At the top of the cliff overlooking the basin entrance, Lomu found a clean rock and sat down.
He took a recovery potion out of his system storage and drank it slowly, replenishing the mana he had just consumed.
The mountain wind blew past with a hint of chill, fluttering the tips of his hair. Annie stood behind him, silent.
Karenina and Ibuki Mio were counting the day’s harvest and observing the high-level wilderness zone to plan tomorrow’s route.
“Boss… are we… are we still pulling today?”
Kesia’s voice drifted over from not far away, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Her two teammates were already collapsed on the ground, lacking the strength to even lift a finger.
“What’s the rush?” Lomu didn’t even turn his head.
“These things spawn at fixed times and locations. They aren’t going to give us an extra wave out of thin air. Let my three sets of gatekeepers stand guard first. We’ll wait until they’ve turned away the first batch of blind guests.”
As he spoke, Lomu turned his gaze toward the dense jungle below the cliff. The commotion was getting louder.
Finally, several battered figures burst out from the edge of the jungle. Leading them was a woman with fiery red hair, wearing heavy armor.
“They arrived quite fast. As expected of a DPS-type SSR.”
Hidden within the shadow mist, Lomu watched Lilith from afar. Her armor was covered in scratches of varying depths, and the once-shiny metal had lost its luster.
Her long red hair was stuck to her cheeks with sweat as she panted heavily, her chest heaving violently. Behind her, the members of the Black Queen team were in even worse shape.
Some leaned on their weapons, half-kneeling on the ground. Others simply lay down, their faces pale, showing obvious signs of mana exhaustion.
“We finally made it…”
Lilith’s voice was hoarse. She braced her hands on her knees and looked ahead. As long as they crossed this open ground, they would be in the high-level monster zone. She saw the two massive nest camps.
Then, the girl’s movements froze. Her gaze shifted from tired anticipation to unbelievable shock in an instant.
“What… what is that?”
A teammate followed her gaze, their voice shaking uncontrollably.
At the entrance of the basin, in front of the two nest entrances, six massive Tier 4 monsters were leisurely pacing.
Three Lava Crocodiles and three Earth-Cracking Bulls. Every single one of them exuded a suffocatingly powerful aura.
They weren’t attacking each other; they were simply wandering near their respective spawn points like loyal guards, sealing off every inch of land leading into the basin.
“Six… six of them?”
“How can there be so many!?”
The alchemist in the team nearly had their eyes pop out of their sockets.
They thought they could finally set up camp, but they were met with this?!
This… who else could enter this wilderness zone?!
“One nest spawns three Tier 4 monsters? Has the academy’s evaluation gone insane! Setting a level of difficulty like this at the entrance?!”
“No!”
The hunter beside Lilith stared intently at the monsters.
“Look at their positioning! They belong to two different nests! Three for each nest… that in itself is abnormal!”
“But why aren’t they fighting each other?!” Lilith grit her teeth, her internal irritation replaced by a wave of massive confusion.
They had fought their way from the entrance all afternoon, clearing over thirty low-level nests.
The entire team’s condition had hit rock bottom just so they could enter the high-level zone before anyone else.
But the scene before her completely shattered her understanding.
“Captain, the Chief Team… how did they get in?” a teammate asked in despair.
Indeed. How did they get in?
That Chief Team which had erupted with shocking energy fluctuations and disappeared right at the start.
If the entrance looked like this, it would have been impossible for them to go deeper unscathed. The only explanation was that these monsters appeared after they had already gone inside.
“Chief Team… Kafnir…” Lilith whispered the name, her fists clenching until her knuckles cracked.
The man who had used a stealth card to run away at the start. It turned out he wasn’t a coward. Instead, he had completed this kind of setup in a place she couldn’t see.
***
On the cliff, Lomu looked down at the bewildered Black Queen team and almost burst out laughing.
“Here it comes, here it comes! That’s the expression! Mm, truly delicious!” Lomu clapped cheerfully. He felt as if the smiles had been transferred from the Black Queen team onto his own face.
In order to help his classmates develop quickly and not waste the monsters’ respawn time, he had prepared two camps for them at once, totaling six groups of high-level monsters! What a grand act of mutual assistance!
Karenina walked over and followed his gaze. “They really are blocked off.”
“What else did you expect?” Lomu spread his hands.
“With their combat style of only using their heads to charge forward, the fact that they could even reach this place proves they are strong. Unfortunately, they don’t use their brains. No matter how much strength you have, it’s useless if you’re stupid.”
This was what you called an old player’s route planning!
He finally understood why Lilith’s personal story in the game always involved her being led around by the nose.
She was a pure martial faction member, completely one-track-minded.
“Let them worry about it. We’re going to sleep first! When they start fighting the monsters, we’ll go down and ask if they need ‘help.'”
***
“We don’t have any more area-of-effect alchemy cards.” Below, the Black Queen team’s alchemist checked their cards, their face pale.
“Today’s supply of recovery potions is at the bottom. We can’t sustain a high-intensity battle. Facing six Tier 4 monsters at once… Captain, it’s simply impossible! Never mind our current state; even if we were at our peak, we couldn’t do it!”
The complaints and despair of the teammates reached Lilith’s ears clearly.
“Shut up! Instead of saying such discouraging things, think more about what to do!”
Lilith’s angry shout stopped the discussion.
The warrior blood in her body craved battle, but the intuition forged in combat was warning her. Given the current situation, charging in meant total annihilation.
Six Tier 4 monsters would require at least six single-target attack cards of the same tier, or two to three Tier 3 area-of-effect cards to resolve quickly.
Did they have them?
No.
The previously fluctuating market had affected material prices, which in turn resulted in this wave of upgrades costing more credits than expected.
Even if they wanted to make alchemy cards, with the team’s current savings, they couldn’t afford a high-level alchemist, nor could they make them themselves.
The academy had likely anticipated this, which was why the highest-level monsters were set at Tier 4.
But the Chief Team had them. That crimson-gold pillar of light reaching the sky was proof.
“Moreover, once we start a fight here, the commotion will be too loud and will attract all the other teams!” the hunter added.
“When that happens and our mana is exhausted, we’ll just become prey for others!”
Every word felt like it was smashing against Lilith’s heart. Clenching the heavy sword in her hand, the veins on the back of the girl’s hand bulged.
Unwillingness burned in her chest like a wildfire. She stared deathly at those six massive monsters; if she could, Lilith would have loved to tear them apart with her eyes alone.
But in the end, she released her grip on the sword hilt. Reality was reality, and it allowed for no mistakes.
“Retreat.”
Even Lilith had to accept the current situation.
“Don’t forget, there are others following behind us. Stay alert to prevent an ambush. Find a place nearby to rest and recover mana.”
She turned around, no longer looking at the basin entrance that brought her such shame. The members of the Black Queen team felt as if they had been granted a grand pardon.
Supporting each other and dragging their exhausted bodies, they disappeared into the shadows of the jungle.
Watching their retreating backs, Lomu stretched his limbs.
“All done. Hey, Kesia, don’t sleep too deeply.” Lomu walked toward the girl who had already closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep instantly, kicking her leg lightly.
“Wake up in five and a half hours. We’re going to pull another wave.”
“…Yes, Boss.” The hunter girl opened one eye with resentment. After answering, her head tilted, and she passed out again.
[Current Total Tiers: 27]
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