Chapter 235: Chapter 197: Light in the Darkness
"Triple A Level mission?"
"How can this main storyline mission dynamically increase?"
"Could it be that the game developer thinks our journey lacks challenges and wants to up the difficulty here?"
All the players were surprised when they saw the sudden mission alert on their smart watches, not expecting the game’s mission difficulty to increase.
"It seems this should be the final test of the main storyline mission." Fang Zhen gazed at the continuous roaring in the distance, clearly feeling the strong tremors emanating from there, and licked his lips, saying, "Ahead is probably the BOSS battle."
"This mission requires us to protect the Martial Arts Hall NPCs’ safety. One is the hall master, the other is the new instructor. Let’s divide into two groups, one to assist the hall master and the other to assist the instructor. If one group can’t hold out, the other group should quickly support." Luo Wushang said.
"I agree too. The hall master’s side seems more dangerous. Those of us whose physical attributes are close to middle-tier martial artists can go with the hall master, and the others follow the instructor." Ye Qinglu nodded in agreement.
Immediately, Luo Wushang and the others assigned the personnel, with Luo Wushang, Ye Qinglu, Li Ranxing, and Fang Zhen constantly following Lin Qi, while the other six followed Meng Wei.
In the forest, the convoy of over five hundred martial artists steadily approached the center of the commotion, feeling more apprehensive the closer they got.
Everywhere one looked in the forest bore traces of battle. These battle marks were clearly not caused by Refining Organ Realm martial artists, as even the terrain had changed somewhat.
Moreover, there were corpses of monsters and City Defense Corps members everywhere, indicating that the City Defense Corps had evidently engaged in a fierce battle with the monster hoard.
"Something’s wrong! The situation isn’t right!" Morton observed the bodies of monsters and people lying all over the forest, saying with a grim expression, "The battle traces here aren’t new, and these monsters and people have been dead for quite some time. Judging by the number of Defense Corps members, at least one convoy’s worth of them have died here, so everyone needs to be careful!"
"More than one convoy has been taken out?" Following Lin Qi, he also observed the surroundings.
He noticed that at least one convoy had indeed been wiped out here. Although it was getting dark, one could still vaguely see in the distance the many damaged B6 Level armored transport vehicles that had been collided with, clearly not matching the intense battle situation coming from the center.
If this were truly the case, then their current situation was quite perilous, given that these convoys had already proven the monsters had the capability to annihilate a convoy, and more than one.
"We’re here!" Deputy Captain Leik suddenly shouted, "Everyone proceeds according to the agreed-upon battle formation. No matter what happens, don’t leave the formation, or death is certain!"
Following Deputy Captain Leik’s orders, the team, led by Morton, positioned the middle-tier and higher martial artists at the front, with the initial tier martial artists in the rear, cautiously vigilant of their surroundings, swiftly charging towards the convoy already in a stalemate battle.
At this time, despite the convoy being attacked by monsters, none were Bone Forging Realm martial artists, yet half of the City Defense Corps members survived, and more than three hundred accompanying martial artists also remained. Upon seeing the reinforcements, they rushed towards them to break out.
In this attacked convoy, Lin Qi also recognized some familiar faction members.
Gorilla Gang, Baelon, Peiwen, Bain—these four factions’ martial artists.
But at this moment, the martial artists of these four major factions were quite a sorry sight. Even combined, there were only fourteen of them, which was over one-third less than the publicly known numbers from these four factions.
"Impressive, indeed, that these four major factions have endured in the city’s outskirts for years, having two high-tier martial artists among them." Lin Qi gazed at a towering red-haired gorilla and a slightly hunched elder in the crowd, marveling at the foundation of the four major powers.
Among the outskirts’ factions, just having martial artists was good enough. Those with middle-tier martial artists were even more outstanding, yet the Gorilla Gang and Baelon Clan even concealed high-tier martial artists. At this rate, another step forward, and they could settle in the city.
But currently, the situation was not favorable for the martial artists of the four major factions.
Despite having two high-tier martial artists, both clad in B4 Level battle armor, and having five middle-tier martial artists in the team, matching the strength of a small team of the City Defense Corps.
Yet, facing the encirclement slaughter by numerous middle-tier Golden-winged Snakes, the two high-tier martial artists could merely fend off five or six at best, while the remaining seven snakes were beyond the five middle-tier and seven initial-tier martial artists’ capacity to handle.
"Uncle Wright, save me!"
Beis, covered in golden fur and wearing B2 Level battle armor, barely shielded himself from a Golden-winged Snake’s attack with his heavy shield, only to have another snake lash out with its tail. Such tremendous Strength could easily send a middle-tier monster like the Wind-Seeking Wolf flying, something beyond the initial-tier martial artist Beis to withstand.
The red-haired gorilla Wright instantly dashed in front of Beis, using the B3 Level heavy shield in his hand to block.
Bang!
The massive snake tail collided with the heavy shield, forcing Wright to take half a step back to stabilize himself, his face unusually grim.
"Damn it! How are there so many Golden-winged Snakes, endless to kill." Wright furrowed his brows, looking at the large group of Golden-winged Snakes charging out from the woods, vexed.
From the moment their convoy was attacked, he and Baelon’s Katewen had already killed no fewer than ten Golden-winged Snakes. As for the various small teams of the City Defense Corps, they had slain even more.
To this point, the number of slaughtered Golden-winged Snakes surpassed three hundred, yet their numbers not only hadn’t dwindled but seemed to be increasing.
Even with reinforcements arriving now, continuing to fight like this, it’s not just martial artists like Beis at risk—even high-tier martial artists like themselves might perish.
"Wright, you’re too far from me. I can’t fend off this many Golden-winged Snakes alone," Katewen, who was managing to hold off four Golden-winged Snakes, couldn’t help but shout.
As an extreme high-tier martial artist, clad only in B4 Level battle armor, managing three Golden-winged Snakes at once was his limit. Facing attacks from four Golden-winged Snakes was unsustainable.
Wright, seeing this, stepped in, blocking with his heavy shield once more to hold one off, relieving Katewen somewhat.
"Wright, we can’t continue fighting like this. Abandon what needs to be abandoned and quickly move closer to the reinforcements, or we’ll all perish together," Katewen glanced at another few Golden-winged Snakes charging from afar, quietly suggesting.
Given their high-tier martial artist abilities, if they were to focus solely on escaping, ten or more Golden-winged Snakes wouldn’t stop them. They’ve held till now solely because Wright was protecting the initial-tier martial artist Beis.
Hearing this, Wright hesitated, while Beis, who also heard, grew anxious.
"Patriarch, it seems there are people from the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall among the incoming reinforcements," remarked Giant Handro, the middle-tier martial artist, noticing familiar silhouettes among the approaching reinforcements and speaking involuntarily.
"Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? What a narrow path encounter," Katewen couldn’t help but glance towards the reinforcement crowd from afar, chuckling, "I thought these four major forces would be finished this time, but it seems the Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s luck isn’t great either. Trapped in this Golden-winged Snake encirclement, they’ll face the same fate as us, waiting to be worn out to death here."
Though their odds of surviving and leaving were small, seeing the adversarial Black Obsidian Martial Arts Hall present here offered some comfort.
As the reinforcement team arrived, half of the nearly three hundred Golden-winged Snakes previously encircling and attacking suddenly rushed towards the reinforcement team, with over fifteen snakes directly assailing the squad where Lin Qi was.
"Damn it! Why so many!" Morton, witnessing the fifteen Golden-winged Snakes charging, felt a chilling sensation run down his spine.
Though their squad had four high-tier martial artists, tackling twelve or thirteen at once was their best effort. Golden-winged Snakes, compared to similar-tier Wind-Seeking Wolves, had harder skin, tougher than diamond, and a tail sweep carried at least ten tons of force, something middle-tier martial artists could hardly withstand.
Seeing the fifteen Golden-winged Snakes less than fifty meters away, at the snakes’ speed, it wouldn’t take even a second to reach them.
In this critical moment, Morton suddenly saw crimson beams of light shooting from behind, illuminating the night sky, striking the Golden-winged Snakes in a blink.
The supposedly impenetrable snake skin was pierced through, leaving blood holes the size of a bowl.
As the crimson beams ceased, over half of the fifteen Golden-winged Snakes collapsed on the spot, with just five pausing, their golden pupils, several times larger than copper bells, fixated on the fallen snakes, imbued with unprecedented fear...