Chapter 101: Mist Forest

Just as Luo Yan saw the three-person adventurer squad resting at the entrance of the stairwell from afar, the latter finally discovered him and Sarah walking toward this side, and soon stood up from the ground with their equipment.

Luo Yan sized up the three.

One was a suspected Bronze-tier swordsman, wearing light armor, and the single-handed sword was exquisitely made, looking very valuable. Judging from the aura on him, he was probably the leader of this squad, and his strength was estimated to be at the same level as Amu, who was locked in the Necropolis's small black room.

As for the other two, looking at their attire, one was an archer and one was a magician, and their strength was below Black Iron-tier.

As for why Luo Yan judged this, it was naturally because Hearing You You could see the other party's soul level.

The cap for these three people was Bronze.

And noble magicians generally wouldn't group with swordsmen whose strength was lower than their own.

Luo Yan, who had stacked twelve layers of buffs, walked over leisurely with Sarah.

"Yo," the leading swordsman greeted, and while pressing his hand on the sword, he reported his family name to Luo Yan in a friendly manner, "We are the Brave Sword, I am the captain Alex, nicknamed 'Champion of Strength'. These two are my friends, and also my teammates, respectively 'Bird Catcher' Xiuwen, 'Fire Igniter' Finis... what about you?"

Xiuwen, carrying a bow and arrow, politely greeted Luo Yan, while Finis, who looked a bit introverted, nodded as a greeting.

Hearing this string of strange titles, Luo Yan was even more certain that this group of people was a group of rookies.

Even in terms of adventure experience alone, they might not be as good as the Silver Scimitar, which mainly did gray business.

However, he didn't dislike rookie adventurers; after all, these people were all nutrients for his labyrinth.

Coughing lightly, he said.

"... We haven't registered a squad yet, my name is Luoluo, this is Sarah."

Alex said with a smile.

"Haven't registered a squad? Why don't you just join us."

Facing that bright smile and the half-true, half-false invitation, Luo Yan politely refused with a smile, and then said.

"Speaking of which, are you resting here?"

"Sort of, but to be precise, we are waiting for someone."

Alex, who was refused, wasn't disappointed, shrugging his shoulders as if nothing had happened, and said with a smile still on his face.

"We plan to go to Mist Town on the fourth floor of the labyrinth to handle some things, but you know the situation there, there are quite a few dangerous monsters, so we wanted to find other teammates to join us... If you guys are going the same way, that would be great. If not, it doesn't matter, we can continue to wait."

A three-person squad challenging the fourth floor of the labyrinth was indeed rare, especially since the leader was only a Bronze.

Luo Yan thought for a while, and it just so happened that he wanted to find them to understand some things, so he nodded and agreed.

"Then let's go together."

Seeing him nod and agree, all three showed happy expressions, obviously they had been hanging out here for a long time.

Looking at Alex picking up his equipment from the ground, Luo Yan suddenly asked curiously.

"Don't you want to ask about my strength?"

"What's there to ask," Alex grinned, saying as a matter of course, "Being able to walk to here on the third floor of the labyrinth, your strength certainly won't be weaker than mine."

"Gu—"

Hearing this brazen statement, Sarah almost couldn't hold back her laughter.

However, as several gazes fell on her, she soon realized her rudeness, so she hurriedly lowered the brim of her hood and muttered "sorry" to Luo Yan beside her.

Luo Yan didn't think it was anything.

After all, he hadn't put these three little thieves who broke into the labyrinth in his eyes at all, and it didn't matter even if the other party guessed his strength higher.

However, seeing his own cat was so cute, he still teased with a smile.

"You got the wrong object of apology."

"It's okay, it's okay," thinking Luoluo was speaking for himself, Alex hurriedly waved his hand indifferently, and said with a smile to smooth things over, "It can be seen that Miss Sarah respects you very much... and to be honest, I really don't have much confidence to compare myself with you experienced adventurers."

Rookie?

Luo Yan took an extra look at this guy.

Bronze-tier swordsman.

If his strength wasn't gained through growth in the labyrinth, then there was only one explanation.

This person was likely a noble who had received a good education.

As for why the soul level was only Bronze, the reasons were various.

Either the family background wasn't prominent enough, or he wasn't the eldest son.

Considering this guy's decent etiquette, Luo Yan was even more certain of his guess.

However, he didn't say much; after all, this wasn't something he cared about.

"Please don't say that, becoming an adventurer is actually a recent thing for me, it's not about being experienced... please look out for each other on the road."

Looking at the right hand extended by the man in front of him, Alex shook it in surprise, then shook it with a smile.

"Hmm! That's exactly what I intended!"

Intuition told him that the identity of the man in front of him was probably not as simple as he imagined! Luoluo? This should be a fake name, right.

Alex thought to himself, but didn't ask too much; after all, the other party didn't ask about his private affairs, and him taking the initiative to ask seemed a bit presumptuous.

With the addition of "Luoluo" and Sarah, the Brave Sword adventurer squad changed from three to five.

Having two magicians, they already had the capital to challenge the fourth floor of the labyrinth.

The group walked along the spiraling downward stairs for a while, and after passing through an archway, soon stepped into a mist-filled forest.

Looking at the gray forest, Sarah showed a surprised expression.

"Here... is actually underground?!"

Unlike the first two floors of the labyrinth where you couldn't see your fingers, a turbid white light faintly permeated the gray white mist.

Although that wisp of white light was very weak, like a candle in the wind, it still increased everyone's visibility from two meters to over ten meters.

It was as if this was a continuation of the Silver Pine Forest.

Except for the fact that there were few leaves on the branches, this was almost no different from the forest outside.

It could even be said—

This forest shrouded in mist was even more worthy of the name Silver Pine Forest than the forest outside. Sarah hurriedly looked back, and what entered her eyes was a tower connecting the ground to the sky.

It was precisely through this tower that they had come down from the third floor of the labyrinth to here!

Looking at Sarah, who was making a fuss, the three adventurers of Brave Sword looked at each other and smiled.

Immediately after, Alex said.

"Is this Miss Sarah's first time here?"

Sarah looked at him vigilantly and didn't speak.

Until she caught a glimpse of Luo Yan nodding slightly from the corner of her eye, she reluctantly replied.

"Hmm..."

She had no good feelings for humans.

Except for the Demon King, who was an exception.

Alex smiled, cast his gaze toward the forest ahead, and continued with a tone of nostalgia.

"Actually, when the Demon King was still here, this place would be even more spectacular... that boundless forest never withered, as if there was no difference between winter and summer. Not only that, there was day and night rotation here, and the crystals distributed on the dome would light up in the early morning like the sun outside, and extinguish after nightfall."

The purple crystal dome of the Demon Capital? But it seemed a bit different.

The purple crystal dome of the Demon Capital was snatched from the hands of the dwarves, and the light it emitted was more profound, mainly simulating the moonlight that undead creatures and demons preferred.

And the light here...

Seemed closer to the human understanding of daytime on the surface? A thoughtful expression appeared on Luo Yan's face.

Noticing the expression on his face, Alex seemed to think of something, and then said with a smile.

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not missing the Demon King, that guy has nothing to miss... I'm just thinking occasionally, if only this place could be developed into a colony, for the Kingdom of Ryan, this is much closer than the other side of the Whirlpool Sea."

Luo Yan smiled faintly.

"Interesting idea, then... what kind of people would be willing to move into the labyrinth to live?"

Alex was stunned for a moment, laughed and said.

"Probably only those who can't survive on the surface! I was just saying it casually, it's indeed thinking too much... let's go, let's go to Mist Town as soon as possible."

Luo Yan nodded, watched Alex take the initiative to walk to the front row, then signaled Sarah to guard the flank of the squad, while he consciously walked in the middle of the squad.

The soft soil was covered with withered fallen leaves and slippery moss, making a rustling sound when stepped on.

The thick mist wrapped around every tree trunk like light gauze, blocking the view in the distance.

Occasionally, low beast calls passed through the withered grass, making people feel terrified, and it was hard to avoid the spread of chill in their hearts.

The group followed the direction indicated by the map and compass, carefully moving toward Mist Town.

That was the stronghold established by adventurers on the fourth floor of the labyrinth.

Actually, it was the so-called colony in Alex's mouth, but most adventurers were not aware of it.

The moment he stepped into this forest, Luo Yan immediately felt the difference between this layer of the labyrinth and the first three layers.

Behind that seemingly lifeless white mist, it seemed even more vibrant than he imagined.

And it was full of hidden dangers!

"Alex."

"What's wrong?"

"I heard there are dark elves on the fourth floor of the labyrinth, have you seen that group of guys?"

"Dark elves?" Alex's eyes were filled with confusion, he shook his head and said, "No... but it seems someone has seen them in this forest, and the Adventurers' Guild has a bounty."

Staring at the white mist not far away, Luo Yan nodded.

"So that's it, understood."

Alex looked at this adventurer named Luoluo with a subtle expression.

He asked himself, he already belonged to the newer type of rookie, didn't expect this guy to be even more lacking in common sense than himself.

He even couldn't help but suspect, could this guy have just registered his adventurer identity? But this possibility was too small.

He had never heard of any adventurer who just registered his identity and broke into the third floor of the labyrinth, and went straight to the fourth floor.

Generally speaking, the guild wouldn't give such a rookie a commission for the fourth floor, right?

The group didn't talk anymore along the way.

Because soon they encountered the first monster since entering the forest—a magic wolf with horns on its head.

Without giving Luo Yan a chance to show his skills, Alex pulled out his single-handed sword and made a few clean and neat stabs, poking the magic wolf full of blood holes, and it fell to the ground with a miserable wail.

This battle was won without any pressure.

However, soon, the bloody smell of the magic wolf's corpse attracted more monsters, and Luo Yan finally found a chance to show his skills, pulling out the magic wand he had placed in his sleeve...

On a withered tree branch a hundred meters away.

I saw two swift and vigorous figures lurking on the thick branches on the left and right, carefully watching this group of uninvited guests who broke into the forest.

That wheat-colored skin and long ears were the symbols of dark elves.

Just when they thought their disguise was foolproof, the object they were focusing on suddenly raised his head and looked at them.

That casual look was as if he was looking at a few sparrows falling on the branch.

The moment they met his gaze, a trace of panic appeared on the faces of the two dark elves at the same time.

Before they could determine whether their whereabouts were exposed, they jumped down from the branches and disappeared into the depths of the forest like frightened rabbits.

The breeze passing through the Mist Forest brought their information back to the nest deep in the forest.

"The Demon King is here..."

"He... seems to have discovered us!"

My tendonitis just got better, and my stomach disease is acting up again T. T (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 102 =====