Zhan Long

Chapter 34 – First Come First Serve

“You sure are a brave boy!” Qian Lin looked at me, not with praise, but rather with some arrogance as if he was saying, “little boy, I knew that you would accept when I said that.”

In addition, for a lone player to complete a quest of B difficulty, especially if that player was a healer, would be slightly *cough, very* hard.

But, a promise is a promise, and since I’ve already promised to get that medicine/potion, I must find a way to get it.

I raised my Ancient shining spear and advanced.

……

To the north, the entire map was blood-red. That is definitely where the laboratory is, but I have to find the entrance to it first.

Sha sha…..

As I move forward, my white shoes step on the black pliable grass. The entire area around me is filled with bones and the stench of death. The air is filled with flies, and the corpses sometimes even twitch, but I don’t worry since none of the corpses show signs of reincarnation. Even if it does, I would have an advantage, since it would be newly reincarnated.

“Hmmm?”

Looking at the minimap, a small blue dot had disappeared. I knew this was a sign of another player, so I was not alone. There were several reasons for it to suddenly disappear: death or stealth. Of course, a player could also recall back to the city or suddenly go offline, but the chances were slim…

I kept moving forward. At the same time, I sneaked glances behind me. As predicted, invisible footsteps appeared on the delicate grass. Here he comes!

I quickly turned around and swung my spear in a wide arc.

Clang!

The blow of the spear heavily clashed with a green dagger, diverting it and knocking its owner back. The assassination attempt had clearly failed. The assassin who appeared was approximately around 20 years old and carried high level expensive equipment.

ID: Wind Chaser

Level：25

Race：Undead

Class: Assassin

……

Wind Chaser saw that his attack had been diverted. and he immediately prepared for round 2. With his dagger, he used【Gouge】, a skill unique to assassins used to stun enemies. It’s the ace of their trade.

“Baby Bobo, attack!!”

With a golden hexagram flashing on his stinger, the deadly Baby Bobo quickly emerges and immediately does a Lv. 3【Combo】attack. Two quick attacks come out. Baby Bobo’s combo can do a maximum of three attacks and a minimum of two. The skill deals a fatal amount of damage to Wind Chaser.

319!

331!

Being hit by those two strikes, Wind Chaser’s body turns limp and slowly collapses to the ground. His resentful voice emerges before he falls: “Xiao Yao Zi Zai, just you wait; this map will be your grave. “

I frowned deeply while looking at his corpse. Where did he come from and what would he gain by killing me? It seemed like he had been waiting for my arrival to assassinate me, but he didn’t expect Baby Bobo, which resulted in his death.

I could see two possibilities. Wind Chaser was either from Liu Ying or The General. However, since the character of the The Generals was pretty decent and they didn’t hold a big grudge against me, it could only be Liu Ying. Liu Ying’s finally taking action to kill me within Ba Huang City.

I bend down and pick up what Wind Chaser dropped: a green tiered leather armor. Unfortunately, I couldn’t equip leather equipment but it should be worth at least a couple of gold coins, so I throw it into my inventory.

I moved on with my spear resting on my shoulder, while shaking my head and saying with a smile, “I don’t care if you try to kill me. I’ll go and do my mission. If you come, I’ll be happy to send you to your grave.”

……

The closer I got to the core of the map, the worse the smell got due to the increase of rotten corpses. Any normal player would have turned off the smell system because of the suffocating smell, but I didn’t since I’ve been accustomed to the smell of death since long ago and I couldn’t afford to lose one of my senses when someone is trying to kill me.

In the distance, I saw a bloody, giant’s skull that’s half buried in the ground. You could see it had recently been placed there, it was still leaking huge droplets of blood and had maggots crawling all over it. There was a large man-sized hole between its sharp teeth. This must be the entrance to the laboratory.

Ughhh….

I almost vomited after seeing the entrance. Whoever designed this map definitely has a really sick taste.

I squint my eyes together as I enter the Giant’s head. As expected, there are stone stairs which continue down into darkness. It looks kind of fishy, but I continue anyways.

Ding!

System Notification: You entered the【Black blood Cave – First Floor】(A Wicked Warlock’s laboratory)!

……

Yes, I found it!

In front of me is a swallowing darkness. My vision was limited to about 1-2 meters in front of me. I’m completely dependent on the red dots shown on the minimap to avoid or encounter monsters. As I descend the final step of the stone stairs, I emerge onto a moist stone floor. Less than 10 meters away, there are two red dots, and they’re emitting a few low growls.

As I slowly move forward with one hand pressed to the wall, my hand hits a moist object. Bringing my hand to my face, an oily smell invades my nose. Holding up the Ancient Shining Spear and using the light green light emitted from the spear, I saw that my had had hit a lamp. Underneath the lamp was a steel ring, and after pulling on it, the entire cavern lighted up.

Slightly farther away were two zombies in tattered clothing. I attempt to see their attributes…..

【Merciless Zombie】（Ordinary monster）

Level：30

Attack：？？？

Defense：？？？

Health：？？？

Skill：？？？

Description: Merciless Zombie, the guardian of the underground Laboratory.

……

Unfortunately, its level is 6 level higher than mine, so I cannot see any of its attributes, but does it matter? When Baby Bobo and I are together, we’re invincible!

I ready my spear before issuing orders to Baby Bobo. As always, he immediately initiates his attacks with a sting and then a combo. The Merciless Zombie screams and his health drops by 500+. The non-defense orientated monsters simply cannot stand up to Baby Bobo’s attacks.

“ROAAAAAAAAAAR”

Waving their nearly fallen heads, the two zombies headbutt Baby Bobo. At the same time, a strange green glow falls on their heads and the attacks instantly connect with Baby Bobo.

211!

189!

Baby Bobo’s health points immediately drop into the red zone. Looking at the incredible damage inflicted, I quickly use a Lv. 3【Heal】on him.

I quickly stab the necks of the zombies with my spear and together with Baby Bobo’s continuous attacks, we kill the first merciless zombie in around 11 seconds. I could clearly see the huge chunk of experience from killing that zombie, raise my experience bar. That is some legit experience!

In addition to the high XP reward, it also dropped a silver coin.

Slowly but surely, me and Baby Bobo develop a unique teamwork. I would heal him while he would relentlessly attack. But as I pick up the silver coin, I remind myself that there is no shame in letting a pet do the hard work, after all, I was still working hard to heal him.

……

It didn’t take long before the second merciless zombie collapses under the adorable Baby Bobo’s continuous attacks. This time, it doesn’t drop any silver coin, but a piece of equipment and a blood red card instead.

As I reach down, I see it’s a pair of dull green leggings.

【Merciless Death’s Shin Guards 】(Green Tier)

Type：Steel Armor

Defense：35

Strength：+9

Level requirement : 25

……

A typical attack orientated shin guard that could definitely be sold for profit; it gets thrown into my backpack.

More importantly, this blood red card looks a lot more promising. It doesn’t dissapoint…

【Fire skeleton】

Attack：★★★�˜

Defense：★★★☆

Health：★★★★☆

Agility：★★☆

Magic：★☆

……

When I look at the stats, I think for a bit. It surely is a type of pet that would become mainstream at some point, since it is well balanced and offers high basic stat values. Yes, its value isn’t nearly equal to Baby Bobo who has 5 stars in attack, but it is still good. It is the type of pet which would be able to hit hard and sustain a good amount of damage for a long time.

Shua!

The illustration card changes into a ray of light as it enters my illustration handbook. I dearly hope that the map contains fire skeletons and hope even more that there are loads of level 1 skeletons. I would get rich!

I quickly continue forward while killing. After all, they are zombies, which means they re-spawn quickly. After quite a while, I finally find the stairs in a corner, which lead to the next level.

When I came down to the next floor, I saw that it was already lighted up with lamps, and showed level 30 imps carrying tridents. If I had to describe them with one word, it would be ugly. The imps had blood red veins snaking around on their skin, and looked like they would burst at any moment. It seems like they are quite lacking in strength but its probably compensated with increased attack speed, I’m guessing they have an attack speed of around one attack per second. This is gonna be a tough test for my healing skills.

I had the choice between two different corridors, so I chose the one to the right, since I had no need to exterminate every single imp on the floor.

“Chirp chirp!”

The first imp which we fought met his end by a single combo of Baby Bobo. As I approached to pick up the loots, a bang sounded while the imp’s body blew up, splattering blood all over me.

……

Nearly one hour later at the end of the second floor, I found the stairwell to the third floor. Just before I was about to go down, I heard the voice of a distant player speaking.

“Look! There’s a monster’s corpse! Somebody has gone past here; it must be Xiao Yao Zi Zai. Forward!! That dog made me unable to approach Lin Wan Er! Humph. Just wait and see! I always get the last laugh!”