CHAPTER 93: CHAPTER 93: WINDCHASER, PLEASE HELP ME

Serena looked at the message Lucas sent and thought to herself: "Is Lucas thinking too highly of that [Windchaser]?"

She had seen [Windchaser] fight players from the [Coffin Guild] in Safe Zone 9527 before, but she knew from personal experience how hard these monsters are to deal with.

Even if [Windchaser] really showed up, he probably wouldn’t be able to handle the monsters here.

The highest-level player in Winter Guild was already level 13. He was strong and even had three blue pieces on him. But even so, he couldn’t last even one minute in front of this pack of [Ice Spiders]!

Thinking of that, she lowered her head and glanced at the nearest corpse.

It was that guild expert. His luck was awful—he had three blue items, and with one death he dropped two right away.

Just now, he had been spamming her with private messages, crying and begging. Blue-quality gear was still rare. A single piece could sell for tens of thousands, and the key thing was that hardly anyone wanted to sell. Even if they couldn’t use it, they preferred to trade with others.

Serena herself only had three Blue-quality items in total. She looked at the two pieces on the ground and struggled inside.

Should she risk it—jump down, grab them fast, stuff them into her [Inventory], and then just wait to die?

She wasn’t short on money, but in a hopeless situation like this, cutting the loss even a little was a good thing.

But after hesitating for a while, she still couldn’t accept the image of her corpse being gnawed by this swarm of [Ice Spiders].

Even if she had to die, she wanted a death that wasn’t so miserable, not so ugly.

She raised the [Suicide Pill] to her lips again, just wanting to end it early so she wouldn’t have to stay here.

Right then, a few unusually sharp screeches came from far away.

The sounds startled Serena. Her hand jerked, and the pill slipped out

She watched helplessly as her only [Suicide Pill] fell farther away and hit the ground.

Serena was on the verge of tears. She took a few deep breaths and forced herself to look toward the sound.

Soon she remembered: it was the [Ice Spider]’s signal to call its allies.

Someone must have entered this area!

That meant she had a chance to survive, and wouldn’t have to waste time traveling back.

The despair on Serena’s face eased a little. Her hands came together on their own. She closed her eyes and prayed in silence: please let it be another big guild, or a team of skilled players.

Only then would she have a chance to stay alive.

...

Ethan stood behind an ice pillar, frowning, and looked ahead.

He had just taken down a few more [Ice Spiders]. Normally, he could kill them fast enough so they wouldn’t have time to screech.

But here, the [Ice Spiders] didn’t try to fight when they first met him. Like sentries, they started screeching right away.

Ethan felt it was strange. These [Ice Spiders] seemed to have a clear job: to sound a warning.

That meant there had to be an [Ice Spider] boss deeper inside.

Ethan figured it out fast. He could catch key details and draw the right conclusions.

The best plan now was to keep moving around the outer edge and pick off the scattered [Ice Spiders].

Once he reached level 20, Ethan could equip those Purple-quality weapons and gear.

Then he would go deeper into the Ice Pillar Zone to look for the [Ice Spider] boss.

Back on B3 of Frostspire Tower, and in the underground cave in Frost Valley, the boss there and the thief leader Sinclair were completely different from the normal monsters on the map.

Ethan now worried that if the boss here was the same kind of creature as an [Ice Spider], then even if he killed it, it wouldn’t drop high-quality Intel rewards.

He tightened his grip on the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife], looked toward the noises in the distance, thought for a moment, and decided to stick to the plan: reach level 20 first.

Thirty minutes later, at the outer edge of the Ice Pillar Zone, Ethan, now level 19, was resting in a corner and catching his breath.

He had just killed a lot more [Ice Spiders], maybe twenty or thirty.

Since entering the Ice Pillar Zone, Ethan had already killed more than forty [Ice Spiders] by himself. He could clearly feel there weren’t many left.

After he finished resting and was about to lure a few more [Ice Spiders] to the outer area and kill them, he noticed something.

That was, whenever an [Ice Spider] sent a warning and tried to chase him, an even more piercing cry would ring out from the deepest part of the Ice Pillar Zone.

Then those [Ice Spiders] would drop everything and run back toward the depths.

It seemed the [Ice Spider] boss had noticed that [Ice Spiders] kept disappearing and sensed danger, so it was calling them back.

Since there were no [Ice Spiders] left to kill on the outside, he might as well go in.

Ethan kept walking deeper into the Ice Pillar Zone.

Along the way, he didn’t see a single [Ice Spider].

He only stopped when he reached the depths of the Ice Pillar Zone and looked ahead.

Not far away, a giant [Ice Spider] five or six meters tall, surrounded by other [Ice Spiders], was staring straight at him.

This had to be the [Ice Spider] boss!

Seeing the boss, Ethan felt a bit disappointed, because from the outside it was clearly the same kind of creature as a normal [Ice Spider].

It was just bigger and stronger.

So there was no way to trigger the [Ten-Thousandfold Intelligence Reward], it wouldn’t drop any new high-quality Intel rewards.

Ethan sighed. He was about to try luring some regular [Ice Spiders] over when he noticed something strange.

Behind the giant [Ice Spider] boss was an ice pillar, and it looked like someone was hiding on it.

Ethan blinked, thinking he saw it wrong.

Only when the figure on the pillar moved and waved at him did Ethan realize he hadn’t imagined it—there really was someone there!

He carefully moved forward a bit, and when the [Ice Spiders] still didn’t come at him, he looked at the figure again, more closely.

This time, he finally saw the person’s face clearly.

Ethan instantly felt they looked familiar, like he had seen them somewhere before.

Right then, Ethan’s wristwatch started buzzing like crazy. He opened it and saw the Winter Guild’s Guild Leader, [EarlyToBed], spamming him with messages.

[EarlyToBed]: [Windchaser? Are you near the Ice City gathering point?]

[EarlyToBed]: [I ran into trouble. I’m stuck in the Ice Pillar Zone near the Ice City gathering point.]

[EarlyToBed]: [I saw a player here who looks a lot like you. Is that you?]

[EarlyToBed]: [Why aren’t you replying?]

[EarlyToBed]: [It’s you! It has to be you! I saw him lift his hand—you must be checking your messages.]

[EarlyToBed]: [Please, I’m begging you. Reply and save me. If this keeps up, I’m really going to die.]

...

Ethan glanced at [EarlyToBed] in the distance, then typed a reply.

[Windchaser]: [No, not me. You’ve got the wrong person.]

[EarlyToBed]: [???]

Ethan slowly turned as if to leave.

Seeing the person she pinned her hopes on about to walk away, Serena went wild, hammering out more messages.

[EarlyToBed]: [No! Don’t go!]

[EarlyToBed]: [Bro—Windchaser, bro, please help me, okay?]

[EarlyToBed]: [I’m begging you. I’ll pay you. I’ll give you Blue-quality gear! Also, there are lots of items on the ground here from players who died. If you help me, all of them are yours!]

[EarlyToBed]: [I’m really begging you!]

[EarlyToBed]: [If I die, it’ll take me a day or two to get back here.]

Feeling the watch buzz, Ethan stopped and looked at the messages.

A day or two to get here?

Ethan was confused. Normally, after players finish their class change, they can leave from the station in the safe zone.

Could it be that [EarlyToBed] hasn’t completed her class change?

Then why did she come to a place like this?

He remembered what [EarlyToBed] said about there being lots of gear dropped by dead players around her. He realized she must have something she had to do there.

Ethan needed to kill the [Ice Spiders] here anyway to reach level 20.

Whether he wanted to save [EarlyToBed] or not, once he finished off the [Ice Spiders], she would have a chance to get out.

So he should use this chance to get more benefits for himself.

That moment when he turned to leave earlier was on purpose, done for [EarlyToBed] to see. He wanted to make her panic and beg him to stay.

His goal was reached. Now it was time to negotiate.

He thought for a moment and sent [EarlyToBed] a message.