Chapter Ninety-Four: The Team’s Transformation

For Luo Yong, wherever there were monsters, there were gemstones, gold coins, and all kinds of scrolls.

That was practically an inexhaustible fortune.

And there was no need to waste time and effort setting traps.

By then, besides Luo Yong’s Swiftwind Squad, other teams had also begun to arrive one after another, all of them summoned by the mission notice to hunt the Death Dragonflies.

Some of those teams were already very familiar with one another and were planning to join forces to complete the task together.

After Luo Yong led Dodo away, Wendy and the others encountered the same situation.

"Hey, ladies, how about we team up?" A sunny-looking man strolled over slowly, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the beauties one by one—and then over their bodies as well—pausing with a flash of astonishment when he saw Lillian.

But that look only made Lillian feel even less safe.

Only then did she finally realize that Luo Yong truly was different from everyone else.

Of course, it could also be because he had grown accustomed to faces like the elf inquisitor Annabelle’s; compared with her, people like them simply failed to leave any impression...

Because she had grown closer to Wendy’s group over time, Lillian no longer concealed her face beneath her hood.

Still, at this moment, she felt a little regretful, even faintly irritated.

"Ha, Louis, you’re here again to make yourself obnoxious!" Alicia snapped back without the slightest courtesy.

To be honest, in the eyes of these people, she probably didn’t even exist.

Unlike Luo Yong, who treated everyone equally and showed no favoritism.

At that thought, Alicia inexplicably blushed a little, then quickly shook her head, forcing down and sealing away the secret thoughts hidden deep in her heart.

"Well now, Alicia, you’re still... as... flat as ever." Louis narrowed his eyes and said teasingly.

"The captain isn’t here. We can’t just form teams with anyone." The barbarian priest spoke with emotionless calm, while glancing at several men approaching from another direction.

"How annoying."

"Hey, my beauties, what are those things on your faces? Where did you get them, and what are they for?" A tall man called out as he hurried over.

"You really are not afraid of death, are you?" Wendy shook her head helplessly.

Although the coyote in the trap had grown much weaker because of the curse, its howls had gradually faded, the Death Dragonflies in the distance had already been stirred awake. They were rapidly rousing, their wings buzzing as they waited for their companions to awaken.

Once the cluster of Death Dragonflies had fully awakened, they would surge forward in an instant, slaughtering the coyote and devouring everything along their route.

Whether beasts or humans.

"Please keep a certain safe distance, or you will be treated as enemies!"

Mira summoned a ring of thorns to block the men’s advance, and shouted the warning aloud.

In her own camp, that was the rule.

And everyone had long since agreed to follow it.

Unless they had arranged it in advance, or there was some extremely special circumstance, the various teams would not gather and move together.

Too easy to create chaos.

"Huh? Is this one a newcomer? Why haven’t I seen her before?" Louis stood outside the thorns, neither advancing nor retreating, only sizing up Lillian and Mira in turn.

"Now I finally understand why Luo Yong said those things," the wilderness hunter suddenly said, in a way that made little sense.

Then she summoned her dire wolf and ordered it to let out a provocative howl.

"Awooooo!!!"

The howl rang through the Land of Divine Lamentation, startling several teams that had only just arrived and were not yet prepared!

"Damn it! Who’s bold enough to make such a racket? Looking for death?!"

"Trying to get us all killed?!"

"If this wakes every Death Dragonfly—holy hell, run!"

Buzz!

Dozens of Death Dragonflies took to the air, and then more and more of them rose in flocks and swarms, filling the sky in a dark, dense mass. All of them were between levels thirteen and fifteen, differing only in size.

Just looking at them made one’s scalp tingle.

At the same moment, each team opened its portal, and every member—no matter what they had been doing—scrambled inside as if fleeing for their lives.

In the blink of an eye, every team had retreated.

Only a single weakened coyote remained. Once it saw those black silhouettes and understood its situation, it gave a helpless, despairing howl...

"I have a filthy curse I don’t know whether I should say out loud."

Luo Yong had already gone far, deep into this forbidden ground. Around him grew plants as tall as reeds, and every stalk bore a Death Dragonfly.

When that tremendous wolf howl reached them, those monsters all woke at once and took flight, surging toward the direction from which the sound had come.

Luo Yong let out a long sigh, the tactical scroll in his hand still untriggered.

He had mainly wanted to find an easily defensible location, so that when the bombardment began, he wouldn’t accidentally hit the larger Death Dragonflies.

Unlike the spiders in Fear Canyon, these creatures moved faster, were stronger, and caused far greater destruction, making friendly fire all too easy.

It was just like the airships in some games: even if they were shot down, they could still smash and kill a crowd on impact...

After stepping through the portal, Wendy’s group all turned to look at the wilderness hunter with strange expressions.

They too disliked dealing with men whose gazes were a bit too odd, but the wilderness hunter had been far too impulsive.

If things went wrong, someone could get killed.

"Could it be because Luo Yong has a fiancée now, and that’s making her inexplicably irritated?" Alicia said, as if she saw through everything.

"Indeed. After confirming certain news, she does seem different from before," said the barbarian priest.

"We’re all different now, aren’t we?" The storm warlock stood on the wilderness hunter’s side and said coolly, "She just wants to seize time, start quickly, and grow stronger quickly."

"Just because Luo Yong is our captain, and easy to talk to, and can go along with anything, doesn’t mean we can rely on him for everything, as if every problem must be left to him to solve!"

"Usually we all act as though we’re so capable, but when something actually happens, we can do nothing!"

"Again and again... I hate this version of myself!" As she spoke, the storm warlock’s emotions suddenly grew a little agitated. In her mind, the scene from that day flashed up once more: facing the Three Demon Swordsmen, her summoned dire bear had been beheaded by a single strike!

"I don’t care what you think. I don’t want to go on like this anymore!"

The storm warlock said with determination.

"..."

No one else spoke.

At such a moment, they did not know what else could be said.

"We really are... a little weak..." Alicia murmured.

"If Luo Yong hadn’t been stuck at a level cap, and if the use of his secret medicines hadn’t been somewhat limited, he might already have far left us behind," said the wilderness hunter.

"Hey, with so many beauties around us, do you think he’d be willing to leave us behind?" the barbarian priest said, narrowing her eyes.

"Stop flattering yourselves. He already has an elf inquisitor—careful he doesn’t stab you one day!" the storm warlock said, somewhat annoyed.

"I’m talking about levels! In terms of level, Luo Yong will sooner or later leave us in the dust! And besides..."

The wilderness hunter let out a long sigh and said, "As captain, not moving with the team—does that seem normal to you?"

"Luo Yong didn’t want to be captain from the start. We were the ones who kept clinging to him," Wendy said, blushing.

"So..." the wilderness hunter began to say more.

"I know, we all understand what you mean," Wendy interrupted. "We need to work hard, become stronger, raise our levels and our combat power. Otherwise, we won’t be able to stand beside Luo Yong in the future. We won’t deserve to be his teammates, fighting at his side!"

"Haah!" Lillian let out a deep breath, looking a little nervous.

"What’s wrong?" Mira asked.

"Nothing, it’s just... I’m a little panicked..." Lillian answered softly; then, as the others looked over, she raised her voice and said, "I-I’ll work hard too!"

"Mm, let’s all work hard together!"

"Work hard!!"

A group of them gathered together, cheering one another on, and thus completed a little team-building session.

Only...

"Hey, fatso over there, what are you standing there for all by yourself? Aren’t you part of this team?" Alicia called out in her usual cold-blooded way.

"Uh... I... I actually..." The fat man scratched his head and hurried over. For some reason, when facing these female teammates, he simply could not speak to them with composure.

He always got nervous and began to stammer.

His old, somewhat shrewd merchant’s silver tongue was completely useless.

"I’ll work hard too!" When he reached them, and saw Wendy’s gaze and encouraging expression, he couldn’t help but shout those words.

"Huh?" the wilderness hunter suddenly exclaimed, staring at him for a moment before saying, "Before we even noticed, he’s level nine too!"

"What?!"

After they cried out in unison, everyone’s eyes turned to the fat man.

Donald Gale, nicknamed Fatty, already possessed the strength of a level nine hero.

"On the surface, his magic fluctuation suggests level ten, but in truth his real level is nine," said the storm warlock.

"Uh, actually, it’s like this. Not long ago I reached level eight and gained a counterattack skill. I killed some monsters and leveled up, so... so..." Fatty said somewhat guiltily.

"That’s a good thing. Congratulations," Wendy said with a smile.

She always seemed to carry spring breezes wherever she went.

"Well, now at least no one’s dragging us down anymore!" Alicia said, as cutting as ever.