Chapter 21

"Damn, I missed you so much... I mean, I missed your 'Dragon's Breath' cigarettes so much!!!"

Looking at the fire-red packaged "Dragon's Breath" cigarettes in Alpha's hand, the zombie-like creature rubbed his hands together, as if he didn't know where to put his two battered and decayed hands, his eyes filled with the same excitement a pet dog would show when seeing a bone in its owner's hand.

"'Damn'? Where did you learn that phrase?"

"From the new adventurers who come here to die—oh beautiful Dragon's Breath, for you, I can give up my favorite succubus."

The zombie-like creature snatched the cigarette from Alpha's hand with a ravenous look, snapped his fingers, and had a nearby imp wizard light it with a fireball. He took a deep drag.

Thick white smoke rose from the holes in the zombie-like creature's decayed face, making him look like a cracked furnace.

"One each, let's share them, guys."

Alpha threw another pack of Dragon's Breath cigarettes to the imps, who were drooling, but the zombie-like creature intercepted it with an incredibly agile move, leaving the red-skinned, small devils sulking.

He carefully wrapped the second pack of cigarettes in his tattered clothes and said to himself, "They... don't deserve it without doing anything."

"It seems you've learned a lot from the adventurers... You look much faster."

The zombie-like creature's quick move just now was indeed much faster than Alpha remembered from the devil zombies.

"Of course, after some adventurers reached the Hero level, the leader decided to enhance the power of all projections below the Hero level—what you see now is 0.001% of Konstantin's power."

As he spoke, the zombie-like creature flexed his bicep, but unfortunately, that muscle was already rotten. A thumb-sized maggot that had just emerged was crushed by the contracting bone, bursting with green pus, making Alpha feel nauseous.

"Alright, alright, clean up the maggots on your body before showing off 0.001% of Lord Deathchill's power—come, let's spar after the cigarette."

"Do you mean the irresponsible, non-lethal duels among adventurers? I refuse. My goal is to kill you with 0.001% of my power."

Alpha rolled his eyes; this guy had indeed learned a lot, even understanding the concept of "agreed duels" among players.

An "agreed duel" is when a player issues a PK request but doesn't actually kill the opponent, leaving them with 1 HP.

"You might as well become a player instead of a Deathchill Lord. You even know about agreed duels. I thought you forgot to bring your brain when you projected."

Alpha teased.

"No, no, no, the ones with the dull heads are you players. They think they can duel in places out of our detection range without consequences—usually, I let this little guy walk over casually, covering the detection range of the loser, and then..."

The zombie-like creature pointed to an imp wizard and made a firing gesture.

"...a fireball can end his life. This little guy has good aim."

A few imps giggled, and the praised imp wizard waved his wand proudly. Alpha made a dismissive gesture, thinking these monsters were indeed devious, taking advantage of the weakened state of players after an agreed duel to kill them.

"Stop talking, let's fight after this cigarette, you..."

Alpha pointed at the imps and devil zombies, but the upgraded imps were not as negative as before, instead looking eager and ready to fight.

"...don't join yet, I'll take on your leader this time."

For Alpha's shameless last sentence, the group of minions let out a collective "tsk" of disdain.

"Isn't it customary for us to gang up on you?"

The zombie-like creature threw away the cigarette butt and lunged at Alpha with a ghostly claw full of icy energy.

An imp wizard, seeing this, rushed forward, picked up the still burning cigarette, and started to inhale frantically. Unfortunately, he picked it up the wrong way and was burned by the hot end, making a whining sound.

Alpha laughed, and a faint golden light appeared under his feet. He moved back at an incredible speed, avoiding the zombie-like creature's "Icy Strike" and said:

"Do you think I'm stupid? You've upgraded, and I'm still level 10."

Alpha moved back several steps at a speed the zombie-like creature had never seen before, creating distance. He waved his right hand, and a golden light shot towards the still surprised zombie-like creature.

The zombie-like creature, unable to react due to the force of the "Icy Strike," was hit squarely in the chest by the golden light. A copper crossbow bolt quivered in the rotten flesh of his chest.

-77!!

The zombie-like creature was shocked again, looking at the crossbow bolt in his chest. In his memory, being hit by such a bolt would only cost him 12-13 HP, and only with certain enchanted crossbows—like the "Pale Crossbow" he had given Alpha.

And now, this clearly not crossbow-launched bolt had dealt 77 points of damage?!

"Can you use 'Projectile' now?"

The zombie-like creature growled. In his memory, the weak mage Alpha didn't know this spell, which could launch a crossbow bolt without a crossbow. He only knew "Mage Hand" and "Flash."

"Have you ever seen a 'Projectile' that can deal 77 points of damage?"

Alpha laughed.

This was something the zombie-like creature knew best. Even a 0-level spell like "Projectile" that relied on crossbow damage, or a 1st-level spell from a fully intelligence-boosted mage, would find it hard to deal 77 points of damage to the upgraded zombie-like creature.

The zombie-like creature was puzzled, but Alpha didn't hesitate, continuing his attack:

Alpha, who had been standing far away, suddenly rushed towards the zombie-like creature. He used "Mage Hand" with his left hand, and the intangible arcane hand pulled up the zombie-like creature's decayed left arm. Alpha, now close, pointed his right index and middle fingers and jabbed them into the crook of the zombie-like creature's left arm.

The zombie-like creature then found that his left arm no longer belonged to him, and he lost 207 HP!!

"Does it hurt?"

Alpha asked with a smile.

"It hurts... What's going on? And the crossbow bolt earlier?"

The zombie-like creature, who had been played by Alpha like a puppet, was full of questions. The surrounding minions looked at Alpha as if he were a monster, wondering what kind of super strength he had gained in the past month.

The imp wizard with good aim whispered to his companion in Infernal:

"Alpha must have gained the favor of a deity. Players call it being 'supported.'"

Alpha, who understood Infernal but couldn't speak it well, could only laugh and pull up his attribute panel to prove that his power increase had nothing to do with divine support.

Yes, Alpha was showing his attributes to an NPC.

One of the reasons why NPCs in "Dungeons and Dragons" are considered participants with their own goals and thoughts is that game data is no longer invisible to them. Instead, NPCs can understand and use it, clearly knowing the meaning of every game element, rather than selectively ignoring it. They even give themselves attributes.

So when you see an NPC selling a "XXX+1" silver scale chestplate, don't doubt that they are not a player in disguise.

Therefore, players' attribute panels can also be shown to NPCs or monsters, and they can understand them:

【Sleeved Arrow (Level 1): 1st-grade weapon skill, upgraded by use, used to attack enemies with hidden weapons, making it hard to defend against.

Causes (ranged attack damage + hidden weapon damage + base agility / 2 + base strength / 2 + additional agility / 4 + additional strength / 4) x 100% physical damage to a single target;

No casting time,

Casting interval: determined by unarmed attack speed,

Attack range: 0-24 yards,

Mana cost: 0,

Requires: hidden weapon (short crossbow bolt or small object);

Additional effect when using mana: increases the maximum range and damage of the hidden weapon, adding an additional range of (mana value / 2) yards and (mana value) points of mana damage, with a maximum mana value of 60.】

【Pressure Point Strike (Level 1): 1st-grade unarmed skill, upgraded by use, fingers like a swift wind, using finger strength to attack enemies, with a chance to cause pressure point effects by attacking specific points.

Causes (base agility + additional agility / 2 + base strength x 2 + additional strength) x 100% physical damage to a single target;

No casting time,

Casting interval: determined by unarmed attack speed,

Attack range: 0-1 yard,

Mana cost: 0,

Requires: none;

Additional effect when using mana: increases attack damage and causes pressure point effects, with a 5% chance to cause pressure point effects based on different points and an additional (mana value x 1.5) points of mana damage, with a maximum mana value of 120.】

"What is this? Hidden weapons? Pressure points?"

The zombie-like creature, seeing the strange words he couldn't understand, scratched his head, which was covered in rotting flesh...