"Riding together like this, we might be caught by the Ice Seal Guild on the way to Snowdrift City, right?" As the fiery horse galloped along, seeing that Piaoling was still heading toward Snowdrift City, Xiao Hua furrowed his brow and said.
After mounts were upgraded to Tier Four, they could carry two people, which many couples spent a lot of money on to share a mount! While a Tier Four mount could carry two people, the mount’s speed would decrease by 20%. Piaoling’s mount wasn’t particularly fast to begin with, and now with the 20% reduction, the disadvantage was even more pronounced.
As for Snowdrift City, Xiao Hua believed that if Piaoling continued to flee this way, she might not even reach the city before being caught by the Ice Seal Guild. Even if she had someone to meet her in Snowdrift City, it would be futile!
"I’m not foolish enough to run straight into their trap. Fleeing toward Snowdrift City is a last resort, but it’s part of my original escape plan. Around the Ice Seal Guild’s base, the monsters’ levels decrease in this direction, while they increase in all other directions. Running in any other direction, I’d likely be killed by monsters before they caught up with me," Piaoling said with a smile.
"And when they realize I’m heading toward Snowdrift City, unsure if I have help in the city, they will surely send some people back to the city to intercept me. This will split the Ice Seal Guild’s forces. Once we reach the edge of the coniferous forest, I’ll change direction and run deeper into the forest. This will greatly increase our chances of escaping. However, I didn’t expect Xiaoyao to suddenly log in and issue a Level One Guild Warrant, which led to my near capture," Piaoling recalled, still shaken by the earlier battle.
Before Piaoling finished speaking, Xiao Hua realized he had been worrying unnecessarily. Someone capable of commanding thousands to defeat a boss wouldn’t be weaker than him, an outsider, in terms of strategic thinking or attention to detail!
Perhaps due to the bad mood of Capella or Aweo, the light snowfall suddenly became heavier. Watching the hoof prints of the fiery horse being covered by snowflakes, Xiao Hua felt relieved; it seemed that fate was on their side!
They had already fled over a thousand meters. At the site where Piaoling had killed the archer and the assassin, a group of several hundred people on mounts arrived. Through the illusion that was stealthily nearby, Xiao Hua spotted the Ice Seal Guild’s team right away.
"Darn weather, why does it have to snow so heavily now!" Ice Seal World actually logged in and pursued them, moving surprisingly quickly. Looking at the tracks that had disappeared completely due to the heavy snowfall, Ice Seal World cursed angrily.
"Form five squads, one in front and two on each side. Each squad of ten will go in a different direction. If you find anything, report it to the guild immediately! The rest of us will wait here for the system’s coordinates update. We mustn’t let that woman get away!" Without the tracks to follow, Ice Seal World had no choice but to issue an unfortunate order.
Ice Seal World desperately wanted to pursue in the direction of Snowdrift City, but based on his understanding of the cunning Piaoling, she would never do something as foolish as running straight into a trap. Suppressing his anxiety, Ice Seal World couldn’t guess Piaoling’s intentions and could only wait in the snow for the system’s coordinate update with a grim expression.
After about two minutes, all the Ice Seal Guild members suddenly turned their mounts and raced off in a single direction.
Piaoling’s direction of movement was still toward Snowdrift City. Ice Seal World was extremely regretful at this point; if he had been more decisive, he would have almost caught up by now.
Xiao Hua observed everything through the illusion. Seeing that no one was around, he made the illusion explode with a loud noise.
"How does the system report the coordinates to the Ice Seal Guild members?" Sitting behind, with the fiery horse running at top speed and the wind whistling past his ears, Xiao Hua shouted his question.
"Every ten minutes, the system will send my coordinates to all members of the Ice Seal Guild for the next fifteen seconds, updating once per second. They use these coordinates to determine my direction of escape."
Now that they knew the exact timing of the system’s coordinate updates, it would be much simpler to evade!
"We should change our escape route now. They just received the system’s coordinate update!" Xiao Hua immediately told Piaoling. By changing course now, the Ice Seal Guild, unaware of the change, would continue in the same direction, allowing the two of them to create more distance before the next update.
They were already not far from the edge of the coniferous forest. Piaoling had planned to do this anyway. Hearing Xiao Hua’s suggestion, she didn’t hesitate or ask why, simply turning the fiery horse southwest.
Stolen novel; please report.
With the precise timing of the Ice Seal Guild’s receipt of the system’s coordinate updates, as long as they weren’t too unlucky and didn’t encounter Ice Seal World’s interception from another direction, the chances of the Ice Seal Guild catching them would undoubtedly decrease significantly. However, this didn’t mean they were safe yet. They still had to evade for another three hours!
Ten minutes later, Ice Seal World, accompanied by the fastest members of the guild, was about to reach the edge of the coniferous forest when he received another system coordinate update. To his fury, he discovered that Piaoling had changed direction and was fleeing into the opposite side of the forest. Cursing loudly, he turned around and pursued her again.
"Was the skill you used earlier also a free skill?" Thinking back to the black beams that had bound the archer and the assassin until their deaths, Xiao Hua couldn’t resist his curiosity and asked. That skill had left a deep impression on him, and such a magical skill was impossible to avoid, even with his high agility and Lingbo Weibu.
"Yes, it’s a magic skill that both mages and priests can learn, called Demon’s Curse." Piaoling nodded and then explained the skill.
Demon’s Curse: When current MP is greater than 50% of maximum, consumes all MP to emit a curse light from the magic staff, binding at least two targets. Bound targets lose 500 HP per second, and the caster receives the total damage dealt to the targets. During this period, neither the targets nor the caster can use healing potions or receive healing skills. The skill has no cooldown.
After hearing the skill description, Xiao Hua was stunned for a moment before saying, "So you’re a constitution mage?" If not a constitution mage, it would be impossible for her to have more health than an assassin and an archer combined!
"Of course! My goal was to take revenge on Ice Seal World. I knew beforehand that Ice Seal World lacked commanding talent, and I happened to possess those skills. From the start of the game, I planned to infiltrate the Ice Seal Guild from this angle. As a commander, the more durable the profession, the better. In this game, a constitution mage, when buffed by various supportive skills from priests and equipped with a mage’s magic shield, is even more durable than a tank knight. The Shape Shift skill also greatly improves the survival capabilities of a commander. So, I chose constitution mage right from the beginning of the game."
"Why do you want to take revenge on Ice Seal World? Did someone hire you, or did he really deceive you?" Xiao Hua felt that his curiosity was unusually strong today, but secrets were always intriguing, especially ones that many people wanted to know but few truly understood!
"He didn’t deceive me, and nobody hired me. In fact, the girl he deceived didn’t even know me," Piaoling said with a light laugh.
Xiao Hua was puzzled. How could Ice Seal World have no conflict with her? Yet, she was willing to spend a whole year as a spy just to make Ice Seal World experience the taste of being deceived? What kind of bored person would do such a thing?
"Strange, isn’t it?" Piaoling didn’t turn around, but it seemed she knew what Xiao Hua was thinking.
"A bit," Xiao Hua admitted, not entirely honestly. It wasn’t just a bit strange, it was very strange.
"I grew up with my mother. When I was nine years old, my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor on the left side of her brain. If it was removed surgically, she wouldn’t be in danger, and the surgery had a high success rate, but the cost was exorbitant. Given our financial situation at the time, even selling everything we owned wouldn’t cover the cost of the surgery. The people we knew were also poor and couldn’t lend us much. Later, a wealthy person learned about our situation and donated money for my mother’s surgery, allowing her to undergo the operation before her condition worsened.
The person knew our circumstances and didn’t expect any repayment. They never showed their face during the donation, and afterward, my mother and I searched for a long time without finding out who had helped us. It wasn’t until a few years later that I accidentally learned the identity of the person who had helped my mother.
I may not have many virtues, but I know how to repay kindness. While it’s not true that without their help, I wouldn’t be who I am today, they genuinely saved my mother’s life at a crucial moment! Unfortunately, this person was both wealthy and influential, and there was little I could do to help them.
But last year, I learned that his daughter had been deceived online and was devastated. So, I investigated the incident."
The fiery horse carried the two of them through the snowy forest, galloping through the increasingly heavy snowfall. Sitting atop the horse, Piaoling’s body rose and fell with the horse’s movements as she calmly recounted her past.
The reason for all this was this. One could say that Ice Seal World was simply unlucky for deceiving the wrong person. Based on Piaoling’s style of doing things, Xiao Hua was certain that she was definitely a highly paid white-collar worker in real life! But now, she had forsaken her job and spent a year preparing for revenge. Ice Seal World’s downfall at her hands was absolutely justified!
"Change direction." Unconsciously, another ten minutes had passed, and Xiao Hua reminded her.
Piaoling pulled the horse’s reins, and the fiery horse changed direction, heading in a new direction.
Once again, Ice Seal World was left empty-handed, and he couldn’t describe his feelings! If this continued, the remaining three hours would pass quickly. Piaoling had stolen four million gold coins and a dark gold weapon from the guild’s warehouse. If she escaped successfully, more than half of the rewards from defeating the super boss would be lost!
More importantly, countless people in the Chinese server were watching him! The incident with the town guild upgrade token had already tarnished their reputation, and if Piaoling escaped, the hard-won honor from defeating the super boss would be completely ruined!
What people would praise wouldn’t be that they were the first guild to successfully defeat a super boss, but that after all their hard work, they ended up benefiting others. What people would remember wouldn’t be their thrilling victory over the super boss, but that despite having thousands of people, they failed to capture a single woman who ultimately escaped freely!