"Die!"
In the Abandoned Mining Area blanketed by messy rubble, with three Warrior players ganging up on it, a gray mole the size of a basketball fell to its demise.
"This mole's experience is really good. We can at least reach Level 5 here before the other players arrive."
"Torrent, skin the mole. Prosper and I'll rest to heal up."
"The chances of a non-humanoid monster dropping a piece of equipment is too low. I guess all we can do is skin it and sell it to the NPC for some copper coins."
Although they were new in the game, the trio was almost certain that other than humanoid monsters, it was difficult for other types of monsters to drop equipment. All they could do was salvage it for some materials.
"Hey, speak of the devil! Look, Tempered, there are two more bandit goons!" Prosper was the Warrior who spoke first. The moment he sat down and concentrated his gaze, he shouted in excitement.
"We're in luck! Torrent, stop skinning the mole! Heal up! We'll wait for the two bandit goons to come over. They might even drop an iron sword for us!" Tempered's eyes shone as he watched the bandit goons walk over.
Around ten minutes ago, the trio had killed two other bandit goons. Other than a sizable amount of XP, the bandit goons even dropped the first equipment in the game for them: a Level 5 Iron Sword.
Although it was a piece of common equipment, its Attack was still 11 points higher than that of the Rusty Iron Sword, which the system provided from the start. When they reached Level 5 and armed themselves with it, their Attack would surge!
However, the bandit goons were Level 5 monsters, so they had a decent amount of HP and Attack. The trio was only Level 3. Even though they outnumbered the bandit goons by one, killing the two bandit goons would not be an easy task, they had to maintain a healthy amount of HP and well-equipped, plus their techniques, to be able to kill the bandit goons.
The two bandit goons that walked over were obviously Mohai and bandit goon No. 6.
When the trio saw them, Mohai saw them too. The moment he lay eyes on the trio, he could not help but praise in his heart, 'As expected of Guggenheim.'
These three warriors' full names were TemperedSteel, TorrentialSea, and ProsperShadow. TemperedSteel was the guild master of the Iron Legion whereas TorrentialSea and ProsperShadow were famous experts that acted as the core members of the guild.
The Huaxia Area had a plethora of players and there were hundreds of thousands of guilds of various sizes. The Iron Legion once ranked as the top 10 guilds of the Huaxia Area.
Unlike other massive guilds, the Iron Legion was founded by TemperedSteel from the ground up. While they had basically no activation funds, they grew stronger step by step and there were a lot of legends around the Iron Legion in the game.
However, at a later stage, the Iron Legion somehow got on the bad side of the second guild, the Fortune Alliance. They were badly defeated by the Fortune Alliance's human wave tactic, hired by their ridiculous amount of wealth. After that, in order to stop the pressure from the Fortune Alliance, the Iron Legion reduced their guild members drastically and lost their former glory.
Despite the defeat, TemperedSteel and the others were quite famous in the game. Even though Mohai did not particularly pay attention to all of this, he always heard about them.
He chuckled sinisterly in his heart when he saw the eager gazes from the trio. We have no beef in our past life, but if I don't level up my template, I'll be dead meat! It's a matter of life or death. I guess it's not your lucky day today!
"Go!"
TemperedSteel and the other two were not in the same aggro range as Mohai and bandit goon No. 6. Even though Mohai had already spotted them, he and No. 6 would not proactively attack them.
However, TemperedSteel did not plan to spare the two bandit goons. After the trio healed by meditation, they tore towards Mohai and No. 6. They were afraid that the two bandits goons would wander into the monster-infested core of the Abandoned Mining Area. Then, the trio would not be able to kill them.
"Prosper, stall the one on the right! Torrent and I will focus on the left one first!" TemperedSteel barked his commands as he raced towards his targets.
"Roger!" ProsperShadow nodded. After all, the trio had taken out the previous bandit goons with this tactic as well.
The three of them were only on level 3 and their occupation was Warriors. They barely had any equipment on them and had only a little over 100 HP. If the two bandit goons ganged up on any one of them at once, they would be killed with just a handful of hits.
Low-level humanoid monsters like the bandit goons were no smarter than the moles further away. Even though they had attributes, they did not care and acted like dunces.
When the trio entered No. 6's aggro range, the latter's gaze turned sharp and he dashed towards the trio furiously with Mohai following behind him.
Mohai knew what the trio was trying to do. He was originally on the left, but he swiftly and subtly switched to the right.
Soon enough, No. 6 engaged in a battle with TemperedSteel and TorrentialSea while ProsperShadow attacked Mohai and tried to lure him away.
A normal bandit goon would have surely been lured away by ProsperShadow, but Mohai did not follow. Instead, he helped No. 6 and seized the opportunity to attack TemperedSteel.
"Prosper! Lure this one away quickly!"
TemperedSteel was attacked by Mohai and lost 30 points of HP to a normal attack. Added together with a [Slash] skill from No. 6, he lost almost half of his HP. In another two to three more attacks, he would be done for.
He yelled nervously because he thought ProsperShadow did not provoke the bandit goon sufficiently. "This bandit goon isn't following me! Maybe its personality is Timid!" ProsperShadow called out with sweat beading his forehead.
In Origin, all kinds of monsters were equipped with different personalities. Monsters with the Timid personality would flee or simply switch targets when it was singled out or when its allies were facing a disadvantageous situation.
However, that was not the entire fact. Mohai realized that ProsperShadow's provocation did not work on him, but he still attacked ProsperShadow with his iron sword when his rival responded. Soon, Mohai separated himself from bandit goon No. 6.
"Great!" TemperedSteel and TorrentialSea were energized when Mohai left, so they concentrated on attacking No. 6.
Both sides were exchanging blows and their HPs were dropping quickly. On the other hand, Mohai was actually watching a show while he easily fought ProsperShadow.
As I expected of the renowned experts!
Level 3 Warriors without any attribute boosts from equipment would never be able to dodge the attacks of a Level 5 bandit goon. If they fought face-to-face, even if TemperedSteel and TorrentialSea could kill No. 6, one of them would die.
However, after Mohai separated with No. 6, TemperedSteel and TorrentialSea swiftly lured No. 6 to an average-sized rock and used the hindrance to dodge several of No. 6's attacks. No. 6 had 400 HP just like Mohai, and after sustaining continuous attacks from the two of them, his HP was soon halved.
In another ten more seconds, No. 6 would die.
Mohai would never sit back and watch him perish.
He was not worried about being ambushed by the trio, but the template of the bandit goon was too lousy and did not even have detailed attribute data. However, when he and No. 6 were making their way to the Abandoned Mine Area, Mohai already got a clear grasp of his fellow bandit's attribute.
If TemperedSteel and the other two had not relied on the hindrance of the terrain, they could never have dodged a bandit goon's attack. Conversely, a bandit goon could easily dodge the attacks from the trio. However, No. 6 was similar to all the low-level monsters out there. His intellect was too low, thus dodging was not an option.
Therefore, even with the attributes of a bandit goon, Mohai could easily dodge most of the attacks from the trio, kill them, and maintain more than half of his HP.
However, if he really did so, as a bandit goon, the strength that he displayed might be a tad frightening.
These three were not just any players, so it would be best for Mohai to be careful.
The moment No. 6's HP dropped to a little over a hundred, Mohai suddenly turned around and ran towards TemperedSteel who was trying to rendezvous with No. 6.
"Careful! The monster's target is messed up again!" ProsperShadow reminded urgently.
TemperedSteel and TorrentialSea's HPs were running low. If they were attacked by two bandit goons together, it would be dangerous.
"Don't worry. Try to stall as long as you can! This one's HP is running low." TemperedSteel was calm while a plan began to take shape in his mind. With the hindrance of the terrain, if the trio rotated their attacks, he was confident that they could kill No. 6 first before going after Mohai.
Even after the two bandit goons' rendezvous, the situation did not stray far from TemperedSteel's expectations. The damage they received was evenly distributed across the trio and No. 6's HP was gradually dropping to the extent that he was only a few steps away from dying.
Unbeknownst to the trio, a fair amount of their HPs fell, putting all trio in the 40 to 50 range.
It was actually a part of Mohai's plan. In order to achieve this outcome, he even proactively blocked several attacks for No. 6. Otherwise, No. 6 would have died. 'Adjusting' their HPs to the average level was Mohai's handiwork.
"Die!" TemperedSteel shouted, and with the final blow, No. 6 died by his blade.
"Finally, one down! I'd say these two bandit goons are tough. It's much harder than the two before." ProsperShadow finally heaved a breath of relief.
"The other one just used his skill, so we'll be fine if we are careful." TemperedSteel nodded.
The last bandit goon had just used his high-damage skill a few seconds ago which missed all three of them, hence boosting TemperedSteel's confidence. If the skill had hit anyone of them, the unlucky one would have had to retreat from battle and heal. Otherwise, any subsequent normal attack would be a lethal blow.
Since the bandit goon did not have an active skill, the trio could easily gang up on him using the advantage of the terrain. Despite all three of them only having a quarter of their HPs left, it should be fine.
"Dodge!"
Whilst TemperedSteel and ProsperShadow were catching their breath, TorrentialSea saw the remaining bandit goon charge towards them. Suddenly, a little thud came from his feet as if he had tripped on a rock. The bandit goon then accelerated towards the trio whilst swinging the iron sword at the trio!
A [Slash] skill?!
What happened?!
Had this bandit goon not used the skill a few seconds ago and missed? How could he use the skill again so quickly? Did his partner's death refresh the cooldown time of his skill?!
The trio could not wrap their heads around it, but their bodies instinctively performed dodging maneuvers.
Theoretically speaking, since there was only one enemy and the skill that he used was not the kind that covered a large area of effect, even if they failed to dodge it, only one of them would be hit.
To their surprise, the trio was not very close to each other and they instinctively scattered away to dodge, but the bandit goon's [Slash] skill forcefully swung into half an arc mid-air, and in an instant, he killed ProsperShadow, TemperedSteel, and lastly, TorrentialSea.
The interval between the kills was less than half a second!
All three of them were wiped out by a single monster goon!
Their three souls were floating around their bodies as they looked at the bandit goon being blessed with the white light of leveling up. As the bandit goon wandered away, the trio looked at each other helplessly. They then chose to revive back in the city.