The six of them headed south after they left Tabarka. After passing through a vast and open patch of grassland, they marched down a meandering mountain path.
There was a fork at the end of the path, and they took one of the separated paths.
"Is Often Valley in that direction?" asked Xiao Yu while looking at the other path.
"Yes," Fan Ye, the death knight, chimed in. "Often Valley is over there."
"The place we are going to is called Guside Valley, which is actually not far from Often Valley. It is said that there is plenty of bloody grass in Often Valley, but the monsters there are mostly at level 20 or higher. Many players who went there died." An Yu stole a glance at Xiao Yu, wondering if he intended to venture to Often Valley.
Xiao Yu didn't give any response upon hearing what An Yu said and maintained a calm countenance as usual. As such, it was hard for An Yu to guess what was on his mind.
Xiao Yu was the kind of person who had rich emotions but tried his best to hide them from others, never wearing his true emotions on his face. So it was useless for An Yu to try and read Xiao Yu's thoughts through his face.
"There are five level-7 hyenas up ahead," said Xin Huo, the thief, after he came back from investigating the surroundings.
An Yu hesitated a bit and looked back at Xiao Yu, who was behind them.
"You decide," said Xiao Yu. An Yu was his employer, and it was his duty to get rid of the monsters they encountered.
"Xin Huo controls one; Xiao Yu controls another one; I'll draw the attention of two hyenas; Fan Ye draws the attention of one. Lei Tin concentrate all of your strength on attacking the hyena drawn by Fan Ye. Then, we deal with the hyenas in order, finishing them off." An Yu added after some thought, "We'll decide on the detailed arrangement when we get there and check out the environment."
The six of them stealthily traversed the place mentioned by Xin Huo. There were five hyenas with gray fur moving around by the mountain path. One of them was bigger than the rest; it was one head taller and had dark gray fur.
"That one seems to be a special monster." An Yu stopped the group from moving forward. If that bigger hyena was a monster leader, then it would be difficult to deal with.
"We didn't see these guys last time we were here. Where did they come from?" Fan Ye, the death knight, remarked in annoyance while wiping the blade of his knight sword.
"I'll deal with that special monster. You guys deal with the others," said Xiao Yu unexpectedly. "But, I'll need more healing from the dark wizard." That special monster had to be a monster leader, but he wouldn't be in serious danger as long as he could get support from the dark wizard.
The five members of An Yu's team exchanged looks, then looked at Xiao Yu in bewilderment. Xiao Yu, on the other hand, remained calm and devoid of any emotion.
"Alright. Xiao Yu deals with that special monster. The rest of us will still follow the original plan," said An Yu between his teeth. "Now, let's make a plan for our attacking positions."
"I can't figure out what that guy is thinking." Xin Huo, the thief, looked at Xiao Yu's back, who was now moving stealthily toward the leader of the hyenas.
"Maybe he has the ability to do it," remarked Fan Ye, the death knight, with a smile.
"Do you really think that's possible?"
"Nothing is impossible."
"If he can challenge that special monster all by himself, I…"
"You what?"
"I'll take him as my master." Xin Huo, the thief, flushed a bright pink.
"He might not want to take you on even if you want to have him as your master," Fan Ye said to Xin Huo blatantly.
"Everybody, take your positions. Xin Huo, hurry up," An Yu reminded them.
Xin Huo followed Xiao Yu and drew closer to the hyena leader.
An Yu and Fan Ye hid themselves in the predetermined spots, ready to fight. But they were all worried and wondered if Xiao Yu could control the special monster that was one head taller than the regular hyenas.
"It's probably a monster leader," commented Lei Tin, the thunder mage.
An Yu nodded as he looked at Xiao Yu's back. It was hard for An Yu to imagine that Xiao Yu was brave enough to challenge a level-7 monster leader.
"He is at level 8 already, one level higher than that hyena. Even if he couldn't kill the beast, he should be able to fight with it for at least half a minute," said Lei Tin. What he said was more to comfort himself. Engaging the monster leader for half a minute wouldn't help the outcome of the battle in the least.
Xiao Yu drew closer to the tall hyena calmly. After surveying the surrounding, he found that everybody else was in their respective positions.
"Go!" An Yu yelled.
Staggering punch!
Xiao Yu knocked a hyena next to the tall leader unconscious by using the staggering punch skill. Then, the dagger in his right hand thrust at the tall hyena swiftly.
By the time the tall hyena heard a noise behind it, the sharp dagger had already pierced into the back of its head.
Xiao Yu's attacks were as fierce and as swift as a hunting cougar.
Hyena leader: level-7 monster leader.
"It's a monster leader, after all." As Xiao Yu expected, this tall hyena was a level-7 leader with 2700 health.
"It has so much health." After he succeeded in doing a sneak-attack, Xiao Yu didn't waste any time. He launched several more strikes and did a backstab with a sideways rotation.
Xin Huo, who came over from behind, charged at the hyena that was being struck by Xiao Yu with staggering punch and controlled the monster.
The other three wandering hyenas discovered what was happening to the two hyenas and charged at Xiao Yu and Xin Huo frantically.
"We've been waiting for you for a long time." An Yu and Fan Ye happened to have an ambush ready on the route of these incoming hyenas. An Yu charged forward and blocked two of the incoming hyenas, while Fan Ye wielded his sword and blocked the remaining hyena.
Everything happened as planned. The moment Fan Ye acted, Lei Tin, the thunder mage, struck the hyena next to him with thunder magic. The dark wizard was paying close attention to the health of the players in the close-range battle, especially Xiao Yu's.
The team members cooperated smoothly. Among them, An Yu was the best in using his skills. The other three teammates were similar in their fighting abilities, and Xin Huo, the thief, was a little weaker than the others. Still, the fighting power exerted through their cooperation was quite remarkable.
Though Xiao Yu had only completed 90% of his backstabbing skill successfully, the damage was still more than 150 points. His attack damage had greatly increased since he upgraded his basic skill damage.
Even though Xiao Yu didn't have emergency medicinal potions like the instant health potion, he had a healing dark wizard behind him, so he felt more confident when he was engaged in the fight.
"I should be able to finish it off." After he attacked the beast with the snake-tooth dagger in his right hand, Xiao Yu cut a long wound on the body of the hyena leader with the escape dagger in his left hand. This applied the effect of the adder's tongue poison to the hyena leader.
The battle was progressing fiercely. Lei Tin and Fan Ye, who had both professions that were suitable for attacking, were fighting one hyena together. They had knocked out almost half of the hyena's health within a few seconds. They had to finish off this hyena as soon as possible. After that, they could assist An Yu in killing the other hyenas one at a time to ensure the final victory.
"We have to hurry up. I'm afraid Xiao Yu can't hold out," said An Yu worriedly. It was because Xiao Yu was dealing with a monster leader. Even An Yu, a soldier, might not be able to withstand the attacks of the monster leader. Furthermore, Xiao Yu was a thief who had low health. If Xiao Yu died, then the whole team would be in trouble, leading to a team annihilation.
Seeing the hyena leader leap at him, Xiao Yu took a step back and used the reversed backstabbing skill!
The sharp dagger pierced through the hyena leader's back after darting around swiftly in the air.
System: the success rate of reversed backstabbing is 100%, causing 300% skill damage and an armor-breaking effect.
More than 700 points of damage emerged from the head of the hyena leader due to the high armor-breaking effect and one combo attack point for backstabbing. This was because Xiao Yu had upgraded his basic skill damage.
Xin Huo was dazed for a while when he saw the nearly miraculous damage.
"Oh my god! Is that the reversed backstabbing skill? The attack damage is so awesome." Xin Huo lost his concentration for a second and was struck on his shoulder, losing 32% of his health.
"Xin Huo, you have to pay more attention," reminded Feng Ge, the healing dark wizard.
"I know, I know." Xin Huo suppressed the shock in his mind forcefully, focusing his attention on the hyena in front of him. However, it was hard for him to wipe away the high damage value he just saw from his mind.