Chapter 564 - Frozen Lake (II) (2/2)

Rhode nodded and turned to the mercenaries around him. “That’s right, they have agreed to try it once more. I have also promised them that we will accomplish this mission by defeating the Ice Devil.”

“Oh—!” The mercenaries broke out in cheers.

Even though the residents weren’t wrong with such thoughts, the mercenaries were still angered and dissatisfied that those weak people looked down on them. After all, they had been through training sessions with Mini Bubble Gum and Canary and their strength had improved tremendously. However, since the residents were unarmed, the mercenaries didn’t wish to teach them a lesson and show them how capable they were. Now that Rhode had resolved this problem for them, they were elated.

The mercenaries had also decided to show this bunch of country bumpkins how powerful they were by completing this mission. Let’s see if you’ll look down on us by then!

Rhode looked on silently at his roaring men and said plainly. “Have a good rest today. We will head into Frozen Lake tomorrow. I hope you will show me your results of the training.”

The mercenaries responded loudly in unison. Then, they left one by one to prepare themselves for the battle tomorrow. Rhode shook his head and turned to Anne and Lize. “Have you heard of anything regarding Frozen Lake?”

Rhode didn’t bring along all his manpower. Instead, he used the same formation he had in the game. A team of 35 men. 30 of them would be dealing with the Ice Devil while the remaining five would be substitutes and preventing any accidents. This was also a small cheat that Rhode had made with the little difference between the game and reality.

Rhode felt strange. Why did the Guilds full of aborigines fail to defeat a BOSS with over a hundred men?

In the game, players needed 10 to 25 members to defeat these BOSSes. From the beginning, he thought that this was due to the difference in strength between aborigines and the players and that was why they chose the ‘human wave attack’ to attain their goal. However, Rhode realized that he was utterly wrong. Apart from the difference in their strength, the number of people was the most important factor which led to their failures. Most of the dungeon BOSS for team engagements possessed technique in AOE attacks. In the game, due to the small number of players in a team, it wasn’t difficult for them to dodge the BOSS’ attacks. However, it was different for the aborigines because they weren’t powerful, to begin with, and they fell right into the BOSS’ trap when they launched their ‘human wave attack’. Most players wouldn’t dare to resist most BOSSes’ AOE attack and they would choose to avoid them instead. There was no doubt that the aborigines with weaker strength died in the AOE attack. Moreover, they didn’t have enough space to dodge the attack due to their large numbers.

Due to this reason, Rhode had commanded Gillian to lead most of the mercenaries back into the Fortress after the battle by the Paphield defensive line, leaving a small number of them to complete the Frozen Lake Mission. Rhode didn’t bring Gillian along because he intended to train his mercenaries’ individual abilities. No matter how powerful Gillian, Canary, and Mini Bubble Gum were, they were only his men. In other words, summoned beings like them would disappear if Rhode got into any trouble. It wouldn’t be a good thing for the Guild if they relied solely on them. Rhode wouldn’t even need to deal with the Ice Devil himself if its level was lower and his men’s damage output was higher.

Lize took half a step forward and revealed a bitter look. “Mr. Rhode, I’ve heard from the residents… It seems difficult to make the Ice Devil appear. The previous Guilds didn’t even manage to see how it looked like and they… I’m worried that…”

“Don’t worry, Lize,” Rhode gestured.

Of course, he knew what Lize was about to say. In the game, the Frozen Lake was labeled as a dungeon on the map and it wasn’t divided into different floors like other dungeon maps. On the surface, the Frozen Lake was simply a lake frozen into a layer of ice while the lower-level creatures would emerge continuously from the ice surface. If they failed to figure out the trick, the mercenaries would die from exhaustion from dealing with the lower-level creatures even before they caught a glimpse of the BOSS. There were a bunch of stupid players in the game, not to mention NPCs.

“I have found an expert who can awaken the Ice Devil and force it to battle us,” said Rhode.