Bai Xiaowen was elated, and he thought to himself, "I have been waiting for you to say that!"
Before the fight in the tavern, Bai Xiaowen had already guessed that these two strong men had important missions. Otherwise, they would not have suppressed their anger and watched that weak minstrel slander their leader.
In the conversation that ensued after that, the two of them shared that information with Bai Xiaowen. After Bai Xiaowen received confirmation of his guess, he made up his mind.
In order to gain Reputation points with the Resistance Army, he had to take part in an important mission. It would be best if he could attract the attention of the higher-ups. Therefore, when he completed the first mission given by them, which was to prove his allegiance, Bai Xiaowen tried his best to destroy three imperial strongholds in one go.
This way, Bai Xiaowen finally achieved his goal and was qualified to participate in this important mission.
Bai Xiaowen accepted their invitation without hesitation. "It will be an honor if I can join you guys. Ralph, who are we going to kill this time?"
Ralph nodded in satisfaction. "We received reliable news that the imperial envoy who's from North County will arrive at Elu City tomorrow. Our mission is to assassinate him outside Elu City!"
Loga said, "If the imperial envoy dies in Elu City's territory, Elu City will have to bear the wrath of the empire. This is something that the lord of Elu City would definitely not want to see. The city guards of Elu City will definitely stop us. Therefore, we have to complete the mission before the imperial envoy meets up with the city guards of Elu City!"
Prompt information:
"Subquest: New mission initiated. Difficulty: A-."
"Quest Objective: Assassinate the imperial envoy, Elliot."
"Quest Duration: 8 hours."
"Failure Condition: The imperial envoy Elliot enters Elu City or completes contact with the city guards of Elu City."
Bai Xiaowen nodded. "I'll send that damned imperial slave to meet their Lord of Light."
"It's not 'you', but 'we'!" Loga patted Bai Xiaowen's shoulder with a smile. "The imperial envoy has close to 20 guards with him. Although most of them are auxiliary soldiers who don't have much combat power, you can't deal with them alone."
Ralph said, "The imperial envoy's team will be camping in White Stone Valley tonight. We'll set off now! We must complete the mission. For Ursok!"
"For Ursok!" Loga raised his fist and roared. Bai Xiaowen quickly followed suit and raised his fist, baring his teeth in a ferocious manner.
-
At night, in White Stone Valley.
"Hey, did you see that?" Loga whispered.
Ralph, who was also hiding in the darkness, nodded slightly. "Their defense is very tight. There are auxiliary soldiers standing guard in every direction. It won't be easy to launch a surprise attack."
Bai Xiaowen observed the imperial envoy sitting beside the bonfire. He was a young aristocrat, and his every move exuded the elegant etiquette that he had cultivated since he was young. However, Bai Xiaowen's Insight allowed him to see that this envoy's combat strength was very weak, similar to that of an auxiliary soldier.
However, there were four regular soldiers of the imperial army sitting beside imperial envoy Elliot! Two of them were giant hammer warriors, one was a shield warrior, and one was a powerful archer.
These four regular soldiers had a challenge level of Level 2. If Bai Xiaowen was alone, he would want to be as far away from them as possible.
However, he had the two muscular men beside him—Ralph and Loga. Loga was a Level 3 Warrior, so it would not be a problem for him to take on two soldiers by himself. Ralph was also an Elite Class Champion Swordsman. If he worked together with Loga, they would be able to wipe out this team even without Bai Xiaowen's help.
"But that's the problem…" Bai Xiaowen frowned.
This quest had a difficulty of A-! In the Class Advancement Quest 2, learning Draconic also had a difficulty of A-. If this was a quest that Bai Xiaowen could easily complete because he had such powerful backers, the difficulty would not exceed C. How could it be classified as A-?
Bai Xiaowen was deeply puzzled. He thought for a moment and activated his Insight. He began to probe the enemy's strength one by one, starting with the members of the imperial envoy.
The envoy was still a weakling, and there was nothing special about the four regular soldiers. However, when Bai Xiaowen detected a cloaked, normal-looking servant not far from the envoy, he shuddered and almost jumped up!
[Leila Red Leaf (Elite)/Challenge Level 5]
[Race: Humanoid/Elf]
[Class: Sword Dancer Level 3]
[Attributes: Strength 14, Agility 21, Physique 16, Spirit 9]
[Skill: ???]
"There's indeed a problem!" Bai Xiaowen gritted his teeth. He did not expect the imperial envoy to be accompanied by an extraordinary elven b*tch. This female Elf named Leila Red Leaf had a challenge level of 5 and was stronger than Ralph.
Feeling a little startled, Bai Xiaowen used his Insight to look at all the remaining auxiliary soldiers. Only then did he heave a sigh of relief—there were no other powerful figures hidden among the remaining auxiliary soldiers.
Their situation was not that dire yet. They still had a chance of completing their mission successfully.
On the other side, Ralph and Loga were discussing the battle plan. They waved for Bai Xiaowen to go over.
"There are more enemies. We need a bait to divert some of their attention," Ralph said. "The remaining two people will launch a surprise attack while the camp is empty. This way, we will definitely be able to kill that cowardly man who works for the empire!"
"I'll be the bait."
Loga hesitated for a second before saying, "Ralph is the most powerful of us. We need him around to launch a powerful and forceful attack on the enemy, so he has to stay."
Being the bait was undoubtedly very dangerous. Moreover, he had a low possibility of making a contribution to this mission. Therefore, it was a tiring chore and one that no one wanted to do.
Ralph shook his head and said, "Brother, I've fought alongside you for so long that I'm already used to having your shield protecting my back."
How could Bai Xiaowen not understand what Ralph meant? He continued to behave like a hothead and said in a low voice, "I'll be the bait and lure the enemy away. No one is more suitable than me."
Loga was still a little hesitant, but Ralph had already nodded heavily. "All right, my brother. Everything we're doing is for the liberation of the north!"
This sentence dispelled Loga's hesitation.
Bai Xiaowen said in a low voice, "I'll go get ready. Wait for my signal to make a move." With that, he walked around the col and left stealthily.
Ralph and Loga waited patiently.
Ten minutes passed.
Half an hour passed.
An hour passed.
Bai Xiaowen was still nowhere to be seen.
Ralph frowned and said, "What happened? Did he run away?"
Swoosh!
With the sound of a bow, an auxiliary soldier who was standing guard at the entrance of the valley staggered half a step back. He covered his arrow wound and shouted shrilly.
"Enemy attack!"
Swoosh!
Another arrow hit the injured auxiliary soldier. The arrow hit that soldier's heart accurately, and the auxiliary soldier fell to the ground dead.
The enemy camp was in chaos. After inspecting the condition of the auxiliary soldier who was shot to death, the envoy team responded. Two regular soldiers of the Imperial Army led five auxiliary soldiers to search for traces of the attacker.
This arrangement was very reasonable. Evidently, there was only one attacker. Looking at the archery skills of the other party, it could be seen that he was not invincible. Two imperial regular soldiers and five auxiliary soldiers were enough to pull out the rat that had sneaked up on them and kill it.
If they ignored the attack, they would not be able to rest peacefully for the entire night.
Looking at the half-empty camp, Ralph patted Loga's shoulder heavily. "It's done. Let's go!"