Xiao Yu was waiting quietly in the corner. He was fully aware that this task was really risky and that he had to be exceptionally careful.
Outside the camp, Lei Tin was constantly striking the gnolls with his thunder magic. As he was busy attacking, the gnolls suddenly parted to let more than ten archers come to the front.
"Retreat," yelled An Yu immediately. Xiao Yu had already reminded them, so they were prepared. An Yu and the others began to retreat using the trees as their shields.
Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!!
More than ten arrows flew in the direction of where Lei Tin was, and he hid behind a big tree to dodge them.
Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!
The big tree in front of Lei Tin got covered with arrows.
Shielded by the big tree, Lei Tin had dodged the arrows this time. He came out from behind the tree and attempted to launch a thunder magic attack at those gnolls, but more than ten arrows flew over at him again. He had no choice but to hide behind the tree. The arrows brushed past him.
"My goodness, their firepower is truly formidable," said Lei Tin timidly in an attempt to imitate the tone often used by Xin Huo, the thief.
Those gnoll archers split into two groups and readjusted the direction of their crossbows. As a result, this hiding place was not safe for Lei Tin anymore.
"Lei Tin, retreat," yelled An Yu.
"I'm coming." Lei Tin fled while covering his head with his hands. But he was pierced through by two arrows.
A dark glow landed on Lei Tin, and he was healed.
The five of them left the place as quickly as they could and disappeared into the forest.
After attacking Lei Tin and the others, the gnolls let out a barrage of strange and excited shouts, possibly celebrating their victory. They started heading back to the camp after they failed to locate Lei Tin and the others. Soon after, they had all returned to camp, leaving seven gnolls behind to guard the entrance, and five of them were gnoll archers.
Seeing all of the gnolls return to the camp, Xin Huo, the thief, questioned worriedly, "Do you think Xiao Yu can complete the task?"
"It's all up to his luck," replied An Yu. He was also uncertain of the outcome because he had never carried out a task as dangerous as this one.
After the cool-down of his stealth travel was over, Xiao Yu stretched his body a little and hid behind the tent. He checked the situation outside and found that many gnolls had come back to the camp one after the other. It looked like the gnolls who were pursuing An Yu and the others had all come back.
The large number of gnolls in the camp made it more difficult for Xiao Yu to get closer to the tent in the southeast.
The next hiding spot was about six meters away from where he was.
Using the positions of the gnolls, Xiao Yu took advantage of the situation and entered the stealth travel state. He moved toward the next hiding spot.
All the gnolls would charge at him if he were discovered during his stealth travel, and the seven crossbows on the sentry towers would also aim and shoot at him. Xiao Yu felt like his life was truly in danger.
A patrolling gnoll headed to where Xiao Yu hid. He calmly changed his hiding spot and then stayed still. The gnoll walked behind, brushing past his back. After the gnoll left, Xiao Yu resumed moving forward in a calm manner. Xiao Yu didn't behave as nervously when he came across danger this time because he had already experienced the tests of life and death several times so far.
"I did it." Xiao Yu arrived at the preplanned spot successfully. This was a narrow area behind the tent, with a wooden fence on one side and white tents on the other. It was a safe place where he could wait until the cool-down of his stealth travel was over.
Xiao Yu waited patiently, and time went by one second at a time.
But just when Xiao Yu thought he was safe, a gnoll started walking in his direction.
"Oh, no." Judging from the traveling direction of the gnoll, Xiao Yu knew that he would run into the monster in a few seconds. He examined the nearby ground and found that he had no other place to hide because this area was like a bottleneck.
"Next time, I won't choose such a place to hide, "Xiao Yu told himself. In this spot, he wouldn't be able to find a route to flee when he encountered a foe. He had learned a lesson from this experience.
"But the issue is how I'm going to deal with this gnoll!" His mind was racing, and all of a sudden, he was struck by an idea.
Xiao Yu hid behind the tent and forced himself to get into the hiding state as the gnoll drew even closer to him.
The gnoll didn't discover him when it arrived at the spot where Xiao Yu was hiding, and it turned its face toward the wooden fence after stretching its back.
"What is it doing?" wondered Xiao Yu. Then, he smelled the scent of urine. With a changed expression on his face, Xiao Yu realized that this gnoll was urinating.
The forced hiding state didn't last long. There were only three seconds left for such a state, but the gnoll had no intention of leaving yet.
"I have to strike now because I don't want to be a sitting duck." Xiao Yu thrust his dagger at the back of the gnoll's head.
The gnoll shook its head once and was about to leave when it felt cold air behind his head
Sneak-attack!
Xiao Yu's dagger pierced into the back of the gnoll's head before the monster could respond.
But Xiao Yu still had to finish off this gnoll quietly. Otherwise, the sound would draw more gnolls this way.
"Fortunately, this gnoll only has 300 health," Xiao Yu mused. Though he couldn't use the reversed backstabbing skill here, he could still use the backstabbing and evisceration skills to finish off the gnoll.
Backstabbing!
Xiao Yu turned sideways and jabbed the dagger into the back of the gnoll by using the backstabbing skill. More than 110 points of damage popped up over the head of the gnoll.
The place was so narrow that Xiao Yu couldn't use the skill better, but he still completed the skill with a 73% success rate and gained one combo attack point.
As soon as Xiao Yu had completed the backstabbing skill, he jabbed the dagger in his right hand into the gnoll's heart through its back. Then he sliced sideways, and fresh blood gushed out.
The success rate for the skill was 93%. The gnoll dropped to the ground, and the damage value of 190 points emerged from its head.
The gnoll made a thud sound when it dropped to the ground. Xiao Yu quickly looked at the square in the distance and found that all the gnolls were acting as if nothing had happened. He felt relieved.
Xiao Yu dragged the corpse of the gnoll away to hide it. It was then that he saw a glistening object on the ground. He didn't expect the gnoll to drop an item and one silver coin.
"Looks like it's a ring," thought Xiao Yu. He picked up the item dropped by the gnoll.
Warrior Ring of Gnolls: green-level equipment; attack +3; strength +5; agility +2.
Xiao Yu didn't expect a regular level-10 gnoll to drop decent green-level equipment for him. this was his first time getting green-level equipment from a regular monster.
"This is a one out of 10,000 chance. I wonder if I should buy a lottery when I go offline today. Maybe, I can win 5,000,000 yuan," thought Xiao Yu elatedly as he put the warrior ring on his finger.