After the Forest Mother’s disappearance, the cavern was completely dark except for the puddle of water she’d been sitting in. Previously, it had glowed light green with the life energy mixed in, but now it looked a sickly purple, lighting up the cavern in an ominous hue. I moved closer, curious as to what the Forest Mother had left behind. As I approached, I was met with a new system alert.

Corrupted Sap of the Forest Mother

Rarity: Quest

Type: Poison

Effect: When applied to a weapon, inflicts a weakening debuff to your foe that doubles incoming damage for 5 seconds. Stacks in duration. Only affects corrupted forest creatures.

Cannot be traded.

Harvest? Yes/No

Hell yes! I’d assumed I wouldn’t be able to get any consumables to buff my Apply Venom skill during the tutorial, but I’d guessed wrong. I quickly selected ‘Yes,’ and thirty Vials of Corrupted Sap were added to my inventory. Games sure were great for avoiding the inconveniences of real life. No need for vials to collect the poison with, and no need to actually fill the vials myself. Automating the boring parts was gaming at its finest.

Once I’d collected all of the Corrupted Sap, the pool in front of me emptied out, but the light still didn’t disappear completely. Instead, the dull purple glow remained, emanating from a pulsating bundle of thorned vines at the bottom of the pool. As I reached out, the vines pulled away from my hand, letting me grasp what they were holding inside.

I pulled out a beautifully crafted dagger that looked like a perfect melding of metal and nature, odd as that sounds. The hilt looked like rough wood you could find on any forest floor, but it was oddly comfortable to the touch. The pommel was a bright purple flower bud with vined tendrils shooting upwards along the hilt to the blade. Halfway along the length of the eight-inch-long blade, it seamlessly transitioned from polished wood to a shining blue metal.

Rage of the Forest Mother

Rarity: Epic

Type: Dagger

Requirements: Level 10

Damage: 30-37

+20 Strength

Furious over the deaths of her children, the Forest Mother no longer cares whether she lives or dies. She simply wishes to see the demise those who thought her easy prey.

Cannot be traded.

And here I thought the Hell difficulty was going to be hard! Instead it’s giving me everything I need to complete the quest smoothly… which makes me very, VERY suspicious. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to take it, though. Newly equipped with my second dagger, I stumbled my way out of the cave. There wasn’t enough light to see by, but I could tell the general direction I had to go because my life energy guide was now showing me the way to the Heart of the Forest. There was one thing that hadn’t escaped my notice, though. The quest objectives no longer told me to avoid enemy patrols, and it just so happened I was in need of some combat practice before I took on what I assumed was the boss monster here. It was time to go hunting

***

Crouching up in the tree, I gazed down at the clearing in front of me, waiting for my prey. I’d just killed one of the Demonic Watchers to attract the Devil in the camp. It might have been easier to kill him if he wasn’t on guard, but I wasn’t confident in approaching melee range without being discovered. Hence, laying an ambush with their own sentries was my best bet. I waited until I heard the Devil approaching in the distance and casted Shadowmeld, blending into the darkness of the forest canopy.

Soon, the devil entered my line of sight, running towards the site of the slain Watcher. He slowed down a good distance away and started moving more carefully, but it was too late. I’d hidden in between the Watcher and the camp, so even as he crouched down, I dropped on him from above. Twisting Fangs!

I stabbed my daggers into either side of his neck as I fell, letting gravity help me in maiming him as much as possible. The system awarded my efforts with a ‘Critical Hit!’ notification as purple blood burst from the Devil’s neck. A health bar appeared above his head, already short 30% from my brutal opening attack. Two stacks of Poison and two stacks of Bleeding started ticking damage as I swung for the gap in his plate armor under his armpits. He turned around in surprise, shouting something unintelligible as he raised his arm to block my strike. My first dagger bounced off his upraised arm, but my second dagger quickly followed, burying itself in his face. The first blow dealt negligible damage, but the hit to the face along with the ticking debuffs stripped another 40% of his health bar away. With only 30% of his health remaining, the fight was looking like an easy win.

The Devil’s shock and pain quickly turned to rage as he used his other arm to draw his sword, swinging at my unarmored knee. I wasn’t able to react quick enough, and pain coursed through me as the sword chunked halfway through my tree trunk of a leg. Half of my health vanished in an instant, and I was barely able to think straight from the pain. In a panic, I activated Kidney Shot, stabbing my dagger into his side, hopefully finding his kidney. It must have been an effect of the skill because my dagger punched straight through his armor, Stunning him for two seconds. The debuffs had taken away another 10% of his health, and I managed to quickly take the remaining 20% with strikes to his unarmored areas. The Devil’s cries silenced as he fell to the ground.

I fell to the ground as well, gasping from the sheer violence of the fight. The whole encounter had taken less than five seconds, finishing before I even had a chance to use Twisting Fangs a second time. I definitely had great weapons for my level, but I’d neglected to consider one thing. I had no armor, so I couldn’t really take any hits. Dodging attacks was going to be critically important until I got my hands on some armor, especially with how much that had hurt. I leaned my back against a nearby tree as the Devil’s corpse faded away, not dropping any items for me to use. Suddenly, my quest log popped up again.

Quest Updated – Escape!

As you kill the Devil before you, Methuselah’s Core trembles in your hands, expressing his triumph over his killers. Maybe if you take out the rest of the Demons in the area, you can unlock more of the weapon’s potential.

Quest Objectives:

-Kill the Heart of the Forest.

-OPTIONAL: Kill all Demons in the area (1/13).

-Quest failed upon death.

I didn’t know whether to feel lucky or exasperated. Just that one fight had already left me drained, and it was telling me to kill another twelve before I took on the boss? Not to mention, the rest were probably patrols of two at once. That first fight was a lot easier than it could have been because I’d gotten a good opening burst on him, but I couldn’t do that to two people at once. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to kill two of them at once.

But I also knew myself, so I knew I would at least try. Other players might see ‘Optional’ and write it off, but not me. Even ignoring the fact that the optional objective would upgrade my weapon and give me a better chance in the final fight, I just wasn’t someone who was able to ignore optional objectives. Even if it gave no rewards, I’d do it just because it was there.

With that said, it wasn’t like I was just going to charge into battle without a plan. Just like with this first fight, I had to set myself up for victory before the battle even started. I needed a strategy.