Chapter 66: Either He Goes, Or I Go
Jiang Taotao’s expression changed drastically, "Retreat quickly!"
The team immediately backed away from the mountain base.
Over a hundred mermaid monsters rushed down from the mountaintop, completely blocking the path up.
"Someone deliberately lured the mermaid monsters here," Lin Moyu saw a person running in front of the monster horde, attracting them.
This person wore different clothing from them, not from Summer Capital University or the Divine Summer Empire.
Jiang Taotao also saw him, "He’s from the Cherry Blossom Country."
"This should be their unique career, Onmyoji."
The person’s clothes were embroidered with cherry blossom patterns.
Lin Moyu hadn’t heard of the Onmyoji career.
Ning Yiyi said solemnly, "I’ve heard this career is very underhanded."
Jiang Taotao said, "Indeed, they have many tricks up their sleeves."
The Onmyoji took out two talismans and threw them left and right.
The talismans exploded in mid-air, creating two huge shadowy figures.
The shadows immediately rushed down the mountain from the air.
Like the skeleton warriors, they attracted all the monsters from the ponds at the mountain base.
The retreating Hidden Dragon Academy students were quickly surrounded by monsters.
They kept using skills, trying to break through.
But there were too many monsters, most couldn’t escape.
Seeing no way out, they glowed white one by one, teleporting away.
The mission stones given before entering the island also functioned as teleportation stones.
They could be used to escape when in danger.
But once teleported away, this trial mission would end in failure.
Ning Yiyi said, "This is the Onmyoji’s Shikigami skill. They say it can summon ancient spirits."
Miao Yu asked quietly, "Why is he doing this?"
Jiang Taotao said, "He wants to stop us from climbing the mountain."
Now the mountain base was full of monsters, at least 200 in total.
Plus over 100 more on the mountain path.
Over 300 monsters in total, completely blocking the way up.
It would take hours to clear them all.
The Onmyoji sat on his Shikigami, floating in the air, laughing loudly, "You just stay here. The dungeon belongs to my great Cherry Blossom Country."
With that, the Shikigami carried him away, disappearing in an instant.
"Despicable."
"Onmyoji is a legendary career. Looks like Cherry Blossom Country went all out this time."
"By the time we clear all these monsters, it’ll be too late."
"And our teams are scattered now, many people have quit the trial."
"That’s fine, we can regroup at the dungeon entrance."
"The problem now is how to get up there."
"Maybe someone should sacrifice themselves to lure away the monsters?"
"Come on, you think we’re level 40 second-transition professionals? Don’t you know how dangerous it is to lure monsters?"
"This isn’t just 10 or 20 monsters, it’s hundreds!"
"Let the summoners do it!"
"You think summoners can do anything? They can lure a few monsters, but hundreds? You’re joking."
Jiang Taotao looked at Lin Moyu, "Can you do it?"
Lin Moyu nodded slightly, and a skeleton warrior had already run over.
"Huh, a skeleton? An undead summon."
"Whose summon is that?"
"What’s it doing?"
"It’s going to lure monsters! It’s so fast."
The skeleton warrior’s appearance immediately attracted the monster horde’s attention.
Many mermaid monsters screamed and chased after the skeleton warrior.
In an instant, a third of the surrounding monsters were gone.
Jiang Taotao sighed, "Too bad there are still so many left."
Crackle, crackle.
Another skeleton warrior ran over.
"Two?" Jiang Taotao’s eyes lit up, surprised Lin Moyu had a second skeleton warrior.
There was hope.
The second skeleton warrior did the same, luring away another batch of monsters.
The monsters at the mountain base were mostly gone, leaving only those on the mountain path.
Even with these monsters remaining, it would be much faster to clear them now.
"Well done!"
"Great job, brother!"
"You’re amazing, brother. I’ll buy you a drink after the trial."
"I’ll take you on dungeon runs in the future!"
Everyone praised Lin Moyu.
Ning Yiyi smiled brilliantly, seeming happier about Lin Moyu being praised than if she were praised herself.
Only Ling Zhen’s face was ashen, looking like he’d eaten something rotten.
At this moment, a third skeleton appeared.
"There’s even a third one!"
"We’ve got this now!"
Everyone cheered excitedly.
"Prepare to climb," Lin Moyu said softly.
Jiang Taotao was ready, "Prepare!"
The third skeleton charged up, luring down the monsters on the mountain path.
Jiang Taotao seized the opportunity, quickly rushing up the mountain.
Seeing this, other teams immediately followed.
Actually, Lin Moyu didn’t need to go to such trouble. He could have used Corpse Explosion to instantly clear these monsters.
But because of Ling Zhen’s presence.
Lin Moyu didn’t want this guy to benefit.
They were in a team state now. If he used Corpse Explosion, the experience would be shared equally.
Why should he?
After being provoked multiple times, even Lin Moyu’s good temper had limits.
If it were elsewhere, Ling Zhen would probably be dead already.
Everyone ran quickly up the mountain.
They reached the top of the several hundred meter high mountain in just minutes.
They saw the dungeon entrance.
On the other side of the mountaintop, another group had just run up.
"Enter the dungeon, don’t let them get ahead!"
The Hidden Dragon Academy people shouted.
Jiang Taotao also quickly rushed towards the dungeon entrance.
"Huh?"
"How did they get up here?"
"Could they fly too?"
The Onmyoji who had been sitting on his Shikigami in mid-air looked puzzled.
He had clearly lured so many monsters to block the path.
Clearing those monsters should have taken hours.
By then, the Cherry Blossom Country teams would have finished the dungeon and left.
He hadn’t expected Hidden Dragon Academy to climb up so quickly, exceeding his expectations.
Both sides charged to the mountaintop, glanced at each other, then rushed towards the dungeon entrance simultaneously.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Arrows exploded in the air, falling like rain.
"Watch out, it’s the archers’ arrow rain!"
The Cherry Blossom Country archers suddenly attacked, using skills.
Mages raised shields.
Knights activated protection skills.
Two skeletons appeared in front of Lin Moyu, shielding him and Ning Yiyi.
"They dare attack, hit them back!"
"Hit them hard, don’t hold back!"
The Hidden Dragon Academy archers and mages also unleashed their skills.
Arrows flew everywhere, spells exploded chaotically.
Though they were only around level 20 professionals, their skills were quite dazzling.
Healers stood at the back constantly healing, while support classes quickly replenished statuses.
Healing light pillars shot into the sky.
Knights joined the fray, charging and clashing.
This encounter battle had no prior preparation, no formation to speak of.
The scene became extremely chaotic.
The two sides were evenly matched, neither able to overcome the other.
From Lin Moyu’s perspective, the Divine Summer Empire side should be stronger.
Those from Hidden Dragon Academy were all elites among professionals.
Their skills and equipment were very powerful.
The Cherry Blossom Country elites were clearly also top-notch, but still slightly inferior to the Divine Summer Empire.
The only problem was that earlier Onmyoji luring monsters, causing the Divine Summer Empire teams to become incomplete, greatly reducing their combat power.
This led to a stalemate, with no clear winner.
Both sides fought fiercely, neither able to claim the dungeon.
Mages depleted their spirit power and started drinking spirit potions.
Archers’ and knights’ skills also entered cooldown.
The battle was no longer as intense as before.
Gradually, both sides retreated, entering a ceasefire.
Lin Moyu never took action.
His skills were too powerful.
He feared if his skeleton warriors struck once, the enemy would die.
Then with a Corpse Explosion, probably few of them would survive.
Jiang Taotao had said the two sides had long competed, but rarely caused deaths.
The seemingly fierce battle earlier only resulted in some injuries.
And with the healers’ treatment, injuries quickly recovered, not endangering lives.
The first clash ended in a draw, both sides wary, no one daring to relax.
The dungeon was right before them, the Mermaid’s Tear a prize both sides were determined to obtain.
"Our teams are too scattered, we need to regroup."
"If we can regroup, we’ll definitely overpower them."
Many people had left at the mountain base, scattering the teams, putting them at a disadvantage in battle.
"We’re short a ranged damage dealer, mage or archer, we need one below level 24.8."
"We need a healer, level 21 or below."
"We need a mage, level 23 or below."
Many teams lacked damage dealers, followed by healers.
Earlier when surrounded by monsters, many mages had quit the trial.
And there were level requirements.
Entering the Mermaid dungeon also required an average level no higher than 20.
Ling Zhen suddenly spoke up, "Captain, I want to join another team."
"Why?" Jiang Taotao was surprised, not expecting Ling Zhen to say this.
Ling Zhen pointed at Lin Moyu, "Either he goes, or I go."
Not only Jiang Taotao was surprised, Duan Gao and Miao Yu also looked shocked.
They hadn’t expected Ling Zhen to make such a threat.
And at this moment, right at the dungeon entrance.
Duan Gao said solemnly, "Ling Zhen, you’re going too far."
Miao Yu also said, "That’s right, if not for Lin Moyu luring away the monsters, we wouldn’t have made it up here."
Ling Zhen didn’t care, "That’s his business, I don’t care. I’ll say it again, either he goes, or I go."
Ning Yiyi sneered, "Ling Zhen, you really are a dog."
Ling Zhen ignored Ning Yiyi, "Captain, you choose."