The Tide Turns

Bang! Thud! Bang! Bang!

As more and more pitch-black monsters began climbing the outside of the bus and slamming into its windows, the entire vehicle quickly became like a drafty, broken house. The situation grew increasingly precarious, and a fierce battle between humans and monsters officially began.

The main fighting force on the human side was clearly the short-haired girl's summoned Long-Haired Female Ghost. Her summon was incredibly fast and possessed considerable attack power. Its figure flickered continuously through the bus, using its ten long, sharp nails to shred one monster after another that dared rush toward the rear of the bus, where the short-haired girl stood.

But the monsters held an overwhelming numerical advantage, and the Long-Haired Female Ghost apparently lacked any means of dealing widespread damage. It could only eliminate enemies one at a time. Moreover, its form was highly unusual and incapable of physically blocking the invaders, allowing some monsters to ultimately slip past its defensive line amid the chaos.

However, the monsters that crossed the first line of defense did not fare well. Waiting for them was Wang Zhifan, the young Warrior wielding a long blade and standing before the short-haired girl.

Wang Zhifan stood in the middle of the aisle, roughly two meters in front of the short-haired girl, who was fully focused on controlling her summon. The Blade of the Wolf Fiend in his hand swung fast or slow, streak after streak of silvery-white blade light flashing out and cutting every pitch-black monster that came near into large chunks of dead flesh. The pieces scattered across the nearby floor and seats.

Every strike he made was decisive and clean, without the slightest hesitation or any flashy variations in technique. There were only the simplest, most effective attacks, along with a rhythm of drawing and withdrawing his blade that shifted according to the number of enemies.

At first, when the monsters charged at her, the short-haired girl had wanted to pull the Long-Haired Female Ghost toward the rear of the bus and shrink their defensive perimeter. But once she realized that the Warrior before her was remarkably capable and could deal with the approaching threats with ease, she immediately relaxed. Instead, she had her summon drag the monsters away in the opposite direction, reducing the pressure on their side.

The two worked together with remarkable coordination. The short-haired girl constantly controlled the Long-Haired Female Ghost as it darted and crashed through the bus, dealing continuous damage and drawing the hatred of most of the pitch-black monsters. Seemingly almost mindless, they futilely launched a siege against this incorporeal enemy.

Wang Zhifan, meanwhile, dealt with those individuals that had not been drawn away by the Long-Haired Female Ghost and instead chose to charge at them. In the cramped confines of the bus, standing in the aisle was enough for him to handle four or five monsters rushing him at once. The Blade of the Wolf Fiend was sharp enough, his swordsmanship skilled enough, and his strength and stamina far beyond those of an ordinary person. He could keep this up for a long time.

These ordinary Ash Domain monsters don't seem all that strong... They feel even weaker than the big gray wolf from my first dungeon...

As he swung his blade and severed the body of a pitch-black monster leaping at him, Wang Zhifan pondered to himself.

Originally, he had taken this first encounter with Ash Domain monsters very seriously. He had assumed they were all quite formidable and that he would need to seize every chance to flee desperately if he wanted to carve out a path to survival. Yet he discovered that the only troublesome thing about them was probably their numbers. As for individual strength, even if their numbers doubled, they would not last two moves against him.

But just as Wang Zhifan was considering this, an especially enormous monster outside the bus approached a nearby window and lowered its massive head, drawing his attention.

It was the distinctive leader that had landed farther back when these Ash Domain monsters first appeared. At last, it had come to the outside of the bus. It stood upright on its exceptionally tall, disgusting body and peered through the window with a pair of ugly, wicked gray eyes.

This thing seems to have some intelligence?

That distinctly human-like action immediately put Wang Zhifan on high alert. In his understanding, vicious monsters were not frightening; what was frightening was a monster as cunning as a human. So, without even turning his head, he shouted to the short-haired girl behind him, "Quick! Use your summon to lure that thing away! Leave the remaining monsters here to me!"

"Don't rush!"

Unexpectedly, the girl behind Wang Zhifan seemed to disagree with him. Instead, she immediately offered a more aggressive suggestion:

"Let's clear this place out first! Then we'll join forces and kill it! Maybe it'll drop some good rewards!"

"?"

When Wang Zhifan heard the girl behind him mention rewards dropping, he immediately frowned. What she said exceeded his understanding. None of the information he had received mentioned Ash Domain monsters dropping rewards when killed. Besides, he had already killed nearly twenty Ash Domain monsters without receiving anything, which also proved that his previous information had not been wrong.

Could it be that only unique Ash Domain monsters drop rewards when killed?

As he methodically eliminated the enemies approaching him, Wang Zhifan rapidly analyzed the situation in his mind. He believed the girl behind him had not been talking nonsense. With a profession as rare and powerful as hers, she was most likely no ordinary player. Perhaps she possessed more information about the Ash Domain.

"Alright."

Wang Zhifan showed no sign of anything unusual and quickly gave the girl behind him a calm response, agreeing to her invitation to fight the monster together.

This was actually an inevitable change once the relative strengths of both sides became clear. At first, they had thought themselves the weaker side and planned to hold their ground until personnel from the Special Administration Bureau arrived. But after fighting for a while, the two discovered that both their abilities and coordination were quite good. Not only could they block the monsters' attacks, but they could gradually wipe them all out. There was no need to cower.

But while the two were having this exchange, the towering monster outside the window also moved. Perhaps it had understood that the two inside intended to plot its death. It soon stopped merely standing outside the window and looking down to observe them. Instead, it raised one of its pitch-black, foul-smelling, grotesquely knotted arms, impossibly long in length, and thrust it straight through the window toward the two at the rear of the bus. Its primary target was unmistakably the short-haired girl sheltered behind Wang Zhifan! "You bastard... are you treating me like I don't exist?"

Wang Zhifan sneered inwardly at the sight. He had thought the giant monster outside possessed some impressive intelligence, but it now seemed to be no smarter than an infant.

"Break!"

He immediately swung his blade like a silver wheel, beheading three nearby ordinary monsters in a single instant. Then he turned, made a short leap, and slashed down in fury, viciously hacking the gleaming silver edge of the Blade of the Wolf Fiend into the monster's arm that had just reached in through the window!