Chapter 174 - Challenge Ignored (1/2)

Lord Grim’s group turned around and entered the dungeon as if nothing had happened. Poplar Beach was stomping his feet in fury. It was too late to prevent them from going. It only took them a few steps to enter the dungeon.

Changing Spring was still calm. After watching Lord Grim’s team enter, the only thing he could do was calmly call out: “We’ll begin as well.”

“Okay.” Three of them answered back. Poplar Beach, on the other hand, clearly hadn’t recovered yet.

“Poplar, we’re going to set the record now. Focus. Don’t forget why we’re here.” Changing Spring reminded Poplar Beach.

Soon after, the five of them entered the dungeon and pushed through as they had practiced. However, Poplar Beach was still angry. When they began clearing the small mobs, the team’s tempo was a complete mess. This guy clearly wasn’t in the right mindset.

Changing Spring, who had reminded him before they had entered, didn’t say a word. On the contrary, Flying Brushstroke couldn’t watch anymore and opened his mouth to remind Poplar Beach. But he had only shouted the name, when Changing Spring interrupted him.

“Forget about it.” Changing Spring said, “Let him vent his anger or he’ll continue playing like this.”

Flying Brushstroke stared blankly for a bit. After recalling what Poplar Beach’s personality was like, he let the matter go. The other two didn’t say anything either. Poplar Beach was completely out of sync with the team. Their advance through the dungeon was not going they way they wanted it to go.

“That Lord Grim, did he intentionally provoke Poplar to affect our performance?” Flying Brushstroke said.

“I don’t think so.” Chilling Nightfall said, “Poplar being angry is just temporary. The compet.i.tion for the record is different than the compet.i.tion in the Arena. If we’re not able to do it today, then we can try it again tomorrow. We just have to find new accounts and do it. Do you really think he’ll provoke us every time like this?”

“Then what was the point of him spouting so much nonsense. Does he really think that Blue Bridge is better than Poplar Beach?” Flying Brushstroke said.

“What do you guys think?” Chilling Nightfall asked the other three.

Poplar Beach was on the field with them, so it wasn’t easy to privately discuss this issue. In order to do so, they whispered to each other whenever they crossed each other’s path when fighting the monsters.

“I think……. Blue Bridge’s dungeoning is extremely consistent. However, if you said that Poplar Beach was worse than Blue Bridge, that wouldn’t necessarily be true. We’ve worked with him for a day and we all saw how he performed! Poplar Beach coordinates well us too. It’s hard to say whether or not Blue Bridge is better, no?” Dawn of Ice, who hadn’t spoken up in a long time, commented.

“But at least in this type of situation, I don’t think Blue Bridge would be affected so emotionally like Poplar Beach is now.” Flying Brushstroke said.

“Could it be……” Chilling Nightfall stared blankly. He had blurted out what he was thinking, but had accidentally messed up and staggered behind everyone on Poplar Beach’s side. He quickly swallowed his words.

“What were you going to say?” The other four once again crossed each other’s path. Flying Brushstroke immediately asked.

“Could it be that Lord Grim had provoked Poplar Beach in order for us to see what Poplar Beach’s weakness was?” Chilling Nightfall said.

“You guys are probably thinking too much!” Changing Spring found the opportunity to interject.

“How’d it get so complicated? From how I see it, Poplar Beach provoked them first and then the other side simply countered back.” Changing Spring said.

“Uh…….” The three stared blankly. That was a very rational explanation.

“Don’t think about it so much and just concentrate on the dungeon.” Changing Spring said.

“Okay…….” The three replied.

Their run this time didn’t turn out well. They had reached 30 minutes. The gap between what they wanted and what they got was very big.

After they exited the dungeon, Changing Spring didn’t say anything. Poplar Beach wasn’t an idiot. Changing Spring believed that Poplar Beach knew why their time wasn’t good.

“Second time.” Changing Spring announced dully. Poplar Beach’s emotional issue had been overlooked this time. No one commented on it. This time, Poplar Beach had returned to his normal condition.

However, they still made mistakes in their run. The record limit implied that their performance was flawless. A single mistake meant that the record would no longer be the limit. In a thirty minute dungeon, requiring that every person performed perfectly wasn’t easy.

“Third time! Everyone, be more careful.” Even though they made a mistake last run, with all of their practice, they were able to suppress Toya with their teamwork. Their time was close to the tenth server’s previous record. They all believed that if they didn’t make any mistakes, then they would definitely reach the limit.

“We can do it!” Everyone encouraged each other as they entered Desolate Land for the third time.

They had advanced flawlessly this time. They didn’t make a single mistake all the way up to the final BOSS Toya. This part was the most difficult part of Desolate Land and it was the reason why the team had run Desolate Land eighteen times. Against Toya, the five coordinated perfectly. In their second run, they hadn’t made any mistakes here as well.

They had practiced this part all too well.

24:41:46!!