305 Life-and-Death Situation—The Great Escape (1/2)

After he left the chest full of gold coins for the Bandit, Qin Ruo returned to the portal and resumed the Gathering of the two other Nightstars.

While he was harvesting the herb, Cerberus did not teleport back with its Guard ability to ambush Qin Ruo again. Perhaps it had recognized the fact that two simple attacks were ineffective against the intruder and would not be enough to stop him from stealing the Nightstars anyway. Thus, Cerberus gave up trying and focused solely on Poochie and the Amethyst Orc instead. The monster attacked the two mercilessly by releasing spells at an insane speed, rapidly churning away the HP bar of the Amethyst Orc.

In just a few minutes, the Amethyst Orc's HP was further trimmed down to below forty thousand points. Besides that, Cerberus strategically used one of its hound head to fend off Poochie with AoE spell and forbade the Pet from providing assistance to the Orc. The battle situation had turned extremely dire for the two companions of Qin Ruo.

However, the Amethyst Orc's resilience exceeded all expectations. The three Nightstars were successfully gathered without much hassle and Qin Ruo had also luckily earned some extra treasure thanks to the uninvited Bandit.

”It's time to get out of here.”

Qin Ruo stored the last Nightstar in his backpack and glanced over at the heated battle and then to the bunch of people near the waterfall entrance who still refused to leave. Qin Ruo frowned annoyed.

'The Bandit had left the Graveyard immediately after he emptied the chest of its gold coins and had obtained a rather good quality Gold equipment. What are those guys still waiting for?'

After the fruitful expedition, Qin Ruo had planned to rescue the Amethyst Orc from Cerberus's confinement. The Amethyst Orc could still hold on for a while with its 40,000 HP, and Qin Ruo reckoned the escape will not be too difficult with the help of the waterfall outside the grotto entrance.

So Qin Ruo was rather unhappy to see the lingering party in front of the entrance. They might be a hindrance to his great escape plan.

His gaze swayed between Cerberus and the waterfall entrance, then he grinned cunningly, ”So, since you guys are reluctant to leave… Hehe”

…

Near the waterfall entrance stood a moody Brony, his mood dampened by the Bandit's sudden detachment from the party and uninformed departure. After losing so many comrades so far, the party had gained nothing in return.

Only a few players who had followed the Bizarre Blade party earlier could still put on a smiling face. They ignored the gloomy atmosphere surrounding Brony and his gang while watching the fight between the two Bosses quietly.

All of a sudden, the group of players squinted and fixed their eyes on Qin Ruo, who had just stood up in front of the Portal.

”Brony?”

”Should we leave now? It seems like the Aquamancer is going to leave soon.”

Seeing that Qin Ruo had started dashing toward them, a few Netherspirit's Claw followers warned Brony while subconsciously retracting a few steps. The treasure chest had been wiped clean by Qin Ruo and the departed Bandit, so there was no point lingering at such a depressing environment. It was akin to asking for trouble from the two ferocious Bosses or Qin Ruo.

The few players who did not originally belong to Netherspirit's Claw weighted their options and left through the waterfall without much hesitation.

The Summoner from Hall of Heroes was no exception. Following him, some non-league members who were only Brony's temporary underlings also made the same decision. Most of them had made out Qin Ruo's true identity and knew the deep grudge held between the mysterious Aquamancer and Netherspirit's Claw. They did not wish to be victims of someone else's feud.

In just a short moment, the party that once had more than twenty players had halved in number.

Looking at the remaining players, Brony and those remained could not help feeling even more depressed.

'It's all Dark Dragon's wanted order's fault.' Netherclaw's Spirit members were asked to kill Qin Ruo by all means when they saw him. Whoever neglected the order was instructed to quit the league voluntarily. When the order was issued, a whole lot of members went along with him while Brony had paid little attention to it. 'Why the commotion? He is just an ordinary Level 41 Aquamancer who was not even properly equipped. So he has a unique Pet, big deal!' But now, he realized that he had greatly underestimated the Aquamancer's power…

Such a dominant foe was definitely not someone they could handle. But then, at the same time they dared not disobey Dark Dragon's order so blatantly. Should someone leak the news, their only fate will be banishment from the league.

Being an exile was far more upsetting than losing a level for being killed. They did not want to put their future in this game at risk. Brony himself had offended quite a number of players in the game before this by taking advantage of his League member status. If they lost the league backing, terrible, terrible consequences would await them.

Finally, after some serious consideration, they chose the league over their own survival. They stubbornly guarded the entrance, even if that meant they losing their lives for it.

***

Brony's decision to stay was not out of Qin Ruo's expectations. Had Brony decided to run like the others, he would have despised these so-called League members' guts and looked down upon the commanding power of Dark Dragon—one of the most powerful leaders of Netherspirit's Claw.

Nevertheless, their decision to stay changed nothing. Qin Ruo maintained his forward thrust toward the entrance and was determined to carry out his escape plan despite the disturbing blockade.

Brony and the others were startled by Qin Ruo's increased speed and some of them began to question the decision of staying back.

This was when an earth-shattering explosion erupted from the clash between the Bosses. Soon after, the few of them saw a purple figure moving hurriedly in their direction. Behind it, a brown figure trailed closely like an arrow just released from a bowstring. The distance in between was rapidly shortened to less than seventy meters.

Roar!

Cerberus roared angrily for it had been tricked by Qin Ruo time and time again. The monster flipped back onto its feet. All of its six eyes were stained red out of fury and it chased the fleeing party like a speeding bus.