Chapter 14 – Night Battle

Chapter 14 – Night Battle

The spider was about to exert its strength to pull Cheng Yang when his Magic Missile disrupted its rhythm. Without the instantaneous elastic force of the spider silk, its own strength was insufficient to lift Cheng Yang into the air.

“Attack!” Cheng Yang shouted, launching another Magic Missile.

Simultaneously, the other seven ranged attackers focused their fire on the spider. In that instant, the spider was overwhelmed by the barrage of attacks, killed instantly, and its corpse fell from the tree.

Cheng Yang cautioned, “Although this Spotted Fur Spider is only a Tier 1 early-stage magical creature, it’s particularly troublesome in the forest. It’s one of the few Tier 1 creatures with ranged attack capabilities, capable of ambushing from the shadows. Its strength is enough to lift an adult into the air, so we must be careful.”

They didn’t need Cheng Yang’s reminder to be cautious. The sight of such a large spider was terrifying enough, and no one wanted to become its meal.

Cheng Yang had already launched four attacks, while the other ranged attackers had used their skills twice. To prepare for any sudden situations, they all sat down to rest for about twenty seconds, waiting for their mana to fully recover before continuing.

After advancing another forty meters, Cheng Yang’s expression changed as he heard something. “Be careful! Monsters are approaching. Focus fire!”

As soon as he spoke, twelve green-skinned monkeys charged out from the roadside forest. The noise from their previous battle must have alerted these creatures.

Cheng Yang acted fastest, firing a Magic Missile that knocked down the lead monkey. The group had gained experience – whatever target Cheng Yang attacked, everyone would focus fire on it, instantly killing the unfortunate creature. Of course, this required all attacks to hit, otherwise the effect wouldn’t be achieved.

With the monkeys only about ten meters away, all attacks landed. The first monkey died before it could complete its charge.

Cheng Yang continued his attacks while Li Wanshan and three other warriors prepared to withstand the monkeys’ charge. The four summoned wolves rushed forward, their purpose being to die and slow the monkeys’ advance.

Although summoners improved their own attributes when leveling up, these attributes were added to their summons. Their magical attacks became the summons’ attack power, while their physical attacks were pitifully weak, unable to even break through a magical creature’s defense.

This was the summoner’s greatest strength – their combat power was entirely embodied in their summons. The summons weren’t afraid of death and could be resummoned if killed.

The dozen or so green monkeys were momentarily slowed by the four shadow wolves, then turned their attention to the wolves. Their crude weapons flashed as they stabbed at the wolves.

Cheng Yang’s group wouldn’t miss this opportunity. Various attacks rained down, and five monkeys were quickly killed. However, by this time, all four shadow wolves had fallen, and the remaining six monkeys charged again.

“Quick! Summon!” Cheng Yang ordered urgently.

The four summoner apprentices instantly cast their summoning skills, and four new shadow wolves appeared to block the monkeys. But by now, the monkeys had reached the warriors, and two warriors taking double attacks were sent flying.

The four shadow wolves held the line again, stabilizing the situation. In one-on-one combat, the monkeys couldn’t quickly kill the humans.

After about ten seconds, all the monkeys lay dead, providing Cheng Yang’s group with 12 spirit energy points.

Since no one had taken up a crafting profession yet, these magical creatures didn’t drop equipment, so there was no need to loot the battlefield.

Cheng Yang assessed the battle. All ranged attackers’ mana was nearly depleted, while the warriors still had some mana left but had lost about ten health points. Without the shadow wolves holding the line, there might have been casualties.

“You saw what happened,” Cheng Yang said calmly. “If there had been two or three more monsters, we might not have held. Even if we won, deaths would have been inevitable. That’s not the kind of victory we want.”

The others understood the danger. Without mana, ranged attackers were helpless. Even warriors couldn’t kill magical creatures of the same tier without mana.

“Rest now and recover your mana and health,” Cheng Yang said quickly, then sat cross-legged to begin meditation.

After about two minutes, all ranged attackers and summoners stood up. They had only lost mana, which recovered quickly. The injured warriors, even while meditating, needed two minutes to recover one health point. With about ten points lost, they needed at least twenty minutes for full recovery.

This wasn’t a safe base, and monsters could appear at any time, so Cheng Yang stayed nearby to guard them.

During this time, about a dozen more monsters appeared and were quickly dispatched. After ensuring there were no large groups nearby, Yang Tian scouted within a hundred meters alone, killing seven or eight solitary monsters.

When Li Wanshan and the others finally fully recovered, they were still shaken by the previous battle. While the ranged attackers had enjoyed the thrill of killing, the warriors had faced death directly, giving them a completely different experience.

Li Wanshan asked, “Cheng Yang, should we continue forward?”

Cheng Yang looked down the road. It was nearly 7 PM, and darkness was falling. However, it was the 14th day of the lunar month, nearly a full moon, so complete darkness wasn’t a concern.

Instead of directly answering, Cheng Yang explained, “The further we go from the base and the more time passes, the greater the chance and size of monster groups. At our current speed, by the halfway point, we’re likely to encounter groups of twenty or more magical creatures. If we stay in this area and quickly clear out monster groups, we won’t face much danger. Even if more monsters appear, they’ll be solitary or in small groups of three or four, posing no threat.”

Seeing their expressions soften as they understood the danger, Cheng Yang continued, “Actually, we won’t stay here long. Once we’re strong enough, we can return to Xiangcheng City soon. Even if we returned now, we wouldn’t be much help. It would be hard to find our families in the chaos, and even if we did, we couldn’t protect them.”

Li Wanshan hesitated, then gritted his teeth. “Alright! I’ll stay. We’ll return to Xiangcheng City when we’re stronger… I just hope my wife and child can wait for me! Damn this apocalypse.”

With Li Wanshan’s decision, the others also agreed to wait until they were stronger. They recognized the truth in Cheng Yang’s words – Xiangcheng City was too big to search effectively, and without sufficient strength, they might die before finding anyone.

Under Cheng Yang’s leadership, the group entered the forest.

Magical creatures occasionally burst from the undergrowth, only to be killed by Cheng Yang’s group. Although night affected their vision, not all magical creatures had night vision, and the moonlight helped reduce their disadvantage.

The main reason they could continue was that after the world’s gamification, unless killed instantly by an overwhelmingly powerful creature, they wouldn’t die. Even sudden attacks would only cost a few health points.

For the next three to four hours, Cheng Yang’s group wandered within a kilometer of the base walls, killing over four hundred magical creatures. This number could have been higher if not for the time spent letting warriors recover health.

Cheng Yang was relieved that in these four hours, they hadn’t encountered any Tier 1 mid-stage creatures, which could have caused casualties. This wasn’t surprising – it was only the first day of the world’s gamification, and they had stayed near the base. The two Tier 1 mid-stage green monkeys earlier had only appeared as part of the base occupation test.

After four hours of intense combat, everyone felt mentally exhausted. Although Cheng Yang was unaffected, for the others’ safety, he decided to return to the base.

Back at the base, Cheng Yang found that aside from four people patrolling the walls, everyone else was cultivating near the altar. This gave him some hope – these people were adapting better than he’d expected, not completely collapsing in the face of the apocalypse.

This was largely thanks to Cheng Yang himself. Without his guidance and help, these people might have already fallen to the monsters.

Although the evening’s earthquake hadn’t caused many casualties, the subsequent monster attacks had reduced Xiangcheng City’s population by a fifth. If the monsters hadn’t temporarily lost their aggressive tendencies after feeding, the death toll would have been higher.

Just then, the cultivators woke up, including Yu Kai and others. Seeing Cheng Yang return, they immediately gathered around, eager to know about the outside situation.

“Yang, how did it go?” Yu Kai asked immediately.

Cheng Yang replied, “There are too many monsters outside. We didn’t dare explore too far, only hunting nearby. It’ll be a few more days before we can return to Xiangcheng City… By the way, how’s your cultivation progressing?”

Yu Kai said, “I had 11 spirit energy points and used them all. My cultivation progress has reached 2.4%. With enough spirit energy, I should reach mid-stage warrior apprentice in about twenty days.”

The others reported similar progress. The evening’s battle had earned everyone between 10 to 20 spirit energy points. While 10 points had been repaid to the territory, most people still had over 10 points left. Without exception, they had all chosen double cultivation speed.