112 The Tieflings’ Hidden Lair
Surrounded by ten Tieflings, Ren only looked at Pii, who wasn’t even aware of the predicament he was in. It was joyfully chirping at Ren to check the statue out like Tieflings were invisible in its eyes.
Maybe Pii also sensed that Ren could defeat the Tieflings easily so it wasn’t worried.
“I will look at it after I take care of this,” Ren muttered under his breath.
There was no option not to engage. It was an ambush, so Ren didn’t have any choice but to fight.
Ren didn’t waste time on using [Probe] since he knew that the low-level Tieflings didn’t have any useful skills or spells. It was a waste of time to use [Probe] on the ten Tieflings.
At this point, they were nothing but a raggedy bunch of thieves, and Ren could defeat them though he would suffer some HP reduction from their attacks since it was one against ten.
The Quest was obviously for a group of players like what Hoggy suggested they did. But soloing it with Ren’s ATP wasn’t a problem.
Ren cast [Multiattack] while simultaneously avoiding the Tieflings’ weapons, striking him with the intent to kill. Some he avoided while most he couldn’t.
The Tieflings were fast, and most of their class were thieves, so they were nimble on their feet, boosted by their race.
However, their damage was minuscule and faced with Ren’s DEF, they only did -5 on his HP with each attack.
Ren was still careful, though, since Thieves could easily deal critical damage if he showed them his back.
Ren stepped away as the enemies lunged in his direction, and with a quick flicked of his staff, four water balls shot towards the remaining Tieflings.
While Ren’s spells were on cooldown, he was busy avoiding the rows of attacks his way. At the same time, he blocked the Tieflings daggers with his staff and dealt damage of his own with a thwack of his rod.
A sharp pop resounded as Ren casted another water balls. The shot wrenched against his foes with a savage crack that sent them sprawling downwards.
While Ren was busy with his fight, hidden behind the ruined block of walls was Lily, who managed to follow him without alerting him or her friends.
Lily really thought that Ren was a goner faced with ten Tieflings alone. She didn’t expect that what Josh joked about was true. That Ren was indeed strong, and he didn’t need a group to kill the Tieflings.
He was a killing machine on his own right.
Lily even momentarily forgot about Pii as she watched Ren fight –– no, more like massacring his enemies while he only suffered minor damages.
His ATP must be high. Lily thought before she shifted her attention to Pii, who was still flying on the statue’s head. It seemed like it wouldn’t go away. Not until Ren would take a look at that particular spot.
Lily carefully crawled towards the statue, being careful not to attract Ren’s attention. Eyes on her prize, Lily nimbly hid from walls to walls until she was but a meter from the statue.
Looking over at the statue, Lily noticed that it was tall. She only reached its waist, and Pii was flying over its head.
“Pii . . . come here . . .” Lily whispered and made whistling sounds to attract Pii. Her two hands extended over, feet raising, standing on her toes, and reaching Little Pii as she could with no success.
In comparison, the little creature ignored Lily and only made chirping sounds, still calling Ren to take a look at what it found.
After ten minutes, Ren defeated all the Tieflings in the area and acquired [KangKong Balls x20]. He drank a [Health Potion] to keep his HP bar to the maximum before he proceeded to look at Pii. He was surprised to find Lily, who was already climbing the statue’s pedestal in order to reach Pii.
Ren sighed into the horizon and went over to the girl.
“What are you doing?” Ren asked with a monotone voice mixed with slight irritation.
Lily was shocked, and she slipped and almost fell to the ground if not for Ren’s timely save of her. Carrying her princess style wasn’t exactly what she had in mind, and it was the first time that she was held that way by a man, no less, and her heart raced – but on a different matter entirely.
Saved by a man whose face shrouded in darkness by his hood wasn’t exactly romantic. It was horrifying.
That was only when Lily thought that right now, she was alone with a stranger that she didn’t know. If she was with her friends, then she had nothing to worry about when facing Ren.
But alone . . . Lily froze at the creeping fear. She was aware that she was beautiful, and it wasn’t the first time that her beauty caused her problems. It was just that she couldn’t think straight if there was something she really wanted. All her focus was getting it without thinking of the consequences.
In comparison, Ren felt Lily turned to stone in his arms, and when he saw the fear crossing her eyes, he immediately let her go, and the girl hugged the ground, butt first. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Ow . . .” Lily groaned before she looked over at Ren with a pout. “Why did you do that?”
“Go back.” Ren ignored her and went to the statue, while Pii tweeted cheerfully when he saw him approached it.
At the sight of Ren snubbing her, Lily’s fear evaporated, replaced by a surging irritation that she didn’t understand and her desire to own Pii surged once more.
“I won’t go back until you give Pii to me.”
Ren didn’t want to deal with the spoiled, demanding girl right now. He checked the statue’s blank eyes. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there was a space around the statue’s pupils, and he pushed it with his finger.
Second later, Ren and Lily felt a palpable rumble vibrating through the floor, followed by the clatter of falling pebbles and sands.
The both of them stared at the center stone floors that revealed a stair leading down to an underground place, while a stream of dust and sands hissed into the ground below.
Ren tilted his head to the side and rummaged through his memory about the place but couldn’t get anything. It must be the Tieflings’ lair based on the sheer numbers of them found in this place.
And Ren remembered what Hoggy said, not to engage the Shaman Tiefling. That Shaman must be inside the lair. Ren thought.
He then rubbed Pii’s head. “Good work Pii. I think you found the Tieflings’ hidden lair.”
Pii!
Pii joyfully curled in Ren’s neck, and they both looked at the stairs leading down.
“Tieflings lair?” Lily questioned, but Ren didn’t mind her.
He treated her as air while he was busy making decisions in his head. He didn’t know what to expect at this point. He was thinking of returning to this place when he had researched the area and the Boss and was better prepared.
However, he couldn’t also get the fact out from his head that there might be more Tieflings underground compared to if he roamed in the desert aimlessly.
Ren quickly made the decision to explore the lair and kill as much Tiefling as he could before things could get ugly. He was not an idiot to actually face the Shaman alone after what the Shaman did to Harris and Salud.
Ren knew that he was no match with the Shaman, if ever, but it wouldn’t stop him from killing the Tieflings in their lair.
Ren knew that the final boss was always found at the end of the lair, so his plan was to eradicate the Tieflings in the path leading to it. He might also take a peek at the Boss if he could, but he wouldn’t engage.
Yosh.
When Ren was about to climb down the set of stairs, he was pulled back by a force coming from the hem of his cloak.
“Stop ignoring me!” This was the first time that Lily had raised her voice, surprising even her. She was usually quiet and calm, but she had enough of Ren treating her like she was invisible.
“You’re still here?” Ren only said before he pulled his cloak and went down the flight of stairs. He didn’t care about the girl. She could come if she’d like, but don’t expect him to help her if she was in trouble.
It wasn’t an issue, too, if the girl said anything about the place to her friends. Ren was even hoping that the others would try the lair first to test the waters before he would even attempt it.
Nothing was scarier than the unknown, after all.
“Wait.” By this time, Lily stomped her foot against the ground before she looked over the sky when Ren continued down without even sparing her a glance. It was still somewhat dark, and the Oasis only left a shadow from where she stood.
She shifted her eyes between the Oasis and Ren before deciding to go after the man. She was more scared of going back alone than staying with a stranger she knew wasn’t interested in her.
Ren might be bold and cold, but it was better than facing the Tieflings alone. Those weird humans with big horns were like devils in her dreams.
However, she didn’t know that she had made a terrible decision until later.
Meanwhile, back in the Oasis, instead of racing to fight the Tieflings and get back the most [KangKong Balls], Josh and the others were running all over the place, searching for Lily, who suddenly disappeared.
They knew that she went after Ren, which put the teenagers in a bad mood. Their protected princess was snatched right under their noses just because of a pet!