Bandit Leader Ian

At the entrance to the stables, Bai Xiaowen used the "Return of the Dead" skill to order the Shadow Assassin to Stealth into the stables and give the dozen or so warhorses a potent boost.

"What kind of drug did you give me?" Li Shuyi asked in a low voice.

"Kerrila Castor Bean Powder, a level 3 laxative," Bai Xiaowen said. "It's similar to croton oil, enough to keep these horses hungry all night... Level 3 laxatives aren't very effective against these mid- to high-level bandits, but horses can't resist it."

Kerrila Castor Bean Powder is a psionic item containing Psionic Particles, so it can be brought into the Spirit Realm. In fact, Bai Xiaowen prepared quite a few specially made poisons for this trip, but none of them were higher than level 4, so they wouldn't be very effective against mid- to high-level monsters.

Using poison on monsters in the Spirit Realm or the Wilderness Zone to weaken them will not lower your Battle Rating or reduce the value of your loot.

However, this is based on the premise that the direct cause of the opponent's poisoning is oneself. If the opponent is poisoned by unrelated factors and their strength is reduced, the value of the spoils will still decrease.

After feeding the Black Wind Bandit Group's warhorses, Bai Xiaowen recalled his summoned creatures, including the Shadow Assassin, and he and Li Shuyi lay in ambush outside the mine.

Around midnight, the two burly bandits standing guard at the mine entrance staggered toward a nearby shack. Soon after, shouts and kicks came from inside the shack, followed by two more burly bandits, rubbing their sleepy eyes, emerging from the shack, urinating first, and then going to relieve themselves.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi had already crouched down and slipped into the mine.

Li Shuyi's agility is as high as 31 points, and although Bai Xiaowen has Mental Specialty, her agility is also 15 points. When they carefully sneak in, they can be said to make no sound at all, which can easily deceive these robbers with low perception.

The mine tunnel is quite spacious, with a diameter of over three meters, enough to allow many people to walk side by side. Every ten meters or so, there is a wall lamp on the tunnel wall, whose dim yellow light is enough to make it barely possible to see the way and prevent people from getting lost at the forks in the road.

The mine shafts of the Cliffside Iron Mine were dug when White Stone Town was still White Stone Fief. It's unknown how many years they've been mined, so it's not surprising that there are tunnels of this size.

It was nighttime, and most of the bandits in the mine were resting. Therefore, as long as Bai Xiaowen and his companion didn't make any obvious noise while walking through the tunnel, they wouldn't be discovered.

Of course, there are occasional unexpected situations. A tall and burly Han Empire, as if he were sleepwalking, suddenly walked out of the stone chamber around the corner, staggered to the wall opposite the chamber, and began to urinate.

Li Shuyi gently covered her nose. Bai Xiaowen was speechless for a moment; he finally understood where the foul smell in the cave came from.

A string of curses in Old Latin rang out.

"Kitz! You lazy pig, you're peeing in the hole again! If Boss Ian finds out, he'll definitely cut off your little earthworm!"

As the Han Empire Kitz Kitts was enjoying his urination, he chuckled and said, "Damn this weather, it's so cold outside, I wanted to sleep a little longer... And, Herman, remember, I'm not a little earthworm, I'm a giant python!"

Faced with this unexpected situation, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi could only crouch down and hide in the shadows, waiting for the Han Empire named Kitz to finish urinating and go back to sleep.

Bai Xiaowen used another Insight and discovered that the bandits inside the cave were indeed stronger than those outside. For example, Kitz in front of him was a level 5 Elite Tier!

After urinating, Kitz shook himself (beep), tightening his belt as he muttered, "I don't know what the boss was thinking, turning this godforsaken place into a camp. Without women, my big python is itching for a fight. We should just rush to the Lord's Manor, chop down that brat who hasn't even grown his hair yet, and the boss can be the lord. We can enjoy the good life, eat meat, sleep in big beds, and if we want to play with women, we can just go and get one. Wouldn't that be great?"

Herman's voice came through. "Are you stupid, Kitz? Killing that minor lord is easy, but do you know how serious the consequences will be? This is tantamount to openly provoking the Empire! Do you want to invite the Imperial Army to encircle and annihilate you? I want to live a few more days."

Kitz muttered, "I was just saying... But, Herman, I heard Boss Ian caught a pretty young woman yesterday?"

"Yes, that's true."

"Do you think Boss Ian has...?" Kitz ' voice was full of lewdness.

Herman denied it. "No, that little girl has been kept locked up in the north mine, guarded by Old Matt."

"Ian isn't interested in her?" Kitz asked eagerly. "Herman, how about we brothers go have some fun?"

"Don't drag me down with you if you want to die. Boss Ian said nobody's allowed to touch that chick," Herman yawned. "I'm going to sleep. It's still a long way from dawn. Kitz, if you're not afraid of dying, go ahead. It won't be as simple as cutting off a little earthworm."

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi's expressions changed simultaneously. They had both received a notification from the Spirit Realm Rules:

"You learned from a character in the story that there are hostages being held in Cliffside Mine Cavern."

"[Side Quest: Rescue] is now available."

Mission Objective: Rescue the hostages in the northern mine pit of the Cliffside Mine Cavern.

"Task Difficulty: A."

"Mission Reward: Unknown."

"Mission deadline: 2 hours."

Li Shuyi whispered, "It's another side quest, only two hours left. Should we accept it?"

"Accept it," Bai Xiaowen said. "This task doesn't conflict with our objectives, and there are no penalties for doing it, so we can do it while we're at it."

After both of them accepted the mission, Li Shuyi was about to find a way to the northern mine, but Bai Xiaowen stopped her.

"Don't worry about the hostages yet. Since the Blackwind Bandits said not to touch her, she's safe for now. If we try to rescue her first, we'll inevitably clash with the guards and alert the bandits. Let's launch a surprise Ambush first, kill Ian, the Black Wind Bandit Group, and then sweep through the entire Cliffside Mine Cavern before rescuing the hostages. That's the best approach—going with the flow and achieving twice the result with half the effort!"

The two continued forward in the dark.

The interior of the Cliffside Mine Cavern is winding and difficult to navigate, with interconnected tunnels resembling a maze. In the darkness, it's easy to get lost and take the wrong path.

However, Bai Xiaowen possessed an incredibly powerful memory, remembering exactly how many steps he took in each tunnel! Although the view was completely dark, he had a constantly expanding and evolving topographical map in his mind, so there was no possibility of him getting lost.

Soon, the two arrived at the main mine pit of the Cliffside Mine Cavern.

Standing at the end of the tunnel and looking down at the main mine pit, the pit was vast, practically an underground hall. A dozen torches were lit on the four walls of the pit, illuminating the enormous space as if it were daytime.

At the northernmost part of the mine, there is a simple stone bed, two meters long and wide. A tall, fair-skinned man lies reclining on the stone bed, his chest, clad in armor, rising and falling slightly, emitting soft snores. Beside him are two burly bandits as guards.

In addition, several thin servants, with only level 2 or 3 Standard Template strength, were busy washing and cleaning. The entire mine looked quite clean, which should be thanks to these servants.

Bai Xiaowen cast a Insight at the fair-skinned man on the stone bed.

[Ian (Level 6 Boss Tier)]

[Race: Human Species / Human Race]

[Class: Crusader Knight]

[Attributes: Strength 45, Agility 22, Constitution 48, Spirit 17]

[Skills: Holy Hammer Strike, Shield Bash, Devout Aura,???]

"This Little Bai is Ian, the leader of the Black Wind Bandit Group?" Bai Xiaowen looked at Li Shuyi with some surprise.

"A level 6 Boss Tier, it seems to be true. Look at him, he doesn't even take off his armor when he sleeps, how powerful is he?" Li Shuyi said.

"..."

Bai Xiaowen shook her head.

In another timeline, Bai Xiaowen had also read some time-travel novels with Western fantasy settings. In those novels, which Boss Tier a band of thieves wasn't a big, burly man with thick, black chest hair and a loud snoring voice? Such Little Bai could still keep the scene in check, so he must have some skills.

After all, they were among a group of vicious bandits. If they were even slightly weak, they might lose not only their position as the leader but also their dignity.

Speaking of art style, Bai Xiaowen couldn't help but complain. Why is it that in the Qihuan time-travel novels he read, every young lord has a loyal old steward who serves two generations, while in his world, there's only Jobb, this traitorous fatso...

Bai Xiaowen's train of thought wandered for 0.1 seconds before returning to the present.

"How do we fight?" Li Shuyi asked.

"This is a defensive BOSS with high strength and constitution, and a crowd control removal skill," Bai Xiaowen said. "The BOSS itself isn't difficult to deal with. However, he has two level 7 Elite Tier guards by his side, both of whom are strength-based damage dealers, which makes things more troublesome."

Bai Xiaowen took stock of the items he possessed and took out the bottle of [Potent Life Toxin] that he had obtained from Gray Ear, the Boss Tier of the rat horde.

This [Potent Life Toxin] directly reduces health, causing the target to lose 20% of their maximum Life Value within 5 seconds. However, the poison's effect is reduced when facing high-level, high-stat enemies.

Even if the effect is somewhat diminished, it's necessary to use it now.

Bai Xiaowen chose to poison the Shadow Assassin's weapon and said softly, "The old method, let the Shadow Assassin Stealth in, and we'll engage the monsters after a double attack. For the BOSS and the two High Elite Tier, use a divide-and-conquer tactic, kill the Elite Tier first, then take down the BOSS, and try to bait out his crowd control removal skill."

After the 30-second item cooldown, Bai Xiaowen poisoned Li Shuyi's Refined Thrust Sword, using up all two uses of the [Potent Life Toxin] potion.

With a whoosh, Bai Xiaowen resummoned the summoned creatures that came with the Black Soul Stone.

The two High Elite Tier bandits seemed to sense something and looked up.

However, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi, along with the Skeleton Sword-and-Shield Soldier and Skeleton Mage, had already retreated a few steps to avoid being seen from inside the mine. Meanwhile, the Shadow Assassin entered Stealth mode and slowly walked into the mine, unnoticed by the two High Elite Tier bandits.

The two bandit guards quickly turned their gaze away; in the dead of night, they couldn't possibly maintain full concentration forever.

The Shadow Assassin silently approached the bandit guards from behind.

Sizzle!

Blood splattered as a burst of blood erupted from behind a bandit guard. The Critical Hit and Vital Strike dealt sixty points of damage, and also inflicted Severe Bleeding and a percentage reduction in Life Value from Potent Life Toxin!

"Enemy attack!"

The attacked bandit guard roared. But along with his roar, a group of skeleton soldiers rushed over!

The skeleton army and the Rageclaw leaped into the mine like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, wielding iron swords and Claw as they joined the battle. Their target was none other than the level 7 Elite Tier bandit who had been ambushed by the Shadow Assassin and whose Life Value had been severely reduced!

Bai Xiaowen discovered that the level 7 Elite Tier bandit had a very high Life Value. He withstood the bleeding and poison effects for a full five seconds and still had about 50% of his Life Value remaining.

Bai Xiaowen didn't give him a chance to bandage his wounds, and ordered the summoned creatures to join the attack. However, the wounded bandit showed no intention of bandaging himself, and suddenly drew a broadsword, slashing left and right with unstoppable force.

Li Shuyi dodged the sword, then Double Slash a series of slashes, rapidly thrusting at the wounded bandit.

However, the sword was blocked by a cross-shaped shield that shimmered with silver light.

Clang!

The bandit Boss Tier, Ian, awoke. Always clad in armor, he joined the battle, wielding a one-handed warhammer in his right hand and a cross-shaped shield on his left. He possessed great strength; after Block Li Shuyi's thrust, he suddenly lifted her up, causing Li Shuyi to stagger backward.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking us!" Ian said in a deep voice.

"That's a question for you. What good deeds did you do at the White Stone Silver Mine?"

Bai Xiaowen raised his Desert Eagle, its dark muzzle pointed downwards, and fired a shot that interrupted the wounded bandit who was trying to bandage his wounds. The bullet, which was guaranteed to Critical Hit and would deal 250% Headshot damage, directly knocked the Elite Tier bandit guard to his knees, reducing his Life Value by a large margin to less than 100!

Ian was furious, but strangely, he didn't attack immediately; instead, he tried to reason with them.

"Were you sent by Lord Maki of the Redleaf Lord Maple Clan? Is it because I attacked the White Stone Silver Mine? The contract didn't state that this place was off-limits to attacks!"

After a pause, Ian said, "You all leave immediately. I can pretend nothing happened and will not attack the White Stone Silver Mine again! Go back and tell Maki that my contract with him is still valid..."

Hearing Ian's series of revelations, Bai Xiaowen immediately perked up. However, it was impossible for him to back down. In fact, Bai Xiaowen cleanly and decisively raised his hand and shot the wounded robber again.

Ian was prepared for the shot; he held his cross shield horizontally, blocking the bullet.

"What exactly do you want? You're starting a war!"

The wounded elite bandit said in a muffled voice, "Boss, these guys aren't Maki's men. They're going all out against me; there's no room for leniency!"