As they fought their way through the monsters, Lu Yang led Xiao Liang into the cave hall. Peering inward along the wall, they saw that the entire hall was broad and level, covering roughly two thousand square meters.
Torches lined the circular walls around the hall, and a massive bonfire burned in its center. Several hundred orcs were scattered throughout the hall.
"Boss, the monsters are packed way too tightly here. How are we supposed to fight them?" Xiao Liang asked worriedly.
The NPCs in "Second World" were highly intelligent. In such a densely packed environment, attacking one monster would draw at least several dozen charging over at once.
"Don't be afraid. See that big rock in the corner along the left wall?" Lu Yang asked.
Xiao Liang nodded. The huge boulder in the left corner was impossible to miss.
"That's a bug spot. I'll lure the monsters over in a moment. When I tell you to run, immediately run there and jump behind the rock."
"Ah, Boss, how did you know that?" Xiao Liang asked curiously.
Lu Yang had already prepared an answer for that question. "Because your boss here was a closed beta player."
"A closed beta player?" Xiao Liang immediately understood. Excitedly, he said, "No wonder you could reach first place on the Level Rankings."
Lu Yang nodded in "satisfaction." "Listen to my commands in a moment. We only get one chance. If we fail, you'll be in deep trouble."
Though it was only a few dozen meters from here to the boulder, Xiao Liang would be killed by the orcs if he ran at the wrong time, whether too early or too late.
The death penalty in "Second World" was severe, and there was no resurrection point at Orc Camp. Once a player died, it would take another three hours of running just to get back here. It was incredibly troublesome.
"Mm, I'll do my best." Xiao Liang nervously looked toward the boulder.
"Boss, if I run over there, what will you do?" Xiao Liang suddenly asked.
"I have my own way." Lu Yang activated Free Mode, which gave him excellent survival capabilities. After observing each monster's movements and calculating the distance, he patted Xiao Liang on the shoulder to signal him to get ready.
After Xiao Liang nodded, Lu Yang began chanting. A Pyroblast struck an orc that had just moved to a spot ten yards from the boulder on the left.
"Roar~!"
The orc roared and charged at Lu Yang. At the same time, its roar caused all the orcs within ten yards of the boulder on the left to rush toward Lu Yang. In an instant, the area around the boulder was cleared of monsters.
After casting the spell, Lu Yang quickly ran into the hall. Seeing him change direction, the orcs chased after him.
When Lu Yang saw that the left side was clear of monsters, he immediately shouted to Xiao Liang, "Run!"
Xiao Liang darted into the hall and raced toward the boulder on the left. If even one monster had not been lured away by Lu Yang, Xiao Liang would have been doomed. Fortunately, Lu Yang was an old hand with exceptional skill at pulling monsters. Without missing a single one, he let Xiao Liang reach the boulder with ease.
"Boss, I'm here! Get over here!" Xiao Liang climbed onto the boulder and shouted from above.
At that moment, Lu Yang was still leading the monsters around the hall, and he had even drawn the aggro of the orcs in other parts of the hall.
The orcs moved slightly faster than Lu Yang. If they had been in the forest, Lu Yang was confident he could have shaken them off. But in this flat, circular hall, with monsters ahead of him as well, he had to lose time every time he dodged an orc's swinging bone club. As a result, the orcs behind him quickly caught up.
More and more orcs surrounded Lu Yang, but he had also drawn the aggro of every orc in the hall. Just as the orcs forced him into the corner along the right wall with nowhere left to dodge, dozens of bone clubs smashed down around him. Lu Yang knew he had no choice but to flee. He chanted, Blink—and in an instant, a flash of white light streaked past as every bone club missed.
The orcs stared blankly at the spot where Lu Yang had vanished, unable to understand why their clubs had failed to kill him.
Suddenly, running footsteps sounded behind them. One orc turned around and happened to see Lu Yang racing toward the boulder in the lower-left corner of the hall.
"Roar~!"
The orc roared to draw its companions' attention, then led the other orcs charging after Lu Yang. Lu Yang no longer had any life-saving skills. If those hundreds of orcs caught him, he would certainly die.
Fortunately, Blink covered thirty yards. With less than twenty yards between him and the boulder ahead, while the orcs behind him were thirty yards away, Lu Yang ran with all his strength.
When he reached the boulder, Lu Yang leaped up. Xiao Liang stretched out his hand and firmly grabbed Lu Yang's arm, pulling him upward. Lu Yang easily jumped onto the rock, while the nearest monster had only just reached its base.
The orc raised its bone club and smashed it down at Lu Yang with all its strength.
"Jump!" Lu Yang hurriedly pulled Xiao Liang into a gap between the rocks. The gap was large enough to hold two people.
The orc had not expected Lu Yang and Xiao Liang to jump behind the rock. After its strike missed, it furiously picked up its bone club and thrust it into the rock gap.
The other orcs reached the boulder and also jabbed their bone clubs into the gap, clearly intending to skewer Lu Yang and Xiao Liang to death.
The moment Lu Yang and Xiao Liang entered the gap, bone clubs stabbed toward them. Xiao Liang had thought they were safe, and he froze in terror when he saw the clubs coming. Lu Yang hurriedly grabbed Xiao Liang and pulled him to his side near the corner of the wall, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.
"Whew, that was too dangerous." Xiao Liang patted his chest in lingering fear and said gratefully to Lu Yang, "Boss, thank you."
"Be careful. Remember this from now on: no matter when it is, as long as you haven't completely succeeded, never let your guard down."
"I'll remember that." Xiao Liang nodded, taking the lesson to heart.
Lu Yang had only said it casually, but he never expected that in later years, Xiao Liang would remember those words at all times. During the War of a Hundred Nations, he successfully foiled a certain country's plot. When they asked him about it, Xiao Liang proudly repeated those very words.
Of course, that was a story for later.
"Boss, what do we do now?" Xiao Liang asked.
"Of course we grind monsters. Take out the Serpent Venom Orb, and I'll tell you how to use it."
"Oh, okay." Xiao Liang hurriedly took out the Serpent Venom Orb.
In his previous life, when Lu Yang had seen the Serpent Venom Orb's effects, he had been so envious that Cheye had kept him awake all night. Now that Lu Yang finally possessed the Serpent Venom Orb, he wanted to experience what it felt like to farm two hundred monsters at once.
Before you continue