Chapter 23 Dream Tapir

From its appearance, the island looked no different from a typical deserted isle, a towering mountain at the center surrounded by lush forests. What was strange was that not a single bird call or insect chirp could be heard within the woods, as if they had fallen into some eerie silence, and only the rustling sound of the sea breeze passing through the leaves added a mysterious ambiance under the cover of night.

"All hands, pay attention, I am about to go over the rules of the instance," Aske clapped his hands, drawing everyone's focus.

"Instance?" the studious Nora raised her hand, "What do you mean by 'instance'?"

"First, we should clarify a concept," Aske decided to educate everyone on some "player common knowledge" for smoother command in the upcoming tasks, "During our mission, we might explore certain dangerous areas. Therefore, we need to stay alert at all times and stick to the team combat regulation. We call these dangerous areas 'instances.' The act of entering an instance is known as 'going into an instance.'"

Bizarre terminology... People exchanged looks and silently made a note of it in their minds.

"Going into an instance means we need to be aware of the difference between minions and BOSSes," Aske continued to familiarize everyone with professional jargon, "Minions are the weaker enemies. BOSSes are the strong enemies. An instance usually consists of several BOSSes and lots of minions. The standard for battling minions is to be efficient and aim for no damage, whereas the key to fighting BOSSes is self-preservation. Of course, the most important thing is to follow orders and obey commands, understood?"

"Understood," the group responded in a scattered chorus.

"Medea," Aske snapped his fingers, "open the team communication channel."

"Communication channel?" Medea was perplexed.

"Establish a mind link with me and the others," Aske instructed.

Medea pouted but set up a mind link with everyone. Suddenly, a babble of voices began communicating online:

"Is this mind communication?" Nora's voice echoed in everyone's minds, "Really! I just thought of something, and the sound just came out in my mind!"

"Let me try too!" Eleanor joined in the mind communication, "Hello, Nora, how are you?"

"I'm fine!" Nora replied.

"Ahhhhhhhhh," Peggy started spamming the chat.

"Quiet down!" Medea exclaimed angrily, "Frequent communication puts a heavy strain on my spirituality!"

"Everyone keep it down, private chats are prohibited in the team communication channel," Aske commanded, "If anyone disobeys, Medea, you ban them... that is, cut off their link."

The channel fell silent immediately.

"Let's leave it at that," Aske said, "Eleanor, lead with the shield upfront. Peggy to the left, I'm on the right, Medea and Nora are in the middle. As soon as we encounter an enemy, Medea will cast a group mind suggestion to make them direct their attacks toward Eleanor. Eleanor, don't focus on counterattacking, just concentrate on blocking with the shield."

"Peggy, flank from the left and take out the enemies, prioritize those without armor or with light armor, leave the heavy armor to me. Nora, pay attention to the battlefield and focus on looking after Eleanor, heal on time. Did everyone get that?"

"No," they all shook their heads in unison.

"Let me repeat it then..." Aske was caught between laughter and tears. These were all simple instance-fighting knowledge that any player would know without having to be told, but regretfully all the girls in the team were novices. After repeating it twice more, everyone seemed to finally understand.

Eleanor had the best defensive equipment in the team, so she was tasked with leading and attracting attacks. To ensure that attacks didn't hit the others by mistake, Medea's continuous mind suggestions (also known as directing hate) were necessary.

Without the worry of being attacked, Aske and Peggy could concentrate on dealing damage, one dealing with light armor, and the other with heavy armor. Nora's role was to heal and give cover - this was what they called the pentagon combat model.

"If everyone has it clear, let's move out!" Aske gestured grandly, "Pick up the pace, move out!"

So, the group set off in disarray. Disarray, because their formation was not precise; often someone would walk too quickly or slowly and fall behind. If they were up against a professional team, a well-timed assault could break through their formation and isolate members of the team.

However, the girls had better discipline than average players, not to mention NPC mercenaries of this world were in a different league altogether. Did NPC mercenaries even have a concept of tactics? That was still a question.

Entering the forest, they scanned the surroundings with wariness and tension. Since it was not yet 4 a.m., parts of the forest the oil lamps couldn't reach were shrouded in deep, thick darkness, and for a moment, everyone felt a touch paranoid.

However, seeing the calm demeanor of their leader Aske, they felt a bit more reassured. Just then, a gunshot rang out.

Aske had drawn Aphrodite and shot toward something behind a tree, a shriek resonated, and a figure was thrown out.

It was an invisible monster, and as it bled from the bullet hit, its shape slowly became visible. It had a body like a porcupine, with curled ears and a coat of stiff spikes, but its mouth was a long, pointed tube twisting and tightening like a vortex.

"Be careful, everyone, it's a Mare!" Medea warned through the channel.

Eleanor instantly tensed up. She remembered the legends her father had told her when she was a child; these invisible extraordinary creatures would supposedly creep into people's homes in the middle of the night and suck the brains out with their sharp, tubular mouths.