“… eh?” The thickset man was momentarily surprised by the question. Then, he shook his head and smiled. “You are the Guild Leader. We obey your commands.”
The young woman… was naturally Phoenix.
Phoenix let out a gentle sigh and said, “Back in the London instance dungeon, I personally killed off Dagger. It would be impossible for you to not have any opinions on my actions there. However, I will say this much. Since I am still the Guild Leader, it does not matter what opinions you fellows might have, you must still obey my commands. If… if you feel any dissatisfaction about me and wish to quit the guild, I am willing to allow it. The reason I killed Dagger was not because he refused to obey me, but because he wanted to kill me.”
Monster was silent for a few seconds before raising his head. The eyes on his wooden face showed sincerity as he said, “I do not know what the Titan brothers are thinking, but I can tell you what I think.”
Pausing, he then said in a low tone of voice, “Assuming that back in the London instance dungeon, I did feel a sense of dissatisfaction with you… presently however, I am sincerely willing to obey your commands, Guild Leader.”
He sighed and smiled wryly before continuing, “After the London instance dungeon ended, I inexplicably left you fellows. When I came to, you fellows were the ones who saved me. No matter how you cut it, you have saved my life once!
“There is not much bond between me and the Titan brothers…
“I am well aware that when I had gone missing, you were the one who anxiously gave the order to find me. Additionally, when I was unconscious for a time, you were also the one who used your own points to exchange out medicinal substances for me.
“Otherwise, this punishment instance dungeon… I fear I would likely die here! Who would be willing to drag a half-dead person with them to participate in a punishment instance dungeon?
“So, that’s why... Guild Leader, I am willing to obey your commands! If someone in the guild wants to go against you, I will be the first to snap that person’s neck!”
…
Hearing the exchange, Han Bi made a judgement.
The young woman was actually the Guild Leader while the thickset man with muscular body was a subordinate?
Han Bi smiled wryly.
He was suddenly reminded of a quote from Gu Long’s novel: Monks, Daoists and women who lives in the pugilistic world are either very weak or extremely powerful!
This young woman was able to become a Guild Leader and obtain the loyalty of the seemingly powerful thickset man. There must certainly be something extraordinary about her.
…
Phoenix looked straight at Monster and saw the sincerity in his eyes. She smiled in satisfaction and said, “I was afraid that you would have other opinions. After all, we did end up losing the London instance dungeon. That is also the reason why we now have to participate in this punishment instance dungeon.”
Monster shook his head and said, “The failure of the London instance dungeon cannot be blamed on you. There were Thorned Flower Guild members on our side, remember? Who could have guessed that even the allmighty members of the Thorned Flower Guild would be utterly defeated there. That Chen Xiaolian… he is no simple character!”
…
Han Bi’s heart turned tense!
Chen Xiaolian?
Did I misheard?
…
“Although no one is saying anything, I know that my decisions during the London instance dungeon are critic worthy.” Phoenix shook her head. Her figure was seated beside the campfire and she picked up a firewood and tossed it into the flames.
The firewood crackled as it burned and Phoenix produced a wine flask and took a mouthful. Wiping her mouth, she then handed the flask over to Monster. He accepted it and took a gulp before looking at Phoenix. He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Indeed… there is something that I don’t get. Back then, on the battlefield, you had the chance to kill that Chen Xiaolian.”
“So? Did you think I purposely went easy on him, causing our failure to complete the quest?” Phoenix smiled bitterly. “Think about it… back when Chen Xiaolian was fighting against me, was he not going easy on me? That Nolan from Thorned Flower Guild was killed by Chen Xiaolian himself. Think about it… since he had such powers, why didn’t he use it when he was fighting against me?”
“Eh…” Monster was shocked.
“Neither of us went all out,” said Phoenix as she pointed at herself. “I was not the only one who went easy on him. He too, went easy on me. In fact, even if I had gone in with the intention to kill him, I would be unable to do so.
“That Chen Xiaolian is very peculiar. He seems like a rookie. Yet, he possessed an endless number of strange abilities. To have so many trump cards in his hands… I am unable to see through him!”
Pausing, Phoenix then continued in a hushed tone, “And then there was Jack the Ripper. We had to struggle back in the warehouse while he personally finished off Jack the Ripper’s main body. We don’t even know how he did it.
“Did you really think I could kill him?
“That’d be a good joke.”
Phoenix continued in a weird tone of voice, “Perhaps the opposite is true. Perhaps he was the one who had shown me mercy.”
Monster was silent.
“I have this feeling that Chen Xiaolian is quite the outstanding fellow. It is likely that we will be meeting him again in instance dungeons in the future. At any rate… I feel that there is no need for us to hold any grudge against him.” Phoenix sighed.
Monster appeared to be on the verge of saying something. However, at that same moment, they heard a sound.
“Ah wooooo~ ~”
Hearing that, Monster was quick to stand up. He knitted his eyebrows as he observed the distant wasteland that was shrouded in darkness!
“Wolves?”
Phoenix had also stood up. She narrowed her eyes and smiled. “We have guests?”
Monster exercised his neck and said, “Might as well. A little exercise after meal is not a bad idea.”
The darkness enveloping the wasteland limited their vision. Soon, the howl of wolves echoed throughout the darkness of the night. The intermittent howls and the coldness of the night winds brought a chill down their spines.
"East."
Phoenix had her eyes closed as she listened to the sounds brought by the winds. She suddenly whispered, “There are quite a lot of them.”
There was a look of eagerness and excitement on Monster’s face. He snickered and weapons abruptly popped out from both his hands.
A long blade in his left and an iron hammer in his right.
With the blade in hand, he snorted and strode to stand before Phoenix.
Something that resembled green coloured ghastly flames appeared in pairs one after another across the wasteland. The number of flames gradually grew in number.
They crept closer.
When the flames came closer to them, they saw that those ghastly flames were in fact a pair of wolf eyes!
A pack of wolves!
At least tens of them were slowly approaching under the cover of darkness. They slowly crept toward the red coloured rocky mountain peak, heading for the campfire.
They had their bodies lowered as they crept forward. Then, when they were around 20 meters away from the campfire, they stopped creeping forward.
The wolves all possessed strong bodies. Their slick green coloured eyes cast an oppressive atmosphere upon them. The number of wolves slowly grew as more wolves arrived from behind.
“Strange, why aren’t they attacking?” Monster asked as he curled the corners of his lips and smiled in a relaxed manner.
“A wolf pack must certainly wait for the pack leader to give the command,” Phoenix replied gently and pointed out with her hand.
The pack of wolves split out and a huge grey coloured wolf moved into sight.
This was likely the pack leader.
Physique wise, it appeared bigger and stronger than the other wolves. Its constitution was bigger than the other wolves by a considerable notch. Its curled jaws revealed its sharp row of fangs. Both its front and rear limbs were extremely thick and powerful. As it slowly moved forward, the other wolves slowly backed away as they lowered their heads in a submissive posture.
The alpha wolf moved to the middle and its pair of green coloured eyes looked coldly at the campfire. It then turned toward the campfire and slowly moved forward.
When the alpha wolf stared at Monster with its pair of green coloured eyes, Monster felt irritated and was unable to restrain himself from brandishing his blade while shouting, “You beast! Bring it! This senior just happens to be in need of a wolf skin cloak!”
Phoenix on the other hand, frowned. She retreated until she was beside the campfire and pulled out a burning firewood from it. She lifted it to use it as a torch and said, “Monster, back up a little!”
“They’re just a pack of beasts!” Monster replied in a relaxed manner. However, as he was turning his head to speak those words, the alpha wolf raised its head and howled out!
The howl was the command to attack! In but an instant, two black shadows shot out toward Monster.
Monster was stunned. However, he was not just an ordinary human. He sneered and shouted, “Cunning!”
He casually stepped to the side and the blade in his hand slashed out. A piercing sound could be heard as blood sprayed out from a wolf that was cut into two while it was in mid-air! At the same time, the iron hammer in his right hand was swung and a muffled sound came out as the other wolf was sent flying with a smash. By the time it fell to the ground, it had already become a clump of fleshy pulp. All its bones had been smashed to bits!
However, this did not stop the incoming attack!
Over tens of wolves rushed forward!
Monster roared out and opened up both his arms. With the blade in his left hand and the iron hammer in his right, he became like a human windmill.
Soon, two more wolves whimpered as they were sent flying and a thick scent of blood filled the air.
It was then that the alpha wolf that was located in the middle of the pack of wolves roared out successively.
Phoenix’s eyes flickered!
The other wolves suddenly changed their target of attack. They chose not to charge at Monster and instead, circled around Monster carefully without entering his range of attack. After that, they sprinted past the campfire and charged Phoenix!
Phoenix pursed her lips and said, “Aren’t you a clever bunch.”
She suddenly raised her right hand.
A magic wand suddenly appeared in her right hand. The wand then elongated!
It became even longer compared to her person!
Phoenix held onto the long wand and suddenly let out a shout while gently tapping the ground using the wand.
Weng!
A translucent shockwave erupted outward. An arc of light burst out in a seemingly slow motion and the wolves that were pouncing at her were suddenly blasted away by some unknown force while they were in the middle of the air.
With a boom, the arc of light threw more than ten wolves a distance of roughly seven to eight meters away. When they fell to the ground, they either had broken tendons or were coughing out blood. Some were twitching as they continued to lie on the ground.
Han Bi who was spectating from above was secretly rendered breathless. This female magician is indeed very powerful! This area of effect spell was a very useful spell!
With one spell, Phoenix was able to repulse the enemy. Seeing that more than 10 wolves were heavily injured, Monster who was nearby brandished his iron hammer and smashed away the wolf that was engaging him.
Then, they heard the alpha wolf howling once more. It then abruptly turned around and sprinted into the darkness.
Soon, the wolf pack followed suit and sprinted into the darkness as well.
“They ran?” Monster harrumphed. He kicked away the corpse of a wolf that was lying beside him and walked back to the campfire. He then picked up a bottle of water and gulped down several mouthfuls. After that, he said, “That doesn’t even count as a warm up!”
Phoenix listened attentively to the sounds brought by the winds. Her eyes flickered and she said, “Not right! I hear something! Someone is coming!”
The sound of engine could quickly be heard coming from the west side.
The roaring sound of engine continued to reverberate through the air and a dune buggy could be seen making its way toward the red coloured rocky peak.
A large number of sand clouds rose up behind the dune buggy.
Seeing the dune buggy, Han Bi felt himself feeling frustrated… dune buggy?
To be able to bring a dune buggy into an instance dungeon, they must at least possess a storage equipment with enough space to store the dune buggy – yet another predator like existence.
As for himself, he was like a little shrimp beside the predator; a shrimp that was trying to survive.
…