He's Out

Su Mu's pupils narrowed slightly.

Speed: 480. Attack: 1,280.

This was a completely different breed from those lumbering, heavily armored goblins before.

...An assassin-type boss.

For the first time, Little Drill Wind put away his lazy demeanor.

He stood at the mountain pass, his short knife held across his body. Scale patterns appeared on his blue-black skin, as though he had sensed a real threat.

Su Mu understood that this wave wouldn't be easy.

Fifteen level-eleven elites and an assassin-type boss made for a terrifying lineup, even in a nightmare dungeon.

More importantly, the assassin's speed meant that Little Drill Wind's hit-and-run tactics would very likely be countered.

In open ground, Little Drill Wind might still have been able to use the terrain to maneuver around them.

But the assassin was too fast. Once it tangled with him, the other fifteen elites would quickly surround him.

And the biggest problem was the "poisoned short blade." Its poison effect deducted health by percentage, so the more health Little Drill Wind had, the greater the damage it would deal him.

The battle was about to erupt.

The next moment, Little Drill Wind moved.

Instead of charging the boss, he rushed straight at the fifteen elite goblins.

Su Mu was briefly startled, but he immediately understood his intention.

He wanted to draw the mobs' attention first and throw the battlefield into chaos, then find a chance to kill the boss in the melee.

A gray shadow flashed, and Little Drill Wind had already plunged into the mob.

Blade light danced, and blood sprayed everywhere.

The level-eleven elite goblins might have been tough and thick-skinned, but against Little Drill Wind's attack power after reaching level six, their defenses were no longer as hard to break as before.

Every slash cut to the bone, forcing the goblins to retreat again and again.

The assassin moved.

Like a bolt of black lightning, it swept silently in from the side of the battlefield.

Su Mu hadn't even seen it move clearly before he saw a cold gleam stabbing toward Little Drill Wind's back.

"Watch out!"

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Little Drill Wind twisted sharply, dodging the attack in an extremely contorted pose. He slashed backward with his short knife, colliding with the assassin's short blade in midair.

"Clang..."

Sparks flew.

The assassin pulled back as soon as the blades met. Its toes touched the ground, and with a few leaps, it retreated into the mob.

Little Drill Wind didn't pursue. He merely shook out his wrist, his blue-black face revealing no expression.

But Su Mu's heart sank.

That exchange had let him see clearly.

The assassin was slower than Little Drill Wind, but not by much.

And its attack was higher than Little Drill Wind's. More importantly, it wouldn't attack alone. It always hid among the mobs, waiting for Little Drill Wind to show an opening.

Sure enough, the assassin attacked three more times in succession, each time choosing a moment when Little Drill Wind was surrounded by mobs and couldn't be in two places at once.

Although Little Drill Wind dodged the killing blow every time, the wounds on his body kept multiplying.

Those level-eleven mobs were clumsy, but there were too many of them. With them attacking from all sides, some blows were bound to get through.

"We have to break this deadlock." Su Mu gritted his teeth.

Little Drill Wind's health was dropping fast and had already fallen below fifty percent.

Meanwhile, the assassin had yet to suffer any substantial damage.

Just as Su Mu thought this wave might be a lost cause, Little Drill Wind made an incredibly bold move.

He suddenly stopped dodging.

When the assassin thrust its short blade from the shadows for the fourth time, Little Drill Wind didn't evade. Instead, he thrust his left shoulder forward.

The blade pierced his shoulder.

Blue-black blood gushed out.

But at the same time, Little Drill Wind's right hand moved.

Faster than ever before, his short knife stabbed upward, straight at the assassin's throat.

The assassin clearly hadn't expected this. It tried to pull back, but its short blade was stuck... firmly wedged against Little Drill Wind's shoulder blade.

In that instant, the assassin's speed advantage vanished completely.

Little Drill Wind's short knife stabbed into its chin, piercing through its jawbone to the back of its skull.

Seizing this opening, Little Drill Wind held it fast and traded blood for blood, striking that weak point again and again.

Killed it?

Su Mu almost shouted.

The assassin's body stiffened in midair. Dark green blood poured from its mouth, and then it slumped to the ground.

Little Drill Wind pulled the short blade from his shoulder without even looking at the blood on it, then slashed backward and cut down two mobs lunging at him from behind.

He could no longer lift his left shoulder, and his entire arm hung limply at his side.

Yet his feet moved faster than before.

Without the boss supporting them, the remaining elite goblins' fighting spirit visibly wavered.

Using one arm, Little Drill Wind chased the fifteen level-eleven elites all over the mountain.

When the last goblin fell, Su Mu received a notification.

[Wave 10 complete.]

Su Mu glanced at his experience: level 6, 83%.

He hadn't leveled up.

He glanced at Little Drill Wind's health again. Less than 5,000 remained.

He guessed the monsters in wave 11 probably wouldn't be much stronger than those in wave 10, but Little Drill Wind was in no condition to continue. Even if they forced their way into another fight, they might not clear it, and if one mistake got Little Drill Wind killed, that would be trouble.

When a creature card died, reviving it required a large amount of monster essence.

Only wild monsters dropped monster essence, and he didn't have any at all right now.

Having thought it through, Su Mu didn't hesitate.

"Retreat."

Little Drill Wind looked at him, seemingly a little unwilling to accept it.

"That's enough," Su Mu said. "Quit while we're ahead."

Little Drill Wind was silent for a moment, then sheathed his knife and turned to walk toward Su Mu.

Su Mu took one last look at the monsters emerging from the rift, then chose to exit with a thought.

[You have exited the trial dungeon]

[Waves challenged this time: 10 (completed)]

The dark red curtain of light spat him out of the dungeon.

By the time Su Mu came out, more than half the people outside the trial ground had dispersed.

After all, no one could stand in one spot waiting for nearly half an hour.

On Awakening Day, everyone was racing against the clock to level up and adjust their builds. Apart from those who truly cared about the outcome of the bet, the only people who could spend so long in front of the nightmare curtain of light were a few idle onlookers who never thought the spectacle was big enough.

But the moment Su Mu stepped out of the dark red curtain of light, gazes scattered all around converged on him at once, as though drawn by a magnet.

"He's out! Su Mu's out!"

Someone shouted, and the students who had been chatting in twos and threes in the rest area all stood up straight and looked over.

Su Mu stood before the curtain of light, his expression calm and his breathing even. Apart from a few gray-green bloodstains on the hem of his clothes, there was little sign that he had been through a hard fight.

"Damn, how come he doesn't look tired at all?"

"Something's not right. Doesn't everyone who comes out of a nightmare dungeon have a deathly pale face and shaky legs? Look at how Wang Hao came out earlier, then look at him..."

"Don't jump to conclusions. Check his level first."