He could conceivably avoid or parry the two arms, but the two back limbs were nearly impossible to defend against: they could easily bend around his limbs or weapon.

- Fighting at close range was, therefore, nearly suicidal, so he tried to keep a distance. However, much to his dismay, he was not able to keep the abomination at a distance. Although he was reasonably fast, the thing was a lot faster and more agile. Adding in its long limbs and the flat, featureless terrain, it could always easily close in on him.

Rubbing his chin, he opened his character sheet.

〕 ===〘 Pri. attributes 〙

>>> Free attribute points: 27

> Strength: 8

> Awareness: 15

> Coordination: 12

> Intelligence: 50

> Willpower: 28

> Constitution: 8

> Charisma: 11

〕 ===〘 Sec. attributes 〙

> HP: 120/120

>> HP regen: + 0.9/s (0.6/s + 50% Well-fed)

> SP: 140/140

>> SP regen: + 1.05/s (0.7/s + 50% Well-fed)

> MP: 640/640

>> MP regen: + 9.6/s (6.4/s + 50% Well-rested)

Right now he might have a few choices for defense, either adding Constitution to tank it better, or pumping Strength and Coordination for better speed.

After weighing his options, he decided against improving Constitution. Having a few dozen more health points would only help him last a few seconds longer, a drop in the ocean considering the fight last at least half an hour.

Eventually, He put 7 points into Strength, 5 into Coordination for increased movement speed and 2 into Awareness to improve his reflexes.

〔STR 8 ► 15 〕

〔AWA 15 ► 17 〕

〔COR 12 ► 17 〕

Free attribute points: 27 ► 13

〔► Confirm 〕〔 Cancel 〕

'What about offense? What can I do?' Mahn Li mused after confirming the changes.