Warrior, Mage, Priest

Seeing Killer Codename 38 and Invincible Hero each lead their goblins off to work, Xiao Yu began patrolling around the camp with the three Blackrock orc brothers. The benefits of patrolling were obvious: it kept the goblin laborers chopping wood safe while they worked, and it also gave him a chance to gain levels.

As a monster, he needed reputation points to advance his template tier, but he still needed experience points to raise his level. Reputation points were hard to come by, whereas experience points were simple enough to get: all he had to do was kill monsters.

Night Whisper Forest was full of beasts—so many that he could never kill them all.

With the three Blackrock orcs tanking the monsters up front, their effectiveness as meat shields was exceptional. Ordinary beasts had no chance of getting close, and Xiao Yu was also very satisfied with the power of Flame Missiles. With his spell power, he could conjure five to seven Flame Missiles at once. Each missile dealt around twelve damage, including a twenty percent damage bonus, so a volley dealt nearly a hundred damage. Monsters with low health could even be killed instantly, while those with more health only took two or three volleys.

It didn't matter if his orc bodyguards got hurt, either. That was where Xiao Yu's Lesser Heal came in, allowing him to kill monsters without any losses. After a busy morning killing over a hundred solitary beasts, Xiao Yu successfully reached level ten.

For a player using a monster template, that leveling speed was absolutely astounding. By comparison, the first time he'd played with a wild monster template, he'd died once for every two monsters he killed.

Xiao Yu was walking along his patrol route when a message suddenly appeared in the chat box.

Invincible Hero (Goblin Warrior): "Boss, bad news. I spotted some adventurers approaching the camp."

Adventurers! Xiao Yu was startled. After what had happened yesterday, he was jumpy at the mere thought of adventurers, and his instinct was to run.

Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten that he was an elite now.

Eric (Goblin Pyromancer): "How many adventurers, and what level are they?"

Invincible Hero (Goblin Warrior): "Three adventurers: a warrior, a mage, and a priest. They're all level eight or nine."

A standard warrior, mage, and priest party. Xiao Yu looked at the three level-nine Blackrock orcs beside him and felt they could take them. Besides, he could respawn if adventurers killed him, which put him considerably more at ease.

Invincible Hero (Goblin Warrior): "Oh no, they saw me! They're charging at me! Ah! I'm dead. Sorry, boss, five or six of the goblin laborers under me died too."

Damn, he really is useless, Xiao Yu couldn't help thinking. But there was nothing to be done about it. When ordinary monsters ran into adventurers, they really were just experience packs.

Eric (Goblin Pyromancer): "It's fine. They're just a few goblin laborers; we can afford the loss. Take a break for now. Wait until I've dealt with those players before you leave the camp."

As he spoke, Xiao Yu led the three Blackrock orc brothers toward the logging site. From a long way off, he saw three adventurers slaughtering the goblins wandering around the camp: a bald human warrior named Supreme Greatsword, a female human priest named Vivi Soy Milk, and a female human mage named Purple Toffee.

The goblins that spawned around the camp were generated by the system for free. They nominally belonged to the goblin camp, but Xiao Yu couldn't control them. They called him chief when they saw him, and their names were green, marking them as units of the same faction, but they barely reacted to his orders. In fact, every monster faction's camp had large numbers of these subordinate monsters around it, mainly for adventurers to level up on. Unless there were special circumstances like those the day before yesterday, a small group of adventurers at the same level wouldn't dare venture deep into a monster faction's camp. Normally, they would just kill the subordinate monsters around it.

Under ordinary circumstances, Xiao Yu might have let them be. This time, however, he couldn't do that. Time was limited, and he still had resources to gather. Since they'd wandered into his line of fire, they could die.

With that thought, Xiao Yu led the three Blackrock orc brothers toward the adventurers.

"Huh? Look over there!" The human warrior tanking the monsters had the sharpest eyes and spotted the goblin and orcs at once.

"Holy crap, a gold portrait! It's a boss! This is great. Quick, put up your buffs. Let's go!"

The mage, however, seemed more cautious. "Um, could this be dangerous?"

"What are you afraid of? Summon a water elemental and use your two Frost Novas to freeze the mobs first. Then we can focus fire and kill the big one instantly, can't we?"

"All right, it's settled. You pull," the mage said. The three immediately formed a line, with the warrior in front, the mage in the middle, and the priest at the rear.

Xiao Yu sneered inwardly when he saw this. Planning to have the warrior charge in and taunt, then have the mage come up and use Frost Nova? You really think I can't understand human speech? Discussing tactics right in front of me-well, these guys must be newbies. They probably aren't very familiar with the game's mechanics yet. Don't they know that wild monsters can be played by players too?

He immediately whispered instructions to the three orcs. "Spread out and flank them from both sides. Focus your attacks on the priest. Leave the mage and warrior to me; just attack the priest. Understood?"

The three orcs exchanged glances and nodded together, then spread out to either side.

"Huh? Why are the monsters splitting up? Where are those orcs going?" the mage Purple Toffee asked, startled.

The warrior Supreme Greatsword, however, said unconcernedly, "Isn't that even better? With just the boss left, it'll be easier to deal with. All right, I'm pulling. Soy Milk, keep me healed."

With that, he charged toward the goblin boss, but after just two steps, he realized something was wrong. The goblin had stopped a long way off and started casting a spell instead.

Eric (Goblin Pyromancer): "In my name, Eric, I summon you, creature from the elemental realm. Appear, fire elemental!"

A red magic circle appeared on the ground before him, and with a sudden flash, a fire elemental as tall as a person was summoned from it.

Supreme Greatsword: "What the hell? How could he trigger combat from so far away?"

While he was stunned, the goblin boss had already raised his staff toward him.

Flame Missiles. Five fireballs materialized around Xiao Yu, and with a wave of his hand, they flew toward Supreme Greatsword.

Damn! He spotted me after all! What the hell?

He hurriedly raised his shield. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! A series of explosions rang out as all six fireballs were stopped by the shield, though they still dealt over twenty damage.

System notification: You dealt 72 fire damage to Supreme Greatsword. 49 damage blocked, 23 effective damage.

Xiao Yu sighed. The damage was a little low, but there was nothing he could do. Since the game was so close to reality, flying fireballs and ice arrows could be blocked or even dodged.

Supreme Greatsword, however, was still shaken. He only had 168 health in total. If he'd been a little slower to block and had been hit, he would have lost half his health in an instant. Even now, a full sixth of his health was gone.

No, I can't hesitate any longer! Supreme Greatsword gritted his teeth, charged up to Xiao Yu, and raised his sword to strike down at his head.