Chapter Forty-Eight: The Armored Warrior

"We did it!" shouted Blue Feather.

"We really did it! That's amazing, an epic boss!" said Spirits and Breeze.

Xia Yuwei and Zhang Zibo's team members were all immersed in excitement.

There was a time when they would have been thrilled just to clear the normal-level Cliff the Ogre, yet Lu Yang had led them to clear the epic-level one.

The moment they thought about the gear dropping potentially being of silver tier, everyone's gaze toward Lu Yang changed completely.

"Expert, take a look at the equipment quickly," Xia Yuwei said.

In any team, only the raid leader had the qualification to loot equipment. Previously, Xia Yuwei did the looting, but now she willingly let Lu Yang do it.

Lu Yang did not decline. In his past life, bosses that required two thousand people to defeat together were always looted by him as the raid leader, and this life was no exception.

Of course, although Lu Yang was often cursed as a "black hand" by his brothers in the guild during his past life, he felt that his luck was quite good after being reborn in this one.

Walking up to the boss and selecting the loot interface, a silver-white light illuminated the entire area.

"Silver tier!" someone shouted, and everyone's eyes turned green with envy.

"Whose equipment is it?"

"Is it for mages or warriors?"

"Rogues, it has to be for rogues."

"Hunters, it's for hunters."

...

Listening to the familiar voices, Lu Yang couldn't help smiling. He turned back to the group and said, "It's a silver-tier shield, meant for a defense warrior."

Lu Yang shared the stats of the shield with everyone.

Cliff's Shield (Silver Tier)
Defense: 7–22
Strength +2
Constitution +3
Block Value +8

"The defense is so high! It's actually on the same tier as the Whelpling War Shield," Spirits and Breeze said in astonishment upon seeing the shield's stats.

Seeing the equipment stats, Xia Yuwei and Zhang Zibo hurried over to Lu Yang. Xia Yuwei said, "Mr. Lu Yang, this shield is far too precious. We won't take it for free. I'm willing to buy this shield for three thousand credits."

Zhang Zibo nodded repeatedly.

Lu Yang was just about to hand it over to Zhang Zibo when he heard this and chuckled. He asked, "Where did that come from? Why are you offering me money?"

Zhang Zibo did not answer, but instead said earnestly, "With this shield, I can tank the Cave of Death on difficulties below epic. This is extremely important to us. We hope you will let us buy it."

Blue Feather also chimed in, "Yeah, expert, sell it to us."

Lu Yang looked at Blue Feather speechlessly and said, "What are you meddling in, little girl? Go play over there."

"You..." Blue Feather puffed out her cheeks and walked away looking "indignant."

Looking at the nervous Xia Yuwei and Zhang Zibo, Lu Yang said, "Did you forget our previous agreement? I said the mage gear goes to me, and all the rest of the equipment belongs to you."

He handed the shield over to Zhang Zibo.

System Prompt: Player Lu Yang has given you Cliff's Shield.

"You're really giving it to me for free?" Zhang Zibo never expected Lu Yang to be so generous.

Xia Yuwei was also astonished and said, "Mr. Lu Yang, but, but..."

Lu Yang said, "There are no 'buts'. This isn't about money; it's about integrity."

Xia Yuwei, Zhang Zibo, and the others were deeply convinced, and Blue Feather looked at Lu Yang with even greater admiration.

Lu Yang clapped his hands and said to everyone, "Alright, everyone rest in place. Once we've recovered, we'll set off again and strive to clear the Cave of Death within an hour."

"Understood," Zhang Zibo and the other team members responded one after another.

If the group still harbored doubts about Lu Yang before, after defeating Cliff, their confidence in him was absolute.

"Um, raid leader, Zheng Yuan is still lying on the ground. Should we revive him?" asked a warrior in the team.

Xia Yuwei and the others only then remembered that during the previous battle, Zheng Yuan had been burned to death by the boss because he refused to follow orders.

"We don't have a resurrection spell. Make him run back in himself," Xia Yuwei said, suppressing her anger.

"Got it," the warrior in the team sent a message to Zheng Yuan.

At that moment, Zheng Yuan was standing just outside the dungeon. According to game rules, members could not enter a dungeon while a boss fight was in progress.

Upon receiving the message that he could enter, Zheng Yuan hurried inside. However, when he reached the group and saw that the boss had already been killed, the expression on his face flickered uncertainly.

Lu Yang couldn't be bothered to deal with Zheng Yuan and said to everyone, "Once everyone is fully recovered, we move out."

"Alright," Zhang Zibo and the rest of the team stood up with high spirits, following Lu Yang as he pressed forward.

Zheng Yuan thought Lu Yang would give him a hard time, but seeing that Lu Yang didn't even pay attention to him, he actually felt quite pleased.

He hurried over to Xia Yuwei's side and said, "Yuwei, I bought the mage skills Blink and Fire Blast at the entrance just now. My abilities are just as good as that Lu Yang's now."

Xia Yuwei ignored Zheng Yuan entirely. Finding himself rebuffed, Zheng Yuan wanted to approach Blue Feather, but Blue Feather had already walked over to Lu Yang's side.

"So what if he killed a boss? What's so great about that?" Zheng Yuan said unhappily.

Hearing Zheng Yuan's words, Zhang Zibo sighed and couldn't be bothered to waste any more breath on him.

Passing through the wooden doors of the cavern hall, the group entered a wide natural tunnel.

To the right of the tunnel was an underground stream, and to the left was the rock wall. Every three meters or so, a torch mounted on the rock wall illuminated the surroundings.

"There are eight heavy armored human warriors up ahead, everyone be careful," the scout rogue reported as he ran back.

Heavy armored warriors were the primary combat force of the Fals Empire. The so-called heavy armored warriors were fighters wearing full plate armor reminiscent of European medieval knights, holding a large shield in the left hand and a long spear in the right.

The group stood at the entrance of the tunnel, looking at the eight heavy armored warriors thirty yards away. Spirits and Breeze said in surprise, "Why are they all level 5 elite monsters?"

Xia Yuwei asked, "Weren't they like this in the normal difficulty?"

Spirits and Breeze replied, "Of course not. In the normal dungeon, there are only three normal mobs here."

"What do we do? We definitely can't beat eight elites."

The damage output of three elite monsters was already on par with a boss. With another five elites added, even if the party had three defense warriors to tank, the healers wouldn't be able to keep up because a single defense warrior required three priests healing him simultaneously, and the total number of priests in the raid was only five.

Xia Yuwei looked at Lu Yang and asked, "Should we head back instead? We're already more than satisfied with being able to beat Cliff."

Zhang Zibo also agreed, "Yeah, expert, this is simply too difficult."

Lu Yang said, "Don't worry, let me think of a way."

This particular obstacle had stumped countless players in his past life. Even a guild composed of experts all equipped with bronze and iron gear would find it extremely difficult to get past.

However, after a fire mage player published a video, nothing was difficult anymore.

That fire mage player had already reached level 6, far surpassing this level, but because he lacked gear, he had been forced to join a group to run this dungeon. Yet, no matter what, he couldn't get past this checkpoint. After being stuck for three days, the fire mage player finally figured out a solution.

On the side of the tunnel close to the rock wall, there was a drainage trench nearly half a meter deep.

As the saying goes, the higher the mountain, the deeper the water. There were dense fissures within the mountain, and these fissures were filled with water sources.

When it rained, these fissures would fill with rainwater. If there were no caves inside the mountain, the water would remain stored there, but if there were caves, the water would flow down along the fissures.

The exploit utilized this drainage trench. When the eight heavy armored warriors approached, the fire mage would use Fire Blast to forcefully knock the heavy armored warriors flying into the drainage trench.

The depth of the drainage trench was about thirty centimeters, and the width was twenty centimeters. The moment the heavy armored warriors were knocked back into the drainage trench by Fire Blast, their plated war boots would get wedged inside the trench and they wouldn't be able to get out, leaving them completely at the mercy of the players' attacks.