Chapter 55: Don’t Laugh at Me!

"What happened?" Luo Yong knew that Mira’s team was indeed a mess and hard to manage, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they disbanded. In his eyes, it was just a matter of time.

However, from Mira’s subtle expression, it seemed far more complicated than that.

“We ran into trouble while exploring the underground mines. The black ants were incredibly powerful, and the mercenaries suffered heavy casualties…”

“The elven berserker was wounded in battle against the black ants and was taken back by his kin. Even if he recovers, he’ll likely be confined for years—he won’t be back anytime soon.”

“The cyborg was supposed to be under the mercenaries’ special protection, but he went to treat wounded fighters at the front and was attacked by the suddenly appearing Black Ant King. Soul magic wiped out his consciousness in an instant.”

“The bearfolk shaman couldn’t pin down the black ants at all, and since he refused to fight as a warrior, he was kicked out of the team.”

“Old Fey the dwarf ran out of mana, and his retreat was too slow—he almost died there, but luckily he was close to Titan, who pulled him out at the last moment…”

“As for Titan, his bow is one of the stronger physical weapons. Though it can’t pierce armor, its sheer force has some knockback effect, so he stayed with the mercenary group. His dreams are still on the road ahead.”

“What about that little troublemaker no one likes?” Luo Yong asked.

“She didn’t get hurt. When she ran out of shells, she just started swinging the cannon barrel and fought her way out of the black ant swarm—she was ferocious beyond belief.” Mira shook her head at this point, her expression growing complicated as she looked at Luo Yong. “If not for a mercenary captain who, at the last moment, pulled out a powerful tactical scroll and charged into the black ant horde—perishing with them to buy us time—I doubt any of us would have made it out alive—”

“What? The mercenary captain… died?” Luo Yong couldn’t believe it. Although they hadn’t spent much time together, he had a good impression of that scar-faced, dashing man.

Ahem.

Of course, in the way brothers have for one another.

Luo Yong thought that, if you wanted a true brother, you’d want someone like that captain.

What a pity…

Why hadn’t he given him an extra teleport scroll when he handed over the tactics scroll? If he had, maybe the captain wouldn’t have died!

The thought left Luo Yong with a pang of guilt.

“Damn it! Why didn’t I—”

“Even if you’d been there, it wouldn’t have changed anything.” Mira cut in before he could finish, assuming his regret was about not joining them for that operation.

“Actually, that captain had a chance to survive, but he gave it up for us…”

“I heard later that a young mercenary inspired him. He used his hard-saved gold to buy a teleport scroll, but in the end, he didn’t use it himself. Instead, he charged alone into the black ant army…”

“Captain!”

Luo Yong stood there stunned for a while, then called out loudly.

The wind whispered past his ears.

But there was no more gentle voice in the breeze.

“What’s wrong?” Mira noticed Luo Yong’s odd state. “Did you know that captain?”

“He was—” Luo Yong sighed deeply, nodding, then shaking his head, falling silent for a long time.

“I knew I was going to leave that place, but I never imagined it would be like this—a near escape. I can’t face the ones who died, can’t face the cyborg. I watched him die and could do nothing. As a team leader, I was powerless…”

Suddenly, Mira’s emotions surged; perhaps she had buried these feelings deep for too long, and only now, upon seeing Luo Yong, did she truly let them out.

“There’s no time left for grief.”

Luo Yong spoke suddenly.

“Huh?” Mira looked at him and saw tears in his eyes.

She couldn’t tell for whom he was mourning…

“Mira, I am formally inviting you to join me as my teammate. From now on, we’ll take on missions together.” Luo Yong wiped his face, pretending nothing had happened. Then he flashed the sword-and-shield badge on his chest and smiled. “I never told you before, but I’m a team leader myself.”

“Luo Yong, you—”

“For now, just stay in camp and get used to the place. I need to deal with a few things.” As he spoke, Luo Yong pulled some gold coins and a few gems from his storage space and placed them in Mira’s hand.

“This is your signing bonus. Once you take it, you can’t back out.”

With that, he left the camp straight away, heading for the labyrinth.

It was the place he knew best for hunting monsters.

And it was where many things had happened.

“A rare little spider.”

As Luo Yong made his way, he carefully flipped through the cards that limited his progression. The set he was closest to completing was the spider cards.

Aside from two spider monsters he’d never seen, and a mysterious hidden variant, there was only a weak little spider with both poor stats and abilities.

It made one wonder if that little spider was extinct—if so, wouldn’t the card set be impossible to finish?

What was the point of collecting then!

“There’s no sign of secret passages in the labyrinth. How did I fall through last time?” Luo Yong searched as he pondered.

He summoned a skeleton warrior to fight monsters on its own while he scoured the area. After a long search, he found nothing.

It seemed his teammates had already scoured this labyrinth many times before they met him and never discovered there was another level below.

Seriously, what were the odds?

With only one skeleton, monster-hunting efficiency dropped a lot, and Luo Yong was too lazy to fight them one by one.

Though he used to do exactly that—tirelessly.

Back in his gaming days, Luo Yong was the kind of hardcore player who would turn over every inch of a map searching for rare items.

Whenever he had time, he’d grind away like a man possessed…

But now, he no longer had the patience.

Faced with hordes of monsters in the labyrinth, a tide as overwhelming as a beast stampede, Luo Yong couldn’t help but think of the little demolisher.

Her basic attacks and critical strikes, those area-clearing ultimates, were just too satisfying.

Even better than Old Fey the dwarf’s elemental spells.

“Truly, in the face of overwhelming firepower, single-target attacks are just so… unimpressive,” Luo Yong sighed.

There was nothing to be done.

None of his current classes specialized in area-of-effect attacks.

He did have Gravity Spell, which could create a gravity field around him—multiplying or reducing gravity within a certain range—barely qualifying as an AoE spell.

But it was mana-intensive.

Just like Fatty’s magic shield.

While none of his magic had the effect Luo Yong truly desired, he still had one trump card: cash power!

As the saying goes: If you’re broke, use tactics; if you’re rich, just blow it all up!

If nothing else, Luo Yong had plenty of tactical scrolls.

Ahem.

For some reason, lately when he hunted monsters, besides gems and gold, tactical scrolls had the highest drop rate.

And they were almost all from the main magic branches.

Wind, lightning, fire, for example.

Right then, Luo Yong pulled out a scroll and glanced at it—it was a rare one, an instant-cast, large-scale [Ice Storm].

It could, to some extent, achieve the “freezing the battlefield” effect that Ice Archers spoke of.

But to “dominate a thousand miles,” one scroll would never be enough.

“All right, it’s decided—you’re up, Ice Storm!”

Whether he’d picked it up from someone or was just a bit overexcited, Luo Yong was in high spirits as he shouted, activating the scroll and hurling it into the monster horde, then ducking behind a wall.

Boom!

A surge of icy magic burst forth. The temperature in the labyrinth plummeted, and the air felt fresh.

The chorus of monstrous roars vanished in an instant; the whole labyrinth seemed to fall silent.

Once the magic wave subsided, Luo Yong peeked out cautiously—all he saw was shattered ice littering the ground, with every monster in sight obliterated, reduced to frozen debris.

Gems and gold coins were everywhere, along with a few scrolls.

He went through them one by one—besides teleport scrolls, there were also message scrolls, which reminded him involuntarily of “whispers in the wind.”

After gathering his spoils, Luo Yong pressed onward.

He soon reached the nest of the two spider monsters.

With his current real power, he couldn’t defeat them in a fair fight—but this was no time for honor. Just blow them up and be done with it.

With a thunderous explosion, the whole labyrinth trembled. The two spiders, still reeling, were blasted to dust in moments.

All told, it took no more than half a day.

“Luo Yong!”

Just as he was about to head back to camp, a somewhat familiar voice called from behind.

“Bao’er?”

“You—you—” The elven lady rushed over from afar, staring at Luo Yong for a long moment, her face filled with puzzlement.

“What is it?” Luo Yong asked.

“You seem… different somehow, but I can’t say how,” the elf woman replied.

“Probably just better-looking,” Luo Yong chuckled, gazing at her face—so beautiful it could make anyone lose themselves. He opened his arms and said, “It’s been a long time. After such a long separation, don’t you think I deserve a hug?”

“Hmph! Wait until you’ve done what you promised me—then you can hug me all you like!” the elf woman retorted, blushing. Then she pulled something out and handed it to Luo Yong.

“What’s this?” Luo Yong took it, finding it to be a book—brand new. When he opened it and saw the crooked handwriting inside, he frowned.

“Well, I…” The elf woman blushed, embarrassed. “It’s written in our elven language, which you don’t understand. I copied this specially from an ancient book, in human language… I’m not very good at it, so don’t laugh at me…”

“…”

Luo Yong thought: I can’t read, so don’t laugh at me either!