Chapter 149 Distracting the Tiger from the Mountain

Several guild members, having received their orders, went down the mountain to search for people, while a heated discussion continued on the mountain. Some with slower wits were exclaiming, "This is great! It should have been like this all along! Why send large groups to search? We could just wait here!"

The guild leader, Black Finger, disdainfully glanced at those who held such views. "Searching with just one person in such a large forest? If the enemy doesn't want to give him points, they can easily avoid him. It's useless."

"If it's useless, why send them?" the members asked, puzzled.

Black Finger smiled mysteriously, gazing at a figure climbing up the mountain. "You'll see soon enough."

The one climbing the mountain was Right Hand Writes Handsome, the survivor from the earlier group of four. In no time, he reached the summit and reported to Black Finger.

"Come, tell us in detail what happened earlier," Black Finger said, gathering everyone around to listen to Right Hand Writes Handsome's account and analyze the situation.

"At least two points!" After hearing the story, Black Finger held up two fingers and said, "First, the enemy can observe our movements, allowing them to launch surprise attacks at the most opportune times."

The others nodded.

"Second, there is a path from the bottom of the mountain to the top that allows them to remain unseen by those at the summit," Black Finger said.

Unconsciously, everyone turned to look down the mountain, trying to find this secret passage.

"They rushed up from this direction, right?" Black Finger asked Right Hand Writes Handsome as he stood at the edge of the mountain, looking down.

Right Hand Writes Handsome nodded. He was the first to spot Gu Fei and Jian Gui climbing up.

"Where did they appear from?" Black Finger asked.

Right Hand Writes Handsome pointed to a large rock. "They suddenly came out from behind that rock."

A sense of unease washed over everyone. "Could they be hiding behind that rock now?"

"Right under our noses?"

"So the most dangerous place is the safest!" they whispered amongst themselves.

Black Finger hadn't initially thought the enemy would hide in such a dangerous and conspicuous spot, but hearing his subordinates' comments, he considered the possibility that their opponents were highly skilled and daring, specializing in the seemingly impossible.

It was always best to be cautious. Black Finger ordered the archers to be on high alert and had several mages step forward to bombard the boulder with Fire Wheels and Fire Trees. The rock smoked but nothing emerged, finally convincing them that no one was hiding behind it.

He then ordered everyone to keep a close watch on the movements of everything around them. Black Finger, accompanied by several others, went behind the boulder to investigate the area.

"This is the last point where they could have taken cover before launching their attack," Black Finger said, touching the boulder. "Before this, you didn't notice any of their movements."

"Absolutely not," Right Hand Writes Handsome said. "I hardly blinked. They just suddenly appeared from behind the rock." In truth, Right Hand Writes Handsome had been chatting and laughing with the people behind him when Gu Fei and Jian Gui first appeared! He hadn't been as attentive as he claimed. He hadn't actually seen them emerge from behind the rock. It was just his judgement of the situation, but it wasn't wrong.

Black Finger leaned against the boulder, looking down the mountain. "Does this rock block the view all the way to the bottom? Surely not!"

"Even if it did, they couldn't have used that method. I wasn't just standing in front of the rock the whole time. I was moving around," Right Hand Writes Handsome said.

"Then, what could have made you not see them..." Black Finger and the others looked around, spotting several oddly shaped rocks, strange trees, and large holes that could obstruct their view. "It seems they gradually approached under the cover of these things."

"So, the first to come up were the mage and the thief! Because the mage can teleport and the thief can stealth. Only those two could have used these hiding places, moving in a crisscross pattern without being seen. But after that boulder, there was nothing else to hide behind, so they had to rush straight up," Black Finger analyzed.

The others nodded in agreement.

"If they want to launch another surprise attack, they can only repeat the same trick. Their current location must be not far from here."

Hearing Black Finger's words, the others' gazes followed the messy array of view-obstructing objects on the hillside, as if they could already see six extremely sneaky figures.

"The search in the forest continues, a few people stay on the summit, paying special attention to this direction. Everyone else, gather around and search with me down the mountain," Black Finger said.

"Won't that give them another chance to attack?" someone asked.

"We won't go far, just search near the foot of the mountain. If they dare to come up and attack again, we'll see how they retreat this time," Black Finger said with a smile. He had gathered over 70 guild members, left a few pairs of eyes on the summit, and led the rest down the mountain along the suspected route of the enemy's surprise attack.

Every potential hiding place along the way was thoroughly searched by the Black Hand Mercenary Group. These places seemed like guiding lights, leading them step by step towards the hiding place of the Young Master Elite Group.

But just dozens of meters away from the elite group's hiding place, the system announced that the Young Master Elite Group had gained another point, and the Black Hand Mercenary Group had lost another member.

"Who died!" Black Finger quickly checked. "It's Little Shadow, over here!" Black Finger quickly gathered his forces and rushed towards the small forest at the foot of the mountain. He had specifically assigned each person to search a particular area of the forest, so that he could react in the first instance.

"Little Shadow, how did you die?" They asked in the mercenary channel as they rushed over.

"I don't know. I was searching in the forest, didn't see anyone. I just heard an arrow shot, and as soon as I saw the archer, a thief stabbed me in the back. Just like that, I was done for!"

"Everyone, hurry, don't let them escape again!" Black Finger urged, leading the group towards the small forest. "Summit, pay attention to this forest. Report the direction if anyone runs out."

"Understood." The players on the summit adjusted their focus, paying close attention to that direction.

Before long, Black Finger had led a group of brothers to the edge of the small forest, ready to charge in, when they suddenly heard a report from the eyes on the summit: "Two of them ran out of the forest."

"Two, only two?" Black Finger confirmed.

"Yes, two very fast people, profession unknown," the summit eyes reported. Even with the archer's eagle eyes, it was impossible to determine the profession of someone at that distance based on their equipment.

"Chase?" a guild member asked.

Black Finger smiled confidently. "This is a feint to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Of the Young Master Elite Group's six, besides the thief and the archer, the mage also has amazing speed, but the other three don't have that advantage. Now that we've surrounded them, those three definitely can't escape. So they sent two fast guys to run away, trying to lure us away so they can find a new hiding place. But alas, hehe, I won't fall for their trick! Everyone, enter the forest now, there must still be people left in the forest."

"Since they knew it would be hard to escape after being exposed, why did they kill Little Shadow and expose themselves?" someone asked, puzzled.

"This forest is too small, it's really not easy to hide six people. I think they had no choice," Black Finger said, leading dozens of people into the forest.

The forest was indeed small. It was effortless for seventy or so people to search, and the Black Hand Mercenary Group quickly discovered that there was no one else in the forest besides them. Black Finger's face turned ugly.

"Hehe, a feint to lure the tiger away from the mountain?" Someone chuckled, looking down on the guild leader. This kind of truly harmonious relationship between leaders and subordinates could only exist in online games.

"Which direction did those two guys run off to?" Black Finger asked helplessly in the channel. At least now he knew the direction of the two people.

"We've been watching them!" the eyes replied.

"Give us directions, we'll pursue and intercept!" Command was temporarily handed over to the eyes on the summit. Because the Young Master Elite Group's kiting tactics were so famous, the Black Hand Mercenary Group had been practicing chasing and intercepting runners for the past three days.

"Understood!" the eyes on the summit replied, and was about to start directing when someone at the other end suddenly exclaimed, "Damn, someone's coming up."

This exclamation, shouted from someone's mouth, was also broadcast in the channel. Black Finger suddenly froze and asked in alarm, "Who's coming up?"

"The mage." These were the last words the summit eyes said to Black Finger.

What kind of skills did Gu Fei have? This time, the eyes on the mountain were not high-level experts like Drifting. Flashing out and rushing up the mountain, Double Flame Flash, Lightning Spell, he instantly sent several guys out of the arena.

The Young Master Elite Group scored another three points.

The members of the Black Hand Mercenary Group had just left the small forest and were preparing to pursue the two runners, but now they were all rooted to the spot.

Without the eyes on the summit, Han Jia公子 wasn't worried about exposing his position. He stood outside the hiding depression, blowing in the wind. "Distracting the tiger from the mountain, you need to figure out the direction, tch!"

While the Black Hand Mercenary Group changed direction and rushed towards the small forest, Gu Fei, who was still in the depression, set off on his journey again.

"Hurry." These were Han Jia公子's instructions to him.

"Instantaneous Movement, activate!" Gu Fei replied with action, immediately teleporting away. In the chat channel, Han Jia公子 continued to report coordinates, guiding Gu Fei's route.

Relying solely on Instantaneous Movement or Stealth, jumping behind cover, was impossible. It took too much time. The cooldown for Instantaneous Movement was one minute, and the cooldown for Stealth in the confrontation was as long as three minutes. It would take until the end of the confrontation to gradually climb up the mountain like that.

Instantaneous Movement and Stealth were only used when absolutely necessary. In fact, the climb mainly relied on Han Jia公子's coordinate guidance. In his eyes, the cover along the way was not individual, but a whole. With every step Gu Fei took, there might not have been cover beside him, but from the summit to his position, there must have been several pieces of cover from all directions that placed him in a blind spot.

Moreover, Han Jia公子 had been on the summit before, and had carefully observed the terrain while looking down, making the possible routes even clearer.

Everything was still within his precise calculations.

If Black Finger followed the path of cover and concealment down the mountain, finding the six people in the depression was inevitable. Therefore, when Han Jia公子 noticed the Black Hand Mercenary Group's actions, he immediately had Jian Gui and Yu Tian Shen Ming return to the small forest along the route they had come.

The unfortunate Black Hand member, Little Shadow, in the small forest, was still searching for the six of them, not knowing that he had become their prey. Jian Gui and Yu Tian Shen Ming sneaked into the forest and immediately saw Little Shadow, who was looking around. They had long mastered the art of surprise attacks with those professions, and easily took down Little Shadow.

When Black Finger heard the report, he immediately led the group to capture the people, but he had already fallen for Han Jia公子's trick of distracting the tiger from the mountain. As they left, Gu Fei began to climb the mountain, creating a time difference. By the time they reached the forest, Gu Fei would be almost at the summit.

Of course, Jian Gui and Yu Tian Shen Ming had to run away from the forest. Staying inside would just be waiting for death. Although running out of the forest would immediately expose them to the eyes on the summit, according to Han Jia公子's calculations, Gu Fei would soon be able to rush to the summit and kill the eyes. Without the eyes, there would be no way to strategically intercept the escapees, and Han Jia公子 wasn't worried about Jian Gui and Yu Tian Shen Ming being chased down by speed alone.

Who would have thought that Black Finger would have so many ideas? When he arrived at the forest and saw the people running away, he didn't chase them. At that time, he had seen the meaning of distracting the tiger from the mountain, and wasted time in the forest for nothing. By the time he discovered that there was no one in the forest, Gu Fei had perfectly climbed the mountain, and the summit eyes hadn't even had time to prepare to report Jian Gui and Yu Tian Shen Ming's movements to Black Finger before being killed.

At this point, one-third of the confrontation time had passed, and the Young Master Elite Group was leading seven to zero.