Chapter 119: Dungeon run
The drake's body finally stopped moving.
Xingluo remained beside its neck with Heavenfall resting against one shoulder, watching the last traces of red disappear from its scales.
[Dragon Lineage Creature Killed.]
[Dragon Bloodline Purity: Insufficient.]
[External Assistance: High.]
Xingluo stared at the three lines before releasing a tired sigh.
"So that was useless."
Wuxia floated down beside her. "Not completely."
She looked toward him.
"At least the mission reacted. Mu Yaochen was probably right about dragon-blooded creatures being able to qualify."
Xingluo's attention returned to the final line.
"And apparently I need to kill it myself."
"Or close enough that the mission stops complaining about assistance."
Xingluo looked toward the dead drake, then toward the scattered Soul Soldiers still standing across the valley.
"Wonderful."
Wuxia dismissed the remaining ordinary Soul Soldiers while Varkhiel and the others disappeared shortly afterward.
Ruan Mei approached from the opposite side. "What did it say?"
"The bloodline wasn't pure enough, and apparently all the help mattered too much."
Xiaorou sheathed her short sword. "That makes sense. Transition Missions are supposed to test whoever is completing them."
Xingluo gave her a tired look. "You could have kept that thought to yourself."
Ruan Mei brushed some dust from her sleeve. "So the next one needs a stronger dragon bloodline, and you probably need to handle most of it yourself."
"My mission really hates me."
"It met you recently."
Xingluo stared at her.
Ruan Mei finally smiled slightly before turning toward the rocky trail ahead.
"My mission is still easier, so we should finish that first."
She had already reached four qualifying kills during the Dragon Fang Wolf attack earlier. Forty-six more sounded unpleasant, but Drakefang Valley had no shortage of Elite Beasts above Level 100.
Xiaorou checked the route on her academy token.
"We can move deeper along this ridge. There are usually more packs beyond the next forest section."
"Usually?" Xingluo asked.
Xiaorou started walking. "Would you prefer I promise exactly fifty convenient beasts waiting in a line?"
"No."
"Then usually."
They left the drake's body behind and followed the valley deeper between the mountains.
The first group appeared less than half an hour later.
Seven Dragon Fang Wolves moved through the forest below the ridge, with five above Level 100. Ruan Mei looked across them before stepping down from the rocks.
"Leave the larger ones."
Xingluo drew Heavenfall. "You really know how to make hunting sound generous."
The wolves noticed them almost immediately.
Two rushed Xingluo while the others spread through the trees.
She met the first with the flat of Heavenfall and threw it sideways instead of finishing it. The second jumped toward her shoulder, but she turned beneath it and cut across one hind leg.
"Ruan."
Ruan Mei was already moving.
She struck the wounded wolf beneath the jaw, followed it down and finished it before turning toward another coming through the bushes.
Xiaorou intercepted a smaller one and drove it back toward the slope.
"Level ninety-six. This one's mine."
"Very considerate," Ruan Mei answered.
"You complained last time."
"I was correct last time."
The fight ended quickly.
Xingluo and Xiaorou handled the wolves below Level 100 while keeping the stronger ones occupied long enough for Ruan Mei to finish them herself.
They continued moving.
Over the next two hours, Drakefang Valley became considerably less peaceful.
A pair of heavily scaled mountain beasts attacked them near a narrow stream. Later, another Dragon Fang Wolf pack followed them between two ridges before attempting to surround the group from higher ground.
Neither encounter lasted particularly long.
Ruan Mei had become increasingly efficient at finishing targets once Xingluo or Xiaorou created an opening.
During the second wolf pack, Xingluo blocked a Level 121 beast with Heavenfall and turned its charge toward Ruan Mei.
"Incoming."
Ruan Mei stepped aside from its jaws and struck the side of its neck as it passed.
The beast stumbled.
Her second strike dropped it.
Xiaorou looked over while holding another wolf away with her sword.
"You two have done this before."
"Not exactly like this," Xingluo answered.
Ruan Mei moved toward Xiaorou's opponent. "Move."
Xiaorou immediately backed away.
Ruan Mei caught the wolf as it followed and drove it onto the rocky ground.
By midday, the hunt had settled into an easy rhythm.
Xiaorou guided them between the regions where stronger beasts were more common. Xingluo watched the surrounding creatures for anything carrying obvious draconic features, while Ruan Mei continued accumulating qualifying kills.
They stopped briefly near a clear stream running beneath the mountains.
Ruan Mei opened her mission interface while Xingluo drank from a bottle beside her.
"Thirty-one."
Xingluo looked over. "That fast?"
"You're doing half the work."
"And receiving none of the credit."
"Your mission told you to kill a dragon. Mine didn't."
Xingluo looked offended. "There is no need to sound pleased about it."
Xiaorou sat on a nearby rock and opened one of the food packets they had brought.
"I think Senior Ruan has earned the right to enjoy this."
"Whose side are you on?"
"The side whose mission doesn't involve personally fighting a dragon."
Xingluo decided not to continue.
Wuxia floated slightly above the stream, watching the forest beyond them.
Nothing approached during the short break.
They resumed moving once Ruan Mei had recovered.
The terrain grew steeper farther inside Drakefang Valley. Forest still covered much of the lower ground, but exposed stone became more common along the slopes and narrow mountain paths.
They encountered fewer weak creatures as well.
The stronger ones were enough.
A solitary scaled predator nearly caught Xiaorou while descending from a ridge, but she avoided the first strike and cut across its foreleg before Xingluo drove Heavenfall into its side.
The creature stumbled toward Ruan Mei.
She finished it.
Several more encounters followed across the afternoon.
Some involved only one or two beasts. Others forced the group to separate several enemies so Ruan Mei could safely claim the qualifying kills without letting herself become surrounded.
Xingluo stopped aiming for the neck entirely.
She broke legs, struck beasts sideways or drove them toward Ruan Mei instead.
At one point, Xiaorou watched her send a Level 118 Dragon Fang Wolf tumbling down a slope.
"You're becoming very good at not killing things."
Xingluo rested Heavenfall against her shoulder. "I hate this dungeon."
Ruan Mei finished the wolf below them.
"You hated the entrance fee before we entered."
"That was different."
"Of course."
By the time the sunlight overhead had begun shifting toward evening, Ruan Mei checked her mission again.
"Forty-six."
Xiaorou looked ahead. "Four more shouldn't take long."
They found the next group near a rocky clearing between two sections of forest.
Six Elite beasts occupied the area, five of them above Level 100.
Xingluo glanced toward Ruan Mei.
"Enough."
"Assuming you don't accidentally kill them."
"I have shown remarkable restraint all afternoon."
Xiaorou laughed. "That sentence sounded painful."
The beasts noticed them.
The first rushed directly toward Ruan Mei.
She met it halfway.
Its claws tore across the stone as she slipped beside the attack and struck twice against the ribs. The beast turned quickly, forcing her back before Xingluo intercepted its second charge with Heavenfall.
She pushed rather than cut.
The creature staggered.
Ruan Mei stepped in and finished it.
The remaining beasts attacked together.
Xiaorou occupied two near the forest while Xingluo kept another away from Ruan Mei. The fourth qualifying target climbed the rocks and jumped down toward them.
Ruan Mei caught its movement early.
She moved beneath the landing point and drove one fist into its chest as it came down.
The impact threw the beast sideways.
She followed before it recovered and ended the fight with another strike.
"Forty-eight."
Xingluo turned Heavenfall and knocked her opponent toward her.
"Forty-nine."
Ruan Mei almost laughed. "You haven't even checked its level."
"Level 109."
"Fine."
She rushed the beast and finished it against the rocks.
Xiaorou had already weakened one of the two remaining targets.
"Senior Ruan!"
Ruan Mei turned.
Xiaorou stepped aside.
The beast came directly toward her.
Ruan Mei avoided the first claw, struck beneath its shoulder and followed with another blow to the neck.
The creature dropped.
[First Transition Mission Completed.]
Ruan Mei stopped.
Xingluo lowered Heavenfall while Xiaorou quickly finished the last nonqualifying beast nearby.
A faint surge passed through Ruan Mei's body as the restriction that had held her at Level 99 disappeared.
[First Transition Completed.]
[Stored Experience Applied.]
[Current Level: 107.]
Ruan Mei looked down at her hands and flexed her fingers once.
"Level 107."
Xingluo looked at her.
Then she looked at herself.
Still Level 99.
"I suddenly dislike you."
Ruan Mei smiled. "You were the one laughing at my fifty beasts."
"That was before you finished first."
Xiaorou walked over. "Congratulations, Senior Ruan."
"Thanks."
Wuxia looked toward Xingluo and smiled faintly.
She noticed.
Don't.
His smile widened slightly.
They rested for a short time before continuing farther into Drakefang Valley.
Ruan Mei had no intention of leaving while Xingluo's mission remained unfinished, and reaching Level 107 had only made the remaining journey easier.
The forest gradually thinned as they moved deeper.
Long claw marks appeared across several exposed rocks, while fewer ordinary beasts wandered near the trail. Ahead, the mountain path widened toward a distant basin surrounded by steep stone walls.
Xiaorou checked their position.
"We're getting close."
Xingluo looked toward her. "To the boss?"
"The territory starts beyond that pass."
Ruan Mei moved beside Xingluo. "Still want to continue?"
Xingluo tightened her grip around Heavenfall.
After spending the entire day watching someone else complete her Transition Mission, turning around now was not particularly appealing.
"Obviously."
Xiaorou looked toward the mountain pass before putting away her route display.
"Then whatever lives ahead is probably our best chance."
They continued toward the narrowing path between the mountains.
Ruan Mei had already crossed her First Transition and reached Level 107.
Xingluo remained Level 99.
Ahead of them, the boss territory of Drakefang Valley was finally close.