Castellan was once an extremely prosperous and impregnable city in the eastern part of the Aenoria continent, belonging to the former human empire—the Sacred Aetherland Empire. Situated on the outer edge of Starfall Forest, it was the true identity of the broken ruins surrounding the player town.
The Temple of Light was located in the eastern part of Castellan.
The target location for this main quest was on the southwestern side of Castellan, roughly ten kilometers away from the player town. The specific coordinates had long been clearly marked on the players' map, and the section of the safe zone map that was once blank finally lit up with the name of this area—Castellan.
Right now, amidst the ruins.
Ugly kobolds with green, lizard-like skin were scattered all over the place.
Although they were called kobolds, their appearance had nothing to do with dogs at all; instead, they looked much more like lizards.
They gathered in groups of two or three. Some slept sprawled on the ground, some sat around campfires roasting meat from unknown magical beasts, while a few others huddled together doing something indescribable, strange noises echoing out from time to time...
In the bushes not far away, seven figures crouched with bated breath—the advance party of players.
“Whoa... there are so many kobolds, and they're seriously ugly.” Energetic Foxfox looked somewhat surprised, though whether she was surprised by the number of kobolds or their looks was hard to tell.
“Indeed, very ugly.” Bing Lin agreed wholeheartedly.
Hao Bai frowned slightly, his expression grave. “Don't drop your guard. What we see is only on the surface. I can feel quite a few more hiding in the dark corners of the ruins. Their auras are very mixed.”
“Good thing we made a plan in advance instead of charging in recklessly.” Nan Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, but turning his head, he caught sight of Bruce beside him staring forward with intense focus, his eyes glazed and his expression subtle.
“?” Puzzled, he nevertheless spoke up: “Bruce, didn't you say earlier that you wanted to sneak in disguised as a kobold too? Pairing up with Momozi would boost your success rate quite a bit, and you could look out for each other.”
There was no response whatsoever.
“Bruce??”
Still no reaction.
“???”
Completely baffled, Nan Cheng followed his gaze—
With just one look, black lines covered his face.
The sight was simply too eyesearing to look at.
He reached out and slapped Bruce hard on the shoulder, his tone helpless and disgusted. “I say, did you hear a word I said? And have you stared enough?”
“Huh?! Oh, right, okay.” Bruce shuddered in shock, snapping back to his senses. He had been watching with relish just now and hadn't heard a single word Nan Cheng said.
Nan Cheng couldn't help facepalming. Just as he was about to give a few more instructions—
“Pfft—”
Little Star suddenly burst out laughing, covering his mouth as his shoulders shook like a leaf.
Everyone turned to look at him in unison.
“I... I suddenly thought of something funny...” Little Star suppressed his laughter, his face turning red.
“Hahaha, I can't take it, I can't hold it back, I have to say it...”
The next second, he couldn't hold it in any longer, clutching his stomach as he cackled uncontrollably.
“???”
“What's so funny?”
Everyone was a bit bewildered.
Little Star took a deep breath, trying to suppress his laughter, but broke down again the moment he opened his mouth. “Speaking of which... hahaha, the first time we ran into kobolds, Momozi charged straight in like a lunatic. Guess what? He bit the dust on the spot! Pfft—Hao Bai-ge and I were completely stunned. How could this guy feed so fast!”
Momozi: “???”
What the hell? Little Star, are you sick in the head? Are you ever gonna drop it? Have I been too nice to you lately?
Momozi's face instantly darkened, and he gritted his teeth. “Can you stop bringing that up?”
“Hold on, there's more.” Little Star completely ignored his protest. “Later, when we waited for him to respawn and finally located that kobold, Momozi chased after it too eagerly and got hit with a surprise reverse-grab—”
As he reached this part, he curled up into a ball from laughing so hard, tears streaming down his face. “Right in the crotch!!! Can you guys imagine? Momozi was grabbed in the crotch and died from it!”
As his words fell, a deathly silence gripped the scene. A second later, everyone gasped in unison.
Nan Cheng subconsciously squeezed his legs together.
Bruce's expression turned very subtle as well.
Hiss...? What was this? The first man on the entire server to be crotch-grabbed to death by a kobold? Compared to him, me being the first man on the entire server to eat a slime is practically nothing...
Although he was outrageous too, he would never actively let a kobold grab his crotch—nor passively, of course.
At the thought of this, he gave Momozi a thumbs-up from the bottom of his heart.
Energetic Foxfox's eyes widened, and she gasped with her hands over her mouth. “Ah, this... isn't that way too tragic?”
But feeling that saying so might be a bit inappropriate, she added, “Momozi... are you okay?”
Her voice, however, was filled to the brim with sympathy.
The look Bing Lin gave Momozi was also packed with pity, though mostly bizarre amusement.
Feeling everyone's gazes, Momozi felt a wave of ultimate cringe wash over him, his face turning as black as the bottom of a pot.
It would have been fine if Little Star had brought it up only in front of male players, but there were female players here too! Especially in front of two female players!
His fists clenched tight.
He slowly turned his head to look at Little Star.
Little Star's smile froze.
“Uh... Momozi, let me explain...”
“No need to explain.” Momozi flashed an amiable smile. “I've already noted it down.”
“Uh... noted down what?”
“Noted down how you're going to die.”
Little Star: “??!”
Momozi: “We don't need to execute the kobold disguise plan later. I'll just throw you out directly as bait.”
“Don't! I was wrong! I was really wrong!” Little Star immediately caved and begged frantically for mercy, ducking behind Hao Bai as he pleaded, “Hao Bai-ge! Save me!”
Hao Bai looked at him expressionlessly, and then—
Stepped aside once again.
Little Star: “...”
At this moment, he felt the deep malice of the world.
“Hahaha—” Energetic Foxfox couldn't hold it in seeing this, doubling over in laughter until tears came out. “Little Star, that mouth of yours will get you killed sooner or later!”
Bruce was thoroughly enjoying himself too, chuckling as he spoke. “Don't worry, Little Star. If you really get thrown out as bait, I'll remember to collect your corpse.”
“Thanks for your kindness, but I decline!”
“Don't mention it, it's the least I can do.”
The group broke into a mess of laughter and banter.
In the distance, West, lurking in the shadows, watched this scene with a twitching corner of his mouth.
These God-Chosen Ones...
They were clearly about to face dangerous enemies, yet they could still fool around like this.
Were they just overly reckless, or did they truly hold no regard for the kobolds?
“Alright, alright, stop fooling around.” Nan Cheng spoke up at the right time, cutting off their banter. “If this continues, the other players will get anxious waiting.”
He looked around, his expression turning serious. “Let's act according to the plan.”
Everyone reined in their smiles and nodded in unison.
Rate on N.U.
