Patience

"If they haven't left yet, they must be somewhere nearby." Xiao Yu roamed through the ragged rocks, searching for the traces of the fire mage and the druid.

He moved with great caution. He looked for them for a long time but failed to find anything. As he approached a rock, he heard some faint voices. Xiao Yu held his breath and strained to listen.

"Do you think he will show up?"

"I'm not sure, but he should be like us, not willing to give up on a young kitten that is worth 30 gold coins."

Xiao Yu discovered the druid and the fire mage hiding among the ragged rocks. These two guys hadn't left, just as he had suspected. It was fortunate that he had thought of this possibility. Otherwise, they would become the Carduelis behind him.

"They are truly sly." Xiao Yu kept a close watch on the two players while hiding behind a heap of rocks. At the moment, whoever had the most patience would win the battle. As such, Xiao Yu waited quietly for an opportunity to strike.

It was deathly quiet in the area, and time elapsed slowly.

Feeling exceedingly bored, Xiao Yu took out the item dropped by the priest.

Spiritual head ornament: green-level equipment; spirit +7; healing treatment effect +10; prerequisite is level 5.

It was a decent item, so he could sell it for some money. These guys had some outstanding items, and the three of them should have five or six green-level items in total. Xiao Yu packed away the head ornament and resumed watching the druid and the fire mage while waiting patiently.

"He still hasn't shown up yet," said the druid impatiently.

"How come? Did he really leave?" the fire mage wondered. He believed that it was almost impossible for their opponent to leave the place without trying to capture the mountain kitten. It was worth 30 gold coins, after all.

"Big brother, he might have fled because he lost a lot of health when killing Flying Moth and was afraid of us coming after him," said the druid.

"That is a possibility," replied the fire mage. Their opponent had low health at the time, and the druid was good at tracking, so it was sensible for their foe to flee. Most likely, their opponent had left a long time ago since he didn't expect his sneak-attack to succeed again.

"Let's wait a little while longer," said the fire mage. The two of them sat among the ragged rocks silently.

One minute… two minutes… Xiao Yu displayed outstanding patience. As long as his opponents didn't do anything, he decided that he would keep on waiting quietly.

And as long as he waited like this, his opponents would definitely be the first ones to grow impatient. By that time, his new opportunity would come. Xiao Yu tried his best to breathe evenly while standing motionlessly in the same spot.

Twenty minutes had gone by. The fire mage and the druid were more patient than Xiao Yu had expected.

"Forget it. That guy probably won't show up," said the fire mage. He figured that Xiao Yu had already left the place and that it would have been impossible for him to stay in the same spot for so long.

"It's a shame." The druid punched a rock with his fist irately. They had three people, and one of them was killed by the sneak-attack of their enemy. Worst of all, they let the attacker escape from them, which was also the most frustrating thing.

The fire mage sighed. This was the biggest defeat they had sustained since they entered the game.

"Do we still want that mountain kitten?" the druid asked the fire mage.

Looking at the clearing between the ragged rocks, he saw a large mountain cat protecting the young kitten. The kitten was worth 30 gold coins, after all! Few people would not be enticed by such loot.

The fire mage considered it for a while. The priest was already dead, and he couldn't be revived. As such, capturing the mountain kitten was the only way to compensate for their loss.

"Let's kill that large mountain cat. We have to act fast, or else we'll be in danger in case that thief comes back," said the fire mage between his teeth. A high reward always came with a high risk. Though the fire mage was aware of the danger lurking, he, like a gambler, didn't hesitate to take the risk for a potentially high reward.

The druid transformed into a cougar and approached the large mountain cat in the distance, followed by the fire mage.

"The opportunity has come." Seeing the druid and the fire mage approaching the mountain cat, Xiao Yu caught up to them using the rocks as a screen to hide behind.

The fire mage kept on looking around the ragged rocks, seemingly very cautious, but so was Xiao Yu. He didn't at all wish to reveal his whereabouts. So far, Xiao Yu had an advantage in this contest of wit and patience.

Roar!!!

The druid charged at the remaining mountain cat with a roar. The fire mage kept throwing the fireballs at the cat as well. They cooperated to exert their strongest fighting power in an effort to finish off the mountain cat as soon as possible. In so doing, they could reduce their risk factor.

If they killed the large mountain cat, he would lose his chance. It was an opportunity he didn't wish to miss. Xiao Yu entered the stealth travel state and quietly moved toward the fire mage.

The druid suddenly had a bad feeling as he was entangled in the fight with the mountain cat because he smelled a familiar scent again. He retreated as he yelled out, "Big brother, be careful. It's that thief."

After hearing this, the fire mage was startled. As he was about to flee, he felt the cold glow of a dagger heading for the back of his head.

The fire mage turned his body sideways in an attempt to dodge the strike, but the dagger, like a worm, maneuvered around and followed suit.

Sneak-attack!

Xiao Yu's dagger hit the back of the fire mage's head, causing the highest damage value.

Backstabbing!

He launched a backstabbing skill and gained one combo point as he used the evisceration skill next.

After seeing the damage value points emerge from the head of the fire mage, the druid leaped up to evade the attack of the mountain cat and then pounced at Xiao Yu.

Roar!!!

The druid wished to get out of the battle with the mountain cat, but the cat had no intention of letting him go. The creature charged at him with a strong force and sent the druid flying.

Three seconds later, the fire mage woke up. He checked his health and found it stood at 22%. He quickly grabbed an instant health potion and drank all of it. A vial of instant health potion could recover 300 health points. Soon after drinking it, his health had fully recovered.

The fire mage was constantly retreating to evade Xiao Yu's pursuit.

"These guys are so rich." After witnessing these two players consume two vials of instant health potion, Xiao Yu wondered if they belonged to an association of some sort.

Xiao Yu kept on pursuing the fire mage, with the dagger in his right hand constantly thrusting at him.

The fire mage kept on retreating, but as far as moving speed was concerned, fire mages were much slower than thieves.