VRMMO: Passing of the Sword

Even though their surroundings were quiet, neither of them made any noise as they walked. It was as if they were hovering above the ground as they moved.

Although Blue Maple still appeared quite leisurely as he sipped on his drink, it didn’t affect his control over his footsteps in any way. The way they both controlled their footsteps seemed like it was second nature to them. The cave was so silent that it was scary.

They slowly advanced forward without any clear destination in mind, hoping to find the alleged ghosts. Or rather, they were waiting for the ghosts to attack them.

They maintained a two-meter distance from each other, neither close nor far. If one of them was attacked, the other party would normally be able to aid the other. However, Blue Maple wouldn’t be giving Mystery any aid if she was attacked.

As Mystery walked in front, Blue Maple softly sniffed the fragrance emitted from her body. Not only was it intoxicating, but she was also wearing tight-fitting leather armor that fully accentuated her slender figure. Almost any male walking behind her would face the same temptation when faced with these factors.

However, the person behind her was Blue Maple. The only reaction he had to these things was a look of admiration in his eyes.

Suddenly, both of them stopped in their tracks.

Sss, sss, sss…

Blue Maple finished his drink in a leisurely manner, before shaking the bottle out of boredom.

However, he suddenly vanished after a moment!

Hidden Attack!

As soon as he vanished, a green, sinister pair of claws struck where he’d been.

“Hee!”

A ghost covered in dim-green flames apparated where Blue Maple had been. It let out a deafening scream, but failed to strike anything with its attack.

As soon as it finished screaming, a pitch-black dagger appeared behind the ghost’s head.

Gouge!

Mystery had attacked the ghost the moment that Blue Maple vanished. At the same time, she’d also used a control-type skill.

Gouge: Common skill for Thieves. The target will receive a certain amount of damage, and suffer from one second of vertigo if struck in the head.

-578!

The ghost was successfully hit by the skill. Afterwards, Mystery unhesistantly slashed the ghost’s neck with both daggers. She didn’t know if it would inflict any additional damage, but it was something she was used to doing.

-546, -521!

After these two slashes, Mystery used another skill – Cut!

Cut: Common skill for Thieves. Inflicts damage on the target and causes heavy bleeding.

After she’d used Cut, she unleashed two more ordinary attacks. Right as the ghost was beginning to recover from her initial blow, she kicked away from it and disappeared.

Stealth!

-601、-539、-523、-234!

Mystery had managed to unleash a series of blows in this short single second. Not only that, she’d also managed to both distance and conceal herself. She would’ve been able to kill any ordinary player in that one second!

A moment later, Blue Maple reappeared a short distance from the ghost, his 1.5 seconds of Hidden Attack having passed. His drink, however, was no longer present.

Mystery could get behind the ghost and use Backstab, followed by unleashing another wave of attack. But that wouldn’t have been the wisest move.

She’d immediately fled after taking advantage of her skill’s effect. One’s chances of survival were much greater when they could take a step back!

Earlier, she was simply counteracting against the ghost’s sneak attack. She would be courting death if she ventured any further without knowing any information about her enemy.

Blue Maple remained indifferent as he stared at the infuriated ghost in front of him. He didn’t comment about how a ghost could be bleeding so excessively.

“Stupid restriction.” Blue Maple mumbled to himself. As he stared at the angered ghost, he didn’t seem the least bit worried that the ghost would attack him.

It seemed like Mystery was supposed to exterminate four ghosts for this quest, but it wasn’t as simple as that.

Just like Blue Maple’s hidden quest, there had been a restriction when he’d first killed the Barbaric Bull. He’d been subjected to even more restrictions later on, which had almost prevented him from completing his quest.

Similarly, there was a restriction in this mission. However, it wasn’t explicitly stated.

One would need the observation skills required of a Thief to discover what the restriction was. The restrictions this time were very simple, but to truly understand them wasn’t an easy task.

This meant that Mystery was the only one who could attack and kill the ghosts. As such, Blue Maple wasn’t supposed to help.

However…

There wasn’t any rule against the ghosts attacking Blue Maple.

At first, Blue Maple found it strange that he’d been asked to watch from the sidelines. The truth was that he himself was the restriction. Due to the fact that he’d encountered several restrictions during his own hidden quest, he’d managed to realize it quicker than Mystery.

That was why Mystery’s job wasn’t just to kill the ghosts, but to also protect Blue Maple.

Since Blue Maple wasn’t allowed to help, he also couldn’t block any attacks or counter-attack. If he could, then he’d be just like a living shield that could protect Mystery from any incoming attacks.

The only thing he was allowed to do was flee. Even though fleeing attracted attention, which was technically a way of helping, it was permitted. If he didn’t escape, he’d be dead.

Furthermore, Blue Maple felt that this class had a certain level of chemistry with his own.

First, Old Man Fang had requested that Blue Maple help the old man’s successor. Clearly, he’d had to find someone who was similar to him. At least, he would need to roughly be able to gauge the other party’s level of ability.

At the same time, Old Man Fang and the old man probably shared a close relationship. Otherwise, Old Man Fang wouldn’t have helped him find a successor.

Finally, when the inheritance had been initiated, both Blue Maple and Mystery would have been crushed by the vortex if they hadn’t been able to intuitively know to let go of the dagger at the same time.

Blue Maple and Mystery had realized this, which was why they’d shot each other a look before they’d let go of the dagger.

They couldn’t communicate through words then either. At the center of the vortex, they were aware that it was simply too noisy for them to speak, even despite how close to each other they’d been.

This level of chemistry was needed to complete the quest.

If they hadn’t shared a certain level of chemistry, they wouldn’t have been able to do exactly what was required of them. Their fragile bodies wouldn’t even be able to survive as much as a casual touch from the ghosts. If they were touched, they’d be crippled even if they weren’t killed.

Blue Maple and Mystery’s guess were also validated by the ghosts’ attributes.

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[Flaming Ghost] (Rank 60 Elite Boss)

Attack: 1100-1394

Defense: 450-???

Magic Defense: 0

HP：500000

Skills: Flaming Ghost Claw, Flaming Charge, Devouring Screams, Terror Cry, Flaming Vortex

Passive: Cloak

Introduction: The lower-tier guards groomed by Looming Shadow possess immense attack power and special physical defensive abilities. At the same time, they’re able to camouflage themselves in dark environments. However, their weakness is also quite obvious: They’re afraid of magic.

===

An Elite Boss with messed-up attributes, including extremely high attacking strength and a multitude of skills, that would definitely be able to instant-kill anyone.

The extent of its physical defense was questionable, since it would probably depend on the type of attack. For example, an ordinary sword slash wouldn’t have the same effect as Blue Maple’s Heavenly Fire.

As for its lack of magic defense…what a joke!

Blue Maple didn’t possess any magical skills. A pure, physical-type Thief like Mystery also didn’t possess any magical skills. The Elite Boss had an obvious weakness, but neither of them could benefit from it!

However, it was Blue Maple’s first time seeing a Boss with a passive skill. Even though he was really interested in fighting the Boss, it wasn’t his quest. His role was just to quietly watch.

Blue Maple projected the attributes of the Flaming Ghost onto a light-blue screen.

He didn’t need to do that. The information would naturally appear in his head when he came across the attributes. It was just that…

“Hey, kid, you’ve flouted the rules.” The old man’s voice suddenly resonated as he warned Blue Maple.

When the old man spoke, the ferocious Flaming Ghost immediately sprawled across the ground. It didn’t dare to move at all.

By revealing its attributes, Mystery had clearly caught a glimpse of them. Since Blue Maple wasn’t in a team with her, he couldn’t share any information through any team channels. They weren’t friends either, so he couldn’t share the information with her that way either. Thus why he’d opted to use such a method to ‘look’ at the boss’s attributes.

“Oh? I’m just watching.” Blue Maple responded. There was a puzzled tone in his voice, which made him sound rather cute.

Indeed, Blue Maple was just watching from the sidelines. There was nothing wrong with that.

“There won’t be a next time!” The old man immediately removed the screen after he’d finished his warning.

“Lame.” Blue Maple knew it would end like this.

In fact, the old man could have immediately removed the screen as soon as Blue Maple had brought it upt. However, he wasn’t that opposed to Blue Maple doing so. After all, Old Man Fang had intentionally given Blue Maple access to such information. He didn’t retract this ability from Blue Maple either after conferring it to him.

What a strange fellow. Mystery was puzzled as she gazed at Blue Maple in her concealed state. The same thought crossed her mind once again.

She didn’t understand why Blue Maple would resort to such low tactics to help her.

In fact, Blue Maple didn’t know why either.

Perhaps because it was fun…

Once the old man’s voice had disappeared, the Flaming Ghost slowly stood up. It was now glaring at Blue Maple, more than likely because he was the only one in sight.

“Aiyo.”

Blue Maple sighed, before turning to flee.

If he didn’t receive any rewards following the conclusion of this quest, he would make sure to get an answer from Old Man Fang. He’d never seen a quest before where his only role was to flee.

This was probably why Blue Maple intentionally flashed the attributes of the Flaming Ghost. It was because he was unhappy.

Mystery was tagging closely behind and waited for the right opportunity to strike.

Thieves weren’t slowed down if they used any stealth skills in this game. Rather, their speed was boosted by concealment skills. Blue Maple’s Hidden Attack was a good example.

Bam!

A dim green bolt of fire was sent in Blue Maple’s direction. The scorching fire inched closer and closer to him.

Flaming Charge!

Jeng!

Blue Maple stopped moving and made a graceful flip through the air.

Airborne Somersault!

Om!

He landed on his talismanic platform. The landing sounded extremely crisp and clear in their silent environment.

He’d leaped up into the air to avoid the Flaming Ghost’s attack. Now that he’d dodged, he turned around and charged towards the Flaming Ghost.

“Grr!”

The Flaming Ghost growled, before furiously clawing at Blue Maple!

As Blue Maple charged towards Flaming Ghost, its claws also closed in on Blue Maple’s head.

But they stopped in mid-air and Blue Maple easily dodged them.

It was Mystery!

She’d used Backstab, causing the Flaming Ghost to be knocked senseless for a moment!

Mystery immediately followed it up by attacking once again. She and Blue Maple had good coordination!