You Have One Chance Left

The Cloaked Man stopped in his tracks. He glanced back at the Bald Scorpion Man and silently handed him the Bone-Cleaving Knife.

The Bald Scorpion Man forced a smile by way of thanks.

Zhao Xun's gaze lingered on the Bone-Cleaving Knife for a moment.

It probably wasn't a special item. Otherwise, the Cloaked Man wouldn't have let someone else use it so readily.

The Bald Scorpion Man tested the heft of the Bone-Cleaving Knife, then began hacking through the thorns to clear a path.

They had walked for another ten minutes when a woman suddenly screamed behind them.

Everyone turned to see Twin-Tails, second from the back, tilting sideways with a terrified expression.

A vine had wound around her ankle and was rapidly dragging her toward the thorn bushes beside them.

The Cloaked Man reacted quickly. Just as Twin-Tails was about to fall, he steadied her and gripped her arm tightly, keeping her from being dragged into the thorns.

With that brief reprieve, Twin-Tails hurriedly thrust her palm through the air toward the vine around her ankle.

A small burst of flame suddenly rose from her hand and shot toward the vine.

The attack struck true. The vine writhed, released Twin-Tails's ankle, and swiftly retreated into the thorns.

But Twin-Tails seemed angry and hurled several more fireballs in the direction it had retreated.

Each little fireball was only the size of a bean and didn't look particularly destructive, but after repeated hits, that patch of thorns still caught fire.

"If you set the entire thicket on fire, not many of us will be able to get out safely," the Cloaked Man warned.

Twin-Tails came to her senses and hastily stopped.

The Cloaked Man took out another Bone-Cleaving Knife and quickly chopped down all the plants surrounding the burning patch of thorns, creating a clear firebreak.

The small blaze was soon brought under control.

"So your special ability is fire control." The Earring Woman sized up Twin-Tails. "That's pretty useful against plants. You can handle defense along the way."

Twin-Tails bit her lip and laid out her condition. "I can help drive the vines away from all of you, which will also let us move faster, but I need protection."

"That's a reasonable request." The Earring Woman nodded. "Keeping you safe will also help you focus on dealing with those plants."

The Cloaked Man patted Twin-Tails on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll protect you from behind."

Seeing both the Earring Woman and the Cloaked Man agree to her request so readily, Twin-Tails relaxed a little.

Twin-Tails was the first to reveal her special ability, and she already felt she had gotten the short end of the stick, which had put her in a bad mood.

But since the veteran players were willing to cooperate and keep her safe, much of her dissatisfaction faded.

The fact that the Cloaked Man had just saved her once made her feel especially reassured.

While everyone was focused on Twin-Tails, Zhao Xun's gaze lingered on the Cloaked Man instead.

Most people would have said, "It'll be hard for any of us to get out of the fire safely," but the Cloaked Man had said, "Not many of us will be able to get out safely."

He had clearly said that without thinking, which meant that deep down, he believed at least one of the eight of them could escape safely.

Yet out of the eight, the Earring Woman was the only person he might know.

If he had meant the Earring Woman, he should have instinctively looked at her when he said it.

But he hadn't.

He hadn't looked at anyone, only at the small patch of burning thorns.

So the only person he could be certain would escape safely was himself.

Zhao Xun lowered his gaze to the cloak the Cloaked Man wore.

He wondered whether the cloak was fireproof or whether the Cloaked Man had some other useful special item.

To new players, veteran players were essentially treasure troves.

If they could plunder one, the haul would be greater than the rewards for clearing a single Platform Game.

Unfortunately, most new players lacked the strength. Plundering a veteran player was no easy task.

Even Zhao Xun himself knew he wasn't strong enough yet to attack just anyone he pleased.

Everyone continued forward.

Zhao Xun discreetly withdrew his gaze, set those thoughts aside, and kept pace with the group.

The Bald Scorpion Man was quite strong. He hacked his way forward at a brisk pace, making faster progress than the Cloaked Man had during his half hour in the lead.

On top of that, Twin-Tails used her fire control to repel the vines that repeatedly tried to attack them.

Spiders and centipedes even appeared a few times, but Twin-Tails drove those away too.

And so, everyone safely made it halfway through the thorn thicket.

The Crew-Cut Man glanced at the castle, which was noticeably closer now, and couldn't help saying, "I thought this thorn thicket would be really hard to get through. I even thought we might end up going in circles for hours without getting any closer to the castle."

"I don't think it'll come to that," the slightly plump woman replied reflexively. "I don't think the thorn thicket is where the main challenge lies."

"I agree," the Cowboy said, speaking for the first time. "Judging by the game rules, the main challenge should come after we enter the castle, so the thorn thicket shouldn't be too difficult."

"I think so too. The castle is so big that just finding where the Princess is will take a lot of time, never mind figuring out who the real Prince is," Twin-Tails agreed. "The real challenge starts once we enter the castle."

"That's true, but we still shouldn't let our guard down for the rest of the way," Zhao Xun reminded them with a smile.

He agreed with them. The thorn thicket wouldn't be too difficult and wasn't the main focus of this game.

But if they took it lightly, they could easily slip up.

He liked taking risks, but not brainless ones.

"You just love contradicting people." The Bald Scorpion Man shot Zhao Xun an impatient glare. "People know to be careful even without you saying anything. Stop trying to make yourself noticed."

Zhao Xun's expression didn't change. In fact, his smile grew a little brighter.

But a hint of coldness entered his eyes.

"You have one chance left." He stared at the Bald Scorpion Man, his gaze moving back and forth between the man's neck and eyes.

They had only been in the game for a little over an hour, and the Bald Scorpion Man had already tried to put him down twice.

Although he didn't care about being the group's leader, he despised people who didn't know when to stop and insisted on targeting him.

Just imagining this happening every time they did something from now on was irritating.

He might as well deal with this nuisance early.

As usual, three strikes and you were out. No one could say he hadn't given him a chance.

The Bald Scorpion Man froze for a moment.

For that instant, he felt as though he had become prey in a wild beast's sights, though he wasn't sure whether he was imagining it.

But when he looked more closely, all he saw was Zhao Xun's usual gentle smile.

Apparently, he really had imagined it.

Thanks to [It's the Three-Delicacy Filling] for the two monthly votes~

Thanks, everyone, for your recommendation votes~

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