Volume 2, Chapter 7 – The Ambush Begins

At the same time the NPC army was preparing to enter the valley, a few players deliberately slowed their pace.

All of those players had IDs starting with the prefix “Kongjing”.

There was no doubt, they were from the same guild. It was exactly because they belonged to the same guild that their names shared the same prefix.

Although everything was moving quietly behind the scenes, for some reason, Tianyin kept glancing back, intentionally or not, at the players who trailed behind the army. Their behavior was far more casual and disorganized compared to the disciplined NPC soldiers.

“What’s wrong, Master? Why do you keep looking at the players behind us?”

Walking beside her, Mengyao noticed Tianyin’s odd behavior. She leaned closer, whispering softly into her ear.

“Wuu… I just feel… something’s weird…”

The moment Mengyao’s breath brushed against her ear, Tianyin’s small ears turned red. Still, aside from that faint tremor in her voice at the start, she sounded as calm as usual.

“Weird? What do you mean, Master? Are those players secretly staring at you again?”

Mengyao asked. Over the past few days, thanks to Tianyin’s excessive cuteness, and the fact that she was an NPC, many players had been wandering nearby, trying to get close to her.

Some even stood at a distance just to secretly watch her.

Mengyao was well aware of her Master’s overwhelming charm. She always made sure to keep those creeps away, though perhaps she still underestimated just how dangerously cute her Master truly was.

“Well, yeah, sometimes there are people sneaking glances at me… but I’m used to that. That’s not what I meant.”

Tianyin patiently explained.

Mengyao blinked, still confused.

“Eh? Then what’s weird, Master? Everything looks normal to me.”

“Really…?”

Tianyin tilted her head slightly, casting another curious look toward the players behind them. The strange, uneasy feeling she’d had earlier only grew stronger.

Maybe it’s just my imagination… but for some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that something’s about to happen…

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She muttered inwardly, deciding not to voice it aloud.

“Well, never mind. Let’s go. This valley looks pretty long, doesn’t it…”

She said with a faint sigh, stepping forward on her tragically short little legs.

The reason she called them that was because she’d realized that her three steps barely covered the distance of other people’s two.

Just that alone was enough to make her feel a little defeated…

Behind her, one of the players’ eyes flicked in her direction, intentionally or not.

“She specifically warned us not to mess with her… Strange. Why would I need to pay attention to some harmless-looking loli NPC with no combat power?”

That player was none other than the Vice Leader of the Kongjing Guild. Ever since Yunchou’s warning last night, he’d been wondering if Tianyin possessed some hidden strength that could justify such caution.

After casting multiple rounds of the player-exclusive detection skill on her, the Vice Leader finally came to a perfect conclusion regarding Tianyin’s combat capability.

【The Weakest NPC in History!】

Every stat was abysmal. Her HP was about the same as an average player’s… until you noticed the (-80%) debuff tacked on at the end.

“A weakling like that deserves special attention? Looks like Yunchou’s brain must’ve short-circuited from overthinking.”

He didn’t understand why Yunchou had made such a fuss over Tianyin, but as a guild officer, he still knew when not to question orders.

“Well, whatever. As long as I don’t provoke that loli today, everything should be fine. I’ll just do my part.”

Though he found it hard to believe that such a frail NPC could ever pose a threat, he decided it was safer to follow Yunchou’s instructions than not.

And just as he was thinking that, the two lolis he’d been watching, Tianyin and the one beside her, stepped into the valley ahead, just a few paces away.

“Vice Leader, most of them have gone in.”

Another player with the “Kongjing” prefix walked over to report.

By “most of them,” he meant the NPCs, along with a few unaffiliated players. The Vice Leader didn’t bother to acknowledge the latter.

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“Good. Begin the operation. Tell everyone who’s logged out to log back in. The battle starts in five minutes. Make sure this gets reported to the Guild Leader, understood?”

“Understood…”

The player straightened, ready to log off and pass the message, when the Vice Leader spoke again.

“Oh, right. The strategist said, among those NPCs, there’s a silver-haired little girl. Don’t touch her. Don’t attack her. If you see her, leave her alone.”

“Silver-haired little girl?”

There weren’t many NPCs like that, and several players remembered seeing one earlier. After thinking for a second, the messenger realized it must have been Tianyin.

“Got it. I’ll make sure everyone knows. Vice Leader, is there anyone else we should avoid?”

“Anyone else…?”

The Vice Leader frowned. It felt like he was forgetting something. But whatever it was, it couldn’t be important. Probably just as insignificant as that NPC loli.

“No. Besides that silver-haired girl, all other NPCs and stray players are targets.”

“Understood. I’ll go tell them now.”

Watching the player log off, the Vice Leader had an odd, nagging feeling, like he’d forgotten something important.

But… it probably didn’t matter anyway.

……

“Master… I thought this valley would be really dark inside, but aside from the cliffs being steep, it’s not that different from outside~”

Mengyao looked around curiously as they walked deeper into the valley.

“Pfft. Then what did you expect?”

Tianyin laughed, quietly amused by her disciple’s innocent excitement.

“Well, I thought it’d be all gloomy and cramped, you know?”

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“Pfft… That kind of place wouldn’t even exist in this game world…”

“Yeah… I guess I know what a valley’s really like now. But, Master.”

Tianyin tilted her head slightly.

“What is it?”

“Master, if something unexpected happens and I can’t protect you… what will you do? I suddenly feel kind of worried.”

Her concern was genuine. Tianyin’s level was still extremely low, and Mengyao knew exactly what her Master’s combat power looked like.

Even though Mengyao’s own level and hidden class gave her a massive advantage over most players and undead, there were still situations where things could go wrong.

“Wuu… don’t worry about that. I can protect myself!”

For a moment, Tianyin hesitated, wondering whether she should tell her loli disciple about her other form.

But even if she did, would her disciple believe her…?

“Master, you’re only making me more worried when you say that. Either way, you should level up when you get the chance. I know your identity’s special, but you should still be able to gain experience from defeating monsters, right?”

“Wuu… of course I can…”

Tianyin replied.

“But I don’t need you to remind me about leveling up. Don’t worry, Xiaomengyao. Once I raise my level, your Master will be the one protecting you!”

She said proudly, puffing out her small, flat chest.

“Hehe… I’ll be looking forward to seeing Master protect me~”

As the two lolis chatted about leveling and training, the sudden sound of chaos erupted.

On both sides of the valley, groups of identically armed men appeared almost simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, the cliffs were lined with figures.

The moment they appeared, countless large-scale spells and enchanted arrows came raining down toward the NPC army below, as though gold itself were worthless.

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Boom—!

Boom—!

Boom—!

Following the deafening explosions came the shouts of panic and confusion.

“Ambush!”

“It’s an ambush!”

“Hold the line! Hold the line!”

Though taken by surprise, the NPC army’s discipline quickly showed through. After the initial chaos, they regrouped and began forming a defensive formation.

“Oh… you think I’ll let you catch your breath?”

Hidden deeper within the valley, the player with the ID “Kongjing Yunchou” narrowed his eyes at the reorganizing NPCs.

“Use all fifty thousand of the B-rank magic scrolls. Drop every single one of them into their ranks.”

As soon as he gave the order, one of the players beside him nodded and hurried off to execute it.

Meanwhile, Tianyin and Mengyao, caught up in the regrouping of the NPC soldiers, were unintentionally pushed right into the very center of the defensive formation.

That spot, naturally, was where the army’s leaders had gathered: Karl, the Captain of the Holy Hand Knights, Orgum the Beastman Commander, and several other high-ranking officers.

“Wuu… What’s going on? How did we end up here?”

Tianyin blinked in confusion.

In the chaos of the sudden ambush, everything had been thrown into disarray. By the time she came to her senses, she and Mengyao found themselves standing right in the middle of the army’s defenses…