What they said scared her a little but Lily gritted her teeth, puffing out her ample chest as she said. "I am not afraid! I’ve watched tons of horror movies. I’m never scared."

Just then, strange wails drifted out of the forest, and the little girl darted behind Don in an instant. Cappuccino and Dust both doubled over laughing.

Diana, without a word, punched each of them. "You three little rascals, stop laughing. Of course girls get scared. Lily, if you’re not used to it, just turn off the sound effects. Drop the realism setting below 60 percent too. Some of these monsters will just look like toys."

Don said helplessly, "Sister Diana, you’re going to ruin this newbie’s potential by teaching her like that. She’ll never develop her instincts. Lily, listen to me, set perception, sound, and realism all to 90 percent. Every female expert in virtual gaming was scared into greatness. Mane, Justin, every top player you can name went through this."

Lily straightened up and said firmly, "Sister, what Brother Don says actually makes sense."

As they spoke, withered hands emerged from the hollows in the thick tree trunks. They looked like ghostly claws, pale, gleaming, with cracking knuckles.

Don pulled Lily behind him. "Draw your crossbow. Get ready. Remember, no matter what monsters you see, just treat it like whack-a-mole."

That seemed to do the trick. The sound of arrows being loaded came from behind him. Two mercenaries with halberds took position at the front. Cappuccino and Dust were both Level 19 with around 3,500 HP each, not quite Diana’s level, but solid for skilled players.

Soon, thin creatures began crawling out of the tree trunks one after another. Their bodies were covered in a thick layer of bark, and their limbs were uncomfortably similar to human ones.

These were the typical tree spirits of fantasy games, but their attributes were unusually high.

[Strange Sound Forest Tree Spirit — Elite Monster]

[Level 22 ]

[HP: 120,000]

[ATK: 550–600]

[Physical DEF: 400]

[Magic DEF: 350]

[Skills: Combo Attack, Whip Strike]

Don was relieved. With his improved gear, his HP and defense had climbed enough that these tree spirits couldn’t really threaten him. And with three metal-class players in the team, he didn’t need to tank, he just needed to deal damage.

Diana said, "Don, you’re the captain. You’re in charge of commanding."

He glanced around. A wide tree-lined path stretched ahead, tree spirits scattered loosely along both sides, not too dense.

He gave the orders immediately. "Dust, I’ll pull a little to test if the aggro is linked. Be ready to support at any time. Cappuccino, focus on pure DPS and back Dust up. Bernita, no need to explain, I trust your healing. Lily, don’t rush. Just attack whichever monster is losing the most HP. Remember, no AOE skills."

Diana asked, "So this has nothing to do with me?"

"You, an expert? Do I really need to give you instructions? Figure it out yourself."

"Oh."

With that, Don drew an arrow and fired at the nearest tree spirit. The shaft whistled through the air and struck its shoulder, drawing a satisfying damage number.

[1,606!]

Enraged by the pain, the tree spirit let out a piercing screech and charged toward them, followed by several others, all howling with hatred.

Fortunately there weren’t many, only five.

A strange arc slowly traced beneath Don’s feet as he moved. The path of the arc was neither too long nor too short, only about three meters across. At that exact moment, Dust shook off the road dust, raised his halberd, and unleashed a devastating Sweeping Strike that tore through the gathered crowd.

[890!]

[942!]

[904!]

[1,059!]

[784!]

[909!]

[1,094!]

[988!]

[905!]

[MISS!]

Two strings of damage numbers blossomed above the tree spirits’ heads, and green sap oozed from their bodies in slow streams.

Lily’s clear eyes were fixed on Don’s feet. "Oh, so that’s how it works."

"What is it, little girl?"

"Brother, do you have to walk around to pull monsters?"

"Of course. Monsters have eyes too. They follow you as you move," Don explained.

"Hmm. No wonder the ones that were scattered earlier suddenly clumped together."

"Right. Whether a cat walks in a straight line depends entirely on the mouse."

Cappuccino was also swinging his halberd at the tree spirits, but because he had more Agility points, his attack power was clearly lacking. His highest Sweeping Strike damage barely cleared six hundred. His accuracy, on the other hand, was perfect, every hit landed.

Then Dust unleashed Arc Slash, a 180-degree AOE that was the mercenary’s signature crowd-control move. The cooldown was only three seconds, which was exactly why mercenaries leveled relatively quickly.

After taking repeated hits, the tree spirits launched their counterattack. Their Combo Skill wasn’t particularly impressive, each strike on Dust only chipped away a few dozen HP. But the Whip attack was something else.

After one swing, a damage number above two hundred would float over Dust’s head, indicating a significant attack power bonus.

At this point, Bernita’s healing wasn’t keeping up. Her single-target heal could only restore around six hundred HP, while five monsters whipping at Dust simultaneously drained his health much faster than that.

Don couldn’t stand it any longer. He pulled Damon Teague’s dropped Level 15 staff out of his backpack and forcibly traded it to Bernita as a gift. "Try this."

Bernita couldn’t refuse, stopping mid-fight would have made the situation far more dangerous. As expected, she lived up to expectations.

With a wave of her new staff, her single-target heal landed for 904. A clean improvement.

Don decided to give her the Green Field Breastplate that had dropped from Talia Stormsister too. "Here. Put this on as well."

Bernita looked a little embarrassed. "Brother Don, these can all be sold for money..."

Don smiled faintly and glanced at the elite monsters around them. "Bernita, the most important thing in a team is following orders, right? I’m the captain, so just take what I tell you to take."

She nodded.

Cappuccino glanced at Dust and couldn’t resist teasing. "Brother Don, sigh. Such a pity. Such a pity."

"What’s a pity?"

"I like Dust!"

Don realized what he meant immediately and his face flushed red. "You jerk, just focus on grinding!"

Cappuccino was annoyed. "You little rascal, stop teasing Don. He’s probably the type who’s already got someone in his heart after a heartbreak. The girl in his heart probably isn’t Bernita’s type."

It had to be said, Cappuccino had a very sharp eye for people.

Without a word, Don slipped behind one of the tree spirits, raised his arms, activated Killing Intent, and drove a Backstab straight through its back.

[4,390!]