MMORPG: The Elementalist

After detaching from the large, joint party formed by three great Leagues, Qin Ruo officially took over the leader role from Subjugator for the original six-person team.

At Level 4, Subjugator, a Tyranny Clan Field Commander, still had the adequate experience to carry the team forward. However, once they stepped onto Level 5, Subjugator was completely overwhelmed by the hostile environment. After they parted ways with the great League members, he was especially suffocated by the fact that Tier 6 monsters were everywhere on Level 5 of the graveyard. Plus, powerful enemies from Demon Faction could pop up at any minute.

Subjugator was not the only one who felt that way. Black Rock and Snowleaf were also bound by the invisible tension surrounding them on Level 5 of the Graveyard of the Gods.

Fateless and Judge were not as strained in comparison. The former was a Bandit who could merge into the darkness as he pleased, so he did not have much to worry about; while the latter was a viciously calm warrior with well-balanced defenses and attacks. The Steel Berserker seemed fearless. Well, even if he was tense, the thick helmet hid his anxiety well.

This was when Qin Ruo’s leadership and guts became essential to turn the party’s spirit around.

With newfound determination, Qin Ruo intentionally chose to advance through the rougher terrain along the forest edge. He moved on carefully, relying on the information given by the Bauhinia League, which included the layout of Level 5, locations of monsters, and the distribution of the rival faction’s super party.

Under the admiring gaze of the other five members, Qin Ruo once again performed his “Tarzan Swing” across the dense forest. Utilizing the Stealth of his Aquamorph state, he hovered over the ground by hanging on the tip of the trees, catching every movement below him from his vantage point. With his command, the party bypassed the path where a Tier 6 monster herd or Demon Faction party was. At full speed, they moved towards a few caves, which the Bauhinia Clan members claimed housed a Tier 6 Boss monster.

Since Qin Ruo was in command, Subjugator naturally delegated the role of Squad Leader to Qin Ruo as well. “It’s too much stress for me to keep the Squad Leader title when in fact, I’ve turned into a pawn.”

***

More than 10 minutes later, five of them managed to avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble under Qin Ruo’s guidance. They remained safe and sound as they reached the foot of a strange, small hill. It was such a weird place. The foot of the hill was filled with enormous giant trees but tracing upwards, the hill became barer and barer.

“What kind of sh*thole is this?” Subjugator could not help but complain through the Party Channel once they stopped in their steps. His question was directed at Qin Ruo who had just landed and revealed himself next to him.

Qin Ruo smiled and explained, “Death Mountain—a name given by the Bauhinia Clan.”

Looking at the others’ puzzled expression, Qin Ruo continued, “The fifteen Clans under the three great Leagues have explored most parts of Level 5, and they drafted out a simple map before they joined up.”

“What?!”

“There’s a map? Did the Bauhinia members give you one?”

Seeing the reactions from Subjugator and Fateless, Black Rock as well as Snowleaf just grew more confused. “Huh? Wait, what’s the deal with this map?”

“You can gift maps to others?”

This was when Judge opened his mouth to answer Black Rock and Snowleaf queries. He did not show the slightest surprise or doubt. “You two have never noticed? For an area without a map, the player can actually draft the map themselves. Following the player’s trail, the terrain within a hundred-meter radius of the player will automatically take form and appear on the player’s map. You can call out your map to see it for yourself. The path we took earlier should be displayed on it by now.”

As per Judge’s suggestion, Black Rock and Snowleaf expanded their map and took a look.

‘It’s true!’

A serpentine path appeared on the otherwise dark map. The actual terrain of the place they had just passed by was now clearly visible. Nonetheless, the route was relatively tiny on the giant map and was of little use.

Subjugator continued where Judge left off, “When two players from different paths meet, they can opt to exchange and share the map info they have. How is it that the two of you don’t know about this?”

“Damn! Why didn’t any of you tell us such important information earlier?” Black Rock whined loudly through the Party Channel.

Subjugator stretched his hands out and shrugged. “Well, we’ve always been on the same path ever since we formed the party, so there hasn’t been a need to bring this up before.”

He then looked back at Qin Ruo and questioned, “Don’t tell me the three great Leagues have already drafted a detailed map of the entire fifth level.”

Qin Ruo nodded. “I forgot to pass it to all of you earlier on. Let me share it out now.”

The five of them quickly accepted the shared info. Though the map remained incomplete, numerous paths were obviously linked, and the general layout of Level 5 was apparent to the viewer. In contrast to the pitiful, lone earthworm-like path just now, this newly-received map was as informative as a satellite image.

“Damn you Qin Ruo, you should have shown this to us earlier.”

Black Rock yelled again and pointed at the map before he turned his head joyfully to the hill in front of them. “There’s a cave here?”

Qin Ruo smiled and nodded while he shared his thoughts, “These past two days, there have been a lot of pathfinders scattered all over Level 5. However, most of them never ventured deep into the caves. My guess is they were hindered by monsters that were patrolling nearby, so most of the parties were unable to go farther in. I believe these untouched caves still contain a great amount of loot left to be explored.”

“Agreed!”

Black Rock and Fateless raised their hands at the same time—one being a natural optimist while the other preferring adventure. They would certainly not let such a fun opportunity slip by. It was, in fact, the only purpose they entered the dangerous Level 5 of the Graveyard of the Gods.

“But according to your Sister Violet, not every cave on Level 5 has treasure in it. The classification seems rather strict here. Tier 6 Minibosses or even Elite Minibosses aren’t allowed to keep treasures to themselves…”

“That’s right. So, before we decide to ransack the cave, we have to first confirm if it’s guarded by a Miniboss or Megaboss,” Qin Ruo explained.

The five other members in the party looked at each other and smiled bitterly after they heard Qin Ruo out. ‘It’s easier said than done.’

If it was a Tier 5 monster, then the four Level 49 players in the party could still differentiate a normal monster from a Boss as they had access to data of monsters up to Level 54. But when it came to Tier 6 monsters, they were not given any useful information (level, ability, name, etc.) even if it was only a minion, let alone one that was of Boss Tier.

Were they supposed to judge with their naked eyes? It was impractical.

However, it was even more absurd to try to judge a monster’s tier based on its strength! The weakest Tier 6 Miniboss was still 10 times more horrible than a Tier 5 Overlord. Asking them to go up against a Tier 6 Demigod Boss was nothing but a suicide mission.

They needed the help of 10 main attackers, two Tier 5 Minibosses, and several Field-Commander players to take down a single Tier 5 Boss previously. Now with only six of them left, even fighting a Tier 6 Miniboss was suicidal, much less a Tier 6 Elite Miniboss, Tier 6 Boss, or Tier 6 Elite Boss…

Even worse, the movement speed of a Tier 6 Boss was beyond imagination. Hence, scouting the cave itself was already a deadly task. One could possibly pay with his or her life simply by going near the cave.

“Qin Ruo still has one Sealed Mana Core left, right? Can we first send in a Tier 5 Miniboss to lure the Tier 6 Boss out, then send Fateless in to confirm if there’s any treasure hidden inside the cave…” Snowleaf suggested.

That sounded like a good plan, but unfortunately, it was still not feasible.

Qin Ruo frowned. “This is the last Soul Stone, and our only hope left. I wish to use it only when necessary… like after we’ve confirmed there’s treasure inside the cave. Or else, we’ll completely waste the final Soul Stone.”

The others nodded consensually.

‘It is indeed unwise to ask the summoned Boss to be a scout.’

First of all, Bosses summoned from Mana Cores had a time constraint of 180 minutes. If the monster in the cave was not a Tier 6 Boss but only a Miniboss or an Elite Miniboss, it would take them a lot of time to detour to another cave. They would then need to take care of the Tier 6 monsters around the area, which was very troublesome and time-consuming. One or two instances of unsuccessful probing would exhaust the usage time of the monster for nothing.

More importantly, a Tier 5 Miniboss may find it difficult to escape unharmed under a Tier 6 Miniboss’ pursuit. Though both were Boss level monsters, they were still one tier apart—a considerably big gap in terms of power and ability.

Besides, it also remained questionable whether the Tier 5 Miniboss could successfully lure the Tier 6 monster out of the cave as well as create an opening for Fateless to enter and survey the grotto safely.

Until they could come up with a flawless plan, Qin Ruo refused to simply activate the final trump card in his hand. Without this trump card, they would completely lose the leverage to stay competitive on Level 5 of the Graveyard of the Gods.