BONUS Chapter for reaching 1000 PS!
Thank you everyone!
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Ren was about to summon Pii and let it sniff out those Tieflings for him when Lily and the others blocked his path.
“Uhm . . . Ren . . . ,” started Josh, and based on his tone and the uneasiness on his face, it seemed that he wasn’t comfortable with what he was about to say next.
Ren was only two years or so ahead of Josh and the others.
And even though Josh and his friends couldn’t see Ren’s face amidst the hood, Ren’s lean built, demeanor and voice, told of a man near his twenties. So Josh and the others didn’t feel the need to address Ren like he was older.
In fact, Josh and his friends’ really felt like Ren wasn’t older than them.
“Actually . . . Do you want to enter our group? Hoggy said that it’s best if you aren’t alone when facing a Tiefling. And we couldn’t help but notice that you’re on your own.”
Zach rolled his eyes at the side and cut in, “Just get on with it.”
Zach then pushed Josh to the side, faced Ren, and said in a lukewarm tone, “What he means is, you can join our group, but you have to give Pii to Lily. We will also help you acquire these Balls . . . whatever, and all the loots and rewards will be yours.”
Like what happened yesterday, Ren wasn’t angry at their blatant words. He was rather amused and couldn’t help but shake his head. He guessed that Lily still wasn’t going to give up on Pii as long as she saw him. Another reason to kill those Tieflings ASAP and get the hell out from here.
Ren knew that Zach and the others might press the matter if he gave them any attention. The best way to deal with the group was to ignore them.
Ren exactly did that and turned the other way.
Zach was speechless when Ren didn’t even say anything to him. The man just straight out disregarded him, and this had never happened before.
Maybe Ren didn’t know who he was?
“Hey you, stop right there! Don’t you know who I am?” Zach hollered, but Ren just continued ahead like he didn’t hear anything.
“I don’t care if you own the world. I still won’t give Pii to anyone,” said Ren with a voice colder than the freezing dessert night.
And upon hearing his voice, Josh and the others shivered.
“You boys worry about yourself. You might die out here,” Ren warned before he left them.
Zach was about to say something again when Ray pulled him back.
“That’s enough. The guy already said no.”
“Maybe he is too strong that he didn’t need a group?” Josh joked to Lily when he noticed that the girl’s head was low and her cheeks were puffing. Indicating that Lily was upset, and Josh’s heart swelled at the sight. He couldn’t help but think negatively about Ren. All thoughts of Ren helping them yesterday night were gone in his head.
However, that only lasted five seconds, and Josh immediately regained his head. Lily’s charms were indeed scary. It made even him, a boy who was always level-headed, forget who he was.
Zach sneered and slapped Ray’s hand off his shoulder. “Bah! What do you mean strong? He is a mage. Remember those water balls he released that night? Hoggy said that Mages will have a hard time fighting the Tieflings ’cause they have magical resistance or whatever.
“Lily was kind enough to let him in the group and even give him all the rewards, but he is so smug. Let’s see if he could last alone in this dessert. You’ll see. He’d be the first to die. We won’t be seeing that guy after Hoggy blow his horns.”
When Lily heard that she might not see Ren anymore, she panicked. That mean that she also wouldn’t be able to see Pii too! And her chance of acquiring that pet was close to zero if that happened.
While Josh and the others were distracted, Lily took that chance to slip from their eyes and hurriedly followed Ren before the others notice that she was gone.
Meanwhile, Ren was already meters ahead from the Oasis before he summoned Pii.
“Alright, little Pii. Take me to those Tieflings.”
Like Pii understood, it twirled over Ren’s head before it flew forward.
Ren silently followed Pii without a word, and not even five minutes of walking, Pii found a dead tree not far from two giant rocks. Hiding behind those rocks were two Tiefling Thieves.
Without a second thought, Ren engaged the two Tieflings and rained Water balls at the unsuspecting enemies.
With the Tieflings’ low ATP and not to mention that Ren hit them from behind, which granted a critical attack, the two Tieflings died on the spot. Their magical resistance was useless against Ren’s high INT.
Ren only received [KangKong Balls x3] and some gil and messily items from the two. It wasn’t much, and Ren didn’t have a choice but to hunt more Tieflings in the area.
However, as he did, Ren noticed that the Tieflings he encountered grew more in numbers as he went towards a ruined structure. Some were in a group of three or four until there were five of them, ranging from the class of thieves, hunters, swordsmen, and barbarians, and some even have a pet basilisk with them.
Good thing that Ren’s LCK was high, and the Basilisk was still low level, so he wasn’t turned into a stone by its skill for the Tieflings to feast upon after.
If it was the others, Ren was sure that they would have died.
Even though the Tieflings’ ATP was low, Ren couldn’t kill all of them in a single hit, so some managed to attack him and land a blow though their attacks only scrape so little on his HP bar.
Moreover, there were also desert beasts roaming around the area. Some were low-level, while some were harder to face at this early point in the game.
Ren didn’t engage them. No need to waste his time and mana on the beasts. He was here only for the Tieflings.
The problem was, Ren noticed that the supposed to be easy quest had turned into hard or even nightmarish for regular players as he approached the ruins.
“Is something there?” Ren asked Pii, but the little creature continued flying towards the ruins like it saw nothing but that place.
“Pii, you’re not leading me to my doom, are you?” Ren teased the little creature, and Pii just let out a soft cry while its focus was still on the ruins.
After walking for an hour around the desert in search of Tieflings, Ren still hadn’t heard the blow of the Ox horn.
Looking back, Ren ensured that the Oasis was still within his line of sight before he stopped in the ruins.
There was nothing noteworthy about the ruins. Like the previous ones, the grandeur it had once was lost in time, and it succumbed to decay and relics. Scattered stone walls all around while dessert sand covered most of the cobbled grounds.
It must be a temple long ago based on the statue of a goddess that was the only thing that remained intact from all the rubbles. However, cracks like tiny veins were scattered across its figure.
Pii stopped on the statue, specifically on the statue’s head.
Ren was about to check if there was something in the statue’s blank eyes when he heard noises, rattles from stones, and the soft crunch of boots on the desert sand.
When he looked at the area, about Ten Tieflings were already surrounding him. Their piercing cold stare felt like it penetrated deep into his heart.
Ren sighed and looked at Pii with dead eyes.
He did say to lead him where the Tieflings were, but ten of them all at once wasn’t what he was hoping for.