Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Since all team members are here, let’s start,” Netherblue said, “We have already completed the Normal-level, let’s try the Difficult-level next, shall we?”
At the Glen Forest entrance stood a noticeboard with three lines of words written on it.
Difficult-level Cat Demon Lair — Triumphant Midnight — 4 hours 24 minutes.
Difficult-level Cat Demon Lair — Shadow Devil Workshop — 4 hours 35 minutes
Difficult-level Cat Demon Lair — Ironwall Empire — 5 hours 2 minutes
At the entrance of the dungeon, there was the so-called Leaderboard. Every time one broke the current record, they would be rewarded. The first player to create a record could obtain another additional reward, and if the team’s name could remain on the Leaderboard for one month, they could gain additional experience points and the [Sealed Chest] as rewards.
After a few years of running of the game, other than a few super-stragglers-teams and neutral workshops, the records were almost exclusively maintained by huge guilds. Normal players could barely even smell them. The criteria for ranking were: difficulty over time. That meant that even if Lin Jie took months to attack the Expert-level dungeon, he would be ranked first.
Netherblue had a straightforward mindset. This time the team had a pro from the Triumphant Midnight, and hence they might as well try their hands on the Difficult-level dungeon. Although the chance of making it onto the ranking board was low, there was still a chance.
Lin Jie stood in front of the Leaderboard for a while. He turned his head and shouted, “Brother Mighty Wings.”
Mighty Wings was stunned. He smiled and asked the newly joined teammate, “What’s up?”
“The rules on the Leaderboard is difficulty over time, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then shall we try the Expert-level? I can tell you are an expert. Together with the strong teammate from this morning, we should have a chance of making it through right?” Lin Jie said with a look of naivety and ignoring Qiu Yuan who was furiously shaking her head. He continued, “I have a mission, and it is within the Expert-level dungeon.”
Mighty Wings got curious and asked, “Mission? What is it roughly about?”
“Collect Cat Demon Claws.” Lin Jie rolled his eyes and continued, “Normal monsters are fine too.”
“Good!” Mighty Wings was thrilled, “Since this is the case, let’s try the Expert-level!”
This new dude and Qiu Yuan seem to be pretty close. If this continued to go on, it would definitely be a huge threat to Mighty Wings. Yet now he initiated the idea to attack the Expert-level dungeon. How could one refuse? ‘If everyone tries to help you and the entire team died, let’s see if you can still stick around in the team. Getting rid of the threat before it gets big is the best way to go.’
Netherblue was shocked. “Expert-level? No way…”
“Well all of us are friends. What’s the big deal with taking a little risk for a friend?” Mighty Wings sternly said, seemingly acting like the team leader. “We’ll help Brother Fu Sheng this once. Brother Midnight, what do you think?”
Midnight did not even try to hide his contempt and sneered, “As usual, die once and off I go. You arrange the rest.”
“Great!” Mighty Wings exclaimed.
Although Netherblue had her doubts, deep down she had always wanted to try her hands on the Expert-level dungeon. Since it is not every day that you have a pro with you, why not give it a try? However, she forgot something. Since the entire Triumphant Midnight was made up of pros, why wasn’t there any notification of them passing the Expert-level?
The Expert-level dungeon was different from other levels. There would be minute changes in the map. Monsters’ stats, skills, and strength would all increase markedly. There were even some dungeons in which the Expert-level was completely different from the Normal-level. Unpredictable!
The thing that Lin Jie wanted could only be found in the Expert-level dungeon. This team was weak, but killing small monsters should pose no problem. After increasing some equipment levels, they would have a small chance of making it past the Expert-level.
The ten-man team was fully assembled. Mighty Wings valiantly led the team and contacted the dungeon NPC.
“What? You guys want to enter the Cat Demon Lair?” The NPC hunter asked in shock. “That gang of crazy Cat Demons has already killed many villagers. Adventurers, I advise you to leave.”
“I will help you,” Mighty Wings said.
“Very well, since you are so insistent… this is the only thing we can do for you, please take it, brave adventurers.” The hunter took out a load of messy stuff including fresh rotten meat, flame torches (for illumination), broken arrows (projectile type), etc. All were random stuff that could not fetch much in a store. Players were already used to not giving a sh*t about such items.
Mighty Wings and team habitually paid no heed to the items given by the hunter and directly entered the dungeon.
Lin Jie went ahead and happily stored the items into his bag and respectfully said, “Thank you.”
“Hey young man, with your level, going into the Cat Demon Lair is asking for death…” The hunter gritted his teeth and handed Lin Jie his longbow. “I’ll give you this bow to protect yourself!”
‘Ding~’
-‘You have gained the Hunter Ryan’s gift [Smelly Wooden Bow].’
[Smelly Wooden Bow] (Inferior item)
Requires: Level 0
Attack: 1-2
Additional effect: Sweat stench emanates from it…
Lin Jie almost fainted from the stench when he took the bow! Foot stench, sweat stench, and armpit stench were all vital components of a man’s smell. This bow had all of them.
“Fu Sheng, enter the dungeon!” Qiu Yuan bobbed her head out and shouted.
Lin Jie put away his load of baggage and crawled into the dungeon.
-‘You have entered the expert-level Cat Demon Lair.’
Cat Demon Lair was within a dark forest. Dots of firefly lights fell gracefully from the trees, making this place seem very much like a dreamland – if not for the Cat Demons that suddenly appeared.
“Meow——!” A sharp screech was heard, and a black shadow pounced viciously towards Qiu Yuan.
Midnight was indeed an expert in the Triumphant Midnight. His reaction time was stellar. He held up his Bone Shield, and in half a second, he had assumed a defensive posture in preparation to block the attack for Qiu Yuan.
‘Bam-‘
When he assumed a defensive posture, he realized that the Cat Demon had already been struck by a rusty broken blade. It flew in a clear trajectory and got stuck in the gap between some tree branches. It kept using its sharp claws to scratch the tree bark, creating multiple claw marks.
Seeing the trapped Cat Demon, everyone changed the way the saw Lin Jie.
‘What a quick reaction speed!’
As the saying goes, the insider knows the ropes, while the outsider just comes along for the ride. Midnight scrutinized Lin Jie and laughed, “Not bad!”
The way he struck the Cat Demon demonstrated precise handling of timing and strength. If not, such a basic move would not have caused it to fly so far. Besides, should he have hit just a little off center, this Cat Demon would have landed right in the Cat Demon Lair, and all of the Cat Demons would come rushing out.
A level 2 newbie could achieve this feat. Was it luck or skill?
Mighty Wings took over and said, “As usual, I shall be in charge of this dungeon, any concerns?”
Qiu Yuan scorned, “So what if we have any?”
Mighty Wings was embarrassed. He had been taking on the role of the commander all along. A decent amount of Netherblue’s power had been controlled. Yet every time when Qiu Yuan lamented a little, her influence was insufficient to cause an uproar. People merely thought she was ranting. But it was different now with an outsider.
Mighty Wings turned his gaze towards Lin Jie and Midnight. Lin Jie shrugged his shoulders, indicating he was fine with it. Midnight indicated likewise. He was dying for a retarded commander who would lead his team to death.
“Great! Lao Mo, you go low and recon,” Mighty Wings gestured. He saw the Cat Demon trapped among the trees and laughed. “The rest of you, kill this Cat Demon!”
Lin Jie burst out in a laugh. He actually was decent in leading. Kill the monster in hand before anything else!
The Cat Demons in the Expert-level dungeon had 500 health points, which was 200 points more than that of those in the Normal-level!
The thick health bar made Netherblue worry about her damage output, whereas Qiu Yuan happily cast the Dark Speech and Kiss of the Dark skills on the Cat Demon.
Including Midnight, who just joined the party, there were two Shield Specialists, one Paladin (healer), one Bandit, one Mage and one Hunter. After that came Lin Jie, Netherblue and Mighty Wings the three Warriors. Lastly, there was a calm-looking Holy Priest MM 1 .
Due to the lack of long-range jobs, they took 6 minutes to kill the Cat Demon.
“Equipment dropped!” Qiu Yuan said, surprised. That Cat Demon had too strong stats. Its defense was ridiculous as it was at least 80% higher than Normal-level dungeons, the difference was too big. However, when the Cat Demon died it dropped a milk-white mage robe, which made her day.
[Light Mage Robe] (Bronze)
Requires: Level 3, Cloth Armor
Defense: 12
Wisdom: +2
Additional effect: Chanting speed +1%
A group of players with an average level of 3 took on the level 3 Expert-level dungeon. The drop rate of Bronze Equipment would be much higher than that of the Normal-level dungeon. Unlike the Normal-level dungeon, more Blank Equipment would drop.
This equipment was distributed to the Priest, Monkey. His eyes brightened when he received the Bronze Equipment. He immediately wiped off the contempt on his face and was filled with excitement.
Yet at that time, the Bandit who was doing recon returned and reported the situation up front with a heavy look.
In the Expert-level Cat Demon Lair, every lair of Cat Demons was about 15 instead of the usual 3. Apart from that, every lair would have a white healing Cat Demon, which could cast high-healing spells that could restore 300 health points with every cast. As long as the healing Cat Demon was present, those Cat Demons were almost invincible!
Besides, luring them was a huge issue!
Cat Demons lived in groups, and they had very sharp hearing and smelling abilities. A lapse of concentration would alert a large group of Cat Demons! In the Normal-level dungeon, there were multiple times in which too many monsters were lured, and the party could not handle them, resulting in a wipe-out. This was even more so in the Expert-level dungeon. A tiny mistake would end the entire party!
Mighty Wings carved a peculiar trail on the ground, furrowed his brows and tried hard to analyze the situation. Lin Jie, on the other hand, stood in front and chatted away with Qiu Yuan. Qiu Yuan was very curious about why Lin Jie had not leveled-up yet and had forgotten all about the impressive feat he performed when the party entered the dungeon.
“I have an idea!” Mighty Wings suddenly exclaimed, “We need cannon fodder!”
“Cannon fodder?”
“Yes! All Cat Demons are human-eating animals. As long as one of us can stand at the border of the zone of the smell of the Cat Demons, we can accurately lure one of them. If we kill them off one by one like this, we wouldn’t have to worry about getting wiped-out, would we?” Mighty Wings gave a final verdict and sternly said to Lin Jie, “Brother Fu Sheng since you are the lowest-leveled among us, could you sacrifice yourself?”
Lin Jie stared at him as if he was retarded, and calmly asked, “Are you an idiot?”
