It felt like it was only for a moment, and the glare had subsided. As a result, Naine Hinata slowly opened her closed eyes. Immediately, she was embarrassed to find that she was hugging Li Mengxi's arm tightly, and even leaned on the other party's body.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, hurriedly jumping to the side, waving her hands in a panic as she said, "That, this, anyway, you ......"

Halfway through her words, Hinata suddenly noticed that Li Mengxi didn't seem to be paying attention to herself, but was staring at the front motionlessly, as if she was petrified.

What was he looking at?

With doubts, Hinada Nain also followed Li Mengxi's gaze and looked straight ahead, and couldn't help but be stunned.

The two of them were now at the end of a forest path deep in the forest, and directly in front of them was a large plain-like clearing that had been blasted by ice. The place in front of you and the area in front of you are clearly separated as if they were two worlds.

In the middle of the frosty plains, which are filled with cold air, there is a towering figure. It was a humanoid being wrapped in the heavy armor of a black knight. It knelt on one knee and held a long sword with an eerie aura in both hands, the blade radiating a dark purple glow, the sword grid was in the shape of a human skull with long horns, and a pair of buffalo horns that stretched horizontally formed the gauntlet. Even if it is in a kneeling position, it still reaches a height of more than two meters, and if it stands up, it is probably at least three or four meters tall, and it can be regarded as a giant.

Such an existence obviously cannot be a player or a normal monster, but a boss.

The name is "Black Ice Knight - Holzad", and a single HP bar is a little longer than the previous Ice Dragon, a total of five and darker in color, so it seems that it is the result of two stacked together. In this way, the boss's HP is as high as ten dans.

Looking at such a thing, Hinata Naine swallowed a mouthful of saliva nervously, and reached out to pull Li Mengxi's clothes.

"That, it can't be ......?"

"Well, that kind of HP is probably a team dungeon-level boss, and it's a large-scale team. ”

"With just the two of us, we shouldn't be able to win. ”

"Definitely not. ”

After nodding, Li Mengxi turned around and looked at the winding forest behind him, "The NPC's mission has been completed, maybe we don't have to fight this boss." Anyway, let's try where this road leads. ”

"Hmm. ”

Nane Hinata turned around and drew her weapon. At the same time, Li Mengxi also drew out his dual swords and recombined them into spears.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. ”

When I heard this for the first time, Hinata Naine was indeed a little happy, after all, every girl has a longing for "princesses and knights". However, it was a little unhappy to listen to her now, you must know that she is not the kind of delicate girl who will only blindly hide behind the boy and put on a pitiful appearance.

"No, I'll protect you!"

So, Naine Hinata dropped this sentence and took the lead with her head held high, and she walked very fast. This appearance couldn't help but make Li Mengxi stunned for a moment, and could only sigh that the girl's mood was really difficult to figure out.

However, this delay reminded him of something. So, he disassembled the spear into the scabbard again, took out the "wolf flute" from the prop library and blew it.

Unexpectedly, after the sound, the riding wolf really materialized around him. This made him feel that the two of them should be able to leave safely.

"That ......" Li Mengxi turned his head and planned to ask Hinata Nayin to go up first, but there was no shadow of the girl in his field of vision, "It's so fast!"

......

Just as Li Mengxi guessed, the two of them were really lucky, the forest path they took was indeed connected to the early leaf forest. At the gallop of the wolves, they returned to the east gate of Hatsuba City at dusk.

Under the watchful eyes of the other players who had finished their day's adventure, Li Mengxi restrained the giant wolf in front of the east gate, first jumped down himself, and then stretched out his hand to Hinata. But just like when she went, Hinata Nain didn't help Li Mengxi's palm, but jumped by herself, and then turned around and walked briskly into the city.

"Wait for me!" Li Mengxi hurriedly called, but Hinata had no intention of stopping or slowing down. He had no choice but to use his fastest speed to unmaterialize the wolf rider and trot after him.

"Well, you're still angry?"

Hearing this, Hinata Nain finally stopped directly below the castle gate. She turned around sharply, her hands on her waist, and she looked visibly angry.

"Of course, I'm worried you're lost...... Isn't it funny to ride your own mount and watch the weak girl walk tiredly through the woodland!"

"Of course not!" Li Mengxi hurriedly defended, "It's just that you looked a little angry at that time, so ......"

"Am I not angry now!"

After a loud roar, Hinata Nain turned around and continued to walk in a rage like before. Li Mengxi could only catch up.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, forgive me. ”

"Hmph, it's too easy for me to forgive you with just one sentence!"

"Then how are you going to forgive me? I can promise you anything as long as it's not too much. ”

Hearing Li Mengxi say this, Hinata Nain stopped again, and couldn't help but show a smile after the treacherous plan succeeded. Of course, this smile had already been put away when she turned around to face Li Mengxi again.

"You will be treated to dinner today, so I will forgive you!"

After hearing Hinata's request, Li Mengxi seemed to understand something.

"Actually, you don't have to do that, just say that you want me to invite you to dinner, and I will agree. ”

"Of course I do. As she spoke, Nayin turned her hands behind her back with a look of satisfaction, "Isn't that just boring? ”

"Your interest is bad enough. ”

"This is also a way to play the game!Okay, now that the dinner matter has been decided, let's go and complete the mission first!"

With that in turn, Hinata started walking again, but this time she slowed down. Seeing this, Li Mengxi could only smile helplessly, and then chased after him.

The two walked side by side, talking and laughing along the way, and came to the place where they had taken over the dungeon task - the ninth floor of the underground library of the first leaf city.

There are many NPCs here, but the most important for the two at this time is a young male character named "Scarlet Sairos".

When Naon Hinata handed him the "Fantasy Chronicle" of the quest item, the NPC danced happily and poured praise on the two of them.

"That's right. After saying enough flattering words, Scarlet Sairos's expression suddenly became serious, "Did you encounter any terrible monsters after getting this book?"

Hearing this, the two immediately thought of the frost and knight monsters they encountered after being teleported out of the underground labyrinth.

"I did meet ......"

Subsequently, Li Mengxi carefully described the appearance of the team boss to Scarlet Sairos.

After hearing this, Scarlet Syros sighed heavily and said, "Alas, sure enough, the apostle appeared." ”

"Apostle, do you mean the Black Ice Knight, do you know it?" asked Hinata.

"This starts with the origin of the world. At a time when it was many times farther away than the primeval times, this world ...... No, at that time, even the concept of 'in the world' did not exist, only nothingness. Then, out of nothingness, nine supreme gods were born. The playground created by these nine gods on a whim is this world. Subsequently, the gods made all kinds of creatures as toys, even us humans. It's just that human beings are the only life created by the gods with reference to themselves, so they have great potential. This potential has made humanity stronger and stronger, and it has become the strength of all souls. In the process, the ambition of human beings also expanded, and finally one day they no longer resigned themselves to the gods and delusionally wanted to fight the gods to replace them. So, the ancient humans elected a brave man as the leader and launched a brave attack on the gods!"

"And then, which side won?" At this point, Naine Hinata was completely in the mode of listening to the story.

"Of course it's the gods!" Scarlet Scarlet laughed, "Humanity still exists only because of the mercy of the gods. However, the gods are not prepared to fully forgive human behavior. So, the nine gods first sealed the strongest warrior in the human race, and then each created a layer of enchantment, sealing the potential and vast land that humanity was proud of. We can only live in this city now, thanks to the nine-layer barrier, of course, this is only according to legends. However, even so, the gods still couldn't feel at ease, so they created the nine apostles of the gods to guard the seal. And it is recorded that 'Black Ice Knight, Holzad' is the apostle of the First Enchantment!"

"So, is it possible for this God Apostle to be defeated?" Considering the problem of the boss strategy, Li Mengxi couldn't help but ask.

"According to the records left by the primeval people, the gods left the enchantment and apostles as both punishment and trial, so it should be able to be beaten. And this "Fantasy Chronicle" is an ancient document that records a lot of information in rumors, especially the information of the apostles. That's why I really wanted it, but I didn't expect it to be true...... That's the thing, if you want to challenge the apostles, you need to find more help, the trial of the gods is very tricky! So, see you another day, and thank you both again for your help. ”

The words were closed, and Scarlet Sairos walked away from the two of them with the ancient papers. From start to finish, no new tasks pop up, so this two-step task chain should end there.

Since this is the case, Li Mengxi and Hinata Nain did not stay long and left the underground library.

Along the way, Li Mengxi kept silent with a serious expression, as if he was thinking about something important. Naine Hinata, who had lost the person she was chatting with, couldn't help but recall a series of events between the two of them from the time they got the drop of the dark green barbarian until they met the black ice knight not long ago.

"Wait a minute. On the grand steps of the palace-like above-ground building, Hinata Naine suddenly stopped and said, "We have been busy for a long time, and in the end we have not received any rewards!"

"This may be because the purpose of this quest chain is not to give players quest rewards in the first place. Li Mengxi finally finished his contemplation at this time, and at the same time he was fiddling with the operation panel.

"What do you mean?"

"You, how many levels are there?"

When asked like this, Hinata realized that she hadn't paid attention to personal parameters recently. So, she also opened her own parameter panel.

"It's level nine, and it's really up before I know it. Isn't there a growth bonus when fighting with high-level monsters and bosses?"

"Let's put that aside, take a closer look at the end of the XP bar to see if there's a gray lock-shaped icon. ”

"Let me see...... Really, there's one, so you have that icon too?"

"Hmm. Li Mengxi nodded and said, "Have you heard of a rumor that has just spread recently?" ”

"Recent rumors?" said this, Hinata Nain looked down and thought about it for a moment, and then her face changed. "Could it be the rumors of that level lock!"

"This is it. According to the principle of the Obelisk, 'all possible increases in parameter values can only be increased by repetition, without exception', and this includes experience points. All of the workouts have a chance to provide us with a small amount of experience, with combat skills and related actions providing the most. In other words, the players in the battle group must be the first to reach level nine. ”

And then there was that rumor. Once you reach level nine, your experience points are locked by the system, and all workouts after that will no longer give you experience points. In other words, the level will not be increased again. However, after all, it is just a rumor. ”

"So how do you explain this lock-shaped icon?" said Li Mengxi as he poked his finger at the mark at the end of the experience bar, "And do you remember when we formed a team?"

"Yes, yes, but does that have anything to do with the level lock?"

"Yes! At that time, you said you were level 7, right? ”

"Hmm. ”

"I'm level 8. ”

The moment she heard this, Hinata Nain also sensed the problem.

"I see! After that, we all acted in unison, and it stands to reason that since I could go from level 7 to level 9 in one go, you should have already surpassed level 9. ”

"In fact, the level is indeed level nine, but the experience bar is completely empty. ”

"So, the rumors of the rank lock are true. Now it's a problem. Feeling the seriousness of the situation, Hinata immediately thought of a solution, but it was only for a moment. A split second later, she noticed.

"You just said that the purpose of the quest is not to give players rewards, does it have anything to do with this? ”

"Well, recall that the story told by that NPC has a few keywords that have something to do with the level lock. For example, human potential, this can be understood as hierarchy. Then there's the seal, which is probably an allusion to the rank lock. ”

"So, the apostle of the gods who guards the seal, that 'Black Ice Knight, Holzad' is the key to unlocking the rank lock!"

"Hmm. The NPC concludes by saying, 'If you want to challenge the Apostles, you'll need to find more help.' Isn't this a hint that looks like a large-scale team dungeon?"

"In this case, if we defeat the boss, the level lock will be lifted!"

"I think it's likely. However, speculation is just speculation after all. ”

Hearing this, Hinata Nain suddenly became a little deflated.

"Yes, and that boss isn't something the two of us can handle. ”

She took a deep breath and her mood improved.

"Alright, that's the end of this annoying question. Presumably the big boss won't run away, and I'll talk about the rest later. Let's go to the Pavilion for dinner! Of course, you're in for a treat. ”

After saying that, Hinata Naine turned around and walked down the big steps humming a little song. Li Mengxi looked at her back, showed a shallow smile of "I can't help you", and then took a step unhurriedly.

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