Xu Nan accepted the mission. After all, the temptation of gaining a level directly was not something ordinary people could refuse.
These gnolls looked rather short. Due to their poor night vision, most of them wore candles on their heads, making it easy to find targets for the Innocent Staff.
But the problem was that even after eating a feast of dragon meat, Xu Nan was still somewhat physically weak.
He had no foundation in melee combat. Charging recklessly into a crowd and trying to go on a rampage would be no different from seeking death.
After careful consideration, he decided to use a roundabout strategy to minimize the risks.
Xu Nan ordered Ah Tang to lure the gnolls into position, then cast spells in rapid succession!
Grease!
Spiderweb Spell!
Magic Animated Rope!
Xu Nan cast one control spell after another, leaving the gnolls in a miserable state. Some of the candles on their heads fell to the ground and came into contact with Xu Nan's magical grease, yet no fire broke out.
Xu Nan's sudden appearance had caught the gnolls completely off guard. By the time they wanted to leave, it was already too late.
At Xu Nan's command, Ah Tang held the rear passage alone, blocking the gnolls' escape route by force.
More than forty gnolls were perfectly restrained by Xu Nan's control spells.
For that, he had used up nearly all his magic power.
He had at least ten minutes to kill these monsters!
Only now did Xu Nan understand how important the trials at Pumpkin Field had been!
The gnolls lying all over the ground, trapped by Grease and Spiderweb Spell, were practically identical to the pumpkins in Pumpkin Field, weren't they?
Under Gu Xiaomeng's admiring gaze, Xu Nan unleashed his might. With Melf's Acid Arrow and Magic Missile working together, he killed the four Strong Gnolls under Ah Tang's cover!
It was worth mentioning that during this process, Xu Nan was surprised to discover that killing monsters from another world actually earned him something called Slaughter Points.
He had previously killed Black Knife Warrior Wu Ke and gained one Slaughter Point, but killing four Strong Gnolls had only earned him 0.5 Slaughter Points. Xu Nan had yet to figure out what Slaughter Points were for.
But now was not the time to study that.
Just as Ah Tang was about to leap high into the air and crush the restrained gnolls to death with her butt, Xu Nan sternly stopped her:
"Leave those gnolls alone!"
"Let me do it!"
Ah Tang looked confused. In her impression, Xu Nan should have been the sort of spellcaster who kept his distance.
What had gotten into him today?
Perhaps to find an excuse for his strange behavior, Xu Nan thought for a moment. "These monsters dared to invade my territory. I want to execute them personally!"
"Keep an eye on them. Don't let them move, and protect me!"
The last two sentences were the important part.
After saying that, Xu Nan refreshed Mage Armor and Shield Spell on himself, then turned back to ask Gu Xiaomeng whether she had any protective spells. Only after receiving a Divine Blessing (Constitution +1; vital point protection) did he confidently climb down from the lookout tower and head straight for the fallen gnolls.
He equipped the Iron Gauntlets and Innocent Staff. Under the horrified gazes of the gnolls, he softly called out:
"I didn't mean to!"
Bang!
The Innocent Staff came crashing down, instantly blowing apart that gnoll's head!
Blood and brain matter splattered all over Xu Nan's face.
He numbly realized that his mission progress had not advanced. The system prompt said—the staff incantation had been spoken too quietly!
Xu Nan gritted his teeth, rushed before the next gnoll, raised the Innocent Staff high, and roared:
"I didn't mean to!"
The twenty percent headshot chance was actually meant for moving targets. Against these stationary targets, he practically never missed!
Bang!
With a dull thud, another pitiful gnoll was smashed into a headless corpse by Xu Nan!
"What the heck?" Seeing him mutter with such a stiff expression, Ah Tang felt a little sorry for him. "If you're not good at killing people, let me do it. I can slap several of them to death at once."
Xu Nan immediately stopped her wicked attempt to finish them off. "I'll do it."
"We can't keep letting the national treasure kill and loot people. You take a break."
Ah Tang plopped down amid the gnolls, scratched her head, and stared at the bloody, strange, and even absurd scene. She simply could not make sense of it.
The gnolls trembled in fear. Some tried to break free from Xu Nan's control, but his spells were still highly effective. Grease and Spiderweb Spell tangled them together, and it would take at least several more minutes before they could move again.
Xu Nan swung the Innocent Staff, harvesting the gnolls' lives.
He repeatedly shouted, "I didn't mean to!" If his only spectators had not been an awestruck rookie priestess and a national treasure, Xu Nan would have wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground from the sheer embarrassment of this humiliating behavior.
But as the slaughter continued, Xu Nan gradually adapted to the rhythm of killing gnolls.
Far from feeling the nausea at killing that was so common in stories, he actually began to feel a little happy.
Oh no, oh no, I'm gradually becoming twisted...
Xu Nan mourned silently, but his hands showed no mercy. After shouting ten slogans in one go, the mission was more than halfway complete.
The gnolls were in such agony that their eyeballs nearly popped out.
As the vanguard of Great Demon Inoya, they had only wanted to scout along the Underground River and search for the Gnoll Camp that had lost contact earlier. Who could have expected them to run headlong into the Cloud Ascending Ship base of the Arcane Empire?
They had not intended to fight at all. Ah Tang had simply jumped out of the darkness, shouted, and forcibly started the battle.
Ah Tang's combat strength had already crushed their morale, and the appearance of a spellcaster was the final straw that shattered the gnolls' psychological defenses.
That was precisely why Xu Nan's spells seemed so overwhelmingly effective.
"Need to hurry." Xu Nan silently swept his gaze over the gnolls on the battlefield.
The ones he had just executed were gnolls restrained by Spiderweb Spell, or isolated gnolls.
As for the remaining thirty gnolls, most had been knocked down in groups of three or five by Grease, and were now barely able to crawl.
But Ah Tang diligently stood guard beside them, scampering around with remarkable agility. Whenever any gnoll tried to escape the range of Grease, Ah Tang shoved it right back in with her butt.
Xu Nan was quite pleased. This fellow might have been unreliable, but she was still very efficient when it came to getting things done.
Xu Nan carefully approached the edge of a patch of Grease.
One gnoll suddenly sprang up and struggled. Xu Nan was so startled that he nearly dropped the staff in his hand!
He smashed wildly for a while, but the gnoll twisted and dodged around in the Grease with slippery, snake-like footwork, somehow evading every hit!
Xu Nan got annoyed.
He charged forward with the staff and jabbed wildly. After spending a full minute, he finally blew apart the head of this gnoll that refused to cooperate with his mission.
Xu Nan's confidence soared. After that, his movements became much bolder.
He killed several gnolls in a row, and the mission was about to be completed.
"No problem. I've got this. Without realizing it, I'm no longer the weakling I used to be."
"I'm already a tough guy. Old Mister Luo Mang's will is with me."
"These gnolls are completely helpless!"
Xu Nan was getting cocky, and his actions grew increasingly bold. Gradually, he began to understand Old Mister Luo Mang's painstaking intentions.
Melee combat really was addictive.
Especially headshots.
When you could easily take an enemy's life with a swing of your staff, you would become too lazy to cast spells. Once there was a first time, there would be a second and a third.
"This mission is a little strange too. Embarrassing? Sure, that incantation is pretty embarrassing. But directly rewarding a level seems a bit excessive, doesn't it?"
Xu Nan's attention began to drift.
There were still three gnolls in the Grease ahead. Knock them out, and the mission would be complete.
But as time passed, Grease, being only a first-level spell, was beginning to lose its effect.
Those three gnolls glared viciously and tried to make a last stand.
Xu Nan sneered and called Ah Tang over. "Help me hold them down!"
"Keep their heads exposed. Don't let them move!"
At a time like this, Xu Nan naturally would not make the mistake villains so often made—letting his guard down!
Although Ah Tang was reluctant in every possible way, she still came over as his accomplice and pinned the three gnolls down.
Xu Nan smoothly smashed the heads of two gnolls in succession.
Only one remained. The mission would be complete.
Ah Tang dutifully sat on that gnoll, yawning in boredom. The gnoll was foaming at the mouth from being crushed beneath her, and if Xu Nan did not act soon, it would probably be sat to death.
Xu Nan was in high spirits. He gripped the Innocent Staff tightly, aimed at the gnoll's head, and swung down hard!
Who would have thought that perhaps because he moved too forcefully or something, he actually threw out his back!
Xu Nan failed to control his strength. Under Ah Tang's dumbfounded gaze, the staff landed squarely on Ah Tang's butt!
Ah Tang screamed and sprang into the air. The nearly dead gnoll slipped free from the Grease, and one claw unconsciously reached out and grabbed—
The next second, Xu Nan's miserable scream echoed through the dungeon for a long, long time!
The scream was so shrill that those who heard it would grieve, and those who listened would weep!
"Heal me!" That was what Xu Nan roared with the last of his strength.
Gu Xiaomeng stood on the lookout tower, trembling. After a long while, she finally threw out a Greater Heal.
But she threw it on Ah Tang.
At that moment, Xu Nan looked as wronged as a hundred-pound child.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Is it really that serious?"
As Lü Junyi bandaged Xu Nan's wound, he said disdainfully, "You still wanted to go into melee to steal kills?"
"Don't push yourself next time, okay?"
Xu Nan agreed through tears. "Will... will there be any lasting effects?"
"From childhood until now, I've never suffered such a serious injury."
"And it was my waist. Will I become a Shawshank in the future or something?"
Lü Junyi looked at the several bandages on Xu Nan's waist and fell silent.
After a while.
"There's something I need to tell you."
Lü Junyi spoke softly. "I don't think I have the supernatural ability to turn people into professionals."
"But that dead shemale really seems to want to become a professional. I'm a little scared. I've already had my appendix removed—if they keep cutting, it'll be my internal organs and intestines next..."