Volume 4: People who challenge the light Chapter 45: Evil Fire
I have to admit that I underestimated the ability of the wild horses. The zombies failed to stop the enemy and failed to hold out for a period of time as expected. I knew the situation was not good. The blood bat couple had not yet passed the reaction period and could not immediately attack the horse king. Once it escaped into the wild horses, I was afraid that it would be impossible to snipe it. The opportunity to see the horses galloping after several hours of hard work would be wasted. I don’t know how long I will have to wait for the next time.
At this point, I had no choice but to take a gamble. I released the "Blinding Fog" to cover the entire rear of the Horse King. Although I didn't know how effective it would be against the galloping wild horses, even if it couldn't effectively trap them, it could at least create a little commotion and try to delay the time for them to meet up with the Horse King. At the same time, I activated the "Touch of Death" to entangle the Horse King. This would not only consume its physical strength, but even if it turned around and ran into the fog area, I could also determine its approximate location and take corresponding actions in time.
Seeing the enemies appearing in front and behind him, the horse king, who had slowed down, suddenly accelerated and started a diagonal sprint, which not only allowed him to get away from us, but also allowed him to get closer to the wild horses on the flank that were not affected. As expected, he was a small boss, with a little wisdom in his head and a lot of experience in how to save his life. I naturally couldn't let the horse king meet up with his subordinates smoothly, so I released "blind fog" twice in succession to block two areas. As long as the horse king didn't dare to break in, he would have to go around for a distance.
Fortunately, it seems that creatures living in the light have an instinctive fear of darkness, and the horse king is no exception. He changed direction again and avoided the two "eye-blocking fogs" in front of him. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. If he dared to break into the foggy area, the situation would be even more complicated. I really can't think of a good way to deal with it.
Some wild horses that had escaped the first foggy area continued to run forward and had already rushed in front of the blood bat couple. However, their strength was not comparable to that of the fragile zombies. The number of wild horses that collided with them was not too large, and they easily withstood the impact with their flesh. While I was anxiously waiting, they finally regained their mobility, tore apart the wild horses that blocked their way, and flew after the horse king.
There were too many of these damn wild horses. They were running in a straight line, and I was running diagonally in front of them. In the process, collisions were inevitable. Although there were powerful Red Stars guarding the inside, I was invincible and no horse could get close to me, but my speed was still affected a little, and I couldn't quickly close the distance with the horse king. The blood bat couple also found it difficult to complete the task of sniping the horse king. In order to prevent the horse king from joining the wild horses, they once again transformed into bats and flew across the fog area, blocking the wild horses in front. While moving with the horse king, they killed the wild horses in the front and tried to get close to the horse king to kill him. With the strength of an ordinary wild horse king, it would be a dead end if they were approached by a blood bat of a much higher level. However, the cunning horse king had been running diagonally, always keeping a distance from them. Sometimes he would even prefer to move further away from the herd of wild horses, giving the blood bat couple no chance at all. Moreover, more and more wild horses rushing forward required more energy to deal with them. If they were not careful, they might be broken through and intercepted by the herd of wild horses, so they dared not take the risk of attacking the horse king.
It is not a solution to continue to be in a stalemate like this. The horse king's abilities in other aspects are not outstanding. His only characteristic is his abundant physical strength. It is said that he is not inferior to the one-horned white rhinoceros and mammoth, which are known for their physical strength. Even if the "Touch of Death" is eroding his physical strength, it will probably not have much effect in a short period of time. The herd of wild horses is getting closer and closer. Although the part in the middle has been blocked by us, the two wings have gradually advanced forward, presenting a double-team situation. Once trapped in the encirclement of tens of thousands of wild horses, sniping the horse king may be just empty talk. The situation does not allow any further delay. He must be killed as soon as possible in the shortest possible time.
There were no extra people to deploy, so I gritted my teeth, jumped off the horse, and let Taotao rush forward alone to snipe the horse king. Without the burden of me, Taotao, who was lightly equipped, was much faster. I believe he will catch up with the horse king soon. With the strength of the hell skeleton horse, he should be able to easily defeat the opponent. But there is a prerequisite, that is, I have to survive until that moment - without Taotao as a means of transportation, I can't outrun those wild horses, and I will soon be caught up and attacked. If I can't dodge, dozens or hundreds of wild horses will rush up together and definitely kill me in seconds.
It's a race against time, persistence is victory, I must not die before the Horse King, the Blood Bat couple was restraining the Horse King's actions, and at the same time clearing obstacles for Tao Tao, and they couldn't be transferred back, the only one I could rely on was the Red Star, with it as a barrier, most of the wild horses that tried to rush over were killed by collisions and slashes, and none of them could stand up to me. However, as I slowed down, it also had to slow down, and soon, the wild horses running wildly on both sides immediately rushed forward and sandwiched us, some turned to the direction of the Horse King, and the other turned around to attack me.
I was forced to move closer to Red Star. I didn't care about the eight or ten of them. But a large group of them surrounded me. "One Rider, One Dust" and "Shadow of Displacement" were not effective. I could avoid one horse but not the other. If I was hit by one, I would not be able to stand up even with the "Three Shields". Once I was knocked to the ground, I would have a hard time getting up again under the trampling of horses. Red Star ran around, waving his saber wildly to harvest the lives of wild horses. I also gave up maintaining the "Touch of Death" - the distance was getting farther and farther anyway. Even if I didn't take it back, the horse king would break free after a while. I released the "Cloud of Death" with all my strength, and at the same time, I held the shadow dagger in my other hand, exerting all my skills to strive for my own survival.
I don't know how many wild horses I killed. They rushed in front of me several times. Thanks to the Shadow Dagger's random stabbing, it played a paralyzing effect, so I didn't get hit and avoided falling. If it weren't for the Red Star's much stronger strength and fast movement speed, I would have died countless times. However, the number of wild horses surrounding us increased, and the pressure was getting greater and greater. I was already in a panic, and my physical strength was greatly consumed. I was about to collapse.
Fortunately, Taotao finally lived up to my expectations. The Hell Skeleton Horse, which had undergone two evolutions, was certainly not comparable to the Horse King. Its own IQ and experience were also above the Horse King. It avoided the interference of other wild horses all the way and quickly approached the Horse King. The blood bat couple effectively intercepted the rescue of the wild horses. "Hell Fire Ray" and "Flame Body Protection" worked together, but the Horse King, who was physically stronger, was isolated and helpless and had no way to resist. He uttered a shrill cry and died in hatred. After receiving Taotao's message to confirm the completion of the mission, I immediately gave up resistance and let the wild horses, who were more aggressive, trampled me to death - the Horse King was already dead, and these younger brothers did not scatter. I didn't have time to waste with them anymore. It was better to die and wait for six hours before advancing.
After entering the "Dead Soul Space", I immediately set off to the "Zombie Reserve Base" and hurried to replenish the lost manpower. Although the combat ability of zombies is low, they are better because they can be summoned in large numbers at one time. Sometimes they are still a little effective in blocking the enemy's actions. Before finding a better substitute, I really can't be without them. This base was specially established by the three zombie kings according to my requirements. It maintains a scale of more than 10,000 zombies. They are all carefully selected relatively tall and mighty individuals. All zombies are lined up in neat queues, and can quickly and easily perform "Soul Contract". It takes only a few seconds to get one, and it can be performed while walking, like an assembly line, which is very efficient. The captured zombies will leave the base, and the three zombie kings will make up for the shortage as soon as possible to ensure that it will not affect my next use. No one is pointing fingers at me. I have absolute power and can act recklessly. This feeling is really enjoyable!
I finally succeeded in being promoted to a high-level thief. To be honest, the difficulty of this promotion task is really high. Using a sniper plan like mine not only requires a speed that exceeds that of the Horse King, but also the strength to fight against a herd of wild horses. If any one of Taotao, Red Star, and the Blood Bat couple is missing, I'm afraid things would have a different ending. For those with worse conditions, it is better to go the assassination route to have a greater chance of success.
Without additional rewards, the higher the level of the second profession, the harder it is to develop, and the less profit it makes. This is also a limitation of the system, destined to be a supporting profession, so as to prevent the two professions from flying together and creating a "superman" with two professions. The strength value has increased a little, reaching light orange, which is too low even for a thief. The main reason is that the innate attribute is too low, only half a star, and it is not easy to grow. The health and physical value have turned into dark orange, and the agility value has increased the most, increasing by two levels at once, reaching light yellow. As for the mental power, it may be that the base is too high. It is still dark green, but the color is a few points darker. It looks like it is almost able to break through to light cyan. There are pros and cons. Although choosing a thief as a second profession is much more flexible in terms of body movement and speed than a counterpart who chooses another magician profession, it is slightly inferior in the growth of mental power. If it were not for the highest level of rewards for every promotion task of the necromancer, I am afraid that they would have surpassed it long ago.
As expected, I learned an attack skill called "Sneak Shot" for the fourth-level profession. "Attack hit rate increases by 50%, attack speed doubles, and attack damage doubles." Combined with the properties of my shadow dagger, I finally have a certain melee ability. However, since it is a sneak attack, it cannot be performed continuously. There needs to be a long interval between the two skills. Otherwise, if I stab them randomly with a dagger, I am afraid that the knight or warrior can be killed head-on by the thief.
Offensive skills cannot be practiced in vain, they must be launched against a target. If you want to reach a three-star proficiency, you can only use "sneak attack" to fight the enemy in close combat. Unless I am willing to spend time to find some low-level monsters to practice, I am afraid that I will not have many opportunities to use it in a battle with equal strength, because skill failure is equivalent to casting a skill, and it cannot be continued like "Knight of the Dust" or "Shadow of Disappearance". For a part-timer like me whose skill success rate is reduced by 20%, it is simply a double-edged sword. If you fail to hurt the enemy, you may be hurt by the enemy. I humbly consulted Afeng and finally came to the conclusion that it can only be used to win by surprise, and relying too much on it is a dead end.
Xue Wuxia and the others handed in the "Thousand Man Order" and completed the task of upgrading the mercenary group. The Tongxin League officially became a medium-sized mercenary group with a thousand formal members. The central meeting hall of the station is a super building rewarded and does not need to be upgraded. However, the area of the station has expanded to two square kilometers, which can be better developed and constructed. Of course, all this is inseparable from a large amount of capital investment, and the expansion of scale has also put forward higher requirements for the defense capabilities of the station. They have been very busy during this period, recruiting new members, planning construction, organizing members to fight treasures to raise funds, etc. Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Everyone has their own expertise, and in comparison, the straightforward fighting and killing may be more suitable for me.
During this period, Afeng and Yue Linglong worked with Bai Yunjian and his team in a very impressive way. They did not confront the Church of Light directly, but always made some small moves, such as suddenly rushing into a church but not going deep into it, killing the four elite knights of light guarding the gate with a large number of enemies, and retreating quickly before the reinforcements arrived, which not only damaged the face of the Church of Light, but also left no witnesses and avoided being wanted. They fought in various places and traveled around the four continents. Their whereabouts were uncertain, they appeared and disappeared like ghosts, they did not make big mistakes, but they kept causing small troubles. It was not cost-effective they could only strengthen their vigilance and passively defend themselves.
I haven't made much progress in the "Dead Soul Space". Although I have been promoted to a high-level thief, my mental strength has not improved significantly. The Terror Knights still refuse to submit to me. I caught them one after another, but they were all stubborn and stubborn. No matter how I tried to persuade them, they still ignored me. In the end, I could only kill them to gain some experience points. I can't get involved in the affairs of the Concentric Alliance. The "Resistance Alliance" has not taken any specific actions yet. I can't find anything else to do except leveling up all day. I keep hitting a snag with the Terror Knights and can't subdue them. I feel so depressed. It will take some time before I can be promoted to the sixth-level profession. During this period, my mental strength cannot grow much. Will I be depressed all the time?
The evil fire in my belly was getting stronger and stronger. I couldn't hold it back any longer. Since there was no way to break through the Terror Knight, I would turn to conquer other undead creatures. The target was the corpse witches who were also high-level undead. They used long-range magic attacks and were powerful individually. It would be a great help to subdue them. Previously, I had always been concerned that the corpse witches would act in groups, often hundreds or thousands of them staying in one area, and would attack any alien creatures they saw. If I used the Dark Knight and the Black Warrior to forcefully attack, not only would the casualties be too great, but I might not have much chance of winning. However, I was now the first corpse king in the zombie world, and the other three corpse kings obeyed my orders. I drove all the zombies to choose a corpse witch's territory and launched a large-scale attack. I would not hesitate to launch an undead war. Anyway, as long as the three corpse kings were not dead, the ordinary zombies were not my direct subordinates, and I would not feel bad no matter how many died. As long as the expected goal was achieved, I would not care even if I became a "lone corpse king".
