What Kind of Monster Was This Slick?

Ye Fengxing smiled when he read this. It seemed Too Late to Shoot probably already knew who the three of them were. Leaving aside how the information had been obtained, at least this bombshell hadn't been publicized far and wide. And that humble attitude, taking the position of a junior, was already quite commendable.

"Sure, let's see who's better. When have I ever been afraid of a challenge?" A long-absent surge of fighting spirit welled up in Ye Fengxing's chest. That bold yet friendly declaration of war had fired him up a little.

Just as he was thinking this, voices suddenly came from the game, and Ye Fengxing quickly switched back in.

After listening carefully, he couldn't help cursing inwardly. He had been so careful, yet he couldn't guard against someone else's carelessness... How had they managed to discover this place "by accident," "without meaning to"? When your luck went bad, even a sip of cold water could get stuck in your teeth!

One of them called out loudly, "Come look! There seems to be a cave here. There might be an elite monster or something inside."

Another said, "Where? Where? Are you seeing things? Why can't I see it?"

The first said, "Are you fucking blind? Don't you see that dark patch behind the grass?"

The other said, "Oh, right, right! Now I see it. How the hell are your eyes so sharp? Come on, let's take a look."

The two approached eagerly, and one turned back to call, "Hey, Xinchang! There's a cave here. You're an Assassin, so come check for traps and stuff first."

"Coming!" came a loud reply, followed by a jumble of footsteps that sent the fallen leaves rustling.

Ye Fengxing recognized that voice. Wasn't that the little Assassin with the "absolutely terrible" skills?

"Damn it, you came knocking yourselves, so don't blame me for being ruthless." Ye Fengxing straightened and hurried to the cave entrance. Hearing footsteps already close by, he took his stance without another word and fired a Flame Arrow! Who gave a fuck whom it hit? He couldn't leave the entrance anyway, so he would hit whoever came near. It made no difference who.

"Holy-fuck! There's a monster inside! Watch out! Everyone fall back! It's a caster!" The unlucky fellow who took the blast used a Roll Maneuver to retreat, rattling off a frantic warning. That response was already quite good by ordinary player standards. The Ninth Division's elites were still highly capable gamers.

Ye Fengxing had already seen through that "utterly clumsy" Roll Maneuver. Before the player finished rolling, another Flame Arrow shot out, accompanied by a Magic Missile, striking behind both knees and blasting the player onto the ground, twitching all over... What had been a beautiful Roll Maneuver became a "dog-crawl ground-rolling technique." It couldn't have been more embarrassing.

-1013, Explosive Impact.

-397! Critical hit! Flame Arrow!

-233! Critical hit! Magic Missile!

Several flashes of flame, mixed with gleaming white orbs, promptly sent that War Hero player off to meet the angel lady.

"Motherfucking hell! That monster's damage is insane! Xinchang, sneak in and check its level and type. See if it's an elite or higher."

[Team][Cold-Hearted]: Got it. Spread out first.

Monsters could hear too. Cold-Hearted was already close to the cave entrance and didn't dare speak, so he typed a line into team chat.

[Team][War Hero Yi Yan]: What's going on? Anything unusual over there?

[Team][Cold-Hearted]: Leader, there's a cave here with a caster monster inside. Its damage is pretty high. I'm about to go in and take a look.

[Team][War Hero Yi Yan]: Say the word if you need reinforcements.

[Team][Cold-Hearted]: Will do.

After reporting to the leader, Comrade Xinchang was just about to move when a faint white chill silently swept over him, freezing him in place and breaking his Stealth.

"What..." Cold-Hearted was deeply frustrated. "Is the monster inside so high-level that it already spotted me?"

Before the poor Shadow Assassin could think any further, a string of Flame Arrows and white Magic Missiles came crashing down on him... Comrade Xinchang saw nothing but dazzling firelight. Before he could make out a damn thing, he was dead without even knowing what had happened.

"That shouldn't happen. Are monsters really this slick now?" Cold-Hearted kept feeling that something was wrong... The way that "monster" reacted was far too much like a player. But logically speaking, no player at this stage should have had such high damage.

[Team][You Mind Your Own Business]: Xinchang, you got insta-killed too?

[Team][Cold-Hearted]: Yeah... This sucks. The monster spotted me.

[Team][You Mind Your Own Business]: Did you see what it looked like, then? What level was it?

[Team][Cold-Hearted]: No. I got frozen by Frostthorn Growth before I even entered the cave. Then I saw several fireballs coming at me, and down I went.

[Team][You Mind Your Own Business]: JiongJZ...

[Team][Kuang Dao]: Little Sword, Xiao Xian, take your two groups over and check.

At the deputy leader's command, six young men eagerly agreed. Grinding trash mobs was boring as hell. Was that really what young people like them should be doing? A challenge like this was more their thing!

Ye Fengxing was stuck between a rock and a hard place now... Once the enemy's main force arrived, both he and Adaric would be done for! Unless old Adaric unleashed his divine might and sent Flame Dance, Thunder Splendor flying with one slash, instantly killing those bastards... Of course, that was just wishful thinking.

What would our great Ye do in a situation like this?

[Whisper][Ironhead Monk]: What the hell are you up to?

[Ironhead Monk][Whisper]: Doing a quest. What's up?

[Whisper][Ironhead Monk]: I'm being camped. Get over here and save me.

The great Ye decisively chose to call for help. He had never considered this sort of behavior particularly "shameless." The illustrious captain of the Beaconfire Team, a god of the pro scene, actually calling in his own teammates for open-world PvP-did he have no fucking shame?

Ironhead was baffled too... Ye Fengxing, of all people, getting corpse-camped? That was ridiculous! Nobody would believe it!

[Whisper][One Leaf Windwalk]: Come on, man, stop joking, okay? Someone camping you? Any kid who picks a fight with you should count himself lucky if he isn't crying and begging you not to camp him.

[One Leaf Windwalk][Whisper]: I'm not dead, but right now... Anyway, I can't explain it in a couple of sentences. Just hurry over! And bring more people. It's the War Hero Family. If we really start fighting, they'll probably have reinforcements.

[One Leaf Windwalk][Whisper]: Emergency!!

Seeing this, Ironhead got fired up too. He loved a good group brawl! He immediately opened his friends list and started calling people one by one...

Outside the cave, several young men from the War Hero Family had already taken their positions. The Warrior in Xiao Xiaoxian's group glanced at the cave and asked in confusion, "Where's the monster? It didn't chase you out?"

One of the earlier arrivals said, "Everyone who went close got insta-killed. We stayed back and never entered combat."

Xiao Xiaoxian frowned slightly. "So none of you guys actually saw the monster?"

Cold-Hearted had already revived. He should have been the person who got closest to that "monster," but he hadn't seen it either. He said glumly, "That's right. Its Detection Level is very high. The moment we get a little closer, it attacks." (Detection Level: all monsters have detection abilities. The higher the level, the wider their detection range and the greater their chance of discovering targets in Stealth.)

Xiao Xiaoxian asked, "Is it a ranged monster? An archer or a caster?" The young man had plenty of experience with online games and immediately deduced the truth.

"A caster," someone answered without hesitation.

Cold-Hearted suddenly rubbed his brow, sensing that something seemed off.

Xiao Xiaoxian continued, "A caster, huh? Which element: wind, lightning, ice, or fire?"

Something suddenly clicked in Cold-Hearted's mind. "Fire. And it has a stun skill called Explosive Impact. Wait! It might be..."

Although Comrade Xinchang didn't finish, everyone understood what he meant. Several people instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons. Fighting monsters and PvP were different, after all. The tension and excitement of the latter were hard for the former to match, especially when facing an expert. That feeling defied description.

That was exactly how Xiao Xiaoxian felt now. Although that mage had yet to reveal his true strength, his equipment and sheer nerve alone were enough to mark him as an expert! Playing a game of cat and mouse with someone like that was thrilling!

Ye Fengxing waited for a while, but nobody else charged in. He knew they had gone to call for help... Once everyone arrived, melee fighters would lead the way, ranged attackers would bombard him, and healers would heal like mad! No matter how capable he was, he couldn't pull off any tricks in this terrain. He would have no choice but to activate Wind Veil and flee.

Dragging this out wasn't a solution. He might as well take a huge risk and go for it!

Ye Fengxing glanced at Adaric, then took a deep breath and leaped out of the cave... While he was still in midair, roaring flames blazed from his hands, instantly covering a large area...

The banks of the Donar River, the Glittering Forest.

Amid the lush forest, two miserable little figures limped along. Crossing a high-level zone like the Glittering Forest was really pushing their limits. Whether in terms of level or skill, this wasn't a place either of them should have been visiting at this stage.

Fortunately, one of them was a Missionary. With healing and running all the way, neither had died, but the fat Missionary was drenched in sweat. Just look at that greasy forehead... It made you wonder whether tossing a flame onto it would set him blazing...

"Zhuan'er, we're almost there, right?" the archer beside him asked breathlessly.

"We should... should be pretty close, right?" The Missionary wiped away his sweat and pulled up the chat history to check. He nodded. "It should be around here. Let's look a little more. I'll whisper Brother Ye."

"Zhuan'er, look over there." The archer suddenly tapped the Missionary and pointed into the distance.

"Hm?" The Missionary looked in that direction, only to see a dazzling expanse of strange, colorful light...