Battle Gap

Boundless Swamp was a small monster nest on the road from New Outpost to Iron Wall City.

It was mainly inhabited by all kinds of giant man-eating plants, corrupted beast zombies, and bloodsucking mosquitoes and flies lurking beneath the swamp. The encyclopedia recommended Lv. 37 for the area.

However, unlike Endemic Plague Village, aside from the troublesome lesser monsters, there were also three Boss-level tentacle vines here. It could be called one of the toughest monster strongholds among their mission targets.

Under normal circumstances, players would leave such troublesome monster nests until last.

But the example of Endemic Plague Village was right before them. No one knew whether these Boss-level monsters would respawn after being killed.

In the First Playthrough, aside from the "World Bosses" that required the entire server to raid together, other field Bosses only spawned once per week.

That meant Boss materials had limited output and could easily fetch high prices on the market.

In the Second Playthrough, where production was even more restricted, the materials required to forge "divine gear" might truly exist in only a single copy.

Once the open beta began, even the "standard gear" everyone had in the First Playthrough might not be something anyone could put together.

Level 8 Great Gale flew back from above the swamp and landed beside the other three players. His body, formed of blue whirlwinds, made a sound like howling gales.

"It's even more troublesome than expected. The monster distribution has become more ecologically realistic."

He whipped up wind blades and scraped a simple layout map into the ground as he analyzed the situation for the team.

"The attributes of the three Boss-level vines are confirmed. We'd better prepare different gear for each one. We need insulated armor for the electric one, fully enclosed heavy armor for the one with paralysis poison, and the last one has nearly four-digit Strength. Our tank definitely won't be able to hold it."

Amulet Owl, who had already changed classes into a Divine Scholar, closed the monster guide in the encyclopedia and agreed.

"Let's clear the lesser monsters first. None of our skills are upgraded. I can only heal 500 per cast right now. If Old Bull gets caught by a Boss's grab attack, I probably won't be able to keep his health up... unless Old Bull can guarantee he won't get hit by grabs."

The Minotaur paladin called Pure Love War God immediately waved his hands. "I'm too big. I can't pull off an evasion build."

"How about we head back first?" Humorous Old Man suggested. "We can sell the materials we got at the merchant guild, buy some better equipment, and stock up on potions and scrolls. It'll still be better than wearing this junk."

Amulet Owl objected, "There's no teleportation in the game. A round trip would take four or five hours and cost more than seventy Stamina. Going back now would be too much of a loss."

After hearing everyone's opinions, Level 8 Great Gale, as the party leader, pondered for a moment before deciding.

"Let's farm for a while longer. We'll clear the outer vines first and get familiar with the new monster AI mechanics. Once our Stamina is nearly empty, we'll head back. After upgrading our gear, we can log off and rest."

This was the best solution for the moment, and everyone agreed.

The players who planned to return for supplies had already left on the trucks. The four of them had formed a party precisely because they intended to farm a little longer.

Pure Love Warrior, their main tank, was the first to enter the swamp. As a level 30 paladin with no equipment, he cast buffs on himself such as "Divine Blessing," "Flawless Body," and "Slow Heal."

All of those skills were only Lv. 1, and their numerical bonuses were barely worth mentioning.

Humorous Old Man, the priest walking in the middle, was an active professional player. His role was to serve as an off-tank and fill any gaps.

At the rear was Amulet Owl, a second-class Divine Scholar. This class had abandoned close-combat ability and mainly relied on divine arts, tossing out all sorts of golden crap.

Level 8 Great Gale, flying overhead, was still a Lv. 30 Novice Divine Scholar and had not undergone his second-tier class change.

Every class in Expedition had later advancements branching out like a skill tree.

For example, the Time Palace Knight Amulet Owl aspired to become could also be advanced from classes such as mage or priest. However, the transitional classes taken along the way determined the final attributes and skills.

With the Wind Elemental providing intelligence from above, the group quickly drew out their first lesser monster: a gigantic "sunflower" lying sprawled across the swamp.

As they approached through the mud, sinking with every step, the Lv. 31 Tentacle Sunflower immediately "stood" up. Its six- or seven-meter-tall body rose silently, delivering an overwhelming visual sense of oppression.

Whoosh!

A tentacle shot out from the swamp, cutting through the air with a sharp whistling gust as it lashed toward the nearest Minotaur.

Pure Love Warrior wore no armor and carried no shield. He could only raise the spear in his hands, wait for the right moment, and swing at the incoming vine like a baseball bat.

Smack!

The Minotaur perfectly deflected the wide, powerful strike. Coupled with his decisive advantage in Strength, he caved in the lashing vine tentacle and sent it limply flopping onto the ground.

The three behind him immediately followed up with attacks. Three golden spears of light accurately struck the monster's weak point, piercing into the sunflower seeds.

"Our skills aren't upgraded. The damage is too low!"

"Forget the damage for now. This run is mainly to familiarize ourselves with the monsters. We'll come back and speed-farm them next time!"

There were no health bars in the game, but players could scan monster information in real time.

The three critical-hit Spears of Retribution had dealt over 3,000 damage to the giant sunflower in total, roughly one-fifth of its health.

The badly wounded sunflower immediately entered a berserk state. Seven whip-like vines lashed out from the muddy swamp, forming a "wall of whips" across the fan-shaped area occupied by the party.

Normally, with the players' mobility, they could have completely avoided the whips' range.

This was commonly known as "stepping through the grid."

But the terrible swamp terrain severely limited their mobility, leaving them no choice but to take this wave of attacks head-on.

At the front, the Minotaur swung his spear and knocked away four vine whips in succession. But when facing the fifth, he made a careless mistake and swung wide, allowing the vine to strike his shoulder.

The human priest beside him quickly filled the gap. With a tricky angle, he used his longsword to sever the next two lashes, saving Old Bull when he was down to half health.

"Kid, deflecting attacks is the most basic of basics. If you want to play a main tank well, you need to practice properly in private."

After being told that by a professional player, Pure Love Warrior, who was only a student, flushed with embarrassment and shamelessly said,

"Brother Deng, how about you teach me?"

"Teach you?"

Li Yuan fired a Lv. 30 Magic☆Power☆Ray☆, and a purple beam shot into the sky. Her precise trajectory prediction caused the pterosaur charging toward her in midair to evaporate at full health.

Only after gaining the Experience Points did she lower her heart-shaped wand and say to the red-clad girl flying beside her,

"You're different from us. You don't need to participate in battle."

"That's too unfair!" The red Magical Girl's voice carried a sob. "I'm also a Magical Girl who has made up her mind and sworn to protect justice. I should contribute my strength to this world... Even if you're my senior, you have no right to exclude me!"

"I see..." Li Yuan flew in front of the girl, turned to face her, and said, "Then do you know that you only have one life, while I can revive endlessly?"

As she spoke, she pressed her wand against her own throat and continued,

"Do you need me to prove it to you?"