Chapter 22 - 20: Boss Zhao’s Butt in Trouble

More than two hours passed.Six goblin zombies were eliminated.

Over twenty goblin skeleton soldiers were eliminated.

Everyone gained quite a bit of Spiritual Qi, and Zhao Ming smoothly leveled up to level 2.

"Hey, have you guys noticed a particularly frustrating fact?" Xiaoqiang couldn’t help but complain, "Today’s monsters are all poor losers. Although the Spiritual Qi drop rate is decent, we’ve only gotten an occasional gray crystal and nothing else!"

"Yeah, we’ve been fighting for so long, and not even one piece of gray equipment has dropped."

Jiang Nan’s bright eyes showed confusion as she counted on her fingers, "We’ve only gotten eleven gray crystals in total; it wasn’t like this last time when we fought in the goblin village!"

Zhao Ming also frowned slightly.

It seems everyone was feeling pretty down.

We were taking down a monster every four to five minutes on average.

That’s quite efficient, but the monsters were terribly stingy.

"What’s there to complain about? Normal monsters have this kind of drop rate." Hang Yu told the three, "Last time, we were dealing with monsters with houses and families, the middle class, whereas these are the destitute wandering the wild. How can it be the same? Settlement monsters generally have slightly higher drop rates than wild monsters."

Uh...

That seems to make sense.

The skeleton soldiers are all rotten bones, and the zombies dress like beggars; it’s clear there’s no profit here.

The wealth gap is a big problem!

Without money, it’s not just hard to be human; even as a monster, you get despised!

Hang Yu suddenly noticed something, his face lit up with joy, and he whispered, "Stop complaining, our treasure is coming!"

A gray-skinned dwarf emerged from the barren forest ahead.

It was dressed in a relatively intact set of leather armor, with a dagger and a flying knife at its waist, carrying a cloth bag in its left hand, wandering aimlessly like a shabby scavenger.

Jiang Nan exclaimed, "Oh! A new monster!"

Xiaoqiang’s eyes lit up, "This guy seems to have some money!"

Zhao Ming stared for a moment and asked, "It’s different from the others, should be tough to deal with, right?"

"This is a level 2 Elite Monster: goblin corpse thief." Hang Yu quickly gestured to everyone, "Quick, hide and eat some fruit to recover your Spiritual Power."

Dammit!

Another elite?

And it’s a level 2 elite!

Everyone didn’t dare slack off, quickly hiding away.

"The goblin corpse thief is even more dangerous than a goblin warrior, but fortunately, it’s just a Bronze Elite, something we can handle with our current equipment."

"Firstly, the goblin corpse thief has three skills: Stealth, Backstab, and Throwing, his burst power is strong, if we aren’t careful and get ambushed, any one of us could be instantly killed."

Hang Yu’s introduction made the trio look serious.

Is it that powerful? Then how do we fight it! The risk is too high!

Hang Yu came here specifically to find this goblin corpse thief.

Now that he’s finally found one, how could he retreat without a fight?

He explained the strategy methodically to the group, although the goblin corpse thief is a Bronze Elite, its danger level isn’t any less than a Silver Elite of the same tier.

The risk is high.

Hang Yu couldn’t handle it alone.

Even with a team of ten, using the wrong method could lead to a total wipeout!

Were it not for the knowledge from his memory that the goblin corpse thief would drop good items, Hang Yu really wouldn’t want to take this risk lightly.

Fortunately, Zhao Ming has already leveled up to 2, with a significant increase in defense. The team has both offense and healing; as long as they don’t lose their rhythm, it shouldn’t be a big problem. After all, there’s an experienced "old driver" leading the way!

"Do as I say, let’s get started!"

Goblins and goblins differ in certain aspects.

Goblin skin is green, with little to no hair.

Goblin skin is gray, with wrinkled skin, and more hair.

The gray-skinned dwarf noticed the four appearing and immediately disappeared into the air.

Hang Yu said, "It’s gone into stealth, don’t panic, close in!"

The four formed a strange formation, with Hang Yu, Jiang Nan, and Xiaoqiang standing back to back, facing three directions to avoid exposing their backs and getting instantly killed by the "Backstab" skill.

Zhao Ming stood separately, three meters from Hang Yu, exposing his back.

Although the goblin corpse thief is an Elite Monster, as a low-tier goblin its intelligence isn’t high. After going into Stealth, it will definitely use Backstab, and when using Backstab, it will prioritize attacking targets with exposed backs.

So as long as Hang Yu, Jiang Nan, and Zhang Xiaoqiang cover each other and don’t expose any opening in their backs.

The goblin corpse thief will surely attack Zhao Ming.

Sure enough, as expected.

The goblin corpse thief suddenly appeared behind Old Zhao and quickly stabbed a glowing dagger into Zhao Ming’s defenses, fiercely hitting his backside.

A heart-piercing pain followed.

Life dropped by 5 points instantly!

Damn, so fast and such high damage, this is too overpowered!

Can’t help but complain about the attack location.

If it was just a few inches off, chastity might not be guaranteed!

This move is clearly called backstab, not attack the butt, come on!

Nowadays, Old Zhao’s equipment is upgraded and is not what it used to be. Both vitality and defense have significantly increased, his skills’ defensive bonus effects are now more than double compared to the beginning.

The seemingly skinny goblin corpse thief can not only penetrate defenses with one hit but also take away 5 points of life energy, truly terrifying!

Without powerful defensive skills or equipment, even a Level 2 character, let alone Level 3 or Level 4, wouldn’t necessarily withstand it!

Hang Yu wasn’t exaggerating at all.

This monster absolutely has the ability to instantly kill any of them!

Hang Yu, Jiang Nan, and Xiaoqiang immediately took action, with veteran Hang Yu reacting the fastest, instantly slashing the goblin’s leg, causing the goblin corpse thief 4 points of damage.

The goblin corpse thief, as a Level 2 elite monster, has 60 points of life energy.

This damage is clearly not a threat.

Xiaoqiang and Jiang Nan unleashed their skills.

The goblin corpse thief dodged vulnerable spots by rolling quickly, but the fireball still directly caused a high damage of 9 points to life energy. Old Zhao felt a surge of power envelop him, instantly healing the excruciating wound on his backside, and the lost life points were fully restored.

After using healing skills, Jiang Nan quickly lifted his crossbow to shoot.

The goblin corpse thief was very agile and easily dodged the arrow. Meanwhile, while avoiding the attack, both hands simultaneously threw two fleeting flashes.

Hang Yu warned, "Watch out for flying knives!"

Zhao Ming’s shield blocked one flying knife.

But the other one embedded itself in his shoulder.

Once again causing Zhao Ming to lose 6 points of life.

Old Zhao felt frustrated.

Being the tank is indeed a tough job.

This isn’t like playing a game, the pain sensation is real.

Only someone with extraordinary willpower can undertake this task!

What frustrated Old Zhao even more was that, at one meter eighty-seven tall, the goblin stood at only one meter forty, so each attack from behind inevitably landed on his backside... why target the butt of all places?

This one, in the real world, is a billionaire!

When has his backside ever been treated like this?

Does he still have any dignity left!

Hang Yu is really outrageous, using my backside as bait!

Luckily, Jiang Nan’s light injury healing cooldown is very short, able to heal the wounds and restore life, otherwise Boss Zhao’s backside would’ve been long blooming like flowers.

Hang Yu continued directing everyone.

"Alright, stay steady, don’t panic, block the flying knives, Jiang Nan pay attention to timely healing!"

"The goblin corpse thief’s strategy isn’t complicated, as long as we maintain control of the pace, we’ll definitely win."

The goblin corpse thief is far more dangerous than the goblin warrior, not only because of its overwhelming burst damage but also due to its speed and cunning.

It won’t give you the opportunity to gang up and battle.

After stealth + backstab, it immediately keeps its distance.

The goblin corpse thief will circle around the target, maintaining a medium distance, continuously throwing flying knives, and when its sneak and backstab skills have cooled down, it’ll stealth again to launch a backstab attack.

Stealth + Backstab + Throwing!

The combination of these three skills with high agility is enough to torture someone, so the goblin corpse thief is a rather troublesome fellow among the low-level elite monsters, without sufficient experience it’s hard to defeat this guy.

Why does Hang Yu dare to find the goblin corpse thief?

Because Hang Yu has already calculated based on memory information.

"Stealth" and "Backstab" cooldown times are both over thirty seconds, which coincidentally matches Zhao Ming’s skill timeframe.

That is to say.

Every time the stealth backstab can be offset using Zhao Ming’s defense.

As for the damage caused by the "Throwing" skill, it can be offset by Jiang Nan’s "Light Injury Healing".

Hang Yu and Xiaoqiang’s offensive capabilities are strong, as long as we grasp the attack rhythm of the goblin corpse thief, if the group cooperates seamlessly, within a few minutes they can completely deal with it.

Though Boss Zhao’s backside might have to suffer a bit more...

Why not go for other easier to deal with elite monsters than choose the goblin corpse thief?

Because Hang Yu knows the goblin corpse thief will drop some really good stuff, which is very important for early development. Even knowing there are risks, he’s willing to try, if they can indeed gain ideal rewards, the risk is totally worth it.