High-Intensity Monster Grinding

After hearing that Ye Luo would provide nearby protection after she joined the Misty Pavilion studio, Zhi Yue was overjoyed. Clearly, after a brief period of getting to know them, she had developed a good impression of the members of Misty Pavilion.

"Brother Ye, are you going to run a dungeon with Sister Yan Hua next?" Zhi Yue asked casually while eating. "There are only two of you, so you can only choose two-player dungeons. What difficulty are you aiming for?"

"Difficult," Ye Luo replied without hiding anything. He then asked, "Seeing how much Yan Hua values dungeons, I imagine the others in Misty Pavilion also care a lot. Are you guys planning to run dungeons too? What difficulty and how many players are you planning for?"

"Six players, difficult," Zhi Yue said. Seeing Ye Luo frown, she explained, "Sister Feng said this was Sister Yan Hua's suggestion. She said with our current strength, we have no hope of finishing the dungeon in the top three. So, it's better to maximize our benefits and get some practical equipment."

After a moment of thought, Ye Luo nodded. "Yan Hua's reasoning isn't without merit. By the way, how's your equipment now? Do any of you have Bronze-grade items?"

"We aren't as lucky as you, Brother Ye. Sister Feng said each of you already has two Bronze-grade items, and the Tier 2 Jade Poison Bead's stats are also very powerful, even stronger than regular Bronze equipment," Zhi Yue said, her pretty face filled with envy. "The six of us only have two or three Bronze-grade items, nowhere near as good as yours."

"Don't worry, once we reach level 40, we'll go to the same town, and I'll help you get some good equipment then," Ye Luo said. Then, as if remembering something, he reminded her, "After you finish the dungeon, go to the Toad Slope in Novice Village and camp there. The Toad King is guaranteed to drop the Jade Poison Bead. Then, go kill the Demonized Scorpion, and you'll have the Tier 2 Jade Poison Bead in no time."

The Tier 2 Jade Poison Bead had excellent stats and wasn't too difficult to obtain. With this item, Zhi Yue and the others would have a significant advantage, which was why Ye Luo reminded her.

"Do I need you to tell me? Sister Yan Hua already instructed us, and we were even lucky enough to kill the Toad King once," Zhi Yue said excitedly when mentioning this. "Sister Yan Hua has everything arranged, like how only those wearing the Jade Poison Bead when killing the Demonized Scorpion will have a chance to drop Jade Poison Bead fragments, and the wearer must land the first and last hit..."

"Yan Hua is quite the qualified strategist," Ye Luo praised, a slight smile curving his lips. "With her around, I don't need to worry about reminding you of these things."

"Yes, Sister Yan Hua is like the Zhuge Liang of online gaming; she thinks of everything," Zhi Yue said, her pretty face radiating reverence when mentioning Yan Hua Yi Leng. "She also organizes specialized teams to record this information and write guides. Because of this, Misty Pavilion has the most complete information database, which is also one of the reasons Misty Pavilion is ranked ninth in the country."

"Uh, so does that mean I'm very lucky to be leveling with her?" Ye Luo also realized Yan Hua Yi Leng's importance.

"Hehe, of course," Zhi Yue replied as if it were obvious. Then, with a hint of envy, she added, "If Sister Yan Hua were with us, maybe we could have gotten the first kill in the dungeon too. With you, Brother Ye, our two-player dungeon run won't be the first kill, but it'll definitely be in the top three."

"Our goal is the first kill," Ye Luo stated calmly, though his tone revealed immense confidence.

Afterward, Ye Luo and Zhi Yue chatted casually for a bit before logging into the game and heading towards the north gate of Novice Village.

Knowing the importance of dungeons, the north gate of Novice Village was swarming with people, all ready to accept quests. The area around the Heavenly Tribulation Messenger was packed three layers deep, making it almost impossible to squeeze through. This caused Ye Luo a headache, and he regretted logging in so late.

"The game has already anticipated this situation, so you can accept quests remotely and then enter the dungeon," a faint voice sounded. With that voice, Yan Hua Yi Leng appeared behind Ye Luo and sent him a party invite.

Accepting the invitation, Yan Hua Yi Leng accepted the dungeon quest, but the time hadn't arrived yet, so they couldn't enter the instance.

[Demon Ant Calamity] (Dungeon Quest, Difficulty Selection: Difficult)

Quest Objective: Kill all Demon Ants within the Ant Nest (Worker Ants: 100, Soldier Ants: 20, Male Ants: 3, Queen Ant: 1)

Killed: Worker Ants 0/100

Soldier Ants 0/20

Male Ants 0/3

Queen Ant 0/1

Quest Reward: Generous experience and currency

Quest Countdown: 5 minutes

"The quest only completes after killing all the Demon Ants in the nest, which is quite straightforward," Yan Hua Yi Leng said calmly, then looked at Ye Luo. "This requires us to kill enemies in the most brutal way possible. Don't hold back then; use your strongest techniques."

"I understand," Ye Luo nodded and fell silent, waiting for the dungeon to officially begin.

The five minutes passed quickly. Just as the countdown reached 1 second, Yan Hua Yi Leng was ready, and with a flash of white light, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng entered the dungeon.

The dungeon was a dark space. From the outside, it looked like a giant ant nest with only one passage, so there was no choice. Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng sprinted forward at full speed. Yan Hua Yi Leng, while running, checked the system map.

A moment later, she looked at Ye Luo and said, "It's a very simple map. After entering this passage, there's only one large area. See the red dots above? Those are Demon Ants. The outermost ones are Worker Ants, followed by the 20 Soldier Ants. The last four large red dots are the three Male Ants and the Queen Ant. We'll advance sequentially for the fastest clear."

As she spoke, Ye Luo also saw the Demon Ants, which were about the size of a small dog:

[Ant Nest Worker Ant] (Elite Monster)

Level: 12

Physical Attack: 55—60

Defense: 108

Health: 3600

Worker Ants are level 12 Elite Monsters. Their stats are much stronger than monsters of the same level, even stronger than the level 15 Demonized Scorpion, but still slightly weaker than the level 18 Demonized Wild Bull.

Without hesitation, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng immediately consumed the mutated Strength Pills, further boosting their attack power. Then, they charged towards the Soldier Ants. When they were still more than ten meters away, Yan Hua Yi Leng raised the Wolf Fang Bow, and an energy arrow whistled through the air.

Attacked, the Worker Ant became enraged, brandishing its mandibles and charging towards Yan Hua Yi Leng. The four or five Worker Ants around it were also provoked, their six legs powering them as they charged towards her together.

With a flash of movement, Ye Luo intercepted, ignoring the one Yan Hua was attacking. He unleashed a combo of [Slash] + normal attack + [Combo Attack] towards the second Worker Ant. Instantly, that Worker Ant lost over 1800 health and was even knocked back by Ye Luo's immense strength.

Without paying further attention to this Worker Ant, Ye Luo continued to attack another one. Yan Hua Yi Leng did the same; after attacking one Worker Ant, she would ignore it and attack an unaggroed one.

The Tier 2 Jade Poison Bead had an additional effect that applied poison damage to attacks, causing 10 health loss per second. With Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng attacking together, they could ensure 5-6 Demon Ants were poisoned. Undoubtedly, this method dealt the most damage per unit of time.

A few seconds later, the poison effect on one Demon Ant had just worn off, but it was immediately attacked again and poisoned once more. Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng also targeted the Demon Ants whose poison effects had expired.

While being attacked by 5-6 Demon Ants, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng moved while attacking, doing their best to avoid being hit. However, there were too many Demon Ants, and their health was decreasing at a relatively fast rate. But after losing over 100 health, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng consumed Major Blood Recovery Pills and ate roasted chicken, causing their health to increase rapidly. They even reached a peculiar balance with the health they lost; their health always remained above 300 points.

Soon, the first Demon Ant died, and the other Demon Ants were mostly at critically low health. Yan Hua Yi Leng had also moved to a suitable position and fired an arrow at the distant swarm, drawing a few more Demon Ants.

After these few Demon Ants arrived, the first batch of Demon Ants had just died. Ye Luo ignored them and flashed forward, starting a new round of monster killing.

In this way, the two of them engaged in an incredibly high-intensity monster-killing spree. If an outsider saw them killing monsters like this, they would likely be shocked speechless.

That's right, this method of killing monsters was something Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng came up with after cooperating for a while. By utilizing the poison effect of the Tier 2 Jade Poison Bead, they gained an effect similar to an area-of-effect skill.

With the death of the first Demon Ant, two beams of white light flashed, and Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng leveled up to 13. After quickly allocating their stats, they continued to kill Demon Ants at a rapid pace.

They had already entered the ant nest. The demon ants' levels were fixed, so even if Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng leveled up, the ants wouldn't. Because Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng had leveled up and allocated their stats, their strength had also increased. This was one of the small tricks they could think of to utilize the system.

Wave after wave of demon ants died, and another wave arrived. After several minutes, all 100 worker ants were dead. Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng ignored the loot and quickly moved towards the soldier ants inside.

Within the instance, monster drops would not despawn. Ye Luo and the others could collect the loot after completing the task of killing all the demon ants.

Soon, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng spotted the soldier ants. The soldier ants were significantly larger than the worker ants, with huge, dark, and powerful mandibles. Their stats had also greatly improved.

[Ant Nest Soldier Ant] (Elite Monster)

Level: 15

Physical Attack: 65—72

Defense: 145

HP: 4500

These were only level 15 monsters, but their overall stats were comparable to level 18 Demonized Wild Bulls, making them much stronger than the worker ants. However, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng had adapted to the intensity of fighting wild bulls and faced no pressure against these ants. They lured three of them and attacked with maximum intensity.

Several more minutes passed, and Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng finally killed the 20 soldier ants. Afterward, they moved towards the last four demon ants.

The male ants were much larger than the soldier ants, almost the size of a calf. Their powerful mandibles exuded a deep, dark sheen, indicating they were not to be trifled with. The queen ant was even more exaggerated, with a body size comparable to an adult wild bull. Its huge abdomen bulged, and an extremely fierce aura surged out.

"Uh, a quasi-boss and a bronze-tier boss. Their stats are extremely powerful," Ye Luo said, slightly astonished. However, after seeing the detailed stats, he smiled. "But the situation seems very favorable for us. Fortunately, I refined the Tier 2 Detoxification Pills."