“Looks like there are side quests to this as well? Knowing Boss Jin if we don’t do at least some of them it will probably be next to impossible to defeat the Nian!” Bu Dong yawned as he reached the village and talked to Erming and Yiming about the quest to find Nian.
“Can we hurry it up? I agreed to do this because you said we could earn a quick win! Last I checked in the cinema waiting for you guys, there was already a group fighting the Boss!” Yue Wen complained since it turned out they were not as lucky as the Elder Pandaren Trio. After rescuing the village, it appeared it would potentially take longer than expected with all the side quests. While it was necessary to do all of them, Bu Dong believed there would be a suitable reward as compensation.
When she agreed to help out since Bu Dong ‘sponsored’ the run, Yue Wen had not realised that this would include a slew of side quests though the Pandamonium App guaranteed that they could return anytime with their progress saved so long as they were out of battle. This new save and load feature had people very excited.
This meant that cultivators can try, try and try again until they completed the dungeon and despite the need to pay per every entry, it at least showed that they could save their progress. Also, Jin was not going to eat their money outright. By reaching a certain checkpoint as determined by the System, the price needed to enter would be reduced. However, the maximum reduction of price would only be 50%. (After all, he was providing a service, not charity.)
“Yeah, we better get back before Mom notices that we have snuck out. She explicitly told us that we had to prepare to receive visitors and relatives by 8am.” Yue Han yawned as he stared back at their mercenaries. Their Tanke was surprisingly well armoured mainly because Bu Dong did not spare any change, upgrading him to at least medium armour proficiency.
This allowed Tanke to wear heavier armour and carry a larger shield compared to the one currently accompanying Jing Yu and her Elder Pandarens, who only carried a buckler and wore essential armour plates to cover vital areas. Of course, there would be a decrease in mobility, but Bu Dong’s Tanke’ defence rating was not to be scoffed at.
Unlike the Elder Pandarens, they did not hire Heala since they had Yue Wen in their party. Instead, they decided to go for a ranged mercenary, and their fifth member went by the name of Archy.
To their surprise, there was a slight attitude to Archy who, unlike Tanke, was extremely lazy. Whenever they were not moving, he would already be sitting on the floor yawning widely as if he was preparing to go to sleep at any moment.
“Our mission is to search and if possible rescue the villagers captured by Nian’s underlings. They might be hurt from the attacks since the villagers saw a number of them getting dragged off into the forest of the island before we arrived. So we should stock up on a few more potions at least.”
“Urgh, with my sister here I don’t think we have that many potions with us. We need more than recommended.” Yue Han grumbled at his friend. “I’ve read some posts that Heala was especially effective on this particular side quest because of her continuous healing capabilities and her wide AOE heals.”
“But look at it this way, we have a healer and sub attacker at the same time. It might be useful for this particular quest, but we could possibly rush through the entire dungeon faster because of an extra attacker. It can’t hurt to have extra potions so that your sister can help us fight and she won’t have to overtax herself.” Bu Dong replied.
“Heh, I do not know how you can continue to be so optimistic when we experienced all the unimaginable pitfalls that Boss Jin always set up in a dungeon instance. How long has it been since he added that Escape City Dungeon? You know the one nobody was able to beat yet?” Yue Han sniggered as they waited for Yue Wen to check her potion stocks. After which, they went to the village shop which was ironically handled by a Panda with a straw hat biting on a bamboo made pipe.
Being a frugal person in nature, Yue Han noticed that the items sold in the shop were the same as outside, and the only difference was the amount they could buy because of limited stocks. The Panda Shopkeeper had a small, varied stock compared to the Panda Street Instance. “It really is just the essentials and nothing more.” Yue Han sighed as she regretted, not getting a little more supplies beforehand.
He could have gotten more via the online Panda Store, but almost everyone knew that on the spot shopping was a sort of scam unless they really needed the item badly. (Fortunately for Jin, there were indeed people who fell for it either because they really needed the items or they just had the extra money to spend.)
“Alright, let’s get going otherwise Archy will fall asleep in the middle of the streets.” Bu Dong urged Yue Han to be faster so he could smack some monsters.
Soon, they left the village and followed the compass that had been enchanted by Chief Hunter Yiming. (As for the Elder Pandarens in a separate instance, they were given a new compass since theirs got destroyed during their first encounter with Nian.)
“The compass is pointing into the cave. Should we rush in or lure the Nian’s underlings out?” Yue Han asked.
“I have no idea. They could be sentient and might not take out bait. I mean the villagers told us that those captured by them were dragged and not killed. Doesn’t that mean they are smart enough to not eat them immediately and collect food for long term survival.” Bu Dong judged the situation, but suddenly the always tired Panda raised his nose and requested the Pandawans to be quiet for a moment.
The rest immediately squatted and went to hide among the flora where they saw a Nian Underling walking out of the cave for a breather. Unlike the ones the Elder Pandarens fought, this particular one looked more like a Lion mainly due to the lack of the dragon scales.
“I suggest we grab one of these and when it cries for help, more should appear to aid it. At the very least that might reduce the number of monsters we have to fight in the cave. Besides, we do not know how wide or narrow the cave is. We might be restricted.” Yue Wen analysed, and the other two agreed.
“If that is the case, I will go into the cave when I see an opening.” Yue Han volunteered since he had the cultivation of a Blind Bat, allowing him to walk in the dark without too much of a hassle.
“Fine, then I will-” Before Bu Dong could continue, he heard the sound of a bow being nocked and released instantly. An arrow lodged into one of Nian’s Underling, and surprisingly there was a rope attached to it.
“Less talk, more fight!” Archy demanded as and pulled on the rope stuck in Nian’s underling.
