While Jeremy was busy fine-tuning the settings of his mechanical puppets at home, Howard, Ella, and their team found themselves in a near-hopeless situation in an instance on the outskirts of Moonlight City.
The instance Howard and his team had entered was not initially considered to be of high difficulty.
Howard's original intention was to use this instance to help his subordinates get accustomed to the rhythm of combat. After completing the first instance, he planned to lead his subordinates to a more challenging one.
However, the moment they entered the instance, Ella alerted Howard that the difficulty level of the instance had changed.
At first, Howard dismissed her concerns, thinking that perhaps Ella's perceived decline in strength was due to personal reasons.
However, as they delved deeper into the instance, he suddenly realized that the enemies they encountered were significantly stronger than before.
Even monsters whose levels were close to his own could inflict severe damage upon him.
Howard and Ella, along with their respective subordinates, had advanced less than a third of the way through the instance when they suffered substantial losses.
Howard had entered the instance with twenty subordinates, and now four of them had already been killed by monsters. Additionally, he had lost contact with fourteen of his subordinates.
Around Howard, besides Ella and the two members of Ella's Black Dragon Squad, only two of his own subordinates remained.
"What should we do now? Continuing deeper into the instance is incredibly dangerous! But our retreat has already been cut off by those monsters."
One of Howard's subordinates asked, his face pale with fear.
Ella and the two members of the Black Dragon Squad wore expressions of intense concentration, yet they had not descended into complete panic.
Ella and the members of the Black Dragon Squad remained vigilant, carefully scanning their surroundings, seemingly in search of an escape route from the perilous situation.
In response to his subordinate's inquiry, Howard's face twisted into a grimace.
His current emotions were a volatile mixture of regret and anger.
If given the chance to reconsider, he would never have recklessly led his subordinates into this instance.
Howard's anger stemmed from his own perceived incompetence.
Had he possessed the formidable strength of someone like Jeremy, his subordinates would not have found themselves in such a dire predicament.
In an unguarded moment, Howard's mind flickered to the name Jeremy.
"It's now impossible for us to leave the instance on our own, so we must seek the help of others." Howard stated bluntly to the few people behind him.
The faces of Howard's two subordinates grew even paler. They knew that the nearest military base to Moonlight City was 200 kilometers away.
Even if the military could rush over at the fastest possible speed, it would still take them more than half a day. There was no way they could hold out in the instance for that long.
However, Ella seemed to grasp the true meaning behind Howard's words.
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Howard did not let pride get in his way.
He was acutely aware that the most crucial matter at hand was to get Jeremy to come over as quickly as possible. As long as Jeremy could arrive swiftly, Howard was prepared to endure any amount of Jeremy's mockery.
"Your mission ended in failure, huh? It appears your capabilities are somewhat lacking. But if I were to provide you with support, what kind of compensation would you offer me?" Jeremy inquired, his voice dripping with a hint of condescension.
"After all, you previously declined to team up with me. Given that you had no intention of cooperating with me, it seems I have no obligation to rescue you."
Though Jeremy was fairly certain that Howard would agree to share half of the rewards.
He wouldn't lift a finger to help until he heard a direct confirmation.
Jeremy's response didn't come as a surprise to Howard. After all, their last communication had ended in a heated argument.
"I have already agreed to give you half of the rewards earned from resolving the instance. Besides me, Captain Ella has also consented to this arrangement. She is right here with me, and like me, she's trapped."
Upon hearing the first half of Howard's statement, Jeremy had already decided to set out immediately to rescue them.
However, after listening to the latter part of the statement, Jeremy hesitated slightly.
At this moment, Jeremy was contemplating delaying his actions, waiting for the monsters of the Shadow City instance to kill Ella first before rescuing the others.
"Captain Ella is there too? Then why don't you get her fiancé to help? Isn't Kean an extraordinarily powerful awakener? With Kean's intervention, you all should be saved, right?"
Howard could clearly discern that Jeremy's words were meant to mock Ella and Kean.
Under normal circumstances, he would prefer not to get entangled in the conflict between Howard and Kean. However, this time it was he who had asked Ella to join him on this mission.
Therefore, Howard felt compelled to speak a few good words on Ella's behalf.
"Ella is indeed Kean's fiancée, but she has never targeted you. In fact, when Kean went after your friends, Ella even tried to stop him."
Howard's words eased Jeremy's mood slightly. Every time Jeremy thought about Kean, his mood would turn sour.
"Since that's the case, I suppose I'll go ahead and rescue you. Send me the exact location of the Shadow City instance. It's already late, and even if I proceed at my fastest pace, it will take me about half an hour to reach you."
Jeremy had agreed to rescue Howard, which made Howard overjoyed.
"I'll send you the coordinates of the instance right away. We'll try to hold out for about half an hour. However, you must hurry, as I'm afraid my subordinates won't be able to hold on that long."
"Alright, I got it! I'll definitely arrive within half an hour. Let's reconnect once I enter the instance."
With that, Jeremy ended the communication abruptly.
At this moment, Howard and his team felt a bit less tense than before. After all, their task now was simply to hold out for another half hour.
"Jeremy is on his way, we'll be rescued soon!"