Battle Begins

"It's started..."

Chen Yi opened his eyes from meditation as all sorts of grotesque zombies emerged from the darkness and entered the courtyard.

"Ah..."

They were clearly dead, yet they let out wailing cries.

At the same time, the tanky Players in the front row all wore bitter expressions. They looked disgusting, and their stench was even worse!

Wu Shiyong raised his shield with both hands and roared, "Holy Shield!"

A Light Shield more than twice as large Appeared. Then it shrank and merged into the shield, which began to emit a faint glow.

The Rugby Zombie, who had been running the fastest, was stopped by Wu Shiyong. The zombie's claws struck the shield, scattering flecks of light.

The Two Warriors at the side also swung their longswords at the zombies. Though they were dead bodies, the blades made crisp metallic clangs when they struck them.

He Dasen drove his cross into the soil. A faint halo spread out from the cross, and the zombies within its range were noticeably slowed.

But He Dasen was not done preparing. He assumed a praying posture, and buffs continuously appeared on the other members of the team.

Wind of Agility;

Effect: Movement Speed and Attack Speed increased by 10%.

Knight's Vow;

Effect: Defense increased by 10.

Roar of Glory;

Effect: Attack Power increased by 30.

With the buffs supporting them, the front line hurriedly used their own skills to maximize the effects.

Unfortunately, there were no buffs for magic. No wonder He Dasen had arranged for only one Mage in the team.

Chen Yi had no intention of sitting idle. Every zombie meant Experience Points.

"Boom!"

The first Fireball exploded among the zombies, followed by an unceasing barrage.

Chen Yi had positioned himself about four body lengths away from the front line, avoiding friendly fire while disrupting the zombies' attack rhythm.

Fireball dealt 39 damage to Normal Zombie (15 Impact Force damage, 24 Burn Damage).

Burn Damage: 15.

Fireball dealt 42 damage to Normal Zombie (18 Impact Force damage, 24 Burn Damage).

Chen Yi glanced at the damage log, and his eyes lit up.

Zombies had high physical resistance. The metallic clangs made when the Warriors struck them proved it, and Fireball's impact was physical damage as well, so it was heavily reduced.

However, the Burn Damage was abnormally high. Quite a few zombies had even been Ignited directly by Fireball.

These zombies feared fire!

Having made up his mind, Chen Yi stopped attacking with Fireball and turned back to studying its structure.

"This part determines its stability, so it can't be changed."

"No, I don't really need its stability. The stability is maintaining the explosive structure."

"Explosion? No, no, no. I only need it to spread the fire farther. This part can be changed."

While Chen Yi was pondering the structure, He Dasen curiously glanced at the rooftop but did not pay it much attention. Mages dealt high damage in the early stages but burned through Mana quickly. Once they had cast a full set of skills, they could only wait for their Mana to recover.

This was where the advantages of physical classes showed. As long as their stamina and health were not depleted, they could keep dealing damage.

How long Gunners could keep firing depended on how many bullets they had prepared.

He Dasen posted the predecessors' estimates of the zombie data on the Public Screen.

He Dasen (Iron Fist) LV12: Below is the zombie data.

Normal Zombie

LV: 10

Constitution: 12 (Level 10 breakthrough +100 HP)

Strength: 5

Agility: 1

HP is roughly 220. Zombies' innate defense reduces physical damage by 25%.

...

Zombie King

LV: 19

Constitution: 45 (Level 10 breakthrough +100)

Strength: 19

Agility: 3

He Dasen (Iron Fist) LV12: The Zombie King has roughly 650 HP. Its defense reduces physical damage by 40%. Mages need to save some Mana on the last day to deal with the Zombie King.

He Dasen (Iron Fist) LV12: Every team has multiple front-line members. Make sure to hold aggro and protect your teammates' health!

Mu Qingna (Rose) LV12: If you can't stop the zombies, call for help immediately. Completing the mission is what matters most!

Equipment capable of detecting Enemy data had to be at least Blue Quality, so they could only estimate the zombies' attributes. Still, the estimates would not be far off.

Wu Shiyong had no time to look at the Public Screen. Holy Shield was on Cooldown, and he was struggling to withstand the zombies' attacks.

Just then, a sled came charging over. The enormous Impact Force nearly sent him flying. His feet carved two deep tracks into the ground, and his health dropped sharply. He hurriedly pulled out a Blood Potion and gulped it down.

He Dasen immediately stopped healing the other two front-line members and focused on Wu Shiyong. Nothing could happen to the team's tank.

The Female Gunner beside them looked like she was about to cry as she kept firing at the Sled Zombie in front.

The zombies' physical defense was too high. Her shots only dealt around 32 damage, and even a Normal Zombie took seven bullets to kill. Those were all Copper Coins!

By now, she had fired two hundred bullets. She had gained less than half the experience she had Imagined, and the zombies had barely dropped any equipment. She could only hope that splitting the Copper Coins on the ground would keep her from losing too much.

After nearly twenty minutes of silence, during which he had done nothing but think aside from casting Fireball, Chen Yi Sighed in relief. He had finally solved it.

Just as He Dasen and the others were wondering whether they should abandon the mission, a Fireball over a meter in diameter Appeared in the courtyard.

He Dasen's face turned green. "Fuck..."

The three front-line members looked even more despairing. Their killing blow was actually coming from a teammate. They should have just given up on the mission from the start.

Well, time to hand over Resurrection Coins.

What was the penalty for failing the mission anyway? Resurrection Coins were outrageously expensive!

But the Imagined explosion never came. The enormous Fireball was like a punctured bubble. With a pfft, it burst apart. There was no impact and no shockwave—only spreading flames.

The flames quickly filled more than half the courtyard, looking like a spectacular sea of fire.

The front-line members, who had thought they were about to die, only felt burning pain. They hurriedly ran to the fireless area near the house and put out the flames on their flammable gear.

These flames relied on Mana to burn. Without anything combustible, they would quickly go out. Moreover, Fireball consumed a great deal of Mana Points, making it practically the most useless skill in the arena.

But against zombies that were flammable by nature and feared fire, this Fireball produced a terrifying effect!

Flames burned Zombie for 15 damage.

A single instance of damage did not seem impressive, but what if that damage was continuous?

In an instant, Chen Yi's damage log was flooded with message after message.

Chen Yi stopped and drank a Mana Restoration Potion. Amid repeated cries of surprise, three enormous Fireballs burst in the other three directions.

He Dasen (Iron Fist) LV12: Fuck.

Mu Qingna (Rose) LV12: Fuck.

...

Wu Shiyong (Rōnin) LV11: Break formation! I just want to say Mr. Yi is awesome!

They were even in the mood to joke around.

Wu Shiyong was not the only one who had considered abandoning the mission when faced with the endless stream of zombies. The other Players had thought the same.

They were already close to failing on the first night. How were they supposed to hold out for the next three days?

Naturally, Chen Yi did not want to see that. He did not have the Copper Coins to face the penalty for mission failure.

Mu Qingna once again looked disdainfully at the Mage in the team. Why were you so lame when it came to you?

The Mage Player opened his mouth, then closed it again. He really wanted to explain how difficult the Scholar School was, but who cared? People only looked at the results.

Fine, then. Let him face the cold words and mockery alone.

Mu Qingna raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing? Deal damage! You don't have a Big Shot's life, but you've got a Big Shot's disease."