Show Me the Money

Chapter 180 – The Expert Squad

Entering the opponent’s vicinity, the members of God Familia disappeared in Stealth at the same time. While they could still be spotted on the map, the monsters’ aggro was no longer on them.

Roaahh! After losing track of their targets, the two skeletal monsters naturally set their eyes on the Heavy Hammer Squad.

“SHIT!” The members of the Heavy Hammer Squad cursed at the face of two approaching angry creatures. The next moment, they were forced into combat.

“Ducas, fend against that skeletal dragon,” the captain was helpless as he bit the bullet and began to issue commands.

“Huh? Foreigners?” The members of God Familia were stunned. They exchanged glances and reported this to Fatty.

“Foreigners?” The rest of the squad, who were leisurely walking to the battlefield, were surprised as well. East Gate Blowingwind remarked, “That’s normal. Many foreigners live in our country. If they play this game, they would surely want to gather up.”

Even so, several male members of the Fat Squad felt like they had lost face because the foreigners were first to enter this map.

“Let’s go check it out and get to know our foreign friends a little.”

The two mobs were both Gold Tier bosses. From the looks of it, this place didn’t have any normal mobs and only bosses. The Heavy Hammer Squad wasn’t weak. If there was only one monster, they could slay it with ease. However, two of them attacking at once took a heavy toll on them.

“One person lead the Skeletal Dragon away,” with their backs against the wall, the captain of the Heavy Hammer Squad decided to sacrifice one to save the rest.

A rogue heeded the order and stepped out. They nimbly moved around the Skeletal Dragon at high speed, wanting to drag it away.

“Should we make our move now?” LeftHandofGod asked.

“My friends over there, I’m MarchingSledgehammer of White Tiger City. We have neither grudge nor enmity. We ask you to go easy on us,” the captain of the Heavy Hammer Squad hastily called out.

“Huh? This fellow speaks great Chinese. He even knows the idiom. He must've been in China for many years,” praised West Gate Blowingsnow, while some couldn’t help but exclaim with admiration as well.

“Idiot, don’t you know the system has automatic translation? Not mentioning idioms, it can translate even ‘father trap1’ if you want,” East Gate Blowingwind rolled his eyes at his brother. The rest also followed and rolled their eyes, acting out as if they all snorted at West Gate Blowingsnow’s remark.

“F*ck! Why didn’t anyone think so just now? Whatever. I just have a stupid mouth, then,” West Gate Blowingsnow was upset.

“MarchingSledgehammer? I know this guy; I’ve come across him a few times,” Xiao Jian suddenly smiled.

“Oh? How is he as a person?” Fatty asked.

“He’s an okay guy, but all the times I crossed him was because my friends had conflicts with his group and I came to help PK,” Xiao Jian chuckled.

“We have no relation to them then, let’s just send them on a free trip back,” having been tormented by the Curse of Misfortune, Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord had soon nursed a stomach full of fury. He was more than happy to vent this pent up anger on the Heavy Hammer Squad.

Seeing the motion from Fatty’s party, MarchingSledgehammer’s heart leaped to his throat. He frantically shouted, “Friends from China, you are of a courteous country. You can’t beat a dog while it’s down and take advantage of this situation to harm us foreign friends! Aren’t you afraid you will be jeered at when this news spreads?”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Xiao Jian urged his mount to step forth and gazed at MarchingSledgehammer with a face full of smiles.

“Ahh, OneSwordtoHeaven. You bastard, why are you here?” All of the Heavy Hammer Squad members’ faces instantly changed at the sight of Xiao Jian. Aside from the two players who were pulling the monsters’ aggro, the rest, including MarchingSledgehammer, closely gathered up.

“OneSwordtoHeaven, our conflicts have been long resolved. You won’t take this chance to get back at us, will you?” MarchingSledgehammer said with a gloomy face.

“Oh, no. How could an upstanding young man like me do something like that?” Xiao Jian grinned, “I’m just a little curious, what’s the meaning behind your IGN?”

“MarchingSledgehammer? Motherf*cker, coming to China and using a name like that2! Are you seeking death?” The Fat Squad’s faces sank. Everyone got off their mounts and summoned their pets.

“Misunderstanding, this is just a misunderstanding. Please let me explain!” MarchingSledgehammer had just heaved a sigh of relief but instantly grew frantic again.

“Explain what? Stop with the nonsense, attack!” Ice Witch suddenly spoke up. True to her word, she appeared before MarchingSledgehammer in a flash and raised her weapon to execute Frozen Strike, smashing down towards his body.

–241

Whoosh. Being caught off guard, MarchingSledgehammer was frozen.

“Captain!”

“Attack!”

The members of the Heavy Hammer Squad were enraged. All kinds of offensive skills flew toward Ice Witch while the healing skills of a Priest landed on MarchingSledgehammer, preventing him from being killed by her series of attack.

“Oh Priests, the ever adorable Priests,” muttered TheFugitive. With a shake of his body, he sprinted toward the opponent’s back line. In this map where everyone’s location was displayed, a rogue’s Stealth had lost its effect. Therefore, he could only resort to brute force.

Ice Witch retreated to dodge the enemies’ attacks. MarchingSledgehammer also regained his wits and shouted as he got ready for combat. Urging his mount forward, he moved toward Ice Witch alongside his pet, a golden-furred tiger, and raised his sledgehammer high.

The opposing party was composed of various classes with quick reactive ability. The knights speedily guarded the frontline, while mages and archers executed long-ranged attacks from behind.

“Knights have high HP. Everyone watch out, don’t just wildly take them head-on,” East Gate Blowingwind shouted.

“Knights?” Fatty laughed. “Who said we didn’t have knights?”

Dropping those words, Fatty lightly slapped Wheat. Under the dumbstruck eyes of everyone, he marched forward on Wheat’s back and passed Ice Witch until he was face to face with MarchingSledgehammer.

“Gosh, when did Fatty become a knight? Is that a hidden class?”

“That’s not right; his hidden class is Elementalist, not Knight.”

While Fatty could fight while mounted, he still had no advantage against a real knight. As the first exchange ended, Fatty’s body staggered a little, and his health dropped by a fifth.

“Hah! Idiot!” MarchingSledgehammer was delighted and wanted to use his momentum to finish Fatty.

Bam! A huge earth bullet exploded at MarchingSledgehammer’s chest, breaking his action. His body lurched from the force.

“What the f*ck, a mount can attack!?” The surrounding players couldn’t believe their eyes.

“That’s Fatty’s pet, Wheat,” TheFugitive recognized the rat.

“When did pets become mountable?”

“Cheating, you’re cheating. I want to report you!” Nearly knocked off his mount by Wheat’s Howling Bullet, MarchingSledgehammer angrily screamed.

“You have to die and respawn first before you get the chance,” Fatty burst out into laughter. As he passed the opponent in the next exchange, the Elemental Sword suddenly enlarged and stabbed at MarchingSledgehammer’s mount.

–800

The random stab landed right on the mount’s eye and dealt a terrifying amount of damage.

A knight could share their mount’s HP, and the mount’s level decided the volume of it. MarchingSledgehammer’s mount was a green leopard at level 30 at most, so its HP shouldn’t be higher than 2,000. In addition to its owner’s health, the total HP should be around 4,000. Seeing as Fatty’s attack took away a fifth of this, their fight had ended in a draw.

“Its size can change?” The eyes of the male players grew red with greed. They stared dead straight at the Elemental Sword with a burning passion evident in their gaze.

“What’s with the nonsense? Hurry and attack!” Fatty nearly wanted to laugh from the absurdity of the situation. He had charged forth with bravery, yet these people just stood there and enjoyed the show.

“Eyyyyy, master you are so strong, you are the strongest of the strong,” Han Shen didn’t put any effort into his flattering. He casually waved his hand, and a cold gleam hit MarchingSledgehammer’s body with a clang. A –200 popped up from the victim’s head.

“Formidable! The first rank is the first rank, after all,” HeadofGod praised. If a rogue’s ranged attack could wipe out that much health from a high-def knight, then that rogue was definitely an expert amongst experts.

“You overpraise me. It’s all thanks to my master,” Han Shen acted modestly and didn’t forget to compliment Fatty while he was at it. Fatty was inwardly pleased as well.

“LittleLi’s FlyingDagger?” MarchingSledgehammer was shocked. The rogue’s name carried a certain reputation alongside it. Han Shen didn’t earn his position as the first rank in the rogue leaderboard by doing nothing, he killed his way to it.

“You should know me, then?” West Gate Blowingsnow charged forward. Bearing the presence of an otherworldly god3, he nearly cut off MarchingSledgehammer’s arm.

“West Gate Blowingsnow? Fifth in the warrior ranking?” MarchingSledgehammer could feel his heart tremble. Facing one expert after another, what kind of luck is this?!

“Ahhh…” A wretched scream echoed. TheFugitive had slain the opponent’s priest amidst the chaos. Proud of himself, the guy wildly ran amok in the battlefield.

“TheFugitive, 14th in the rogue ranking,” MarchingSledgehammer groaned. Another one in the top 100. Any random fellow in that position is a top expert in the leaderboards. There’s no point in fighting; the result is obvious. Pocketing his weapon, the poor guy shouted, “Stop, stop. No need to keep fighting. We’ll return to the city ourselves.”

Hearing this, the members of his squad stopped their actions, but the other party completely ignored him and kept attacking.

“Being the nice people we are, we’re gonna be kind to you to the end,” Xiao Jian took the chance to finish off a warrior and laughed out loud. “Sledgehammer, it was fate that we got to meet again. Let us, the ones you are fated to meet, send you back.”

“OneSwordtoHeaven, you’re too much. Fight me one on one if you have the guts!” MarchingSledgehammer fumed.

“Haha, you already lost many times and always called for others to help you escape. You actually want to fight me in a 1v1 now?” Xiao Jian sneered, “We’re busy people, we don’t have time to fool around with you.”

“OneSwordtoHeaven, don’t push it! It’s not like your victory is certain if we keep fighting. Even if you can kill us all, we can still drag some of you to death with us,” said MarchingSledgehammer, enraged.

“Not necessarily,” HeadofGod strode over.

“Who are you now?” MarchingSledgehammer wasn’t surprised anymore, numb from the repeated shock of meeting so many top rankers.

“HeadofGod,” HeadofGod sleazily grinned.

“HeadofGod,” MarchingSledgehammer’s eyes grew hazy as the figure fell silent. If HeadofGod is here, then all of God Familia must be here as well.

“You guys… should be an expert squad, right?” MarchingSledgehammer was helpless.

“Expert Squad? Great name!” Upon hearing this name, TheFugitive’s eyes shone brightly, but he immediately grew angry the next second, “Yet this squad is called the goddamn Fat Squad, f*ck!”

1. Father trap -坑爹 (lit. father pit): A slang refers to someone who often either intentionally or unintentionally tricks/puts others in trouble, especially those who are close to them. In Chinese, tricking someone is called 'dig a pit for them to fall into'.↩ 2. The 'Marching' in his IGN is ‘expedition to conquer’, so others regard his IGN = Coming to conquer China. But of course, Fatty's team aren't really upset at the name. They are just using it as an excuse to attack the opponent.↩ 3. The author does a little reference here. The raws for 'otherworldly god' is 天外飞仙, the prided sword art of famous swordman Ye Gucheng who was defeated by Ximen Chuixue (West Gate Blowingsnow IGN).↩