Chapter Sixty-One: A Bold Plan

Soon, everyone took their seats in the lounge area. The three fellows led by Lei Peng sat on the sofa, each smiling broader than the last, as if they had already foreseen ultimate victory a few months from now.

Tang Ruobing coughed twice, cleared her throat, and said, "Orders have come down from above. Our first team battle will commence on the third of next month."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire room fell silent. The three fellows, who had been merry just a moment before, instantly wore bitter expressions, collapsing onto the sofa with a sense of utter despair, as if they could already envision the defeat of being pinned down and slaughtered mercilessly.

There was no help for it. In the early stages, given the massive level gap and class disparity, the enemy's master mage could treat them like toys.

"Then this meeting is presumably centered around the upcoming team battle?" Ye Mingqiu asked.

"Yes. You just need to perform as you normally would. Right now, the level gap is a bit too wide, so for the time being, it's best to keep your distance and avoid direct conflict."

"Understood."

Ye Mingqiu nodded in reply, but deep within his heart, an undying fighting spirit remained hidden.

The level gap between him and the enemy mage was simply too vast. If they clashed head-on, he probably wouldn't even be able to break the opponent's mana shield; it was completely unplayable.

Yet, his current role was that of a support, and he was only at level 1. Being looked down upon was only natural. If there was no opportunity, so be it, but if the opponent gave him that opening... then he would certainly not let it go easily.

"Do you want to win?"

Tang Ruobing asked suddenly.

The expressions of everyone present shifted abruptly. Lin Feng was the first to reply, "Of course! If we can win, who would want to lose?"

"That's right, that's right."

"Is there a trick to it? Lay it out for us, Boss, and I'll definitely cooperate with everything I've got!" Lei Peng said with a grin.

"..."

Tang Ruobing fell silent for a brief moment, her aqua-blue eyes sweeping across the group, before she finally spoke in a solemn tone, "Let's make one thing clear beforehand: my method is not guaranteed to succeed, and it can only be used once. A second attempt will inevitably end in failure. If you lack confidence, using it next month is also an option."

"What do you need us to do?"

Ye Mingqiu asked concisely and directly.

"Without me making a move, hold off the enemy's five members for about ten seconds. Don't let them interfere with me. Can you do it?" Tang Ruobing asked in a deep voice.

"Ten seconds? You mean you want us to hold out for ten seconds against an eighth-level mage and a bunch of his teammates? And you won't even be stepping in?"

"That's a bit too difficult..."

"Yeah."

Watching the troubled group, Tang Ruobing slowly continued, "What if Feng Xinglie is not at his full strength? His spellcasting ability will gradually weaken. Do you still have a grasp on it then?"

"If it's like that, then I suppose it's not entirely out of the question to try, but I still feel the probability of failure is quite high. It's still a bit too difficult," Lei Peng said, rubbing his chin.

"Indeed. Even if his spellcasting capability continuously wanes, it will be extremely hard for us to weather that first wave of offense. Should he focus his attacks on you, absolutely none of us here could tank it," Lin Feng added.

"What's Big Brother Qiu's take on this?" Ke Fanxing shifted her gaze to the silent Ye Mingqiu beside her and asked.

"It's not entirely without hope."

Ye Mingqiu raised his head to reply, then looked at Tang Ruobing and said, "If we absolutely must hold the line, I can take a tiny fraction of the damage myself and protect you for a little while. That shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Holy shit, seriously?"

"There's another high-tier player here?"

"I knew this guy wasn't simple! He's definitely no ordinary support!"

Tang Ruobing stared at him and asked, "Could you briefly prove it to me? If it's inconvenient, there's no need to show it."

"It's a trump card, so it's a bit inconvenient, but temporarily blocking a few attacks for you shouldn't be an issue," Ye Mingqiu answered with a smile.

Too funny. If Tang Ruobing were to see that he possessed 1599 health points right at level 1, she would probably be so startled she'd jump on the spot. After all, Lei Peng, a level 3 lord-tier tank, only had a little over 700 health points. His level 1 health was already more than double Lei Peng's, and his numerical stats vastly exceeded even heroic-tier tanks.

He possessed the sheer beauty of raw stats.

Not only was Ye Mingqiu's health exceedingly high, but his defense was also formidable. First, the gear he wore was heavy armor, which possessed the highest base defense among all armor types. Second, he had learned Basic Physique, and his level had directly risen to 3, bringing his personal physique stat to a towering 20.8. Coupled with the 16 points of fixed damage reduction from his "Brave" passive, he was outrageously tanky.

In the world of the Crimson Concealment Era, six level 3 boss-tier monsters couldn't even take him down. When it came to damage-mitigation capability, Ye Mingqiu was extremely confident.

"Mn, I understand."

Tang Ruobing nodded in response, her expression gradually growing grave as she continued, "Do you guys... have the confidence to take down a non-spellcasting Feng Xinglie within 30 seconds?"

"Hm?"

"Boss, me?"

"???"

At that moment, the three fellows had zero confidence, but that couldn't really be blamed on them. After all, even if Feng Xinglie couldn't cast spells, he was still a flesh-and-blood eighth-level powerhouse. His base attributes alone were extremely high, with his physique standing at least around 30 to 40.

Naturally, aside from spirit, physique was the only useful stat for a mage. Under normal circumstances, a standard master mage would naturally invest some points into physique to raise their fault-tolerance margin, as nobody wanted to be instantly killed in close quarters.

Even though they had mana shields, having a higher physique to provide a larger margin for error was always a good thing.

"Are you certain there will be 30 seconds?" Ye Mingqiu asked.

"That's right," Tang Ruobing nodded in reply, her demeanor exceptionally solemn and serious.

Thirty seconds to take down a master mage whose physique was only around 30 to 40, and who couldn't even cast spells.

What kind of nobody was this?!

Suddenly, Ye Mingqiu smiled, the smile on his face growing immensely rich. A surging fighting spirit seemed ready to spill over. A fellow of this caliber... wasn't even worthy of forcing out his full strength!!

Pathetic! Pathetic! Pathetic!!

Then the problem became very simple. If he had to unleash his full power just to defeat someone of this level... that would be an utter insult to his strength! This guy simply didn't deserve it!

He would crush the opponent using as little power as possible. The less he used, the stronger it proved he was, and the greater his true strength surpassed the enemy's... This sensation of standing above victory—just thinking about it brought him an incomparable sense of joy! Hahahaha!

"Ahem."

Ye Mingqiu coughed twice, pulling back his smile.

He felt his mental state was actually quite normal, but alas, the Blood Spear possessed the [Sanity Erosion] equipment effect, causing his mental state to occasionally glitch out. It was entirely the Blood Spear's fault; normally, he was a completely normal person.

Sigh! Nothing to be done about it; this was probably the price of gaining power!

"What is wrong with you..."

Tang Ruobing asked tentatively, as she always felt this guy's mental state was a bit off.

"Excitement. From the moment you stated the conditions, I was already designing the battle in my mind. That is the joy I feel upon seeing the possibility of victory," Ye Mingqiu replied.

"Do you have what it takes? Can you take him down within 30 seconds while he has teammates protecting him?" Tang Ruobing's eyes widened gradually as she asked for confirmation in astonishment.

"Well, of course!"

Ye Mingqiu smiled with supreme confidence.