The Violet Eye Dragon approached the spring. It appeared particularly irritable today, snorting out hot breaths of air as it looked around.

「Everyone, be careful. It might’ve already discovered us!」Nie Yan warned. The Violet Eye Dragon’s behaviour seemed off.

Everyone calmed their hearts, not daring to breathe too loudly. If they were discovered by the Violet Eye Dragon, it would be an absolute disaster. Failure of the operation would be the least of their worries.

The Violet Eye Dragon sniffed around the spring. It detected an unfamiliar presence. But failing to discover anything of substance, it slowly lowered its head and prepared to drink.

「It’s going to drink!」Undying Scoundrel felt his heart race. As soon as the Violet Eye Dragon started drinking, he could get to work.

The Violet Eye Dragon drank several mouthfuls of water.

「Be patient! Keep waiting!」Nie Yan eyed Undying Scoundrel. The Violet Eye Dragon still had its guard up, if only a little. If they acted rashly, they would alert it!

Sure enough, the Violet Eye Dragon only took a few swigs of water before raising its head and looking around restlessly. It seemed to have found something, as it started walking towards the transfer gate Undying Scoundrel and the other Mages set up.

「Boss, it’s walking over to the transfer gate!」

「What do we do?」

「Retreat another 100 meters. Let’s see what it’s planning to do!」Nie Yan said. Sure enough, a Level 200 Variant Lord wasn’t easy to deal with.

The players hiding near the transfer gate quickly retreated. From 300 meters, which was already an extremely safe distance, they fell back to over 500 meters away from the Violet Eye Dragon. However, Nie Yan still didn’t feel at ease and had them retreat even further back.

「Boss, the Violet Eye Dragon discovered the Transfer Gate!」

Nie Yan went over to investigate and discovered the Violet Eye Dragon standing right next to the transfer gate. His heart sunk.

「Stay put!」Nie Yan said after thinking for a bit. They had already dug out all the runestones and magic crystals from the transfer gate. Right now, it was only a frame radiating no magical energy.

The Violet Eye Dragon sensed the human presence around the transfer gate. It opened its mouth and blasted the ground with dragon breath.

「Boss, the transfer gate is destroyed!」

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Undying Scoundrel and the others had spent several hours working tirelessly on it. Their plan went up in smoke in an instant. Would they have to give up? He felt truly reluctant. If they went back empty-handed, without even making a true attempt, all their preparations would’ve been for naught. 600,000 gold worth of potions, wasted. Even if you had the money, you couldn’t throw it away like this!

The Violet Eye Dragon seemed irked by the transfer gate. It snorted, turned around, and headed back to the spring.

「Boss, what should we do? Do we continue?」Undying Scoundrel asked. They had spent three hours working on this transfer gate. Rebuilding it was not an option, the Violet Eye Dragon wouldn’t stick around that long.

「What’s the state of the transfer gate? Can it be repaired?」Nie Yan asked. If the transfer gate was beyond repair and they could only rebuilt it from scratch, they could only give up on this attempt. The two potions would also go to waste.

「I don’t know. We’re too far away. I can’t see it clearly.」

Nie Yan thought for a moment.「Wait for a bit. I’ll go over and check it out myself.」

「Boss, you’ll be discovered!」

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The transfer gate was only 30 meters away from the spring. However, with the Awareness of a Level 200 Variant Lord, Nie Yan would be discovered before even getting anywhere near it. His stats might be overpowered, standing far above all other players, but this was no player, this was a monster so strong it could perhaps wipe out an entire city!

「Don’t worry. I got this.」Nie Yan chuckled. Slowly approaching the transfer gate, he took out Eye of Kirge and placed it on the ground. This item looked like a giant eyeball with pupils, blood vessels, and all. Its appearance was a bit frightening. He chanted an incantation and put his focus on the eye. Its pupils gradually expanded. When he finished chanting, the eye lit up with a profound light as if it had come alive.

Everything the eye saw Nie Yan saw too. The Eye of Kirge slowly floated over to the transfer gate.

Two minutes later, Nie Yan got a close look at the transfer gate. The Eye Of Kirge was hidden in the grass and stared at the burnt ground.

The Violet Eye Dragon, drinking from the spring, suddenly sensed something and raised its head vigilantly. It looked around but failed to find anything amiss, lowering its head back down again and taking a big swig.

「Boss, it’s drinking. Do I go now?」Undying Scoundrel anxiously asked.

「Don’t worry, it usually spends at least 20 minutes drinking, sometimes up to 40. We still got time,」Nie Yan calmly said. Looking through the Eye of Kirge, he reported back the damage.「There’s a hole in the center taking up about a tenth of the formation. How long do you think it’ll take to repair it?」

「If we all work together, two minutes should be enough.」

「Do you have the materials?」

「Yeah, we do.」

「I have an Auto-Repair Scroll. If the damage to the transfer gate is serious, as long as I place the scroll on the formation, it should repair it,」Summer Bug said. He’d almost forgotten about this item stuffed in a corner of his bag. It was a reward from a quest, one that had seemed mostly useless until now. Who would’ve thought it would come in handy today.

「If we have the Auto-Repair Scroll, how long will it take to repair?」Nie Yan asked.

「20 seconds at most!」

「Undying Scoundrel, get to it!」Nie Yan said. Since there was still hope, they naturally had to give it a try!

「Got it!」Undying Scoundrel said, his voice somewhat trembling as he fought back the nerves. He took a deep breath and calmed his heart.

The Violet Eye Dragon finally relaxed its guard, confident the surroundings were safe, and started freely drinking from the spring.

Undying Scoundrel wore an invisibility cloak, which basically put him in stealth. He lightly moved his hand, controlling his movements extremely carefully to prevent the Violet Eye Dragon from detecting the subtle magic fluctuations.

All-Seeing Eye!

Undying Scoundrel’s eyes went red and radiated a profound light.

A little more. Closer, closer... Undying Scoundrel slowly guided the ball of water containing the black liquid toward the Violet Eye Dragon.

When the Violet Eye Dragon was drinking, the water in the spring moved around forcefully, being sucked into its belly. Undying Scoundrel started losing control of the ball of water when it reached within two meters of the Violet Eye Dragon.

Undying Scoundrel broke out in a cold sweat. The waterball was twisting around violently under the powerful sucking force. If it burst, the potion would dilute into the rest of the spring.

Keep going. Only a little bit more! Undying Scoundrel encouraged himself.

Only a meter from the water’s surface, ever so close to the mouth of the Violet Eye Dragon, Undying Scoundrel could no longer maintain the ball of water as it burst apart.

Undying Scoundrel’s hand trembled. He had lost all control.

「Boss, the water ball burst.」

「Where did it burst?」Nie Yan asked.

「About a meter from the surface. The Violet Eye Dragon should have sucked it all up, but I can’t confirm for sure,」Undying Scoundrel said in a worried tone.

「That’s fine. Goodjob. We can only wait. Everyone, start approaching the transfer gate and get ready to repair it!」

The Mages started moving towards the transfer gate. Before the Violet Eye Dragon would lose consciousness, their movements had to be extremely careful, lest they wished to end up burnt to a crisp.

The Violet Eye Dragon drank quite a bit of water. About 20 minutes later, it finally stopped and lay down near the edge of the spring to rest.

Nie Yan and the others waited and waited, but the Violet Eye Dragon didn’t lose consciousness. They couldn’t help but get worried. Perhaps it didn’t drink the potion or its resistances were too high for the potion to have any effect.

The Mages were hidden about 150 meters away from the Violet Eye Dragon, not daring to approach any closer.

「Boss, why hasn’t the Violet Eye Dragon passed out yet?」

「Do you think the potion maybe didn’t work?」

After suffering so many setbacks, the group members became extremely anxious. Even Nie Yan felt a bit restless. However, everyone was filled with expectation. Failure was not an option. He could only do his best to reassure them, as they continued to observe.

The Violet Eye Dragon took a few steps, rocking back and forth. It flapped its wings and prepared to leave.

Seeing the Violet Eye Dragon’s unsteady posture, Nie Yan’s eyes lit up.「Everyone, hurry and repair the transfer gate, now!」

「But the Violet Eye Dragon hasn’t passed out yet!」

「Go! Every second counts!」Nie Yan said in a deep tone.

The Mages finally blinked over to the transfer gate, braving the risk of being attacked by the Violet Eye Dragon.

The potion in the Violet Eye Dragon’s belly was starting to take effect. It had only flown about six meters before falling from the sky and crashing to the ground.

「We don’t know how long the potion will last. Work quickly, guys! Grab every second you can!」Nie Yan shouted.

When the Violet Eye Dragon discovered the Mages, it let out a deep roar. It started unsteadily walking towards them, only for the potion to cause it to lose its balance and fall down.

Nie Yan chanted an incarnation and summoned Lil’ Gold. If the Violet Eye Dragon attacked Undying Scoundrel and the others, he could only have Lil’ Gold take the blow.

One second, two seconds... nine seconds. THUD! The Violet Eye Dragon collapsed on the ground.

「It’s passed out!」