Chapter 23: Crystal Slime

ThornyRose unwaveringly stared at Ye Cang. The more she looked, the more pissed she got. FrozenBlood stood at the side and looked at her meaningfully. Very few people could irritate her so much. Anyways, these three guys were very interesting.

“Little Green, how much mana have you recovered?” ThornyRose sighed and asked.

“I’m about done, we can continue exploring.” GreenDew’s words allowed ThornyRose to cheer up a bit. Seeing Zhang ZhengXiong and Lin Le making a fuss across from them as well as the indifferently resting Ye Cang, she had no choice but to remind them: “Let’s go. Let’s clear this place as early as possible.”

Ye Cang slowly opened his eyes. “Time to work.”

The three guys climbed out and started putting on their equipment.

ThornyRose and the girl’s also finished changing behind the stalagmite, their wet hair swaying.

Everyone looked around the area but couldn’t find anymore paths. They decided to return to the fork and go down the left side this time.

On the left side, which was the main path, it quickly became obvious that it was leading downwards. The further they went down, the higher the temperature became. As they approached the end of the passage, a strong sulfur smell assaulted their noses and the air suddenly became had a drastic rise in temperature.

Ye Cang looked at the surroundings. They’d arrived in a empty, winding cave. Looking left and right, it was only 3 meters wide. It seemed to continue to zigzag downwards. The volcanic rock here seemed to have been molded into a path. They arrived at the edge of a cliff. Ye Cang hopefully looked down and saw only billowing smoke. This should be the mouth of the volcano.

Everyone stuck to the left wall away from cliff, carefully going forwards, but soon it became too difficult to advance. There was barely anywhere to stand. They had no choice but to turn back. This time they tried following the right wall.

The right path continued winding downwards, and they arrived at another cavern. Killing the red slimes and volcano bats that were there, they entered to take a look. There were passages in every direction, and many natural bridges that crossed deep chasms. Luckily it wasn’t too complicated. After all, this volcano wasn’t all that big.

Walking across one of the bridges, the smoke made some of them feel unwell. It also drastically reduced the range of their vision. They quickly crossed the bridge to arrive at the cavern on the other side.

“How much farther do we have to walk…” Lin Le whispered.

“This is considered easy. In the future, there will be: big volcanoes, cave systems, sinkholes, and enormous labyrinths. Compared to those, this is nothing. Imagine staying in one of them for over half a month.” ThornyRose couldn’t help smiling a bit. They continued walking, their torches illuminating inside.

FrozenBlood thought back to the last game ‘Rise of Clans’. All of Thorns and Roses, the 4 great guilds, as well as many of China’s strongest groups, were all trapped in a volcano for half a year. ThornyRose and herself were lucky and managed to find an exit in just over a month, as they didn’t plan on staying for too long, so they focused on leaving. With all of the 4 great guild inside, the word fierce wouldn’t be enough to describe the competition. Although Thorns and Roses’ strength was considered pretty good, but there was still a gap when compared to the 4 great guilds. They could only stare at their backs. Leaving the volcano early, although they didn’t receive much, they also didn’t lose much. The one’s inside who were trying to establish a base suffered quite a loss. When the volcano erupted, even the 4 great guilds received significant losses.

At this moment, a round, white, gem-like thing popped out. It appeared right in front of ThornyRose. It had a diameter of over 2 meters and looked like a white, crystal.

ThornyRose quickly signalled that there was a problem.

“Slime!?” ThornyRose drew her longsword and asked doubtfully.

Ye Cang looked at the crystal pimple and identified it, confirming it was a slime. “Crystal Slime – Harja”

Crystal Slime – Harja (Rare Elite): A rare species of the slime family. It’s a precious slime born from crystals.

“Fuck, it’s another slime…” Zhang ZhengXiong drew his machete, somewhat unmotivated.

Ye Cang readied his bow and shot an arrow, it hit the slime’s round crystal body and made a sound like hitting a shield. The arrow bounced off with a ding~ only doing 3 damage. He frowned.

ThornyRose and Zhang ZhengXiong, as well as Lin Le and FrozenBlood behind them, rushed up to engage it. Harja’s crystal body suddenly morphed and stabbed out with many crystal spikes, giving the two in front no time to react. Luckily it hit their shields, but they were still sent flying away. They had received under 20 damage, which was an acceptable amount.

“This thing, it’s physical resistance is too high! GreenDew! Is your magic ready!?” ThornyRose roared. She pushed off the ground with one hand and gracefully landed in a crouching position.

Greendew had already started casting and preparing her chants. 4 magic missiles whistled towards the slime, slamming into it’s body, causing significant injury. Every missile hit for over 10 damage. A wind blade also cut towards it. All these attacks caused the crystal to form thin cracks.

Lin Le charged over and chopped at one of the crystal spikes, chopping to off. FrozenBlood slipped past the spikes and stabbed at the cracks. When she pulled out her dagger, crystal shards spurted out. She raised her dagger and and used Linked Strikes, stabbing forwards with two quick strikes.

Ye Cang also took this chance to shoot an arrow at one of the cracks, causing pretty good damage.

At this time, the crystal slime’s body started to pulse. It seemed to have been enraged. Lin Le’s ahoge sent a danger signal, he quickly let go of his axe and jumped back.

FrozenBlood also sensed the danger. She jumped back, tilting her body in the air to dodge a crystal spike. Her heart thumping from the close call. However the attacks didn’t stop, instead it abruptly shot one of its spikes towards the one that cracked it’s body: GreenDew.

GreenDew wanted to interrupt her casting and dodge, but with her speed, she wouldn’t make it in time.

ThornyRose charged over, but it’s speed was really too fast and the distance too far. “Dodge!”

Just as she was about to die, Zhang ZhengXiong suddenly appeared. Although he appeared unsteady, he still slanted his shield to deflect the spike. However, the the impact only knocked the spike slightly to the side, it still stabbed into his left shoulder. GreenDew looked at the spike that was only 10 centimeters away from her chest and relaxed. Without interrupting her magic, she casted and her magic missiles traveled around Zhang ZhengXiong and accurately smashed into the crystal slime’s body again. The crack on it’s body appeared increasingly prominent.

Zhang ZhengXiong looked at his own health. He only had 2 left and couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Good thing that, as he blocked the spike he knew it wouldn’t be enough so he quickly used his shield to heal himself a bit. Otherwise he’d have been sent back to town.

Ye Cang let out a sigh of relief as he confirmed that Zhang ZhengXiong health hadn’t hit 0, he was only near death.

“Shaking Dog, good block! Now go hide somewhere and don’t get hurt again.” ThornyRose saw Zhang ZhengXiong’s earlier display and couldn’t help gasping in admiration. This Shaking Dog’s reaction and nerves was even better than FrozenBlood’s. It could be said he was as fast as lightning. She started to view him more favorably. Too bad he was a priest who raised Constitution. She felt a bit of regret but it didn’t affect the goodwill she had towards him.

The Crystal Slime received GreenDew’s second barrage of missiles and fell into a precarious state. Ye Cang looked at his quiver and saw he still had 10 arrows, most of which were recycled. He couldn’t keep wasting them. He activated the boot’s ability and charged.

FrozenBlood also pounced over. The slime stabbed out with shorter spikes as it started retreating. It suddenly jumped and stuck to the cavern ceiling and began to slowly recover.

FrozenBlood and the just arrived, ThornyRose, felt powerless. It was too high and there weren’t any places to jump or climb so they couldn’t get up there quickly. They looked back and saw that GreenDew was still in the middle of her chant. Ye Cang stopped his charge and started shooting his bow, but compared to the rate of healing, his damage was lacking. He became a bit anxious. Will they make it in time?

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