Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 99 Sneak attack

Ye Ci couldn’t help but laugh as she observed them from afar. Which guild had so much animosity for the Black Plum Guild, that they would go to such measures to prepare such an ambush against them? She already had prior knowledge that they were ambushing someone. If she didn’t, she would have thought that they were conducting a military exercise.

However, their position was chosen very well. It was precisely in a dead angle of the small monsters’ patrols and was hidden well with natural obstacles. Furthermore, it was near the BOSS, which made it a good ambush spot. Ye Ci roughly counted the number of people present. There were at least 180 of them. Although she couldn’t see their names or attributes, with detailed observation she could see that they were all wearing decent equipment. She estimated that they were all level 21 and above. This team’s fighting strength should not be looked down upon, regardless of their coordination.

At this moment, Ye Ci was a little puzzled.

The Black Plum Guild didn’t seem to have any feuds. Why would someone make such a large move to mount a sneak attack? Of course, this wasn’t the reason why Ye Ci was here. She was here to reap some benefits as the two sides clashed.

It didn’t seem very honorable. However, passing up such a good opportunity doesn’t seem like a good gaming habit. Ye Ci always felt that she was a good gamer, and a good gamer must abide by good gaming habits.

While she was letting her imagination run wild, she heard waves of chanting close by. Looking over, she saw all kinds of magic unceasingly raising winds in a withered grassland. Just from what she saw, she knew that it would be a hair-raising battle. Although she currently couldn’t definitively determine how many people were there, for the people to be able to create such a large scale spell, there should at least be 100 players.

Ye Ci looked at the faraway Warsong Priestess Dorian, who currently had her eyes closed in prayer while facing the sacrificial altar. She roughly calculated, deducting the level penalty, with so many people chasing her, as long as their tactics were reasonable and no one messed up, they would be able to corner her within two to three hours. Unfortunately, the Black Plum Guild was down on luck today.

The people concealed within the trench were as still as corpses. Ye Ci reckoned that there wouldn’t be any sound of activity for the time being. Although the enemy the Black Plum Guild faced was an odd mixture of different people forming parties, they had superiority in numbers. Imagine the scene of fifty magicians hurling fireballs at the same monster! In any case, even before many of the fireballs reached the monster, it would have already died.

While they were refreshed from battle, Ye Ci followed them from behind, slowly drawing close to the ceremonial altar where Warsong Priestess Dorian was. When the Black Plum Guild finally wiped out the last wave of monsters, Ye Ci had already climbed up the altar. Dorian was worthy of being an elite wild BOSS, such human NPCs that had intelligence were in fact hard to deal with. She had a strong awareness and in addition to the level penalty, she would easily discover any danger that entered her territory.

Ye Ci had just walked up the altar when she saw Dorian’s eyes slightly open. She looked towards Ye Ci’s direction, and an alarmed Ye Ci immediately froze. She managed to prevent herself from being discovered by Dorian. However, Dorian was still tensed as she gazed at Ye Ci’s direction for a while before turning her head back and silently continuing her prayers.

Dorian was dressed in a red robe, holding a very flashy staff. On top of the altar she faced was a gold chest.

Golden treasure chest.

Ye Ci’s eyes brightened. With the new year’s patch, there was a line which stated that in each large map there would be many treasure chests appearing and there would be many treasures within the chests.

However, there was one thing that only Ye Ci knew. That was that although these treasure chests would repeatedly appear, for gold and above treasure chests, only the first opening would bring about good items. Although opening the chests afterwards would still reward considerable experience and gold, the rate of good items would be greatly decreased.

Golden treasure chests would give off a special light. However, this light could only be discovered if one was within 10 meters of the chest. Clearly, the Black Plum Guild and that mysterious guild would currently be unable to discover this treasure chest. Ye Ci suddenly felt that her luck was still decent. At the very least, she could have such an enormous find.

A Golden Treasure Chest being guarded by a Dorian who had not being First Blooded. Heh.

The people from the Black Plum Guild were all situated more than 50 yards away from Dorian. That was the boundary where they wouldn’t disturb Dorian. If they moved forward any closer, Dorian would notice them.

They stood in their positions, listening to instructions from a barbarian right at the front.

Ye Ci recognised this barbarian. He was the Black Plum Guild’s leader, Fluttering Red Feather. The Black Plum Guild was the third ranked guild in the South Continent. They were well known for their collective strength, as well as Fluttering Red Feather. He was one of the top two commanders in the Southern Continent, and was also ranked in the top twenty of the whole of Fate. Furthermore, he is the only one with a melee class in the top twenty commanders in Fate.

Generally, ranged players were more suited as commanders, as ranged classes could view the whole situation relatively easier, and were also able to view the interaction between players and the BOSS much more easily. This was especially true in cases where the BOSS constantly summoned minions. Ranged classes would be able to better control the ground, directing the players’ movements. However, if the commander was a melee class, various fields of view would be inhibited and his commanding would suffer from many restrictions.

Ye Ci always felt Fluttering Red Feather was an expert barbarian and an expert commander at the same time. However, for these two professions to be placed on the same person, it would decrease the player’s performance by 50%. That was why although Fluttering Red Feather’s leadership was very famous, he was always ranked outside of the top 10.

When Fluttering Red Feather had finished explaining the strategy to all the party members, the Black Plum Guild got into formation. With a command from Fluttering Red Feather, they started their attack. Dorian roared and charged down from the altar. Ye Ci had actually considered attacking Dorian a fore the Black Plum Guild started their attack so that she would be able to kill steal. Perhaps she might even get First Blood. However, by doing that, she would definitely not be able to withstand the retaliation from the Black Plum Guild and that mysterious guild. She was now no longer alone and was a member of Upwards Ho!. If she was just by herself, such actions could still be done. However, now that she was part of a guild, such actions that would only harm others without benefitting oneself should never be done.

Besides, Ye Ci had currently placed all her attention on that gold treasure chest. Who cared about Dorian?

However, she still couldn’t reveal herself now, as behind her was a team eyeing her covetously. If she revealed herself now, she might become cannon fodder. Although she was confident in her ability to escape, there was no need for her to face over 100 level 21 players right?

For now, what she needed to do was to just wait silently.

Apparently, the Black Plum Guild had already done extremely comprehensive preparation to take down Dorian. They had even done simulations multiple times and their strategy was on point. Which moment they had to disrupt the BOSS’ skill, when to collectively avoid negative effects, when to collectively pause and wait for the BOSS’ invincibility to disappear, each and every timing had been blocked out precisely. So precisely that Ye Ci felt they were the ones who had been reincarnated. If not, how could they have planned in such a perfect manner?

By the time she saw that Dorian’s only had 10% HP left, Ye Ci’s legs were already sore from squatting. As for those that were crouching within the entrenchment behind her, they weren’t feeling any better. However, they had been waiting for this moment to arrive.

10% HP was a very tiny amount. If they had launched their attack when the the BOSS had a considerable amount of HP left, the Black Plum Guild could just abandon their battle against Dorian and face them instead. In that case, they wouldn’t have the upper hand. However, once the BOSS battle had progressed to the point where the BOSS had only 10% of its HP left, members of the Black Plum Guild would have already expended most of their potions and scrolls. At that time, they would definitely not give up on the BOSS easily. For them to ambush the Black Plum Guild at that time, not only would they catch the Black Plum Guild off guard, they could even steal the First Blood of Dorian.

Therefore, 10% HP was the crucial point for the ambush to be a success.

At this moment, Ye Ci looked at Fluttering Red Feather, she understood Fluttering Red Feather and knew that he usually wouldn’t restrict strangers from privately messaging him, unlike herself where she at times even blocked messages from friends and had never allowed strangers to message her.

Sure enough, his private message channel was not closed.

“There are people preparing to ambush you.” Ye Ci did not beat around the bush.

“Who are you?” Fluttering Red Feather appeared slightly tense. In this kind of situation, no matter who it was that received such a message, they would be slightly tense.

“I’m not your enemy.” Ye Ci answered after a pause.

“How did you find out about it?”

“I just happened to be in the neighbourhood.”

“Why should I believe you? I don’t even know you...”

“To your 9 o’clock direction, approximately 100 people, level 21 and above.” Ye Ci wasn’t interested in playing senseless guessing games, immediately closing the private message window after she finished saying what she wanted to say. Now, she only had to wait for both sides to start fighting. When no one paid attention to her, she would open the gold treasure chest and escape.

She didn’t have any other intention in informing the Black Plum Guild. Although in her previous life they only had a mutually beneficial relationship, she had also gotten a lot of money from them. Considering the payment of money... She didn’t want them to be in a difficult situation.

That was all.

Fluttering Red Feather clearly hesitated at Ye Ci’s words. However, he ultimately still held the mentality of caution was better than regrets, as he adjusted his troops. Just as he finished adjusting his troops, he heard a shout of “Charge!” Following that, he saw more than a hundred players advancing toward the direction of the Black Plum Guild.

Ye Ci seized the opportunity to quickly reach the side of the gold treasure chest, extending her hand to start opening the treasure chest. Luckily, this treasure chest wasn’t locked.

Opening the treasure chest, 3%... 17%... 78%...

The time needed to open treasure chests varied according to the chest’s rank. For example, a gold treasure chest needed 20 seconds to open. Taking advantage of this time, Ye Ci looked into the distance. The two troops had already clashed; spells, sword light, heals and all kinds of techniques were mixed together. This actually allowed the overgrown map of the Warsong Tribe to be unusually lively.