Liu Ye shot out Ice Projectiles, forcing the Bandit Leader to swiftly retreat. He dodged everything but that was exactly what Liu Ye wanted. He arrived by Marco's side and smashed the ice with his Water Boxing fist.

Ice shards flew in all directions but Liu Ye only took away a small chunk of its HP.

'Damn,' Liu Ye cursed in his mind and turned to the Bandit Leader while constantly bashing with his fist. The man in heavy armor wasn't that eager to attack, scanning Liu Ye instead.

"So you two are in cahoots," the Bandit Leader revealed while his face darkened. "To think you managed to trick me. Well done, I will give you that. I knew the story about Water Stone was too good to be true."

He paused and both his palms burst out with flames. "Too bad, you are going to die now."

"Are you sure about that?" Liu Ye questioned and pulled out a Water Stone. "Is this what you were after?"

"Water Stone!" The Bandit Leader called out with a greedy gaze. His interest was obvious as he halted his advance.

"I came here for the trade only to find out I'm being scammed. I knew something was suspicious so I came down here and overheard everything," Liu Ye explained as he kept his Water Stone and punched one more time, finally freeing Marco from the ice.

Liu Ye quickly grasped his shirt and suggested, "Go block the tunnel from the other bandits and I will let you live."

Marco didn't hesitate to make his decision and nodded eagerly, "Sure. I would rather work with someone who doesn't question my loyalty."

"Traitor!" The Bandit Leader exclaimed as he threw a fireball at him but Marco only stomped on the ground, creating a wall that stopped it effortlessly. Earth Elemental seemed like a perfect counter to fire.

"Says the one who froze me to the wall! Fuck off!" Marco cursed his ex-leader with a middle finger and rushed towards the entrance tunnel. Everything was now in Liu Ye's hands.

"You possess Dual Elements of Water and Air. Do you really think you can win against me, a master of flames?" the Bandit Leader questioned with a sneer as he displayed his power.

Swoosh!

The flames on the torches increased in size and danced as if they gained life while two fire whips formed out of the Bandit Leader's palms. Compared to Liu Ye's short water whips, his own were massive, reaching the span of a few meters.

"Die!" The Bandit Leader cried out and launched himself forward. Both whips flew in an arc and slapped at Liu Ye's defensive stance.

He could only block with his own whips to redirect the flames and escape in the opposite direction.

"Haha! There is no place you can run!" The Bandit Leader burst out laughing as he chased right after. "You can't keep it up endlessly!"

'Damn it...' Liu Ye cursed internally, blocking another whip by rolling on the ground. Each time he created a Water Whip, it was destroyed the very next second.

He didn't have enough water!

Even with an endless source coming from the waterskin, the outflow was limited. He needed to find a way to fill the cavern with water for easy access or else he would be killed with endless momentum.

-60!

[Ding! Fire Whip applied burn. You will lose 10 HP every second for the next three seconds.]

A big red number appeared above Liu Ye's head as he was finally struck, the whip exploding on his back. The power was so strong his feet left the ground and he was sent flying at the nearby wall.

Thud!

-50!

The burning didn't hurt as much as the painful meeting with a wall that would most certainly crack his spine in real life. Just a single hit brought Liu Ye into a danger zone.

[HP: 50/190]

It was bound to happen eventually and Liu Ye didn't expect anything less from the Dungeon Boss. Even if one had a full squad of twenty players it wasn't an easy battle.

'Think!' Liu Ye hurried his brain while cold liquids of his medium potions traveled down his throat.

He got blasted to the other side of the cavern but the Bandit Leader was already coming. Liu Ye scanned his surroundings for anything that could help him but all that he found were the torches.

'Wait…' Liu Ye paused with a sudden idea brewing in his mind.

"Hahaha! So weak! Did you really dare to call yourself an expert?! Useless!" The Bandit Leader called out in ridicule, preparing another attack. He took a deep breath and punched forward, spewing flames from both his mouth and fists.

Ice Wall!

Liu Ye sacrificed his Water Whips and set two Ice Walls in the shape of an arrow, splitting the Fire Stream just in time. It barely held for two seconds though before the flames melted it completely.

He placed one more wall at an angle to redirect the flames and leaped to the side, hiding behind a boulder. The Bandit Leader had no idea Liu Ye was already gone as his vision was covered by the flames.

"Let's see if you can find me…" Liu Ye muttered with a smile and launched alongside the cavern walls, slapping the torches with his whips.

The thin pieces of wood weren't even stuck properly in the walls as they fell on the ground, fully extinguished. When the Bandit Leader stopped his Fire Stream, more than half of the cavern filled with darkness.

"Damn you! Fight me like a man! Are you going to run away all night?!" The Bandit Leader cursed annoyed but Liu Ye ignored him, knocking the rest of the torches on the ground.

"Your mother has better aim than you," Liu Ye trash-talked back, provoking the Bandit Leader further. "Maybe you should learn from her."

"Fuck off!"

He shot Fireballs from afar but Liu Ye was too far, avoiding it with ease. He picked one last torch and tossed it on the ground, denying any light to locate him.

"You are a dead man! I will burn you alive when I find you!" The Bandit Leader shouted angrily but he only wasted his time. By using flames he exposed his position, allowing Liu Ye to easily avoid him.

It was time to switch roles from prey to hunter. Or at least that was the plan.

-3

-3

-3

Three Ice Projectiles hit the Bandit Leader's armor and Liu Ye instantly rolled his eyes. The damage he dealt was reduced to oblivion, from 23 all the way to 3. To make it worse, the Bandit Leader regenerated 1 HP every 5 seconds, healing back whatever damage Liu Ye dealt.

"Oh no! That hurt so much! I'm so scared!" The Bandit Leader commented sarcastically, provoking Liu Ye to try again.

He produced nearly 50 Ice Projectiles but the results were the same. The moment the Bandit Leader spotted movement coming his way, he exploded with flames again, ruining his efforts.

Liu Ye wanted to slowly chip his HP away but each time he changed his position, the Bandit Leader was back to full health. He checked on Marco but his partner already locked them inside, closing the only exit. It only left him with one solution but for that plan, he needed more water.

It was time to turn this cavern into a pool.

———

While Liu Ye was busy abusing his Waterskin to its limits, people have finally begun to reach level 10 on all the servers. The main quest granted everyone a unique key to the dungeon which allowed a single entrance to the Dungeon.

Many paired up randomly with other strangers for a better chance of success but clearing the Dungeon wasn't as easy as everyone thought. The Newbie Villages were usually void of people but they slowly started to fill up once again, especially the Respawn Sites.

"Another wipeout," Xu Yue pointed out as she watched another group respawn after dying from the Bandit Leader. They immediately began to curse and blame each other just like any other team made of randoms.

She ignored those that argued and instead gazed at the one person in black leather armor that walked away from them.

"Recruit that one," Xu Yue ordered a young man behind her. "With him, we will have a full team of black leathers."

She spent thirty minutes trying to gather a team of experts but she didn't complain. After hearing the stories from other players, she didn't want to brainlessly waste her Dungeon Key.

"Yes!" The young man agreed immediately and rushed to bring the player over. He acted like a puppy who was excited to please his owner.

"Tsk, simp…" Another player commented with a snicker only to be smoked by his buddy. "You act as if you didn't join her team because she is hot."

When the new player joined, she snapped her fingers to bring everyone's attention to her and announced sternly as if they were in an army.

"I'm your Leader for this Dungeon run. Whatever I say, you execute without a second thought. In the first run, we will explore the Dungeon and focus on finding the Boss' weaknesses. We are aiming for the First Clear so everyone put your heart to it. Any questions?"

"Are you single?"

The group of guys chuckled at the bold question but Xu Yue only glared at him, not entertaining them.

"I guess everything is clear then. Open the portal."

The young man from before didn't hesitate to use his own and a black hole opened in front of them.

[Bandit Leader Dungeon] - 0/20

They all entered one by one until only Xu Yue was left. Instead of rushing inside, she pulled out her profile and glanced one more time at her friend's list. His name was red which prevented her from sending messages but she could see his level didn't change for a while.

[Grind God Lvl. 9 - Bandit Leader Dungeon (Solo)]

When she locked on his status, she couldn't help but shake her head with a smile.

"My man is just built different."