Chapter 233: Highway Robbery

“Ruo! Your Pet Egg’s about to hatch, isn’t it?”

“Yup. About one more day left.”

“Hey, that’s great! I can’t wait to see what your Shadowfox looks like. Will it really be as cute as you said? Just a little ball of golden fur—I bet it’ll be super fluffy!”

Xiaoxiao was staring off across Killer Bee Valley, lost in some daydream.

Qin Ruo chuckled. “Well, the creature I got it from… hmm, I can only guess at its gender now, but the point is: it was absolutely adorable. Why else would I have stayed my hand? I’ve no doubt you’ll love it.”

Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously. “So what sort of name do you have in mind?”

“Name?” This gave Qin Ruo a moment’s pause. A player was expected to name their own pet, but after several days he’d still never really given the matter serious thought. Now that Xiaoxiao had reminded him, his gears were really turning.

“What should I call it?”

“Shall I make a suggestion, then?” Xiaoxiao’s big, dark eyes sparkled at him.

Somehow, Qin Ruo felt unable to refuse her anything. He nodded.

“… Sure.”

“Miaomiao.” She watched him coquettishly as she said this, while he stood stunned with his mouth agape.

“Alright, alright, I can see you don’t like it, no need to give me that ugly look. I’ll be serious now. How about Poochie, or Precious? What do you think?” Xiaoxiao hid away her coy little smile as she began firing more names at him.

Qin Ruo gasped in relief, rubbing his chin with a wry smile. Ugly look? I’ll have you know, I happen to be one of the better-looking fellows in my company!

“Hey, answer me—which do you prefer: Poochie or Precious?”

“Uh… both sound good. Precious Poochie would be nice, too.” Qin Ruo agreed that the fluffy little Shadowfox was well-suited to such sweet names. Another concern was that the name could only be given a day and a half before the pet hatched, in order to avoid situations like your preferred name being reserved by someone else first.

“Alright, then let’s call it Precious Poochie.”

What Xiaoxiao had originally been scheming was to have both Qin Ruo’s pet as well as her own each be named either Precious or Poochie, so that they formed a set together. On second thought though, with a difference of so many days between their pets hatching, such a common name was very likely to be taken by someone else in the interim, which would ruin the whole plan.

However, a new idea had just occurred to her: When the time came, how about she call her pet Poochie Precious? Surely no one else would go for something like that…

While the two of them were having this discussion, there was the rare appearance of a player party at the mouth of the valley.

At first, Qin Ruo did not really take note of it, but as they continued to cut their way through the Killer Bees, steadily making their way towards the deeper reaches of the valley where the two of them were, his brow furrowed.

What kind of party was this?

Four Tier 4 characters, six Tier 3 characters—it did not look like a training party, and even if it was, surely there would be no need for the Tier-4 characters? They had even brought as many as four of them, how needlessly wasteful! The six Tier 3 characters should surely be more than capable of holding their own in Killer Bee Valley, which only had Tier 2 and Tier 3 monsters.

Suspicious, Qin Ruo decided to keep an eye on that party, especially because they continued to draw ever closer to where he and Xiaoxiao were.

In the Kane Jungle, Qin Ruo had encountered quite a few players who, like Cayman, had not been above murdering and looting other players. He thought it wise to stay alert, while whispering for Xiaoxiao to get behind him.

“Hey, you lovebirds look good together! I hope we didn’t disturb you while you were in the middle of something?”

Even though they had noticed that there were other players here, the party did not change course, and in fact made a beeline straight for them. The Titanwraith Berserker in the lead gave a sharp cackle, moving towards them with an axe raised.

Qin Ruo silently waved his Frostburst Staff, and two Aquaramparts quietly slid in from either side, so quickly that the Titanwraith Berserker’s expression shifted a little, as though taken aback by Qin Ruo’s defensive manner, not to mention the speed at which he could use his magic.

“Halt!”

Raising the Frostburst Staff at the Berserker who was now within fifteen meters of the two of them, Qin Ruo regarded him coldly. A menacing swirl of water began to converge around the tip of the staff.

The Berserker paused in his advance. Struggling to maintain his cheerful manner, he called out, “Hey bro, what’s all this? It’s not like you own the place.”

His smile was strained, trying his best not to appear threatening. However, with such powerful magic being pointed directly his way, a distinctly hostile light was beginning to flicker in his eyes.

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“What’s all this?” Qin Ruo laughed coldly. “That’s what I’d like to ask you. What’s with the Ignis Swordmaster and the Pyromancer behind you? A bunch of Tier 4 characters paying a visit to a Tier 2 or Tier 3 training ground, did you just want to come over and say hello? Saw a bit of easy prey, like to take a crack at my stuff?” Qin Ruo held his ground, speaking in open challenge. With cold eyes he took in the two Pyromancers and the Ignis Swordmaster, already invoking his Draconic Arts.

A snow eagle was swiftly forming! Whirling and keening overhead, it was clearly circling around the Titanwraith Berserker, ready to strike at the first sign of aggression.

It was not as though Qin Ruo had wanted things to go this way, but the four of them were all but baring their teeth now. From the moment they had drawn close, they had been looking him and Xiaoxiao over, while the six Tier 3 characters continued clearing off the surrounding small fry. If only he could believe that this was just a regular training party—he would much prefer if that were so.

***

“Don’t get the wrong idea, bro. We’re not like that.”

Even as the Titanwraith Berserker was saying this, the Ignis Swordmaster behind him dashed up to his side, spitting with fury. “You’re full of yourself, kid! You think you’re so hot? Why don’t you try and start something?”

Attacking someone out of malice, regardless of whether or not it was a fight he could win, the consequences would be quite serious.

The two Pyromancers further back took this opportunity to invoke their Verdantflame Barrier, mumbling about how yesterday’s Boss monster must have been ganked by this garbage before them.

Seeing their false pretenses crumbling away, Qin Ruo could only laugh mirthlessly.

Although he still was not absolutely certain what this bunch was up to, and what interest they had in them, what he knew was that this whole year, H&G had seen nothing if not one horrible case after another of PvP banditry.

He was conscious of how he was clad from head to toe in Gold Equipment, and with no Clan allegiances to speak of. If they could take him down and loot his stuff, it would be pure profit. Even if things did not go that smoothly, they could just hide it out until their red tags expired, and be no worse off for it.

Worse still, those two Pyromancers had been pretty fast when they were bringing up their Verdantflame Barriers, while the Ignis Swordmaster and Titanwraith Berserker seemed to be pretty well in-sync. Even with his Snow Eagle warding the Berserker, the fact of the matter was that they were already within fifteen meters of each other.

With things like this, with two close-combat and two long-ranged opponents, and all of them the worst enemies of an Aquamancer…

It could not have been a more flawless set-up. Now there was nothing for it but to fight.

“Xiaoxiao, Frostrampart.” Qin Ruo whispered to his partner, but the Ignis Swordmaster and Titanwraith Berserker immediately moved in response, diving in from both sides!

Just as he had thought!

A gigantic Flame Talon bloomed into existence above Qin Ruo, waves of heat washing over him as it descended. The other Pyromancer was just as quick, hurling a Fireball one meter across. It tumbled furiously and gave off a low roar as it streaked through the air, elongating into the shape of a blade—a veritable weapon of war, wrought of flame.

‘Damn!’ Qin Ruo cursed silently, faced with an attack using Tier 4 fire magic. He sent his Snow Eagle toward one of the Pyromancers, who had now been marked as a hostile attacker.

Bang! Bang!

Firegod’s Fury had yet to display its full range of effects. Qin Ruo had been continuously using his Frost Barrier these past couple of days, and its Mastery rank had risen from Intermediate to Master. Now it could reduce incoming physical damage by 20%, magic damage by 14%, and had an endurance of 280.

Darkfrost Shield had similarly been raised to Master-rank:

Physical and magical defenses increased by 18, absorbing 5 damage, with an endurance of 180. (As a detailed description of how Darkfrost Shield works: Subjected to weaker attacks, 5% of the damage would be taken by the Darkfrost Shield instead, reducing its endurance; against stronger attacks, 80% of the damage would be taken by the Shield instead. Each point of damage would cost an identical amount of endurance.)

Though both Pyromancers were at Tier 4, they did not have any Gold Equipment on them at all. When Firegod’s Fury crashed down all around him, it only dealt him 45 HP worth of damage—the attack had not been categorized by the Darkfrost Shield as particularly threatening. (The Burning effect of fire magic was negated by his Barrier.)

The Rolling Inferno spell involved three attacks, each one dealing less damage than Firegod’s Fury, with a total damage of less than a hundred. In comparison, Qin Ruo’s Snow Eagle Dive which took off nearly 300 HP from one of the Pyromancers. If not for the Titanwraith Berserker and the Ignis Swordmaster charging in at the front, it may well have been enough to send both Pyromancers fleeing.

It was too big a difference!

This was the difference made by the equipment. Now they knew that Qin Ruo’s equipment provided magical resistance that was thirty or forty points better than theirs. The Gold Frostburst Staff was similarly superior to whatever weapons they were holding.

And with each exchange between them, the difference only grew wider.

***

But there was no doubt that Qin Ruo was in trouble.

Neither of the two Pyromancers might be much cause for concern, but the Ignis Swordmaster and Titanwraith Berserker rushing him, with just their first attacks, had cut the Darkfrost Shield down by nearly half its endurance value, while Qin Ruo himself had lost over 300 HP.

If not for his spellcasting ability, comparable to a Demon-type monster, which allowed him to block both enemies with a Frostrampart each for one precious moment, his Shield might already have been shattered by their attacks!

‘Damn it all, just let me…’

“Burst!”

All of Killer Bee Valley shook from that massive explosion!