Chapter 131
“Employer?!”
Colin was taken aback, quickly scanning his surroundings. Soon, he spotted his employer, who had somehow descended from the corner and was standing still, enveloped in a thin layer of white light, with a palpable surge of energy around him.
Is he… casting a spell?
Colin felt a mix of shock and joy. Nothing was more exhilarating than discovering that someone he thought needed protection had the ability to defend themselves, especially in the midst of an enemy attack. It seemed his employer was a spellcaster, someone who not only didn’t require his protection but could also contribute to the fight.
The escort team was steadily losing ground. With Roland and his squad's level, they had never faced such a formidable ambush before. The value of the goods they had previously transported for merchants had never been as high as those carried by Ye Bai, which had attracted the strongest raiders they had ever encountered.
The strength of a raiding party often correlates with the average combat level of its members. With Ye Bai, a level 40 second-tier class, in the mix, the enemy's strength had been inadvertently elevated.
Just as Roland was preparing to abandon the cargo, a pure light suddenly illuminated the area behind them.
This light radiated outwards for a twenty-meter radius, causing the surrounding winds and sands to retreat, leaving only a refreshing breeze that cleared the haze from the escort team’s vision, transforming the previously murky surroundings into clarity.
Within this radius, the enemies they had been fighting revealed themselves. What they had thought was a large number of foes turned out to be only eight or nine, and not all of them were professionals; they had been relying on the advantage of the sandstorm.
Roland and the others looked towards the source of the light, and to their surprise, it was their employer!
【Purification of Light】: Removes negative statuses of ‘Blindness’ and ‘Fear’, while providing a dispel effect within a 20-meter radius for 20 seconds.
Ye Bai had spent ten seconds casting this second-tier light spell.
Seeing this, the escort team didn’t need any further encouragement; they seized the opportunity and immediately attacked the surrounding enemies.
After casting the spell, Ye Bai didn’t linger. He stepped forward, for if one were to look down from above, they would see their team caught in the swirling winds of a sandstorm. The one controlling the sandstorm was at the center, and that was precisely Ye Bai’s target.
The most troublesome aspect of humanoid monsters was their tendency to flee when they realized they were outmatched, unlike beast-like creatures that would charge recklessly.
Ye Bai feared that the sand sorcerer might escape if he got lucky, so he hurried towards his target, unaware that among the exposed raiders, not all were NPCs; three of them were unclassed players at levels 18 and 19.
Coincidentally, these three players had encountered Ye Bai before.
Indeed, they were the very players who had ambushed Ye Bai’s merchant convoy one night in Meluo City.
At that time, they had been killed by the mercenary Blaze, resulting in a loss of experience and levels, causing them to miss the wave of class advancements. They also lost a significant amount of goodwill from the merchant guild, but this misfortune inadvertently led them to discover the Green Forest gameplay and join a faction called the ‘Kro Bandits’.
This raid was part of a quest for their faction.
This was the third raid they had participated in, and the previous two had gone smoothly. They had expected this one to be the same, but with Ye Bai’s dispel, their greatest advantage had vanished.
The players, who had thought they would easily complete the raid, felt a sudden chill in their hearts.
Without the cover of the sandstorm, they stood no chance against a team of first-tier professionals.
“Retreat!”
The NPCs from the raiding faction also sensed the danger and hurriedly retreated beyond the range of 【Purification of Light】.
At this moment, Ye Bai was racing towards the center of the sandstorm, heading straight for the sand sorcerer!
‘-5’, ‘-3’, ‘-1’, ‘-4’…
The closer he got to the center of the storm, the stronger the spell’s attack effects became. However, the damage he received was merely a light ‘scraping’ sensation.
The sand magic was a special type of earth magic, and due to his own resistances and the damage reduction from his class spells, what should have dealt dozens of points of damage per second was reduced to single digits.
【Sandstorm】 was a continuous skill with a large area of effect and low damage, but maintaining it required the caster to continuously expend mana.
As a spellbreaker, Ye Bai relished encountering such skills.
At this moment, Ye Bai’s earth magic return slot had gained a new skill: 【Sandstorm】, which required no casting time.
For such continuous skills, as long as a spellbreaker touched the edge, they could directly acquire a powerful skill without suffering significant damage.
“Whoosh—”
With the snow-white sword in hand, Ye Bai burst through the sandstorm like lifting a veil, entering the center.
Before him stood a tall, thin figure wrapped in a turban, a sand sorcerer—exactly what Ye Bai had been searching for!
【Sand Sorcerer】
Level: 32
Health: 20000/20000
Skills: Sandstorm, Yellow Sand Guardian, ??
Weakness: ??
The sand sorcerer was an elite template, with a level between 30 and 35. His health was relatively low because he was a magic class.
Seeing Ye Bai approach, the sand sorcerer quickly retreated, halting the release of the sandstorm. The other raiders lost their cover and were exposed to everyone’s sight.
The sand sorcerer raised his hand to cast a spell, summoning a Yellow Sand Guardian to attack Ye Bai.
“It’s my turn.”
Ye Bai smiled and immediately released the skill, returning the 【Sandstorm】 he had just acquired.
Whoosh…
The sand swirled up, and a larger, more ferocious sandstorm erupted from around Ye Bai, sweeping outward.
Ye Bai’s spell power at level 40 far surpassed that of the level 32 sand sorcerer, and the skill he returned was a supercharged version.
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Chapter 95
As Ye Bai broke through to stand before the sand sorcerer, several raiders and players were retreating under the effect of 【Purification of Light】, seeking refuge in the sandstorm.
However, just as they returned to the storm and hadn’t yet caught their breath, the winds around them suddenly died down, and the swirling sands settled to the ground.
“What’s going on? Why has Lord Somes stopped casting?”
The raiders were caught off guard, and not just them; the three players felt a tightening in their chests, a sense of foreboding washing over them.
Their past two successful experiences had made it clear that their ability to act successfully relied heavily on the sand sorcerer’s magical cover.
The three unclassed players had witnessed the sand sorcerer’s abilities and had even sought him out to inquire about his magic, learning that passing his test would grant them magical teachings.
Now, the three of them had come together for this operation as a prerequisite for their class advancement, needing to successfully complete five raids to pass the basic test.
They all intended to become sand sorcerers, a hidden class, to continue their lucrative career as bandits.
If this raid failed, they worried it might affect their quest evaluation.
Meanwhile, the escort team, seeing the raiders retreat into the sandstorm and realizing they couldn’t pursue, were feeling frustrated. Suddenly, they noticed the swirling sands dissipating, even the dust outside the dispel range vanished.
Their vision cleared instantly, and the raiders who had just retreated into the sandstorm were once again exposed.
“Capture them!”
Roland and the others in the escort team couldn’t help but smile. The sandstorm had such a significant impact on them due to class advantages; the physical classes of the alchemical school were mostly ranged, and any disruption to their vision severely limited their combat effectiveness.
Now that their vision was restored, the raiders were practically serving themselves up on a platter.
Just then, an unexpected turn of events occurred. The wind began to howl again nearby, and with the swirling yellow sands, the sandstorm that had just calmed down surged back to life, this time with even greater ferocity, its boundaries stretching beyond sight.
The raiders rejoiced at the sight, laughing maniacally, “Hahaha, it’s Lord Somes!”
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