"Clang, clang, clang!"
The hurried clang of a gong rang out, shattering the silence of the night.
"Danger! Everyone, get up!"
Mom Is Not Home and Qi Guoguo sprinted toward the village, beating the gong and shouting as they ran.
After the newcomers earned Core Power, they rented thatched huts in groups of two or three.
Everyone in Zone 18 was asleep in their homes now, except for the newcomer, the Black-Clad Girl.
There was no one outside, so Mom Is Not Home and Qi Guoguo had to shout as they ran through each section.
After the two of them left, the Black-Clad Girl, who had been curled up the whole time, suddenly raised her head and glanced toward the village entrance. A flash of surprise crossed her eyes.
In the end, she buried her head again.
The gong sounded especially grating in the quiet of the night, instantly waking most of the players.
Wind Snow Traveler reacted the fastest. The moment the sound rang out, he came running with a white battle-axe slung over his shoulder.
He saw Xiao Fan standing at the village entrance and froze for a second before asking, "What happened?"
"The Beast Tide! It's here!" Xiao Fan's face was pale as he pointed beyond the village.
By then, the Fierce Beasts were already close to the village entrance. Pair after pair of crimson eyes appeared in the darkness.
Wind Snow Traveler's expression changed dramatically at the sight. "Why is there another Beast Tide? One already came today."
"Village Chief, what's going on?"
Players began arriving at the village entrance in ones and twos. The old-timers among the newcomers were the first to reach it.
"The Beast Tide is here. Get ready to fight," Wind Snow Traveler said gravely.
"Why again?" Blade Shadow, who was at the front, paled.
"Who the hell knows? This damn game doesn't want us to live."
Wind Snow Traveler cursed, gripped his axe, and stood before the Novice Village's fence, tensely staring at the area outside.
"I hope there aren't any big ones this time," he muttered.
The newcomers who had just arrived heard that a Beast Tide was coming, but didn't understand what was happening. Then they saw the crimson eyes drawing closer outside the village and immediately understood.
The color drained from their faces, and their eyes filled with fear.
"Fierce Beasts... so many Fierce Beasts!"
"Ah! Why are those Fierce Beasts attacking the Novice Village?"
"So Zone 18 really is dangerous."
"Waaah! I want to go home."
The scene descended into chaos.
Temporarily logging out of the game required Core Power. To control Core Power consumption, the government allowed each player to log out only once a month.
These players still had seven days to wait before they could log out.
Besides, players in secret realms, Trial Land, or combat—or those who had been targeted by a monster in the game—couldn't log out.
In other words, players could log out only when they were completely safe.
"Shut the hell up!"
Wind Snow Traveler roared, and everyone fell silent at once.
"Look around! Do you know what's happening? And you're all standing here screaming?"
"If you don't want to die, pick up your weapons and fight with me. If the Fierce Beasts make it into the village, not one of you will survive."
Wind Snow Traveler wasn't usually the friendliest person, but he wasn't strict or harsh, either. Now, however, his face was as dark as a storm cloud and his eyes flashed with menace. The newcomers were too frightened to say another word.
"What the hell are you still standing around for? Anyone who knows Archer skills, get to the front and shoot! The rest of you wait behind them, then kill the Fierce Beasts when they get close!" Wind Snow Traveler ordered.
"Brother Chen." Garfield Without Fat and the others hurried over to Xiao Fan.
"Do what the Village Chief said," Xiao Fan told them.
"Okay."
Garfield Without Fat crouched at the front with his bow, while Zai Zai and the other two stood behind him to protect him.
Wind Snow Traveler added everyone to his team.
There were only forty people in all of Zone 18's Novice Village, including the nineteen newcomers with them. The one who was curled up in the corner, half-dead, didn't count.
Xiao Fan frowned. There were too few of them!
He could only hope that the Fierce Beasts approaching them would be lower-level and fewer in number. Otherwise, they might not be able to defend the Novice Village.
"Thud, thud, thud!"
The ground trembled violently as the Beast Tide drew closer.
At last, in the darkness, Xiao Fan made out the monsters at the front.
Level-four Fierce Beasts—the Diamond Behemoths!
Everyone's expression darkened.
The newcomers were only level two, and a level-four Fierce Beast could kill them in one hit.
The veteran players knew that the lowest-level Fierce Beasts arrived first during a Beast Tide, and the farther back they were, the higher their levels.
The Tide started with level-four beasts. That would be a challenge even for them, let alone the newcomers.
"I wonder how many of the new players will survive this time." Wind Snow Traveler stared ahead, already mourning them in his heart.
"Anyone who dares take a step back, don't blame my axe for being merciless."
Wind Snow Traveler swept his gaze over everyone. Those who had been thinking about running immediately gave up the idea.
Wind Snow Traveler was already level ten. Killing these level-two rookies would be a piece of cake for him.
They couldn't run. They had no choice but to fight.
As the Diamond Behemoths drew closer, Wind Snow Traveler gave the order. "Archers, fire!"
Only five of the forty players had learned Archer skills. At his command, a sparse volley of arrows flew toward the Diamond Behemoths.
Of the five Archers, only one was a level-ten veteran. He used the Yellow Rank skill Double Eagle Shot as soon as he attacked.
Xiao Fan had thought that with a six-level advantage, the Archer would be able to kill two Diamond Behemoths in one shot.
He had overestimated him. It took the veteran three arrows to kill a single Diamond Behemoth. Garfield Without Fat, right next to him, took four arrows to kill one, too.
Thinking it over, Xiao Fan figured it was probably due to how they'd allocated their stats.
So far, all the players Xiao Fan had met seemed to put one point into each attribute, focusing on balance.
The downside of that approach was obvious: none of their abilities stood out. They were six-sided trash.
Players could buy attribute points, but few ordinary players were willing to spend Core Power on them.
As for the other three novice Archers, they couldn't hit anything at all. Maybe fear was to blame.
"That's enough. Go to the back and look for a chance to shoot."
As the Diamond Behemoths drew closer, Wind Snow Traveler finally spoke.
The three Archers looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders. They practically crawled to the back.
Xiao Fan counted roughly thirty Diamond Behemoths.
"If you don't want to die, then give it all you've got and kill them!"
Wind Snow Traveler's roar rang out. Then he used Three Axe Strikes.
He swung the great axe in his hands three times, killing six Diamond Behemoths in an instant.
"Now that's a veteran newcomer," Xiao Fan thought admiringly.
Wind Snow Traveler's axe fell with crisp precision. A flash of cold steel not only killed the Fierce Beasts, but also ignited the team's morale, turning the dispirited atmosphere into a feverish one.
Seeing how powerful Wind Snow Traveler was, the newcomers felt more at ease. One by one, they raised their weapons and hacked at the Fierce Beasts outside the village.
If one person couldn't kill a beast, several of them worked together to take one down.
In no time, all thirty-odd Diamond Behemoths had been wiped out.
"Did we win?" one newcomer asked excitedly.
Before the other newcomers could celebrate, Wind Snow Traveler poured cold water on them.
"Win? Not even close. That was just the first wave."
"What? There are more?" The newcomers turned pale, their faces filled with fear.
Soon, another wave of Fierce Beasts came charging from the distance.
They were level-five Fierce Beasts—the Thunder Leopards!
"We're doomed, we're doomed. Why are the beasts getting stronger?"
One newcomer spoke in despair. The level-four Diamond Behemoths had already been terrifying. Now level-five Thunder Leopards had appeared.
Even the faces of the Xiao Fan Team changed at the sight of the thirty-odd Thunder Leopards.
Fortunately, the main force of the team was made up of level-ten veterans like Wind Snow Traveler. They killed most of the Thunder Leopards, while the Xiao Fan Team took on a small portion. The other newcomers didn't kill any, and two of them were injured.
Xiao Fan dragged the two players away and stopped the bleeding with bandages.
Wind Snow Traveler's team and Xiao Fan's team were both in decent shape. There was no need to use skills yet, and using skills on the other newcomers would be a waste. The injured could get a little healing later.
After the thirty Thunder Leopards were wiped out, no one celebrated. Everyone stared fixedly into the patch of pitch-black night.
Wind Snow Traveler suddenly turned to look at the four members of the Xiao Fan Team.
"You guys really did well!"
The Xiao Fan Team had impressed Wind Snow Traveler in the last battle.
He'd noticed that they had clear roles, worked together seamlessly, and dealt a lot of damage—even more than some veteran players. There was also something about them he couldn't quite put his finger on, as if their playstyle was completely different.
"How are they doing it?"
Wind Snow Traveler was curious, but the new Fierce Beasts that appeared soon drew his attention away.
This time, the beasts were level-six Fierce Beasts—the Forest Shadow Bears.
These beasts were fast, hit hard, and were extremely troublesome.
This time, it was mostly Wind Snow Traveler and the other veteran players fighting. The Xiao Fan Team also joined in carefully, while the remaining newcomers were in even worse shape, crying out as they fell.
Xiao Fan had no choice but to activate Gift of the Saint.
Wind Snow Traveler was still fighting hard against the Magic Beasts. The nonstop battle through the night had left him exhausted, but he couldn't rest.
If he let his guard down for even a moment, the Fierce Beasts might break through their defenses.
Suddenly, a white shield appeared in front of Wind Snow Traveler. Then the fatigue that had weighed on him vanished, and he felt as energetic as he had at the height of the day.
+15HP
The sudden healing caught Wind Snow Traveler by surprise.
The Forest Shadow Bear had just clawed him, taking ten points of health. No Doctor had treated him, so where had the healing come from?
"Roar!"
While Wind Snow Traveler was distracted, a Fierce Beast clawed him again, even harder than before.
-30 floated up from his body, but his health bar didn't change at all.
"What's going on?"
Wind Snow Traveler killed the beast in front of him and quickly figured it out. The shield that had suddenly appeared around him had blocked the damage. He also realized that his body seemed to have become more agile.
"Boss, what's this?"
The other veteran players had noticed the changes in their bodies, too, and turned to ask Wind Snow Traveler.
"I don't..." Wind Snow Traveler had barely started speaking when he heard Swift as Wind's excited voice nearby.
"Brother Chen finally used his skill. This is so much better now."
Wind Snow Traveler's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
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