The instant defeat of Casanova and Ironwing completely reversed the situation on the battlefield!
Trueman, the leader of the Warsoul guild, looked extremely displeased. His face was ashen as he stood there silently, continuously using health potions to recover. Clearly, he still wanted to fight.
At this moment, Dragonsoul of the Swordfire guild stepped forward with a smile and said, "Trueman, how have you been these past few years?"
Trueman replied, "It doesn't matter if things are good or bad. Life in the game is like a fleeting dream - only grinding for gear, making money, and chasing girls remain unchanged..."
I interjected, "How bitter! Say something else, like how you'll get revenge in the future."
Dragonsoul laughed, "What revenge? Warsoul won't make a move against Swordfire!"
"Why not?"
"Because Trueman was my high school classmate..." Dragonsoul explained with a helpless shrug.
"Damn..."
By now, Trueman had walked over and said, "Since Breeze Embracing Moon and Frivolous Scholar are friends of that scoundrel Dragonsoul, what happened earlier was just a misunderstanding. It's only a shame my two brothers died for nothing..."
Dragonsoul scoffed, "What do you mean for nothing? Those two relied on being Warsoul members to act so arrogantly. Don't you see how they've ruined Warsoul's reputation built up over so many years?"
Trueman couldn't help retorting, "You're one to talk! When you left Warsoul to create Swordfire back then, weren't you also cursed as a scoundrel? Hmph, turning against your brothers for a woman in the game. How's that worked out for you? That 'woman' turned out to be a man - bet you're feeling great about that!"
Dragonsoul looked embarrassed, "Damn it, don't bring up ancient history from so many years ago. I made one mistake and regretted it for life!"
Trueman sighed, then said, "Look, Dragonsoul, come back to us. Warsoul really needs someone like you in management, or things will get more and more chaotic. You've seen how useless people like Casanova and Ironwing are. I'm practically holding up the entire guild by myself."
Dragonsoul smiled, "I have new friends now, and I don't want to give up on Swordfire."
Trueman paused briefly, then said, "Alright then. Since you've got friends like Breeze Embracing Moon and Frivolous Scholar now, I won't force you. I'm leaving!"
"Wait, want to finish the quest together?"
Trueman laughed bitterly, "Both my brothers have died and gone back to town. How can I stay here alone to complete the quest?"
With that, Trueman used a town portal scroll and left.
The Swordfire members immediately started chuckling. Titan looked at Breeze Embracing Moon and me with surprise, and couldn't help saying, "Scholar, you're something else! I didn't expect you to be teamed up with the number one female mage. You've certainly got good luck with the ladies..."
I was momentarily stunned. Diana tried to appear calm, but her cheeks flushed slightly red.
I said, "We really owe you guys our thanks this time. Otherwise, we both would have died here..."
Dragonsoul waved his hand and smiled, "It's nothing. Didn't you also PK against the Arrogant guild for Violet yesterday? We should be thanking you! It's true what they say - after just a short time apart, one must look at a person anew. I can't believe that in less than a day, you've made it onto the national leaderboard. Impressive!"
I glanced at the Swordfire members. They were all level 25, slightly behind but still definitely skilled players. Of course, players as hardcore as the Warsoul group were the exception, and Diana was even more of an anomaly.
So I said, "In that case, why don't we team up to complete this quest together? You've got two tanks and a healer, which is exactly what we're lacking!"
Dragonsoul immediately nodded, "Sounds good! Let's finish the quest quickly, otherwise Warsoul might bring more people. Casanova and Ironwing aren't good guys... By the way, are you two together?"
I wasn't sure what Dragonsoul meant, but before I could answer, Diana smiled and said, "Yes, he and I are friends!"
She glanced at Violet and added, "I didn't realize he also knew your teammate."
Violet smiled, "Scholar and I only know each other in the game. No need to worry, miss..."
Diana immediately gave me a sidelong glance and said curtly, "I'm not worried at all. Anyway, let's complete this quest together. It'll be faster that way."
So I invited the four Swordfire members into our party one by one. This time, Dragonsoul didn't try to take charge, but instead asked Diana, "Miss Moon, what's your suggestion for our battle strategy?"
Diana glanced at the Phantom Archers in the distance and said, "Let's use a standard formation. Warriors and berserkers in front to tank. Mages and archers focus on damage output. Cleric keep an eye on health, mainly healing the warriors and berserkers."
Dragonsoul nodded and said to Titan, "Alright brother, let's get to work!"
Titan agreed readily. The two heavy armor classes immediately moved forward, instantly drawing the attention of several Phantom Archers. It was clear that the archers' attacks couldn't do much damage to heavy armor. With at least two bronze-tier armor pieces each, Dragonsoul and Titan only took about 100 damage per hit from the Phantom Archers. Violet could easily heal that damage with her mid-level healing spells.
Diana and I focused on attacking, while Ghostflame of Darkfireballs wasn't idle either. After a chant, he launched a dark fireball that exploded on a Phantom Archer's chest, dealing 457 damage!
Diana fired off a powerful fireball, instantly taking 724 HP from a Phantom Archer!
My Fire Arrow whistled through the air with a "whoosh", finishing off that Phantom Archer with 845 damage!
Ghostflame was dumbfounded. He stared wide-eyed and exclaimed, "Whoa! What kind of attacks are those? Such insane damage - are you trying to put us all out of business?"
Diana smiled lightly and said, "This is just our normal attack strength."
Ghostflame was shocked and completely lost confidence.
Violet smiled slightly and said, "Ghostflame, take a look at the level rankings. Breeze Embracing Moon is number one in US, and Scholar is number three. Do you think they could make it onto the leaderboard without some serious skills?"
Ghostflame laughed in understanding, "You're right. With these two heavy hitters, completing the quest shouldn't be a problem at all!"
At this point, Diana seemed a bit impatient and said, "Why don't we increase our killing speed?"
Dragonsoul was surprised, "Increase it further? We're already fighting 5 monsters at once!"
Diana smiled and said, "Why not pull more? Gather all these monsters together, and I can take them out in 10 seconds. The question is, can you handle it?"
Dragonsoul wasn't a novice. He immediately nodded and said seriously, "Alright, let me try!"
With that, Dragonsoul charged forward a short distance. After attracting the aggro of over a dozen Phantom Archers, he immediately turned and ran back, leading the archers to gather along his path. When they were clustered together, Dragonsoul stopped and quickly downed a health potion.
Violet focused her healing on him, casting two healing spells in succession on Dragonsoul.
Meanwhile, Diana had already begun chanting a large-scale spell. In a flash of fire, countless flaming meteors rained down on the monster group. The Phantom Archers' health bars dropped en masse, with over a dozen damage numbers popping up simultaneously - quite a spectacular sight!
As Diana started casting her second Crimson Sea spell, the Phantom Archers began falling in droves, and our experience bars shot up rapidly!
Titan's eyes shone with excitement as he exclaimed, "Wow! The experience is coming in so fast - I think I'll level up in less than half an hour!"
Indeed, the Phantom Archers were nearly 10 levels higher than Titan and the others. The experience gained from killing monsters so far above their level was immense. Before long, the Swordfire members had all leveled up!
With two tanks and a healer, our monster-killing speed increased dramatically. In less than half an hour, we had cleared out all the monsters on the third floor. No equipment dropped, but quite a few silver coins did.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Dragonsoul walked back and traded me 25 gold coins, saying, "We got a total of 30 gold coins. You and Breeze Embracing Moon used a lot of potions, so these are for you two!"
I felt a bit embarrassed, "That doesn't seem right. There are only two of us - we can't take most of it..."
Dragonsoul grinned, "Just take it. If you two weren't here, who knows how long it would have taken us to clear this place."
Thinking about it, I agreed and accepted the coins. I immediately traded them to Diana- she was the one who really needed gold for potions. As an archer, my skills consumed little mana,while her Crimson Sea cost 100 MP. There was no comparison. No wonder Diana had complained about being broke when we first met.
Looking at the now-empty third floor, Dragonsoul and Titan headed towards the stairs to the fourth floor.
Ghostflame quickly followed. I looked at the two ladies left - they were also looking at me. So I said, "Ladies first?"
Diana rolled her eyes, "Cut it out. Cannon fodder goes first!"
I rolled my eyes back. I knew it - I was the cannon fodder! Violet covered her mouth and giggled softly as she walked alongside Diana, following behind me as we entered the fourth floor of the Phantom Cavern.