A single error in tactics could mean losing the entire battle. The moment Roaming Dragon realized that forcibly trying to kill Gui Guzi had been the wrong decision, he regretted so hard that his intestines turned green. He looked around him and noticed that everyone had been slaughtered. Only he, the commanding officer, was alive. Inconstant and Iron Pardon had been killed by a combination of Clear Perfume"s arrows and Fire Dragon Spells of our mages.
As for Coldmoon Rose, she had encountered Lin Yixin. The latter took special care of her, disposing of her in a single blow. Against a powerful expert like Wind Fantasy, Coldmoon Rose had no chance at all.
Roaming Dragon"s eyes turned blood-red. Standing in place, he madly shouted, "How can this be? How is this possible? H-how can a ragtag group like you win against Mad Dragon?"
Pa!
An arrow that glinted with cold light accurately struck Roaming Dragon in the throat. Clear Perfume showed no mercy, an arrow and Fire Dragon Roar later, Roaming Dragon fell, leaving potions and consumables behind.
Time for the boss!
Lin Yixin shouted, "Be careful. Long-range players, DPS at will. Melee, be mindful of the boss"s position, do not draw aggro!"
I smiled. "The boss"s aggro is already a mess, how could we even draw it?"
Lin Yixin flushed red. "Stop it. I"ll say what I want. How can you disagree?"
"Yo, so fierce. You want to fight?" I said with a smirk.
Lin Yixin"s face instantly reddened even more. She looked like a red apple as she glared at me in anger. "Hurry up and go be the main tank…"
"I don"t want to die, how about you go…"
"..."
That was a Level 70 boss, you know! I would definitely get one-shot. The only person on the field that could block a move was Gui Guzi, I totally didn"t want to become cannon fodder!
Gui Guzi went up with Undying s.h.i.+eld activated. The skill guarded his upper body and his defensive power sharply rose. Like a rainbow, his spear arced, thrusting into the boss"s head!
Puchi!
17!
Cough cough, seriously...
The boss was rather disdainful toward the ant named Gui Guzi. It instead went in a different direction, straight for Clear Perfume. The moment the archer released her defense-penetrating attack, the boss noticed her!
"Ah? Qingqing…"
Lin Yixin instantly charged over. It was clear that the relations.h.i.+p between her and Sun Qingqing was pretty good.
I did the same, though not to rescue a damsel in distress, but because Sun Qingqing was our highest DPS. If she were to die, we might fail to kill the boss.
Moon Gaze!
Lin Yixin"s beautiful eyes were veiled by a layer of l.u.s.trous light as she flung her dagger!
Puchi!
The blade didn"t even plunge into the boss"s neck all the way to the hilt that the Giant Cave Monster"s body was covered in silvery moonlight. All of a sudden, its thick outer sh.e.l.l revealed countless cracks!
What"s this?!
I stared in complete shock and quickly checked the logs—
Combat Log: Player "Wind Fantasy" used combo skill "Moon Gaze + Extreme Break". Giant Cave Monster"s Defense has been lowered by 80%, max HP has been lowered by 25% for 30 seconds!
……
Extreme Break? Moon Gaze? A combo skill?
My worldview had collapsed. Lin Yixin was far stronger than I had thought!
With the boss"s Defense lowered for 30 seconds, this was our big chance!
I lifted my sword and yelled, "Everyone attack, let"s kill him in half a minute, attack!"
My sword rose and Pardon fell, tightly followed by a powerful Slayer Slas.h.!.+
MISS!
3984!
The great damage number startled everyone present. Even though it was a critical hit, the damage itself was still surprising. The result of the four ace skills Moon Gaze, Extreme Break, Pardon and Slayer Slash made the boss howl wretchedly. A large chunk of its health bar had been chipped away!
Following my impressive attack, I immediately retreated, my reactions shockingly quick!
Bang!
An extremely toxic tailbone stabbed into the ground, creating a big hole. Like I had expected, I had already drawn the boss"s aggro. Fortunately, my dodge was fast enough or else I would"ve been fatally impaled.
My Dark Wasp did its best to deal damage. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh, it attacked three times!
The boss"s HP quickly fell under everyone"s attacks. Even before the 30 seconds of debuff are over, it will die any minute now!
I suddenly felt a chill and hurriedly yelled, "All archers cover the area around the boss with Volley, now!"
Clear Perfume"s eyes were as swift as her hands and she shot out a rain of arrows!
Pew pew pew!
Arrows repeatedly exploded in the air and two black figures tumbled to the ground. Cold-blooded Mad Dragon, Mad Dragon Little Seven. They were Mad Dragon a.s.sa.s.sins!
f.u.c.k, as expected. Roaming Dragon still left a move like that. Who knew how many Mad Dragon a.s.sa.s.sins were lurking inside Violet Forest. I just remembered that in the previous thousand-man party, I hadn"t spotted a single a.s.sa.s.sin!
Arrows fell like rain and the a.s.sa.s.sins stealthed in the surroundings were being shot dead one after another. But the boss was about to die!
Lin Yixin cleanly landed a blow!
Crack!
874!
The Giant Cave Monster"s enormous hill-like body tottered, then fell, followed by numerous streaks of golden light. Me and Lin Yixin were in the same party and were given a huge amount of experience. I rose two levels and reached Level 48 while Lin Yixin leveled to 50!
The boss died.
Equipment drop!
Hero"s Token!
I ran over at top speed. I had already seen a dazzling token fall from the air. That had to be the Hero"s Token!
Just as I was about to grab it, another hand came out of nowhere and stuffed the Hero"s Token into their bag. It was none other than Unyielding Mad Dragon, Mad Dragon"s ace a.s.sa.s.sin!
Swhoos.h.!.+
Unyielding Mad Dragon activated a.s.sa.s.sin"s unique skill, Swift Dash. His speed increased as he blitzed into the forest, leaving a trail of afterimages. He had gotten the Hero"s Token, and maybe even some of the equipment drops!
I couldn"t let him get away or else our beautiful ambush would"ve ended up in vain!
I chased after him with my sword but my Dark Wasp was even faster. I absolutely could not let him use Vanish or else we"d all die from regret!
Lin Yixin and I ran shoulder to shoulder, gunning for Unyielding Mad Dragon while ignoring the attacks from Level 52 skeleton mobs around us.
Swift Dash only lasted 15 seconds, and its caster only had a sliver of HP left. Clearly he had been hit by Clear Perfume and had been lucky enough to survive.
"Bzzz…"
Like a little helicopter, my Dark Wasp approached from the air. Right when it was about to catch up to him, Unyielding Mad Dragon had already raised his hand and vanished in a fume of fluorescent powder!
My Dark Wasp lost its target and could only fly back.
My heart went cold as Lin Yixin and I ran over. We swept the surroundings and tactfully lifted our swords and drew two straight lines. Our swords swept through the air and drew continuous arcs above the gra.s.s, covering ten meters in a flash.
Pa!
Got him. Unyielding Mad Dragon"s invisibility was forcefully cancelled!
"Die!"
I brought my sword down, Pardon already activated earlier. Unyielding Mad Dragon had no choice but to watch on with an aghast face.
Pop!
Something dropped!
My quick hands reached out and a s.h.i.+ning Hero"s Token fell into my grasp. Got it! Lin Yixin also seemed to have obtained something as she looked at me with a smile.
Once we revealed the things we got, I realized that Unyielding Mad Dragon was too generous. He had pretty much given us the things we needed!
Hero"s Token: Rank 3 item. Owner of Hero"s Token can go to the city"s governor and establish a Rank 1 guild at the cost of 1000 Reputation!
The item I had obtained was precisely the thing we needed the most.
Lin Yixin had a black s.h.i.+eld that glowed with a dark light. It looked pretty high quality.
Cave Barrier (Silver-grade)
Defense: 195
Block: 15%
Stamina: +14
Strength: +12
Pa.s.sive: Increases user"s Defense by 1.5%
Level Requirement: 48
……
"d.a.m.n…" I swallowed my drool. This was a strong late-game item for Magic Knight cla.s.s. It outright gave an extra 195 Defense and a huge block chance. A magic knight equipped with such a s.h.i.+eld would definitely be a force to be reckoned with!
I stared at the s.h.i.+eld and Lin Yixin stared at the Hero"s Token in my hand. Both our gazes were filled with desire and I felt embarra.s.sed once I met her eyes. What did we even look like with those scorching gazes.
I thought about it, then said, "Yiyi, I"ll give you the Hero"s Token, but you need to pay us a 1000 gold commission and give me that s.h.i.+eld. My buddy Gui Guzi really needs a Silver-grade s.h.i.+eld like that."
Lin Yixin nodded after some thinking. "Mn. Alright, but I don"t have that much gold on me. Let"s talk about it once we"re back!"
"Alright."
……
We walked back together into the valley. Clear Perfume, Zi Chuanyu, Gui Guzi and the others were currently cleaning the battlefield. Tons of players had died, dropping a ton of pots, equipment, and consumables.
"Qingqing, Zi Chuanyu, how much gold do you guys have?" Lin Yixin asked when she walked up. "I don"t have enough gold so you guys have to pool some together. Once we get the Hero"s Token, we can establish our guild!"
Clear Perfume smiled excitedly. "Yiyi, a Hero"s Token dropped?"
Lin Yixin nodded with a smile and proudly stuck out her chest. "Of course. With me personally taking charge, a little fish like Unyielding Mad Dragon was nothing. But the Hero"s Token is with Lu Chen and he"s blackmailing me…"
Clear Perfume lightly smiled. "Alright, we can talk about your grudges later. Let"s get the Hero"s Token first. I have 200 gold on me, the money we were going to use yesterday to buy pots."
Zi Chuanyu said, "I have 400 gold here. Lin Yixin, is that enough?"
"Yes, thanks!"
Lin Yixin traded me 1000 gold after saying thanks and then opened her little white hand. "Alright, gimme my Hero"s Token…"
"And my Silver-grade s.h.i.+eld…" I countered.
Lin Yixin pouted. "Shame on you, are you afraid I"ll go back on our deal?"
I nodded seriously. "Mn, of course I"m afraid. Didn"t you do that the night you fought Li Le? Else I would"ve long…"
"You!"
Sun Qingqing asked with a smile, "Long what, Lu Chen?"
Lin Yixin stomped her feet with a red face. She threw the Silver-grade s.h.i.+eld at me. "Give me my Hero"s Token!"
"Mn."
After taking advantage of her, I finally gave her the Hero"s Token. To be honest, the one who truly benefited from all of this was Lin Yixin. The first Hero"s Token was, after all, priceless. Only when you"ve taken the lead in the game would great prospects await you. How could the worth of a mere Silver-grade s.h.i.+eld be on the same level as Hero"s Token?
Hmph, even if it was a Gold-grade, Dark Gold-grade, or even Purple Gold-grade, Spirit-grade, or Immortal-grade item, how could they compare to the very first Hero"s Token!
……
I turned around and tossed the Silver-grade s.h.i.+eld at Gui Guzi. "Hurry up and store it when you return to the city. You can equip it when you reach Level 48."
Gui Guzi"s eyes rolled backward. He fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth.
Du Thirteen was shocked. "Lu Chen, why did Little Gui faint? Did he eat some rat poison?"
I shook my head. He"s seriously not wanting for much if only a Silver-grade item could make him faint from bliss.