"Have you ever heard of the [Hunting Guild]?"


    After a long silence, John suddenly raised his head and looked at everyone, asking, "A yer-established organization."


    "Never heard of it, John. Are you making this up to fool us?"


    "Do I need to? This Hunting Guild was formed by thief yers. Due to the unique nature of their ss, they struggle to gain an advantage in dungeons andrge events, so they turned their attention to other yers instead.


    Though they aren''t skilled at dealing with monsters, when ites to killing, thief yers are among the best.


    So they gave uppeting inrge events and instead targeted yers who received valuable rewards butcked significant strength, and then they struck."


    At this point, John paused, a memory surfacing in his mind.


    "The thief ss has a special ability called [Cloud Hand], which allows them to loot or even steal equipment from other yers."


    "John, how do you know so much about this?"


    "..."


    John chose silence, unsure of how to answer Exiled Immortal.


    Should he reveal that he was once a member of the [Hunting Guild]?


    John felt ashamed.


    "In any case, from now on, be vignt. Whenever you encounter thief ss yers, stay on high alert and never fully trust them. Understood?"


    "Understood, John."


    ...


    "Are you insane? You''re killing people!"


    "Of course, I know what I''m doing. So, if you don''t want to die, hand over the [Epic] equipment you just got, and maybe I''ll consider sparing your life. Otherwise, you know what your fate will be."


    In the alleyway,


    held the dagger in a reverse grip, pressing it against the yer''s neck. The passerby yer felt a chill run down their spine, fear gripping them.


    "Aren''t you afraid I''ll spread the word about this?"


    "As long as you give me the item, you can say whatever you want. Reputation? I don''t care."


    In this damned apocalypse, reputation and integrity are the most useless things!


    Surviving at any cost is the ultimate rule!


    "My patience is limited. You''d better hand it over. I''ll give you three seconds. Three, two..."


    "Stop! I''ll give it to you!"


    Feeling the de pressing closer to his neck, the passerby yer couldn''t withstand the pressure and handed over the [Epic] equipment he had just obtained and hadn''t even used yet.


    Such scenes yed out all over Calia.


    Though not all thief yers could be condemned, the fact remained that most of them had done simr things to some extent.


    A ss that is weak against monsters but can strike hard against yers is destined to be unruly.


    Looking at the freshly acquired [Epic] equipment, S. felt great.


    The thief is arguably the only ss without any development restrictions.


    By continuously leveling up and allocating points, a thief can build themselves up to be a warrior like Qing, maxing out strength and endurance, or they can put all their points into wisdom and learn magic.


    In short, a thief yer can wield any kind of weapon.


    And this was an [Epic] quality dagger, perfect for S.!


    "Just one more piece of armor, and I''ll have a full set of [Epic] equipment. Now, which unlucky fool should I target next?"


    roamed continuously through Calia, using his limited rest time to search for his next prey.


    But just then, the third wave of the monster tide began!


    With the elite goblins increasing in number, the difficulty for the ordinary yers in the city skyrocketed.


    The berserker goblins grew fiercer and stronger with each battle.


    The cavalry goblins moved swiftly, elusively, making them hard to pin down.


    And the wizard goblins, capable of casting spells and even chanting in unison.


    Countless elite goblins joined the fray, bringing about another round of bloody chaos!


    "The numbers may be decreasing, but why does it feel even harder?"


    Exiled Immortal plummeted rapidly, his stamina clearly at its limit, his face pale as a ghost.


    Just as John had said, using this kind of output method not only wasted stamina but was also terribly inefficient. Using the green wind to control flying swords was barely effective against ordinary goblins, but against elite goblins, it was clearly insufficient.


    "Take a break and recover your stamina. We can hold out for now."


    The [Firewalker Dagger] slithered like a snake, asionally flicking its tongue, revealing its deadly fangs.


    With chant essence running low and three of his trigger magic traps destroyed, John had no choice but to join the battle.


    He had thought they could easily hold out until the sixth wave, but now it was clear he had been too optimistic.


    In his previous life, he had stayed in Calia with countless yers helping him share the burden, but this time, facing the monster tide head-on, he felt the pressure multiply!


    "Johnny, I have an idea."


    Lily bit her lip lightly, looking at John with a touch of concern.


    Since the battle began, she had consumed the least.


    The [essence ring] stored arge amount of Chant Essence, and John had even prepared dozens of mana recovery potions for her in advance.


    This allowed Lily to always fight at full strength.


    "If I use [Starfall], it might reduce the pressure on everyone. Plus, with Johnny''s mana recovery potions, I can quickly rejoin the battle!"


    "I understand your intention, but now is not the time."


    Hearing Lily''s suggestion, John immediately vetoed it without a moment''s hesitation.


    "But why not?"


    "This is only the third wave. Who knows how many more there will be? If we waste your ultimate move this early, the pressure will only increaseter, and we still won''t be able to hold out. Let''s manage for now. If any of you get Chant Essence, give it to me right away.


    As long as we have enough Chant Essence, the golem can temporarily withstand the pressure."


    Seeing that the number of elite goblins had dropped to less than a hundred, John exhaled deeply.


    "And besides, we can still hold on!"


    With that, Lily bit her lip, unsure of what to say, and let out a soft sigh.


    She began to cast buffs on John and the others while using Spirit Summoning to bring the fallen elite goblins back into the fray.


    The time it took to fend off the third wave was even longer than thebined time of the first two waves, but they managed to pull through without any major incidents.


    However, Helena and Exiled Immortal were now almostpletely exhausted.


    The massive consumption of stamina couldn''t be recovered in just a few minutes.


    Even though John had prepared some potions, it was like a drop in the ocean...


    "Wait, potions! How could I have forgotten!"


    If there was anything other thanrge-scale magic that could deal with this situation, it was undoubtedly poison!


    The goblin race''s natural weak resistance to poison meant that the poison would be 120% effective. With Exiled Immortal present, applying poison to their des would easily decimate the monsters!


    With this in mind, John didn''t hesitate for a moment.


    He took out the existing poison, giving part of it to Exiled Immortal and part to Helena.


    The rest he applied to the surface of the trigger magic traps.


    Using the remaining time to repair the damaged trigger magic traps, John then cleared out his backpack and opened the points shop.


    At the two-hour mark, the points shop had already opened, but John had been too busy to check it until now.


    Finally, he could see if there were any suitable items for him.


    The moment the list appeared before his eyes, John instantly noticed an [Epic] quality item that perfectly fit the current situation!


    "Redeem item 013 for me!"


    [Item 013 costs 20,000 points to redeem. Proceed with the redemption?]


    "Redeem it, quickly!"


    [Processing transaction... Redemptionplete. Current points bnce: 165.]


    [Congrattions! You have obtained the Epic item: Chant Essence Core, which has been added to your backpack.]