Pop!

I picked up a card that had dropped to the ground. Tsk tsk, the Demon-eyed Wolf’s experience was so-so, but its card was exceptionally good—

Demonic Gaze Card: 25% chance to stun a target for 3 seconds. The card cannot be used on the same target within 1 minute.

……

I tossed the card into Beiming Xue’s hands. If she used it with Evil Spirit Volley, she could stun practically every Demon-eyed Wolf caught in the attack and greatly disrupt their rhythm. There were no natural barriers in this place, so hitting and running was a must for most people. I might not be afraid of the Demon-eyed Wolves, but Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue would most likely die if they were surrounded by these beasts.

Our four-man party aggroed almost a thousand Demon-eyed Wolves and ran like hell. I hit the mobs with Thousand Ice Slashes and War Crushes, Murong Mingyue used Hellish Rockfalls to smite her enemies after applying Regeneration to everyone, He Yi protected Murong Mingyue with her Soul Stealing Spear and shield, and the Firelight Mouse continuously rained fire on the mobs around.

I was the only one who could withstand the onslaught and attack the mobs without pause. War Crush especially was doing an insane amount of damage!

He Yi was also firing green blades into the enemies and dealing over 5000 damage to a bunch of targets every time her cooldown was up. At Rank 5, Green Wave Slash was starting to get really powerful!

The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was a walking war fortress. It was happily slaughtering its own race and howling like mad.

In less than 20 minutes, every last Demon-eyed Wolf we had aggroed was dead. They naturally dropped a hundred or so Rank 8 wolf pelts, and I used Death Plunder to gain almost a thousand extra of those. I threw everything into my bag since I had plenty of bagspace to spare, and Yamete could always use more materials to forge his high-rank leather armors. Speaking of which, Beiming Xue had recently created an archer-only battalion in the guild, and most of the leather armors worn by the high-level archers were made by Yamete himself. It was a huge boost to both the guild’s unity and combat power.

Somehow Mamate had become the king of logistics, and he was beloved by many girls. There were always beautiful archers using their sweet, melting voices to coax Yamete into making new equipment for them. The girls would say, "Aiyo, my legguards are low-level and break easily, make me new ones, please~" and show him their white legs, and saliva would drip down Mamate’s chin. Before we knew it, Mamate had become the happiest middle-aged man in the entire guild.

……

We swept through the battlefield but found only dozens of Silver and Dark Steel–grade equipment. Almost none of them could be considered top-tier. It was slightly frustrating but to be expected though. Our levels were too high, so the reward had shrunk in proportion. These days, grinding mobs 20 levels ahead of you was the royal road to power!

"Should we find a new mob to fight?" I suggested.

The girls quickly agreed. They also noticed that we were leveling at a slow rate.

We continued forward to find a higher-level mob while we still had the time. It was more fun that way anyway.

……

The short journey was filled with laughter. It couldn’t possibly be a bad experience with such beauties by my side.

My Barbaric War Boots of Heaven grinded against the sand as I led the way. Beiming Xue was following closely behind me, and He Yi was staying slightly further back to protect Murong Mingyue. These days, she was really starting to master the art of the knight.

It was at this moment a shadow passed us by. Shit, it’s an assassin in stealth!

I outleveled the assassin drastically and I was after my fourth promotion. That was why I saw through the assassin immediately even though he was pretty high-level himself, Level 93. Moreover, the emblem on his shoulder marked him as a member of Warsky Alliance!

I immediately changed direction and dashed to He Yi’s side. Then, I stomped the ground and unleashed War Crush!

"What?"

The assassin was surprised, clearly not expecting me to see through his high-level stealth. He retreated swiftly, but he still took a hit at the last moment. As a result, he lost his Spell Shield and suffered a huge amount of damage!

2764!

The guy only had a total HP of 3500 or so. If he hadn’t been buffed by a priest beforehand, my War Crush might’ve killed him already!

It was around this moment the girls let out a cry of surprise in unison. Even they had just noticed the assassin!

Loud Screamer LV-93 Silver Assassin

Guild: Warsky Alliance

Guild Position: Squad Leader

……

"Gulp!"

Loud Screamer healed himself to full with a health potion and backed away with stern eyes. He chuckled. "You are as impressive as the rumors say, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. My guild leader would like to inform you that the inner area of Fire Desert belongs to us. If you don’t leave now, Warsky Alliance will take action!"

I smiled. "How dare the likes of you keep a leveling zone to yourself! When you die, tell Warsky that I’m not going anywhere today, and that he’s free to fight me anytime he wants to!"

"You!"

Loud Screamer tried to say something, but I was already swinging my sword and launching Thousand Ice Slash at him. I wasn’t going to give him any chance to live!

Boom!

Icy sword auras destroyed the area where Loud Screamer was standing before freezing him in ice. He was dead even before the Frozen status was gone!

The poor bastard. He might be Level 93, but he was nowhere close to my level, and my Attack absolutely outstripped his pathetic Defense. People like him might be able to fight Du Thirteen on equal footing and even look good while doing so, considering that Du Thirteen should be able to strike him for 1500 damage per hit, but against me it was just a matter of how I wanted to go about one-shotting him.

……

He Yi looked thoughtful as she stared at Loud Screamer’s corpse. "This guy is just the scout, not an elite. It looks like Warsky Alliance is plotting something in Fire Desert!"

I nodded. "Mn, the fact that they’re trying to hold a leveling zone means that there must be something here that’s worth the effort…"

"Mn!"

I contacted Xu Yang quickly and asked, "Can you ask around and see if anyone knows what Warsky Alliance is doing in Fire Desert?"

"Sure!"

Xu Yang was a good man with friends all over the places, even inside Warsky Alliance. Some of them became our spies and helped to keep an eye on Warsky Alliance.

A few minutes later, Xu Yang replied, "I got it. This early morning, Warsky organized a thousand-man party and marched into Fire Desert. Apparently, there was a kind of mob called Desert Giant, and a Spirit Rank boss called the Desert Giant King. Clearly, Warsky is planning to kill that boss, loot some Spirit-grade equipment and reach Level 100 as soon as possible. Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain are there as well. If you’re planning to stir some trouble, I don’t think it’s going to be easy. Do you want me to send our men over?"

I shook my head. "It’s fine. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and the others are grinding at Hot Wind Harbor, aren’t they? I don’t want to disturb them. I have boss, sis, and Lil Beiming by my side, so we’ll be fine as long as we don’t fight them head-on."

"Got it. Contact me if you need anything!"

"Mn!"

……

I turned off the communicator and explained what was going on briefly. Then, we all looked to He Yi for directions. She was the guild leader, and her word was our command.

He Yi smiled and declared, "Let’s kill some Desert Giants at the heart of Fire Desert…"

We all supported the decision without question. Honestly, everyone here was a troublemaker, and Warsky Alliance was the one who taunted us anyway. It would be a shame not to reciprocate their "good" will. I also hadn’t forgotten that they were the ones who nearly drove me and Lin Yixin to a dead end just two days ago. It’s payback time.

We took off to the heart of the desert. It wasn’t long before we entered a fiery red zone that looked like the desert itself was on fire. In fact, there were literally chains of fire hanging in the sky and heating up the temperature to insane levels.

Ding~!

System Notice: You have entered the zone "Chained Sea of Blaze”. You will lose 100 HP per second until you leave this zone!

……

100 HP per second? That was no problem to me at all. My Regeneration of the Undead was Rank 5 now, meaning that I recovered 1.5% of my HP, or 123 HP, per second. I could take a nap in this zone and be perfectly healthy the next day. And even without HP regeneration, I could last two whole minutes with my current HP.

The girls were the ones who were in trouble, especially Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue.

"Lead the way, Lu Chen. We’re going in!" He Yi smiled before looking toward the distance. "There’s no skipping this zone because it surrounds the Desert Giant’s zone completely. The good news is that it should take us around 3 minutes only to pass through this zone, so make sure to keep everyone healthy, Murong!"

"Mn!"

The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I entered the zone first as she ordered, and my skin turned red immediately as if it had caught on fire. I continued forward despite the DoT effect!

Behind me, the girls were catching up as well. However, two fearsome tigers with fiery red fur that looked like fire suddenly appeared ahead of me. Their expressions were savage, and their fangs were fully bared. They were staring at us with clear hostility!

Tempest Tiger (Shadow)

Level: 120

Attack: 1240~1470

Defense: 1200

HP: 70000

Skills: Bite, Blaze Attack, Fire Cyclone

Introduction: The wandering spirits of the Fire Desert. These Tempest Tiger are so powerful that no human adventurer had dared to venture into the Fire Desert for almost a century.

……

Shit, I wasn’t expecting to run into two shadow-rank mobs. I need to kill them ASAP, or the girls will be under a lot of pressure!

I ordered the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to tackle one tiger while I deal with the other one. My pet was currently at Level 100, and it should be able to stall the Level 120 shadow-rank mob long enough for me to kill my opponent and help it.

Swhoosh!

I stunned the Tempest Tiger with a Thunderous Charge before following up with my usual triple-hit combo: Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack!

MISS!

7904!

3785!

Very good, my attack power was nothing like it was before. Even a Level 120 shadow-rank mob was as flimsy as wet tissue before my power.

The Tempest Tiger glared at me hatefully before letting out a roar. Then, he swung a burning paw at me!

Pop!

I lost 2248 HP amid the pain. It was Blaze Attack!

It wasn’t over yet. The Tempest Tiger immediately followed up with a fiery cyclone that engulfed me completely. I winced in pain again as I took another 2458 damage!

……

Shit, this shadow-rank mob was no small fry at all. The Fire Cyclone it just unleashed was an AoE attack, meaning that it was a dual cultivator just like I was! It was even stronger than the Level 128 shadow-rank mobs I had fought at the Arctic Temple!

Ice Ray! Dragon Slaying Slash!

Four numbers appeared in succession—

5409!

+757!

4986!

+698!

……

14% lifesteal is so awesome! It’s like I have a little priest with me at all times!