The morning mist had not yet fully dissipated.
Luo Miu glanced at the time on his terminal, then checked the total tier of artifacts on the team panel.
[Current Total Tier: 48]
In just one night, their team’s results had already surpassed the hard work the Black Queen team had put in all of yesterday.
“The efficiency is alright,” Luo Miu evaluated internally.
In the latter half of the night, he had once again commanded Cassie to lure two waves of monsters. After waking up, he used “Dragon Flame” to clear them out, securing twenty-one tiers’ worth of artifacts.
The consumption of cards and credits were all within his calculations.
“Boss… are we… are we still continuing today?” Cassie’s voice trembled, her face written with exhaustion.
The drain on her and her teammates was significant.
The dual torment of spirit and body made these three young women look haggard and worn out.
“Of course,” Luo Miu’s answer was crisp and direct.
“This is a big job that requires three days of continuous work. Otherwise, did you think credits were that easy to earn?”
Standing up, Luo Miu stretched his muscles and walked toward the edge of the cliff.
At the entrance of the basin, the six Tier 4 magical beasts left from yesterday were still wandering around.
And further away, he could faintly see the campfire from the Black Queen team’s camp.
They hadn’t left.
“As expected,” a slight curve formed at the corner of Luo Miu’s mouth.
With Lilith’s personality, she would absolutely never give up until she crashed and burned.
“Prepare to start work.” Luo Miu turned back and looked at Cassie.
“Same old rules. Once every six hours, lure the monsters out from those two newly refreshed nests.”
“Yes… yes…” Cassie responded weakly.
“Wait.”
Luo Miu stopped her and took several cards out of his storage space.
“What are these?” Cassie asked, puzzled.
“Tie them to your arrows,” Luo Miu said, handing her the arrows. “Before you lure the monsters, set these cards up inside the nests.”
“Are we using these to fight magical beasts?” Cassie looked at the [Tier 2 Silence] and [Tier 2 Explosion] cards with confusion:
“Boss, these are only Tier 2 cards. Tier 4 magical beasts are almost entirely immune to attacks of this level, right?”
“And Silence doesn’t even work on magical beasts, does it?”
“They’ll be useful in a bit,” Luo Miu said flatly.
“Go on. Do your job. Sixty credits aren’t that easy to get.”
“Sigh, why be so mysterious…”
Cassie took the cards and walked toward the monster nests with some reluctance.
Living in debt was truly miserable!
***
During the morning, Luo Miu led his own team and continued clearing the remaining monster nests inside the basin.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Kallenina and Ibuki Mio’s cooperation became increasingly seamless. They were executing the “Weakness Strike” tactics provided by Luo Miu more and more effectively.
Annie acted like a ghost, constantly following behind Luo Miu and taking on the task of providing mana for the auxiliary cards.
Making money…
Needless to ask, Annie felt that was exactly what he was thinking.
“Aren’t I just being ordered around like a servant?!”
The maid, who saw through his true nature, was ten-thousand times reluctant, yet she could do absolutely nothing about Luo Miu.
Besides, even if she spoke up, who would believe her!
Time quickly reached noon.
At the top of the cliff, Luo Miu stopped his pace.
Observing the distance, Cassie’s figure appeared once again.
她 pulled back her bow and notched an arrow, easily firing several enchanted arrows deep into two Tier 4 nests.
Following that, she threw out a Hunter skill, hitting the magical beasts inside the nests.
[Hum–]
After a faint magic explosion and a brief distortion of energy.
[Roar!!!]
A roar even more violent than yesterday’s echoed from the cave.
Six frenzied Tier 4 magical beasts rushed out.
Their target was aimed straight at the provocateur.
“This is such a chore!”
Without another word, Cassie’s body glowed as all her Hunter skills were activated, her speed surging instantly.
“Ejection!”
“Dash!”
The other two members of her team provided support skills at the same time.
Facing six high-level magical beasts charging like tanks, Cassie turned into a literal speedster, managing to shake them off!
“Good positioning.”
Luo Miu watched as those six magical beasts merged with the six from yesterday’s entrance, eventually forming a luxury gatekeeping lineup of eight Tier 4 magical beasts at the basin entrance.
Eight Tier 4 magical beasts. If each took one bite, it would be enough to take down a warrior of the same tier!
If compared to underwear, this was a rock-solid pair of iron trunks!
With them there, as long as one didn’t have the right alchemy cards, entering the high-level monster zone was absolutely impossible!
“Alright, you guys can come over now,” Luo Miu sent a message in the team channel.
Cassie’s entire body was radiating heat, like a steamed bun fresh out of the steamer, her fair skin flushed red:
“Boss… it’s done. The monsters at the gate… have become eight… ha… ha.”
“I know.” Luo Miu nodded. “Good work.”
He transferred today’s advance payment to them.
Only after seeing the credits arrive did the expressions of Cassie’s trio look a bit better.
Money was the only consolation.
“Alright, today’s luring task is complete. You can rest here or wander around elsewhere.”
After Luo Miu finished speaking, he paid them no more mind.
His gaze turned back toward the bottom of the cliff.
The Black Queen team was moving.
After a night of rest and reorganization, they had recovered their mana, and their condition looked much better than yesterday.
Lilith led the charge, making no attempt to hide her fighting spirit.
She looked up at the top of the cliff, seemingly trying to find something.
But the existence of the Shadow Mist left her with nothing.
“Hmph.”
Lilith let out a cold snort and tightened her grip on the greatsword in her hand.
“I want to see just how long you can hide in that turtle shell!”
She gave the order to her teammates behind her.
“Prepare for battle!”
“Today, we must break into this area!”
On the cliff, Luo Miu looked at them and smiled.
“Come on, take a look at this.”
“They still chose to fight.” Kallenina walked to Luo Miu’s side and also looked toward the basin entrance: “Commendable courage, but utterly meaningless.”
“Exactly right.”
Luo Miu agreed:
“How many minutes do you think she’ll last?”
Kallenina observed Lilith and judged: “If she has family-inherited skills or the right alchemy cards… I’m afraid she’ll still need more than ten minutes of fighting.”
Luo Miu shook his head: “Oh, no. I mean, how many minutes until the magical beasts send her home.”
When asked this, Kallenina seemed to think of something, her lips curling slightly: “I’m afraid it only takes one moment where a magical beast lands a hit.”
***
“Huff… Courage and Glory.”
Lilith took a deep breath, and the warrior bloodline within her body began to boil.
She could feel it. At the top of the cliff, a pair of eyes was watching her.
It was Cavnir. It was the top-ranked team.
She could not tolerate such a result—being shut out by someone, unable to even see a hope for success.
“End this quickly!”
At Lilith’s command, the Black Queen team shot forward like arrows from a string, charging toward the basin entrance.
Their goal was clear: to forcibly break through the blockade of the eight Tier 4 magical beasts.
[Roar–!]
Sensing the intruders, the eight magical beasts roared simultaneously.
The Lava Giant Crocodile opened its massive maw, and scorching magma began to gather in its throat.
The Earth-Shattering Bull lowered its head, its thick horns shimmering with an earthy yellow light.
The battle was triggered instantly.
“Hunter, limit their ranged attacks!”
“Mage, prepare area-of-effect magic to interrupt their charge!”
Lilith’s command was calm and effective.
Walls of ice rose from the ground, attempting to block the monsters’ path.
Countless vines sprouted from beneath the earth, wrapping around their limbs.
However, these control skills that were usually effective seemed somewhat powerless today.
“What’s going on?!”
The mage in the team discovered with shock that several of her control spells had lost their intended effect.
“These monsters are too high-level, and they have magic resistance!”
“Don’t panic! It’s only temporary!” Lilith roared.
“I’ll hold them off! Stall them!”
Leading the charge, the greatsword in the girl’s hand ignited with raging flames.
Since magic and techniques were limited, she would use the purest skills to solve the problem through combat.
[Clang!]
The greatsword collided with the hard scales of the Lava Giant Crocodile, sending out a large burst of sparks.
The massive counter-force made Lilith’s arms go numb, but she did not retreat a single step.
The honor of a warrior did not allow her to back down.
“That’s it! Come on!!”
“That’s enough!”
Inspired by Lilith, the members of the Black Queen team also exploded with incredible combat power.
A pile of auxiliary skills were all stacked onto Lilith.
A Tier 3 rank, a body of flesh and blood—under this continuous stack of buffs, she actually managed to forcibly withstand the frantic attacks of the eight Tier 4 magical beasts!
“Look at those stats.”
Luo Miu wasn’t flustered at all.
Although she acted arrogant, Lilith’s combat style was actually that of a “tank-type warrior.”
The more damage she took, the more her health recovery and skill damage would stack.
And the “Sword of Radiant Heaven” inherited from her family allowed her to use all the stacked layers at once to perform one devastating attack.
The prerequisite was—not being interrupted.
“Trying to hit my guard dogs, huh? Watch me make you fly.”
Luo Miu continued to observe the battlefield until he saw Lilith’s sword blade begin to glow with a blazing light.
Right now!
“Be quiet.”
Luo Miu muttered in his heart.
Card, activated.
Invisible magic fluctuations spread out like ripples, silently enveloping the entire battlefield below.
Lilith, who was fighting a bloody battle, suddenly felt her body go empty.
The power that had been roaring within her felt as if its lifeblood had been squeezed by an invisible giant hand, instantly snuffing out.
The scorching light on the greatsword she held high—light enough to split mountains—suddenly extinguished.
“What?”
Lilith’s mind went blank.
Her finisher had been interrupted.
Not because of a monster’s attack, and not because of a teammate’s mistake.
But because… the flow of mana had stalled, and the light on her sword had vanished into thin air!
Silence?!
How could this be!
This interruption lasted only a few seconds before Lilith felt the flow of mana again.
But the magical beasts had already trampled through all obstacles and rushed right in front of her!
[Clang!!]
The horn of an Earth-Shattering Bull slammed hard into her breastplate.
[Crack—]
The sturdy armor shattered instantly.
Lilith flew backward like a kite with a broken string, a spray of fresh blood spilling into the air.
Immediately following that, the Lava Giant Crocodile’s massive maw swallowed her figure.
[Flash!]
A flash of light occurred.
Lilith’s body turned into points of starlight and disappeared from the spot.
The entire battlefield fell into a dead silence.
The members of the Black Queen team stared blankly at the spot where their captain had disappeared, forgetting to attack.
Then, a cold system notification sound rang out within the brooches of all participants.
[Announcement: Black Queen Team Leader, Lilith, has been eliminated.]
[Announcement: Losers can spend twenty credits to revive at the initial teleportation point after one hour.]
The entire field was in an uproar.
The first one to be eliminated was actually a favorite to win, the leader of the Black Queen team, Lilith!
“Retreat! Retreat quickly!”
The members of the Black Queen team finally reacted and began to retreat toward the defensive line they came from.
On the cliff, Luo Miu withdrew his card.
[Current Total Tier: 56]
The numbers changed slightly.
It was because he had assisted in eliminating a leader and seized a portion of the opponent’s artifacts!
“Sigh, it’s all Sylvia’s fault for making me change my tactics against you guys…”
With a relaxed smile on his face, Luo Miu no longer intended to show any leniency to these SSRs.
“I told you, you have to use your brain to play this game…”
Boom!
A violent magic storm struck, instantly sweeping over the members of the Black Queen team who hadn’t yet recovered and were standing dazed on the spot.
[Eliminated…]
[Eliminated…]
Team wiped!
“They’re here.”
Kallenina looked in the direction where the blast was spreading.
A blonde girl stepped out slowly from the forest with her team.
The power of nature swirling around her body turned into the final movement of the team’s elimination.
With just one storm, she had taken out the remaining members of the Black Queen team.
“Elena. As expected, she was waiting for this opportunity.”