The first priority in hunting is to find a suitable target.
But this is not the case in battle. The people of Lotao regard those who challenge powerful prey as honors, and the scars left in tragic battles are like their medals.
Every male lion on the grassland has experienced at least one such battle. It was the moment when they transformed from kittens into men.
Rhett hid under the shadow of a rock, watching the battle below - he squinted his eyes, and after experiencing such battles for many times, he lost the passion of the past, and only gentleness remained in his silver-gray eyes. With indifference.
He grew up first and learned how to distinguish truth from lies. After that, he gradually understood many things.
He stood up slowly, and the metal ring engraved with the glorious surname on his mane jingled as it swayed. Rhett stretched his claws behind him, firmly grasped the hilt of the holy sword, and pulled it out inch by inch.
The short beard is waving its long arms to throw away the disordered minions. The gray tree people's strength is rated very high, almost reaching A+ level, which gives them an overwhelming advantage when facing these small creatures. But their movements are very clumsy, and each wave of their arms can only push those narrow, green and blue shadows back a little.
Only a few monsters were swept away by its branch claws, flew out and hit the rock wall, falling to pieces.
The cracked crystals were shattered into pieces, but no one would take a glance at them. They gradually lost their luster and turned into inconspicuous gray stone flakes, sleeping among the dust. .
At this moment, a gray light flashed in the darkness, and a sharp rock rose into the air under the guidance of the crab-shaped monster.
Those disordered minions seemed to be deliberately trying to lure Shortbeard into action. The tall gray tree man waved his branch and sent the three crystal monsters flying high into the air. But before it had time to be happy, the sharp rock suddenly flew towards it in a broken line in mid-air, passed between its arms that it had no time to retract, and hit it in the chest.
The tree man let out a roar of pain, lost his balance, and fell on his back.
At that moment, the crystal monster in the canyon seemed to have found an opportunity, and surged up like a blue tide.
"Protect it!" Amatoran shouted upon seeing this.
The chosen ones immediately surrounded the fallen Shortbeard and raised their large shields to form a front. "Change the flail!" the warrior squad leader issued the order. The Iron Guards were all weapons masters. Upon hearing the order, they threw away the spears in their hands and took off the flail with the meteor hammer from behind.
In positional warfare, chain weapons pose a greater threat to these dexterous creatures than spears. After a period of fighting, they finally mastered some tips on fighting these monsters.
The tactic worked quickly. Once the swung chain hammer entangled those opponents, the iron guard behind them could pull them hard and incapacitate them. Someone immediately stepped forward from the left and right and smashed their crystal heads with a hammer.
Compared with the amazing dexterity of these monsters, the strength provided by their size is only average. This is an obvious weakness in the face of the Iron Guard who are good at strength.
The rangers also used cone-shaped arrows with armor-breaking capabilities——
"The magicians are out."
Armatoran smashed a crystal monster away with an axe, then turned around and shouted again. He saw the giant crab walking out of the canyon, that was their real threat.
The only few healers in the team gathered together and released several recovery spells on the fallen shortbeard, but the holy ether had little effect on the tree man. Everyone couldn't help but look at each other. Amaya did not accept false believers, and there were no druids among them.
Shortbeard shook his head slowly, used one arm to support himself and sat up from the ground, "Humans, you are no match for them. Let me stop these things, and you can continue to escape along this canyon-"
Alyssa turned around after hearing this.
As the tall tree man spoke, he put his hand on his chest, and a ray of emerald green light seeped out from under its gray-white bark.
This scene seemed familiar to the people of the Holy White Stone Guild. People from Hydra in the distance also noticed the movement here and couldn't help but look over.
Everyone couldn't help but be silent for a moment. Although they had only known each other for a moment, the two gray tree men were either already for them, or were ready to sacrifice their lives for them. If they were stronger, why would they be like this?
But they knew very well that even if they could block these two waves of attacks, what was the point?
People couldn't help but turn their attention to Amatoran, their leader.
"Maybe we can still do something?"
Amatoran sighed and looked at the tall gray tree man. He had the intention to step forward and stop the other party, but he knew that they could not do this.
Shortbeard shook his head, "You must leave before the supervisor arrives, otherwise everything will be meaningless. But remember that we are not for you, but for the survival of this area. If you want to survive, just follow this path." Walk down the canyon——"
"watch dogs?"
Shortbeard was about to speak, but at this moment, it saw a beam of silver light.
Not only it, but the shield guards of the Holy White Stone in the front row also saw clearly that the light falling in the darkness - the giant crab was moving slowly through the pass of the canyon. , slowly approaching in their direction.
It was like the tip of a gleaming spear thrust straight down from the top of the cliff and penetrated into its back.
That's the big cat man.
He finally seized the opportunity and jumped down from the cliff. The strong wind blew his long mane, flying wildly.
He held the Holy Sword behind his back with one hand, and his narrowed silver-gray eyes reflected the increasingly larger target. With the help of the falling momentum, he thrust the sword downwards and inserted it into the thick crystal layer.
The silver light flashed away in the darkness, and the sword blade reached the hilt. The next moment, Red landed heavily on the monster's back. The huge construct sank down, and then let out an angry scream.
Its six limbs and claws were fixed on the ground, and it shook its upper body vigorously, trying to throw the intruder off its back. But the lion-man paladin stretched out his claws and firmly fixed it on the gap between its back armor, letting it sway from side to side but not moving at all.
But the opponent's movements were not blocked at all, which made Red realize that his sword did not hurt his vitals. According to fashionable sayings, either the monster's HP was too thick, or his sword didn't even penetrate the opponent's crystal armor.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see the damage figures that Ed and the others often mentioned, nor could he look at the battle records. He could only seek help from Parker's communication crystal pinned to his collar:
"What's going on with this sword?"
"Gray damage number, 372, Mr. Reid." The voice of Miss Naturalist responded to him.
Gray is armor damage. The damage of this sword is even lower than the attack of the Annihilator in his hand, let alone his power multiplier and the potential energy bonus of falling from that height.
This can only show that the opponent's armor is also incredibly hard.
He changed his strategy, pulled out the holy sword from his back with his backhand, brought out a piece of crystal fragment from between the crystal layers, and then rounded the sword and slashed towards its eye stalk.
The sword blade cut off a large piece of crystal, along with one of the opponent's eyes.
The latter's field of vision was instantly blackened by half.
The giant crab finally felt threatened, leaned forward hard, and hit the rock wall on one side. Red immediately released his claws and rolled down from the top. It was too late, but it was too soon. The giant crab hit the rock wall with a loud bang. Several cracks appeared in the rock layer, and sand and gravel rustled down.
After the big cat man landed, he rolled and passed under it. The giant crab reacted and dropped its sharp limbs and claws one after another, but they were all one step behind Red. The lion paladin's movements were so nimble that he didn't look like a knight, but like a sword dancer. He pounced forward to avoid the last fallen limb.
Then he turned around and struck out with a sword, and the cold blade sliced across his limbs and claws.
"Goddess is on top!"
Red roared.
The crystal made a cracking sound, and the giant body suddenly tilted, losing its balance and slamming into the rock formation again.
This dazzling fight almost stunned the people of the Holy White Stone Guild.
Is this a big cat coming out of there? In the blink of an eye, the giant crab that was causing them so much trouble was restrained. Before they could even see clearly, the monster crashed into the cliff.
Alice's eyes were even more incredible and she opened her mouth.
However, although the giant crab fell down, it did not lose its combat effectiveness. It still had five limbs and claws left, which were enough to restore its balance.
It turned around slowly and tilted, then raised one of its claws and struck at Red with a hammer. The big cat man dwarfed and let his claws pass him overhead. The giant claws hit a sharp rock and smashed it into pieces.
Without Jita's reminder, Red also noticed that the opponent's dexterity was not high. According to Ed and the others, his dodge value and balance did not drop much.
It's just that after the sharp rock shattered, the stone fragments did not fall, but were suspended in mid-air. A magic circle lit up on the claws of the giant crab, and the next moment sharp stone fragments flew towards him like a storm of blades.
"careful!"
He heard a girl's voice reminding him, which sounded familiar, but Rhett didn't dare to be distracted. He raised the holy sword and jingled to deflect the stone fragments.
It was just that each piece of stone contained huge power, and it was not easy for him to resolve it. He could only block while being forced to retreat, and soon he was out of the close combat range with the giant crab.
After the opponent forced him away, he immediately let out a low-frequency scream, and pieces of faint blue light flashed in the darkness. They were the crystal minions surrounding him.
As described in the log, the upper-ranking Crystal Beast can command the lower-ranking Crystal Beast.
However, Red stretched out his left paw, and a golden light pattern was produced, pushing away several crystal minions that were approaching.
At this moment, Amatoran woke up from a dream and shouted: "Ranger, help him quickly!"
The Ranger squad leader had been killed long ago and was under his personal command at the moment.
The rangers also realized this opportunity and were no longer stingy. They opened their special quivers, nocked their bows and fired arrows in that direction.
The highly armor-piercing and extremely expensive adamantine cone-shaped arrows have the same effect on the crystal layer armor of these monsters. The rain of arrows falling from the sky almost brings a rain of death.
The broken crystal minions fell to the ground one after another.
It's a pity that such an opportunity can never happen again, otherwise they only need to prepare dozens of fine gold arrows like those wealthy guilds to effectively contain the offensive of these monsters.
But the big cat man still seized the opportunity.
He turned around and killed the giant monster——
The opponent was of a very high level, surpassing him purely in terms of strength, but its clumsy mobility limited its performance. Of course, it was also important that he preemptively cut off one of its limbs and claws.
Although the troll can use earth spells, they are not very effective at close range. Of course, this is only in terms of offense. On defense, the big cat man also finds it difficult. The opponent protects his remaining claws very well and does not let him get close easily.
He was about to think of a way to take another risk, but at this moment - he heard a voice coming from the communication crystal:
"Mr. Reid, please step back."
That's Fang Plover's voice——
The lion paladin raised his head and happened to see the sharp rock protruding from the top of the cliff. The giant crab had already reached the bottom of the sharp rock in the previous rounds of fighting. He was stunned for a moment, then understood Fang Plover's intention, so he put away his sword and stepped back.
What surprised him was that as soon as he retreated, the giant construct, which he thought had very low intelligence, actually looked up very alertly.
Then it also saw the sharp rock protruding from the top of the cliff.
I don't know what kind of thoughts prompted it to take such action. When it saw the sharp rock, it subconsciously took a step back.
And a flash of light bloomed from the top of the cliff at this moment, and then there was a loud bang, and rolling sand and stones flew down from the top of the cliff. The sharp rock tilted slowly after the loud noise, and fell down amidst the second loud noise.
The people of the Holy White Stone Guild couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when they saw this scene.
Although they didn't see clearly whether the falling rock suppressed the monster, it blocked the entrance to the canyon anyway, isolating the crystal creatures on the other side.
They were safe for now.
When Shortbeard saw this scene, he couldn't help but stop for a moment and put down the hand on his chest.
"Continue to clear out the enemy!"
There were still some remaining opponents in the canyon, and Amatoran was afraid that his own people would relax their vigilance, so he quickly issued orders loudly.
But he himself put down the ax blade and raised his head, as if he had just realized that there were other people on the cliff. In his eyes, the man quickly appeared on the top of the cliff.
The other party looked down condescendingly, and then said in a deliberately rough voice:
"Listen up everyone, we are mercenaries passing by. Do you need help here?"
Amatoran suddenly thought that he was having a ridiculous dream, so how did you pass by and come here hundreds of meters deep underground? He looked up at the indistinct people on the top of the cliff, but although they were extremely suspicious, they were at least humans, not monsters.
"Friends," he shouted, "as you can see, we are in trouble."
"We saw it," Fang Plover replied, "Where are you going?"
Amatoran wanted to say—we want to get back to the surface. But he is not stupid, and he understands that although the other party is telling lies, he is still here, and he is probably trapped down here like them.
He paused for a moment, looked at the short beard behind him, and then said: "This Mr. Tree Man said he would take us to a safe place."
This is exactly the answer given by Fang Plover and others.
He looked at the gray tree man, and if his prediction was correct, the place he wanted to go should also be where the owner of the voice was.
Fang Yu thought for a moment, then held his throat and said:
"We can escort you to that place—"
He lowered his voice as if he was coughing up phlegm.
Later, Jita and Tianlan almost doubled over with laughter. The naturalist was a little better, and the latter almost died from laughter - so what the hell were the mercenaries passing by?
Moreover, their leader's deliberately low voice sounded like a dove calling.
Tianlan laughed with tears in her eyes. Her eyes suddenly widened, her face suddenly turned pale, and her mouth was open and she couldn't breathe. Jita was so frightened that she hurriedly patted her, and then Miss Poet coughed heavily and said breathlessly:
"Ahem, you scared me to death. Brother Ed almost laughed me to death, haha..."
But then Siesta shook her head, and under Sylvide's instructions, she walked over and lifted the two little guys up one by one.
Amatoran was stunned. He suddenly understood what the other party meant and why he wanted to call himself a mercenary - this was simply taking advantage of the situation.
But the opponent did show corresponding strength in the previous battle, especially the lion paladin who fought with the giant crab, whose personal strength was far above them.
If these people were of this level, it would not be a disadvantage to ask them to escort him.
He paused for a moment and then said: "I understand the rules of the mercenary world, and we will give you reasonable remuneration."
With a bang, he heard the sound of something falling to the ground from behind.
Amatoran looked back and realized that Miss Nightingale had not held her knife. Alice glanced at him nervously and hurriedly bent down to pick up the dagger.
But Amatoran didn't think too much. He almost didn't hold his battle ax firmly before.
But no sound came back from the top of the cliff.
Amatoran frowned, thinking that he agreed too easily, giving the other party the illusion that he could blackmail him even more.
However, he has made up his mind that no matter what the other party says, even if they all die here, he will never accept the other party's price increase again and again.
Their Holy White Stone Guild is well-known in this area.
But he was overthinking this——
Fang Yu didn't answer, but turned around and heard the big cat man's voice coming from the communication crystal:
"Ed, the more advanced Crystal Beast is nearby."
"What?"
"They seem to have learned their lesson. The landslide you created before did not bury them underneath." Rhett's voice sounded a little serious. He held the crystal in one paw and looked around in the smoke and dust, "It's still Do you remember what was recorded in the log? I suspect that there are higher-ranking crystallization beasts nearby commanding them."
Fang Yu suddenly became alert.
He turned around and looked across the canyon, but what he saw almost made him scream.
More faint blue lights appeared in the darkness in the distance. They were like dots of fireflies, gradually converging into a torrent, rushing in this direction.
More importantly, he saw many larger creatures emerging from the loose rock formations, although he could not identify whether those things were crystallized beasts.
But obviously, they are definitely not here to welcome them.
In Jita's previous analysis, the strength of the crystal cancer was close to level 33, and it was also a relatively difficult type of creature at this level.
As for the higher-level Crystal Beast, what level should it be? Level thirty-five? Level 40?
He almost took a breath, picked up the communication crystal with some dignity, and said:
"Mr. Reid, evacuate that place first."
…
After a moment of silence.
Amatoran finally waited for the other party's answer. He saw the man appear on the top of the cliff again, looked at them quietly, and then said:
"Things may be changing a bit, folks."
Sure enough, Amatoran thought, these damn greedy people are like vultures in the wilderness, eager to peck out the last trace of carrion on the corpse.
He was ready to say no.
No matter what, they must at least die with some dignity. He looked back at the tall tree man, thinking that he felt sorry for this short-bearded gentleman.
…
Miaoshuwu
