Chapter 48 – The Lost Squad

White Dragon Horse thought he’d be clinging to someone’s coattails for a while, but he didn’t expect Polly to be so generous—immediately stopping after hearing his apology, turning around, and zipping past him to land a Hellfire on the Hulk!

White Dragon Horse was immensely grateful, though he still had a minor complaint about the move choice, since Hellfire was a low-damage single-target attack: “Why not use Netherworld Ghostly Claws…?” Despite his words, he still charged right after Birdy, following up with a Wind-Splitting Slash!

“Just testing the waters first,” Polly said as the skill landed on the monster.

In the cramped maze, the massive monster had nowhere to dodge. But just as the two held their breaths to see the damage numbers, the creature suddenly vanished into thin air! The following Wind-Splitting Slash naturally missed, not even grazing a single hair.

“What the hell? What kind of bullshit is this?!” White Dragon Horse screeched.

But Polly spotted a pile of fine sand forming on the ground.

Just as he was about to explain to White Dragon Horse, the sand suddenly rose into the air and reformed into the Hulk!

Now White Dragon Horse understood—this thing was a damn Clay Golem!

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the newly reformed Hulk swung a massive palm at him. White Dragon Horse had the instinct to dodge, but the confined space made it impossible, and he was instantly squashed flat. His HP plummeted, now down to a measly third.

“Stop playing dirty like this…” White Dragon Horse was on the verge of tears.

The monster seemed to enjoy taking its time after its attacks, rubbing its hands together as if savoring the moment. By the time it finally retracted its palm, White Dragon Horse scrambled up only to see Polly already a mile away.

“You traitor!” White Dragon Horse cursed, but his survival instincts kicked in, and he immediately used a Speed Scroll before sprinting for his life.

“I told you, just testing the waters,” Birdy called back smoothly as he fled, not forgetting to explain.

“And then what?”

“And then I realized this thing’s way out of our league. No way we can take it down.”

“You could’ve at least warned me before running!”

“You were busy getting fondled by the monster. Telling you wouldn’t have helped.”

“…”

[Local] Suave Not Sleazy: Heard of players groping monsters, but monsters groping players? First time seeing that.

[Local] Unintentional Mistake: The Deputy Commander’s charm is just too overwhelming.

[Local] Fire Cloud Evil God: But that HP bar is looking kinda tragic though.

[Local] Summit of Mount Tai: Might as well let the monster finish him off and just respawn with a Blessing teleport.

[Local] Unintentional Mistake: Back when we were max level, losing XP wasn’t a big deal since dungeons would make up for it. But now, during this critical leveling phase… I have a feeling the Deputy would rather bite the head off whoever suggested that.

[Local] Summit of Mount Tai: Not necessarily. What if he agrees that a quick death is better than prolonged suffering?

[Local] Fire Cloud Evil God: Then he wouldn’t be scrambling away like a headless chicken right now.

[Local] Suave Not Sleazy: “Scrambling like a headless chicken” paints quite the picture. [chin rub]

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Uh, guys… is it really okay to mess with your own Deputy like this…?

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Once-distant Legion elites had now become teammates in a joint squad.

The once even more unattainable Deputy Commander was currently scrambling away like a… well, you get the idea.

Meanwhile, their own Deputy Birdy had guts, strategy, tactical awareness, and mental fortitude…

What a brilliant life decision he’d made at that crossroads TAT

“Drink!” White Dragon Horse’s suddenly energetic voice sounded in YY. “You’re still stuck in here too?!”

Drink Till You Drop: “Your delight is a little too obvious…”

White Dragon Horse: “Heh heh heh, spare the chit-chat, let’s kill this thing!”

Polly: “No, better run. Without a healer, none of us can sustain the damage.”

White Dragon Horse: “Summit of Mount Tai still hasn’t gotten out?”

[Legion] Summit of Mount Tai: Deputy, if my answer would make you feel better…

[Legion] Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: Got it. Now scram =_=

Meanwhile, Fang Zheng had already circled the same wrong path N times. Forget finding the exit—he hadn’t even managed to move a few meters in any direction. But he had one unwavering principle: stay silent and tough it out!

Unfortunately, he forgot that his otherwise straightforward life had a 360-degree surveillance camera—

Polly: “Silence won’t change the fact that you’re lost. Come out, my healer.”

“Your sister! You’re not even getting any heals, so shut the hell up!”

White Dragon Horse: “We are! We need heals!”

This is so unfair TAT

Drink Till You Drop: “Milk is Mom, where the hell are you?”

Polly: “If he knew where he was, he wouldn’t be lost. Screenshot in YY.”

“Wow, Birdy, you’re amazing!” Fang Zheng was overjoyed and immediately sent a screenshot.

Ten seconds later—

Polly: “Still can’t tell where that is.”

Go die already!!

[Local] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: If the zombie could read maps, he wouldn’t be lost.

[Local] Crossplayer’s Blessing: Just goes to show the Commander’s unconditional trust in the Deputy is soul-bound.

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Shouldn’t we be chanting “Get together~~ Get together~~” right about now?

[Local] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: *pats head* Stop browsing those R-rated forums so much.

The Clay Golem’s size limited its speed, so if the Lost Trio kept running straight, it would never catch up.

But—and this is a big but—

The trio was still lost. So whenever they hit a dead end, they had to backtrack. And to backtrack, they had to pass the Clay Golem. At this point, the Blood Warrior Drink Till You Drop stepped up, taunting and provoking with his unique charm, drawing all the aggro to himself so the other two could slip past.

“Drink, your aggro control is rock-solid!”

“But my HP bar isn’t.”

Thankfully, Drink had high HP, and after chugging several potions, he managed to keep it at around two-thirds. Meanwhile, Birdy, leading the charge, finally saw a glimmer of hope…

“I knew you’d find me~~~~~~~~~~~~~~” The “hope” sobbed, immediately casting Ten Thousand Blossoms!

Everyone’s HP bars (except Birdy’s) instantly maxed out.

The “hope” followed up with Silent Nourishment, Revival of the Withered, and Trickling Stream, bombarding them with heals!

Birdy-kun’s HP remained untouched.

The “hope” suddenly recalled the snow lotus atop Tianshan Mountain—equally sacred and untouchable… Zombies can all go to hell!!!

“Healer, I love you!” White Dragon Horse perked up, his back no longer aching, his legs no longer sore, and his monster-slaying vigor restored. He spun around and unleashed a Solitary Desert Haze!

The Clay Golem repeated its trick, dissolving into sand to dodge the attack, but it couldn’t evade Drink Till You Drop’s Lone Wolf Howl, perfectly timed as the golem reformed from sand and attacked!

Though Drink took a hit too, the healer’s Trickling Stream was still active, gently patching up the damage.

“Drink, Whitey, focus on DPS. I’ve got your HP covered,” Fang Zheng said as he maneuvered Milk is Mom into a relatively safe but heal-friendly corner.

Instead of gratitude from Drink and Whitey, he got an echo from Birdy: “Mhm, you two go all out~”

Then Fang Zheng watched as Birdy-kun leisurely strolled over to stand beside him, casually casting No Rest for the Dead to heal himself…

The Five Peaks Pavilion leaders exchanged glances and understood.

Nicknamed White Dragon Horse: “You can’t play favorites like this—”

Drink Till You Drop: “What can we do? The healer’s his. Just accept it.”

Fang Zheng was drowning in grievances. He did have standards sometimes, okay… Birdy, I hate you TAT

Five minutes later—

White Dragon Horse: “Dammit, zombie, stop blocking my view! Am I supposed to hit the monster or you?!”

Drink Till You Drop: “Healer, I may have high HP, but a little attention would be nice.”

Polly: “Drink, what weapon are you using? Your DPS is healer-tier.”

Fang Zheng: “Birdy, you can insult my character, but don’t insult my profession…”

Outside the maze—

[Local] 2B Fighter Jet: That’s not our Commander that’s not our Commander that’s just some random NPC that’s just some random NPC…

[Local] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: No matter how much you hypnotize yourself, opening the Legion roster will shatter the illusion.

[Local] 2B Fighter Jet: Don’t be so cruel TAT

[Local] Unintentional Mistake: Suddenly, I love Drink even more…

[Local] Suave Not Sleazy: But I kinda wanna drag Whitey down from there…

[Local] Summit of Mount Tai: At least we still have a decent Commander. Unlike some people next door…

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: I wish I were in there!

[Local] Crossplayer’s Blessing: Oh? You’ve gotten a lot more confident—think the Commander’s skills are worse than yours?

[Local] Refined Into a Demon 715: Why bother with DPS? I could just capture the monster outright!

[Local] Suave Not Sleazy: The people next door are just a circus from top to bottom =_=

Though the Clay Golem was tricky, it wasn’t a proper world boss. So despite the drawn-out battle, the Lost Quartet eventually wore it down. The moment it collapsed, the group collectively exhaled in relief. Drink Till You Drop, being closest, casually looted the corpse.

Garden Maze Wanderer’s Wristguard!

A newly added orange-tier gear from the game update!

A chorus of “Whoa!” erupted in YY, and the system immediately rolled the dice. Non-healers naturally passed, leaving only Milk is Mom and Summit of Mount Tai in contention!

Fang Zheng’s heart raced as he clicked—

[System] Milk is Mom rolled a 1!

The Ghost Server Legion wanted to flip the table—Commander’s cursed luck strikes again!

Fang Zheng wanted to flip the table too, but until the very end, no one could say for sure who’d win—

“Summit, how can you even think of rolling? You didn’t even help fight! You have no idea how hard it was keeping your Legion Leader and Deputy alive—so much Resistance, dodging all over the place, impossible to pin down~~~ The boss dropped a healer bracer because it knew I worked the hardest~~~ Now that it’s finally dead, how could you bear to rub salt in my exhausted, battered wounds~~~~ Oh NO, I know you wouldn’t, your integrity would never allow such underhanded tactics, your high moral standards would never condone profiting from others’ labor~~~”

Sixty seconds passed.

[System] Summit of Mount Tai has passed.

[System] Milk is Mom obtained Garden Maze Wanderer’s Wristguard.

[Legion] Drink Till You Drop: Summit, your mental fortitude needs work.

[Legion] Summit of Mount Tai: Legion Leader, I’m only human…