It was late afternoon above the bridge at the east gate of Floating Ice City. I was leaning against the stone railing with my hood pulled down temporarily. I looked mysterious and murderous with my bloody cape fluttering behind my back, my armor glowing and my expression stern and serious.

He Yi and Murong Mingyue started commenting on my appearance as they walked toward me.

“Eve, Lu Chen grew up a lot in the past two years, am I right? Two years ago, he looked like a greenhorn on his first day of society. Now, he actually looks mature…”

He Yi nodded repeatedly. “Yeah, yeah! He also looks a lot more handsome than before!”

“OMG, is that the only criteria you recognize in your head? You disappoint me, Eve…”

He Yi: “...”

…...

A while later, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone showed up as well.

Beiming Xue was wearing a high-grade leather armor and wielded a glowing bow. Her eyes were smiling as she walked toward me. “Hey boss! So, what’s the zone we’re going to tackle? Is it worth the trouble?”

I waved my hands and said, “Absolutely. We can sit back and live like champs for half a year after we tackle this zone!”

“...”

Beauty Moonlight Stone glanced at me and Beiming Xue before saying in an envious tone, “Heavens! Both your pupils look so cool! I want to dye my pupils red too, dammit!”

Beiming Xue simply smiled at the compliment. Feeling very pleased on the inside, I comforted her by pointing at He Yi. “It’s fine, look! She has black pupils, but she’s still a gorgeous lady, isn’t she?”

He Yi smiled sweetly at the compliment. I was sure that the praise made her happy.

Murong Mingyue curled her lips and pushed her way toward me until my fingertip touched something soft. I immediately pulled back my hand as quick as lightning.

Undead like me and Beiming Xue had red pupils. Gui Guzi was still a skeleton right now, so he didn’t have any eyeballs to speak of. The topic reminded me of Lin Yixin. She was a succubus, so her pupils were purple in color. However, it only brought out her astounding beauty even more!

I raised my sword and added everyone in the party. Finally, I said, “Alright, let’s go!”

“Mn mn!”

He Yi said, “Lu Chen, don’t forget to share the quest with us!”

“Oh, right!”

A “ding” later, the quest was shared with the girls. All four of them exclaimed in surprise at once.

Beiming Xue: “Wow, an A-rank quest?”

He Yi: “This one looks like it’ll be a challenge…”

Murong Mingyue: “Heehee, this quest looks like it’ll keep me full for the next three years to come!”

…...

He Yi asked, “Lu Chen, are you sure our party can handle this? A few days ago, Mingyue, Xu Yang and I tried to complete a B-rank quest, but we got party-wiped midway…”

I wasn’t sure what to say. “Er…”

Seeing that I was too polite to point out the truth, Murong Mingyue said mercilessly, “It’s not the same, Eve. Last time, you and Xu Yang were our MTs, but this time Lu Chen is our MT. He’s several weight classes above yours so you can rest easy…”

He Yi: “...”

I smiled. “We have a slightly more ‘scientific’ party formation this time, so don’t worry. Things are as perfect as it can get with me and my Dark Wasp as the tanks, Mingyue as the healer and Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone as the ranged DPS!”

He Yi blinked. “What about me?”

I considered my words carefully before replying, “I think you should just sit tight and leech EXP until you’re 60, boss. Don’t forget that your equipment isn’t too strong yet. Do you have at least 500 Defense?”

He Yi’s cheeks turned red. “I’m almost there. I have 397 Defense to be exact…”

“OMG, your Defense is even lower than mine! You should’ve upgraded your shield a long time ago!”

“Mn, well, I don’t have anything better to switch to, so...”

I nodded. “We’ll try to kill as many bosses as possible. If we’re lucky enough to get a high-grade metal armor or two, you can have them first before me!”

He Yi smiled back. “Okay, sure. Let’s go!”

…...

We left Floating Ice City’s borders and trekked through a small forest path. Our destination—southernmost part of the city domain.

The starting point of the quest was situated at the edge of the world map. In fact, any further than that and we would be entering the world map of a completely different server. But of course, the option to cross to another server wasn’t available yet at this time.

The entire trek took more than two hours. It was so long that the girls were sticking their tongues out.

Murong Mingyue wiped the sweat on her forehead and complained, “What is this, an expedition? By the time we reach Myriad Poison Cave it’ll almost be time for dinner already…”

He Yi shook her head. “We can skip dinner. I need to lose some weight anyway…”

I looked back and forth between He Yi and Murong Mingyue. On one hand, He Yi had a perfect body shape. Her legs were round and long, and her breasts were curvaceous. They were in perfect harmony like heaven and earth, so her desire to lose weight made absolutely no sense to me. On the other hand, Murong Mingyue’s breasts were a little too big for her own good. Yeah, she’s the one who needs to lose some weight!

So I said, “I think you got it mixed up, boss. Someone else should be losing her weight, not you.”

Murong Mingyue immediately smacked my head with her staff. “What’s that? Did you just say I’m too fat, you little brat?”

He Yi shook her head while giggling. “You shouldn’t have provoked a woman who eats nine meals a day…”

I clutched my forehead and complained, “You could’ve told me sooner!”

…...

In the end, we—or more specifically the girls—decided that we would all skip dinner and lose some weight in the process. We could change our minds after we entered Myriad Poison Cave and figured out the situation.

They ignored my opinion on the matter completely. Although I was displeased by the girls’ tyranny, it was 1v4, and there was nothing I could say or do to change their minds. I swallowed my indignity and endured.

Meanwhile, a couple of ferocious wild bears appeared in front of us while we were passing through a palm tree forest. Their names were blood-red, and their growls were a cacophony of deafening roars!

“It’s a Level 70 mob! Everyone watch out, especially you, boss!” I warned.

He Yi shot him a slightly reproachful look before whispering to him, “Please don’t call me boss in the future!”

“But what should I call you then?”

“You can call me by my name, or you can call me Sister Yi. Either one is fine!”

“Sister Yi? Ahem, I don’t know why but that sounds weird to me for some reason…”

“In that case you can just call me Eve. I don’t like how distant the word ‘boss’ sounds, you know?” He Yi smiled at me. “Also, it might mislead others into thinking that I’m the boss of the Axe Gang. Do I look like an axe gangster to you?”

I looked at her as she asked me to. Unfortunately, the timing was the absolute worst because she was bending downward and unintentionally showing off to me the indescribable sight of her breasts pressing against her armor. Is it just me, or am I in danger of turning into stone?

“Hmm?”

He Yi looked down at herself and turned red immediately. She rolled her eyes at me before saying, “Alright, enough slacking! Go open up the way for us. We’re almost at Myriad Poison Cave already!”

“Mn!”

I concentrated my mind and walked to the forefront. After cutting down the wild bears blocking our way, we continued to journey deeper into the forest.

As we continued forward, I noticed that the greeneries around were starting to look wilted and dead. Soon, the entire forest started looking sickly and purple in color. He Yi was right. We were definitely getting close to Myriad Poison Cave!

Suddenly, He Yi pointed toward the front and said, “Look, Myriad Poison Cave is over there, right?”

“Yeah!”

According to the quest marker, the cave was right in front of us. It was an incredibly dark cave, and no one knew what dangers we’d be facing.

I was the tankiest person in the party, so I went to the front and braved the unknown like a proper vanguard.

When I got close to our destination, I discovered that the entrance to Myriad Poison Cave looked like a neglected graveyard on a hill. It was just big enough to fit an average-sized person. Had I called Yamete over instead of Murong Mingyue, he might not be able to fit through the gap.

Swhoosh!

Murong Mingyue waved a hand at me and cast a Regeneration spell, a HoT[1] skill with long duration. It was the perfect skill for an extended fight.

“Go, Lu Chen! We’ll cheer from the back!” Murong Mingyue laughed.

He Yi and Beiming Xue shouted at the same time, “Be careful!”

The two girls glanced at each other warily right after that. I knew that two tigers couldn’t live on the same mountain—unless they were of the opposing gender!

…...

I went straight into the cave with the Dark Wasp and my Ghost Ice Soul at the ready. The Ghost Ice Soul was a Gold-grade weapon, so it glowed just bright enough to illuminate a small area. The cave was extremely dark and wet, and there were colorful grasses growing all over the place. I knew they were poisonous without even needing to check. They were way too colorful to be an ordinary breed.

A while later, my vision finally brightened, and my feet hit flat ground. I had entered a new zone!

Ding~!

System Notice: You have entered an evil zone, Myriad Poison Cave, First Floor!

Ding~!

System Notice: The terrain effect “Myriad Poison” is now in effect. As a result of inhaling poisonous gas, you lose 10 HP per second!

…...

Okay, this zone is ridiculous. A player would lose 100 HP if they lingered in the zone for 10 seconds, 600 HP if they were here for a whole minute. I was lucky that I was a warrior class, and my skill “Regeneration of the Undead” basically canceled out the negative status, but what about a mage like Moonlight Stone? She only had around 900 HP at most. She would die from the poison in less than two minutes!

It looked like Murong Mingyue would be under a lot of pressure this time.

“How is it, Lu Chen? Is it dangerous down there?” He Yi called out to me from the entrance.

I sucked in a deep breath before explaining, “Everything’s clear, Eve. Feel free to come in. But be careful, this place is covered in poisonous gas, and we’ll lose 10 HP per second just by staying here. Sis, you’ll need to keep an eye on our HP and keep us healthy at all times. It would suck to drop dead from this condition!”

Murong Mingyue replied, “Okay, got it. We’re coming down now!”

I heard a bunch of rustling noises from behind me, and a couple minutes later all four beauties entered the Myriad Poison Cave’s first floor. Their eyes opened wide as they surveyed their surroundings.

“This place truly deserves its name…” He Yi pointed toward the front and laughed. “Look, there’s an insect over there that looks like a centipede!”

I immediately moved to the front of the party and looked. The insect was about two meters long, and its whole body was coated in a hard shell. Its face was as ugly as it could get, and its legs looked as tough as steel. Shit, the way it looked and the way it was twisting about reminded me of a fusion between a cockroach and a centipede!

A quick glance revealed the mob’s stats to me.

Myriad Poison Sandworm

Level: 70

Attack: 420~550

Defense: 400

HP: 6500

Skills: Bite, Poison Spit

Introduction: A terrifying creature that thrives on poisonous land, this deadly insect can attack its opponent with the venom it stores inside its body. It is a low-rank guardian of Myriad Poison Cave.

1. Healing over Time