Chapter 51: Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird!

Watching his teammate fall victim to an inexplicable force and be instantly killed on the spot, Dragon Soul Tianni was struck with utter panic. He immediately tightened his grip on his long spear and scanned his surroundings with extreme vigilance.

Right at that moment.

Swish!

The mysterious black shadow swept past the rear formation once again, moving at a speed so blinding it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Following the Level 33 Mage [Dragon Soul Taboo], the Level 33 Priest [Dragon Soul Nimble Hand] was also eradicated!

The remaining Array Trickster [Dragon Soul Invincible Body] and Assassin [Dragon Soul Shadow] were consumed by panic.

"Who is it! What kind of person are you!"

Before his voice even faded away.

Splat!

Dragon Soul Invincible Body, the Array Trickster, was instantly killed.

In just the blink of an eye, three people had been eliminated.

And without exception, every single one of them was effortlessly taken out by a single strike.

Dragon Soul Tianni instantly realized that the opponent's level and strength were bound to far exceed theirs—someone they could never hope to deal with at their current level.

He couldn't even catch a glimpse of the enemy's shadow.

Driven by an unprecedented wave of terror, Dragon Soul Tianni frantically shouted into the surroundings: "May I ask which expert is gracing us with your presence! Is there perhaps some kind of misunderstanding? If I have offended you in any way, please enlighten me to my face!"

The moment those words left his mouth, the adversary finally revealed himself.

Yet the price of that manifestation was the slaughter of Dragon Soul Tianni's last remaining teammate, the Assassin Dragon Soul Shadow!

Splat!

With a flash of the hand and a drop of the blade, blood splattered across the ground.

A young assassin, approximately twenty-five or twenty-six years old with tanned skin and a rather honest, simple-looking appearance, stepped directly onto Dragon Soul Shadow's corpse.

While wiping the blood from his dagger, he stared at Dragon Soul Tianni with a mocking gaze, broke into an evil, charming smile, and said, "You certainly did offend someone."

Looking at this unfamiliar face, Dragon Soul Tianni racked his brain, yet could not for the life of him figure out when on earth he had ever offended this Level 50, sixth-tier assassin standing right before him!

"We shouldn't even know each other, should we?"

The young assassin said unhurriedly, "We might not know each other, but that doesn't matter."

"God Slayer, Yue—you know her, right?"

Hearing that name, Dragon Soul Tianni's heart suffered a violent jolt.

The thoughts in his mind were pulled back to yesterday afternoon, to the exact scene where he had almost killed God Slayer, Yue.

He understood instantly: the person before him had come to vent his anger and avenge God Slayer, Yue!

Knowing full well that he, a mere Level 35 fourth-tier knight, could never possibly be a match for a sixth-tier assassin whose level surpassed his by a full fifteen levels, Dragon Soul Tianni hurried to explain himself in order to save his life: "It's a misunderstanding, brother! At the time, I mistakenly thought she was the culprit who killed seven of my Dragon Soul brothers, so..."

"B-but I didn't end up killing her!"

Whoosh!

In the span of a single instant, the young assassin flashed with astonishing speed from dozens of yards away right in front of Dragon Soul Tianni.

With a flash of the hand and a drop of the blade, he chopped Dragon Soul Tianni down onto the ground, and then planted his foot squarely on his face.

The formidable pressure emanating from a sixth-tier powerhouse left Dragon Soul Tianni without the slightest ability to fight back.

"Who gave you the nerve to bully my Ranran?"

"I'm sorry! I was wrong! I... I was truly wrong!" Dragon Soul Tianni begged for his life desperately, "Have mercy on me, great master, I'll never dare do it again!"

"Don't you want to know who I am?" The assassin youth looked down at Dragon Soul Tianni beneath his feet, speaking in a chilling voice, "Remember this well: your daddy here goes by the ID White Tiger! Ranked 98th on the Tianyuan Assassin Leaderboard for the Great Xia National Server!"

Just as his voice fell, a voice echoed from behind: "Little Hu, don't casually expose your identity."

Glancing back, three figures appeared out of nowhere in the rear.

They looked to be around the same age as the assassin [White Tiger], yet each possessed a distinct aura.

One of them was clad in azure armor, looking rather composed and steady—a Level 50 sixth-tier warrior: Azure Dragon!

He was the one who had just spoken.

To Azure Dragon's left stood a refined and gentle red-robed mage, likewise a Level 50 sixth-tier: Vermilion Bird!

To Azure Dragon's right was a sturdy, chubby fellow, a Level 50 sixth-tier knight: Tortoise!

"Damn it! Why are you always so fast!" Looking at the four corpses of the Dragon Soul players lying around on the ground, the chubby Tortoise couldn't help but curl his lip in dissatisfaction: "You didn't leave a single one for us! That's going too far!"

Vermilion Bird, the mage, hugged her staff and said, "Ranran said we can't let them know who we are. Your identity has already been exposed, so this person cannot be left alive."

White Tiger waved his hand with a hint of impatience: "I know, I never planned on letting him live anyway."

Mid-sentence, ignoring Dragon Soul Tianni's desperate pleas, White Tiger smoothly slit his throat with a swift "splat."

"All done!"

"Just these few weaklings, and they actually dared to bully Ranran? They truly have no idea how vast the heavens and earth are!"

"Let's go, let's find Ranran! It's been so long since I last saw her. Since we're already in Jiang Province, we've got to bleed her dry with a huge meal today!"

Scanning the surroundings and seeing nothing amiss, the four of them departed from the spot.

The desolate settlement returned to utter silence.

Leaving only the voice chat between Dragon Soul Tianni and "Brother Guan," which had remained unbroken the entire time, emitting a steady series of "beep, beep" sounds...

---

Lv29-Lv30 Barren Land.

Killing monsters across a gap of 13 levels really made experience grow at an incredible pace!

After grinding venomous scorpions all morning, Lu Ming successfully leveled up to Level 18!

Moreover, his kill count had reached one thousand, completing the tenth tier of the [Hunt Venomous Scorpions] quest!

"My current level is 18 with 12%. I'll head back later to claim a wave of quest rewards, grind another quest in the afternoon, pull a bit of overtime tonight, and reaching Level 20 within today shouldn't be a problem."

Returning to the City of Starlight, Lu Ming turned in the quest to Karo, the soldier captain in the north of the city.

"Brave adventurer, excellent! You have truly resolved an urgent crisis for me!"

"Because of this, those venomous scorpions will no longer pose a threat to our City of Starlight for a short while!"

As Karo's voice trailed off, the melodious system prompt descended from the sky.

[Ding~ Congratulations on completing the quest "Hunt Venomous Scorpions," obtaining the tenth-tier reward: Experience Points +420,000, Silver Coins +8, and Array Trickster E-grade Skill Scroll - Fortress of Life +1!]

As expected of the reward for the tenth tier of a Level 30 quest!

This 420,000 experience reward instantly rocketed Lu Ming's experience bar from 18% of Level 18 straight up to 54% of Level 18!

Naturally, by comparison, what gave Lu Ming an even greater pleasant surprise was...

"An E-grade scroll actually dropped?"

From what Lu Ming knew, E-grade scrolls commanded a market value of twenty thousand RMB each. According to actual player testing, even when completing tenth-tier quests up to Level 50, the drop rate was exceptionally, exceptionally low!

Yet Lu Ming had merely completed a Level 30 quest, and he had actually acquired an E-grade scroll right off the bat!

If Lu Ming alone had received an E-grade scroll as a reward, it might not have been worth mentioning, attributable purely to sheer luck.

However, right after Lin Youwei nearby also turned in her quest...

"Nether Brother, I received a piece of equipment as a reward. Is this... silver-grade?"