Chapter 42: Total Annihilation
Thirty-six players had mentally prepared themselves for a skirmish, but upon entering the dense forest, they found it empty, without a single suspicious target.
"What’s going on?"
"Where are the enemies?"
"Could it be they haven’t arrived yet?"
The players gathered together, their faces full of doubt.
But before they could think further, the sound of air being torn apart suddenly rang out.
Mad Blade Old Wang immediately shouted, "Careful! It’s an ambush!"
Arrows emitting black mist flew rapidly into the Fourth Calamity Army, and several players were instantly killed on the spot, one arrow even piercing through the body of the warlock Little Bell.
201 (Lethal Critical Hit!)
Several more sounds of penetration rang out.
Long spears suddenly launched sneak attacks.
Several more players were caught off guard and assassinated.
242 (Lethal Critical Hit!)
195 (Lethal Critical Hit!)
252 (Lethal Critical Hit!)
Ye Li Meng let out an unwilling roar, "Xiao Zhou!"
The ranger Lone Boat, one of the top experts of the team, was also pierced by a spear, and behind him slowly appeared a figure drenched in blood, draped in a yellow cloak, without a head.
"Damn it!"
"The monsters can turn invisible!"
"No wonder we couldn’t see them!"
One by one, the Yellow Turban Headless Soldiers’ ambush caused six or seven player casualties, including core strength Lone Boat and one of the main DPS, Little Bell, causing huge losses to the Fourth Calamity Army and throwing them into chaos for a time!
"Be careful!"
"It’s the Headless Soldiers from He Ting Village!"
Salty Fish Thrust shouted, "These ghost things are Level 3 Elite monsters!"
The Yellow Turban Headless Fiend Soldiers not only had invisibility but also wielded different weapons — some with bows and arrows, some with long spears, and some with swords and the like.
There were too many!
Visually estimated to be around a dozen or twenty.
The players hadn’t expected this situation.
Ye Li Meng swung his battle knife at the nearest headless soldier — he was one of the earliest players to possess a white-quality weapon, now upgraded to +5, usually able to instantly kill Level 4 or 5 normal monsters.
Clang!
The weapon was blocked.
The headless soldier was knocked back a few meters, losing some health, but it was far from a heavy injury.
At this, even Ye Li Meng’s expression turned grim — this was a battle with an overwhelming disparity in strength, one they couldn’t possibly win!
Midnight Pig Slayer shouted, "Damn it, a dozen or twenty elites, how the hell are we supposed to fight this? This mission’s difficulty is way too exaggerated, we have no chance against this lineup!"
Back then, eight players had teamed up.
And barely defeated a single Level 3 Elite.
Each of these headless fiends was no weaker than the Snake-Tailed Flame Chicken.
How were they supposed to fight now?!
No matter how they looked at it, the disparity was too vast — and behind these fiend soldiers, there was probably an even stronger boss!
"Afraid of what! Fight them! Take one down if you can!"
Street Slayer rushed out like a mad dog and roared, "Fourth Calamity Army will prevail!"
Black-Eyed Rui Ge shouted loudly, "Well said! Even knowing we can’t win, we must fight! We swore our military vows before the Lord!"
Upon hearing this.
The players’ blood boiled again.
Even if they knew they would lose, they had to fight with spirit!
"Ahhh!"
"I’m going all out!"
"At least I’ll take one down with me!"
"Fourth Calamity Army will prevail! Fourth Calamity Army will prevail!"
"......"
Xu Feng stood in the shadow of the forest at this moment, coldly watching these howling, reckless Starsea hounds, rushing forward like moths to flames, without the slightest change in expression.
Clearly weak.
Yet overestimating themselves!
These hounds were nothing to worry about.
The only one worthy of concern was the Lord himself.
After all, in most cases, a Lord was definitely much stronger than his subordinates, so unless the Lord personally acted, Xu Feng would not act rashly either, showing that this Abyssal Fallen was very cautious.
As one carefully nurtured soldier after another fell.
Xu Feng did not believe that the Lord hiding behind them could remain calm.
The Yellow Turban Headless Fiends were not only powerful but had taken the initiative to seize the advantage — although the Fourth Calamity Army’s morale was high and players resisted fiercely, the situation could not be reversed.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge rolled to dodge two arrows, then immediately activated Wind Sprint to rush towards a blade-wielding fiend soldier, sidestepped the blade, and stabbed his dagger into the monster’s chest, feeling as if he had stabbed into an old wooden stake.
19!
Too weak!
His ranger’s dagger was already +7!
And it could only deal this pitiful amount of damage!
Each headless fiend soldier had around two hundred HP, truly tough opponents!
Black-Eyed Rui Ge did not get greedy, quickly withdrew, dodging a series of ferocious counterattacks, and then attacked five more times consecutively, each strike well-timed, whittling down over a hundred HP.
If it were a fair one-on-one.
There seemed to still be hope.
This showed his strength had improved a lot compared to when facing the Flame Chicken.
Black-Eyed Rui Ge was about to continue attacking when suddenly a cold arrow struck from behind — although he reacted and tried to dodge, his leg was still grazed, greatly affecting his movement.
When the headless soldier caught a breather.
It suddenly spurted a large amount of fresh blood from its broken neck.
The blood not only soaked itself but also splashed onto nearby players.
The headless soldier’s speed suddenly increased by thirty to forty percent, and a flash of blade light slashed toward Rui Ge!
【You have been affected by Resentful Blood — Agility -5, duration 10 seconds!】
Black-Eyed Rui Ge could no longer dodge — he simply gave up dodging entirely, letting the blade slash through his body while gathering all his strength to thrust his sword deep into the fiend’s broken neck.
75 (Critical Hit!)
184 (Lethal Critical Hit!)
Black-Eyed Rui Ge was inevitably slain.
The headless fiend soldier also let out a mournful cry and fell down — Rui Ge had taken it down in an extreme one-for-one exchange!
This game was brutally hardcore — even top experts like Black-Eyed Rui Ge and Lone Boat could be counter-killed by a tiny mistake or flaw in a flash.
"Rui Ge, awesome!"
"The Headless Soldiers have a second phase!"
"Everyone, be careful!"
"Once they start bleeding, their speed and power increase drastically, and they inflict debuffs on nearby targets!"
Players quickly discovered the mechanics of the headless soldiers and warned each other to prepare.
Chimera Wraith fired two flaming arrows in a row at one headless fiend — as the highest-level warlock, wielding a +6 Skeletal Goat Staff, her output was considerable, instantly wiping out nearly half of its HP.
"Die!"
Ye Li Meng roared, rushing in and slashing the headless soldier with all his strength.
116 (Critical Hit!)
With the best weapon and a warrior’s strong strength, Ye Li Meng’s damage was much higher than Black-Eyed Rui Ge’s — he immediately killed the headless soldier that Chimera Wraith had weakened.
But there was no time to celebrate.
The headless soldiers sensed his threat.
Several archers simultaneously fired arrows.
Midnight Pig Slayer unhesitatingly threw himself in front, using his fat body to block most of the arrows for Ye Li Meng, his health instantly emptied — before falling, he shouted, "Kill! Don’t stop!"
Ye Li Meng’s eyes turned blood-red.
Roaring, he slashed three times and killed another fiend.
In the process, he was shot by an arrow, and then a thrown spear from another headless soldier pierced through his body with terrifying force, pinning him to a tree.
"Brothers! We did our best! I’ll go first!"
Ye Li Meng, dead!
Meanwhile, Mad Blade Old Wang, Salty Fish Thrust, and Street Slayer, a few experts, managed to jointly kill another headless soldier — but the good times didn’t last long, for the enemies were still too numerous and their attacks ferocious.
Players fell one after another.
Especially warlocks and monks, who lacked mobility and melee strength.
With no healing and necessary firepower support, the battle became increasingly desperate!
"I’ve got him locked down!"
"Everyone, come chop me!"
Street Slayer seized an opportunity and grabbed a bleeding fiend soldier, blocking the spread of the negative buff with his own life, creating an opening for others.
"Farewell, brother!"
Mad Blade Old Wang and Salty Fish Thrust, fired up, charged without hesitation, using their large blades to pierce both Street Slayer and the fiend soldier together, successfully killing another.
In the process.
Salty Fish Thrust was shot down by a rain of arrows.
Out of thirty-six players, only eight remained alive.
There were still about thirteen or fourteen headless soldiers left.
Chimera Wraith exchanged an arrow shot with an archer fiend — the enemy lost over sixty HP, but she instantly fell with her health emptied.
The Fourth Calamity Army was left with only seven players.
"Everyone charge together! If we kill just one more, we’ll die with honor!"
Mad Blade Old Wang locked onto that archer — such long-range enemies posed great threats, and eliminating one could ease the pressure greatly, so he led the tattered survivors to launch a charge.
"I can’t hold on anymore!"
"I’ll hold them off from behind, you go!"
"Ah, I’m off first — you must take that bastard down!"
Four players fell during the charge, and only three reached melee range.
With Mad Blade Old Wang and two others’ fearless attack, they finally succeeded in killing the fiend archer before they too fell!
Thus... the Fourth Calamity Army was completely annihilated!
Xu Feng, hidden in the shadows, was extremely puzzled.
Why hadn’t the Starsea Lord taken action yet? How could he remain so calm? The cost to build such a force must not have been low, yet he could watch them be wiped out meaninglessly!