Chapter 110 – Getting into the Swing

The cave had countless dark openings leading to unknown directions. The northeast direction that the stone had pointed to was precisely one of them. The opening was about the height of a person, extremely narrow—from afar, it looked like a mere crack, but on closer inspection, it was just spacious enough to accommodate players. However, the inside was pitch black, offering no clues whatsoever.

“Are we sure this is passable and not a trap?” The team members had long lost any faith in the moral integrity of the dungeon designers.

Drink observed carefully for a moment before cautiously stepping inside. After advancing a short distance, he reported back on YY: “It’s indeed narrow, but it’s passable.” The days of dungeon exploration had naturally acclimated Drink to his role—minefield sweeper.

His teammates accepted this care with ease and, in an orderly fashion, filed into the opening one by one, organized by their respective guilds.

To alleviate the oppressive atmosphere, they chatted as they moved forward—

Fifth Brother: “Fuck, I really hate these dark, cramped maps.”

Crossplayer: “Same. It feels like all the light and hope in my heart have vanished, leaving only the slow, inevitable march toward death.”

Marilyn MengPing: “Which guild are you guys from? Can’t you say something more auspicious?”

Big H: “Alright, stop making a fuss. Be careful not to jinx us and actually summon monsters.”

Kill All Who Block Me: “Deputy, is it really appropriate for someone like you, who’s always flapping your mouth, to call others noisy?”

Big H: “Kill All~~ Do you think it’s appropriate to constantly mock your guild leaders?”

“I think when there are differences of opinion, we should seek common ground while reserving differences and not undermine unity.” Drink’s tone was calm and steady. “Come on, which healer is closest? Pull me up.”

[Team] Drink Till You Drop has died.

Being at the front wasn’t a mistake, but failing to brake and crashing headfirst into the boss’s embrace was something no one could save him from.

A short while later, the entire group arrived at their destination—a wide-open area that looked unmistakably like a boss’s lair. A monster boss, resembling both a human and a spider, leisurely paced the map. Drink had come out just as the spider was passing by the entrance, resulting in an intimate encounter. Now, the spider had wandered further away, giving the team enough time to buff up and prepare.

This wasn’t the final boss, just an appetizer at best. Under the assault of thirty players, the miniboss was soon belly-up and dead.

Birdy, being the closest, casually looted the corpse and, to everyone’s surprise, actually found drops. However, dividing two pieces of gear among thirty people was bound to be fierce competition, not to mention the frustration of one or two misclicks. So, he first shared the items in the chat for everyone to see—

[Team] Polly: [Dark Mine Pewter Bracelet] [Dark Mine Spider Boots]

After enduring so much hardship, the team had long abandoned any hopes of loot, praying only to survive the dungeon. Thus, the orange-tier accessory and boots were like raindrops, soothing their parched hearts.

[Team] Gentle Blade: “Physical bracelet, pay attention. Magic classes, don’t roll.”

[Team] Suave Not Sleazy: “Stop stating the obvious. This isn’t a PUG, who’d be that shameless?”

[Team] Big H: “Don’t be like that~~~ Even though I’m a Spirit Master~~~ I’m actually a hybrid class, you know >_<"

[Team] Suave Not Sleazy: “Sorry, Gentle, I misunderstood your good intentions!”

[Team] Gentle Blade: “No worries [smile].”

[Team] Gentle Blade: “Physical bracelet, pay attention. Magic classes, don’t roll.”

[Team] Gentle Blade: “Physical bracelet, pay attention. Magic classes, don’t roll.”

[Team] Big H: “Got the message, no need to copy-paste it so many times =_=”

Seeing that everyone had mostly reached a consensus, Birdy clicked to loot, and rolling numbers immediately appeared on the screen.

Drink took a deep breath, about to roll…

[System] Polly rolled 100 points.

[System] Polly has obtained the Dark Mine Pewter Bracelet.

Countless teammates who had also been ready to roll were stunned.

The difference was that 70% of the stunned teammates’ minds were blank, while the remaining 30%, like Drink, had only one phrase flashing through their brains: I bought a watch last year¹I bought a watch last year: used in place of ‘fuck your mother’ to avoid censorship!

Not again! You already pulled this at the Hanging Gardens! TAT

The system didn’t give them time to mourn. The next item, the boots, was up for grabs!

This time, the competition was even fiercer because the boots’ effect was a speed boost, applicable to all classes. So, the teammates didn’t wait, scrambling to seize the initiative. Yet, in the end, the winner was Hu Yifei, who rolled last. The highest roll before hers had been the Ghost Server Legion Leader’s 89, but she rolled a perfect 90, not wasting a single point more, and claimed the prize.

Afterward, she even apologized: “Sorry, guys. Just luck, pure luck.”

The Legion Leader wasn’t having it: “I don’t want apologies, I want the boots, awoo~~~”

So, the girl immediately retracted her apology: “Go ahead and howl one more time…”

Fang Zheng was curious about what would happen if he howled again.

But he didn’t try. After all, his life seemed more important.

The system announcement of the new gear drop shook the entire Huaxia Summit.

It wasn’t that the gear was particularly impressive, but anyone with an IQ above 2 knew they were currently exploring a level 70 dungeon. Two pieces of gear dropping meant they had to have taken down at least a miniboss.

If they’d already beaten a miniboss, how far could the final boss be?

[Huaxia] I Love Grandpa Meng: “Holy shit, are they already in the latter half of the dungeon?”

[Huaxia] Marsupial: “More like they’re about to clear it!”

[Huaxia] Little Fei’s Secret: “Huaxia Dominion came out ages ago, saying they failed the quiz again. Sigh, both are top guilds, how come the gap’s so big~~~”

[Huaxia] Bubble Desire: “Ever since Xuanyuan left, Huaxia Dominion hasn’t been the same. But Five Peaks Pavilion isn’t running the dungeon solo either, right?”

[Huaxia] Peak Holy Sword: “There’s also Meteor Blitz and the Ghost Server Legion.”

[Huaxia] Milk is Mom: “Actually, it’s mostly the Ghost Server Legion carrying. You guys have no idea.”

[Huaxia] Peak Holy Sword: “Damn, insider info?!”

[Huaxia] Milk is Mom: “Of course~~~ Here, let me tell you from the very beginning when we entered the dungeon~~~”

[Huaxia] Drink Till You Drop: “Ghost Server Legion Leader, your team’s about to wipe. Mind throwing an AoE heal?”

[Huaxia] Peak Holy Sword: “……”

[Huaxia] Bubble Desire: “=_=”

[Huaxia] I Love Grandpa Meng: “I’ve fallen in love with this kind of shameless audacity, what do I do? TAT”

Neither War Banner nor Huaxia Dominion spoke up in the World Chat. The joint team’s intention wasn’t to show off either—after all, the road ahead was long, and they couldn’t afford to relax. So, after some noise in the World Chat, the matter died down due to the involved parties’ silence.

Leaving the miniboss’s lair, the thirty players cleared mobs as they advanced. About ten minutes later, they finally encountered the third NPC after the Coal Sprite and the stone. It was a girl, located in the upper right corner of the map. Perhaps to make up for the trauma the stone had inflicted on players, this NPC was unmistakable—lying in a pool of blood, being gnawed on by a humanoid monster with bat-like wings as if she were food.

The teammates didn’t rush forward. Sixty percent were waiting for minefield sweeper Drink to take the lead, while the other forty percent were deeply wondering how such a game scene had passed censorship =_=

Drink attacked the monster from three meters away. The monster turned and lunged at him!

The onlookers, seeing that the monster wasn’t calling for reinforcements, all rushed forward. A few hits here, a few hits there—well, they didn’t even need the “there,” because the mob was obliterated in milliseconds.

Then Drink approached the girl to talk—

[System] Girl in a Pool of Blood: ……

[System] Girl in a Pool of Blood: ……

Drink clicked repeatedly but got nothing but ellipses, leaving him speechless.

At this point, Birdy suddenly said, “Drink, try using the climbing pick on her.”

Drink understood immediately, selected the girl with his mouse, and used the climbing pick from his inventory.

[System] Girl in a Pool of Blood: “This is Meilin’s… sobs…”

Though barely alive, the girl struggled to cry her heart out while explaining the backstory to the joint team.

It was a simple tale: a few curious girls had come here to explore but encountered monsters. There was no discord among the girls, but the monsters were too fierce, leaving only her and another girl alive. According to the girl in the pool of blood, the other girl had fled deeper into the cave.

After the dialogue ended, the girl stood up and automatically followed the joint team—partly to find her friend, and partly hoping the team would escort her back to the surface.

From then on, the cave’s path became even more convoluted. The group wandered for a long time before finally arriving at a place that seemed significant. It was a half-open cave with a few scattered mobs. Three sides of the cave were empty and eerie, including the path they’d come from, with no visible end in sight. The fourth side was a stone wall, from which a rope hung, silently calling to them.

Without a word, the joint team bypassed the sparse mobs and climbed up the rope one by one.

The rope was tied to a small ledge on the stone wall. The platform wasn’t large, and standing thirty people made it feel cramped.

But that wasn’t the main issue. The issue was that thirty people had climbed up, and now… where was the path?

Big H: “No entrance, no mechanism, no NPC—this isn’t scientific~~~ Are we here to sightsee?”

White Dragon Horse: “There’d have to be something to see first…”

Bastard Zeng: “What now?”

Before the words even finished, Birdy suddenly jumped back down from the platform, walked straight to a mob, and unleashed a Netherworld Ghostly Claws!

The crowd was baffled. Why provoke a mob for no reason? But within a few hits, something seemed off. The zombie’s movements and skills were sharp, and his positioning in PvP was precise, but by rough estimation, he’d already used over ten skills and still hadn’t killed it?

“I can’t deal damage to them,” Meng Chudong stated succinctly.

This also indirectly confirmed his speculation: there was content in this map, but it needed to be unlocked.

Knowing he couldn’t kill the mob, Meng Chudong stopped wasting time and quickly climbed back up the rope.

The others teased him, asking whether it was “you can’t deal damage to them” or “you can’t deal damage to them.” But before they could finish their wordplay, the enemy Birdy had attacked also climbed up =_=

Without hesitation, the teammates unleashed a barrage of attacks—not because they didn’t believe Meng Chudong, but because this reflex was ingrained in their bones. However, just as Meng Chudong had said, their attacks barely scratched the mob, dealing no damage. Even worse, healers’ recovery skills had no effect on the damage the mob dealt. In other words:

They couldn’t damage the enemy.

The enemy could damage them.

And the only way to recover was by chugging potions—support skills were as useless as their attacks!

Damn, this wasn’t just the enemy having a head start—it was like they’d already lapped them several times before the race even began!

But there’s always an exception to everything.

While the others acknowledged the enemy’s invincibility and resorted to a defensive strategy of alternating HP and MP potions, one pet—the Underworld Officer—continued dutifully whacking the mob with its Authority Staff. The staff’s damage wasn’t high, only dealing about 70 HP per hit.

But was this just 70 HP? No! It was the spark of victory, the hope of the team!

The twenty-nine teammates instinctively stepped back. Despite the platform already being cramped, they managed to clear a small space for 438, allowing his pet to continue tangling with the mob.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

One minute…

2B: “438, are you grinding soy milk? Switch to a stronger pet!”

438: “I’m fighting, how can I switch now…”

Fang Zheng: “A Major Health Potion!”

With the Legion Leader’s order, 438 didn’t hesitate. He downed a Great Recovery Pill, refilling his HP bar, then quickly recalled the Underworld Officer and summoned the Flying Fish. The catfish pet charged at the mob like a hurricane, knocking it down at 400 mph and triggering a stun. Then, while the enemy was stunned, it mercilessly slapped it with its tail at an inhuman speed. The exact number of slaps was unverifiable, but the enemy never got back up.

With the dust settled, it was time for discussion and conclusions—

White Dragon Horse: “Why are you the only one who can deal damage?”

Leaves Fall on Chang’an: “Is it the pet?”

Hu Yifei: “I also summoned the Underworld Officer just now. Didn’t work.”

Drink: “Then it must be the items. Right now, he’s the only one carrying quest items, and they’re all weapons.”

Birdy: “That’s probably it.”

Big H: “How about you, Refined Into a Demon, jump down and fight a few more mobs?”

438: “Me jump down? What about you guys?”

Big H: “We’ll watch.”

438: “……”

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  I bought a watch last year: used in place of ‘fuck your mother’ to avoid censorship