TSA Chapter 22

The monsters in this dungeon were all level 25 and above, making them quite rich, and when they fell, they dropped a good amount of copper coins and materials.

This time, without waiting for Ran Qi to come over and collect them, Xiao Bai flapped its small wings and flew over, quickly picking up everything on the ground.

“Xiao Bai’s automatic looting ability is incredible! So fast!” Plume Ink and the others were immediately left in awe.

The little dragon seemed to understand that they were praising it, proudly puffing out its small chest as it flew back.

“Well done,” Ran Qi said with a smile as he reached out to rub the little one’s head. With the little creature’s help, he no longer needed to personally pick up items. This way, aside from Night Owl, no one else would know that he, the esteemed big shot, Bai Ran, was actually the ‘King of Garbage Collecting’!

Of course, Ran Qi believed that he was just being frugal and practical.

“Jiji!” The little dragon rubbed against his hand happily.

Xiao Hei, which had been dozing on Night Owl’s shoulder, lazily lifted its eyelids and turned its head away in disgust.

Ran Qi: “……”

Could it really be true that like the owner, like a pet? Even Xiao Hei, which clearly had an automatic looting ability, looked down on picking up this ‘garbage’?

Setting aside this brief interlude, the group continued deeper into the mine and quickly arrived at the cave of the first boss, the mutated chameleon. They saw a massive three-meter-tall chameleon sprawled on the ground, sound asleep. As soon as they got close, the chameleon boss would immediately launch an attack.

“Be careful when fighting the chameleon. Everyone should spread out and stand in different directions. Don’t stay too close to each other, but also don’t wander too far away,” Night Owl instructed the group before the battle began.

The chameleon’s movement speed was very slow, but it attacked enemies using its tongue. The speed of its tongue strikes was incredibly fast, like lightning. If someone stood too close, they might not even have time to react before being pierced through by its tongue.

The chameleon boss had a high attack power, and if it struck a vital point with a critical hit, it was guaranteed to be fatal. Additionally, it had two AOE skills that were also very troublesome.

When the chameleon’s belly swelled up, it was about to spray venom. It didn’t just spray straight ahead; it would also shake its head and tail while spraying in a circular motion. Once the venom was released into the air, it would linger for a few seconds, creating a considerable area of toxic mist. Anyone caught in the mist would become poisoned as well.

The poison from a boss-level creature was, of course, different from that of regular monsters. Once poisoned, the health would drop at an alarming rate, and an ordinary player would likely die within five seconds.

Ran Qi’s Purification spell was indeed effective in curing poison, but it also had a cooldown period. If two people were poisoned at the same time, Ran Qi could only save one of them.

Therefore, when the chameleon was about to spray poison, everyone, including Gu Le, had to quickly move around to its back and adjust their movements in sync with its head movements to avoid being attacked.

Additionally, it could leap into the air, causing a massive tremor upon landing. Therefore, just before the boss landed, they all had to jump simultaneously; otherwise, they would be stunned on the ground for five seconds. That five seconds would be more than enough time for the boss to wipe them out.

Although the difficulty of the boss in the experience dungeon might be somewhat lower, the crit chance of this chameleon boss was still incredibly high. Caution was key; no one wanted to end up failing in such a simple dungeon. Therefore, they had to be extra careful during the fight. Fortunately, most of them were ranged professions, so as long as they maintained a quick movement to dodge the boss’s attacks, they would be fine. The melee professions, on the other hand, needed to focus on flanking the boss for their attacks.

Lastly, this chameleon had a life-saving ability: it could change its body color to blend seamlessly with its surroundings. In the dimly lit cave, once it altered its color, it appeared to vanish completely. During this camouflage phase, it would quickly regenerate health, and the players needed to quickly locate its position to interrupt its healing; otherwise, all their previous attacks would have been in vain.

“Understood!”

After everyone checked their statuses and confirmed there were no issues, Gu Le stepped forward to initiate the fight.

As Gu Le approached, the chameleon suddenly opened its eyes, its protruding eyes spinning a full 360 degrees before it finally gazed down at them from its elevated position.

“Ahhh! Why are all these bosses so terrifying?” Gu Le cried out in despair while attacking.

The demonized chameleon was indeed quite fearsome. Its yellow-green, bumpy, textured skin, combined with its oversized eyes and tiny pupils, gave a chilling feeling, as if being stared at by a cold-blooded predator. What made it even more unsettling was its ability to rotate its two eyes in different directions, adding to the eerie and dangerous atmosphere. It sent shivers down Gu Le’s spine.

“Haha, with a fear like that, why are you even playing a warrior?” Soul Chaser mocked mercilessly.

“It’s not like I wanted to play this class! The system tricked me…” Gu Le pouted in complaint, but he didn’t stop attacking. Soon, he had firmly secured the boss’ aggro. The chameleon’s tongue lashed out like a spring, but Gu Le was quick with his shield, blocking each strike.

Taking advantage of the situation, the others began their attacks. Under their combined assault, the boss’s health quickly started to drop. When the health bar reached 80%, its stomach began to swell, and its mouth slightly opened, signaling that it was preparing to unleash poison.

“Get behind it!” Night Owl called out sharply.

Everyone except Gu Le immediately ran behind the chameleon. Naturally, Ran Qi was no exception, but due to his class and his low agility stats, he was the slowest of the group. Just as he neared the boss, it suddenly turned its head and sprayed a stream of dark green poison directly toward him.

“Bai Ran!” The group was caught off guard by the boss’s sudden change in attack direction. Getting hit directly by the poison would result in severe poisoning, far worse than just a minor affliction. If Ran Qi was drenched in the venom, he would be heavily poisoned, and likely wouldn’t have time to use his purification skill before dying.

In that split second, Night Owl hurled a fireball directly at the boss’s mouth, disrupting its poisonous attack for a brief moment.

Taking advantage of that one second, Ran Qi quickly cast Purification on himself. This spell not only cleared all negative effects but also granted a 3-second immunity to any further negative statuses.

In the next instant, the boss unleashed its poison, but thanks to the Purification effect, Ran Qi avoided being poisoned.

He used those three seconds to dash through the toxic cloud and safely reach the back of the boss, escaping danger.

“Nice move, Brother Ran! That reaction time was incredible!” Soul Chaser immediately praised him.

Ran Qi only managed a faint, somewhat strained smile. His heart was still racing, and he felt as if his pulse was pounding in his ears.

Despite knowing it was just a game, the immersion of the full-dive mode was so intense and realistic that it felt as if he had just narrowly escaped a real life-and-death situation.

“Are you okay?” Night Owl noticed something was off and asked quietly.

“I’m fine, thanks for the save back there.” Ran Qi was well aware that without Night Owl’s quick fireball, he would’ve been drenched in poison and met a grim end.

“No need to thank me,” Night Owl replied as he pulled Ran Qi along to keep up with the boss’s movements. They dodged as the chameleon sprayed more poison while continuing their attacks.

Soon after, the boss started using its second ultimate move. In a strangely unnatural motion, the chameleon leaped into the air, jumping over two meters high—thankfully, the cave was large enough to accommodate this.

“Jump!” Night Owl shouted in warning.

Everyone quickly jumped to avoid the shockwave caused when the boss landed, which would otherwise have left them stunned on the ground.

When the boss’s health dropped to 40%, it began spewing poison once more. As everyone was busy dodging the toxic mist, its skin darkened, blending seamlessly into the surroundings of the cave.

Once the poison dissipated, the once-visible chameleon had seemingly vanished.

But they knew it was just a visual trick. Without hesitation, they all raised their weapons and launched a coordinated attack toward where the chameleon had disappeared, breaking its regeneration state.

In the end, the boss fell to the ground, defeated, dropping a blue-grade piece of equipment.

Before anyone could even get a clear look at the item, a shadow darted forward like an arrow, and the blue-tier gear vanished.

Everyone: “???”

“Where did it go? Am I seeing things? I swear I saw a blue-grade drop from the boss!” Gu Le exclaimed, wide-eyed.

“Jiji!” Just as everyone was looking around in confusion, the little black dragon perched on Night Owl’s shoulder proudly puffed up its chest, letting out a smug chirp as if to say, “I’m amazing. Praise me!”

“……”

Night Owl glanced at his inventory, noticing a newly acquired [Knight’s Boots], and fell silent.

Normally, loot from a dungeon would go into the team’s shared package, but apparently, items picked up by his Xiao Hei went directly into his personal inventory.

Since the gear was bind-on-pickup, there was no way for him to give it to anyone else.

Not having the heart to scold his pet, Night Owl reached out to pat its head and apologized, “Sorry about that. My little guy grabbed the item, and I didn’t expect it to go straight into my inventory.”

He shared the item info on the party chat: [Knight’s Boots]. “I can actually use these, so I’ll take them and contribute 2 gold to the team as compensation.”

[Knight’s Boots]

Restriction Level: 25 or above

Limited Profession: Mage, Priest

Grade: B

Durability: 200/200

Attributes: Basic Defense +75, Agility +22, Constitution +17

[System] Player Night Owl has contributed 2 gold to the party. You have received 40 silver as your share.

“It’s fine, I’ve already got a set, so even if Xiao Hei hadn’t picked it up, these boots would’ve gone to you anyway,” Ran Qi said with a smile. “Good thing we figured this out early. I’ve adjusted the settings so that any gear above green grade picked up by pets will now go into the team’s shared package.”

It wasn’t a big deal for their fixed team, but if this happened in a larger raid, it could become problematic.