"Where did he go?" Jin Wei looked around, standing at the junction of the brook and the river. They had followed Liam all the way up to here when they had suddenly lost track of him.
Looking around carefully, Guan Ye poked him to show the set of footprints leading to the mountain. "Boss over there."
"Oh! Look up there! Is that a cave?" Jin Wei gasped.
"Boss there is another cave right next to it!!!" Guan Ye also exclaimed in excitement. "Oh shit, boss! This has to be some sort of treasure cave or dungeon right??? We have really hit it BIG!"
"Alright. Alright. Calm down. Have you forgotten how strong that guy is? He might also bring back up." Jin Wei rubbed his chin and muttered pensively.
"We have to be extra careful here. Finding a dungeon right now would be a very big deal. Not to mention the gold on that rich boy."
"Let's call for backup first. Get all our friends to come here."
"Ke Ke Ke. Who knows even a guild tablet or something like that could drop from the dungeon and we can be the first guild in the game!"
"What a fucking lucky day! This rich boy is my lucky star! Ba ha ha ha!!!"
While Jin Wei stood arrogantly and looked around the area, Guan Ye quickly got to work and called everybody they knew who was in and around the area.
Within a few minutes, a group of players had gathered around the area, with some more still coming in.
Inside the mountain, at the back of the winding tunnels of the cave, a blackish green skinned creature lazily raised its head.
Niria had noticed the weak prey that had wandered into its lair, but it sighed, letting out smoky fumes, seeing that the meat wouldn't be enough to even savor the taste, let alone fill its stomach.
Without even opening its eyes, it lazily rested its red spiky head back on the cold cave ground. It knew that the prey was sure to walk right into its mouth, so it made no effort of any kind.
It patiently snoozed and waited, absentmindedly watching Liam through its soul sense. It watched him as he picked up the copper coins and then it watched him after he picked up the silver coins.
It even watched him as he left behind the few silver coins and moved onto the mound of gold, only to come back later for it, stumbling and falling on his face.
"Heh… What a clumsy little human… Good that stupidity is not contagious." It snorted in arrogance, once again smoke filling the small space.
It lazily lifted its one eyelid, its fluorescent slit-like eye half open and half closed, and watched Liam as he ruffled his head and ran out to grab the few coins.
Though there were mountains and mountains of treasure inside, the human being had still gone back for a couple of gold and silver coins. Such was the greed of living beings! It harrumphed condescendingly.
However, the very next second, the enormous terrifying dragon instantly froze. It jerked its head up and flashed its eyes open. "Growl?"
It took a minute… the enormous beast blinked… and it finally understood what just happened!
Niria swung its body around in a haste, lashing its tail in anger, as it saw the human being blast out of the cave and the mountain itself with immense speed.
ROARRRRR! It let out a terrifying howl as it speeded outside as well without a second thought.
Trickery! The damned human had outsmarted it! Taking only some of its treasures, the stupid and clumsy human being had run away!
Niria trembled in anger, after having been made a fool by a stupid human being. It shot out of the cave following the prey's trail, determined to chew him out today.
ROARRRRR! It opened its mouth and sent out another terrifying howl but this time bright red flames shot out of its mouth, matching the color of its skin and scales.
Meanwhile…
Liam sucked in a huge breath of air and had started to run as soon as he neared the entrance of the cave.
He was not sure if he was going to make it. After all, the beast that was about to chase him was a dragon, even if it was one of the lesser dragons.
But he couldn't let this opportunity pass by and mustered every last bit of his strength to run as fast as he could.
He shoddily climbed down the winding paths of the mountain, half sliding and half slipping, getting the hell out of the zone.
However, as soon as he landed on the flat forest ground… Liam came to a screeching halt.
Standing in front of him were about twenty to thirty players, each and every single one of them at least Level 2, while behind him up on the hill, a terrifying roar sounded, a blast of fire ripping out of the cave entrance.