Chapter 158: The Thief Ambushing Their Natural Enemy

Nighttime indeed creates the most favorable environment for thieves to stealth and assassinate!

Especially around the periphery of the Forgotten Castle, where undead creatures like skeleton mages roam, it completely muffled the faint, inaudible footsteps of the thieves, allowing them to blend seamlessly into the night. If not for the early warning from the falcon, I would have suffered a heavy loss in this aspect.

Furthermore...

Even with the "See-Through" ability, dealing with multiple thieves simultaneously is extremely difficult. After all, continuous use of "See-Through" consumes a massive amount of MP, and because of constant paranoia, one's own situation becomes extremely perilous.

I quickly dismissed the thought of defeating the Dark Legion members one by one immediately, glanced swiftly at the ominous, shadow-filled Forgotten Castle, and then swept my gaze over the dark, unknown Maple Forest, making a swift decision in my mind:

The undead creatures on the periphery of the Forgotten Castle are too low in level to pose any threat to the Dark Legion... However, the magical beasts in the Maple Forest are not bad; most of them are level 25-32 magical beasts, which should be able to delay them for a while.

Having made up my mind, without a word, I swiftly plunged into the Maple Forest.

Whether because I had traveled quite far or due to good luck, I ran into more than a dozen level 30 Tiger-Lions on the periphery of the Maple Forest, along with a few level 29 Fire Foxes.

My arrival immediately drew the attention of these magical beasts...

I did not dare to delay. Seeing them give chase, I whirled around and sprinted out of the Maple Forest!

The commotion here immediately caught the attention of the nearest team, who quietly sped toward this direction. Unfortunately, they still did not know that the light source behind them had already faintly exposed their general position...

With a trace of a cold smile, I quickly activated "See-Through," scanning my surroundings for any traces of thieves while leading the fast-moving Fire Foxes and Tiger-Lions in a wild dash out of the Maple Forest.

Glancing sideways at the dozen or so members of the Dark Legion pursuing from the flank, I fully activated my "Dash" skill! I flew toward the Forgotten Castle, rapidly leaving behind the Tiger-Lions and Fire Foxes whose agility approached 120, stretching the distance further and further!

Whoosh...

Right in the middle of my full-speed dash, a dozen "Skeleton Mages" unexpectedly appeared from the darkness ahead, entering my field of view. I almost blundered right into their trap. The moment I entered their effective attack range, a dozen green phosphorus fire spells crisscrossed and shot toward me from several directions!

The moment these flashes of fire appeared, they instantly exposed my current position. Although the Dark Legion members were somewhat startled, they quickly reacted and turned to charge in this direction!

However, the moment they turned around, a dozen sizeable Tiger-Lions suddenly lunged out of the darkness with a roar, followed by several sets of half-meter-wide blazing fireballs suddenly igniting...

A dozen blazing fireballs shot forward amidst the screams and curses of the Dark Legion, and the archer running at the very front—who was the fastest—bore the brunt of the attack.

He was directly struck by a dozen Tier 2 chained fireballs, let out a miserable scream, and was instantly finished off...

The situation for the others was not much better. Although the Tiger-Lions were only level 30 magical beasts, several levels lower than the members of the Dark Legion, more than a dozen of them attacking simultaneously, coupled with the long-range fire support of a few Fire Foxes, made their combined strength quite formidable! After all, magical beasts possessed HP that was many times that of players!

Thus, upon engagement, the Dark Legion members suffered a heavy blow. Relying on a few warriors struggling to hold the line, they still lost a mage, two archers, and a warrior. The group retreated step by step, shouting loudly for reinforcements from other brothers in the distance.

The Dark Legion mercenaries, who had long noticed the situation here, arrived quickly. However, the Tier 3 squad of 15 members from just a few minutes ago had now lost nearly half its members, with only a few warriors and mages still struggling to hold on. If not for their timely arrival, this team probably would have been completely wiped out.

The Dark Legion members swarmed forward, helping the few struggling warriors hold off the fierce assault of the Tiger-Lions and eliminating them one by one. Immediately afterward, some could not help but start complaining.

"Damn it! Aren't these magical beasts from the Maple Forest? How did you provoke them out?"

Hearing this, the few rescued individuals immediately wore bitter expressions and said helplessly:

"We ran over when we heard the noise, thinking it was that punk Scavenging Qilin, not expecting these things to suddenly pounce out from here..."

"That's right, it was Scavenging Qilin. It must have been Scavenging Qilin! The magical beasts in the Maple Forest generally don't set foot in the territory of the Forgotten Castle; he must have deliberately lured these magical beasts out of the Maple Forest."

Leopard Man said, grinding his teeth, while the anger in his heart burned fiercely like a raging fire. He quickly glanced at the spot where the dozen green phosphorus fires had just appeared and shouted loudly:

"From now on, everyone be careful! That punk is fast! Do not disperse for now, so we don't get tricked by his monster-luring tactics again."

By this moment, Leopard Man had completely figured out Scavenging Qilin's intention. He knew he could not defeat him in a direct confrontation, so he intended to use monster-luring tactics to achieve the goal of defeating them one by one.

This bastard, still as cunning and shameless as before! It seems we can only send those fellows out to deal with him...

However, just as Leopard Man thought of this, the painful cry and plea for help from one of his brothers suddenly came from afar:

"Ah!!"

"Damn it, help! He is... Urgh!!"

The miserable scream cut off abruptly, putting a period to that unfinished sentence. The current plight of his comrade was self-evident.

Because of this abrupt scream, everyone in the Dark Legion felt their hair stand on end to the extreme...

"It's Little San!"

"That's right, Little San's voice... How did that punk find Little San?"

The hearts of the Dark Legion members trembled in unison as they simultaneously turned and sped toward the source of the sound!

However, by the time they arrived, only a corpse was left here—the body of Little San (after a player dies, their corpse remains for 30 seconds).

Little San was one of the few high-tier thieves in their Dark Legion, currently at level 35. In terms of stealth and assassination, Little San's abilities ranked near the top among the thieves of the Dark Legion.

Yet unexpectedly...

Little San had been taken down by a level 30 bow-warrior in the dead of night—the environment most favorable for a thief to exert their stealth and assassination advantages—and it had taken less than two seconds.

For a moment, while the anger of the Dark Legion members flared even higher, they felt a chill run through their entire bodies...

A vague question arose simultaneously in the depths of their hearts:

From the very beginning, they had never captured the exact location of Scavenging Qilin... This bounty hunt... exactly who was hunting whom? Facing an enemy with such terrifying speed, what on earth should they do?

For the first time!

Including Leopard Man, a group of Dark Legion mercenaries experienced a feeling of not knowing where to begin.

...

Little San, level 35 "Golden Finger" (a subclass of thief)...

He was the first person I encountered after breaking free from the encirclement of numerous skeleton mages. This fellow was very clever and patient, holding a dagger, quietly hiding and lying in ambush along the route I was about to sprint past, waiting silently for my arrival.

Unfortunately, he didn't expect...

Ever since I lured the Tiger-Lions, my See-Through skill had remained continuously activated.

Therefore, the moment he stepped out of the darkness and entered my effective field of vision, the See-Through skill unflinchingly reflected his figure into my eyes, and simultaneously fed his detailed profile completely back into my mind.

At that time, I couldn't help but laugh inwardly: A thief setting an ambush for an archer...

Heh, interesting!

A thief setting an ambush for a bow-warrior...

In the dark of night, I bet the expression on my face must have looked extremely disdainful, though the opponent certainly couldn't see it; even my specific silhouette remained blurred.

Without the slightest hesitation, I continued sprinting toward the thief Little San. Twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters... My sharp eagle eyes clearly saw the opposite thief also seeming to grow excited. The opponent adjusted his body position, slowly raising the weapon in his hand, searching for the appropriate angle to strike, his face clearly revealing a trace of restrained, bloodthirsty smugness.

Yet in the very next moment, this trace of a smile instantly froze as I suddenly came to a halt and simultaneously raised my Dark Marsh Magic Bow!

I could entirely imagine how uncomfortable and unbelievable it felt to transition from the mindset of a hunter to that of prey, but unfortunately, trying to ambush one's natural predator is a fatal and dangerous taboo!

Next time, make sure not to make such a foolish mistake...

Amidst a cold sneer, the Slow Arrow condensed atop the Dark Marsh Magic Bow blasted forth!

The Advanced Slow Arrow, aided by the Dark Marsh Magic Bow which granted an additional ten points of attack, possessed nearly the formidable offensive power of a Tier 3 physical archer. It easily pierced through the thief Little San's armor, blasting away fifty-four points of HP, while simultaneously plunging the target into a slowed state.

Immediately afterward, as the opponent screamed and slowly dragged his steps, a single ordinary arrow pierced straight through his throat!

(Note: Shot: Ordinary attack.)