Chapter 26 – TheFugitive

When Fatty and TheFugitive entered the fourth floor together, they saw the entire map covered with monsters, then glanced at each other with matching smiles.

“Guys on the left, girls on the right,” Fatty nodded towards TheFugitive, walked around a bit like a cyclone, drawing the aggro from a dozen or so Skeletal Knights and some Skeletal Archers before walking he raced back to the entrance to the fourth floor.

Smart people didn’t need to speak to communicate. While Fatty lured the monsters over, TheFugitive ran silently to the other side and did the exact same thing.

“Let’s go.”

The two used the entrance to the fourth floor and returned to the third, leaving several dozen monsters at the entrance standing around in confusion.

The monsters from one level couldn’t get to the next. It was kind of a bug that wasn’t really a bug. Thus, the pair merely used this setting to get a bunch of monsters to block off the entrance to the fourth floor.

“They’re back!!?”

Everyone on the third floor was shocked when they saw the pair of rogues return. Then, they glared fiercely at Fatty and started to consider whether they should say a few aggressive words or directly attack.

Fatty looked up, smiled, then activated stealth and returned to the fourth floor. Meanwhile, TheFugitive did the same beside him. Since they were treated as out of combat when they had returned to the third floor, it meant that they were able to enter stealth mode.

“Get him!” the angriest player on the third floor was Cloud Dragon Sailing. From his point of view, Fatty not only kill stole his monster once, the damn fatty stole his monster thrice! They say that once was tolerable, and so was twice, but thrice was way over the top. He felt like the damn fatty acted way too outrageously.

Cloud Dragon Sailing took the lead and went through the entrance to the fourth floor. However, the moment he reached it, his expression drastically changed. Two or three dozen Skeletal Knight stood in front of him, while the wandering Skeletal Archers also looked over.

Boom.

Perhaps the Skeletal Knights were rather annoyed to get played by Fatty and TheFugitive, so, the moment they saw a player, they all activated their Charge ability without caring for who it was.

The several dozen Skeletal Knights activating Charge together was truly a sight to behind, and it was the same for the couple of dozen Skeletal Archers firing arrows. The horse hooves shook the ground, and the arrows rained down. At least a third of the attacks landed on Cloud Dragon Sailing. He didn’t even have time to react at all before he grunted, then disappeared back to the respawn point in the city.

“Retreat, retreat!” Cloud Dragon Windwielder hurried back away in shock in an attempt to return to the previous level. However, he was completely blocked off by the countless members of his gang.

And thus, a scene of monsters slaughtering players in front of the narrow entrance occurred.

…

“Money Grubber,” Fatty undid his stealth in the corner of the cavern and reached out his right hand towards TheFugitive.

TheFugitive was a thin young man who looked to be in his early twenties. When Fatty introduced himself, TheFugitive did not speak, and merely displayed his name.

“TheFugitive? What is it bro? What evil thing did you do to make you end up like this?” Fatty exclaimed.

Ugh. TheFugitive facepalmed.

Since revealing his name didn’t cause Fatty to react as he expected, he could only remind Fatty. “Take a look at the leaderboard rankings.”

Fatty slowly opened the leaderboard, then exclaimed again.

“Wow, Fierce Dragon TheTalent is truly a fierce dragon, he’s already reached Level 12! That TheFugitive guy in second place is so dumb, he’s actually still at Level 11. Wait, he has the same name as you, you can’t have some shady dealings with each other, right?”

TheFugitive twitched his mouth.

“Haha, I’m just kidding,” Fatty chuckled. “Wow, second place in the leaderboards, that’s really something. I wonder what did you come here for?”

“Everyone around should get a share. You can’t be thinking of keeping it all to yourself, right?” TheFugitive took out his dagger. It was very long and thin. The blade itself was blade, while the edges seemed to shimmer with a ghastly green light. “Wasp Sting, a silver rank weapon and the second on the weapon leaderboard.

His intention was clear.

“Frostfang, a silver rank weapon and the first on the weapon leaderboard,” Fatty also took out his weapon and faced off against his fellow rogue.

“They say meeting is fate, so being too greedy isn’t good,” TheFugitive said after a brief silence.

“Alright,” Fatty nodded in a troubled manner, then took out a bronze coin with a pained expression. “I only picked up 2 bronze coins. Since you asked, then I’ll give you half of it.”

“Damn fatty, you’re messing with me!?” TheFugitive glared, then put away his dagger and entered stealth.

“So what!?” Fatty laughed coldly, then entered stealth as well. Who are you to try and get something from Lord Fatty?

TheFugitive was a top class rogue, and that was already proven by him reaching second place on the leaderboards. Although he was accidentally discovered by Fatty when trying to steal the boss earlier, TheFugitive merely blamed that for his carelessness. He was absolutely certain that he could easily kill Fatty one on one.

As a rogue, especially one who aims to get the assassin class enhancement, calmness is key. TheFugitive reminded himself silently. He took a step back, then stepped moving and raised his dagger in front of him. He was ready to use a fatal attack the moment Fatty revealed even a tiny bit of weakness.

One minute…

Two minutes…

Three minutes had passed…

As time slowly ticked away, TheFugitive only grew more and more anxious when he noticed that Fatty didn’t make any sound at all. Thus, he could only get more serious.

Trying to see who is more patient? Fine, let’s compete. Patience is the most important thing for a rogue. Let me see whether the ex-number one on the leaderboard deserves his title.    

TheFugitive calmed himself down and tried to get into a zone of enlightenment as he listened intently to his surroundings. He inched towards the left a bit, then crouched then and got ready to attack.

…

Several minutes later…

Wow, as expected of the ex-number one on the leaderboards. His patience is enough to make me see him in a new light. But as the current number one rogue, I won’t lose to you!

…

It looks like its gonna be tough. TheFugitive went to another spot. Never attack pointlessly, and each strike must be fatal. It seems like he understood the true gist of the rogue class. Good, this is challenging. I like it.

…

Not bad, his patience is a lot better than I imagined. But patience is not enough. I shall show you the true strength of a top class rogue!

At that moment, Cloud Dragon Sailing already sent his troops down to the fourth floor twice. But he was blocked off by the monsters at the entrance both times, so he could only treat hastily back after a few of his companions had died.

…

Am I getting impatient? No, as a great rogue, how can I lose to a lecherous fatty? I must defeat him! TheFugitive changed his spot once again, then got ready to attack at any moment.

…

Fine, fine, fine. You’ve made me feel threatened. Come, Money Grubber, show me whether you were worth me wasting so much time on.

…

Meanwhile…

Cloud Dragon Sailing turned to his subordinates, “You two, stealth in and see whether the two bastards are still there. Make sure to find out what the other one is called. I’m going to slaughter the two of them until they are Level 0 again.”

…

Ahh, I haven’t been so excited in a very long time. This is even more thrilling than challenging the entire Fierce Dragon Gang. Haha, if those Fierce Dragon guys know that I was getting put into a tough spot by another rogue, would they laugh their teeth off? No, I cannot let that happen, even if it’s only so that the Fierce Dragon Gang can eat properly in the future.

The Fierce Dragon Gang was the gang that chased TheFugitive out of Dragonden, and their leader was Fierce Dragon TheTalent, the current number one person on the leaderboard.

…

“Boss, there’s nobody on the fourth floor. They might have retreated to the third floor in stealth already,” one of the players who went to the fourth floor in stealth reported back.

“Impossible! We’ve already sealed off the entrance to the fourth floor. Everyone, get ready to attack. They can’t have retreated back here in stealth mode. You guys, go and search again,” Cloud Dragon Sailing said furiously.

Good, there’s a commotion now. Heh, he’s so trashy, he’s actually making so much noise even when just walking around in stealth, this isn’t what a qualified rogue should be doing. Damn it. He’s made me waste so much time! TheFugitive twitched his ear when he heard something, then silently turned around and locked onto the newcomer.

Wait, no, there’s two of them. Did he go and get a helper? Heh, no wonder he’s making so much sound, so he wants to lure me out. Fine, then let me show you that mere tricks are pointless in front of absolute strength.

…

That fool’s still waiting on the fourth floor, isn’t he? Fatty twitched his mouth. He had already been waiting on the fifth floor of Mass Graves for quite a while.

Mass Graves had a total of seven floors, and each floor was larger than the previous. The main cavern on the fifth floor was already the size of the whole fourth floor. It was pitch dark, and the only thing Fatty could see were rotten skeletons. For some reason, they seemed to glitter with a ghastly blue glow, making everything extremely creepy.

However, the cavern was empty. There wasn’t a single monster in sight.

Huh? No monsters? What’s going on? Did someone come here before me? Fatty wondered, then took a few steps forward. Suddenly, he had a bad feeling. He quickly leaned backwards and used Appraisal in the area before him.

Whoosh. A short black figure blinked across his eyes with unbelievable speed.

Skeletal Assassin

Level: ???

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

…

The fifth floor was actually filled with assassins, which were at least equivalent to rogues with their second class enhancements. Only those kind of rogues could learn an in-combat stealth skill.

Whoosh. Another two beams of light flashed across Fatty’s eyes and formed a cross in front of him.

I’ll try to block it and see how strong the monster is. Fatty held Frostfang in front of him to block the incoming attack.

Ding.

Ding.

Fatty’s health dropped like never before after the two collisions.

Retreat! Fatty immediately made up his mind and hurried back to the fourth floor.

Zoom.

Something else seemed to light up and shoot towards Fatty’s chest.

He guarded himself with Frostfang in a flustered manner. After deflecting the attack, an item fell to the floor. It was a crossbow arrow.

Crossbow arrow? The monsters here can actually use crossbows!? Fatty’s eyes immediately lit up with no regard for his critical health condition. Rogues were unable to use bows, but crossbows were one of the mandatory items for the class. Daggers for melee and crossbows for ranged were the necessary items to kill enemies and loot stuff.

“Fifth floor. I will be back!”

Fatty returned to the fourth floor in a flustered manner and begun to chug down a large red potion.

…

Now! A murderous light flashed across TheFugitive’s eyes as his dagger seemed to turn into a beam of light that shot towards the newcomer.