Chapter 129: No One Slays Mobs Better Than Players
Crimson Moon Mountain, at its foot.
As Fang Zhen and more than ten others strode quickly out of the stockade gate at the foot of the mountain and walked toward the two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses charging madly across the bridge, they unhurriedly drew arrows one by one from their backs, held them in their hands, and rushed forward with a roar. This left Meng Wei and his two disciples, who had originally prepared to intercept on the bridge, completely dumbfounded for a moment.
“Hall Master Lin, are you sure they can handle those two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses?” Meng Wei looked to Lin Qi beside him and could not help asking.
It would be one thing for Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to send more than ten people to deal with two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, but these people from Obsidian Martial Arts Hall were all going in without weapons, holding arrows in their hands to fight the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses in close combat.
This completely overturned everything Meng Wei had learned in more than ten years of fighting monsters in the wilderness.
The bodies of wilderness monsters were incomparably tough. Even if a Beginner Martial Artist used a B2-grade weapon and struck with full force, he could only pierce the hide and superficial muscles of a Low-level Monster, while the deeper muscle fascia and bones were very hard to damage.
The reason Beginner Martial Artists could kill these Low-level Monsters was that they either exhausted them until they bled out, or used internal force to destroy the monsters’ internal organs.
In this regard, they were the same as non-martial artists using B-grade weapons against Low-level Monsters, except that Beginner Martial Artists could confront them head-on, while non-martial artists could only trade their lives in attrition.
Right now, though Fang Zhen and the others were using B2-grade arrows, facing the four-to-five-meter-tall Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses was like poking an elephant with a wooden stick, utterly unreliable.
“Mm, no problem.” Lin Qi thought for a moment, then nodded. “They are professionals.”
Although Lin Qi did not know what Fang Zhen and the others intended to do with the B2-grade arrows, players were absolutely experienced in monster hunting. Those martial artists who spent years hunting monsters in the wilderness might not be better than these professional players.
Previously, Fang Zhen and the others had killed the Gold-Devouring Unicorn Rat in the hall’s underground area while they were still apprentices. Now they had all become Quasi-Martial Artists. Armed with B2-grade arrows against slightly stronger Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, there should not be much problem. At worst, some people would die.
“Professionals?” Meng Wei looked at Fang Zhen and the others in the distance, tossing arrows in their hands, and felt that Lin Qi was joking with him.
When anyone hunted monsters, they would be nervous to death, wishing they could tie their weapon to their hand, afraid that the only thing that could threaten the monster might fall to the ground and give the monster a chance to kill them.
But Fang Zhen and the others were happily tossing their only weapons in the air, constantly provoking the intelligence of the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, as if they truly believed the rhinoceroses did not dare to charge.
“Teacher, why don’t we join in as well?” the young woman disciple who had been following behind Meng Wei took the initiative to suggest. “With our B1-grade battle armor, we can already confront Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses head-on. The others only need to cooperate by constantly adding wounds to them. Even if we cannot kill these two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, once they are injured to a certain extent, they will retreat on their own.”
Qiao Hanlan at the side also nodded, feeling they could not delay any longer.
Crimson Moon Mountain, over a hundred kilometers from the City of Light Chasing, was not like the wilderness near the City of Light Chasing. The number of monsters here was greater, and they were also very active. If monsters could not be quickly killed or scared away,
those monsters that could not break through after a long attack would let out roars that traveled five to six kilometers, attracting more similar monsters. This was the survival strategy of weaker wilderness monsters, and Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses were one such species.
Just as Meng Wei hesitated over whether to cooperate with Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses charged to within less than fifty meters of Fang Zhen and the others.
A distance of fifty meters, for Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, was just over a second. Ordinary people would not even have time to react.
But Fang Zhen and the others behaved as if they had calculated this.
“Brothers! Do it!”
At Fang Zhen’s command, the more than ten team members, all standing in a line and all with strength at or above Limit Apprentice, struck the B2-grade arrows they had tossed into the air with Lightning Palm.
Each blow landed precisely on the tail of a B2-grade arrow.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sudden lightning burst forth. It was as if a dozen people had fired in a volley. Over ten blazing white beams pierced through the air and blasted into the two incoming Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, leaving trails of scorched marks on the ground where the electric currents had burned it.
“Roar!”
The two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, each four to five meters tall, let out earth-shaking screams. They stopped less than ten meters from Fang Zhen and the others, with B2-grade arrows embedded at multiple points in their bodies, the shafts protruding halfway out, the wounds charred black, and blood gushing uncontrollably.
“How is this possible!”
The hesitant Meng Wei was utterly stunned by what he saw.
The thick-skinned Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, even if he, wearing B1-grade battle armor and using a Martial Artist-level Martial Skill with a B2-grade weapon at full force, could at most drive the weapon twenty to thirty centimeters into their bodies, without harming the deeper muscle fascia.
Yet Fang Zhen and the others had no B1-grade battle armor, nor the strength of Martial Artists. Relying solely on B2-grade arrows, they pierced through the deep muscle fascia of the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, with arrows over a meter long fully driven in, injuring their internal organs.
This penetrating power was simply beyond comprehension.
Before Meng Wei could recover from his shock, Fang Zhen and the others on the bridge drew another B2-grade arrow from their backs and unleashed another volley at the two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses that had turned to flee.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Blazing white beams flashed one after another.
After four volleys, the two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, now shot full of arrows like porcupines, could no longer hold on. They collapsed directly to the ground, motionless, their breathing ever weaker until they completely expired.
“The accuracy is still far from enough. We have to make many improvements when we get back.” Fang Zhen looked at the two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses that had been taken down, clearly dissatisfied. He then tapped his smart watch on his wrist and said, “Tell the hired NPCs to come out and clean this up. Once everything is packed, send it all to the martial arts hall warehouse, and we will redeem it for points together then.”
“Okay, I will arrange it right away.” Saiwai Qiangke on the other end quickly responded.
Within moments, more than ten Wilderness Nomads drove out two tricycles and dragged the two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses back to Crimson Moon Mountain. The whole process unfolded with indescribable smoothness. Even the Wilderness Nomads waiting in line were indifferent, continuing to queue quietly, as if the monster attack just now was an everyday occurrence, nothing worth making a fuss over.
Meng Wei and his two disciples did not feel at ease even after reaching the mountain.
Two Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses, enough to wipe out the base of a large Wilderness Gang, had actually been easily dealt with by just over ten people from Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, without a single Martial Artist among them. If this spread, no one would believe it.
At this moment, Meng Wei and the other two also faintly understood why so many Wilderness Nomads had gathered at Crimson Moon Mountain.
In the wilderness, the greatest danger was monsters. People were willing to go to cities to make a living largely because of safety. Ordinary monster hordes could not threaten a city at all.
But the population capacity of major cities was ultimately limited. Vagrants who could not make it in the city could only live in the wilderness.
Now Crimson Moon Mountain could easily contend with wilderness monsters. Its level of safety was no worse than that of those towns. Naturally, vagrants who knew the situation would flock here.
It was not only Meng Wei and the others who were shocked. Lin Qi himself was also deeply shocked.
He had not expected that in just two days, the players on Crimson Moon Mountain would become this fierce, killing Low-level Monsters as easily as playing. If such power were turned against people, the consequences were unimaginable.
“Hall Master Lin, I know this is presumptuous, but I still want to ask: what level of Martial Skill was that move that killed the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses?” After careful consideration, Meng Wei could not help asking Lin Qi. “If our Iron Heart Gang wanted to learn it, what price would we need to pay?”
The method Fang Zhen and the others used to kill the Crocodile Fang Rhinoceroses was unheard of. If it could be widely mastered by those below the level of Martial Artist, it would be revolutionary for future wilderness operations of all races.
“What you saw is a Martial Artist-level Martial Skill of our martial arts hall and also one of our hall protecting martial skills.” Lin Qi paused and said, “Our martial arts hall will not teach it externally for now. If you want to learn it, when we are ready to teach it in the future, we can give your gang priority consideration.”
He knew something about the technique Fang Zhen and the others had used.
Previously, Yi Ye Fu Yun had managed to use it in a battle at Crimson Moon Mountain, and there was even a player post on the official forum discussing the feasibility of a coilgun.
This kind of coilgun, rather than being a Martial Skill, was more like a method of applying Lightning Palm. Because of that, even though so many people like Fang Zhen had mastered it, his system did not react.
And only a fool would casually teach this application of Lightning Palm.
Besides, even if he wanted to teach it, he could not. This way of using Lightning Palm had been developed entirely by players themselves, and only players could use this hand-crafted Super Electromagnetic Cannon method. If others tried, there was no telling how many would die; they could easily end up roasted into charcoal.
“A Martial Artist-level Martial Skill? Thank you, Hall Master Lin, for telling me.” Meng Wei nodded. He was not surprised this Martial Skill would not be taught.
As Meng Wei and the other two went up Crimson Moon Mountain, they soon discovered that the ambition of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was anything but small; it could even be called crazy.
At this time, hundreds of houses had been built halfway up Crimson Moon Mountain. Part of the mountain body had been hollowed out, and the area already exceeded the headquarters of a Wilderness Gang. Large numbers of vagrants were still excavating the mountain body and expanding the roads.
Looking across the stalls on Crimson Moon Mountain, there were likely nearly a thousand, and the number of vagrants strolling around probably exceeded thirty thousand. This was no longer a mere transit market; it was clearly the prototype of a town.
They obviously intended to rule the wilderness.
As for Lin Qi, he was also dumbstruck. In just two days, he had no idea what had happened on Crimson Moon Mountain.
Or rather, what these players had actually done.
It was completely different from when he had left.
“Teacher, should we run now?” Qiao Hanlan leaned close to Meng Wei, his voice trembling as he whispered.
The major cities had never welcomed independent wilderness towns. For those willing to submit to management, they were quite accepting, but independent wilderness towns were another matter. They were competitors, rivals for the profits from Wilderness Nomads, as well as deadly enemies in trade for the major cities. Whenever such a town appeared, cities would find ways to eradicate it. Therefore, any faction with ambitions to found a town in the wilderness would try to stay hidden until success was secured.
Now Lin Qi had brought them here and was letting them tour without reservation. That truly frightened him.
Meng Wei looked at Lin Qi leading the way ahead, shook his head helplessly, and signaled Qiao Hanlan not to act rashly.
Lin Qi had previously said he was bringing them to investigate Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, but now it was clear that was not the case at all. This was plainly an attempt to swallow the Iron Heart Gang. If they made a wrong move now, they really would not be able to escape.
At this moment, a woman wearing a silver-gray long-sleeved T-shirt stepped out of a four-story building. When she saw Lin Qi, she ran over proactively.
“Master of the Pavilion, you are back.” Zhang Qing Wei saw Lin Qi looking around as he walked and came over to report. “According to your instructions before you left, we have hired a large number of Wilderness Nomads. After these days of transformation of Crimson Moon Mountain, it has taken initial shape. Now Flo, the vice gang leader of the Green Sparrow Gang, says he wants to leave the Green Sparrow Gang and bring his people to apply to join our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Master of the Pavilion, do you want to accept them?”
