Chapter 18 Little Tricks

This forest was fraught with danger, with traps appearing from time to time. While scouting ahead, Chen Bo nearly fell into a mud pit filled with sharp spikes. Fortunately, he was careful enough to avoid the pit. If he had fallen in, he would have been utterly humiliated. A thought occurred to him; he stopped checking for pits and instead focused on the path Nie Yan had taken, glancing around as if he were actually searching for traps.

For more than ten minutes, Chen Bo encountered no problems. The areas Nie Yan had cleared were devoid of traps.

Seeing Nie Yan walking across the open space ahead, Chen Bo pretended to examine the area nearby, then headed towards where Nie Yan had passed. Reaching the center of the clearing, he noticed the soil underfoot seemed a bit soft. He didn't give it much thought and took a step forward.

With a loud crash, the ground gave way, and he plummeted into a deep pit, covered in mud. The mud was also somewhat toxic, causing him to take damage of -2. Exasperated, he looked up, estimating it was about three yards to the top, making it difficult to climb out.

Nie Yan walked to the edge of the hole and peered down. "Oh, Chen Bo, what are you doing in there again? Didn't I tell you, rogues need to learn to avoid traps, not step right into them?"

"Damn it! I clearly saw you walk across here! How come you were fine? You set me up!" Even the dim-witted Chen Bo understood what had happened, cursing in the mud.

"You stepped into the trap yourself, I didn't push you. How can you say I set you up? You can only blame yourself for being careless. And, just so you know, you can't walk everywhere I walk. People are different," Nie Yan said, looking down at Chen Bo with disdain, wagging his index finger. "You're just not good enough!" In his previous life, Nie Yan had understood that Chen Bo was petty and intolerant. If you were going to offend him, you might as well do it thoroughly. Bring on whatever tricks you've got!

"Nie Yan, you bastard! I curse your ancestors for eighteen generations! I'll remember this! Let's settle this one-on-one, I'll kill you!" Chen Bo raged.

"You're not good enough even one-on-one. Next time, bring a few more people, or it'll be too boring." Nie Yan completely ignored Chen Bo and said to Dumpling and the others, "Pull him up, we need to keep moving."

Twilight, Tang Yao, and the others exchanged glances, all feeling that Chen Bo had been humiliated enough by Nie Yan.

System: Chen Bo has left the party.

Realizing he had no face to remain in the group, Chen Bo quit the party, ending his misery.

"Good, the annoying one is gone. It's better without him, let's continue." Nie Yan thought that Chen Bo was still somewhat sensible.

"Aren't you being a bit too much?" Yu Lan frowned. Although she also disliked Chen Bo, he was still a member of their team, and she was unhappy that Nie Yan had kicked him out.

"You all saw what happened. I didn't make him run into a treant, or step into a trap. He did it all willingly. I only said a few words, and he got angry and ran off. You can't blame me for that." Nie Yan looked at Yao Yao, asking innocently, "Was I wrong?"

Seeing Nie Yan's expression, Yao Yao was already laughing inside. This guy was clearly taking advantage and acting innocent at the same time.

"Sister Yu Lan, Chen Bo's attitude was terrible. Although Nie Yan was a bit much, Chen Bo was indeed careless all the way. He shouldn't blame Nie Yan for everything," Yao Yao said, siding with Nie Yan.

"Let's clear the dungeon first, we can talk about the rest later," Yu Lan said, shaking her head.

"Anyway, my cooperation with you is only for this time. Once this is over, even if you begged me to come, I wouldn't come again if Chen Bo is still here. Out of sight, out of mind. If he wants to cause me trouble, it has nothing to do with you," Nie Yan said. If Yao Yao hadn't spoken up, he wouldn't have teamed up with Yu Lan and the others in the Treant Forest. He didn't like Chen Bo, so he kicked him out, so what? Even a clay figure has some temper. If Nie Yan had to endure Chen Bo's nonsense, he would be a pushover.

"Nie Yan, I'm sorry," Yao Yao said apologetically. After all, she was the one who asked Nie Yan to come, but he ended up getting upset.

Yao Yao was too kind. It was Chen Bo's fault, but she took it upon herself.

"This has nothing to do with you. I'm just a petty person. If anyone is against me, I'll cause them trouble. I'm used to being free. It's fine to be a freelancer, but I can't stand the restrictions of being in a team. In the future, if I want to run a dungeon, I'll form my own group," Nie Yan said with a chuckle, nonchalantly.

Nie Yan glossed over the issue. In Yao Yao's eyes, Nie Yan was very easy-going, which changed her impression of him somewhat.

"Exactly, we'll pull together a group of our own after a while," Tang Yao said in agreement.

Nie Yan thought that if he were to gather people for a team, they would at least have to be super-expert level players.

"If you form a team, I probably won't go," Yao Yao said apologetically. She already had a fixed team. Although Chen Bo was annoying, Sister Yu Lan was here, and she couldn't leave her to join Nie Yan's team.

"I understand that. Alright, let's focus on the dungeon. If we wipe, wouldn't that make Chen Bo laugh?" Nie Yan said with a smile.

"Brother Nie Yan, well played," Twilight said with a laugh. He found Nie Yan to be an interesting person.

In the dark forest in the distance, a group of treants was blocking their path. Nie Yan sneaked closer and counted them. There were eighteen in total. These treants had 30% more health and enhanced stats compared to the ones in the normal difficulty dungeon, and they also had the treant-specific Entangle (restraint) and Lash (increased damage) skills. Their team could only handle three treants at a time. More than three would be dangerous, and facing five or more at the same time would lead to a wipe. Due to their low levels, the priests didn't have healing or resurrection spells yet. One of the purposes of coming to the Treant Forest was to find a Lesser Healing skill book.

"There are eighteen treants ahead, you guys stop in this forest for now," Nie Yan said, scanning the surrounding terrain to analyze their options.

"We can't handle that many treants," Yu Lan said. To be honest, she had been feeling uneasy ever since entering the expert-level dungeon. If they wiped again, some of their members would lose a level, and it would take them a long time to recover.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid enough to make you fight that many treants at once," Nie Yan said, observing the distance, which was about ten yards to the nearest treants. He looked up at a tall tree beside him, which had a branch that could support a person. Extending his left hand, the Weaver's Ring shot out a strand of spider silk, sticking to the branch. He flipped himself up onto the branch with agile movements.

"What is Nie Yan going to do?" Yao Yao asked, looking at Yu Lan, Bai Kai Shui, and the others beside her, puzzled.