Chapter 281: Training Troops (Average Subscription Bonus 03)

With only a dozen-odd men at his flank, the Black Demon cast a sweeping glance over the thirty-odd adversaries arrayed against him and immediately knew the tide was turning foul. He slipped his fingers toward a teleportation scroll nestled ready within his belt, his hand already beginning to unfurl it.

"Hah!"

A thunderous bellow rent the air, accompanied by the swift, dazzling arc of a blade that shore mercilessly into his wrist, sending the scroll tumbling uselessly to the earth.

"Dammit!" the Black Demon snarled, his face darkening as he looked up to find a female warrior standing before him, a wry smile playing upon her lips. "Trying to run, are we?"

"Ring of Repulsion!"

Driven purely by reflex, the Black Demon unleashed a Ring of Repulsion, yet the burst of flame failed to budge her even a single inch.

Without a moment's hesitation, Nalan Mingxue followed through with another heavy cleave.

Directly on its heels, a sudden bolt of lightning cracked down from the heavens!

Nalan Mingxue, who was in the midst of charging forward, slammed on the brakes just in time. "Sister Su, watch your aim! You almost got me!"

"I *am* watching!" Su Tianji replied, raising her hand to conjure yet another Burst Fire. The Black Demon, already hovering at Death's door, let out a wretched scream and collapsed!

"Did he drop anything good?" Su Tianji called out.

Nalan Mingxue fished a gnarled wooden staff from her inventory. "A magic wand. Magic 2-5, Luck +1."

"A magic wand?! How come I've never seen that weapon before?"

"The stats are incredibly high! And it even grants Luck!"

Nearby, Song Qingfeng and the others had quickly swept the rest of the battlefield clean. "Well? Should we stick around and wait for them to send us another wave of gifts?"

"Back to the city first! Do not linger!" Nalan Mingxue's bright eyes gleamed with sharp calculation. "The mage Sister Su just killed is someone I recognize. He’s the boss of the Black Demon Clan from the Morning Star Sea. If we stay, a few hundred more will probably swarm us in no time."

...

Meanwhile, Boss Fang was leading his party down toward the deepest recesses of the Wooma Temple.

It was worth noting that ever since they had chanced upon a 'Seduction Light' skill book last time, Boss Fang had not caught so much as a glimpse of another copy.

Consequently, their party possessed only a single mage capable of casting Seduction Light, who now brought up the rear with two giant horned beetles and five vicious maggots.

As for the Tiger Guard...

"Guild Leader... is it actually possible for Seduction Light to lure a Tiger Guard to death?" Xi Yue sighed in sheer vexation. She had made a special trip to the Tiger Guard Hall earlier today, only for her attempts to inadvertently kill the creature within a few tries.

"Pretty much." In truth, the probability of accidentally luring a Tiger Guard to its death was significantly higher than with standard monsters.

Thus, the party's beastly entourage looked rather underwhelming today.

"Guild Leader, are we really here just to grind levels today?" Xi Yue asked as they stepped onto the second floor.

"We’re here for the Horn." Fang Qi had already set his sights on establishing an official guild within the game, and the Wooma Horn was an absolute necessity for the task.

The Wooma Taichee was a formidable demon, revered and followed blindly as a god by its cultists. In their dark attempts to discover the secret of its reincarnation, they had once sacrificed ten thousand of their own followers.

Though the Wooma Taichee was bound to its temple, should it ever recover enough strength to break free, it possessed the power to lay waste to the human world.

The lightning arcing from its fingertips could snatch a mortal's life away in the blink of an eye.

Countless legends regarding the Wooma Taichee echoed across the continent; it was bound to be the first true raid boss the players would encounter, making the Zombie King look like utter child's play by comparison.

Fang Qi and several girls from the guild were currently sitting side by side in the internet cafe, completely engrossed. "Come on, come on, the entrance to the third floor is right here!"

"Eh? Why is someone already fighting it?" Boss Fang muttered in surprise, astonished to find that another group had beaten them to the punch.

In the center of the grand hall on the third floor, a monstrous demon with leathery wings, bovine hooves, a humanoid torso, and two massive horns was charging furiously at a low-level mage wielding a crescent glaive.

Its colossal frame pounded against the ground, causing the entire hall to shudder violently with every stride.

A few other mages and Taoists stood scattered around, unleashing a steady barrage of attacks; they were clearly a coordinated party.

"Boss, what do we do if they're already fighting it?" Xi Yue frowned.

"Bloody hell..." Fang Qi was equally annoyed, briefly contemplating whether they should simply return tomorrow.

Before the thought could fully form, the mage being chased spared a fleeting glare over his shoulder. "This is White Dragon Mansion's territory! Get the hell out of here!"

Ruan Ning: "..."

Xi Yue: "..."

The girls then watched as Boss Fang quietly walked over, positioning himself directly along the retreat path of the mage fleeing from the Wooma Taichee.

"Savage Charge!"

With a forceful lunge, Fang Qi slammed into the player, ramming him right back toward the danger.

The pursuing Wooma Taichee caught up instantly, delivering a devastating, heavy sweep of its paw.

"Argh—!"

A miserable shriek echoed out.

*Just when I was looking for a fight!*

Boss Fang dusted off his hands, scooped up the equipment that had burst onto the ground, and glanced at the owner's name. It belonged to a mage named Zhuge Bai.

In a far corner of the internet cafe.

"Fuck!" a cultivator clad in a moon-white robe leaped to his feet in a fury. "I was just backstabbed by some trash warrior named 'Can't Stand Straight Without Being Ruthless'! Kill him for me!"

Instantly, the dozen or so players who had been fighting the Wooma Taichee turned as one and lunged forward.

In mere moments, crackling bolts of lightning descended upon the head of Fang Qi, the self-proclaimed trash warrior.

"Come on, come on! Focus your fire with me! Take down that Taoist on the left named 'Xue Shuilong' first!"

"Thunderbolt Spell, focus fire! Focus fire! Xiaoyue, keep my health topped off!"

"Sister Xi, use Seduction Light to freeze his skeleton! Send the pets in to bite them!"

"Beautiful! One of them dropped his gear!"

"..."

Nearby, the patrons from the Black Flood Dragon Mansion and the Nanhua Sect, who had been quietly watching dramas, could no longer contain their curiosity. "What's causing all this racket?!"

They turned their heads to look, only to see screens ablaze with roaring flames and cascading lightning—a spectacle of utter chaos and excitement.

"What on earth is this game?"

...

Meanwhile, inside the Black Demon's QQ voice channel.

"Dammit! Those bastards have already fled!" The Black Demon had brought over a hundred men to the Narrow Pass, yet the clearing stood completely barren.

The Black Demon roared into his mic, "They dropped my magic wand!"

"We finally tracked them down, only for them to slip away again!" Wang Jin's face was dark with rage. "Where are we supposed to find them now?"

"What if..." A Black Demon guard spoke up, struck by sudden inspiration. "What if we put a world bounty on them?!"

"Brilliant idea!" the Black Demon bellowed. "Everyone, spam the World Channel for me! Put a bounty primarily on those three pieces of trash: Young Master Song, Chu Xue, and the Immortal Yu Ji! Forty thousand gold for their location, and twenty thousand for any of the others!"

Before long, the QQ World Channel was flooded with messages.

[WANTED: Young Master Song, Chu Xue, Immortal Yu Ji. 400,000 gold coins for their exact location! Those who secure a kill can claim 1,000,000 gold coins with a game screenshot!]

Line after line of advertisements rolled across the screen in rapid succession, instantly capturing the attention of every soul online.

By this time, Song Qingfeng had already relocated to a different area to grind levels, yet he inexplicably found himself under attack by a passerby. Snapping open the world chat channel, he gasped, "Holy crap!"

Over on the Penguin channel, Song Qingfeng howled, "I've been put on the wanted list!"

Nalan Mingxue replied, "…Me too."

Su Tianji added, "…"

Before long, the trio was bombarded with celebratory messages from all directions. The most infuriating of all came from Boss Fang himself: "Are we buddies or what? I'm a bit short on cash lately, so could you guys do a brother a favor? (Akita Inu smirk)"

The three of them shot back, "Get lost! Trash boss!"

Right at that moment, Nalan Mingxue suddenly noticed an unfamiliar name flashing in her friend list.

Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess: "Need some help?"

"Hmm?"

Meanwhile, inside the Zombie King Hall, the floor was carpeted with the corpses of Zombie Kings. At this point, the majority of the Imperial Guard had already fully mastered their under-level-thirty skills!

Yu Chi bellowed, "Do you want to go slaughter those pieces of trash from the Morning Star Sea?!"

"Hell yes!"

"I've been wanting to screw over those Morning Star Sea bastards for ages!"

"Grinding levels day in and day out has left such a bland taste in my mouth!"

Upon receiving this message from Ji Yu, Nalan Mingxue initially replied with a simple question mark, followed by: "How many people do you have?"

"Three hundred." Ji Yu selected a cool emoticon. "If necessary, one or two thousand wouldn't be a problem (Cool)."

Nalan Mingxue's brow furrowed even deeper. This no longer felt like settling an in-game grudge; it felt more like… training an army!

"Alright!" She swiftly typed out a single word.

Ji Wu stood holding a secret intelligence report, his expression dark and grave. He took a deep, heavy breath and muttered, "We must go pay Leader Lan a visit."

There, emblazoned most prominently upon the secret report, was a stark line of text: Twenty armored warships and one hundred transport vessels from the Cloud-Yun Upper Domain have already deployed!

.