Chapter Ninety-Two: A Band of Dwarfs

There was no need to rush the dream realm matter; there were still several days left for preparation. He could simply ask the number-two-zero-five-eight to help gather information and make the necessary arrangements later.

After ending the call with Monk Distant Resolve, Ye Chen went straight to the entrance of the main road leading into the Demon Forest. He waited there for seven or eight minutes before the troublesome little crew Monk Distant Resolve had found finally appeared in his line of sight.

There were twelve of them in all, each at least level eighteen. Their races were either dwarves or gnomes, in any case all were short. Most of them wore only plain, no-frills gear; a few were even completely naked. Ye Chen could not help worrying that these fellows might be a little too incompetent, and he wondered whether such clumsy players could really succeed in provoking the battle lust of Spirit Fox Divine Moon and Left-Hand Myth.

The leader of the group was a gnome swordsman named High Hating the Heavens. His height was probably only about as tall as Ye Chen’s waist. This race was somewhat like the little people in fairy tales. Most gnomes, male or female, looked rather cute and belonged to the sort that sold pure adorableness; especially female gnome players, who were practically beloved by certain lecherous old men. Yet for some reason, this fellow only looked more and more sleazy the longer one stared, utterly wasting the race’s potential.

Ye Chen immediately expressed his concern to this High Hating the Heavens, and stated clearly that if they could not succeed in provoking trouble, then they would not get so much as a single copper coin.

The gnome swordsman was brimming with confidence, slapping the rickety chainmail on his body with loud pops as he assured Ye Chen that he could exceed expectations. He only asked Ye Chen to show his financial strength and prove that he had the ability to pay the enormous sum of two hundred forty gold. Ye Chen opened the trade window at once and casually threw five hundred gold at him to show him. The fellow’s eyes instantly gleamed green. After exchanging a few words with his companions, the twelve short men burst into cheers.

Since the gnome swordsman was so confident of success, Ye Chen had nothing more to worry about. At once, he led the twelve dwarfish fellows toward the Demon Forest.

In the western part of Blaze Mountain City lay the Demon Forest, where monsters ranging from level twenty to twenty-five roamed everywhere. The most numerous among them were corrupted treants, and the task accepted by Spirit Fox Divine Moon and Left-Hand Myth was to slay those corrupted treants. At that very moment, they were in the depths of the forest, slaughtering these monsters that ordinary players feared as if they were tigers.

Yes, slaughtering.

Spirit Fox Divine Moon and Left-Hand Myth, one an hidden class and the other a top-tier healer with superb gear, found dealing with these monsters effortless. Especially Spirit Fox Divine Moon, whose spell after spell hammered the corrupted treants so mercilessly that they had no power to resist.

“Big Sister Divine Moon is amazing. As expected of Spirit Fox, able to discover this kind of repeatable two-person shared quest. I believe it won’t be long before your level catches back up again,” Left-Hand Myth said, casting a healing spell on Spirit Fox Divine Moon before joining in the attack on the treant. Though his damage skills were not as powerful as hers, his weapon was luxurious enough that each strike could still take away nearly three hundred points of health from a corrupted treant.

After one skill finished off a treant with only a sliver of health left, Spirit Fox Divine Moon said to Left-Hand Myth, “As long as you follow us at Spirit Fox, we won’t let you suffer any loss. Hmph, that hateful Ye Chen—if not for him, I could have leveled to twenty-eight in just two days doing this quest. That would have definitely put me on the Blaze Mountain City ranking list. And now I’ve been dropped back from twenty-six to twenty-four. How detestable. I will never let him go. Opposing us Spirit Fox, I will make sure he dies horribly!”

At the mention of Ye Chen, Left-Hand Myth’s body trembled slightly, and the cloaked shadow priest’s figure involuntarily surfaced in his mind. In particular, that black dragon descending from the sky filled him with fear. If he had not run fast enough, the people from Dragon Ascension might not have let him off either. He had already begun to regret what he had done back then.

“What’s wrong? Scared of someone named Ye?” Noticing Left-Hand Myth’s trembling and silence, Spirit Fox Divine Moon shot him an unhappy sidelong glance. A trace of contempt and disdain flashed almost imperceptibly in her eyes. In her heart, she cursed Left-Hand Myth for being a coward. If not for the fact that he had some skill in alchemy, she would never have looked twice at such a spineless man.

“Who’s scared? Me? Scared of him? If he dares appear in front of me again, I’ll definitely kill him!” Left-Hand Myth felt his pride wounded at being seen in such a state before a woman. Immediately, his face flushed red and his neck bulged as he roared.

“Whether you’re scared or not doesn’t matter. You don’t need to deal with him anyway. Wuxin and Wuxue already know about what happened just now, and Wuxue has already spoken. He’ll take care of that Ye in the next two days. Hmph, with Wuxue making a move, Ye Chen will surely die without a burial place,” Spirit Fox Divine Moon said, a gleam of smug, icy light flashing through her eyes.

“Windless Blood? Brother Blood is going to take action personally?” Left-Hand Myth cried out in delight. “That’s fantastic. Heh, with Brother Blood, the number one thief in Blaze Mountain City, making a move, that brat won’t even know how he died.”

“That’s right. Wuxue’s strength is such that...” Spirit Fox Divine Moon was saying when she suddenly broke off and warned sharply, “Careful. Someone’s coming. From the sound of it, there are quite a few of them.”

Ye Chen, standing not far away, smiled faintly. He had arrived long ago, and not a word of Spirit Fox Divine Moon and Left-Hand Myth’s conversation had escaped him. Windless Blood, the number one thief in Blaze Mountain City—he would indeed have to meet him properly and see just how formidable he really was. As for the newcomers, did he even need to think about it? Of course they were High Hating the Heavens and the others following close behind him. Without Ye Chen leading the way, how could a group of frail, glass-cannon types possibly carve their way into the depths of the Demon Forest?

Spirit Fox Divine Moon and Left-Hand Myth both stopped their monster hunting and watched cautiously in the direction of the sound. In just a short while, more than a dozen dwarf players appeared in their field of vision.

“Damn it, so it’s just a bunch of trash. You nearly scared the crap out of me,” Left-Hand Myth cursed irritably upon seeing a group of players with low levels and shabby equipment. He had never put such low-tier players in his eyes, nor did he think there was anything wrong with opening his mouth to call them trash. As soon as he finished cursing, he saw that the group continued walking this way, so he immediately pointed at the leader, High Hating the Heavens, and shouted, “Get lost. Go back where you came from. Don’t come here looking for trouble.”

Hearing Left-Hand Myth’s abuse, Spirit Fox Divine Moon frowned slightly, though she did not stop him. In her view, this group of dwarfs really was insignificant; crushing them would not matter in the slightest.

“Who are you calling trash?” High Hating the Heavens and the others bristled at being insulted, all of them glaring wide-eyed.

“You, you trash!” Left-Hand Myth pointed at High Hating the Heavens and cursed.

“Haha, so you’re the trash after all,” High Hating the Heavens and the others burst into laughter.

“This holy priest is really damn stupid.”

“His brain must have been kicked by a donkey.”

“An idiot, plain and simple.”

The dwarfs hurled curses without end, mocking Left-Hand Myth mercilessly. A tide of humiliating taunts surged toward him. Their levels and equipment might have been poor, but when it came to insulting people, each and every one of them seemed born with extraordinary talent.

“How about it, Brother Ye Chen? Our boys have a pretty decent mouth on them, don’t they? That’s our specialty. You can rest assured. We can definitely make that loser blow a gasket. Making him lose his temper is no problem at all. He won’t be able to hold out for long.”

Hiding not far away, Ye Chen listened to High Hating the Heavens’ private message and was momentarily dumbfounded. So this was the “special skill” Monk Distant Resolve had mentioned...