My Players Are So Fierce

Chapter 313:

Following Hog’s distribution of task rewards to the administrative players, the gnolls’ signature dirt wolf mounts finally fell into the players’ hands.

The veteran players had all learned professional horsemanship from the witch hunters at the Adventurer’s Guild, so riding dirt wolves wasn’t difficult. However, these mounts were quite different from warhorses, giving players who were used to horses a very novel experience.

That ultra-low viewpoint “driving feeling” was like suddenly switching from normal vehicles to driving a sports car, it was all about excitement and cool factor.

“You know, riding this thing actually feels better than a warhorse. Their sprint speed is especially fast, and they’re much more agile than warhorses in forest terrain, though their stamina is a bit lower.”

Scholar Xiao Zhou, who had taken his dirt wolf for a spin in the forest, was very satisfied with his new mount. He proudly pulled the reins while walking around the ruins, sharing his riding experience with others.

Unfortunately, the group of new players watching nearby weren’t buying it.

“This mount is so ugly! With my legs, I can’t even stretch out properly when sitting on it. Tch, I wouldn’t take it even if it was free.”

Shrimp Catcher, a tall athletic freshman who was Niuniu’s good friend and the last member of their four-person dorm, harshly criticized.

Leading Pigeon, who was close with Shrimp Catcher, heard this guy’s sour grapes and immediately grinned:

“That’s right, that’s right, go eat your lemons! Give it away? Haven’t you new players seen the Blood Claw Clan reputation rewards? Normally, to buy a dirt wolf you need to complete 70 bounties. Even if each bounty only requires one skeleton skull, that means you’d have to hunt 70 skeleton soldiers for the gnolls to get one.

For us veteran players, it’s basically free. How can that be the same?”

Half Off With Full Coverage snorted, proudly handing the reins to his silly son Vomit Sauce beside him, treating it as this year’s birthday gift from the big dad to his silly son.

Dump Truck Iaido was digging through his pockets to gather equipment for his big nephew while commenting:

“Sure the mount is ugly, but it’s rare! Only players who triggered Hog’s hidden quest that night can get it. While demon hunting steeds might look magnificent, anyone can get them once they reach respected status at the Adventurer’s Guild, what’s interesting about such a common thing?

What matters is having rare and distinctive mounts!

Though it’s ugly, being able to be distinctively ugly is also not easy. Hey kid, be careful, you need to specifically learn riding skills, watch out or you’ll fall off.”

The shovel brother quickly stopped his old friend’s silly son who was about to mount the dirt wolf with reins in hand. This was different from driving, without professional training, galloping on horseback… uh, wolf-back could easily lead to accidents.

“Oh, I’ll go learn it right away, just going to sign a mercenary contract at the gnoll watchtower first.”

Vomit Sauce said to his dad:

“So this is the starter zone for our batch of players, right?”

“More or less.”

Half Off With Full Coverage glanced hesitantly toward the forest direction and said:

“Right now we just can’t handle those skeleton soldiers’ strength. No, I’m not comfortable just letting you silly kid go out like this. I’ll take you over first to get a feel for the situation.”

“I’ll come too!”

Niuniu shouldered his warlord bone shield and said to Half Off With Full Coverage:

“I also want to go see where we fought before. Those dead veterans are all related to us. If possible, I want to personally send them to rest, and investigate how this skeleton army appeared in the first place.

I feel something’s off about this whole thing. Even for undead creatures, they shouldn’t have spread to this extent in such a short time.”

The four athletes quickly set off toward the deep forest, while Feel You Poor also received his scruffy dirt wolf on the other side. However, his proud manticore Stinky Treasure absolutely wouldn’t let this “inferior beast” get near him.

Without even needing to howl, just one glare scared the dirt wolf into whimpering.

No matter how hard Feel You Poor pulled and dragged, he couldn’t get the dirt wolf to stand up from its trembling crouch.

This troubled the rich brother so much he scratched his head on the spot, not knowing how to deal with his quest reward. He couldn’t just release this dirt wolf into the wild, right? His troubles were quickly noticed by a new player called “One Pink Pear”, who came over and said to the rich brother:

“Brother, you already have such a cool manticore, and you can’t ride two mounts anyway, right? So, are you selling this new mount?”

“Huh?”

The rich brother turned to look at the new player rubbing his hands beside him and said:

“You want to take it over? Sure, here you go.”

With that, he tossed the reins to One Pink Pear, so decisively that it startled Pink Pear, who clutched the reins in his hands and exclaimed:

“Wait! Just giving it away like that? I was planning to ‘pay in installments’ to buy my first mount from you. Brother, I’m a new player, I don’t have money!”

“What money? Don’t insult me with money.”

The rich brother waved his hand quite unconcernedly while going to comfort his precious manticore, saying:

“Meeting by chance is fate. Just help each other out in the future. But your ID is really weird, why call yourself Pink Pear? Feels so feminine.

So, do you have some strange preferences?”

“Uh”

Pink Pear’s expression was quite awkward as he scratched his head and said:

“I originally wanted to be called ‘One Fenrir’, but I was too excited when passing the test assessment and typed the name wrong. Since this damn game doesn’t let you change IDs, I’m stuck with it.”

“Hahahaha”

Hearing about this unfortunate incident, the rich brother immediately covered his stomach and burst out laughing unmercifully.

Pink Pear shrugged helplessly but soon mounted the dirt wolf and started riding around. His skillful control made it clear his real-life profession was definitely not simple, which immediately caught the rich brother’s interest.

He went over and asked:

“What do you do in real life? Born with a ‘riding’ talent? Why are you so skilled?”

“Oh, I’m a driver.”

Pink Pear, remembering the rich brother’s “kindness”, answered quite frankly:

“Grew up on the grasslands, rode horses and can drive all kinds of vehicles, though riding wolves is indeed my first time. But these creatures have been well-trained by the gnolls so it’s not a big problem.”

“Oh? You’re a professional driver?”

The rich brother’s eyes immediately lit up and he asked:

“What license? Class A?”

“Hey, now you’re looking down on me!”

Pink Pear proudly patted his chest and said:

“Would a mere Class A license qualify for the test? I have a special license! Ever seen those big vehicles that transport wind turbine blades and transformers?

That’s what I drive.”

“Holy crap! Awesome!”

The rich brother immediately gave a thumbs up and shook his head, then lowered his voice and said:

“To be honest, I’m actually looking for a driver right now… Want to come work for me? Let’s sign a contract, definitely pays better than what you’re making now, think about it?”

“Huh?”

The rich brother’s proposal confused Pink Pear, who said with a strange look:

“Let’s not even get into whether you can drive yourself, just based on your current lifestyle, playing games 10+ hours a day, do you even have time to go out?

What do you need a driver for?

And what kind of car do you have that needs a professional driver like me? Couldn’t you just find someone on a job site?”

“Ah, there’s a long sad story behind this.”

The rich brother waved his hand quite wearily and said:

“For drivers, you really need someone reliable. I’ve been in a bad mood lately and plan to get myself an RV to travel around the country.

That way I can still play games without interruption. So just tell me, are you in or not?”

“Oh, an RV huh, not bad.”

Pink Pear said: “Want me to recommend you an economical model?”

“Hm?”

The rich brother looked at the veteran driver before him with a strange expression, hesitated for a moment, and said:

“I’ve already ordered an ‘Earth Wanderer’, should arrive in about half a month”

“Holy shit! You mean that super RV that costs 1.7 million dollars just for the base model? Awesome!”

As a “professional”, Pink Pear immediately knelt before the rich brother upon hearing this name, saying:

“No wonder everyone on the forum calls you Rich Brother, I thought it was just an exaggeration. Turns out I was too narrow-minded.”

“So are you in or not?”

Rich Brother asked, and Pink Pear hesitated before saying:

“How about we meet in person first? No offense, Rich Brother, but you’re being too trusting, we just met and you’re willing to hire me as your driver to take you around the country?

Aren’t you worried something might happen?”

“Not at all!”

The rich brother said quite nonchalantly:

“Bad people can’t get into this game. I trust the ‘professional screening’ ability of the test group led by Boss Alpha. Everyone who can play together must be of lawful alignment.

I was just complaining to my friend yesterday, this isn’t just playing a game, it’s clearly a ‘talent pool’.

Here’s the deal, fly over to my place tonight, I’ll cover the airfare.”

“Don’t rush, I need to discuss it with my wife and kids first.”

Pink Pear also made up his mind, which made the rich brother curious enough to ask:

“You’re not going to ask about the compensation? Not worried I might scam you?”

This question made Pink Pear roll his eyes as he skillfully pulled the dirt wolf’s reins, replying:

“Heh, someone who casually spends such a huge sum just to clear their mind probably won’t haggle too much over a driver’s salary. Just the vehicle alone is 1.7 million, paying me 3,000 a month wouldn’t match that car’s class.

Right?”

“Hmm, good point.”

——

“Bang”

A low gunshot echoed through the forest as Little Ashina gracefully pulled the bolt to load a combustion gold round into her Iron Warden’s chamber. She folded her wings and slowly landed, facing several shattered skeletons of defeated skeleton warriors.

Using precious gold rounds on such basic monsters was completely unprofitable, but Rich Sister had money and enjoyed the killing efficiency.

Behind her were Lumina, carrying a seven-stringed zither and holding a hunting rifle while wearing clan guard wing blades at her waist, and Orchid wielding a ghoul series sword and shield.

They hadn’t gone to sign mercenary contracts at the gnoll watchtower. As elite players who helped establish Hog and the Blood Claw Clan, they clearly enjoyed special privileges.

When the little players were gathering earlier, these three girls had gone to meet with Hog and received a 【Track Evil Spirits】 quest from it.

“Hog said its kobold geomancer confirmed these skeletons’ appearance was unnatural, but it lacks the manpower to explore deeper into the forest. That kobold called ‘Goldtooth’ insisted the core area of this skeleton army is in the direction of the Foul Swamp.

But we’ve come all this way and still haven’t found the skeleton army’s headquarters.”

Orchid frowned as she crouched down to examine the skeleton warriors shattered by Little Ashina, saying:

“These things aren’t very strong, nowhere near as dangerous as the sewer ghouls. They’re indeed good for new players to practice on, but the problem is there are too many of them.

Lumina, you’re a veteran player who participated in the forest interception battle during the prologue, were there any undead when you came here before?”

“No, I can confirm that.”

Lumina shook her head and said:

“Lord Murphy had been complaining that the Transia region had no death spirit energy convergence points, which means this damn place was never a gathering spot for undead creatures. The sewer ghouls were being controlled by someone behind the scenes. Following that logic, I strongly suspect the skeleton army in Smuggler’s Woods might not be naturally occurring either.

But the question is, who created these things?”

“These bones are all decayed!”

Little Ashina crushed a femur at her feet with a bang and said to her two companions:

“They must have died long ago before being raised as skeletons. But Smuggler’s Woods used to be Transia’s most prosperous trade route – there shouldn’t have been so many dead people here logically… Hey!

What’s this thing?”

Sharp-eyed as she was, she quickly spotted something shiny among the shattered bones she had broken. She used the spirit hand cantrip to grab the object and wiped it clean, discovering it was a military badge.

The surface was mostly corroded and even had a greenish patina, clearly an ancient artifact.

She activated item identification and the information tag quickly popped up:

Name: Boris Vanguard Badge

Quality: Poor – Decayed

Item Description:

【The name of the Boris Vanguard has long vanished from history, as that was a story from over 500 years ago, when this army fought in Transia before the Kingdom of Nordtov was even established.】

“500 years?”

Little Ashina’s eyes widened as she looked toward Orchid beside her, who rubbed her brow and said:

“That coincides exactly with when the First Black Plague broke out. According to the history books I’ve read, the final battlefield of that plague was in Transia, which means these awakened skeletons are all soldiers from 500 years ago.

Hmm, this seems to explain why there are so many skeletons in Smuggler’s Woods.

Clearly, something or some force has brought these dead back from history to the present. If warriors dead for 500 years can be revived, then the scale of this undead disaster will definitely exceed our imagination.

Brother Bulldozer’s guess was right!

The dev team creating the Blood Claw Clan reputation system was indeed to set up a hidden storyline”

“Sister Lumina! Help quickly!”

Just as Orchid was getting a bad feeling, a plea for help from the student party rang out in Lumina’s private chat as Cheche urgently called:

“The skeleton army’s headquarters is right where we fought before! We’re being surrounded by a group of Black Iron rank skeleton soldiers, those Golden Flower soldiers who were killed by the Young Lady’s vampires before, plus skeleton spirit mages who can cast spells and skeleton knights!

Quick!

Come help, we can barely hold on!”

“Let’s go!”

Lumina didn’t hesitate.

After receiving the distress call, she immediately turned around, mounted her newly acquired dirt wolf mount and rushed toward where the student party was under attack.

Not just them.

Rich Brother was currently flying through the forest riding his manticore, with Black Iron rank players dashing through the woods below him.

They had all received the student party’s call for help and knew a battle was happening ahead.

Murphy also received the message.

The vampire lord’s blood spirit vulture immediately noticed the conflict in the depths of Smuggler’s Woods. The distance was too far for Murphy to join immediately, but after pondering for a moment, he got up and knocked on the neighboring Blood Vulture Grand Duchess’s door.

“Come in!”

Tris’s voice rang out from the room. Murphy opened the door to find Tris had already fastened her cloak and gripped her scepter, clearly prepared to depart.

“We need to go there and take a look.”

Tris pointed at the computation bead floating beside her and said seriously:

“The clues discovered by your warriors are worth pondering. First the Plague Rat King, now the skeleton army, same death spirit energy users, same large-scale undead summoning.

If I’m not mistaken, this should be the work of the same group.

I still don’t know what they’re trying to do, but I guess Smuggler’s Woods should be a good starting point for investigation.”