"He... How dare he cut off the connection like that?" A Lake Fairy furrowed her brows and tossed away a necklace. Fortunately, as they were underwater, the necklace did not go very far and was quickly caught by another Lake Fairy.

"Mmm, he is moving very fast. He seems to be busy." The second Lake Fairy commented after examining the necklace.

"So what? Hmmp. He could have at least said something. If we did not need him so badly, I would not even have tried to contact him. It is so bad, we cannot even ask him to protect the Abyss' heir now."

The second Lake Fairy bitterly smiled. "I know. But how could we predict that this dungeon would be so strong. We failed to destroy it once and if he fails, then we will have to ask for help from the other elementals. Without any help, we will inevitably be absorbed by the dungeon."

"The human you trusted better come here soon. I knew you should have made a clear contract..."

...

"D*mn... Why does it feel like the world is falling apart? Verdan Town was attacked from all sides. Now the update and then even the Lake Fairies tried to contact me? I don't have time for all of this... I just want to recover my fatigue in peace!"

Li Wei ran through the forest. Fortunately, the Flying Demons were unable to follow him due to their size. The trees provided a natural cover against the flying creature. However, the forest was still full of ferocious beasts and in his escape, Li Wei attracted the attention of many.

He did not dare to fight the monsters. What if One-Horned Demons were also roaming the area. Furthermore, his fatigue level was already crippling his strength. His fatigue level was currently at 75%; it decreased by 5% after Li Wei leveled up.

Although he regained 1 Strength and Dexterity, it barely made any difference.

[Gliding Steps]

Li Wei swiftly avoided a Silver Wolf and took a sharp turn to get rid of his pursuers but the beasts were persistent.

'As soon as the quest is over, I am sure there will be much fewer monsters. This quest is so hard... I wonder where the princess is right now.'

Li Wei continued his escape, but the forest was huge and full of beasts. It was the reason why Night Hunting was so dangerous. Compared to the beginner's area, the open world was far more dangerous, the respawn rate of the beasts was very high.

Before long, Li Wei's fatigue once again shot up to 80%. There were simply no ends to this. He could not find a suitable place to hide.

With a quick glance at his interface, Li Wei saw his experience bar: (52849/70000). There was still a large chunk of exp to fill but then, he recalled the Condensed Crystals in his inventory.

He was supposed to keep them and submit the crystals at the Warrior Association, but now, Li Wei did not hesitate to use them all. If he did nothing, he would be caught by the beasts!

[System Prompt: Congratulations Player Seven. You leveled up. You have gained a free stat point.]

"Allocate all three stat points to Dexterity!"

Li Wei did not waste any time and quickly, his Dexterity shot to 25. The negative effects of the Fatigue level were completely negated by the effect of his equipment. After leveling up, his fatigue level once again went down by 5%

Li Wei rushed forward. 'This time, let's not try to run. I'll simply find a tree to climb like last time. Without the Tear of Fairies, the monsters should not be able to locate me.'

[Gliding steps]

He quickly activated his skill and slowly increased the distance between him and the beasts. When he became comfortable with the distance, Li Wei stomped the ground as he hurriedly climbed the large trunk of an Oak Tree.

"Grrr Grrr"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The beasts rushed to the old Oak Tree but Li Wei was fast. With the help of the Natta Blades, Li Wei climbed up, out of the range of the beasts. However, even as he was safe, Li Wei did not stop. He continued to climb until he would be hidden by the foliage.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he teasingly looked down at the beasts clawing the Oak. 'Stupid beasts. Now, I just need to wait for the rest of the night.'

However, as Li Wei tried to climb to the next branch, his hand landed on something warm and soft. It was completely different from the usual rough cold texture of the oak branches. He was stunned and hurriedly looked up but as he did so, a hand pressed against his mouth and a dagger appeared at his throat.

Li Wei was stunned. The warmth and softness he felt was actually the seventh princess' thigh! The princess had been unexpectedly hiding at the top of this tree! Li Wei's mind was racing. He could feel the indignant stare of the princess.

The princess' eyes met Li Wei's but they did not speak. They did not want to make any more noise to attract the beast. Only by pretending to have already left would the beasts at the root of the oak finally leave.

'D*mn... What are you doing here? I clearly ran in a different direction from the one you took,' thought Li Wei.

The princess waved her hand without making a sound. The dagger and the hand pressed against his mouth disappeared. When he looked behind him, Li Wei saw one of the maids of the princess. Her index finger was tightly pressed against her lips, signaling him to remain silent. At the same time, her eyes were glaring at him with fury.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, the growls of the beasts disappeared. The princess and her maid both silently scanned the area and finally, the princess spoke, "Aren't you that adventurer who was the first to run away?"

Li Wei's eyes widened. He did not expect the princess to have noticed his desertion. He scratched his head awkwardly. "Oh. You saw that. The battle was already lost. What happened to the rest of the escort?"

At the same time, Li Wei was internally rejoicing. 'I thought she would throw a tantrum but looks like she already forgot the incident. Could it be an effect of the [Socialite Aura]? I must keep the conversation going so that she does not bring this topic up again...'

He briefly remembered the information that appeared on his interface, but he did not really have time to look into it.

"Dead. They are all dead. If I did not use a few treasures, we would not have gotten away..." The princess replied as she wore a pained expression.

"Don't mention it, princess. If only the adventurers were not cowards, we might have stood a chance. Because of them, Lily and Daisy died! We should kick this one away too before he brings us any more trouble." The maid snorted coldly. Her name was Rose. Her face was full of grief as she recalled the last moment of her friends.

Li Wei did not respond to the maid's comment. 'The escort team has been annihilated? Looks like quite a few players decided to run away when they saw how hard the quest was. Emergency Quests are not as easy as regular quests.'

'The question is, what will happen to us now? I hope no more monsters will be coming after us. This way, we can just wait for the sun to rise and rush to Boroughton.'

"We were all tired and needed to rest. I have been working for seven hours straight before the demons attacked. Of course, I am not in the best shape for this quest."

Rose retorted aggressively. "Because you think we were prepared for this? We also had a tiring day with all the negotiations that took place. We were woken up in a hurry and were forced by the Earl to leave the castle. He said it was for our safety but who would have thought that he would use us as bait? Once we return to the palace, we will make sure to report this to the emperor!"

"Use you as bait? What do you mean?"

"There is no harm telling you now that we are in this situation. The prince and I came to the Earl's castle because they discovered a ruin nearby. Because it was quite far from the Earl's main territory, he requested some help from the emperor. We came here to gain some experience, but we ended up like this. When we escaped, the Earl gave us some items from his treasury, claiming that they were the payment for the troops that were dispatched."

"We brought one thousand soldiers with us but most of them stayed to defend Verdan Town. That Earl is a crafty man. We thought that after so many years, he would not attempt such a risky move, but we were wrong. He did not hesitate to put the Royals in danger for his territory!"

As the princess finished her explanation, Li Wei suddenly heard a series of footsteps coming from below. He was hidden by the foliage and could not clearly see the ground, but he knew someone was coming.

The princess and her maid also detected the sounds. Their face became solemn as they scanned the surroundings.

"Where is it? The detector says it should be around here. But there is nothing but trees!"

A voice came from below. It carried a trace of carefreeness and frustration. Li Wei's expression changed. He had heard this voice before but could not recall where.

The footsteps became louder. Li Wei saw a pair of legs but right next to it was a pair of Enraged Forest Foxes. The surprising part was that the foxes did not attack the person!

'A tamer?'

This was Li Wei's first thought but after a few moments, the face of the person finally came into view. 'This... Isn't that the little fatty I saw at Verdan Town? What is he doing here?' The person was unexpectedly Piece of Cloth, the short fatty who had been chasing after the old identifier.

He seemed confused as if he was looking for something. Li Wei briefly turned toward the princess. He murmured. "I know that person. Stay here. Let me talk to him."

Without waiting for an answer, Li Wei silently jumped to a lower branch. Rose looked at the princess. "Is he trying to sell us out?"

Li Wei did not hear her and continued to go down. At that moment, the Enraged Forest Foxes both raised their head and growled at him. He had entered their aggro range. "Wait. Don't attack, Piece of Cloth. I don't have any bad intentions."

Piece of Cloth was startled by the foxes' sudden aggressive behavior. He jumped back in fright but as he heard the voice, he raised his head. "You... Who are you? Why do you look so familiar? Oh! You are that player, I remember you."

Li Wei did not jump off the lowest branch of the tree yet. "Take those Enraged Forest Fox away. I can't jump down or they will attack me."

"I can't. I am not their owner. They were ordered to protect me." The fatty explained with a silly expression.

"It cannot be helped. What are you doing here? Don't you know it is a dangerous area?" continued Piece of Cloth.

"I should be the one asking this question. How come the beasts are not attacking you and did you not encounter any demons?" He was on guard against a fellow player, but the fatty was an acquaintance who helped him find an identifier.

"Oh. That's because I joined an organization. All the beasts and demons here are controlled by it. They won't attack me. But since you are here, did you find a big jewel called the Eye of Mydas? I am looking for it. I need it for my quest."

As he heard Piece of Cloth, Li Wei frowned. It was not hard to connect the dots. There was a high chance that the Eye of Mydas was something held by the princess. Since the demons did not attack Piece of Cloth, it was clear that he formed part of the force whose goal was to capture the princess.

‘Is it a two-way quest? Fortunately, I met Piece of Cloth who can be considered as an acquaintance.'

As he recalled everything that happened to him during this trip, Li Wei asked, "Could it be that you joined an Evil Cult? I remember having seen the Forest Foxes..."

"How did you know? Yes, that's the case but we can talk about it later. Have you seen the Eye of Mydas? My quest will expire very soon..." said Piece of Cloth.

Li Wei, who already had an idea of what was happening, was confused. 'How is it going to expire soon? Isn't the princess stuck in the tree?'

He paused for a moment before answering. "You just want the Eye of Mydas, right? If I give it to you, will my friends and I be safe to leave?"