"Yoyo~ Yoyo."
The next moment, a sound like the bleating of a young deer echoed through the forest.
The moment he blew the whistle, Karl put it away and decisively raised his crossbow.
He held his breath and stared intently, watching the Drowner's reaction to the deer call.
The Drowners turned their heads and looked sharply towards the trees behind them.
They emitted hoarse whispers from their mouths, as if communicating with each other.
In the end, three of the Drowners lowered their heads and continued eating, unwilling to investigate the bushes behind them.
One of the Drowners, however, seemed a bit more restless, sniffing the air and slowly moving towards the bushes where he was hiding.
Seeing this, the corner of Karl's mouth lifted slightly, and he pressed his body deeper into the bushes.
Three meters... two meters... one meter... the Drowner drew closer and closer to the undergrowth.
Karl remained patient, not attacking recklessly; he was waiting for the killing opportunity.
Until the Drowner was just half a meter away, its foul saliva dripping onto the ground, its dead fish-eyes staring into the brush.
Without hesitation, the Drowner reached its webbed hand into the bushes, trying to rustle through the leaves.
At that moment, Karl's face was slightly pale, his lips pressed tight, his teeth clenched.
The rancid, rotten fish stench from the Drowner's body was nearly enough to make him vomit.
Seeing that the time was right, Karl decisively pulled the crossbow's trigger.
Thwip! The crossbow fired instantly, and the bolt, aimed at the Drowner's head, shot forth.
The bolt whistled almost imperceptibly through the air, striking it directly in the eye.
Squelch! The Drowner's eyes were the size of eggs, and the bolt met no resistance.
The crossbow bolt buried itself deep into its brain through the eyeball, and ichor mixed with blood quickly flowed down from the eye socket.
But to Karl's surprise, the Drowner, struck so grievously, did not die on the spot.
One of its hands clawed at its bloody eye, while the other flailed wildly.
Its figure trembled, tilting slightly forward as if about to fall.
Seeing this from within the grass, Karl quickly grabbed the Drowner by the ankle, roughly dragging it into the bushes.
He dragged the Drowner into the undergrowth, drew his dagger with his right hand, and pressed it down.
The Drowner, hampered by having only one eye left, flailed its claws indiscriminately, barely grazing Karl's forehead.
Karl shifted half a step forward, closed in on the Drowner, pressed his knee against its chest, raised his hand, and slashed its neck with all his might.
A line of blood appeared on the Drowner's neck, and as the surrounding muscles were severed, it quickly tore open into a wound a finger's breadth wide.
Through the wound, Karl could even see internal tissues like the Adam's apple and trachea.
"Hoh... Hohoh..."
In an instant, the Drowner's neck was like an opened sluice gate; blood gushed from the wound, some flowing back into the trachea and down into its organs.
With half its neck severed, the Drowner could barely make a sound, let alone call out to its companions.
Blood splattered onto Karl, staining his upper body almost entirely red.
Although it was taking hit after hit, the Drowner's struggles were still fierce, nearly throwing Karl off.
Karl frowned, finding the situation a bit tricky, but he didn't stop.
He emotionlessly gripped the dagger with both hands and plunged it into the Drowner's right eye socket.
The still-struggling Drowner suddenly went rigid, its claws weakly falling to the ground, completely lifeless.
At that moment, Karl was breathing heavily, his adrenaline spiking, his pupils still contracted.
His fatigue wasn't from physical exertion, but because this was his first time fighting a dangerous monster like a Drowner, and he wasn't used to it yet.
Fortunately, he had been hunting animals for years and was accustomed to seeing blood and internal tissues; reactions like vomiting were long behind him.
But in just a few seconds, Karl's breathing calmed, and his body stopped trembling.
His eyes became more resolute, revealing a hint of coldness uncommon in ordinary people.
Karl pulled the dagger from the Drowner's eye, flicked the flesh and tissue off the blade, and raised his hand to wipe the blood from his face.
"Ugh... what the hell, even the blood of a Drowner stinks."
"Drowners practically live off rotting corpses; the taste is just pickled fish!" Karl cursed softly.
Holding his breath for a moment, enduring the revolting fishy stench, he crouched down to check if it was dead.
His gaze swept over the Drowner's dull eyes and its chest, which no longer rose and fell, confirming the opponent was dead.
......
Immediately after, Karl used the same method that had lured the first Drowner to eliminate the remaining ones.
After dealing with the Drowners, he couldn't wait to approach the necklace and reached out to pick it up.
[Detected an absorbable energy source. Absorb?]
[Upon absorbing energy, the critical point will be reached and the system will activate.]
The moment he picked up the necklace, he was stunned; the system actually prompted him.
"Wait?! You can absorb energy sources? Isn't this just an ordinary ornament!?"
Karl looked at the necklace in surprise and immediately wiped the dust and blood from it.
And indeed, he discovered that blue light was indeed flickering within the obsidian pendant.
"Damn, it's a magical item, and a proper one at that... How could an ordinary necklace possess energy? I'll keep it for now."
Knowing the necklace was a magical item, he didn't take its energy, because he wasn't sure if the magical item would be damaged after absorption.
If things went as he feared, and he made the wrong choice by absorbing its energy, the loss would be directly maximized.
If the necklace wasn't a magical item, even if it was worth over a hundred Orens, he would only grieve for a while after absorbing the energy.
But the necklace was a magical item, and its significance was completely different; if sold to a sorcerer, its value would increase at least several times over.
In these times, a craftsman's annual income was about sixteen Orens.
And a top-tier house a commoner could buy, with a hall, storage room, kitchen, and more than two bedrooms, cost only one hundred and thirty-six Orens.
From the system's prompt, he could guess that the system had been in standby mode before, and the energy wasn't enough to activate it.
As long as he basked in the sun for a while longer, the system could be fully activated, and he would still keep the magical item.
For a time, Karl's emotions were very complex; his heart was both happy and a little conflicted.
He carefully put away the necklace, thinking he would find an opportunity to sell it or absorb its energy in the future.
Immediately after, Karl turned his gaze to the Drowner's body lying in a pool of blood.
At that moment, his eyes lit up, his slightly depressed mood vanished, and the corners of his mouth quickly lifted.
"Right, I almost forgot. Drowner brains are an alchemical ingredient, and there are mutagens in the monster's body."
Thinking this, the rancid stench of the Drowner's body suddenly seemed less overwhelming.
Karl took a few steps towards the Drowner, crouched down, and using his dagger, began trying to cut it open.
"Ugh, the skull is pretty hard, need to put some effort into opening it."
"Oh... what the hell! Is there any part of a Drowner's body that doesn't stink?!"
He was so overwhelmed he turned pale, gritting his teeth to endure the stench of dissecting the corpse.
......
Not far from Karl, on the bank of a rushing river, the current occasionally lapped against a small mound.
The mound was a crude construction made of a mixture of many bones, branches, soil, and other things.
Many blue or green Drowners roamed around it.
They exuded a rotting sourness, and mucus and filth oozed from their pores.
Some floated in the river with only half their heads above the surface, as if searching for potential prey.
Among them, one Drowner looked most distinctive, its limbs marked with lines of unknown significance.
Furthermore, on its chin and cheeks, it had beard-like tentacles, over ten centimeters long.
On the sides of its head, instead of the pointed ears of ordinary Drowners, it had dark green fins, and also on both sides of its forearms.
Compared to an ordinary Drowner, which stood about 1.6 meters tall, it was more than two heads taller.
It didn't wander like the other Drowners but simply stood in the center, observing the surroundings, as if patrolling its territory.
If a monster hunter were present at this moment and saw this particular Drowner,
they would surely be filled with fear, say that this Drowner was a Drowned Dead, and then resolutely retreat.
Drowned Dead are born within Drowner populations—an extremely rare and powerful race capable of leading entire groups of Drowners.
The Drowned Dead counted its companions on its claws one by one, and in a moment, it should have finished counting.
As a result, only seven were present; it seemed four companions were missing.
It scratched its head fins with its claws in confusion, displaying a rather human-like expression.
"Urgh... chirp, chirp."
It emitted bursts of gurgling, hissing sounds, as if communicating with its companions, almost like a person.
After its hissing, the wandering Drowners, like soldiers who had received orders, gathered around it, waiting for commands.
The Drowned Dead pointed its webbed hand towards the forest on the opposite bank, where it could smell the scent of its companions, as well as the scent of prey.
All the Drowners submerged themselves in the river and swam towards the opposite bank, and it followed them.
The physiology of Drowners makes them excellent swimmers, and they quickly crossed the rushing river, successfully reaching the opposite bank.