Chapter 331: Death Before Defeat (1)

After a quick glance, Quiet And Steadfast noticed that one of the black-clothed men was missing and hurriedly issued a warning. “One of them’s missing. They’ve probably gone invisible. Everyone, be on guard.”

“Maybe they ran away?” I’m Not A Monster suggested.

“That’s right, they must have been scared off by our power and majesty,” I’m Really Not A Monster chimed in.

“I agree with what you said about us being ‘powerful and majestic’, but I’ll hold back on everything else,” Actually, I Am A Monster said.

“I think the chances of that person running away aren’t high. This group of people feel different from the black-clothed men we met in the past. They look like elite inner disciples of the Shinra Sect. They probably wouldn’t turn tail and run so easily,” I’m A Monster, Dare To Hit Me added.

Quiet And Steadfast nodded. “Just be careful and don’t let any of them through.” He then turned his attention to Shen Jingbin.

With one with them having disappeared, the three remaining black-clothed men didn’t bother to fight against Shen Jingbin any longer. Instead, they retreated several steps and looked as if they were preparing to defend. Shen Jingbin was about to chase after them when she felt Quiet And Steadfast pull her back and force a pill into her hand. “Heal up; you’re at half HP.”

His voice sounded a little low, as if he were angry. Shen Jingbin paused and calmed herself a little before she turned to face him. His unusually serious face made her realise that she might have been a little too hasty just now. “I’m sorry, I was in too much of a rush.”

Quiet And Steadfast heaved a sigh of relief when Shen Jingbin finally calmed down. “Time and tide waits for no man. I understand how you feel, but you still need to be careful. By my guess, their target is most likely you.”

The moment he said that the three black-clothed men dashed over. Quiet And Steadfast was shocked by their sudden attack, but the Four Monsters moved with the speed of lightning and rushed to chase after them. They were all under the impression that the black-clothed men’s target was Shen Jingbin, and all of them subconsciously took action to protect her.

However, the black-clothed men’s target wasn’t Shen Jingbin at all. Their speed, coupled with the disregard for their own safety, allowed the black-clothed men to split up Shen Jingbin’s group in just a few moments.

In the end, Shen Jingbin was left alone. Quiet And Steadfast was up against one black-clothed man, and the Four Monsters were held up by the remaining two.

Shen Jingbin was just about to rush forward to help when she heard a gust of wind by her ear, followed by the faint whistling sound of a blade cutting through the air. She bent her body to the side to dodge, and she felt something brush by her cheek. The injured part of her cheek immediately began to burn up, which was also accompanied by a chime from the system.

“Note: You’ve been afflicted by poppy poison. You will lose 200 HP everything minute. Your MP has been halved, and these effects will persist for the next 3 minutes. This poison is incurable.”

Shen Jingbin felt a wave of panic surge upwards from within after hearing the system’s notification. These were life-threatening symptoms to someone who had less than 50% of their HP and MP. She didn’t want to be careless, so she hurriedly pulled out a bottle of Shen Nong’s secret medicine and drank from it.

But, even after drinking it, while her health had returned to full, her MP was still at half. It was clear that Shen Nong’s secret medicine was useless against poppy poison.

Shen Jingbin’s skills were stronger than that of your average Daoist, but those skills used up more MP as well. With her MP now halved, it’d be tough for her to use any skills for these 3 minutes.

The black-clothed man who attacked her clearly knew the effects of their poison-coated dagger. After missing their first attack, the black-clothed man rounded back several seconds later and brandished their dagger once again, unleashing a flurry of blows upon Shen Jingbin.

Shen Jingbin now had to calculate how much MP she was using for each skill, while the black-clothed man took to fighting dirty. They’d wander around at the edge of Shen Jingbin’s attack radius, looking for the right moment to strike. In addition, their entire weapon was coated in poison. Occasional lapses in attention caused Shen Jingbin to be hit several times. While the attack itself didn’t do much damage, the poison took off a fair bit of HP.

Noticing that Shen Jingbin was at an impasse with her opponent, I’m Really Not A Monster shouted to I’m Not A Monster, “Big Monster, Nutty’s in trouble. You take care of this guy while I go over and help!”

I’m Not A Monster was getting frustrated with his opponent too. He couldn’t figure out what this black-clothed man was trying to do. The person was dead set on holding them up, but they were shying away from any real confrontation. It was infuriating.

“Mm! Leave this guy to me.” I’m Not A Monster’s patience had run out, and he was preparing to go all out.

When North By Northwest heard their plan, he knew that there was no way he’d be able to keep the two of them here if he didn’t blow himself up. He snuck a glance to see how Jedi was doing and found that he was in the same situation.

The time had come.

North By Northwest’s gaze turned serious, and he pursed his lips. He then leapt over to I’m Not A Monster, and I’m Really Not A Monster and pulled them into a death grip. The two Monsters were caught completely off guard by this move of his that was akin to sending himself to death’s door. They weren’t expecting him to just run up and grab them.

“Are you sure you want to exchange your remaining lives for more attack power? Yes/No. (Note: You have 3 lives remaining. You can exchange them for a 150 increase in attack.)

“Yes.”

“Conversion in process… Conversion complete. You have received a 150 attack boost.”

The moment he heard the system’s notification, North By Northwest chose to blow himself up without any hesitation. Before the two Monsters had the chance to react, they saw the black-clothed man who was grabbing them begin to inflate like a balloon.

Both of them had faced Shinra sect players in the past, so they naturally knew the signs when a Shinra Sect player was about to blow themselves up. Seeing the black-clothed man inflate had the two of them in a fluster.

Blowing themselves up was a double-edged sword. Shinra Sect players who chose to blow themselves up would sacrifice their lives to deal damage equal to their HP. In addition, their current attack strength would add to the explosion’s power. The higher their attack value, the more damage the explosion would do. Although the two Monsters didn’t know the black-clothed man’s exact stats, they weren’t betting on being able to survive the ensuing explosion.

As the black-clothed man in front of them continued to inflate, I’m Not A Monster made up his mind. He held his dagger vertically and used all of his strength to cut off the hand that was holding onto him.

“Second Monster, run!” I’m Not A Monster’s dagger sliced cleanly through the black-clothed man’s hand. The moment he was free, I’m Not A Monster broke into a run and dashed away from the black-clothed man. With the loss of one arm, the black-clothed man was overcome by a moment of weakness. I’m Really Not A Monster used that opportunity to break free, and ran for it as well.

North By Northwest felt his body going weak. His cast bar for his explosion was just about filled up, but he no longer had the strength to chase after his prey. A look of regret and reluctance appeared on his face.

‘Boom!’

A loud explosion could be heard from behind the two Monsters. They glanced back and saw that the place they were originally at was now a mess. No trace of the black-clothed man could be seen. All they could see were several scraps of his black cloak drifting down to the ground.

“Go help our Leader, I’ll help Ole Three and the others,” Said I’m Not A Monster.

The two of them hurriedly parted ways and rushed off to help the rest.