Flashbang (Part 2)

Stay calm, must stay calm.

One must remain calm in these kinds of situations.

As the Dark Lesser Demon started attacking Ye Ci who was still under the effects of Pause, she took stock of all her skills and equipment and felt a moment of inspiration.

Darkness Dispersion

Able to disperse all negative statuses, including Pause

This was a skill from Buru's Ring that had a three minute cooldown and was indispensable in moments like this.

As soon as Ye Ci could move again, she immediately crouched and rolled to where Ol' Three was hiding behind the mountain. This all happened within one to two seconds. Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader did not have time to react before its prey disappeared. It paused, then howled. As it had lived in darkness for a long time, Dark Lesser Demons had vastly superior Night Vision compared to elves. Even Ye Ci's quick movements were unable to shake its gaze, and it rushed towards her.

The hole that Ye Ci hid in was very narrow and hard to find, but close to the passage, and formed a thirty degree dead spot from the wind. It was very safe in this spot. The Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader discovered Ye Ci and rushed towards her. It did not care about being exposed to the wind at all. It's only thought was to catch its prey.

Ye Ci chugged a Health Potion and pulled out a short sword to wait for the Dark Lesser Demon.

Being stuck in this hole had the advantage of forcing the enemy to be exposed to the piercing winds. Based on the height of the Dark Lesser Demon, the cutting winds would cause some damage, and the enemy only had a fifty percent chance of hitting Ye Ci. However, being stuck here also meant she lost the advantage of the eight yard rule and had to use a short sword and Ol' Three to attack.

This kind of attack naturally did not feel as good as using arrows, but could slowly grind away the enemy's health.

Attacking from a safe place was actually quite common in the game. As long as it was used well, then it was possible to kill monsters very quickly. For hunters, using arrows in such a narrow place greatly reduced the attack power, so many chose to attack from safe places like this.

Trip

Failed.

Trip

And it failed again

Trip was one of the few control skills of Hunters, able cause the enemy to fall and be unable to get up for six seconds. As Ye Ci very rarely engaged in close combat, her Trip success rate was only at 30. Every Trip that she used failed, which made Ye Ci grit her teeth in anger.

Why is my luck so bad?

Skill came off cooldown.

Trip.

Success.

Finally! Ye Ci immediately used an Aerial Strike. This skill was the most effective close combat skill that Hunters had with a three second cooldown. It not only caused 200 close combat damage, but also had 150 additional damage bonus. As the Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader was lying on the floor from Trip, Ye Ci's Aerial Strike triggered the damage bonus and two deep wounds appeared on its back. That one strike shaved away a large amount of health, and with Ol' Three's attacks, the health of the Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader gradually dropped to zero.

The Squad Leader cried mournfully before it turned into a corpse. The whole battle took less than twenty five seconds. This was a fairly long time for Ye Ci, but was not bad considering it was close combat. However, as she was attacking the Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader, other Dark Lesser Demons started arriving. They growled as they ran forward, but were stuck behind the Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader.

Lesser Demons and Dark Lesser Demons were the lowest ranking Demons with low intelligence that only knew how to blindly attack their prey. The entrance to the hole Ye Ci was hiding in was very narrow, and only one Dark Lesser Demon could enter at a time. It was as if they were lining up to be killed. When one was killed, another one stepped up.

The eight Dark Lesser Demons that came were all grinded to death by Ye Ci.

When all the Dark Lesser Demons were killed, Ye Ci let out a sigh of relief. This was way too tiring! If she did not have many health potions, she probably would have died. She rested for a while to recover her health before trying her luck at looting the corpses.

Who knows if it was because her luck recently was very bad, or if the computer took pity on her but the Dark Lesser Demons all yielded Blue Grade equipment. Although there was not any for Hunters, these lvl50 equipment would sell for a nice sum at an auction. Something was better than nothing. For someone currently lacking money like Ye Ci, she would definitely not turn down a chance to earn money.

As the entrance of the hole was very narrow, the Dark Lesser Demon corpses formed a big pile right outside of it. Ye Ci could only start looting from the top and push the corpse off to the side to reach the next one. This continued until she reached the Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader at the bottom of the pile.

The Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader did not drop any equipment, but dropped a thick Skill Book.

Please let it be a Hunter skill book.

As she prayed, she pulled out the skill book to see "Flashbang" written on it.

Yes!

It was a Hunter skill book.

Flashbang: able to throw a Flashbang in any direction to light up a 20m radius around it. In that 20m radius, all Stealth and Concealment will be ineffective and will not pull aggro. Duration is 20 seconds and cooldown is 30 seconds.

This was one of the few detection skills Hunters had and was very useful in battle. Before the expansion pack, the monsters of all the continents were low levelled and did not pose too much trouble for players. However, after the expansion pack , the monsters were higher levelled with a wider variety of skills such as Stealth and Sneak. These skills which were once regarded as fairly rare became a common sight.

Therefore, whether it was grinding levels or running dungeons, having a Thief with high detection was a must. However, if a player was grinding by themselves or played a solo class like Hunter, then they must have a certain level of detection.

A detection skill like Flashbang was specially for Hunters.

The Flashbang was shot out using a bow and in this way could reach the furthest shooting distance of a Hunter. Like this, Flashbang was extremely useful for Hunters to decide how to use the terrain and number of enemies to the greatest benefit.

Perfect timing! Ye Ci was just wracking her brains thinking about how to lure the Dark Lesser Demons in for close combat when this skill book dropped into her hands.

Ye Cu quickly learnt the skill and shot a Flashbang close to the recently killed Dark Lesser Demon Squad Leader.

Whoosh.

The Flashbang headed towards the directed area, forming a beautiful arc in the air before it landed and exploded in a flash of yellow fire. Although the fire was not very bright, the light produced by it lit up a full twenty meters around it, showing all the Dark Lesser Demons that had used Stealth to hide.

How could monsters ever beat players like this? If a player was exposed by the fire, then they would immediately attack Ye Ci, but these Dark Lesser Demons only stupidly stayed in their original position without any reaction at all.

The twenty second duration was long enough for Ye Ci to clearly see all of the surrounding Dark Lesser Demons. There were seven in total, but were not bunched together and instead formed groups of two, two and three. There were more than five yards between the groups, so if Ye Ci hit one of the groups, then at most only the demons in the same group would also be lured in and the other two groups would not be affected.

Like this, the difficulty was greatly decreased.

Ye Ci first used Empowered Hunter's Mark on the closest Dark Lesser Demon, then shot a Confuse Arrow at the other Dark Lesser Demon in the same group.

The Confuse Arrow could Stun the target for 12 seconds and lower the movement speed by 80 but the target would snap out of it if attacked. The Dark Lesser Demon hit by the Confuse Arrow immediately stood up and started to slowly stagger towards Ye Ci. The other demon hit by the Empowered Hunter's Mark growled and rushed towards Ye Ci.

Ol' Three immediately rushed charged forward while Ye Ci remained in her original position. She used all her single target skills and was rewarded by the cry of the Dark Lesser Demon as it died before even reaching her. Ye Ci used Empowered Hunter's Mark on the remaining Dark Lesser Demon still affected by Stun while Ol' Three moved forward to finish it off.

The following two groups was just rinse and repeat, but when she was fighting the group with three Dark Lesser Demons, Ye Ci had to use two Confuse Arrows continuously and lagged behind by a second. That second was exactly when Stun wore off, but it was not a big deal for Ye Ci. She just had to shoot another Confuse Arrow.

With Flashbang on hand, Ye Ci's exploration of Black Wind Mountain was a lot easier. The Dark Lesser Demons were higher levelled than the normal Lesser Demons outside, so did not respawn as quickly. As Ye Ci killed her way in, she picked up a fair few pieces of equipment. Very quickly, she reached the end of Black Wind Mountain. There was a human sized hole that blew out gusts of bone chilling wind. Inside, broken rails and rusted mine carts could be seen.

It looked like this was once a mine.

There were a few purple herbs growing on the side of the hole. After taking a closer look, Ye Ci saw that they were the Cloudy Grass that the elderly dwarf had requested, and quickly harvested a few. Just as she was about to leave, Ye Ci heard terrifying mournful wails from inside the mine. In this kind of miserable windy environment, if someone was not brave enough then they would be sweating from fear, but Ye Ci was long used to these kinds of environments. Her only reaction to the sound was to peer towards the entrance.

There was something strange about this place.

Giving up while being so close was not in Ye Ci's nature. Just as she was about to head into the mine, there was a notification from the system.

"Once removed from the soil, Cloudy Grass will wilt."

Ye Ci quickly looked at the upper left corner of her status and saw a countdown.

There was even a time limit!

If it was like this, Ye Ci could only temporarily give up on the mine and quickly return to the elderly dwarf to hand in her quest. This quest was related to the mithril mine after all. Compared to a mystery mine, the mithril mine was more important.

The Dark Lesser Demons still had not respawned so Ye Ci summoned Ol' Four and rode him out. Although the rough rocks did scrape against Ol' Four, it's thick scales prevented any damage.

As soon as she exited Black Wind Mountain, Ye Ci hurried towards the elderly dwarf's hiding spot and shoved a Cloudy Grass into this mouth. Soon, the deathly grey skin recovered to the normal black of Black Iron Dwarves.

"Oh elf, my good elf, you really brought me Cloudy Grass." The elderly Black Iron Dwarf let out a sigh, "you are worthy of Ha'er's trust, and worthy of the Black Iron Dwarves' trust."

So this Black Iron Dwarf was called Ha'er. As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Ci received a system notification.

"Your Prestige amongst Black Iron Dwarves has reached Friendly."

Directly to friendly? Originally her Prestige amongst Black Iron Dwarves was only halfway there, but who knew that rescuing one Ha'er would increase her Prestige all the way to Friendly. It looked like this Ha'er had a high position amongst the Black Iron Dwarves, otherwise how could her Prestige be raised so quickly when even all those quests from Jasmine barely did anything?

Black Iron Dwarves were very familiar with mines. If Ye Ci could raise her Prestige for Black Iron Dwarves then that basically meant that she had unlimited access to information about mines. Although information regarding the mithril mine was top secret right now, even higher grade mines would appear in the later years of Fate. As long as she could build a good relationship with Black Iron Dwarves, then Ye Ci would not have to worry about those things.

Thus, Ye Ci became more respectful towards Ha'er.

"You are a hero, Ha'er. It is my honour to be able to do something for a hero." Ye Ci sincerely flattered Ha'er. Ye Ci thought, such cheesy things she would only say to an NPC. Even if a player promised great benefits, she still probably would not be able to say it to them.

"You said I was a hero?" Flattery was evidently very effective on Ha'er, and his eyes immediately lit up. "Elf, why do you call me a hero? I am merely a normal miner."

"You would not have been the only person to leave home in search of precious ores." Ye Ci smiled and continued, "but you might be the only one to persist until now. To be able to be so dedicated in one's dream makes you a hero."

"Oh, good elf, you really are Ha'er's good friend," said Ha'er, who looked so moved it looked like he was about to burst into tears. "Everyone says Ha'er is stupid. Only you understand Ha'er. Ha'er is very touched."

"You have reached Intimate with Ha'er"

"Your Prestige amongst Black Iron Dwarves has increased by 1000."

The two continuous system notifications surprised Ye Ci. It looked like Ha'er was not only an important NPC for finding the mithril mine, but was also a key to raising Prestige amongst Black Iron Dwarves.

Ye Ci comforted Ha'er for a while before he smacked his head saying, "ah, how could Ha'er forget the most important thing - my hand drawn map."

Map.

The map.

Ye Ci trembled with excitement. It was exactly this map that she wanted.