After Aburi left, the four continued heading north. Within half an hour, Aburi returned.
"Head slightly northeast; with your speed, you should arrive in about half an hour," Aburi said, standing on Xiao Hua's shoulder and pointing in a direction with his wing.
"Alright, Aburi, you're free for now, but don't fly too far away. We might need your help soon."
"Yes, master." Aburi flew back into the sky as Xiao Hua and the others sped towards the lumber camp.
As they advanced, they soon encountered areas where monsters around level thirty respawned densely, forcing them to take detours. After nearly fifty minutes, they finally saw the back of the lumber camp.
Just ten meters from the lumber camp, as they planned to walk around to the front, they suddenly heard a shout: "Damn it! Take out this old man!"
Surprised, they realized someone else had beaten them there and intended to eliminate the NPC.
"Hide in the nearby woods. I'll send my illusion to check the situation," Xiao Hua decided, knowing the players present would be of higher levels than theirs. Sending an illusion was safer.
Xiao Hua summoned an illusion, which surprised the Fang sisters, but they remained silent to avoid alerting the group at the lumber camp. They quietly moved towards a dense patch of trees nearby. Their white outfits made them blend well with the snowy surroundings.
Putting both his character and the illusion into stealth mode, Xiao Hua positioned his character behind the lumber camp's wooden house and controlled the illusion forward. Creeping along the edge of the house, he spotted a group fighting and retreating.
"Move back a bit, pull the old man out here. It's too cramped inside, we can't dodge properly!" someone shouted from the other side of the house.
A priest and two mages fought while healing and dealing damage, unaware that someone was stealthily approaching.
As the mage and the priest slowly retreated, a knight with a shield and a warrior came into view, followed by a tall, thin old man wielding an axe fiercely against the knight.
The old man's attacks were high, dealing over 2,000 HP damage to the knight with each strike. The knight tried to control the old man's attention and dodge as much as possible, using his shield to block when necessary. However, the chance of successful blocking was limited, and the knight relied heavily on not getting critically hit.
Despite the efforts of the high-spirit priest casting healing spells and using large health potions, the situation was tense. The warrior was even more cautious, afraid of drawing the old man's attention and receiving a fatal blow.
The priest's healing output was impressive, indicating a high-spirit build with significant skill levels. Yet, even with such support, the old man named Tumen's HP was dropping rapidly, reduced by a tenth within moments.
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At this rate, Tumen's HP would be depleted within two minutes. This five-person team would likely prevail unless the knight suffered consecutive critical hits.
"Get ready. We'll ambush and take out this team. Without the priest, the rest will surely die to Tumen. Our task is to take down the priest. However, she has high spirit and probably around 800 magic defense. Piaoling and Ning'er, use magic to tie up the mage and the warrior, preventing them from interfering. One fire mage and one earth mage, coordinate your skills. Once I attack, launch your status effects to hinder their actions. Ying'er, focus on using your highest damage skills to help me take down the priest!" Xiao Hua planned, realizing that if Tumen were killed, the mission would be lost.
The priest, likely around level forty, wearing blue gear, had under 2,500 HP, physical defense around 250, and magic defense approximately 800. With luck, they could defeat her. From previous observations, Fang Ying appeared to be a high-strength archer capable of dealing significant damage.
"Understood." The three women prepared as Xiao Hua moved his character closer to the priest.
"Ready... Now!" As Xiao Hua gave the signal, the illusion cast an identification spell on the priest!
Identification successful! A critical point appeared on the priest's back!
Unaware of the approaching threat, the priest continued healing the knight. The illusion revealed itself behind her, surprising the distant fire mage who noticed the change in light and shouted a warning.
Poison applied successfully!
While using the identification skill, the illusion also used a poison skill, increasing the chance of poisoning. Before the priest could react, Xiao Hua struck the critical point with his Scorching Spike!
With over 60% critical chance, the attack was successful!
The triple damage from the critical hit combined with the 2.5x damage bonus from the grandmaster stealth skill resulted in a terrifying 5.5x damage multiplier. Additionally, the critical poison and the illusion's Shadow Assault amplified the effect.
-1300! -325! -100!
A purple critical damage number followed by two green damage numbers left the priest with only around 1,000 HP.
Simultaneously, several dark arrows descended from the sky, striking the priest swiftly. Fang Ying's attack arrived!
-140! -130! -133! -145! -151! -148!
Six consecutive shots, using a skill Xiao Hua had never seen before, dealt nearly 900 HP damage to the priest!
Seeing the priest with only a couple hundred HP left, Xiao Hua ordered the illusion to self-destruct!
-500!
In close proximity, the explosion affected the illusion as well, but Xiao Hua prioritized eliminating the priest.
From the moment the illusion attacked until the priest's death, less than two seconds passed. Only the fire mage noticed the illusion initially; the others, including the deceased priest, only realized they were ambushed after the priest died.
Piaoling and Fang Ning's spells landed on the two mages. Piaoling's Water Bind restrained the fire mage, while Fang Ning's Wind Lament silenced the earth mage for four seconds.
"Target the earth mage!" The earth mage was closest to the priest and suffered significant damage from the illusion's self-destruction.
Although attacking a level forty player from level thirty was challenging, their equipment was top-notch, especially Fang Ying's. Her critical hit arrow removed 1,100 HP from the earth mage, proving lethal against mages. In mere moments, the earth mage fell despite using potions.
On the opposite side, after Xiao Hua killed the priest, Tumen attacked the knight with four consecutive strikes, finishing with a critical hit, sending the knight back to the respawn point. The warrior tried to flee but was swiftly caught and killed by Tumen.
The remaining fire mage, freed from restraint, looked at Xiao Hua in shock and anger, realizing he must escape or face certain death.
"Shift Image!" Running was impossible, but escaping twenty meters to summon a mount was a possibility!
The fire mage teleported, gaining ten meters distance from Xiao Hua. Shift Image was an instant cast skill, usually unstoppable unless the mage's MP was depleted. However, perhaps due to low skill level or random positioning, or Tumen's predictive abilities, the mage unexpectedly teleported right in front of Tumen!
Enraged, Tumen swung his axe, dealing -2500 damage, instantly killing the fire mage.