Chapter 54: Are These Mooks?
The wild boar warriors charging in from all directions caused the very ground to tremble.
Looking down from above, one could see that after the Sun Fortress had unfolded, the enemy contractors split into two groups. One group was the strong assault force of over a hundred contractors, led by Sacred Hymn and Orlandi.
The other group was the rearguard, consisting of over six hundred contractors, roughly half from Holy Light Paradise and half from Watchful Paradise. These contractors were led by a man who called himself Druid.
Druid's antlered helmet and tattered animal hides gave him a bestial aura. Many believed Druid was Orlandi's subordinate, but this was not the case.
Although the two were in the same adventure group, one as leader and the other as vice leader, they were rivals. Orlandi represented the group's magnanimity, while Druid represented discipline and strictness.
The two groups of contractors were surrounded by wild boar warriors swarming from all directions, and this massive encirclement was rapidly shrinking.
Amidst the chaos, Sacred Hymn and Orlandi remained calm. Orlandi said, "I'll hold the perimeter."
"I'll keep him here. Even if he's not the leader of these wild boar warriors, his status is definitely not low."
As Sacred Hymn spoke, a dozen men and women dressed as knights charged out from behind her.
Among them were tall, sturdy knights wielding large shields, petite figures in leather armor with daggers, and crossbowmen carrying heavy crossbows and medium shields. These were the twelve members of the Hymn Knight Order, also known as the Mad Dog Knight Order.
The twelve Hymn Knights charged towards Su Xiao. As they ran, they tossed aside their shields, crossbows, and other weapons with a clatter. All twelve knights drew twin blades mid-charge, transforming into twelve 'twin-blade mad dogs'.
Among them, the heavy shield knight now wielded twin blades about 1.4 meters long, with blades as wide as a palm.
The light knights drew twin blades about 1.1 meters long, with normal blade widths. The petite female assassin's twin blades were about 1 meter long, with narrower edges, but these types of blades had a faster attack speed.
Three types of twin blades: heavy twin blades for armor-breaking + wide-area attacks + power suppression; medium twin blades for charging + dense attacks + physical defense reduction; narrow twin blades for vital strikes + ultra-high burst damage + weak point strikes.
The twelve 'Mad Dog Knights' converged on Su Xiao. Su Xiao did not retreat; he needed to prevent the enemy from establishing a solid defensive line.
Su Xiao's Dragon Shadow Flash ability, after being upgraded to X+++++++, could be used up to three times consecutively. The cost was a huge burden on his body and the inability to use Dragon Shadow Flash for spatial movement for the next 20 minutes.
Leaving the center of the battle group immediately would certainly be safe, but if he did that, the enemy contractors would cluster together, forming a defensive line to resist the wild boar warriors attacking from all sides.
Su Xiao staying in the center of the battle group was different. The enemy contractors were now gathering from the periphery, surrounding him in the center, seemingly aiming to capture the leader first.
This choice was not wrong. If Su Xiao died, the War Lord's buff would disappear, and the loss of their commander would be a devastating blow to the morale of the wild boar warrior army.
If Su Xiao's estimation was correct, soon he would be at the very center of the battle group, surrounded by enemy contractors, while outside the enemy contractors, the wild boar warriors would form another encirclement—a large circle within a small circle.
It seemed Su Xiao was surrounded by over 700 enemy contractors and about to be focused down, but this was not the case. The enemies were all Eighth Rank contractors and would certainly make the most appropriate response to this situation.
They would try to 'expand' the wild boar warriors' encirclement as much as possible, creating more space within the circle.
The reason for this was to avoid being crowded together. If that happened, a single powerful explosive or weapon could kill a large number of contractors. As contractors who had fought their way to the Eighth Rank, they all understood this.
To expand the encirclement to its maximum, they would need more contractors to resist the wild boar warriors' charge. This meant that only a few dozen enemy contractors could deal with Su Xiao at most. Having more people deal with Su Xiao would make it impossible to hold the defensive perimeter, or the wild boar warriors would break through the line.
It was precisely because he was certain of this that Su Xiao chose to stay. Moreover, he had a trump card. If the situation became too critical, he would use the [Drifting Bait] he had snatched... ahem, borrowed from Molei to escape.
[Drifting Bait: After 1.57 seconds of mental guidance, you can perform spatial drifting, randomly appearing at a safe location 50 kilometers away...]
Su Xiao's plan was this: if he really couldn't hold out at the center of the encirclement, he would use [Drifting Bait] to escape.
If it weren't for the Sun Fortress beneath his feet, Su Xiao would have used the combo of [Drifting Bait] + [Blazing Sun's Wrath·Apollo (hand-pinched instant detonation)].
Su Xiao didn't retreat immediately, not only to prevent the enemy from using large-scale spatial items to escape collectively, but also because of the unfolded Sun Fortress beneath his feet.
Another very important point: once the melee started, if everything went smoothly, the center of the battle group where Su Xiao was located would soon become very safe. Of course, this safety was for him. For the enemy contractors, even if they survived by chance, it would be a nightmare experience.
The blazing sun hung high. Su Xiao stood at the center of the unfolded fortress, surrounded by over a hundred enemy contractors from the assault force. At that moment, a golden-blue cat shadow emerged from the ground and attached itself to him. It was Xianlulu, who had hidden in the mine shaft below.
Shouts, roars, and the roar of explosions came from the edges of the defensive circle. Dull thuds indicated that the wild boar warriors had reached the perimeter and engaged the contractors.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Spear thrusts pierced through, blood and flesh splattered. A cold-faced man's spear moved like a serpent, leaving only spear-tip-shaped afterimages in the air.
A wild boar warrior, nearly 2.6 meters tall and heavily built, staggered as its torso was pierced with several bowl-sized holes. Its body weakened, and it was about to fall forward due to its charging momentum.
Faint golden light particles seemed to drift from the wild boar warrior's wounds. It felt that after the sunlight shining down from above touched it, the intense pain from its injuries subsided greatly. A courage it had never known surged in its heart.
It spat out a mouthful of blood with a 'wa' sound, using its warhammer—with a handle about 1.8 meters long and a head the size of a bucket—to support itself.
Dizziness washed over the wild boar warrior. It clenched its blood-stained, thick molars and swung its warhammer with all its might.
With a clang, the spear-wielding man blocked the warhammer with his spear. Just as he was about to counterattack, he saw the severely wounded wild boar warrior glaring at him with fierce golden vertical pupils.
This made the spear-wielder's breath catch. He wasn't afraid of a single enemy like this, but if all the enemies surrounding him were like this, the joke would be on him.
From the wild boar warrior's gaze, the spear-wielder had two most intuitive feelings: this 'mook' was wrong. That look combined the coldness of an insect race with a certain fanaticism of faith.
The coldness of an insect race and the fanaticism of faith—if you encountered even one, it was a troublesome soldier-type unit. It wasn't just about strength; it was the desperate, fearless charges and encirclements that were truly despair-inducing.
So, the coldness of an insect race and the fanaticism of faith were each troublesome on their own. Combining them was clearly a bit inhumane.
The spear-wielder's fear grew. He swept his spear, first severing the wild boar warrior's thick left arm, then using the spear tip to slash open its abdomen, spilling its intestines. The fishy smell of the intestinal membrane spread.
Just as the spear-wielder thought this heavily wounded wild boar warrior would fall, he saw it grab its spilling intestines with one hand while swinging its warhammer at him with the other.
A foul wind hit his face. The spear-wielder's cheek twitched violently. His thought: This mook is way too tanky! Is this thing really a mook?
In reality, the wild boar warrior's performance was not surprising. First, consider its own abilities.
[Skill 1, Grinding and Tempering (Passive, Lv.63): HP +4600 points, Physical Defense +10 points. For every 3% HP lost, increase HP recovery rate by 1 point per second. This ability can stack up to an additional 14 HP per second...]
[Skill 3, Thick Skin (Passive, Lv.65): Although the wild boar warriors did not gain the carapace of Demon Beasts, they have tougher skin, muscles, and bones. Physical Defense rank +1.]
Besides these two abilities, the wild boar warrior's True Stamina attribute, boosted by the War Lord, reached 195 points. This was the foundation of survivability. With high True Stamina, the survivability foundation wouldn't be bad.
Was that all? No. In addition, there were other buffs from the War Lord: HP cap increased by 45%, Physical Defense +30 points, further enhancing the wild boar warrior's survivability.
Also, the War Lord brought a full ability level increase of Lv.10, raising [Grinding and Tempering (Passive, Lv.63)] to Lv.69, the max level of this ability.
[Thick Skin (Passive, Lv.65)] was also raised to Lv.69 (max level). This ability granted the wild boar warriors an additional 3.5% damage reduction.
Su Xiao knew from the start that the wild boar warriors were unfamiliar with combat. Even with the [Battle Instinct] ability, they couldn't become suitable warriors the moment they stepped onto the battlefield.
So, he went all-in on tankiness. If they couldn't fight, couldn't they at least take a beating?
As long as they didn't die, with the enhancement of [Battle Instinct], they would gradually learn how to kill enemies more effectively.
On the battlefield, the wild boar warriors charged from all directions, but the contractors, forming a circular defensive line, held them back firmly.
During the charge, many wild boar warriors were blasted into flying chunks of flesh, while others were burned to skeletons by ghost fire, running a few steps before scattering to the ground. The contractors were having a blast killing them.
For a time, the hundreds of contractors forming the circular defensive line used their various abilities to block the charging wild boar warrior army.
Thump, thump, thump...
A series of collision sounds spread. Although the wild boar warriors couldn't fight yet, under the influence of high Willpower + Sun Faith, they became very brave. Since they couldn't fight, they used their bodies to ram, using the momentum from their distant charges.
Wild boar warriors ran, kicking up mud and grass clippings. On the battlefield, the dull thuds from their ramming were incessant. The contractors' circular defensive line faltered for a moment, even shrinking a bit.
But the contractors were battle veterans. They immediately unleashed various abilities, pushing the wild boar warriors back.
"Don't retreat! They're just mooks, all delivering treasure chests."
A mage lord shouted, pointing his staff forward. A burst ray hit a wild boar warrior's head the next instant, exploding it with a bang. The mage lord was indeed strong.
Although the wild boar warrior army had successfully surrounded the enemy, they had suffered quite a few casualties during the charge. Additionally, the contractors found that while these wild boar warriors looked intimidating, in close combat, they just swung their weapons wildly.
The contractors, who had been somewhat tense, gradually relaxed. Some even charged into the wild boar warriors' formation, hoping for a massacre.
A scream rang out. Several contractors looked over. At some point, the spear-wielder from before had been grabbed by three wild boar warriors.
A weapon resembling a horse-slaying sword pierced the spear-wielder's abdomen. His two arms and one leg were held down by three wild boar warriors covered in bloody holes. The energy fluctuations around him indicated he had just used a life-saving ability and was now helpless.
The three bloodied wild boar warriors pinned the spear-wielder to the ground. Another wild boar warrior stood in front of his head, gripping the warhammer handle, raising it high above its head. The sun shone down from above.
This scene fell into the eyes of the pinned spear-wielder. His expression became extremely terrified, and his voice twisted as he screamed, "Wai..."
"Repent."
The hammer-wielding wild boar warrior spoke these two words and brought the hammer down with full force.
Puff!
Brain matter mixed with mud splattered everywhere. The spear-wielder's body stiffened for a moment, then the limbs held by the other wild boar warriors went limp. Blood spread beneath him.
A young healer within the circular defensive line witnessed all of this. For some reason, even though she had seen many dead people, witnessing this scene filled her heart with fear.
Two minutes into the bloody close-quarters melee, the contractors from Holy Light Paradise and Watchful Paradise all noticed a problem: these mooks seemed a bit hard to kill.
They all found that these weren't the kind of enemies that were impossible to damage, but rather the kind that seemed like one more hit would kill them, yet they just wouldn't die. They would bravely charge forward, swinging their long-handled heavy weapons with great force.
After five minutes of melee, the several hundred enemy contractors realized the seriousness of the situation. These 'mooks' were not only thick-skinned and tough, resistant to cutting and hacking, but their numbers were also increasing.
More critically, several large creatures covered in thick black armor stood in the distance. Just looking at them gave an overwhelming sense of invincibility. These were the Sun Fortress's Tier 5 unit: Heavy Tanks.