Thump!

Little Piglet collapsed to the ground, unreconciled. He never thought that it was possible for someone to outposition him while Freezing Heat was active, and he definitely never thought that it was possible to multitask to the extent I did in virtual reality.

Pop!

Farewell Song hadn’t left behind any equipment for me to pick up, but Little Piglet did. He had dropped a pair of crystalline boots on the ground, and I picked them up right before the eyes of the Hegemon Palace players and brought up their stat screen casually. They were none other than the boots Little Piglet was wearing, and their stats were pretty amazing—

Long Boots of Wild Heart (Dark Gold–grade, Outstanding★)

Defense: 255

Magic Resist: 170

Strength: +60

Stamina: +54

Passive: Increases user’s movement speed by 11%

Outstanding Property: Increases user’s physical crit rate by 9%

Class Requirement: Warrior

Level Requirement: 95

……

Mm hmm. For Level 95 metal armor boots, this Long Boots of Wild Heart were extremely good. No wonder Little Piglet was able to move like the wind and even crit me twice in combat. If I didn’t have Regeneration of the Undead, I might’ve been dead before I could turn things around.

I turned around and tossed the boots to Xu Yang. "Take this, Xu Yang. You can wear these, right?"

Xu Yang grinned. "Thanks!"

I thought for a moment before taking out the Miracle Purgatory Sword as well. This 3-star Outstanding divine weapon had been my faithful companion when I slaughtered noobs all over the world, and now it was finally time to say goodbye to it.

I tossed the Purgatory Sword into Xu Yang’s hands as well and said, "Here, I no longer need this weapon as well."

Xu Yang: "Fuck, even your discarded weapons are OP as fuck, Lu Chen. I owe you lunch…"

"Fuck…"

……

With that done, I turned around and smiled at Pillar of the Nation. I said slowly, "So? Little Piglet and Farewell Song both died, but you still have Shangguan Wan’er. Are you going to make her duel me 1v1?"

Pillar of the Nation stayed quiet. His expression looked extremely ugly.

Shangguan Wan’er replied, "Forget it, warriors naturally counter assassins. I’m no match for you."

I gave her a smile before looking at Pillar of the Nation again. "Alright, I’ve won the duel, so please honor your promise and back out of Fire Desert now. And just so you know, know that I’ve recorded our conversation and our duel from start to finish. If you dare to break your word, Hegemon Palace will be a laughingstock of the entire Sky City!"

Pillar of the Nation forced himself to nod. "Sure. Hegemon Palace is not a vile guild who goes against their word, so we will withdraw from Fire Desert as promised. But beware, just because we’re gone doesn’t mean that Fire Desert is all yours. Warsky Alliance, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and the rest of the guilds won’t stand by and let you claim your prize without contest."

He Yi stepped out as well to say, "Thank you for your advice. Now, leave us!"

"Hmph!"

Pillar of the Nation was incredibly unhappy, but he ultimately honored his word and departed Fire Desert with his players. He couldn’t break it even if he wanted to because keeping your word was the single most important thing when operating a guild. An untrustworthy guild would be scorned no matter where they went, and in Hegemon Palace’s case it would be the equivalent of committing social suicide in Sky City if they broke their promise. To gamers like us, promises were sometimes more important than our own lives!

……

When I returned to my battle line, Beiming Xue happily pounced me and hugged me tightly, saying, "You’re absolutely amazing, big bro! I can’t believe you fought them 1v3 and still managed to kill two of them. Hoho, my big bro is the strongest gamer in the entire world, hehe~~"

Amused by her reaction, I patted her shoulder and replied, "You know there’s no one in the world who would dare to accept that claim, right?"

I was also a bit embarrassed since our antics were watched by everyone. Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Xu Yang, and the others were barely holding in their laughter. Sigh, my little sis is just too innocent. She doesn’t know how to conceal her thoughts from anyone at all.

I shot He Yi a glance and saw the praise and delight in her eyes. See, our guild leader is way smarter. She knows that the hug should be saved for when we’re offline...

……

Xu Yang walked up to me and patted me on my shoulder, laughing. "Beiming Xue is right, you know. The PvP skills you displayed today are absolutely among the best of the best, and I’m sure even Candlelight Shadow will feel immense pressure after the footage is uploaded to the forums. Hahaha! Seriously, you fought Farewell Song, Little Piglet, and Shangguan Wan’er 1v3, and you actually emerged as the decisive victor. Are you sure you’re human, Lu Chen?"

Chaos Moon smiled. "At Lu Chen’s level, there’s no human in the world who can stop him anymore…"

Pure Love chimed in. "Yeah, yeah! He’s the man I chose after all…"

Pure Love’s passion was too great for me to handle, so I moved next to Murong Mingyue and put an arm across Beiming Xue’s shoulder just in case. Then, I gave everyone a smile and said, "Alright, let’s go! It’s time to defeat Warsky Alliance and enter the heart of Fire Desert! All players who are Level 90 and above, get ready to fight a Level 140 Spirit Rank boss!"

"Yeah!"

Everyone was in high spirits, and it was all due to that exciting duel from earlier. This was why every guild needed to have a spiritual leader who people could look up to; a reason to fear nothing and meet any challenge with courage.

……

When we finally returned to the front—or was it the back?—we saw Warsky Alliance being destroyed by our troops and forced to retreat again and again.

It was at this moment Legendary Brave walked up to us with a smile. "What happened over there? It was so loud I thought you were having a temple fair or something. What did I miss?"

Chaos Moon replied, "Hegemon Palace challenged us to a duel just now, and Lu Chen beat Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan’er, and Farewell Song singlehandedly!"

Legendary Brave’s eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Holy shit, that’s incredible. Please send me the video later, I must admire Vice Leader Lu’s PvP secrets with my own eyes…"

Xu Yang laughed. "Don’t worry, you should see it on the forums in just a couple of minutes at most!"

I smiled. Every expert in the world started off as a noob, and the first step to becoming an expert was to observe other people and absorb their strong points. For example, our mighty dragon warrior was still learning from others despite being better than most people around him. This was the kind of person with an unlimited future ahead of them!

……

When we officially returned to the frontlines, Warsky Alliance’s defense line grew even more fragile than before. A round of attacks later, Warsky finally gave the order, "Brothers, the enemy’s firepower is too much for us to handle right now! Let us withdraw to Burning Cave for now! Victory is ours if we can keep Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls out of the map until the boss is killed!"

"Burning Cave?" He Yi shot me a surprised look.

I answered, "It’s probably a map within a map; the boss zone of that Level 140 Spirit Rank Desert Giant King. Well, it makes sense if you think about it. A high-rank boss like that wouldn’t want to stay in the open and expose itself to the sun like some commoner, right? It would want to collect a bunch of lackeys, occupy a lair and enjoy the pleasures of life like the boss it is."

He Yi smiled. "Is that so? Do you want to occupy a lair and enjoy the pleasures of life as well?"

I smiled back. "All I want is for you to come back…"

"Mn."

He Yi nodded slightly before giving out the order. "Everyone, Warsky Alliance only has less than 1500 players left! We are the ones who have the advantage, so let’s use it and break into Burning Cave now!"

……

Everyone’s spirits rose even higher when our beautiful guild leader gave the order to attack. The moment our players hit their battle line, what was a tactical retreat immediately turned into a rout!

After we got close, we noticed that the sand looked hot enough to catch on fire. There was a tall, craggy mountain at the center of the desert, and beneath it was a cave entrance about ten meters wide and two meters tall. I could see a bit of red light peeking out of the cave as well. It was none other than the Desert Giant King’s lair—the Burning Cave!

The players of Warsky Alliance had entered the cave completely. We didn’t follow them inside because it was entirely possible that the enemy had laid a trap or two for us. It would be foolish to enter carelessly.

Beep!

System Notice: You have entered the map "Burning Cave"!

Map Introduction: This map used to be a forest that was full of life, but it was turned into a desert after the Night Creatures invaded. However, the hatred of the mountain ran deep, and it was said that the mouth of a slumbering volcano lies at the bottom of Burning Cave. The cave is full of danger, and no adventurer had ever come out of this cave alive.

……

Xu Yang asked seriously, "What should we do, boss?"

He Yi said, "Let’s send in a couple of assassins and see what the enemy is doing first. We should also leave some people outside the cave so that no other guild can come in. This seems to be the only entrance to Burning Cave, so there should be no way for Warsky Alliance to get any supply or reinforcements anymore. Let’s see if they’re good enough to handle all the high-level mobs that are lurking inside this map!"

I nodded with a smile. "Correct. Let’s be patient and stay our hand for now. Someone—or something—will deal with Warsky Alliance for us. All we need to do is wait for the boss to show itself."

Xu Yang nodded. "Got it. Assassins, get in there and tell me what the enemy is doing!"

……

Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind. "Eve, why don’t you let me scout out the map instead? I have Earth Escape. Our assassins’ levels are too low, and it would be embarrassing if they got one-shot the moment they got in."

"Okay. Be careful."

"No problem!"

I turned around, dissolved into several rays of bloody light and entered the ground. As I entered the Burning Cave, I felt a stifling wave of heat washing over my body even though I was technically under the ground. The Burning Cave definitely deserved its name!

After I entered the cave, I immediately saw a large group of Warsky Alliance players fighting a desperate battle at the distance. I couldn’t help but laugh. There were fiery red stone giants all over the map, and they were Level 135 shadow-rank mobs! These mobs were at least as powerful as Level 110 Dark Gold Rank bosses, and they almost always killed someone with just a single attack!

It was chaos inside the cave. Warsky looked like he wanted to vomit blood as he shouted angrily, "Look to the right! Another dozen or so Fire Giants are heading our way! Hold your ground! Dammit, why are these mobs so powerful…"

……

It was an amusing sight. Warsky Alliance had kicked a hornet’s nest, and they were paying a heavy price for their mistake!

Next to Warsky, the CGL Hall of Famer and super archer October Rain was shooting at the mobs. From where I was lurking, the view of her long, pale legs was… pleasing to say the least.

October Rain frowned slightly and scanned her surroundings. She curled her lips and muttered, "Fuck, why do I feel like someone’s spying on me? Could it be Lu Chen?"