“Hey, kid, you can’t do this.” The old man’s voice resonated in Blue Maple’s ear. Apart from Blue Maple, no one could hear him. It was just like how it was with Old Man Fang.

“Did I flout the rules?” Blue Maple asked the old man.

“No, you didn’t. But I’ll need to redesign the quest if you’re going to continue doing this.” The old man didn’t beat around the bush either. He immediately threatened.

Blue Maple was silent.

However, he soon calmly replied after some time.

“I’ve recorded it down.” Blue Maple went to check whether their conversation could’ve been recorded by the system. He realized that the answer was yes.

“Ugh…rascal, you backstabbed me!” The old man was stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted.

If Blue Maple went to make a complaint with the recording, it would be a completely valid complaint. This was because the old man’s quest wasn’t foolproof, which allowed Blue Maple to exploit the loopholes.

Although the system would still rule that a new quest had to be redesigned, the old man couldn’t absolve himself of the responsibility. In addition, this quest had only just begun. The influence on Mystery wasn’t going to be big either. It wouldn’t be a big deal for her to retake the quest.

Furthermore, the system would judge that Mystery had completed part of the earlier quest and as a result, the new, redesigned quest had to be of a lower difficulty level.

Although Blue Maple wasn’t very adept at the game, he would still read up on stuff when he was free and doing nothing. He was still able to guess some stuff.

“Tell me, what do you want?” Clearly, the old man had to suffer some punishment. This was why he decided to resolve the issue now.

“What’s my original reward for completing this quest?” Blue Maple didn’t rush to discuss any terms. He wanted to find out what he was supposed to get originally.

It was impossible that he wouldn’t get any rewards for such a quest. His role was to avoid the attacks of a Rank 60 Elite Boss, but he couldn’t block the attacks at all. The key thing was that Blue Maple’s Instant Chain Strike needed to have a specific target. He couldn’t just use it on empty space.

His Instant Chain Strike needed a target to lock on.

His Lightning Chain Strike could purely be used as a position displacement tool, as long as he didn’t attack at the end.

Given such a difficult and indignant quest, Blue Maple was sure not to participate in it if he wasn’t going to get handsomely rewarded!

“Your original reward was an upgrade of your current smelted protective gear into a Rank 40 Gold-tier set equipment. You should know that any upgrade will be mainly towards your attack and agility rather than your defense. You should also be fully aware of what it means to be a Rank 40 Gold-tier set equipment.” The old man’s voice was very gloomy, almost similar to Blue Maple.

“Sounds pretty good.” Blue Maple was more concerned about his offense and agility. As for his defense, he wasn’t bothered at all.

“Ding!”

Mystery clashed with the Flaming Ghost once again. This was what she wanted to do anyway. After all, Blue Maple had no practical fighting use. If the Flaming Ghost switched its target, she would have to protect him.

“So, what do you want?” The old man was straightforward. He didn’t want to waste any more time.

“Surely this isn’t all, right?” Blue Maple answered the old man with another question instead of replying to him.

“But, it’s fine. Just deal with it.” Blue Maple finished what he wanted to say before the old man even replied to him.

The old man was speechless. He didn’t know what to say for some time…

“To be honest, I really hope you’ll become my disciple.” He finally added another sentence, after which he stopped talking.

Blue Maple continued to lie down. He had no intention of getting up, as if nothing had happened.

However, he had to get up. Although the old man didn’t mention if there were any other rewards, his silence did indicate that there were other rewards. In that case, Blue Maple wasn’t going to continue lying down.

“I really don’t want to get up.” Blue Maple muttered before he slowly got up.

He squirmed and brought his right leg to his chest. Then, he rested his right hand on his knee. He had revealed himself and was watching the fight. Mystery also noticed him, even though the lighting in the cave was very dim.

However, the lights that emanated from Blue Maple’s eyes were still very obvious.

“Hee!”

When the Flaming Ghost saw Blue Maple, it immediately ignored Mystery and charged straight towards Blue Maple.

The old man had tipped it off.

“Forget it, I’ll be serious too.” Blue Maple thought to himself. His eyes flashed as he charged straight towards the Flaming Ghost!

The Flaming Ghost was infuriated by Blue Maple’s provocative behavior. It immediately unleashed its Flaming Charge at Blue Maple.

“Swoosh!”

“Lame.”

Blue Maple’s figure flashed and he immediately swept past the dim-greenish bolt of fire.

After dodging the bolt of fire, he immediately charged in front of the Flaming Ghost. Then, he stopped and gave the Flaming Ghost a cold stare before sliding to its side and past it!

He was provoking the Flaming Ghost!

“Hee!”

The Flaming Ghost immediately clawed when it turned around. It even used a skill.

Flaming Ghost Claw!

It was a pity…

Gouge!

Mystery was behind the Flaming Ghost. Although she was perplexed why Blue Maple suddenly did all these, she wasn’t idle at all. After all, he was just a strange fellow to her.

After watching Mystery fight for so long, he knew whether she had a control-type skill.

Right now, he only had one thought in his mind.

If I can’t attack, I’ll attract it to Mystery!

As long as the Flaming Ghost was targeting Blue Maple, he could definitely pull this off. His chemistry with Mystery was very strong!

Next, they teamed up together. The Flaming Ghost also went with his plan by constantly attacking him. It was probably still under the old man’s influence.

Blue Maple drew the attacks, while Mystery reacted accordingly by retaliating and maintaining control by protecting Blue Maple.

Airborne Somersault!

Cut!

Hidden Attack!

Backstab, Dual Dagger Garrote!

Both of them linked up with each other extremely well. Whereas Thieves’ skills had very short cooldown periods. After all, they relied on their skills very heavily. Their skills needed to have short cooldown periods.

“Kacha!”

The Flaming Ghost clawed off the edge of another huge volcanic rock. After that, it furiously unleashed an AoE skill.

Devouring Screams!

“Hee!!!”

Airborne Somersault, twice!

Blue Maple quickly escaped from the center, where the damage was the greatest. Although Mystery’s reflexes were quick and managed to dodge in time, she didn’t possess the same kind of displacement skills that Blue Maple had.

-1103、-354！

“Hmph.” Mystery slightly groaned as she was hurt.

She had just used her Stealth, and so wasn’t able to conceal herself now. However, this wasn’t going to be a problem temporarily.

“Bang!”

“Dadada…”

At this moment, Blue Maple blew up a small depression using his Heavenly Fire underneath where the Flaming Ghost was. Instantly, rocks were flying everywhere.

Blue Maple was very direct with his provocation. Although he knew that Mystery should be fine, he wanted to make sure of it.

Mystery didn’t react too much to Blue Maple’s actions. She only felt that it was the best plan that they had. This would better ensure that they could complete the quest safely.

She recovered very quickly. Like a shadow, she unleashed an attack towards the Flaming Ghost.

After this, the same thing happened again. Blue Maple attracted the attacks of the Flaming Ghost, while Mystery attacked the Flaming Ghost.

It was a pairing with great chemistry.

“These two are the perfect pair.” The old man was in awe as he observed from one side.

The same cold demeanor, same fighting strength, the same presence in the darkness.

But what’s most critical is that they share such great chemistry. They were born to be a pair!

“It’s a pity that this little doll is the only one who’s fitting for my class. Otherwise…”

“Forget it, this might good too. But I wonder if trouble’s brewing.” The old man felt that it was a pity, but that feeling soon disappeared. On the contrary, he was getting a little worried.

Right now, the Flaming Ghost’s HP was down by almost 40%. It was time for an Elite Boss to use its killer move. As long as it wasn’t very intelligent, it would unleash its killer move the first time at roughly this timing.

“Let’s see how this little doll isn’t going to dodge.” The old man was curious as he watched Mystery. He wanted to see how she was going to avoid the imminent attack.

It was important to know that Blue Maple would have died if he didn’t jump up and avoid the first wave of direct damage and second wave of shockwave damage from the Samurai Warlord’s Earth-rending Chop. The shield he formed from his Heavenly Fire was very thin then.

The old man wasn’t worried about Blue Maple as he knew how strong the Heavenly Fire was. If Blue Maple was willing, the Flaming Ghost wouldn’t be able to kill a static Blue Maple quickly. It would just be able to drain some of the strength from his Heavenly Fire.

Though Blue Maple wasn’t allowed to block any attacks, it was built on the prerequisite that his blocks would aid Mystery. For such an AoE skill, blocking the attack wasn’t considered to be aiding Mystery.

The Flaming Ghost’s HP was almost at the 60% mark.

At this moment, the Flaming Ghost opened its mouth wide. It had just used its Devouring Screams, so it was time for its Terror Cry now!

“Eeeing!!!”

Terror Cry!

“Terrible voice.” Blue Maple used his Airborne Somersault to avoid the Terror Cry. Even when the Terror Cry was effectively used, it didn’t cover a huge region. One would be fine if he stayed some distance away.

The Flaming Ghost’s Terror Cry was indeed very horrible. This was clear from Mystery’s furrowed brow.

Mystery quickly shifted behind the Flaming Ghost. She didn’t possess the same escaping ability as Blue Maple. This was why she moved behind the Flaming Ghost to avoid the controlling effect of the Terror Cry. But she really took in all the noise.

Clearly, the Flaming Ghost’s cry wouldn’t control the target behind too.

After unleashing its Terror Cry, the Flaming Ghost didn’t immediately turn around and attack Mystery. Whereas Mystery immediately discovered that something was wrong.

“This isn’t good!”

Mystery suddenly thought of something before immediately turning around and ran.

Blue Maple expected something like this, so he didn’t panic. However, he didn’t warn Mystery. He wanted to see how she would react.

“Swoosh!”

A huge amount of dim-greenish fire instantly flowed out of the Flaming Ghost and started to surround it.

Very soon, a gigantic, greenish fiery vortex formed. Then, it quickly expanded.

“Boom boom boom!!!”

Blue Maple quickly retreated and unleashed his Heavenly Fire!

On the contrary,

At this moment!

“Sheesh!”

Something shot out of Mystery’s right hand all of a sudden. After this, a transparent streak of thread followed.

“Ding!”

It shot straight towards a huge piece of rock in front of Mystery.

It was a flying dart attached to a hook!

“Swish!”

Mystery was immediately dragged and she exploited the momentum to hide behind the rock.

“Boom!”

The fiery vortex quickly expanded towards the rock.

Blue Maple couldn’t see anything now. His hope of seeing how Mystery was going to escape was dashed. The fiery vortex completely blocked his view, although he could still hear sounds.

It was that of the hook. Although he didn’t fully know what it was, he could roughly guess.

“So it’s like this.”

Blue Maple was also covered by the vortex.

Mystery wasn’t done after she hid behind the rock. She retrieved a bronze shield to shield herself.

If the vortex made its way around the rock, it could still attack whatever that was behind the rock. But the attack wouldn’t be as potent.

It would still suffice for a Thief to fight close-combat in this manner, using the shield as a wall. However, the shield wasn’t going to add much to her defense.