Update Time: 2014-02-13
Chatting and boasting all the way, the group quickly passed through the Heavenly Frost Forest, getting closer and closer to their quest map.
What lay before them now was an ice plain covered in frost, and in front of this ice plain, a towering cliff rose into the clouds, a magnificent sight!
Their destination was the Frost Crystal Cave at the bottom of the cliff, only a few minutes away.
However, as soon as they stepped onto the ice plain, an Ice Elemental appeared; it was level 30 and used magic attacks!
Yang Qi stepped forward to test her strength, a single "Raging Slash!" took off half of the Ice Elemental's health, then she retreated to the side, missing the Ice Elemental's Ice Arrow, and with two more normal slashes, the Ice Elemental immediately shattered into ice fragments on the ground.
"Not bad! Low defense and health, and the attack frequency isn't high. We can come here to level up after finishing the quest!" Yang Qi said, pointing at the ice fragments on the ground.
"Let's talk about that later! First and foremost, we should complete the quest!" Lin Zheng said, picking up his dagger.
"But the monsters on the outskirts are already level 30, I can't imagine what level the ones inside the Frost Crystal Cave will be! Can we even defeat them!?" Xiao Meng asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about that!" Yang Qi said with a relaxed expression, "Monsters are like us, level 50 is a hurdle. Within this level range, monsters cannot gain an overwhelming advantage over us!
Of course, if we encounter a monster above level 50, then we'll be in serious trouble! However, the chances of that are not too high, after all, Xiao Linzi, who received the quest, is only level 19.
Judging by the quest difficulty, the final boss we encounter this time won't be more than level 45, otherwise, it wouldn't be an A-rank medium quest but an S-rank or higher!"
"Now that you mention it, it seems to be true!" Xiao Meng felt much more relieved.
"That's natural, don't you know who I am!" Yang Qi said smugly, Lin Zheng directly ignored her, holding his dagger and leading the way towards the Frost Crystal Cave.
After more than ten minutes, Lin Zheng's party arrived at the entrance of the Frost Crystal Cave.
The entrance of this Frost Crystal Cave was very unique, looking exactly like a dragon's head with its mouth wide open, and cold air constantly spewed out from the entrance, as if a giant dragon was breathing.
"Do you think this might actually be a dragon's head?" Yang Qi casually asked Lin Zheng.
Lin Zheng examined the entrance; it did have a dragon shape, but it wasn't truly realistic. "Probably not! If it really were a dragon's head, how big would that dragon have to be!" Lin Zheng said.
Yang Qi nodded in agreement, and the group stopped examining the dragon-shaped entrance, gathering together and walking into the Frost Crystal Cave!
System Notification: "Your party has entered the Frost Crystal Cave. The monsters appearing in this map are of higher levels, please be careful!"
Danger hadn't even approached yet, but Xiao Meng was already shivering and sneezing from the cold, and Lin Zheng and Yang Qi also shivered; one wore leather armor and the other metal armor, their warmth retention was truly not commendable!
However, Youxi and Lilith were in good condition; cloth armor classes had a significant advantage at this time! Their clothes were truly warm!
"Let's lower our sensory settings! Otherwise, it'll be too cold to even fight monsters!" Yang Qi said.
Xiao Meng nodded frantically upon hearing this; she was truly freezing to death!
With their sensory settings adjusted, the quest officially began!
Lin Zheng first opened the map of the Frost Crystal Cave and looked at it; the cave was like a multi-story building, divided into five layers, each lower than the last, and the lowest layer was displayed as very small on the map, probably the boss room!
The quest required them to reach the bottom layer, defeat the boss there, and obtain the boss's core; there was no other way but to directly fight their way through!
Suddenly, a white shadow attacked Lin Zheng, and Lilith shouted: "Be careful!" Lin Zheng immediately jumped back upon hearing her, and at that moment, Yang Qi took a swift step forward, "Giant Sword Strike!" "Bang!—" The white shadow was instantly sent flying by Yang Qi, and a -650 damage floated in the air.
When the white shadow landed, the group finally saw what it was!
Ice Ape: Level 35 (Elite) Physical Attack 446-580, Physical Defense 330, Magic Defense 320, Health 2800
Snow Apes living in the Heavenly Frost Forest mutated into Ice Apes after being strengthened by the power of the Frost Crystal Cave, becoming extremely ferocious.
Lin Zheng had the black crow mask, so he could easily detect monster level information and immediately shared it with everyone.
"Damn! So it's an elite monster, with an attack upper limit of 480, that's pretty * *!" Yang Qi said with some surprise, and at the same time, she didn't stop, carrying the Black Crow Sword forward and killing the Ice Ape that attacked them.
After killing the Ice Ape, a large amount of experience immediately made the group's eyes light up; as expected of an A-rank quest map, the monster experience was indeed abundant!
At this moment, "Squeak!" sounds continuously echoed in the cave, and then the group saw countless Ice Apes appearing in their line of sight.
Looking at the monkey nest in the vast cave chamber not far away, Lin Zheng broke out in a cold sweat!
There were so many; when would they ever finish killing them one by one!
"There are two plans!" Yang Qi said, extending a finger, "First, kill them one by one! But looking at this number, it would probably be dawn by the time we kill them all!"
"You'd better tell me the second plan!" Lin Zheng rolled his eyes, "Kill until dawn? Do you think Youxi and the others don't have classes tomorrow? Besides, this is only the first floor, are we going to spend two or three days on this quest?"
"The second plan!" Yang Qi pointed her finger towards the cave chamber, "Look! There's a rock crevice over there, just wide enough for two people to stand side by side.
We can try luring the monsters there and group-killing them, which would be much more efficient.
However, Lilith would have a harder time, as the monsters' attacks are quite high, so you'd have to constantly heal the person tanking the damage."
"Then let's go with the second plan! Otherwise, we really will be killing until dawn!" Lin Zheng decided.
"Since that's the case, let's go over and get ready!" The group nodded and began to move towards the rock crevice, killing a few Ice Apes that blocked their way, and quickly reached the crevice.
The crevice wasn't very deep, but it was wide enough to accommodate all five of them.
Youxi and Lilith, as cloth armor users, would definitely be in the backline.
Lin Zheng, being a leather armor user, didn't have high defense, but his stat distribution was unreliable, and he had more health, so he could barely tank some damage.
Yang Qi's idea was for him and Xiao Meng to take turns, while Yang Qi, being tough and sturdy, could stay on the front line with Lilith healing her.
With positions assigned, they were ready to lure the monsters!
"Who's going to lure the monsters! There are so many, if I go, I'll definitely die instantly!" Xiao Meng said, swallowing nervously.
"We have two great masters here! It's not your turn, Xiao Yatou, to lure monsters!" Yang Qi said.
"How about it, Liu Mang? Are you going or am I?"
"I'll go!" Yang Qi drew her Black Crow Sword, "The Shadow Raid of the Black Crow Sword is perfect for luring monsters, watch closely!"
With that, Yang Qi charged out, and the group only saw Yang Qi skillfully circle to the opposite side of the cave chamber, then constantly move among the Ice Apes.
Yang Qi clearly understood the Ice Apes' aggro range; otherwise, getting too close would result in attacks, and with so many Ice Apes, if she were attacked, she would instantly be killed!
Soon, Yang Qi had lured most of the Ice Apes behind her, with hundreds of them chasing her, making Lin Zheng and the others' hearts pound!
About 25 yards from the crevice, the path ahead was blocked by Ice Apes.
Just as Lin Zheng and the others were holding their breath for Yang Qi, she raised her Black Crow Sword, "Giant Sword Strike!" With a single thrust, she instantly sent the blocking Ice Ape flying.
The flying Ice Ape knocked down a large number of other Ice Apes, creating a vacuum within ten yards in front of Yang Qi.
Seizing the opportunity, Yang Qi quickly advanced ten yards, and seeing her path blocked again, Yang Qi thrust her sword forward again, "Shadow Raid!"
Lin Zheng and the others only felt a blur before their eyes; a black shadow instantly passed through the Ice Ape crowd and in a blink of an eye was in front of them.
Who else could it be but Yang Qi!
Looking behind Yang Qi, where Shadow Raid had passed, all the Ice Apes had been sent flying, a straight line, completely red with damage numbers, a very pleasing sight!
"Is that Shadow Raid? Damn! That skill is too awesome!" Lin Zheng said, looking at the returning Yang Qi in surprise.
"Hehe! Of course! Do you think a boss-level skill is some common trash?" Yang Qi said somewhat proudly, "The Shadow Raid skill can also be upgraded.
I've already trained it to Level 2, and now its effect is an instant charge of 15 yards, dealing 110% physical damage to enemies along the charge path, pretty powerful, right!"
"What's the cooldown?"
"30 seconds! It's pretty good for soloing! But it's a bit of a shame!" Saying that, Yang Qi sighed, "The Black Crow Sword's level is a bit low.
I'm already level 23, and using the Black Crow Sword for output isn't quite powerful enough!"
"Take your time, maybe this quest will drop a powerful sword for you to use! By the way, hurry up and get into defense, the Ice Apes are catching up!"
As he spoke, Lin Zheng's expression changed; the vast army of Ice Apes was already closing in!
Yang Qi quickly entered the crevice to defend, and as soon as she turned around, the Ice Apes had already charged in!
Lin Zheng used a "Stomp," stunning all the charging Ice Apes.
Seizing the time, he and Yang Qi quickly killed the stunned Ice Apes.
Behind them, Youxi's Chain Lightning was thrown out, causing considerable damage in the dense Ice Ape crowd!
Soon, Lin Zheng accumulated 5 charge points and said to Yang Qi: "Liu Mang, Giant Sword Strike! I'm going out to throw an Explosion!"
"Alright!" With that, Yang Qi raised her sword and used "Giant Sword Strike," instantly pushing back the Ice Apes attacking them by several yards.
Seeing the opportunity, Lin Zheng immediately rushed out!
As soon as he left the crevice, Lin Zheng was quickly surrounded by countless Ice Apes.
Lin Zheng didn't dare to hesitate, he immediately used "Explosion," instantly killing a large number of them!
After using "Explosion," Lin Zheng successfully retreated, immediately falling back into the crevice to defend.
"Damn! A high-damage Swordfighter is really abnormal!" Yang Qi said, looking at the returning Lin Zheng with some jealousy!
"Why don't Greatsword Knights have area-of-effect skills! It's too unfair!"
"Envious, aren't you! See if you still make fun of me!" Lin Zheng was also a bit proud, "However, Explosion is very powerful, but the cooldown is a bit long, 10 minutes!
And it requires charging, which is a bit troublesome!"
Yang Qi rolled her eyes at Lin Zheng upon hearing this, "Nonsense, if there weren't these restrictions, Swordfighters would be invincible!"