Chapter 141: Red Name

Ten minutes passed!

The "unexpected guest" did not appear, but the magic lizard suddenly made a move that left me utterly dumbfounded...

The magic lizard, whose HP had been worn down by me by nearly eight hundred points, suddenly stopped!

Then, as I turned back to prepare my attack, it gently waved a pretty wand made of crystal... The drawn ink-strained bow in my hand paused slightly. Immediately after, I saw a soft, deep-blue water elemental sphere appear out of thin air right above its head!

――Healing Wave!!

The soft, deep-blue water sphere descended over the magic lizard, wrapping around it like a thin deep-blue film that quickly permeated its body and began repairing its wounded flesh.

I frowned, caught in absolute bewilderment...

Damn it to hell!

This damned magic lizard actually knew how to heal itself, what the hell!

Although it was hardly surprising for a boss proficient in water magic to possess "Healing Wave," this development added a tremendous amount of trouble for me!

Because for me, the magic lizard's HP was already exceptionally high!

Yet with a single Healing Wave of unknown level, goodness knows how much HP it would recover. Countless attacks' worth of my hard-earned progress would be wasted just like that...

What worried me most was that if the magic lizard decided to cast Healing Wave every now and then, how on earth was I supposed to fight it?

Amidst a bitter smile, I wasted no time and quickly released a long-range shot, intending to interrupt the magic lizard's "Healing Wave" and stop its attempt to repair itself.

This time, however, the magic lizard had grown smarter. One of its free claws reached out in front of its face, and a sleek, sturdy "Ice Shield" condensed out of thin air, appearing right in its grip!

My arrow struck squarely against the smooth, sturdy ice shield and glanced harmlessly away...

"Attack blocked!"

Unbelievable... This creature was getting smarter and smarter, calculating that I would always aim for its head, making even a block look effortless. But...

No matter how smart you are! I'm going to beat you flat!

I gritted my teeth!

Quickly pulling an arrow, notching it, and drawing the bow! The ink-strained bow once again aimed at the body of the magic lizard, which was slowly recovering its HP under the aid of Healing Wave—let's see if that little shield of yours is faster than my arrow!

Sure enough, the moment my target shifted, the magic lizard could no longer block my attack. Struck by the projectile, the Healing Wave was instantly interrupted:

"Target hit! Dealt 31 points of damage to the magic lizard."

As the system feedback echoed, I anticipated the magic lizard's impending reaction. With a triumphant smile, I quickly retreated, widening the distance before the magic lizard could roar and chase after me in fury...

The magic lizard gave chase in a fury!

...

In the distance, Falcon, who was luring the green lizard beast and running continuously, looked at the magic lizard tailing close behind Scavenging Qilin with profound emotion: Having played games for so long, this was the first time he had ever seen someone solo a boss...

And make it look so effortless!

Whenever he had watched others slay a boss in the past, wasn't it always a grand and imposing affair, surrounded by throngs of people? First clearing the area around the boss, and then throwing top-tier players and experts into the mix together, resulting in an extremely brutal scene...

Only a handful of powerful mercenary corps would deploy just a few members to achieve the goal of clearing the area and annihilating a boss!

Yet, what was happening right before his eyes completely exceeded his expectations...

A level 25 boss lured out of its lair was being run in circles by a level 29 bow-warrior!

Not only was the boss stripped of its usual cunning and terrifying presence, but it didn't even get a chance to counterattack...

What surprised him even more, however, was Scavenging Qilin himself. Scavenging Qilin's various bow-warrior skills had clearly reached pinnacle effectiveness. Although the 5% attribute upper limit played a role in making things this easy and safe, Falcon asked himself: Even if he possessed such top-tier skill effects, he wouldn't be able to maintain such a steady rhythm, nor release skills and hit targets as fluidly as Scavenging Qilin, and certainly could not execute it so perfectly!

Scavenging Qilin had perfectly combined and utilized the movement speed and attack speed of a bow-warrior!

The capabilities of a bow-warrior were fully manifested through him...

Although the weakness of a bow-warrior—having lower attack power compared to other classes—still existed, he was facing a boss after all. Ensuring his own safety in front of a boss while maintaining continuous damage output was already a form of success.

...

On the other side, Dr. Ye was likewise closely following the battle between Scavenging Qilin and the magic lizard.

The progression of the battle was unfolding just as he had anticipated—no, rather, Scavenging Qilin was performing even more brilliantly than he had expected! The fluid and crisp movements, the swiftness without a shred of drag, and the flexible adaptability made the eyes of the person responsible for planning this battle light up repeatedly.

"A second-tier Scavenging Qilin is already capable of reaching this level. Once he advances to the third tier, or the fourth tier, what kind of existence will this guy become?"

As he muttered to himself, the gleam in Dr. Ye's eyes began to border on fanaticism...

Just at that moment, however, he suddenly noticed a few black dots appearing on the distant horizon!

His brow furrowed instantly, and he quickly led the green lizard beast to charge toward Scavenging Qilin:

"Be careful! Someone is coming!"

Right after Dr. Ye shouted his warning, I quickly noticed the few small black dots appearing in the rear, galloping toward this direction at a steady pace. My gaze tightened as I swiftly loosed another arrow at the magic lizard:

"From the Dark Legion?"

"Probably not... It's been over half an hour's journey from Greenwild Town, and I deliberately took a detour along the way. There's no way their people could have followed us here... They must be passersby."

Dr. Ye stared fixedly at the five figures speeding in from the direction of the horizon and analyzed.

Hearing this, I rolled my eyes and shouted at a steady speed, "Passersby? I hardly think there are any freaks as bored as you!"

"..." Dr. Ye was left speechless.

"As long as they aren't from the Dark Legion, who they are doesn't concern us. Right now, I just hope they don't come over and ruin things for me..." I ignored Dr. Ye's silent protest and said.

"That's simple... I'll go take a look, Falcon, help me out!"

With a loud shout from Dr. Ye, Falcon immediately fired a volley of arrows to draw away the green lizard beast trailing behind Dr. Ye. Freed of any worries, Dr. Ye immediately charged toward the distant black dots...

Yet!

Before he had even run very far, Dr. Ye suddenly turned and galloped back at an even faster speed!!

WARNING! RED NAMES! EVERYONE BE CAREFUL!!

With this warning, Falcon and I felt our minds shake as we swiftly exchanged glances:

Red names? What incredible luck!

...

Red name, the collective term for players who maliciously attacked and killed others.

Generally, red-named players would stay far away from cities and heavily frequented leveling zones after killing someone to avoid having their equipment dropped upon death, and they also had to endure a confinement period of over twelve hours (twelve hours for one kill, fourteen hours for two, sixteen hours for three, and so on...).

However, there were also some red-named players who took pleasure in hunting other individuals!

Such people were usually third-tier experts who, unable to break through further, set their sights on ordinary players;

They typically operated in remote, high-level grinding spots. After killing someone, regardless of whether they managed to loot the victim's equipment, they would immediately flee far away to evade the three-hour wanted status.

Once those three hours passed, even if the victim wanted revenge, they would have to consider whether they possessed the actual strength, otherwise, they would merely be offering the opponent another chance to kill them and snatch their gear.

Such a tiny fraction of extremely vicious players was hated and dreaded by almost everyone.

Fortunately, beginner leveling zones were located not too far from cities, so such encounters rarely happened.

Today, however! The three of us had wandered quite far... This place could practically be called a barren wasteland, absolutely a prime location for murder and body disposal.

Moreover, those five individuals didn't even detour upon discovering people here, charging straight toward this location instead. Their intentions and motives went without saying!

A tight knot formed in the hearts of all three of us: trouble had arrived!

"They don't seem to have good intentions. Let's avoid them for now, little Lin, take the magic lizard away!" Falcon was most wary of people with formidable strength who had no fear of being red-named; nothing good ever came from running into them.

Dr. Ye and I shook our heads simultaneously: Absolutely not! The magic lizard was already showing signs of retreat, and if we ran now, it would definitely turn back. Having pushed the fight to this extent, we could under no circumstances let it return to the oasis! Because trying to lure it out again at that point would be practically impossible judging by its behavior!

However, judging by the speed of those five individuals, none of them were mediocre talents. Fighting them while dragging the magic lizard along...

I frowned and quickly said to Dr. Ye:

"Help me lure the magic lizard away, I'll deal with them..."