Free Web NovelChapter 351: Chapter 176: Steamrolling to Level Up, Terrifying Efficiency
SNAP.
Overcome with tension, Chen Fei accidentally snapped a dry twig underfoot.
In the dead-silent valley, the sound was piercingly loud.
The next moment, every member of the alien races in the valley—whether they were in the middle of a massacre or had just been resurrected—froze.
They turned their heads in unison. Hundreds of pairs of hollow eyes, filled with black mycelium, stared straight at the trio’s hiding spot.
A chill shot through the three of them, as if they’d been plunged into an icy cavern.
They were lifeless, like walking corpses.
"Run!"
Wang Lei barely had time to roar before he grabbed the other two and fled for his life.
As they fled, they soon realized they weren’t the only ones.
Many other students training in the Nirvana Tower were also scrambling out from all directions, their faces filled with the same terror.
They had all run into similar bizarre armies that only slaughtered their own kind, showing little interest in the students themselves.
This wave of panic soon caught the attention of Dongfang Zhen and Zhang Daoxuan, who were also in the vicinity.
"What’s going on?" Dongfang Zhen asked, watching the distant students who looked as if they’d seen a ghost.
Soon, Wang Lei and the others explained the entire situation.
Dongfang Zhen frowned as he listened to their account, but his curiosity soon won out. "Take me to see."
Zhang Daoxuan followed close behind him.
Their reasons for entering the tower were different from Lin Ye’s.
Lin Ye was there to level up and complete quests.
These two, on the other hand, were simply looking to hone their combat skills.
Upon encountering such a powerful and bizarre enemy, their first instinct was to test their might against it and see who was stronger.
The arrival of two of the training camp’s top combatants was a huge morale boost for everyone else present.
Suddenly, that bizarre army didn’t seem so terrifying anymore.
Soon, a "punitive force" of more than a dozen students, led by Dongfang Zhen and Zhang Daoxuan, began a steady advance toward the area.
Before long, they came face to face with a massive army of puppets.
Seeing the army of nearly one hundred mixed Eight-armed Race and Stone Ghost Race puppets before them, both Dongfang Zhen and Zhang Daoxuan grew solemn.
"These two races are like fire and water. How can they be fighting side-by-side?"
"What in the world is going on?!"
Dongfang Zhen was stunned.
Zhang Daoxuan said nothing, but his grip on his sword hilt slowly tightened.
He could sense that despite the army’s strange aura, the individual puppets seemed a bit weaker than their living, same-ranked counterparts.
With two powerhouses backing him up, Chen Fei’s earlier fear vanished, and his courage returned.
With a great shout, he sent a sharp arc of blade energy cleaving toward a Stone Ghost Race puppet at the army’s forefront.
This strike acted as a signal.
A black light flashed in the puppet army’s hollow eyes. After a brief pause, they instantly counterattacked.
The battle erupted.
Just as Zhang Daoxuan had predicted, the puppets’ combat strength was indeed less than when they were alive, and their movements were somewhat sluggish.
But there were too many of them. Furthermore, they were fearless, had no concept of dodging, and fought by trading blow for blow.
Lightning flashed around Dongfang Zhen while Zhang Daoxuan’s Sword Qi carved through the air. The two of them were like twin daggers, tearing viciously into the enemy ranks and shattering puppets wherever they went.
But they soon discovered what made this army so difficult to deal with.
As long as their cores weren’t completely destroyed, the shattered puppets’ severed limbs would be pulled back together by thin black threads, allowing them to rejoin the fight.
Their cores were clusters of white mycelium hidden within their bodies.
Mere Slashes were not enough to destroy them completely.
So far, only Dongfang Zhen’s lightning was capable of annihilating the cores.
Dongfang Zhen shattered the chest of an Eight-armed Race puppet with one punch, incinerating its mycelium core, but more puppets were already swarming in from all sides.
Forced to protect the other students behind them, he and Zhang Daoxuan couldn’t fight at full strength. Unable to unleash even seventy percent of their power, they found the battle incredibly frustrating.
Their initial overwhelming momentum gradually devolved into a bitter struggle for survival.
Despair began to spread through the students’ hearts.
Just as everyone felt they were about to be overwhelmed, the relentlessly attacking puppets suddenly stopped as if they had received some invisible command.
Then, to everyone’s astonishment, they began to retreat in the most bizarre fashion.
The winged Stone Ghost Race puppets acted like transport aircraft, with the smaller Eight-armed Race puppets clinging to their backs, arms, and legs.
They even used their claws to carry their other flightless kin, forming strange "aerial squadrons" that wobbled away into the distance.
The scene left everyone dumbfounded.
"What... what the hell are they doing?"
Just as everyone’s minds went blank, a familiar voice sounded from behind them.
"Well, isn’t this a lively party."
Everyone turned to see Yin Liulan, who had appeared at some point, watching with great interest as the undead air force executed its "strategic withdrawal" across the sky.
It was as if everyone had found their pillar of support.
"Don’t attack. Let them go."
Yin Liulan waved her hand, stopping a few students who were about to give chase.
She looked at the departing puppet army, then at the relieved, post-battle faces of the training camp students. "This," she said slowly, "is Lin Ye’s handiwork."
