As an NPC, having a lot of skills is quite reasonable, right?

"What, you want another beating, kid?"

Gray excitedly grabbed the greatsword stuck in the snow, and dark red blood energy burst forth from his body. At the same time, his pupils instantly contracted to pinpoints as his gaze locked onto Moen.

However, the next second, Gray frowned.

"Um?"

In the past, the flow of magic within Moen's body, though complex, was at least clearly visible.

But today, he couldn't see through this kid.

In Gray's perception, what flowed through Moen's meridians was no longer magic or blood energy, but a kind of almost pure white energy.

This energy flowed slowly through his veins, exuding a dangerous aura.

"You little brat." Gray looked Moen up and down, his tone somewhat strange. "Haven't seen you these past few days. You haven't gone off to learn some kind of evil life-sacrificing magic, have you?"

"Evil magic?"

Moen chuckled: "This works much faster than any sorcery."

Seeing that Gray was eager to make a move, Moen waved his hand to stop him.

His new skills are all triggered when he is low on health or involve trading damage for damage, so fighting Gray would not achieve the effect he wanted.

"Grandpa, I've been thinking, how about I go and chase away those flies outside for you?" Moen pointed to the dense forest and shadowy area above the rift valley.

Gray paused for a moment, then grinned: "You know how to pick your timing, kid."

In fact, a few days earlier, he had already taken the opportunity to kill a group of surveillance personnel who had gotten too close.

But those bounty hunters who take money to do things are like weeds in a field; they grow back after being cut down, and there seems to be an increasing trend.

Gray was tired of killing, so he simply decided to avoid seeing it altogether.

Gray sat back down in the wooden crate, slammed his greatsword into the ground, causing it to tremble: "Alright, let me see what's so special about your strange power."

He held up three fingers: "However, since you brought it up, let's set some rules."

"From what I can tell, there are about fifteen or sixteen rats surrounding the camp. I'll go and block up the only exit later."

"If more than three people manage to escape to me..." Gray narrowed his eyes, "then tonight, you'd better prepare to be thoroughly skinned alive."

This requirement is undeniably stringent.

The people responsible for keeping an eye on Gray are all quite strong; at the very least, they must be able to conceal their presence without Gray being actively trying to sense them.

If measured by level, then he would be an elite around level 25.

Three? That's too many.

Moen straightened his cuffs, turned and walked out of the camp, his voice drifting back lightly: "None of you will escape."

The cold wind howled, stirring up the snowflakes on the ground.

About two hundred meters from the exit of the rift valley, behind a shady pile of rocks, three burly men wearing heavy leather armor were sitting around a flat bluestone.

Unlike the other watchers who were tense, they took out a deck of cards and were gambling with great interest.

"Damn it, another bad hand."

The bald, burly man on the left, his face full of scars, spat and slammed the cards in his hand onto the rock: "In this damn weather, that old geezer is holed up inside like a turtle, while we're out here starving."

"Stop complaining, second brother." The man with a thick beard, sitting in the middle, calmly tossed out two silver coins.

"That's the Northern Wolf. Last time, that team was so foolish as to try and catch him. And what happened? His head is still hanging from a tree."

He glanced at the cards in his hand, a smug smile playing on his lips: "Call. I have a feeling this hand is going to be a blowout."

"Hehe, big brother, that's not necessarily true. This hand hasn't reached the point of revealing the river card yet." The youngest, burly man on the right grinned sinisterly, preparing to show his cards.

Just then, a clear voice suddenly rang out above them: "That's right, the cards haven't been flipped yet, so it's not certain who will win or lose."

"Who?!" The three men were seasoned veterans who had lived on the edge of a knife, and their reaction was extremely quick.

Almost the instant the sound rang out, the three of them rolled in three different directions without exchanging a word.

The instant they left the spot, countless pale white thorns burst forth from the frozen earth like venomous snakes, instantly pulverizing the blue stone and the playing cards on it.

"Dare to ambush us, the Black Rock Brothers? You're asking for death!"

The bald second brother was the first to regain his footing. He roared, his muscles bulged, and his skin instantly turned a rock-like gray-black.

This is the [Black Rock Body Forging Technique] that made the three brothers famous; it can make their skin as hard as iron, so hard that even a fine steel sword cannot pierce it.

However, Moen's figure had already appeared behind him like a ghost, his longsword imbued with magic, aimed straight at the bald man's back.

"Clang!" A crisp sound of metal clashing.

Moen's seemingly inevitable sword strike was like hitting a rock; the tip of the sword slid across the skin of his opponent's back, leaving only a faint white mark.

"Hahahaha! You can't even break through our defenses, yet you dare to come and die?" The bald, burly man sneered, then suddenly turned around, his fist, as big as a sandbag, whistling through the air, hurtling straight towards Moen's face.

At the same time, the other two brothers also adjusted their positions and flanked from the left and right, blocking all of Moen's escape routes.

"So this is the defense of an elite NPC? It's really tough."

Faced with this deadly encirclement, Moen showed no panic. Instead, he took the initiative to withdraw his blocking stance and took the attack head-on!

"Is this kid crazy?!" Even the older brother was stunned for a moment.

What assassin would not dodge and instead take a warrior's punch head-on?

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three fists, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, slammed solidly into Moen's chest, back, and shoulders.

The immense impact sent Moen flying, crashing into a withered, crooked tree, causing snow to fall in a flurry.

"That's it?" The bald, burly man cracked his knuckles, looking disdainful.

"Wait... Second brother, watch out!" the eldest brother suddenly exclaimed, "Something's not right! When I hit him just now, most of the force was deflected!"

As the smoke cleared, Moen leaned against the tree trunk and slowly straightened up.

He glanced at the health bar.

[HP: 3072/3840]

Although he had lost a fifth of his blood, the smile on his face grew brighter and brighter.

"That's it, that's the feeling I'm going for."

At this moment, it felt as if magma was surging in Moen's veins, and bright red lava patterns appeared on his body.

Even more miraculously, a thin layer of white ash floated around his body.

The three powerful punches from before were deflected and reduced by the [Smooth Skin] deflection and the armor's resistance, and the remaining damage was mostly offset by the shield.

"Warm-up complete."

Moen whispered something, and his figure vanished instantly.

Moen reappeared before the bald giant, his longsword now stained a beautiful, azure color.

"It's no use! You can't break through..." The bald, burly man confidently raised his arms to block.

As before, Moen's longsword was mostly blocked by the man's black rock skin when it struck him, but as the sword slashed through, countless tiny [glass spikes] silently burrowed into the man's body.

Moen fought faster and faster, his sword flashes raining down like raindrops.

He didn't care about the opponent's counterattack at all. Every time he swung his sword, he was hurting himself, but every time he hit, he would instantly recover a little bit.

At the same time, his [Ash Shield] was refreshed and stacked as he continued to lose health, becoming thicker and thicker.

"This kid is weird! Let's finish this quickly!" The eldest brother finally realized something was wrong.

Their punches aimed at Moen either slid off or were blocked by some inexplicable magic. Occasionally, they would inflict some damage, but the opponent would only attack more fiercely.

The three worked in perfect coordination, launching another attack from different directions, attempting to disrupt Moen's rhythm with heavy blows.

However, just as their fists were about to touch Moen, a large number of white thorns suddenly sprang up from the ground without warning.

This time, because they were too close, the three of them had no time to dodge. The sharp thorns instantly pierced the second brother's calf and the third brother's arm, pinning them to the spot.

The eldest brother reacted the fastest. Although his palm was cut, he decisively retreated, creating a five-meter distance between himself and the monster that was emitting red light and white vapor. He stared in horror at the monster.

"What the hell is this monster? It gets stronger the more I fight it?!"

At this moment, the two brothers, pinned to the spot, became easy targets.

Moen stopped roaming and unleashed a barrage of attacks on the two immobilized individuals.

Although each strike only deals a few dozen points of damage, the passive effect of [Glassy Dagger] is stacking up like crazy.

Seeing that his two younger brothers were not seriously injured by Moen's sword, the eldest brother, as the team's strategist, quickly thought of how to break the deadlock.

"This kid's attack power isn't high. As long as we pay attention to those vines that suddenly appear out of nowhere, he shouldn't be a problem."

However, at that moment, Moen suddenly stopped and stopped paying attention to the two people on the ground. He suddenly sprang up and rushed directly towards the older brother.

The next second, a chilling scene unfolded.

The two brothers, who were struggling and roaring, suddenly stopped.

Suddenly, a blinding red light shone from beneath their indestructible black rock skin, followed by a torrent of blood gushing from every pore of their bodies like fountains.

Two bodies fell limply to the snow and fell silent instantly.

The eldest brother, who was the only one left, changed his expression drastically and turned to run away.

But Moen activated [Frosty Wind Shadow] beneath his feet, instantly appearing in front of him.

"Don't rush, a family should always be together."

Before his elder brother could even beg for mercy, a dense barrage of sword shadows had already enveloped him.

He desperately used his prized physique to block the attacks, then waited for an opportunity to counterattack.

"I don't believe you can keep going like this!" He punched Moen on the back of the head, but found that it had no effect on Moen at all.

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable feeling of weakness washed over him. He looked down at his chest, where there was clearly no wound...

Moen sheathed his sword, turned around, and heard the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground behind him.

"It took four minutes, which is a bit slow." Moen glanced at his status bar. His health was around 70%, and his mana was down to one-third.

"Now, it's time to speed things up."

Having dealt with the toughest challenge, Moen arrived at the foot of the cliff, nimbly maneuvering across the protruding rocks before climbing up into the dense forest above the rift valley.

The dense trees and dim lighting here make it a paradise for assassins and archers.

The remaining twelve watchers are hiding in this forest.

Moen glanced at his health bar, a ruthless glint in his eyes.

Instead of taking the medicine, he picked up his sword and slashed his arm.

Because of his passive ability, Moen's pain tolerance increased significantly. He watched the blood flow from the wound with a blank expression until his blood volume dropped below 40%.

[Passive Trigger: Calamity Heart - Purgatory]

[The lava field has been opened]

A visible heat wave spread outwards from Moen as the center.

"Over there!" An archer hiding in a tree spotted Morn and was about to draw his bow when he suddenly felt the air become unbearably hot.

What followed was nothing short of a one-sided massacre.

In the narrow terrain of the dense forest, Moen didn't need to do much.

All he needs to do is keep his health low and keep refreshing his shield duration, then charge into the crowd like a mad dog. Enemies within three meters can't last long before they fall to the ground, lifeless.

Screams echoed through the dense forest.

Gray, leaning on his heavy sword, stood guard at the only exit down the mountain.

He closed his eyes, listening to the sounds coming from the woods, his eyebrows twitching every now and then.

Suddenly, a dark figure darted out of the woods.

He was an assassin known for his speed, but now he was in a sorry state, his face filled with fear.

He saw Gray standing guard at the intersection, and a hint of despair flashed in his eyes.

There's a wolf king in front, and a mad dog behind.

"Let's give it our all!"

The assassin gritted his teeth and tried to rush through the gap beside Gray.

Once he gets past this intersection, he'll be in open space and have a chance to survive!

However, Gray didn't even open his eyes, nor did he show any intention of drawing his sword.

Moen caught up with the assassin when he was less than fifty meters away from Gray.

He didn't draw his sword; instead, he used his movement skill to instantly brush past the assassin.

The assassin's body suddenly stiffened as he ran, and then a burst of flames erupted from his body.

He was propelled forward a few more steps by inertia, and finally collapsed less than ten meters in front of Gray, turning into a charred corpse.

The forest returned to deathly silence; the wind and snow blew, but could not dispel the strong smell of burning and blood.

Moen slowly walked towards Gray.

His health was now less than 30%, but his aura was a hundred times more terrifying than at the beginning.

Moen glanced at the corpse on the ground, then checked the time: "Fourteen minutes."

"Not a single one escaped, sir. I guess I've passed the test?"

Gray opened his eyes and, through the scent of blood, carefully examined Moen.

That violent yet vibrant aura was completely different from the previous Moen.

If it were the old Moen, Gray could see his potential at a glance, but the current Moen...

Gray's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped the greatsword.

His intuition kept reminding him that the person in front of him could threaten his life.

Gray remained silent for a long time before finally exhaling a puff of white breath: "You're a really strange guy, kid."