Rebirth of the thief who roamed around the world (BOOK 1)

Chapter 172 - Hellfire Cavern

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」

Several dozen spells battered Broad Blade's group, instantly killing five of them as they were transformed into brilliant rays of light. Two of them had red names, so all of their gear dropped to the ground when they died. Only three survived the barrage of spells with just a sliver of health remaining.

The survivors tried to escape from the area, but several dozen Fighters and Berserkers caught up and surrounded them before they could take a single step.

With the sheer disparity in numbers, Broad Blade's group wasn't able to put up the least bit of resistance.

They were immediately slaughtered.

"Thank you, brothers!" Paladin of the Elegy shouted to the crowd. Without the timely and enthusiastic assistance from his fellow guildmates, his party would've been wiped out by Broad Blade's group.

"Ah, it feels good to finally blow off some steam after being pushed around by those bastards for so long."

"Sooner or later, we'll wipe them all out!"

"There's a report from our brothers stationed at the East. They say they've spotted roughly three to four hundred Victorious Return players heading towards us!"

All of the Asskicker United members' faces turned ashen. They hadn't even been here for five minutes, yet Victorious Return somehow already deployed forces to their location. The response was just a little too fast to be a coincidence.

"We definitely have moles in our guild; there's no way they could've reacted so quickly!"

"So what! Let's take them on!"

"No, we'll suffer heavy losses if we try to clash with them. Let's just go back." Paladin of the Elegy shook his head. Even after that frantic battle, he still managed to remain level-headed. Guo Huai had repeatedly warned them that now was not the right time to start a full-scale conflict with Victorious Return.

"Pick up all the equipment they dropped! We're withdrawing!" shouted an influential Warrior among the crowd.

Everyone took out a Return Scroll, and after twenty seconds, the crowd disappeared in a symphony of flashing lights.

Several minutes later, a large group of Victorious Return players arrived at the area. They were led by Underworld Flame.

"The bastards ran away!" Underworld Flame cursed in frustration. "These runts have been reacting too quickly lately. I can't rule out the possibility that we've been infiltrated by them..."

"Boss, what are we gonna do now?"

"What are we gonna do...? What do you think we can do!? We're going back!"

Just because a battle didn't break out this time didn't mean that everything would calm down. With so much friction between them, it was obvious to everyone that both sides hated each other. Asskickers United was constantly suppressed in the conflict and suffered far more than Victorious Return did. There were only a few skirmishes where they got off lightly. Despite all of this, Asskickers United endured patiently. They were slowly raising their strength, waiting for the day when they would finally have the power to fight back.

...

In a vibrant forest-a beautiful paradise lush with green where various wildflowers bloomed abundantly, giant Golden Beetles carrying pitchforks whizzed about. The sunlight reflected brilliantly off their glossy carapaces. They flew around the forest, occasionally landing to rest on the ashen-coloured bark of the trees.