Chapter 687 – This Big Brother Is a Little Strong

TL Notes:
Crimson Sword(name) -> Crimson Mist(name)
Added: Crimson Sword(title)
Simply put, “Crimson Sword” is Crimson Mist’s title.

“Why are there only seventeen of you? Where’s the rest?” Shi Feng asked after scanning the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion members behind Fiery Heart. The number of players Fiery Heart had brought with her was completely different from what she told him previously.

“An accident happened on my side, Big Brother Black Flame,” Fiery Heart tentatively said as she looked at Shi Feng. “But I will still pay the total amount we agreed on. I will also have other players join us to make up for the missing numbers. I believe we can gather a 50-man team in no time.”

Fiery Heart could tell that Shi Feng wanted to head to the Ruined Temple as quickly as possible. Previously, her team had 45 members, including herself, and she could have easily recruited four more players to complete a 50-man team with Shi Feng. But now that they were 32 players short, completing the team would take a lot longer. So, she couldn’t help but worry that Shi Feng would decide to cast them aside and head to the Ruined Temple alone.

“That won’t be necessary. We can advance quicker with fewer members,” Shi Feng calmly said to Fiery Heart. “Let’s set out now.”

After saying so, Shi Feng stepped out of the cavern, his actions causing Fiery Heart and her teammates to grow worried. However, they still hurriedly chased after him.

Meanwhile, upon seeing the departure of Shi Feng’s team, Crying Blade and the rest of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion members couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.

“Is Fiery Heart crazy?”

Crying Blade couldn’t help but doubt his eyes when he saw only Fiery Heart’s team leaving with Shi Feng.

It could be said that a 50-man team was the ideal standard for players looking to travel to the Ruined Temple. At this size, the team would only need to face monster hordes that were about equal in size.

However, if the team was any larger, it would have to fight against monster hordes that were several times larger. And if the team was any smaller, every decently strong monster it encountered would not wait for reinforcements to attack it. This, in turn, would cause the team to face monster attacks far more frequently, severely slowing down their advance. In addition, if the team couldn’t eliminate or shake off the monsters they encountered fast enough, they would risk attracting more monsters.

Hence, 50-man teams became the ideal standard for players looking to travel to the Ruined Temple. Even when Level 200-plus, Tier 6 experts were looking to escort a few friends to the Ruined Temple, they would first recruit more players to form a 50-man team before heading out.

But now that Fiery Heart had set out with less than 20 players in the team, even if they ultimately made it to the Ruined Temple, there shouldn’t be more than two or three survivors.

Amidst Crying Blade’s surprise, Crimson Mist finished recruiting members for her 100-man team.

“Everyone, set out!”

When Crimson Mist saw that over half her team was made up of Level 200-plus, Tier 5 players, she issued a command to advance without hesitation. Immediately, the 100-man team charged out of the cavern.

…

Ruined Mountain Range, Inner Area:

After advancing for about 3,000 yards, Fiery Heart and the others quickly noticed the presence of many monsters in their surroundings. More monsters were also gathering over time, all at Level 190 and above. There were also several Tier 5 Legendary monsters among them.

“What’s going on with these monsters? Why aren’t they attacking us yet?” a Level 192, Tier 5 Cleric asked, frowning as she observed the monsters shadowing them.

Their team only had 18 members. Logically, any Tier 5 Legendary monster they encountered should attack them without hesitation. This would also be good news for their team as they had a Tier 6 expert leading them. Although they would be attacked more frequently than a 50-man team, they could still reach the Ruined Temple safely if they took their time eliminating the monsters they encountered.

Yet, even though three Legendary monsters had already discovered them, none attacked them. Instead, these monsters merely stalked them while waiting for reinforcements. If this situation continued, their team would eventually face annihilation.

“The Ruined Mountain Range’s monsters don’t have their five senses suppressed. Their perception radius is much larger than ours, so they should have detected Crimson Mist’s team and are gathering their strength to deal with all of us,” Fiery Heart said with an ugly complexion. “Right now, our only options are to either pull away from Crimson Mist’s team and deal with those monsters or stop immediately and let Crimson Mist’s team pass us.”

However, despite what she said, Fiery Heart felt that both options were terrible for their team.

If they chose to pull away from Crimson Mist’s team, they would have to face nearly a 50-man team’s worth of monsters. To make matters worse, three of these monsters were at the Legendary rank. It would definitely be a tough battle if they chose to fight these monsters.

Yet, if they chose to wait for Crimson Mist’s team to pass, although they could shift the monsters’ attention to Crimson Mist’s team, doing so would increase their exposure to the Ruined Mountain Range’s mysterious energy.

“How could she do this?! Did she not notice us leaving?!” the female Cleric said in exasperation.

Although never clearly stated, the various teams traveling from the cavern to the Ruined Temple knew that teams needed to maintain sufficient distance from each other when advancing to the Ruined Temple. Otherwise, the monsters would regard them as a single team, and both teams would suffer.

Since their team was the first to set out, Crimson Mist should have waited at least ten minutes before setting out with her team, making sure there was sufficient distance between their two teams.

“She should have noticed us leaving, but she probably doesn’t care about such matters,” Fiery Heart said with a wry smile.

Someone capable of leading a 100-man team to the Ruined Temple naturally wouldn’t be worried about going up against a 50-man team’s worth of monsters. Even if this number increased several times, it still shouldn’t be a big problem. To save time, Crimson Mist naturally wouldn’t care about showing common courtesy to a small team like theirs.

“Should we stop now, Big Brother?” Fiery Heart asked Shi Feng through the team chat. “If we continue advancing, we will have to face more and more monsters later on…”

“Ignore them. We will continue advancing,” Shi Feng calmly replied.

Is he not worried in the slightest? Fiery Heart couldn’t help but be surprised by Shi Feng’s indifferent response. She never thought Shi Feng would be confident enough to challenge Crimson Mist.

Any player capable of reaching Tier 6 wouldn’t be a fool. They would know how to accurately gauge their and their opponent’s strengths. So, the fact that Shi Feng had chosen to continue advancing meant that he was strong enough to deal with their current adversaries.

Realizing this, Fiery Heart kept quiet and continued following Shi Feng with her team.

…

Meanwhile, over at Crimson Mist’s team…

Under Crimson Mist’s careful selection, her team comprised primarily Level 200-plus, Tier 5 experts. As for the rest, although they were under Level 200, they were all Tier 5 Assassins, Tier 5 Rangers, and Tier 5 Swordsmen; classes with excellent mobility. In less than three minutes, the team arrived within 1,000 yards of Shi Feng’s team. This was also the limit of players’ perception range in the Ruined Mountain Range.

They haven’t stopped?

Crimson Mist was slightly surprised when she saw Shi Feng’s team still advancing steadily in front.

…