Xiao Yu found a corner to hide while waiting for news from An Yu.
"Brothers, we've got work to do. Let's go," An Yu said to Fan Ye and the others after hanging up the voice system.
"Is Xiao Yu close to the target?" wondered Fan Ye in bewilderment. It had only been five minutes. It seemed that Xiao Yu had done better than he had expected.
"Don't take those five minutes lightly," said An Yu meaningfully.
Fan Ye and the others nodded after hearing this.
An Yu led the other four players toward the entrance of the gnolls' camp.
The entrance was guarded by seven gnolls, five of whom held bows. It looked like the job of drawing away the monsters' attention was full of danger.
Xin Huo, the thief, took out a short bow from his backpack. This bow had weak stats and was mostly used by Xin Huo to draw away monsters.
Lei Tin had taken an advantageous position, and Feng Ge, the dark wizard, stood 30 meters behind Xin Huo and Lei Tin, placing both of them in range of his healing support.
An Yu made a hand gesture toward Xin Huo. Xin Huo nodded and nocked an arrow into the bow. Along with a whooshing sound, the arrow shot toward one of the gnoll sentries and hit it with a thud.
The gnoll sentry released a strange shriek, and the entire gnolls' camp was stirred up. Twenty-some gnolls rushed out of the camp frantically, heading to where Xin Huo and the others were.
"My gosh! They're really fast." Xin Huo turned around and ran away.
Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!!
Several arrows landed underneath his feet, followed by more arrows coming his way. Xin Huo, the thief, was struck a few times by the arrows.
Thunder magic!
Lei Tin mounted attacks from another side, but he didn't linger after the strikes. He fled as fast as he could.
These gnolls had been harassed by them before, so they were prepared. Once the sentry detected the enemies, all of them came out at once. As such, it was easier than they had expected to draw them out this time.
With so many gnolls pursuing them, this was just the outcome they wanted.
"We've drawn the gnolls out already." An Yu sent this message to Xiao Yu.
After receiving the message, Xiao Yu stood up. This was his time to act since An Yu and the others had drawn the gnolls away.
After some consideration, Xiao Yu got into the stealth travel state and crept up to the large box slowly and carefully.
As he was approaching the box, he fixed his eyes on the movements of the three gnolls. None of them had discovered Xiao Yu, who was traveling stealthily.
He bent down before the loot box.
A gnoll spun his head and looked at the loot box. As the gnoll swept his gaze over him, Xiao Yu's heart beat slightly faster.
The gnoll didn't detect him and turned his head back around.
"It's time. I'll have five seconds to open the box and five seconds to escape." Xiao Yu placed his right hand on the lid of the box and lifted it up gingerly.
Opening the loot box… one second… two seconds…
The loot box was opened little by little, and Xiao Yu felt like his heart was also being lifted up into his throat. If he were interrupted within the five seconds, he might lose his life in this gnolls' camp, not to mention he wouldn't be able to complete the task.
Cold sweat seeped out from his forehead. Xiao Yu glanced at the gnolls and found they didn't discover that he was opening the loot box.
Three seconds… four seconds… five seconds.
System: The loot box has been successfully opened.
Seeing the system notification, Xiao Yu felt ecstatic. He reached his right hand into the loot box and fumbled around. He touched an object that was cylinder in shape and wrapped with a layer of high-quality cloth. This should be the scroll that Xin Huo, the thief, mentioned.
Xiao Yu put the object into his backpack and continued fumbling around in the box, wondering if there were other items in it. Suddenly, he felt a sting on his finger and saw that he had been cut by a sharp blade. It was a dagger! His heart skipped a beat. Xiao Yu quickly picked up the dagger and put it in his backpack. He closed the loot box after he was certain that there was nothing else in it.
System: Cannot be closed.
He found out that he couldn't close the lid of the box. With only three seconds left, he would be discovered by the gnolls soon. Xiao Yu began to run toward the outside without a second thought.
Whoosh!!!
Xiao Yu brushed past the three gnolls.
The three gnolls who felt drowsy at the moment were startled by Xiao Yu running past them. They came back to their senses immediately, turned their heads toward the loot box, and found that it was opened. By the time the three gnolls tried to find Xiao Yu, he was already outside the tent.
As soon as Xiao Yu had gotten out of the tent, the three gnolls let out ear-splitting shrieks that echoed throughout the gnolls' camp.
Xiao Yu lifted his head up and saw that the seven crossbows on the sentry towers had all turned to where he was.
"Damn!" Xiao Yu took a look at the southwestern side of the camp and found the other exit of the camp was located there. It was about 50 meters away. A vast open ground lay between where he was and the exit in the southwest, but he would be safe if he could reach the exit.
Xiao Yu sprinted as fast as he could toward the exit.
At this speed, he should be able to reach the exit in seven or eight seconds at most. However, his fate would be determined within those seven or eight seconds.
Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!! Whoosh!!!
All of the seven crossbows aimed at Xiao Yu and shot out seven arrows. The arrows emitting cold flashes of light under the sunlight flew over in the air, blocking all of his escape routes.
By the time Xiao Yu was five meters away from the tent, he saw seven arrows heading toward him and realized that he would be shot dead in an instant.
Hiding skill!
Ding!!! Ding!!! Ding!!!
The invincibility effect of the hiding skill he used blocked the attacks of the arrows. The seven arrows dropped to the ground.
Xiao Yu escaped through the exit in the southwest by using the forced stealth state.
The three gnolls in the tent had come outside and were looking for traces of Xiao Yu. The seven crossbow archers didn't give up and continued shooting out arrows one after the other where they assumed Xiao Yu might be.
Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!
Several arrows brushed past Xiao Yu and pierced into the ground.
"I'm moving too slowly. It would be better if I knew how to use windy steps," thought Xiao Yu.
The main difference between the hiding skill and the windy steps skill was the fact that the hiding skill reduced your traveling speed. Still, the skill could help conceal your body more effectively, so it was an optimal skill to use during a fight or while escaping. As such, the hiding skill had a limited number of uses.
On the other hand, the windy steps skill increased one's traveling speed considerably after the user entered the stealth travel state. However, the skill had poor concealing abilities, and the user of the skill was more likely to be discovered. As such, the windy steps skill was most suitable for escaping. Under the circumstances, the hiding skill was evidently not as effective as windy steps.
As An Yu and the others were drawing away the attention of the gnolls, a barrage of shrieks suddenly broke out inside the camp. The gnolls started panicking, and they all headed back inside the camp.
"Hurry up, draw their attention," shouted An Yu.
Thunder magic!
Lei Tin kept launching thunder magic attacks at the gnolls, but they ignored him and ran back to the camp frantically.
"I can't do it," said Lei Tin in frustration.
"Forget it." Seeing the gnolls retreating to the camp, all An Yu could do was pray and hope Xiao Yu could escape.