Chapter 111 – Too Tired to Love

438 stood on the ground, surrounded by twelve mobs evenly distributed around him. There had originally been only eleven, but he had spent so much time standing there contemplating life that the one previously lured to the platform and killed had respawned…

These mobs weren’t densely packed. From a glance, it seemed possible to attack one without aggroing the others. Yet, 438 still felt a chill—a chill born from the fear of the unknown and the loneliness of having no companions.

Oh, wait, he did have companions.

438 raised his head, his gaze searching for the familiar faces on the platform as if seeking warmth…

“Demon Refiner—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here!”

“We’re cheering for you!”

“…”

Great. Now he felt warm—a blazing fire of hatred blooming in his heart like the War God’s flower.

Fine, you’re next!

No longer picky, 438 targeted the closest mob and unleashed Flying Fish! The catfish, borrowing the speed it had synthesized from the Gale Pet, shot toward the mob like a rocket, smacking it square in the face with a divine tail slap!

The mob was dazed. By the time it got back up, a third of its HP bar had already been depleted by Flying Fish’s assault.

However, the high-damage attack also enraged the mob, triggering a critical hit right off the bat!

Flying Fish had high attack and speed, but its defense had dropped during synthesis, making it somewhat similar to the Assassin class—not as fragile as magic-based classes, but nowhere near as tanky as Blood Warriors or Berserkers. So after that crit, its HP took a noticeable dip.

438 quickly retreated to a safe distance, carefully avoiding aggroing other mobs. Meanwhile, Flying Fish began trading blows with its opponent. Since the pet had limited skills, 438 didn’t have much to micromanage—just cycling through attacks as they came off cooldown. This, of course, meant the fight lacked any real technical finesse. In the end, the mob couldn’t withstand its brutal opponent and collapsed—but Flying Fish didn’t fare much better, left with only a third of its HP.

438 wanted to take a breather and wait for Flying Fish to recover, but whether it was due to poor positioning or the system’s default setting that dead mobs’ nearest allies would seek vengeance, he suddenly found himself bitten from behind—without any warning!

“Watch your back!” Someone on the platform shouted urgently in YY.

438 was grateful: “Couldn’t you have yelled half a second earlier?!”

The bite was brutal—right on the Junior Demon Refiner’s neck, with blood splatter effects that were almost artistically rendered.

438’s frail constitution had never endured something like this before. His HP instantly dropped by half. He quickly gulped down an HP potion, restoring his health to a safe level while Flying Fish rushed in recklessly to save its master!

438 sighed in relief and was about to check the mob distribution to retreat further when he noticed something was off—Flying Fish’s HP was dropping at an alarming rate, while the mob’s HP had barely budged!

On closer inspection, he realized the second mob had an absurdly high Evasion Rate, dodging two out of every three attacks. And while dodging, it didn’t hesitate to counterattack—with a high crit rate to boot! Flying Fish was getting wrecked!

This couldn’t go on!

Without hesitation, 438 recalled Flying Fish and summoned Bell Maiden, immediately activating her first skill the moment she appeared!

By then, the mob was already in his face. 438 wanted to run but hesitated—running blindly risked aggroing more mobs. One was already giving him hell; another would surely send him straight to Buddha.

As the mob opened its maw for another bite, 438 was still torn between fleeing or standing his ground—but Bell Maiden had already carried out her master’s command. A flash of light streaked across the screen, and the next second, the mob was airborne!

Nice!

Perfect execution!

…Wait, no. Actually, she might have overdone it.

Four mobs now flailed mid-air, shining as brightly as F4 back in the day. In the dazzling skill effects, 438 was sure he saw the scythe of death.

Birdy: “Normally, when the airborne effect ends and they land, they’ll all come to play with you.”

Fang Zheng: “The above is a loving reminder from the Ghost Server Deputy Leader.”

438 was on the verge of tears. Now he didn’t have to agonize over running or not—Bell Maiden clearly didn’t care about aggro management. Her combat philosophy was simple: as long as she had fun, nothing else mattered.

This was irresponsible!

Pets shouldn’t act like this! TAT

438 decided he’d ground her after this battle, but right now, survival was the priority. With two seconds left on the airborne effect, he chugged a Speed Scroll and bolted! But running wasn’t simple—he had to avoid the four mobs about to land while also not aggroing others…

Great. He’d already pulled more. =_=

In such a cramped space, making a clean escape was nearly impossible. TAT

Bell Maiden’s airborne skill had ended. The four mobs were ready to retaliate, but the girl had already strayed 20 meters from her master and was now automatically chasing after him. So 438 had no choice but to keep running—until the mobs behind him grew from five (one pet included) to six, then seven, then nine…

Finally, after overcoming countless obstacles, he made it back under the rope. Standing still, he looked up at his last hope—

The entire platform, in unison: “Don’t come up!”

He knew his teammates were worried about a wipe—after all, when Birdy had climbed up earlier with one mob in tow, chaos had ensued. Now, with eleven mobs, they’d be sitting ducks. He hadn’t planned to climb up anyway—just wanted to see his comrades one last time before death. But that didn’t stop him from flipping them the bird with a stiff middle finger…

You heartless bastards!!! TAT

438 died. He had never found the grayscale post-death screen so peaceful, so quiet. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. All grudges vanished with the passing of life…

“The mobs left. Res up.”

“Let Blesscaller recall him. One-step process.”

“Won’t he just have to go back down after being recalled?”

“If he goes down again, he’ll just die. We need another plan.”

“What other plan is there?”

“Uh, can I interrupt? Does anyone know what that pet he summoned was? The one with the crowd-control airborne skill?”

“Oh, that thing? First time I’ve seen it! So OP!”

“Pfft, our Sister Yifei has one too~~~”

“Really? Is this the new standard for Demon Refiners?”

“Let me tell you…”

No. Teammates may not be eternal, but grudges are forever.

In the end, 438 was resurrected and teleported back by Crossplayer. A 30% HP revive, a short rest, and his HP and MP were full again—except for the gaping hole in his heart, now whistling with cold wind.

Drink Till You Drop: “Sorry for making you lose more XP.”

438: “This isn’t about XP.”

Big H: “Want to hit us a few times to vent?”

438: “Hmph.”

Hu Yifei: “Look at it this way—you paved the road to revolution with your blood!”

438: “Not interested.”

Birdy: “I’ll take you to Egypt later to capture the Sphinx.”

438: “Commander, let me go down again!”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“You’re at 95% XP now. If you die again…”

“Remember, don’t let your pet AoE this time.”

For his second descent, 438 carried the weight of his teammates’ expectations.

He knew that after dying repeatedly, he had lost a significant chunk of XP. Like everyone else in the joint team, his XP bar had been stuck at 99.99% since hitting Level 69—meaning that continuing to fight the boss wouldn’t increase it further. On the other hand, dying would reduce it. So far, while most teammates had died at least once, they had also been constantly fighting mobs, so their XP fluctuated but mostly stayed at 99.99%.

But he was different. After showing off earlier and dropping his XP to 95%, he had hoped to recover it in this dungeon—only to die over and over, leaving him still at 95%. His teammates weren’t worried about him leveling up the remaining 5%—they were afraid he’d keep dying and drop even lower. He understood. Even if they defeated the final boss, there was a real chance that twenty-nine of them would reach max level while he was stuck at 98% or 99%.

If one person maxed while the other twenty-nine didn’t, that one person would just get mocked. But if twenty-nine maxed and one didn’t? That would be traumatic. And embarrassing. “Oh, we all raided together, and everyone but one guy made it.” That just screamed discrimination. So his teammates genuinely hoped his XP wouldn’t drop further. =_=

But what they didn’t understand was—leveling up wasn’t his goal.

Two minutes later—

Unintentional Mistake: “He died again.”

Summit of Mount Tai: “Even faster this time.”

Water Phantom: “Did his pet’s attack speed drop?”

Kill All Who Block Me: “Because he tried capturing mobs twice mid-fight… What were you thinking?!”

438: “But I still didn’t succeed, wuuu~~~”

White Dragon Horse: “He’s crying. He actually has the nerve to cry…”

Drink Till You Drop: “Calm down.”

White Dragon Horse: “How am I supposed to calm down?!”

Birdy: “Usually, mobs tied to quests can’t be captured. The system can’t tell if you’ve beaten them or not, so it can’t progress the quest. A skilled Demon Refiner needs both a sense of adventure and the ability to judge which mobs can be captured and which can’t.”

438: “Ohhh, I see.”

Drink Till You Drop: “Take notes.”

White Dragon Horse: “I kneel…”

Two failures proved that soloing was impossible—even if 438 didn’t try to capture mobs.

But the quest items were on him. There was no other way but to keep sending him down.

On the platform, the joint team felt like the cave was a giant python, slowly swallowing them whole. They resisted, struggled, but despair crept in. They were exhausted. They could no longer…

“Actually, I’ve always had a question,” 438 suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence. “There are four quest items. Why do they all have to be on me?”

Bastard Zeng: “What are you thinking? Quest items bind on pickup.”

438: “Commander, trade request.”

Fang Zheng: “Accepted.”

438: “See? The items can be traded.”

…

This wasn’t fair.

They were supposed to be playing the game.

Not getting played by the game.

And if you’re gonna play, at least be gentle. Why break it?

Mom, I want to go home… TAT