The sky gradually turned dark, and the hills around were starting to level out. The trees thickened, and the night’s soft and chilly winds whistled through the air as the leaves rustled.

“Are we not there yet, sister Red Tea? The sky has gone dark, and our surroundings are so scary.” Little Wen asked, sounding a little afraid.

“Almost. It’s just in front of us’ it should be the cave over there.” Red Tea took a look at the treasure map, which had turned into an electronic map.

“We do have to hurry; we won’t be able to see when the night comes.” Glorious Warsong chimed in a little worriedly.

“We should have no problem if the sky is dark,” Blue Maple suddenly interrupted everyone.

“You have something to light the way?” Red Tea asked with a tinge of surprise.

“Yes, fire.” Blue Maple’s answer was simple.

“Ugh, don’t tell me we are using torches. We can’t take those things into battle.” Scarlet Heart was doubtful.

Fire lit up with a roar; Blue Maple didn’t want to waste any more words.

Everyone was speechless when they saw the flames in front of them. This fire didn’t come from lighting a torch. It was blue fire, and it was burning on Blue Maple’s body. It was Heavenly Fire!

“What the fuck, you can do that? It is very bright!” Scarlet Heart cursed right away.

“Wow! Blue Maple always has a way. You’re even more handsome now.” Little Wen was still the same as always.

Lian Na added, “These flames are very useful.”

“How long can you keep it burning?” Red Tea lived up to her role as team leader, and asked the most pertinent question.

“If I’m just using it to light the way, I can keep it going as long as I want.” Blue Maple shrugged slightly as he spoke.

Everyone just wanted to say, Okay, you’re good.

“Eh, why can’t I feel the heat?” Little Wen nudged closer curiously to take a look, but she couldn’t feel any warmth from Blue Maple’s flames at all.

“It’s only used for lighting things up,” Blue Maple answered plainly. He wasn’t using the fire for warmth, so he conserved his energy as much as possible. He would have to expend a lot of energy if he released the fire’s full temperature.

“Alright, we’ve resolved the problem of light. We’re off to our final destination, the treasure’s location.” Red Tea clapped as she spoke.

“Oh, Gold-tier equipment!”

“Gold-tier equipment!”

Scarlet Heart and Little Wen were unstoppable.

Blue Maple stared at the two of them, who seemed so excited.

“Stop staring at them. They met back when the server first opened, and they have been interested in each other for a long time. That’s the reason why Little Bubu was a little triggered when you wanted to join the team. Little Wen may appear infatuated with you, but she just considers that fun and exciting. The reason why Little Bubu no longer had a problem with you afterwards was also because Little Wen said to him, ‘Blue Maple is too expensive a dish, and I can’t afford that. I still like my own taste.’ Hehe, what do you think? Are you disappointed?” Lian Na whispered some of the team’s secrets to Blue Maple, and still managed to squeeze in a little tease at the end.

“Yea.” Blue Maple’s expression never seemed to change. The truth was, Blue Maple could tell something was going on when they were bickering before this. He was just curious why Scarlet Heart didn’t seem to react at all to Little Wen’s consistent infatuation. Now, he knew.

“You’re really cold.” Lian Na didn’t know what else to say.

------

Two minutes later...

“Uh, sister Red Tea, are you sure it’s here? Why don’t we come back tomorrow?” Little Wen asked, a little afraid. She stared at the pitch-black cave in front of them. The sky was already dark, and cold winds blew chills down her spine. She was a little girl; it would be surprising if she wasn’t afraid.

“Even I want to go back,” Scarlet Heart agreed. Blue Maple would have thought that Scarlet Heart was trying to crack a joke to diffuse the tension in the air, but now, he felt like Scarlet Heart was deliberately trying to sing the same tune as Little Wen. But now wasn’t the time to think about all that, because…

“We can’t go back now.” Blue Maple was already walking towards the cave entrance as he spoke, and a sword stretched out into his left hand at the same time.

A pair of blood-red eyes suddenly glowed deep inside the cave, gradually growing larger. It didn’t take long before a red wolf, a little smaller than the Icy Snow Wolf King, appeared before them. It was still so large that it could compare to a bull. A pair of murderous and ferocious eyes glared at Blue Maple, still covered with blue flames, as if deciding that Blue Maple was an enormous threat to it.

“Can you see his attributes, Blue Maple? Share them with us.” Red Tea and the others couldn’t see the wolf’s attributes, so they felt pressured; the unknown was always the most frightening. Not everyone was like Blue Maple, who found the unknown interesting, but that also had a lot to do with his strength.

===

[Red Wolf King] (Rank 45 Boss)

Attack: 419-537

Magic Attack: 468-598

Defense: 325-452

Magic Defense: 316-438

HP: 300,000

Skills: Fireball, Flame Cannon, Tear, Pounce

Introduction: The guardian beast of the Red Wolves bandit group. The bandit leader took this wolf back to raise when it was young. It possesses extremely formidable fire-type abilities. This wolf has become the Red Wolves’ guardian beast for their treasure, and it defends this location without fail, day and night. It hopes that the Red Wolves’ leader returns one day.

===

Blue Maple realized why the wolf glared at him like he  was its mortal enemy as soon as it appeared. The Red Wolf King could tell that Blue Maple had something that countered its strengths.

Heavenly Fire! Fireball was probably a low-tier Skill, while Flame Cannon couldn’t be stronger than a mid-tier skill and might even be a low-tier one. This meant that half of the Red Wolf King’s abilities were negated, and it probably couldn’t hurt Blue Maple at all if all its skills were low-tier Skills. The Red Wolf King would instead be feeding Blue Maple’s Heavenly Fire, not to mention the fact that the Red Wolf’s basic attack and defensive capabilities were weaker because its strengths were half-based in magic.

The Icy Snow Wolf King from before was a little different; ice-type skills could be considered physical damage. The reason why Blue Maple’s Heavenly fire dealt physical damage was because of his Snow Lotus Flower, hence it didn’t inflict magic damage.

“It’s a half magic-type Boss. We’re screwed! Brother Rong can’t deal with magic-type damage, not to mention the fact that the Red Wolf King is adept with fire-type magic attacks.” Red Tea was a little worried. They had no choice, because not dealing with the Red Wolf King could lead to it massacring her entire team. How could a team not have a meat shield? That was excluding solo players like Blue Maple, of course…

It’s just Rank 45, but it might be hard to tank its damage because its attacks are fire-type magic attacks. No wonder this eight-man quest can be called a Rank A quest. Blue Maple wasn’t worried at all, and he still had the time and energy to think about such things.

Will you have any solutions, or are you not going to hide your strength anymore?, Red Tea thought to herself as she stared at Blue Maple’s back.

“Shoot a fireball at me, Red Tea.” Blue Maple was still having a stare-off with the Red Wolf King when he suddenly spoke to Red Tea behind him. The Red Wolf King seemed to show respect as it didn’t attack.

It didn’t dare! The Red Wolf King’s instincts told it that it had no chance against this fellow before it!

“Eh? At you?” Red Tea was stunned.

“Yes.” Blue Maple replied, still not turning around.

The reason why Blue Maple made that request was that he hadn’t tried Heavenly Fire’s passive ability Flames of Heaven before, and didn’t know whether it was useful. He wanted to test it with Red Tea’s skills before anything else. Red Tea’s magic attack wasn’t as high as the Red Wolf King after all, and Red Tea would definitely hit him with as little damage as possible.

Furthermore, Blue Maple knew that Red Tea was just a normal Fire Wizard, at least for now. Fireball was a low-tier skill, and Blue Maple should be immune if nothing unexpected happened.

“Oh, I’ll launch a fireball then.” Red Tea didn’t know what Blue Maple wanted to do, but she trusted him as she launched a tiny fireball at his back.

A fireball shot at Blue Maple as he reached out with his right hand, still with his back facing her, like he was trying to block it with his hand.

Everyone thought he was going to block the fireball with his hand when he suddenly curled his fingers, and he didn’t even turn around to catch it with his bare hand!

The fireball was small, but it was still as large as a shotput. It sat in the center of Blue Maple’s palm, and shocked everyone watching. He didn’t just catch it. He didn’t take a single point of damage!

What Blue Maple did next surprised them even more. Blue Maple actually hurled the fireball at the Red Wolf King!

Bam! The fireball crackled as it exploded and dealt some damage.

-206!

“Owh!~” The Red Wolf King appeared infuriated as it howled deeply. It returned the shot with its own fireball, but this one was a lot larger, roughly the size of a basketball!

But the result was still the same. Blue Maple caught it with his right hand!

Even though Blue Maple’s right hand was Sealed, the Seal only worked on him such that it didn’t let him use his sword. The Seal didn’t affect his passive ability to catch a fireball.

There was a tiny boom as Blue Maple dissipated the larger fireball with his bare hands.

“Who is the Boss here?! Fuck!” Scarlet Heart was stunned speechless. Blue Maple had just reached Level 38, and he could catch a Rank 45 Boss’ fireball, and was even able to dissipate it. Furthermore, he had no doubt that Blue Maple would throw back the fireball that was just launched at him, except Blue Maple did that once and didn’t want to do it again.

Blue Maple glanced at the Ref Wolf provocatively, and even had a tinge of mockery in his eyes. He seemed to be teasing the wolf, Is that all the firepower you have?

This was one of the rare times that Blue Maple revealed some emotion and expression, and he was almost smiling. Blue Maple had always been interested in amusing affairs. Blue Maple did find what was happening interesting, except he didn’t know if the Red Wolf King’s Flame Cannon was a low-tier skill or not. If it was, then he would be having even more fun!

“Owh!” The Red Wolf King was furious. The human actually mocked its power to use fire. It didn’t hesitate as it inhaled deeply, and blasted an enormous stream of fire in Blue Maple’s direction!

A thick pillar of fire blasted at him. The flames swallowed him, and continued enveloping him for several seconds!

The Red Wolf King’s charged and ferocious blast was powerful, indeed!

“Blue Maple!” everyone exclaimed.

Everyone started to regret when they watched Blue Maple being engulfed by the flames. Why did they let him face the Red Wolf King alone?

“Don’t be hasty! Blue Maple is fine. Have you guys not seen through the team panel that his HP are still full?” Glorious Warsong interjected calmly.

“Yes, Blue Maple’s HP are still full. He’s fine!” Red Tea quickly realized what was going on.

Yes, why did I lose my mind? Am I concerned about him, and that’s why I was confused? Red Tea lamented to herself. She was a guild’s chairwoman after all, and yet she made such a rookie mistake. She started to wonder if something was off about herself.

“Such a pity. This is a low-tier Skill,” Blue Maple’s voice rang out from inside the fire. The fiery-red flames suddenly roared as it transformed into his blue-colored flames.

Blue flames scorched and burned, and the sea of flames that swallowed Blue Maple suddenly collected in one place: his right hand!

All the flames aggregated in Blue Maple’s right hand, while tiny sparks remained on his body. His Sealed right hand could still control weaker flames!

“This is my gift back to you.” Blue Maple pushed forward with his right hand as he spoke, and the blue fire in his hands swelled rapidly. An enormous pillar of blue flame spurted out, right back at the Red Wolf King!

Boom!!! The Red Wolf King was blasted right back into the cave, an agonizing howl rising!

Outside, Red Tea and everyone else watched on with their jaws agape and wide eyes…