Slaying the Demon Tiger

After settling Su Yu's belongings and helping her get familiar with the house, he let her watch some TV by herself and told her not to be too nervous—this was her home too.

Su Jiang had not spent much time with Su Yu and did not know how to be a father. All he could do now was let Su Yu lower her guard and slowly become familiar with everything here.

Once she had adjusted, he would let her enter the game.

China was now highly wary of the "Meta World." The procedures for purchasing VR equipment had become far more troublesome, and the price of the devices had risen considerably.

Su Jiang had considered telling China's higher-ups that the Meta World would affect reality in the future, but who would believe an ordinary nobody whose voice carried no weight?

Besides, even if no one believed the information now, what about half a year later? Once the authorities remembered that someone had once revealed such information to them, they would definitely investigate it to the end.

Su Jiang did not want to pay that price, so he decided to let nature take its course.

As for Lin Jing, giving her the money was no big deal. In half a year, the world would undergo drastic changes anyway. The strong would always have privileges. By then, even if he did not pay her, he would not need to worry about her taking Su Yu back.

Su Jiang returned to his room and logged into the game.

He followed the NPCs toward the mission destination.

During this time, many players had already reached level ten and headed to the main cities. It was said that some gaming-industry capital had also begun establishing guilds in the game, attempting to manipulate in-game prices and make a quick profit.

"Ten Regions Ordinary Players Should Choose!"

"A Fast Leveling Guide: Step-by-Step Instructions on Making the Most of Adventure Quests!"

"Introduction to the Various Available Areas of the Carron Empire! Includes an Overview of NPC Functions!"

"How to Obtain an Elite Adventurer Badge?"

"A Guide to Enraging the Level 10 Monster Bloodthirsty Mane Wolf! Let You Experience the Despair of Challenging an Overpowered Boss!"

"Arrogant World Guild Recruiting Fighters!"

Many topics beyond the beginner villages had appeared on the game forums.

In truth, beginner players did not have many regions to choose from. Most were low-level towns under the Carron Empire—slightly better than beginner villages, but not by much.

Forest City, which Su Jiang had chosen, was actually a low-level town as well, except it was restricted to players above level 30.

Kurumi followed the group for half a day.

As one monster after another was eliminated, the forest gradually became much quieter.

She was still 10% experience away from reaching level 13.

However, the Elemental Sprite's favorability had barely increased, and she had gained no reputation either.

"We're almost at our destination. Everyone, don't let your guard down!" Theodore said, looking at the exhaustion on everyone's faces.

Just as everyone thought they would be able to complete the mission safely and began to relax slightly—

A massive black tiger descended from above.

"ROAR!!!"

Its roar carried a heavy stench of blood.

Everyone knew they had encountered a powerful monster!

Kurumi was not surprised.

An escort mission was not much different from clearing a dungeon. After dealing with the small monsters along the way, a boss would definitely appear at the end.

"Grrr—"

The black giant tiger lowered its body, assuming a stance ready to attack at any moment.

Night Demon Tiger

Level: 35

Life Level: Elite Monster

HP:

Attack: 2000

Defense: 20

Skills: Agility, Bite Kill, Claws, Darkness Concealment, Vision Deprivation, Dark Attribute Erosion.

Monster Description: It had been watching you all along. It appeared when you were at your most exhausted, convinced that it would be the only victor of this battle!

Judging from the panel, this boss had high agility and attack, weak defense, and low health. Its skills could also effectively suppress ranged archers.

This boss was completely targeting her.

Kurumi's mouth twitched.

The slow from her current skills could at most offset the Agility in its skill list, but its speed would still be higher than that of ordinary players. This boss battle would be difficult.

"ROAR!"

The black tiger's fierce gaze passed over everyone and fixed on the Elemental Sprite protected in the middle.

"Ah!"

The little sprite was so frightened that it instantly hid in Kurumi's hair.

Bang, bang, bang...

-350!

-700!

-360!

Against a monster watching them like a tiger stalking its prey, defending for too long was bound to end in failure!

Kurumi struck first, using Second Bullet to reduce its speed.

At the same time, she had everyone form a circle, protecting the Elemental Sprite in the center from every angle.

Since they could not avoid it, then they would not!

The slow from Second Bullet allowed the NPCs to see the tiger's attack trajectories and defend effectively!

Meanwhile, Kurumi quickly activated City of Eating Time and unleashed her shadow skill.

Three Kurumi clones used City of Eating Time's blink ability to escape the encirclement at high speed, splitting the black tiger's attention!

The other NPCs seized the chance to attack.

A level 35 monster naturally had high stats. Even with First Bullet's passive speed boost, Kurumi's clones could not evade the black tiger's attacks. Left with no choice, they could only use Time Gun's blink to dodge.

Soon, ten seconds passed, and City of Eating Time's effect disappeared.

One Kurumi clone died.

"First Bullet (Aleph)!"

The two clones instantly activated the skill, and their speed immediately soared, becoming too fast for the black tiger to catch.

Both the main body and the clones took advantage of the skill's effect to rapidly attack the boss.

-170!

-350!

-480!

"Roar!" The boss howled toward the sky in pain.

Countless birds and beasts hidden in the forest were terrified by the roar and fled in panic.

"Roar! (Darkness Concealment)!"

The black tiger's body instantly vanished, disappearing from everyone's sight.

The next moment!

A black afterimage suddenly appeared beside one of Kurumi's clones. The clone could not react in time and was instantly killed!

Kurumi, standing in the center of the group, looked at the remaining clone and immediately switched places with it.

The black tiger's attack emerged from the void!

"Second Bullet (Bet)!"

Kurumi took the hit with her main body, leaving her with 770 HP. She then swiftly fired Second Bullet at the shadow.

The black-and-red bullet, like a chain stained with blood, struck the shadow.

The black tiger's speed dropped by 50%, and its vanished body reappeared before everyone.

Theodore shouted, "Focus your attacks!"

Spell after spell and warrior aura slashes struck the Night Demon Tiger, instantly reducing its health by one-fifth.

-980!

-500!

-752!

A string of bright red numbers rose from the black tiger's body. In just a few seconds, its Darkness Concealment skill was beaten into failure.

After Second Bullet's effect ended, it nimbly leaped onto a large tree.

It looked down at this group of food from above.

The hatred in its eyes was almost tangible!

Its primary target of vigilance also shifted from the high-level Theodore to Kurumi.

Because it had discovered that among this group, the most troublesome one was actually the lowest-level one!

Kurumi also switched places with her clone at this time, returning to the middle of the group.

She was still afflicted with a debuff: Dark Attribute Erosion Lv.1: Took damage equal to 1% of the attacker's maximum attack power every second.

-20!

-20!

The priest quickly cast a heal on Kurumi, pulling her critically low health back up.

"Roar! Vision Deprivation!" The black tiger standing on the tree let out a thunderous roar.

A debuff appeared in everyone's status.

Vision Deprivation: Your vision is shrouded in darkness, temporarily preventing you from seeing your surroundings. Duration: 60s.

Damn! They couldn't see anything for sixty seconds—wouldn't this boss just slaughter them?!

Just as Kurumi thought the mission was about to fail, the little fairy cried out.

"Ah! Elemental Conditioning!"

The dark elements in the air were swiftly neutralized and stabilized, and their vision brightened once more.

The moment she could see again, Kurumi found the black tiger less than a meter away from her!

Her thoughts raced!

Switch!

Kurumi switched places with the distant clone once again.

Her last clone died as well.

With all her clones dead, the Shadow skill entered cooldown. It would need to absorb 300 points of Time Value before it could be used again.

The powerful boss appeared in the middle of the group, sending the NPCs into a momentary panic as they scattered in every direction.

The boss had only one-tenth of its health left, yet their formation had already been shattered.

As the team leader, Theodore knew that against such an agile magical beast, once their formation was broken up, there was only one outcome: they would be picked off one by one!

He reacted quickly, stepping forward to entangle the black tiger and shouting, "Attack me!"

Entangled by Theodore, the black tiger could not break free, and the boss's health plummeted under everyone's attacks.

-350!

-800!

-720!

-350!

In the end, they killed the boss, though Theodore was badly wounded.

Kurumi's 270 damage was barely noticeable beside the adventurers' attacks, but she actually snatched the final blow!