After leaving the team, the adventurer ladies regretted it deeply

"No... I never said that from the start, did I?"

Aiko thought anxiously, fearing that nothing short of a thorough beating from Phoenix Tail Flower Team would wake Lia up.

But to have Lia's mentality completely shattered by such a beating, Aiko felt this was too cruel for the little dwarf. Previously protected in the palm of Lin Da's hand, now she'd be hammered by him. Not everyone could accept such a drastic change.

Especially since Lia herself had low tolerance, constantly having her defenses broken.

Objectively speaking, Lia had a higher level and stronger combat abilities than Lin Da, but Aiko believed that once Lin Da reached level 20, the victor would be Lin Da.

The reason was very simple.

Lia's attack pattern was monotonous, while Lin Da, as Snow Goose's original commander, knew every team member's combat style clearly.

Fearing that Lia's privacy was thoroughly exposed by Lin Da, plus... with Lin Da offering his head for Lia to chop, would Lia bring herself to strike?

Before Aiko's eyes, an image of Lia being awkwardly stuck surfaced.

"Captain, all the materials have been gathered."

Oru grinned, wiping the blood of Magical Creatures off his hands, and neatly placed the two claws, carapace, Demon Core, and so on, in front of Lia.

"That's not bad," Lia nodded, slightly satisfied.

Thump, thump, thump...

Suddenly, the sound of heavy objects stomping on the ground came from afar.

In everyone's spiritual perception, they could sense three strong presences of Magical Creatures.

Aiko's face changed, "Black Shell Crab General, three of them?"

Lia fell silent too.

The team members looked at each other, and came to a unanimous conclusion: they were outmatched.

Snow Goose only had two front-liners. They couldn't withstand the attacks of three Black Shell Crab Generals.

Aiko glanced at Lia, who was torn between fighting and retreating, and solemnly reminded her,

"Three level 20 leader Magical Creatures. Even if Snow Goose could win, the loss would be severe. It's better to seek collaboration with another adventure team. There are sounds of battle to our east, probably a rock-level squad.

"With their addition, our numbers will exceed ten, and we'll have at least three front-liners. Handling three Black Shell Crab Generals then wouldn't be too difficult."

Calm and reasoned analysis.

Several members nodded inwardly, feeling Aiko more fitting as the team's leader.

Lia, given a way out, relaxed her expression, "It's not that Snow Goose is scared, cooperation is just better. Let's take down those three Magical Creatures together."

Aiko, looking at Lia's stubborn demeanor, felt both irritated and helpless.

There are no outsiders here, why are you still putting on a tough front?

That mouth looks quite soft; why does it always talk nonsense?

"Let's go, if we don't hurry, we'll be caught up."

Aiko secretly rolled her eyes and added a level 20 Demon Core to her Magic Wheelchair. The power surged, and she rushed to the east, leading the way.

...

Clang!

A Murderous Crab sneak-attacked Lin Da from behind, its large claws striking the Emerald Light Shield.

The shield didn't break, but the Murderous Crab was shaken back repeatedly, swinging its claws as if it had burned its hands.

"You got a problem?"

Lin Da turned around and cleaved the Murderous Crab in half with his sword.

[Defeated a level 15 Murderous Crab, gained 300 Mystical Points!]

"Lin Da, this isn't good,"

Kafni suddenly came over, holding two stolen claws and stuffing them into Lin Da's Space Ring while her eyes fixed westward, "There's the presence of a level 20 Magical Creature."

"Just defeat it,"

Lin Da said nonchalantly, having been looking for leader-level Magical Creatures.

After killing the one from Giant Rhino Adventure Team, and taking their 100,000 Gold Coins, it seemed there were no more leader-level Magical Creatures in this area.

Phoenix Tail Flower Team planned to clear some minor monsters and then go help elsewhere.

Now, a monster had come to deliver itself to its death, Lin Da happily accepted.

"Uh, actually, there are three..." Kafni said awkwardly.

Lin Da fell silent.

He had high health and didn't fear being hit, but his teammates did.

"Let's find another adventure team and collaborate."

As Lin Da thought this, he suddenly saw, in the distance, a group of crabs flung into the air as if struck by an Earth-Traversing Dragon charging headlong.

Under the fiery red glow of Battle Qi, the Murderous Crabs were smashed into chaotic flight, accompanied by a familiar voice:

"Ora ora ora ora!"

Was it her?

Lin Da hesitated a moment and, using his height, looked ahead.

Charging in the forefront was a short-haired girl swishing her Greatsword about, wearing a white eyepatch.

When they were less than twenty meters apart, she noticed him.

A look of surprise clearly appeared on the pretty, petite face of the girl.

It was all probably too unexpected that, on this vast battlefield, just by searching for a nearby adventure team to collaborate with, they'd run into Lin Da's squad.

Lia, with a stern face, suddenly changed her mind and turned back.

She planned to rely on her own strength, Snow Goose, to fight off the three Black Shell Crab Generals.

A bit further away, roughly forty meters behind Snow Goose, were three enormous creatures.

They held their claws, stained with the blood of adventurers, aloft, their eyes containing a trace of human-like mockery.

Like hunters chasing their prey, they slowly exhausted the adventurers' strength.

Aiko saw Lia rashly rushing toward the magical creatures and, her forehead vein popping, reached out a hand and, like catching a rabbit, yanked Lia back.

The force of her pull left Oru, the Hammer Warrior, dumbfounded!

Lia was a bit stunned, sitting in Aiko's lap in the Magic Wheelchair, twisting her head and unwillingly ending up in front of the Phoenix Tail Flower Team.

"Lin Da, are you guys okay?" Aiko pushed Lia off, tossing her aside like large-scale trash, and asked with worried expression.

"We're fine, we've already taken down the second Black Shell Crab General."

Lin Da grasped the Azure Sword, focusing intently on the magical creatures that were about to attack.

With a simple sentence, he threw out several pieces of information, quickly answering Aiko's questions.

First, the Phoenix Tail Flower Team had the qualifications to collaborate with Snow Goose; their combat strength was sufficient to take down a Black Shell Crab General.

Second, there's no need to worry about this side, focus all attention on dealing with the magical creatures!

Upon hearing this, a strange light flashed in Aiko's eyes.

"It's all because of that sword of yours," she said.

Lia, holding a grudge, stared at the gray sword in Lin Da's hand, disguised by Illusion Iron.

She was trying to tell the member of Snow Goose's team that although the Phoenix Tail Flower Team had killed many Black Crabs, it wasn't because they were formidable.

If Lin Da gave her the Azure Sword, she'd have already killed three Leader Level creatures.

That evening's profit distribution, Lia only got a level 20 Biting Shark Ring, the best Azure Sword was snatched by Lin Da.

"Cut the chatter, you don't want to get into trouble, do you?"

Lin Da speechlessly reached out to knock on Lia's head, but she dodged away vigilantly.

Lia aimed her fiery red Greatsword at him: "What are you trying to do!" Find exclusive stories on empire

"Right, we're 'enemies' after all."

Lin Da felt somewhat headache and pointed toward the approaching creatures, "Fighting against Phoenix Tail Flower, both sides suffer losses, everyone gets eaten by the magical creatures. How about we cooperate for now and take down these three magical creatures?"

"As a team leader, you should know how to choose, right?"