Chapter 108 The Situation

Shadow of the Past followed the Young Master Elite Squad around hunting, gradually realizing that these guys were flamboyant for a reason. The Thousand Miles Drunk skill didn't just counter stealth; it could detect anyone hiding behind trees, peeping. In the face of this guy, the dreaded ambush tactics of Grove players seemed unreliable.

Moreover, this person was too strong. Once, four out of their group of seven accidentally stepped into traps. A ten-man squad, thinking they had the upper hand, cheered as they jumped out, ready to eliminate them. But Gu Fei single-handedly took down seven, and the remaining three fled in panic. Even his own people couldn't hide their jealousy at his fierce performance.

"Twenty-four now, 720 gold coins." Young Master Han also fell into a trap, but his composure remained intact as he cheerfully reported to Shadow of the Past.

That's right, they'd eliminated 24 opponents since they started sweeping. The battles were no contest; the suspense was when they would encounter enemies. Shadow of the Past felt like he was playing an ancient game of Minesweeper.

Besides the Young Master Elite Squad, the other groups also achieved results using their own tactics.

Drifting's magic damage wasn't inferior to Gu Fei's, but what was even more terrifying was his ability to continuously cast spells, which was much stronger than Gu Fei's. After luring out the enemy's position, two large-scale spells would bombard them, leaving them half-dead. Then, the strange Ice Shadow Technique would confuse the opponents. Attacking the illusions was a waste of time, giving Drifting time to cool down his spells. As for those unlucky enough to encounter the real body, they died even faster than those fooled by the illusions after a Ground Lotus. If anything unexpected happened, Lefty Writes Love and Righty Writes Handsome, Drifting's old partners, would resolve it, making the battles go smoothly. While the Young Master Elite Squad eliminated 24 people, their three-person group had taken down 17.

In addition, Graceful Waist's achievements were also remarkable.

The only thing she had to worry about was not stepping into traps. As for being stealthily stabbed by a thief or secretly bombarded by a mage, her sturdy equipment made her fearless. She used this method to lure out opponents and then eliminate them. However, because she was worried about traps and couldn't run and use her speed to the fullest, her efficiency seemed somewhat low. At this point, she had only hunted down seven people. But don't forget that she was alone. Apart from Gu Fei, almost no one could achieve such results single-handedly.

Other than that, the other mercenary团 (tuán, groups) didn't have the outstanding winning rate of the above three. The slightly sharper ones could still have victories and defeats with the opponents, but most of the passerby-level experts were no match for the Grove players in this forest, and they were constantly being sent back to the city. Those players from Zongheng Sihai who came to report were naturally dragged down as well. These guys deeply regretted their greed for money over life, but at this point, they had already resurrected in White Stone City.

The biggest anomaly was Sakura Tsukuyo and his group. These wretched guys wanted to retaliate, setting up a trap zone and preparing to wait for rabbits. As a result, perhaps due to bad luck, no one ever passed by. The hunters hiding behind the trees and lying in the grass were almost transformed into plants themselves. Finally, the rustling of grass meant someone had arrived. With excitement, everyone jumped out. Drawing bows, notching arrows, waving staffs. The trapped player was so scared that he almost cried, shouting in surprise, "Who are you? Who are you?"

This question was a bit strange. In a battle between two armies, does one still ask who the opponent is? Sakura Tsukuyo, suspicious, took a look at the guy's equipment and his heart sank even further. After using an appraisal skill, he asked blankly, "Who are you?"

"I... I'm just passing by, what are you doing? I'm a newbie, I have no money or equipment, don't PK me!" The person was extremely anxious.

"Newbie?" Everyone appraised, and indeed he was a newbie, only level 12. Everyone was speechless.

"The trap will disappear by itself when the time comes." Sakura Tsukuyo waved his hand helplessly. Everyone looked at each other.

Fireball suddenly slapped his thigh, "Damn it, our team is still moving forward! Those with bad intentions will naturally follow their pace and be active nearby. We're so far behind now, who are we going to hit by ambushing here?"

Sakura Tsukuyo thought it made sense and felt a little embarrassed. Mainly because Mang Mang de Mang Mang had been lying here with them for so long, which made Sakura Tsukuyo very pained. He quickly explained, "It seems there's a slight error in the strategic deployment!"

However, Mang Mang de Mang Mang smiled indifferently and said, "This situation is also very good! We have avoided the surveillance of those guys. We can take this opportunity to find the location of the main city and tell them the exact coordinates so they can get out of this dangerous situation as quickly as possible."

Everyone thought this was indeed a good idea and were about to set off when Mang Mang de Mang Mang showed wisdom beyond them, walking towards the newbie player who had accidentally fallen into the trap, "This brother, which direction should you go to get to Grove City?"

This question was definitely like parting the clouds to see the blue sky. In this terrain of Grove City, even the locals wouldn't be able to judge the road by the cardinal directions after entering the forest. Where the city gate was, they would definitely rely on coordinates to locate it, and the newbies were even more so. In order not to get lost, the main coordinates were recorded in a notebook. At this time, he took out a small notebook for Mang Mang de Mang Mang to see.

"How many city gates does your main city have!" The guys who came to watch exclaimed, the entrance coordinates filled a whole page in the newbie's notebook.

"Grove City is not like ordinary main cities, you'll know when you go!" the newbie replied.

"Thank you, let me copy it." Mang Mang de Mang Mang took out his own notebook and copied all the entrance coordinates from the other party. By the time he finished copying, the trap on the newbie's foot had also timed out and fallen off.

"Thank you for your trouble!" After returning the notebook, the newbie left, puzzled.

"Uh, according to the coordinates, the closest one... is this way." Mang Mang de Mang Mang led the way with the notebook.

"Be careful of traps!" Sakura Tsukuyo ran to the front very attentively, using a wooden stick to clear mines.

"Let's notify them quickly!" someone suggested.

"Not yet." Mang Mang de Mang Mang shook his head, "Let's go take a look first."

"Why?"

"The other party is only monitoring the movements of our main force, unaware of the existence of our small team. If we reach Grove City first, we can see if they have any other traps." Mang Mang de Mang Mang said.

"Makes sense, makes sense." A bunch of people echoed, heading towards the coordinates marked on the notebook.

At the same time, Water Depth had already received news that the other party had begun a small-scale sweep and counterattack. But comparing it as a whole, the Cloud End City side was actually suffering heavy losses. Only the Young Master Elite Squad, Drifting's trio, and Graceful Waist's three groups had outstanding records. Obviously, they were relying on their absolute strength to make up for their disadvantage in forest warfare compared to the Grove players. Water Depth had no intention of getting entangled with these strong people and told everyone to remember the characteristics of these three groups and avoid them.

The Young Master Elite Squad, who had killed 24 people, then eliminated two more, bringing the score to 26, and had not encountered any enemies since. And these two who were killed seemed to be alone, and their partners were not seen to come out and cooperate with them. This was very different from the situation when they encountered enemies before. They quickly realized that the other party was deliberately avoiding them.

"Looks like that's it!" They said to Shadow of the Past, quite helplessly, meaning they were ready to settle the bill with him.

Shadow of the Past's face had not been good. Every time Gu Fei and the others killed someone, his eyelids would twitch, but even worse news was the defeat of everyone else besides the three groups. Although Shadow of the Past didn't really care about the life and death of these mercenary players, he was still very anxious when a large area of them died.

Moreover, after dealing with these Cloud End players who were intercepting and harassing on the outer circle, the Grove squads had already come into contact with the main force and began a continuous harassment.

A spell thrown in the east, a cold arrow shot in the west, a trap suddenly discovered on the ground, a thief's figure suddenly slipped past the team...

All of the above, although did not cause any fatal casualties, but was a constant test of the Cloud End City players' endurance.

Some people lost their cool and chased after the direction of the attack, wanting to fight back. If too many people went, they wouldn't see the enemy's traces; if too few people went, they would disappear.

The arrow formation was still terrifying, but the opponent's harassment was 360 degrees all-round, and the arrow formation couldn't take care of it so thoroughly. You must know that the number of archers must reach a certain level to be effective. If there are too few people, the arrows can't form a formation, then they are no different from ordinary archers.

Sword of No Oath was about to collapse. These harassments, if you ignore them! They will quickly gather their forces and give you a big wave; if you pay attention to them! They immediately break up into pieces and disappear into the dense forest.

After several rounds back and forth, if calculated by personnel casualties, it is impossible to tell the difference, but the Grove City players occupy the initiative, the psychology is even more dominant, and they have also achieved their purpose: slowing down the advance of the Cloud End players. Therefore, it can be called a great victory.

The Cloud End players all carried a depressed heart, if possible, they would definitely burn the entire forest. At this time, the Young Master Elite Squad, Drifting, and others who were floating outside all returned. Not a single one cared about the current situation. The first thing they did when they came back was to ask Sword of No Oath for money.

"26 people, 780 gold coins." Young Master Han announced.

"18 people, 540 gold coins." Drifting's score.

"9 people, 270." This was Graceful Waist.

Some other survivors also had scores of one, two, or three, and now they also shamelessly came over to ask for money. Sword of No Oath finally broke out and sternly scolded, "Everyone, the current situation is critical, can you put aside these petty profits for now and work together to overcome the difficulties?"

"What difficulties? It's just a little harassment, it won't become a climate. Soldiers will block when soldiers come, and water will be buried when water comes, don't you understand that?" Young Master Han said.