Absolute Death Game

"Stop looking, scram!"

Xiao Buli yelled and turned to run.

"What is that thing?" Han Baiqiang didn’t immediately run but instead asked.

"The Corpse-driving Warlock, the BOSS of the Black Wilderness!"

"BOSS!" Hearing Xiao Buli’s words, the three of them were scared, startled. In other games, the presence of a BOSS could be a cause for excitement, as it meant the potential to drop top-tier equipment. Especially a randomly spawning BOSS in the wild, that was definitely thrilling. But the problem was this wasn’t an average game.

If they died, they would lose their jobs, and compared to the unknown value of BOSS drops, such a risk was just too great.

Therefore, within moments, all three made their own decisions, following Xiao Buli and running away from the direction of the Corpse-driving Warlock and his army of Walking Corpses, non-stop.

As they ran, they looked back—a wave of his hand, and seven or eight Corpse-eating Dogs charged out of the ranks of Walking Corpses, pursuing the four men. Despite the lack of Sprint skills, even a normal running pace wasn’t slower than the four people, so they gradually caught up.

Hearing the conversation, Li Jian also logged out of the game and came to the back of the group.

"Corpse-driving Warlock? You ran into a Corpse-driving Warlock?" Li Jian asked, somewhat excitedly.

"Yeah, just back there," Xiao Buli answered while also making sure to keep running. Behind him, Han Baiqiang’s speed seemed to be the slowest and he was gradually being caught up to.

"Don’t even think about fighting that thing; you can’t beat it." As Li Jian spoke, he glanced at the coordinates displayed on Xiao Buli’s screen, committing them to memory.

"You guys be careful not to die; I have to step out for a bit."

The others were too busy running to really pay attention, and they subconsciously agreed. Li Jian turned and left the studio, taking out a phone—but it wasn’t the company-issued one.

"Hello, is that Old Gao? I found a wild BOSS, a Corpse-driving Warlock. Yes, the one that wiped out the newbies last time. It seems to have just respawned. Don’t tell the team leader. Get Long and Zhang Hao involved, quickly hire a carriage to the Black Wilderness, and meet at the Demon Hunter Camp.

I’ll be there soon."

After hanging up, his excitement had yet to dissipate. According to regulations, he was supposed to inform the team leader about such a discovery, who would decide who to send to take down the BOSS. He could have received a bonus for his information, but this time he had no intention of doing so. Compared to a bonus of a thousand or two, there were things he cared about more waiting for him.

After the call, Li Jian went back to the studio, logged into his account, and set off for the Demon Hunter Camp.

Let’s leave Li Jian to his own devices for the moment and talk about the four who were sprinting away. They had run far in one go, and the Corpse-driving Warlock was long out of sight. However, the Corpse-eating Dogs caught up; Han Baiqiang was carrying the most weight and was the slowest.

He saw his Stamina Points were nearly halved and knew he couldn’t shake them off, so he abruptly turned around and unleashed an Earth Cleaving Slash behind him.

He had gauged his strike perfectly—the timing was such that one of the Corpse-eating Dogs charged right in front of him, practically delivering its head under his hammer—Splat! With a crushing effect, he smashed the dog’s head to bits—instakill! Han Baiqiang didn’t even have time to be startled with triumph when the remaining six dogs all surged forward.

After a round of attack, his health points had instantly dropped by one third, and that was only because he had the ’Copper Body Iron Arm’ skill he had gained from blacksmithing, which mitigated some of the damage. Otherwise, an average person would probably have been finished off there and then.

"Quick, save me!" Han Baiqiang shouted as he swung his hammer in huge circles and smashed it down, the ’Spin’ technique with its additional knockback effect forcefully repelled the attacks of the Corpse-eating Dogs.

Just as the second wave of attacks was about to land, a feathered arrow zipped under his crotch and pierced through the eye of a Corpse-eating Dog, instantly blinding it and causing it to spin chaotically on the spot.

Four people plus two dogs vs. six Corpse-eating Dogs was quite an easy scenario, so the moment Xiao Buli and the others saw Han Baiqiang being attacked, they all stopped and turned to join the fight. The two dogs rushed past Han Baiqiang, one on each side, blocking the second wave of attacks for him. Han Baiqiang stepped back in shock, cursing to himself about the downside of running slow.

But thankfully, his teammates were reliable, and he looked at the three with even more gratitude in his eyes.

The battle ended quickly, and the six Corpse-eating Dogs soon added to the combat experience of the four players. However, as usual, they dropped no equipment. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Li Baocheng dissected one of the dogs and all he got was rotten dog meat and rotten dog skin, things that weren’t even worth selling.

"Such a meaningless battle," Xiao Buli mumbled to himself.

"Where are we now?" asked Li Baocheng as he looked around. "Huh, what’s that over there?" His gaze suddenly caught by something strange.

It appeared to be a cave of sorts, with the entrance sealed by a faint gray barrier, rendering the interior indiscernible, and it looked quite odd.

"This should be the entrance to a dungeon, right?" Sun Bin said uncertainly while tending to Han Baiqiang’s wounds. One perk of being a militiaman was that he received quite a bit of golden sore medicine, which allowed for slow recovery of health points outside of combat.

"It does look very much like one!" Xiao Buli chimed in, genuinely feeling that their luck was exceptionally good—they’d just encountered a wilderness boss and now they had discovered a dungeon.

"But why didn’t Li Jian ever mention that there was a dungeon in the Black Wilderness? Could it be that he didn’t know about it either?" Sun Bin asked, his tone laced with doubt.

Han Baiqiang said, "Hey, just ask him and we’ll know, right? Hey Jian, do you know about a dungeon in the Black Wilderness?"

A dungeon in the Black Wilderness? At the mention of this, Li Jian immediately stood up and came over. He had already mounted the carriage and didn’t need to pay much attention to it, and upon seeing the gray barrier on Han Baiqiang’s screen, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder, "This is indeed an entrance to a dungeon.

You guys really are extraordinarily lucky to come across such things one after another."

Hearing Li Jian’s tone suggested that it was a great discovery, Han Baiqiang couldn’t help getting excited too, "Could it be that Jian also didn’t know about this dungeon?"

Li Jian nodded, "There are plenty of dungeons in this game, but because the game map is so vast, finding one is not easy. Moreover, dungeons are one-time affairs—once you clear it, it’s gone, so they are becoming rarer and rarer." After finishing, he added, "It’s a pity that your dungeon is only a gray one, otherwise it would be worth reporting.

Discovering a worthwhile dungeon can get you a reward of several hundred to a thousand dollars."

"Dungeons have colors too?" Li Baocheng couldn’t help asking curiously.

"Of course, just like equipment is differentiated by color to indicate quality, dungeons are classified in the same way. Gray dungeons are also called mini-dungeons because their maps are generally very, very small. They usually contain only one boss, the loot is quite common, and naturally, the boss’s combat power is usually very weak, which makes it quite suitable for you guys."

"Does that mean we can take on this dungeon?" Li Baocheng asked excitedly upon hearing it was suitable for them. This was mainly because it was too abstract to measure player strength in this game; it was hard to assess.

In other games, half a month of play would at least net you a full set of blue or green gear, by which time you would’ve learned numerous skills, and regardless of the equipment quality, it would at least look impressive. How many levels you gained and which dungeons you could tackle was clear-cut, as you just needed to look at the levels of the monsters inside.

But in this game, they were still wielding such shabby weapons after half a month, and a light blue piece of equipment was treasured like a gem with no concept of levels at all, which made dungeons seem quite daunting.

"Of course you can take it on. A gray dungeon in such a low-level area is definitely doable. Just be a bit cautious, that’s all," Li Jian answered with confidence.