Chapter 193
Chapter 193: Killer Bee Valley—Temptation
Demonic Bee Valley, named after the gregarious bee-variant monsters which inhabited it was also known as the Killer Bee Valley.
In the valley, there were multiple variants of killer bees; ranging from Tier 1, there were the Bumblebees, Poison Powder Bees, Poison Stinger Bees; from Tier 2, there were Killer Bees, Iron-head Bees, Light-winged Bees; till Tier 3, there were the Flame Bees, Twin-headed Bee, Death Venom Bee…
Because of its high Movement Speed and diverse deadly attacks, the various demonic bees in the valley were collectively named as killer bees by the players.
However as far as Qin Ruo was concerned, even the Level 35 Death Venom Bees still did not pose any significant threat toward him. After changing his equipment, his Physical and Magic Defense had increased so significantly that he could not be harmed by any common Tier 3 monster. Furthermore, he was equipped with five Gold-tier equipment and three Violet-tier Equipment.
As a demonic bee the size as large as three basketballs buzzed by, a snow eagle swooped down majestically from above and grabbed its soft abdomen with its talons.
*Pop!*
As its razor-sharp talons pierced through the Level 27 Iron-head Bee’s large hips causing its green bodily fluids to scatter around, the Iron-head Bee was unable to launch a counterattack as the speed and penetration force of the snow eagle’s assault caused it to fall backward. By the time the mana supporting the snow eagle’s materialization finished, the bee had been driven thirty meters away from Qin Ruo.
This was the hidden attack effect developed by Qin Ruo from the Intermediate skill ‘Snow Eagle Dive’. As long as the angle and pathway of the attack were precise, it could deal knockback of a certain degree toward the target.
The Magic Attack from Snow Eagle Dive which reached 164~165 points did not disappoint Qin Ruo. Not only did it successfully drive the Iron-head Bee away, but it also depleted almost 700 of its HP, which almost instant-killed the bee.
As the weakened Iron-head Bee had no intentions of fighting till its last breath, it turned and fled. Unfortunately, a timely Frost Bullet was cast by Xiaoxiao standing next to Qin Ruo.
A Tier 4 spell coupled with a Tier 2 spell, was able to easily instant-kill a Level 27 Iron-head Bee.
Although this was not something which needed attention, Xiaoxiao was greatly excited as she exclaimed, “Qin Ruo, your casting speed seems to have increased.” Xiaoxiao still remembered during their time at the Hog Pen—although Qin Ruo had spent a lot of effort on this spell which could not be modified, the casting time needed was still fixed at more than 4 seconds.
However today, the charging speed of the Snow Eagle Dive was significantly faster.
Qin Ruo knew that this was the result of spending hours of polishing the skill in the Snow Domain to raise Skill Mastery to Intermediate level and the new equipment he was currently using.
Currently, his water element casting speed had increased by 35%. In other words, if the initial cast time was 4 seconds, it could be reduced by one-third, to less than 3 seconds.
This was almost equivalent to the cast time of a regular Tier 3 Water Elementalism spell, or even shorter compared to other Tier 3 spells! As Xiaoxiao had been working on Elementalism for two consecutive days and the reassembling of Tier 2 and Tier 3 spells, she was extra attentive toward the cast time of water element spells. Once she noticed that Qin Ruo was able to cast Snow Eagle Dive in such a short time, it was needless to say that she was thrilled and instantly began questioning Qin Ruo how he accomplished it.
Qin Ruo chuckled but did not give her an immediate reply. Instead, he quietly paced forward into the valley with his Aquabarrier, till an aggroed Iron-head Bee charged toward him and instantaneously he stood still to chant. “Condense! Transfigure! Freeze!”
In that split second, Xiaoxiao was able to instantly sense the water elements in the air moving rapidly, instantaneously gathered before him as he uttered “Condense”, then began to transfigure, before splitting into two, each forming a razor-sharp weapon—Darkfrost Sting.
Three simple commands uttered without the slightest pause. As the last command Freeze was said, the two water elemental weapons were instantly frozen and began to form the actual Darkfrost Sting which emanated an icy mist around it.
Once Xiaoxiao laid her eyes on it, she was awestruck, witnessing the Iron-head Bee being instant-killed by the pincer movement of the two Darkfrost Sting. Without further delay, she began questioning Qin Ruo about the execution of the technique.
At the same time, this scene was noticed by another group of player in the valley and they were astounded.
Twin Darkfrost Sting!
“His Tier 4 Water Elementalism is impressive.”
“… It’s him?”
Within Killer Bee Valley, the thoughts from two people were voiced.
Soon after, the refine and handsomely dressed Homme Fatale looked at Steel Dude who is standing upon the floor filled with the corpses of Killer Bees, and asked him lightly, “Do you know who this guy is?”
“No, I don’t.”
Steel Dude took a glance at Qin Ruo first, then he noticed that Bewitching Priestess was gazing at that troublemaker infatuatedly, which displeased him greatly, inciting him to give a short and cold reply.
The conversation of the two guys made Scarlet Bauhinia who was standing behind them feel speechless.
‘Why is Steel Dude such a sentimental guy? Isn’t it better to be just like Homme Fatale who rather stays single than being stuck in a relationship? Is it worth it to have a fight between friends over a boy-crazy girl?’
Shaking his head slightly, Scarlet Bauhinia gave a closer look at the couple walking toward them from the valley and sighed.
‘Who would have thought while scouting a Tier 3 Aquamancer babe with decent skills and experience, that I would be meeting the guy that was being mentioned repeatedly not long ago?’
Tier 4 Aquamancer, Qin Ruo. The newcomer from Slayer’s Heart and Violet Orchid’s party. It turns out that the Tier 3 Aquamancer babe Xiaoxiao was his girlfriend.
This was getting interesting.
“Fatale, do you now believe that there is another player who is as talented as you in this game?”
“I had always believed that, I’ve just never had the chance to meet one in person.” Even when facing his commander, Homme Fatale just retorted in a calm and relaxed tone just like a normal member facing his commander’s reproach. Being an equal Tier 5 champion, it was Homme Fatale’s prerogative to retort his League Master.
“League Master, do you know him?”
Homme Fatale did not continue pestering Steel Dude, and instead he was able to sense the assured tone from Scarlet Bauhinia’s voice, indicating that he knew something.
“Slayer’s Heart newly made friend,” Scarlet Bauhinia replied curtly.
Once his answer was given, Steel Dude responded vexingly,”I don’t know whether if he is really Slayer’s Heart friend, but I do know that this guy Qin Ruo has been getting a lot of attention lately. Rumor has it that his background is common, but he was able to take down a regular member from Netherspirit’s Claw twice when still Tier 3. Later he single-handedly fought against a whole group of people at Savis Town, pretty gutsy, just my cup of tea. Hey boss, take him in.”
Homme Fatale nodded and voiced his opinion toward Scarlet Bauhinia. ” He’s right, that move he just made is not something a normal player can counter, I personally think he’s got potential.”
As one of the top Elementalists in the game, although it was a brief moment of Elementalism shown, he was able to perceive Qin Ruo’s skill. His understanding and experience toward Elementalism coupled with his future potential—even if he could not reach his current level, he should have no problem taking the role of a Field Commander in their league.
Not recruiting such a skilled player that had not been scouted by other Clans into their own League would be a loss.
Scarlet Bauhinia shook his head in regret.
“Let’s leave this matter to Slayer’s Heart at the moment. However, we could consider recruiting his girlfriend first.”
Scarlet Bauhinia did not want to raise any hostility from Slayer’s Heart, at the same time he thought of paving the way for Qin Ruo joining their Bauhinia Clan in the future by recruiting Qin Ruo’s girlfriend into their League.
“What’s the difference?”
Homme Fatale and Steel Dude both looked at Scarlet Bauhinia in astonishment as this was not their commander’s usual way of doing things. Usually once he meets a player with such potential he would have rushed to invite them personally!
“It’s nothing…”
Scarlet Bauhinia shook his head in dismay, but it was obvious to the others that he was trying to avoid the question.
After Qin Ruo followed Xiaoxiao into Killer Bee Valley, their attention was instantly drawn toward the silhouette of five people and one beast in the valley.
A gigantic tiger as large as the size of two Galewind Wolves was rushing through the Killer Bees’ poison powder and poison stings, constantly firing icy breaths and freezing the multiple Killer Bees around the tanker. Next, the ice shards swirled wildly like a tornado and launched toward the Killer Bees.
Raging Frost Roar!
‘Damn, a monster at only level 35 is able to cast a Tier 4 AoE spell.
‘It’s a Boss-level Pet!’
Taking a quick glance, Qin Ruo’s attention was drawn toward the Shadowmancer among them. Several of his equipment had a luster that Qin Ruo could not discern, mysterious and dazzling. Furthermore, there were two guys fully equipped with Dark Gold equipment. One of them had purple lightning surrounding his body whenever he attacked, which was obviously a Electromancer; the other guy must be a Titanwraith Berserker, with his both large hands, the Killer Bees were squashed easily like tofu. Standing beside the tanker surrounded by a swarm of Killer Bees was a pretty babe which looked a little cute and clumsy.
At the same time, Qin Ruo was able to confirm Xiaoxiao’s story that these people were definitely from Bauhinia League from the Bauhinia insignia on their chest. Furthermore, the Shadowmancer in the lead equipped with Legendary equipment should be Scarlet Bauhinia himself!
‘But why do they want to recruit Xiaoxiao?’