Chapter 839 - Crystal Maze
Hearing Shi Feng answer without hesitation, Autumn Goose was touched. She also felt slightly envious.
The reason why she had joined an independent organization like the Wind God's Spear was precisely how the people within the organization treated each other like family. If one of them got bullied, they would fearlessly help out their companions regardless of the cost.
They did not behave like Guild members, who had to worry about various aspects even when helping out a companion.
Generally, players in the upper echelons of Guilds, like Shi Feng, were even less likely to make a move casually. People in his position would usually ascertain what kind of enemy they were going up against first and make a decision only after determining the potential profits and losses.
However, Shi Feng had not done any of this.
Instead of asking who their enemy was, the first thing Shi Feng wanted to know was the whereabouts of Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo. Such a situation generally would never happen in a Guild.
"Some experts ambushed Rain and the others at the Crystal Forest. The enemies were wearing Black Cloaks, so they did not find out anything about those experts. Moreover, their ambushers operated silently. Fortunately, Rain and Blue managed to use the Instantaneous Movement Scrolls you gave them before to escape. However, based on what Gunfire told me, those people were there specifically to kill Rain and Blue. They definitely will not let them get away. Here are the coordinates of where the ambush took place. You have to be careful," Autumn Goose said as she sent the map coordinates to Shi Feng.
"I understand. I'll hurry there immediately." After seeing the coordinates of the Crystal Forest, Shi Feng silently committed it to memory. He quickly turned the Demonic Flame Tiger around and headed straight for the Teleportation Hall.
Despite the low odds for Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo's rescue, when Autumn Goose heard Shi Feng's calm and steady tone, for some reason, she felt relieved.
The travel time from White River City to the Crystal Forest aside, just getting from the nearest transfer point to where Thoughtful Rain's group got ambushed would require at least two hours. Although Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo had escaped using the Instantaneous Movement Scrolls, current players had many more Skills than before, which made tracking other players much easier.
Moreover, the enemies chasing after Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo had somehow managed to keep them in a combat state, preventing them from using Return Scrolls. Even logging out of the game normally was not possible, as the system would directly mete out the death penalty if they went offline while in a combat state.
"Please let Rain and the others make it." At this moment, the only other thing Autumn Goose could do was pray. She was currently in the faraway Dark Night Empire. She would need even more time than Shi Feng to reach the Crystal Forest.
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The core area of the Crystal Forest was rife with trees made out of crystals. Currently, over a dozen players covered in Black Cloaks were searching there.
"Damn it! Quirrell, have you not found their tracks yet? Boss Hell Fiend has already given the word that we must kill those core members of Zero Wing," Ordinary Stranger asked in a low tone as he looked at a distant Assassin.
They had already gathered information regarding the whereabouts of many of Zero Wing's core members. However, the majority of those members were currently grinding in the Stoneclaw Mountains. It would take Ordinary Stranger's team over a dozen hours of travel just to get there. As for the remaining core members, they were raiding Team Dungeons. They were unlikely to leave the Dungeons any time soon. The only ones nearby were Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo, who had been seen grinding with Zero Wing's upper echelon before.
However, he had never imagined that even those two women would succeed in escaping his ambush. In the end, his team had only managed to kill two unrelated independent players. If this matter were to reach the Adjudicator's ears, his team's days in King's Return would no doubt be numbered.
"Do you think it is that easy to track players here?" The Assassin named Quirrell rolled his eyes at Ordinary Stranger. He then swept a glance at the surrounding crystal shrubbery, gnashing his teeth as he said, "Those two beauties sure know how to run. They actually reached this Crystal Maze. If not for this natural maze, I would've long since found them by now. However, rest assured, although the terrain here is complex, this place has only one exit. The two of them cannot use Return Scrolls right now. They also cannot log off normally. It is only a matter of time before we find them."
"Good, then. Thunder and I will guard the exit. You guys head inside and search for those two. We need to kill them as quickly as possible. Don't forget, we don't have much time left. We still need to deal with the other members of Zero Wing," Ordinary Stranger instructed.
"I understand." Quirrell also began hastening his search.
Aside from Quirrell, the other members of the team paired off and began searching the Crystal Maze.
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"Rain, what are we going to do? Those people are still chasing after us. If we head in any further, we will arrive at the lair of the Crystal Wolves." Blue Bamboo's heart began palpitating as she looked at the patrolling pack of Crystal Wolves some distance away.
These Crystal Wolves were incomparably powerful. In order to complete a crystal collection quest, they had also personally experienced the strength of these monsters.
Previously, when Shi Feng had led them to kill the Crystal Wolf packs, they had not felt these monsters to be much of a threat. However, after returning to this place again by themselves, they found out just how difficult and exhausting dealing with these monsters was. Alone, a single wolf pack was not particularly scary. However, if they did not kill these Crystal Wolves quickly enough, these monsters would summon more companions in the vicinity, instantly bolstering their numbers by several times. Sometimes, the Crystal Wolves would also draw Special Elites, or even Chieftain ranked monsters.
Fortunately, when the Chieftain appeared, they had Death Wind to tank it. Otherwise, they would have died without a doubt.
Only, they had never imagined that, rather than dying to the Level 45 Chieftain, Death Wind would die at the hands of cloaked players that had suddenly appeared, instead.
If not for Death Wind and Gunfire delaying those people, they would not have had a chance to use the Instantaneous Movement Scrolls that Ye Feng had given to them for emergencies.
Currently, there were Crystal Wolves all around them. If they moved deeper into the maze, the possibility of discovery by a wolf pack would increase as well. In which case, by the time those cloaked players caught up to them, these Crystal Wolves would have long since killed them already.
"We can only give it a shot. We'll use an Invisibility Potion and continue forward. Hopefully, these wolf packs can buy us enough time." Thoughtful Rain gritted her teeth as she looked at her own status window. She then took out two Invisibility Potions and gave one of the bottles to Blue Bamboo.
Both of them were currently afflicted with the Soul Lock debuff. As long as they were out in the fields, they would not be able to contact anybody for five hours. Their attackers had also forced them into a constant combat state, which prevented them from using their Return Scrolls. Arbitrarily logging out of the game would result in them suffering the death penalty immediately.
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While Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo snuck deeper into the Crystal Maze, Shi Feng had already arrived at the Crystal Forest.
I finally caught up. Shi Feng tapped on the Demonic Flame Tiger, storing it away as he looked at the Crystal Forest before him. He then opened the map for the Crystal Forest.
Even now, Autumn Goose had yet to contact him again. This silence meant that Thoughtful Rain and Blue Bamboo were still alive.
The enemy is extraordinary. The fact that Rain and Blue have remained at large suggests that they entered the Crystal Forest's core area, the Crystal Maze. Hopefully, I can make it in time. After taking a glance at the map, Shi Feng used Space Movement, the Activatable Skill of the Aura of Space.
Space Movement allowed him to cross up to 600,000 yards instantly. He could easily traverse the entire Crystal Forest or move to any location within the map. If not for this Skill, he would not have made it to the Crystal Forest so quickly, either. Now that the Skill's Cooldown was over, he could use it once again.
In the blink of an eye, Shi Feng appeared at a location close to the Crystal Maze's entrance.
Guarding the entrance as well? It seems you guys really are targeting Zero Wing.
The instant Shi Feng appeared in the area, he immediately noticed the cloaked Ordinary Stranger and Thunder Tiger keeping watch at the entrance of the Crystal Maze, their eyes radiating cold killing intent.