Bon Voyage (Part 1)

The effect of the Cloudy Grass was miraculous. Ha'er who was at the brink of death was immediately revitalized.

He began cursing at the Lesser Demons as he pranced back and forth in front of Ye Ci. It was apparent that the Dwarf has been here for years, and he was not fond of the cave's natives.

"These damned Lesser Demons! These lowlives! I hate them!" shouted Ha'er as he waved his hands around. Faint shimmer trailed behind the Dwarf's pickaxe as it sailed across the air. It was obvious that the pickaxe was a high level item. As Ye Ci was not a miner, she held no interest towards the pickaxe.

"My dear Elven friend, my map was snatched away from me by those damned Lesser Demons. Can you get it back for me?"

As expected, here comes the quest.

"Of course I can." Ye Ci stood up. This quest was exactly what she has been waiting for.

"Then hurry up! Those bastards might mistake my map as food and eat it!" Ha'er waved his pickaxe in anger.

"Understood."

"They went into the abandoned mine in the north. Be careful. They might be dumb, but those Lesser Demons are pretty strong." said Ha'er as he handed a package to Ye Ci, "I've been here for years. I know what their favourite food is. I hope this helps."

Ye Ci inspected the package, and found 20 pieces of dried wolf meat. The meat was laced with poison that was intended for the Lesser Demons.

"Thank you. I shall return with good news." said Ye Ci as she stored the package into her inventory. She then summoned Ol' Four and headed straight to the abandoned mines.

Ha'er, who was left behind, could only offer a silent prayer, "Oh, Great Ancestors, please watch over my friend."

The Lesser Demons in the plains were considerable weaker than the ones on the Black Wind Mountain. Despite that, their magical damage was a nuisance for Ye Ci, who was a Huntress with very low Magical Resistance. If she attracted the aggro of too many of those Lesser Demons, she would be torn to shreds.

The Lesser Demon population were scattered along the way, but when Ye Ci finally arrived at the abandoned mine, she was shocked to find a huge concentration of Lesser Demons at the shaft of the mine.

It would be a waste of time for Ye Ci to kite them one by one. In a situation like this, employing high damage AOE skills like Rain of Arrows and Multi Arrows are her best option.

A sea of damage values floated up from the shaft as the Lesser Demons let out painful screeches. They began charging at Ye Ci, who summoned Ol' Four and directed it at the Lesser Demons that were closest to her. She then began to lead the Lesser Demons out of the shaft, and began running at the flat plains with an "S" shaped maneuver. Despite their level, the Lesser Demons did not possess a high level of intelligence. They were led on by Ye Ci as she began picking them off.

There was a certain risk for Ye Ci as she performed such a maneuver. As she turned in a round curve, she could easily be caught up by the melee-type Lesser Demons. However, such maneuver would allow Ye Ci to dodge the ranged attacks that were going her way. The lower leveled monsters in Fate could only launch fire-and-forget spells, which travel at a straight trajectory, at their opponent. Such attacks lack the capability of homing onto a target. As long as Ye Ci was careful, she could easily avoid all the spells.

This was why Ye Ci was confident in her ability to slowly kite the horde of Lesser Demons.

If the Lesser Demons had higher levels, Ye Ci would be forced to employ a different approach. With things as they were, as long as Ye Ci was able to control her tempo as she kited the huge mob of Lesser Demons, she would be able to avoid damage.

Before long, she was able to slay a huge number of Lesser Demons with her AOE skills. It was a shame that she was already at the max level at the current stage of the game, or this would be the perfect opportunity to level up.

Ye Ci was able to obtain a lot of loots from the Lesser Demons. Of course, while a Purple item drop was impossible, there was a huge number of Blue and Green quality items among the loot. In the current stage of the game, guilds that were able to form dungeon exploration parties were in the minority, and players who could afford to hire a sponsored dungeon clearing were few and far between. The Blue and Green items could fetch a high price in the Auction House.

She then headed back to the abandoned mine after putting away all the items.

Despite Ye Ci's efforts, there was still a significant number of Lesser Demons in the Abandoned Mind. She was unable to locate the quest item among the loots dropped by the dead Lesser Demons. This meant that the map that she was looking for was on a specific Lesser Demon. There must be an Elite hidden among the mob of Lesser Demons that were still in the abandoned mine.

Ol' Four was still left in the shaft. Even if it was an Epic-tier monster, the Lesser Demons could still overwhelm Ol' Four with their sheer numbers. It would not last long without any aid from Ye Ci.

Empowered Cheetah Protection!

After activating the ability that increased her movement speed by 50%, Ye Ci headed straight to the mine shaft.

She then activated Hunter Protection before jumping into the mine shaft. Ol' Four, who was near death, was engaged in a bitter melee against 5 Lesser Demons. Ye Ci immediately cast Pet Healing on Ol' Four.

It seems that the combat strength of the Lesser Demons is not something that should be underestimated. Even without the presence of the Elite monster, Ol' Four was having a hard time fending off the Lesser Demons. As a pet that was resilient against physical damage, Ol' Four was still somewhat vulnerable against magical damage.

Ol' Four turned around and saw Ye Ci who landed at the base of the shaft after noticing the sudden increase of its HP. It let out an excited roar and immediately attacking the Lesser Demons with renewed vigor.

With the monsters focused on Ol' Four, it was easy for Ye Ci to deal with the Lesser Demons that were near their death.

She finally had the chance to sit on the ground and began replenishing her hitpoints and stamina. Even as she gobbled down her food, Ye Ci was kept a vigil on her surroundings. Other than a few stragglers and a dozen or so Lesser Demons at the heart of the mine shaft, she has managed to take out most of the Lesser Demon population.

Something's up with those Lesser Demons. I've definitely hit them with my Rain of Arrows, and some of them even came after me. Why would there still be Lesser Demons around that area? After a moment of thought, Ye Ci finally reached a conclusion: the Lesser Demon turned back halfway through their pursuit.

After her moment's of rest, Ye Ci began picking off the stragglers with the help of Ol' Four, and approached the small group of Lesser Demons. They were packed so tightly together that drawing aggro from one of the Lesser Demons would trigger the rest of its kind. However, Ye Ci knew that something must be done. She fired an arrow at one of the Lesser Demons, and the dozen of them began charging at her.

Ye Ci reaped away half of their hitpoints with a Rain of Arrows, and kited the Lesser Demons around the mine shaft. There was a nudging feeling that she was being watched as she battled the Lesser Demons.

The process of kiting the Lesser Demons was easier with Ol' Four around, and Ye Ci was able to dispatch her opponents within 2 minutes.

The mine shaft was eerily quiet after the battle. After looting the corpses, the map was still nowhere in sight.

According to the quest description, the map was in one of the Lesser Demons in the Northern Mine Shaft! It must be here somewhere! Ye Ci studied her surroundings. The mine shaft that was full of Lesser Demons was already empty. There was not a single monster or any other object around. Is there something wrong with the hint provided by the quest? Am I in the wrong place?

Ye Ci called out the quest window, and began reading the details of her quest while studying her map. She was indeed in the right place. So… Where's the map?

A sudden realization struck Ye Ci. She raised her bow, and fired a flare at the previous location of the Lesser Demon horde. The ball of flame traced a beautiful arc in the air before landing on the ground. Bright light immediately illuminated the dark mine shaft, and Ye Ci could see a Lesser Demon in the deepest part of the mine shaft. With its long horns and its size that was way larger than any other Lesser Demons, it was obvious that the Lesser Demon was no ordinary monster.

As expected, there's one of them left.

Without pause, Ye Ci cast Empowered Hunter's Mark on the Lesser Demon, and sent Ol' Four against the Lesser Demon. She then began planting traps, setting up the battlefield.

From the perspective of an outsider, the positioning of Ye Ci's trap was horrible. However, a veteran would never share the same opinion. The traps appeared to be placed in a disorderly mess, but a Hunter with combat experience could tell that they were actually very well placed. The traps were 15 yards away from one another, which meant that their area of effect was not overlapping. A trap that was triggered would not trigger the traps around it.

Ye Ci cast Pet Healing on Ol' Four after setting up her traps. She then gulped down a bottle of Greater Damage Potion and rushed at the Lesser Demon.

Lesser Demon Centurion (Elite)

Level: 55

HP: 150,000

The Lesser Demon Centurion's HP was nothing compared to a Field BOSS, but it came with two troublesome abilities: Ring of Fire and Devil's Whip.

Just like a Sorcerer's Ring of Fire, the Lesser Demon Centurion's Ring of Fire could push players around it away. The Centurion's Ring of Fire, however, was way stronger. A Sorcerer was unable to push targets that are of higher level away with the skill, while the Lesser Demon Centurion's skill was not affected by level penalty. Even Ol' Four that was 2 levels higher than the Lesser Demon Centurion was pushed away by the Ring of Fire. The Lesser Demon Centurion would then follow up with its Devil's Whip once Ol' Four was pushed away.

With each crack of its whip, the Lesser Demon Centurion set its surroundings aflame. With the sea of flames surrounding the Lesser Demon Centurion, Ye Ci and Ol' Four were not able to close in on their opponent.

However, as a Huntress, Ye Ci was a ranged damage dealer. Even if she was pushed away, she could still dish out significant amount of damage as long as the Lesser Demon Centurion was within her attack range. It was not a fun experience for Ye Ci to have a demon in hot pursuit behind her, cracking its whip as it gave chase. She did not bring any Flame Resistant Potion along in this trip. If she was hit with an attack, the burning effect would still drain away a huge portion of her health even if it was not able to take away her life right away. After all, the Lesser Demon Centurion was an Elite Monster. Even if it was not as strong the a BOSS, the creature was still a tough opponent.

Despite that, the Lesser Demon Centurion lacked intelligence. Ye Ci was able to lead the monster right to her traps. The Lesser Demon Centurion stepped on an Icy Trap, and its body was instantly covered in a glowing shade of blue, which was an indicator that its movement speed and attack speed were reduced by 80%. Ye Ci seized the opening, and landed attacks after attacks on the Lesser Demon Centurion, while leading it to a nearby Frost Trap.

A Frost trap would freeze a target into a big icy block. Once the target was attack, the ice will shatter, and the target would be able to regain its movements.

The Frost Trap was used by Hunters to keep a distance with their opponents to regain the upper hand in a battle. However, Ye Ci had a totally different intention. If a target that was afflicted by Frost Trap was not attacked within 8 seconds, the ice would melt, and the target would suffer from a Chill debuff for a duration of 5 seconds.

Chill: Reduce enemy Frost Resistance by 50%, ice-type magic will have a 5% chance of dealing lethal damage to target.

The debuff was next to useless to Hunters as they deal physical damage. However, if a Hunter was armed with weapons or arrows that deal ice elemental damage, it was a boon. The Lesser Demons do not have good resistance towards ice. With the Lesser Demon Centurion's Frost Resistance reduced by 50%, it was vulnerable to Ye Ci's Frost Arrows.

One would say that 5 seconds was a short amount of time. But one could also accomplish many things within a 5-second window.

For Ye Ci, she could perform a combo that was able to take away a huge chunk of the Lessern Demon Centurion's HP.

It was apparent that Ye Ci's strategy worked. Despite suffering from Ye Ci's simple trick, the Lesser Demon Centurion did not learn from its lesson. It suffered again and again from Ye Ci's Icy Trap and Frost trap. Before long, the Lesser Demon Centurion laid dead on the groun with all its HP depleted.

The battle between Ye Ci and the monster was a dull one. There was no need for her to put too much of an effort in getting a map. To her, the 15 minutes she spent to bring down the Lesser Demon Centurion was a waste of time. With the Lesser Demons respawning, Ye Ci had to fight through a number of enemies before she could reach the corpse of the Lesser Demon Centurion, which yielded 2 items as loots: A map and a skillbook.

The map would naturally be her quest item. But what about the skillbook?

Ye Ci was shocked when she saw the name of the skillbook. It was Mass Healing! And one that was used by the Priest class at that!