Late Night Beast Tide

"Clang, clang, clang~"

The urgent sound 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, shouting while striking the gong.

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After earning Core Power, the new Players had rented thatched huts in groups of two or three.

Except for the Black-Clad Girl who had recently arrived, everyone in Zone 18 was currently asleep in their houses.

With no one outside, Mom Is Not Home and his companion had to shout through every area.

After the two left, the Black-Clad Girl, who had been curled up, suddenly lifted her head to look toward the village entrance, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes.

In the end, she buried her head back down.

The sound of the bronze gong was particularly jarring in the quiet night, and most Players were startled awake instantly.

Wind Snow Traveler reacted the fastest; almost as soon as the sound began, he ran out shouldering his white battle-axe.

Seeing Xiao Fan standing at the village entrance, he paused for a second before immediately asking, "What happened?"

"Beast Tide! A Beast Tide is coming!" Xiao Fan's face was pale as he pointed outside the village.

At this moment, the Fierce Beasts were already not far from the village entrance, their scarlet eyes appearing in the darkness.

Seeing this, Wind Snow Traveler's expression changed drastically: "How is there another Beast Tide? One already appeared today."

"Village Chief, what's going on?"

Players arrived at the village entrance one after another, the veteran novice Players leading the pack.

"A Beast Tide is coming. Prepare for battle," Wind Snow Traveler said with a grim face.

"Why is there another one?" Blade Shadow, who was at the front, turned pale.

"Who the hell knows? This damn game doesn't want us to live."

Wind Snow Traveler cursed, gripping his axe as he stood before the Novice Village fence, his nerves taut as he stared fixedly outside.

"I hope there aren't any big ones this time," he muttered.

The novice Players who had just arrived were initially confused about the Beast Tide, but the moment they saw the pairs of scarlet eyes drawing closer outside the village, they understood instantly.

The color drained from everyone's faces, their eyes filled with terror.

"Fierce Beasts... so many Fierce Beasts."

"Ah! Why are those Fierce Beasts attacking the Novice Village!"

"So Zone 18 of the Novice Village really is dangerous."

"Waaah~ I want to go home."

The atmosphere at the scene instantly turned chaotic.

Exiting the game temporarily requires Core Power, and to control the consumption of Core Power, the state only allows each Player to exit the game once a month.

These people still had seven days to go before they could exit.

Furthermore, in a Secret Realm, Trial Land, during combat, or when being targeted by the hatred of monsters in the game, one cannot exit the game.

In other words, to exit the game, one must be in a state of absolute safety.

"Everyone, shut the hell up!"

Wind Snow Traveler let out a fierce roar, and instantly, everyone fell silent.

"Look at what time it is; why are you all still screaming here?"

"If you don't want to die, pick up your weapons and fight with me. If you let the Fierce Beasts step into the village, none of you will survive."

Wind Snow Traveler was not usually known for being approachable, but he wasn't a harsh or cruel man either. At this moment, his face was as cold as water and his eyes were sharp, leaving the new Players too terrified to say another word.

"Why are you still standing there? Those who learned archery skills, stand in the front and shoot for me. Everyone else, wait in the back and kill them when the Fierce Beasts get close," Wind Snow Traveler commanded.

"Brother Chen." Garfield Without Fat and the other three hurried over when they saw Xiao Fan.

"Do as the Village Chief says," Xiao Fan told the four of them.

"Got it."

Garfield Without Fat crouched in the front with his bow and arrow, while Zai Zai and the others stood behind to protect him.

Wind Snow Traveler added everyone to the party.

In the entire Zone 18 of the Novice Village, including the nineteen new Players, there were only 40 people in total—not counting the one huddled in the corner, half-dead.

Xiao Fan's brows were tightly locked; there were too few people!

He could only pray that the incoming Fierce Beasts were of a lower level and fewer in number. Otherwise, it was uncertain if they could hold the Novice Village.

"Thump, thump, thump~"

A violent tremor came from the ground; the Beast Tide was drawing closer.

Finally, aided by the night, Xiao Fan could clearly see the monsters running at the front.

Level 4 Fierce Beast, Diamond Behemoth!

In an instant, everyone's expression turned grim.

The novice Players were terrified because they were only level 2, and a level 4 Fierce Beast was enough to kill them in one hit.

As for the veteran Players, they knew that in a Beast Tide, the lowest-level beasts arrived first, and the levels would only increase as the waves continued.

Starting at level 4 was a massive challenge for them, let alone for the newcomers.

"I wonder how many of these new Players will survive this time." Wind Snow Traveler stared ahead, already mourning the newcomers in his heart.

"If anyone dares to take a step back, don't blame my great axe for being heartless."

Wind Snow Traveler's gaze swept over everyone, and those who had been preparing to flee instantly abandoned the thought.

Wind Snow Traveler was already level 10; killing these level 2 newbies would be as easy as flipping his hand.

Since they couldn't run, they had to fight.

Seeing the Diamond Behemoths drawing closer, Wind Snow Traveler gave the order: "Archers, fire!"

Out of the 40 people, only five Players had learned archery skills. Upon hearing the command, a scattered volley of arrows flew toward the Diamond Behemoths.

Among the five archers, only one was a level 10 veteran, and he immediately used the Yellow Rank skill Double Eagle Shot.

Xiao Fan had originally assumed that with a six-level gap in suppression, this archer could kill two Diamond Behemoths in one go.

In reality, he had thought too highly of it; it took this veteran three arrows to kill a single Diamond Behemoth. Even Garfield Without Fat next to him took four arrows to kill one.

Thinking about it carefully, it must be an issue with how they allocated their stats.

So far, every Player Xiao Fan had encountered seemed to add one point to every attribute, prioritizing a balanced build.

The drawbacks of this stat allocation were obvious: no specific ability stood out, making them "hexagonal losers."

Although attribute points could be bought, few ordinary Players were willing to spend Core Power to purchase them.

As for the other three novice archers, it went without saying; perhaps due to fear, the three of them couldn't hit a target at all.

"That's enough, go to the back and find opportunities to shoot."

Seeing the Diamond Behemoths getting closer, Wind Snow Traveler finally spoke.

The three archers acted as if they had been granted amnesty, practically crawling as they retreated.

Xiao Fan did a rough count; there were nearly 30 Diamond Behemoths.

"If none of you want to die, then fight with everything you've got!"

Wind Snow Traveler's roar echoed, and he immediately activated the skill Three Axe Strikes.

He swung his great axe three times in quick succession, and six Diamond Behemoths were killed instantly.

He truly lives up to the name of a veteran Player. Xiao Fan praised him inwardly.

Wind Snow Traveler's axe strikes were crisp and decisive. As the cold light flashed, he didn't just kill the Fierce Beasts; he ignited the team's morale, causing the previously sluggish atmosphere to instantly boil over.

Seeing how powerful Wind Snow Traveler was, the novice Players felt much more at ease, and one by one, they raised their weapons to strike at the beasts outside the village.

If one person couldn't kill a beast, several would gang up on it together.

Before long, all thirty-plus Diamond Behemoths were wiped out.

"We won?" a novice Player couldn't help but say excitedly.

Before the other novices could celebrate, Wind Snow Traveler poured a bucket of cold water on them.

"Won? Not even close. This was only the first wave of beasts."

"What? There's more?" The novice Players turned pale, their faces filled with terror.

Soon, another wave of beasts came charging from the distance.

It was the level 5 Fierce Beast, Thunder Leopard!

"It's over, it's over. Why did the beast levels increase?"

A novice Player said with a mournful face; the level 4 Diamond Behemoths were already terrifying enough, and now, level 5 Thunder Leopards had arrived.

With over thirty Thunder Leopards, even the members of Xiao Fan Team had their expressions change.

Fortunately, the core of the team consisted of level 10 veterans like Wind Snow Traveler, who hunted down the majority of the Thunder Leopards, while Xiao Fan Team handled a smaller portion. As for the remaining beasts, they didn't kill a single one, and two people were injured.

Xiao Fan dragged the two men back to stop their bleeding and apply bandages.

The status of Wind Snow Traveler's team and his own team was still acceptable, so there was no need to use skills yet. As for the other novice Players, using skills on them would be a waste; these wounded ones could just get some healing later.

The thirty Thunder Leopards were eliminated, but this time, no one was happy; everyone's eyes were fixed intently on the pitch-black night.

Wind Snow Traveler suddenly turned back to look at the four members of Xiao Fan Team.

"You lot, you're actually quite good!"

In the previous battle, Xiao Fan Team had truly made Wind Snow Traveler look at them with new eyes.

He discovered that this team had a clear division of labor, tacit coordination, and high damage output—not even lower than some veteran Players. Furthermore, they gave him an indescribable feeling, as if their way of playing was completely different from theirs.

"How on earth did they manage to do that?"

Wind Snow Traveler was somewhat curious, but his attention was quickly drawn away by the newly appearing Fierce Beast.

This time, it was a level six Fierce Beast, the Forest Shadow Bear.

This type of beast was fast and dealt high damage, making it extremely troublesome.

The veteran Players in Wind Snow Traveler's group were doing most of the fighting, the Xiao Fan Team was cautiously holding their own, and the remaining novice Players were crying out in panic.

With no other choice, Xiao Fan had no option but to activate the skill Gift of the Saint.

Wind Snow Traveler was still fighting hard to hunt the Magic Beast; the continuous combat throughout the night had left him exhausted, but he could not rest.

In fact, if he were even slightly careless, there was a chance the Fierce Beast would break through his defense.

Suddenly, a white shield appeared in front of Wind Snow Traveler, and immediately after, the fatigue throughout his body was swept away, his condition actually returning to the peak energy he had during the day.

+15HP

The sudden healing left Wind Snow Traveler stunned for a moment.

He had just been swiped by the Forest Shadow Bear and lost ten health points, and with no Doctor around to heal him, how could he have received healing?

"Roar~"

While Wind Snow Traveler was distracted, he was swiped by the Fierce Beast again, this time even more viciously than before.

-30, a number floated up from his body, yet his health bar did not change in the slightest.

"What is going on?"

Wind Snow Traveler hacked the beast in front of him to death and quickly realized it was the shield that had suddenly appeared on him that blocked the damage, and he also discovered that his body seemed to have suddenly become more agile.

"Boss, what is this thing?"

The other veteran Players also noticed the changes in their bodies and turned to ask Wind Snow Traveler.

"I don't..." Wind Snow Traveler had just started to speak when he heard the excited voice of Swift as Wind not far away.

"Brother Chen finally activated his skill; this feels so much better."

Wind Snow Traveler widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief.