Chapter 144: Lord

Nie Yan sprinted toward the spawn point of the scale frogs. The three elite scale frogs should have already respawned.

“Be careful not to get sent back,” Nie Yan said. It was very dangerous for Tang Yao to be alone over there.

“Don’t worry. There are no monsters around me. It’s absolutely safe.”

“Tell me your coordinates.”

“23828.23875.358.”

Nie Yan followed the coordinates and finally met up with Tang Yao in the forest.

“Did you buy the mist dust?” Tang Yao asked. After using so much mist dust yesterday, there shouldn’t be much left.

“I bought some. Let’s continue.”

“It’s so expensive to grind thirty-level elites,” Tang Yao sighed. Just buying the mist dust had cost ten gold coins.

“We can still make our money back by grinding scale frogs. The potions made from those formulas we obtained earlier can sell for at least a few gold coins daily at the Starlight Pharmacy. If we could get one or two top-tier items usable right now, that would be even better.”

“Your Starlight Pharmacy is really that profitable?” Tang Yao asked, surprised. Could just a few formulas really earn so much?

“Of course.”

“Then we should farm more potion formulas and get rich!” Tang Yao said excitedly. Elites already had high drop rates, and beast-type monsters were most likely to drop potion formulas. By that calculation, if they farmed elites and sub-elites all day, they could get at least two or three potion formulas.

After a while, Nie Yan and Tang Yao continued to refresh the scale frogs using their old method. Nie Yan created a cloud of mist, and then Tang Yao maintained the proper distance and attacked with fireballs.

More than thirty minutes later, an elite scale frog fell.

“Do you still have much left to level up?” Nie Yan asked. Tang Yao hadn’t leveled up after defeating this elite scale frog, which surprised him.

“Just 1% more,” Tang Yao replied after checking his experience.

“That’s not much. Let’s keep looking for the next one,” Nie Yan nodded. If Tang Yao leveled up to fifteen, it would be a significant blow to Po Tian. It would at least prove a trend to the players—that Po Tian would soon be overtaken. As for Guo Huai’s team, recruitment would become much easier.

Nie Yan specifically warned Guo Huai and others to be cautious and not too conspicuous when recruiting. Otherwise, they might be targeted by major guilds right from the start, which would be troublesome. They could only reveal themselves publicly after becoming capable of self-defense.

As they weaved through the dense jungle toward the next elite scale frog spawn point, a sudden gust of wind blew from deep within the woods.

“Gugu,” a deep sound echoed from deep in the forest. It was the call of a scale frog, but it probably wasn’t an elite one—or perhaps something even higher!

“What is it?” Tang Yao asked, surprised.

Nie Yan thought for a moment and his face lit up with joy. “It’s a lord-level one!”

In the scale frog spawn area, there was a lord-level scale frog that roamed without a fixed spawn point, moving around the mountainous regions. Players occasionally encountered it once or twice, and after defeating it, they had to wait three days for it to respawn.

“A level 30 lord,” Tang Yao’s expression changed. Elites had always seemed unattainable, and the only lord he had ever seen was the Treant King in a dungeon. Now, he was encountering a level 30 lord!

Nie Yan and Tang Yao crept deeper into the jungle. Within their field of vision, a giant, blood-red scale frog appeared. It was even larger than an elite, with bumpy skin that emitted a faint red glow.

The toxin damage of scale frogs was well known, and a lord-level one was even more terrifying. A level 2000+ tank warrior would still be worn down to death by the poison if he didn’t drink an intermediate antidote potion in time.

The lord-level scale frog still moved slowly, pausing for a while after crawling a certain distance.

Scale Frog Lord: Level 30 Lord, HP 50000/50000.

What terrifying HP!

“Can we still defeat it using the same method?” Tang Yao asked. If the mist dust was still effective, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. Elites and lords were essentially the same—just stationary targets.

“It might be a bit tricky. A lord’s vision range is about fifty yards. Even if the mist dust reduces their vision by fifteen yards, your attack range still won’t be enough,” Nie Yan shook his head. Attacking a lord-level creature within its vision range was very dangerous.

“I have a necklace that increases attack range by 10%,” Tang Yao pointed to the necklace around his neck.

“That would only bring it up to about 33 yards. Still not enough,” Nie Yan hadn’t expected Tang Yao to have such a necklace.

“Then there’s no other way?” Tang Yao asked, disappointed. He had always thought that a difference of one or two yards in attack range didn’t matter, but now he realized how crucial attack range could be in specific situations.

Nie Yan thought for a while. “It’s not impossible, but it’s a bit complicated and requires specific terrain.”

“Tell me about it.”

“We lure the lord onto a slope. The lord stands downhill while you stand uphill. When there’s a height difference, the attack range gets an additional 10%-50% bonus,” Nie Yan explained.

“I thought it was something complicated. Since this is a mountainous area, finding a steep slope shouldn’t be hard,” Tang Yao said casually.

“You’re thinking too simply. If the slope isn’t steep enough, the attack range bonus is only about 10%. In that case, your attack range would be around 36 yards while the scale frog lord’s vision range is around 35 yards. In such a situation, do you think you can keep the distance difference between you and the scale frog lord within one yard? Even I would find that difficult unless the slope is steep enough to provide more than a 20% attack range bonus.”

After listening to Nie Yan’s detailed analysis, Tang Yao nodded. He indeed didn’t have the skill to precisely control the distance between 35 and 36 yards. Getting too close would risk detection, while staying too far would make his spells ineffective. The difficulty was too high.

“You follow it for now. I’ll go nearby and look for suitable terrain,” Nie Yan said. Since they had encountered a lord, they absolutely couldn’t let it escape. A level 30 elite lord was worth at least ten gold coins.

“Okay.”

“This is an intermediate flash dust and an intermediate mist dust. If you encounter danger, use the flash dust to escape.”

Nie Yan used an acceleration scroll and darted deeper into the jungle. This was a mountainous area with many steep terrains, but the distance couldn’t be too far. Luring the scale frog lord over would be a very dangerous task.

As he darted through the complex mountain paths, Nie Yan found several slopes, but they were too gentle and thus directly ruled out.

After searching for five or six minutes, a huge rock appeared before Nie Yan, standing eight or nine yards high. If Tang Yao could stand on top of it to attack the scale frog, the attack range bonus would definitely exceed 30%.

“I found the spot. Hurry over. Coordinates 23228.23375.285.”

“Okay, I’m coming right away,” Tang Yao replied and rushed toward Nie Yan. Seeing the giant rock ahead, he was momentarily stunned. “This is the place?”

“Yeah.”

“How do I get up there?”

Nie Yan took off the Ring of the Climber and threw it to Tang Yao. “Take this.”

Tang Yao received the ring with a puzzled look, checked its attributes, and was amazed. “This thing is awesome.” Wearing this wouldn’t make crossing any obstacles as easy as walking on flat ground?

“You climb up. I’ll go and pull the mob. I’ll lure the scale frog lord to the woods over there. Once you see me use the mist dust, start attacking,” Nie Yan said and then headed toward the scale frog lord.

Tang Yao used the Ring of the Climber. His palm seemed to grow a suction cup. When he placed it on the rock wall, it immediately stuck firmly.

“So cool!” Tang Yao quickly climbed up the giant rock. At the top, he looked around. The view was very open.

Nie Yan found the scale frog lord, entered its field of vision, raised his crossbow, and shot three arrows. All of them missed. The level gap was too large; Nie Yan’s attacks were completely ineffective. Unlike Tang Yao, he didn’t have an Arcane Sprite to fight monsters several levels above him.

Although the attacks missed, the scale frog lord still noticed Nie Yan. It let out a “gugu” call and leaped toward Nie Yan like an arrow shot from a bow.

Nie Yan quickly turned to flee, activating Rapid Retreat.

Rapid Retreat was always effective in combat, but this skill tended to reduce the monster’s hate. It was best not to use it when pulling mobs.

But Nie Yan had no choice. The movement speed of a level 30 lord was too fast. If he didn’t go all out, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

The scale frog lord’s first pounce missed. It opened its mouth and spat out a stream of crimson poison toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan shot a strand of spider silk from his left hand, sticking it to a distant tree. With a strong pull, he flew away with a “whoosh.”

The poison from the scale frog lord hit a tree, immediately releasing hissing white smoke.

Nie Yan kept running, and the scale frog lord chased closely behind, continuously spitting poison. Nie Yan could only rely on the trees around him to dodge the poison attacks.

Two minutes later, the scale frog lord was lured by Nie Yan into the designated area.

Suddenly, the scale frog lord leaped high into the air and pounced down toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan rolled aside to dodge the attack. He took out an intermediate flash dust and threw it. With a “bang,” a blinding light exploded, and the scale frog lord let out a piercing scream, rolling around wildly. Nie Yan quickly threw the mist dust. The mist drifted down, enveloping the scale frog lord.

Nie Yan made a hand signal to Tang Yao, who was on top of the rock. “Start now.”

Upon receiving Nie Yan’s signal, Tang Yao began casting spells. First, he cast a Meteor Shower. Fireballs rained down like a storm, hitting the scale frog lord and causing a burst of damage. Then, wave after wave of magical attacks shot forth, exploding with “pom-pom-pom” sounds on the scale frog lord’s body.