What if the Terrans really are saving the world?

Chapter 15: Does having NPCs count as multiplayer mode?

In the eastern wilderness of Wangyue Forest, a group of people traversed the forest.

Before setting off, Mana suggested that the five of them exchange names.

Andrea then learned the names of the three people, and also learned that their team was called "Battle Mage Mother".

War is Lagon, law is Mana, and mother is Balin.

The first two are easy to understand. As for Bahrain, it's because dwarves do all the work, from washing clothes and cooking to equipment maintenance.

Andrea then realized that she and Terra hadn't been in a party when they registered. The receptionist hadn't mentioned it either. She had assumed that it was assumed they were in the same party.

Looks like we need to come up with a better team name from now on.

*

On the way to the target location, Ragon initially led the way, but Terra didn't need him to, because Terra could see the mission location indicated by an exclamation mark on the minimap.

Although the area was completely dark, it didn't matter; we could just walk in a straight line.

At first, Lagon would remind Terra that he was going in the wrong direction, but later, seeing that Terra was taking a route that was even closer than his, he simply let Terra lead the way.

He thought Terra had a pretty good memory; she could memorize the whole map after just one glance.

In the end, Terra ended up at the front of the line.

However, Andrea 1 did not walk alongside Terra at the front, but instead chose to bring up the rear at the end of the group.

Because she didn't want to turn her back on strangers. Her grip on the short bow tightened slightly, and her gaze swept warily over the backs of the three people in front of her.

But coincidentally, the lizardmen and dwarves thought the same thing.

In the end, the mage followed closely beside Terra, touching her left and looking at her right.

The other three followed behind, moving back and forth like pistons.

Andrea 1 watched as Mana clung to Terra. At first, she thought it was just normal chatting, but then they stuck together and wouldn't leave, which made her feel a tightness in her chest.

Hurry up and slowly and forcefully drag her away from Terra.

Andrea said seriously, "Don't get too close to this guy."

She felt that Terra only needed to corrupt her; she shouldn't harm anyone else.

Mana realized she had been somewhat offensive: "I'm a mage too, and I know a lot of things. Since you've brought it up, I'll be more careful next time."

Mana knew that this was Andrea telling her not to try to pry into the secrets of the doll.

She glanced at Terra walking ahead, then at Andrea 1 beside her, whose exquisite features hinted at exhaustion, and sincerely exclaimed, "Miss Andrea 1, you are truly amazing. Someone like Terra... I doubt I could handle her."

Andrea1 said, "Actually, I can't stand it either, especially at night." Those nights when she was harassed by strange slimes and tormented by Terra's various bizarre actions made it impossible for her to sleep instantly flooded her mind.

Mana wondered: Does it require meticulous energy maintenance or joint care every night? Maintaining a doll is indeed very demanding.

Behind him, Lagon, with his sharp ears, whistled.

Andrea 1 sighed: "But... Terra is actually a really nice person, I hope you won't dislike him."

That sounds a bit awkward, making it sound like she really is Terra's mom, letting other kids play with Terra when she takes her to kindergarten.

"Pfft~" The lizardman following behind couldn't help but laugh teasingly when he heard this. "Mana, you shouldn't meddle in other people's intimate relationship."

Mana turned away with a stern face and spat, "You blockhead, yet you always have so much to say!"

The dwarf Balin muttered to himself, wondering why he had to stay with these two couples.

Suddenly, several strange-looking gelatinous creatures appeared around them.

Andrea 1: "I knew I'd run into these slimes."

Mana looked at the gel-like "little girls" around her, who were about the same size as humans. She understood the logic, but why were the slimes so big?

Along with them, familiar faces also appeared.

Was it the painter adventurer who was killed by Terra? The mage tried to call out to him, but the other party didn't react at all, just stared straight at Mana, and then suddenly accelerated and charged towards her in a stiff posture!

Monk: "A mimicry monster?"

"Back off!" Ragon roared and quickly pulled Mana away. Then, his muscular body charged forward, his thick tail whistling through the air as he lashed out at the adventurer-like monster!

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, the scene the lizardman had anticipated—spinning his opponent away—did not occur. Instead, the instant his tail made contact with his opponent, a tremendous, perfectly equal impact force surged from his tail.

Ragon groaned, his entire body being uncontrollably pushed back a distance.

Before Ragon could even get up, the "adventurer" pounced on him again.

At the critical moment, a whooshing sound rang out.

huh~

An arrow struck the "adventurer" in the shoulder. Although it did not cause any obvious wound, it interrupted the "adventurer's" attack and caused it to stagger back a few steps.

"Don't let your body touch them," Andrea shouted from the tree.

"Thanks." Lagon quickly drank a recovery potion and tossed the empty bottle aside.

"So this guy's only attack method is to ram into me with his bare hands? Looks like I can only use weapons. Dwarf! Hammer!"

On the other side, the mage Mana raised her staff, and blazing fire element gathered into a ball at the tip of her staff.

The fireball hurtled towards the nearest slime.

A normal slime would burst into juice after being hit by a fireball, but this slime was only knocked back slightly, and its gelatinous body didn't even get dented. The flames on its body only burned for a short while before going out.

This attack only angered the slime.

Terra watched as the slime chased after the mage NPC like a squash.

Ragon caught the heavy iron hammer thrown by the dwarf Balin, took a deep breath, and charged at the adventurer mimic monster again.

This time, he aimed for the opponent's leg joints, attempting to incapacitate him. The hammer slammed down with a whistling sound!

"Plop~" Lagon heard a sound like a hammer pounding minced meat coming from the "Adventurer". It was pushed backward a bit by the force of the hammer.

However, the leg that was targeted remained completely intact, without even a scratch or twist.

Ragon noticed Mana being chased and pelted by the slimes.

These monsters were unlike anything he'd ever heard of in all his years as an adventurer. Their bodies were like solid iron plates, and they maintained their mobility no matter how he attacked them. Could these guys really be killed?

Dwarf: "This is bad."

The lizardman laughed, "Yeah, this time you can't hit this guy's knees."

While the group was locked in a fierce battle, Terra watched from the sidelines.

He noticed that the health of these enemies was abnormal. He remembered that the same green slime he had encountered alone before only had 42 health points, but now it had 210.

It increased fivefold.

Moreover, NPCs who shouldn't normally attract the aggro of monsters will also be attacked by them.

Looking at the group fighting, Terra quickly figured out the possible reason.

Is it now considered a multiplayer mode?

In other words, if you bring NPCs on your adventure, will the NPCs be treated as player units just like you?

No wonder the new version has greatly increased the activity level of these NPCs and optimized their AI so that they can accompany you on your adventures.

So that's where the trap was.

In other words, the previous development strategy of "one person is full and the whole family is not hungry" needs to be changed.

Is this the new mechanism in the new version? Interesting.

The group remained in place, while the number of painters, thieves, and slimes around them increased.

Then, to the astonishment of the others, Terra moved. He didn't use any fancy techniques; he simply carried his seemingly ordinary iron sword and charged directly into the monster horde.

Ragon saw that Terra was simply repeating the motion of raising his sword above his head and then swinging it vertically down, yet he was still able to force the monster to retreat repeatedly. Eventually, Terra turned into a corpse scattered on the ground.

He also noticed the abnormalities in the bodies of these monsters.

When a normal living being is cut, the wound will immediately bleed, or it will lose the ability to move due to the loss of limbs.

These monsters' bodies remained in peak condition until their very last breath, making it impossible to determine how many attacks would be needed to kill them.

The mage couldn't help but applaud: "I never expected the forest around here to suddenly become so strange. If Terra weren't here, we wouldn't have been able to resolve this so quickly."

Although Bahrain still has some doubts about Terra's character and intelligence, it has to admit that Terra does have some ability.

Andrea put away her shortbow and walked over to Terra. She slightly raised her chin and said in a tone of habit and even a hint of subtle pride, "These things are nothing to Terra, right Terra?"

At the same time, she thought to herself, if Terra hadn't been there, she probably wouldn't have encountered these suddenly mutated and strengthened monsters.

She had been with Terra for several days and had vaguely noticed that Terra seemed to attract or "spawn" these strange slimes and monsters more easily. This only failed to work when Terra and she were in town.

Looking at Andrea's "My child is so outstanding, isn't he?" expression, Mana couldn't help but laugh and said, "Miss Andrea, you're acting like you're showing off how amazing your son is."

"Did I make that face? But let me clarify first, I'm still a minor." To emphasize, she puffed out her chest. "Look."

Mana thought that this might not be related to whether or not she was an adult.

Balin tilted his head back over Andrea 1's chest to examine Andrea 1's face, and said, "I really can't tell how old you elves are. I remember seeing an elf wandering around the city a while ago, and she also said that she was underage."

"Can we talk about that elf in more detail later?" Andrea asked seriously.

"Oh, um," Balin agreed.

It seems something happened between these two elves. It doesn't matter, as long as they don't pull him.

*

After a long time, as the sun began to set, the group finally arrived at their destination.

The mage Mana frowned in confusion as she looked at the scene before her. "Are you sure that painter's loot could be hidden here? Looking at the entrance to this dungeon ruins, it's not like just anyone can go in, is it?"

What comes into view is a cave located halfway up the mountain. A huge black stone door frame with obvious signs of human carving is half-embedded in the rock.

However, the entire doorway was completely sealed off by countless layers of thick, dark green vines.

The dwarf pushed aside the tall grass, walked to the cave entrance, grabbed the vines and pulled them backward with all his might, his face turning red, but the vines did not budge, they were exceptionally tough.

"Hey, you green-skinned bastard!" Balin released his grip, panting and complaining, "You didn't say the entrance was blocked by this stuff before you came! This thing is so thick you couldn't even cut it with a knife!"

The lizardman flicked his tail and explained, "This ruin isn't very famous. Besides this main entrance, there are other entrances and ventilation shafts dug out by early adventurers in the surrounding mountains. I guess that painter entered from there."

Mana: "I could use fire to burn it."

Balin glanced at Terra and Andrea1 and said, "Let's not. You should conserve your magic. Who knows what else is waiting for us inside."

Mana lay on the vines, peering through the gaps: "So how are we going to get across... or should we look for the caves dug by adventurers in the past? How long would that take?"

Before she could finish speaking, she noticed a crack resembling a spiderweb appear on the vines in front of her. The crack grew larger and larger until it completely filled the entire wall of vines.

Then, with a soft "poof," the several-meter-high and wide vine wall instantly collapsed.

The mage turned around in surprise and found that everyone except Andrea 1 was looking in the same direction: Terra was holding a heavy, pixelated pickaxe, which looked like it was made of iron. Just like when he swung his sword in the previous battle, he kept raising the pickaxe above his head and then swinging it down vertically.

Terra swung her pickaxe in mid-air from a distance of just a few meters, and the second vine wall behind the mage crumbled.

Then there was the doorway made of a single black boulder and the inner boulder that blocked the entrance. Terra had already dug them away with the small pickaxe in his hand.

The previously round opening has now been excavated into a square shape, revealing a corridor made of gray stone bricks inside.

Terra put away his pickaxe, let out a "Yo-ho!" sound, and a smiley face bubble appeared above his head. Without hesitation, he stepped into the cave. His gaze had already pierced through the darkness, locking onto a certain material he desperately wanted deep inside.

Andrea followed Terra inside.

Outside the cave entrance, all was deathly silent.

Feeling the cool breeze blowing from inside the cave, Lagong swallowed.

Mana was incredibly excited! She decided that she would definitely pester Andrea to learn something from her. She quickly ran up to Andrea and clung to her.

The dwarf Balin nudged the still-stunned lizardman with his elbow, lowering his voice and speaking sternly: "Listen, Greenskin. I don't know if you had some other annoying ulterior motive for taking this mission. But I advise you, you'd better not try anything funny with these two."

Ragon took a deep breath, bent down, and patted Bahrain hard on the shoulder.

Balin snorted and said, "Good to know." Then he went into the cave.

*

Inside the cave on the other side.

Terra's backpack now contains new items:

[Spider web (Why can this thing be used to make silk?)] *50