County-level City 0201

The Fire Hammer Squad continued their journey. According to Gao Feng, they were still several hundred kilometers away from their destination, County-level City 0201, and it would likely take several more days to arrive.

Along the way, Luo Zhe and Luo Feng, the two newcomers being carefully groomed as future core members, received meticulous instruction and hands-on guidance from the rest of the Fire Hammer Squad. Sometimes the Wei Brothers would step in to handle monsters, other times they would let the two newcomers solve the problems alone, and occasionally, Captain Gao Feng would personally intervene to teach them, helping Luo Zhe and Luo Feng grasp essential combat experience.

Take the current situation, for example: Gao Feng used his hammer as if it were a blade, dancing and shifting within a tight space to face the assault of two Tiger Mastiff Hounds. Facing the gaping, bloodthirsty maws of the two beasts, Gao Feng did not retreat but advanced instead. With an elegant sidestep to the right, he dodged the pounce of the right-hand hound while simultaneously using its body to block the attack path of the second one.

After effortlessly dodging the pincer attack, he struck upward with his shield in his left hand. The hound on the right immediately lost its center of gravity and balance, exposing its throat—a vital point. Gao Feng then swung his Bright Silver Hammer upward in a sweeping motion. With a heavy "thud," the strike killed the beast instantly.

The remaining Tiger Mastiff Hound posed no threat to Gao Feng and was quickly and easily dispatched.

After extracting the four fangs from the two carcasses and placing them in his backpack, Gao Feng walked back to the group and asked, "You two, did you see my movements clearly just now?"

Luo Zhe fell into deep thought as he looked at the two Tiger Mastiff Hound corpses lying not far away.

Logically, a hammer is a blunt weapon with a wide impact area, meaning its force is more dispersed. Under the same amount of strength, its lethality against monsters is generally lower than that of a battle blade.

The two Tiger Mastiff Hounds they had just faced were clearly much stronger than the One-Horned Wild Boar they had encountered earlier; they were genuine F-Grade Monsters. Although the hide of a Tiger Mastiff Hound is less defensive than that of a One-Horned Wild Boar, Gao Feng's sidestep and the diagonal strike with his shield had not only eliminated the possibility of a joint attack but also forced the beast to expose its throat.

Even when facing the pincer attack, Gao Feng had chosen to close the distance, likely to deny the opponents the space to react and thereby create more opportunities to strike. The battle had been decided in an instant, lasting only a dozen seconds from start to finish.

He then recalled how he and Luo Feng had worked together earlier; even after he had landed a heavy blow on the One-Horned Wild Boar, they had still nearly allowed Luo Feng to be successfully ambushed—a significant mistake.

Then, he heard Gao Feng teaching from the side: "The best way to kill a monster is to aim for its weak points!"

"Generally, the weak points of beast-type monsters are the eyes, the anus, the throat, and the mouth. The next tier of vital points is the soft underbelly... and only after that comes the neck and back, which are exposed for long periods!"

"Opportunities to attack these weak points are rare because monsters aren't stupid; they are always careful to protect them. But if there is no opportunity, you must create one!"

Luo Zhe nodded. He understood this; it was the reason he had chosen to kick the One-Horned Wild Boar's front right hoof rather than simply slashing it with his blade. His goal had been to disrupt its center of gravity, cause it to lose balance, and thus find an opening to strike a vital point.

However, his problem was that he had failed to seize the moment when the boar lost its balance. Instead, by the time Luo Feng caught up to the beast, the boar had already regained its ability to counterattack despite the injury to its hoof.

Gao Feng continued, "When killing monsters, the ultimate goal of every action is to kill them as effectively as possible! You must learn to utilize your own strengths to be as efficient and concise as possible. Always remember: for every extra second a battle lasts, you put yourself in danger for one second longer."

Throughout the rest of the journey, Luo Zhe gradually came to understand that the key to killing monsters was ensuring every attack achieved maximum effect. He slowly discarded unnecessary blade techniques, making every strike sharper, more decisive, and more efficient.

In this process, Luo Zhe also began to grasp the secret to the second fold of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade: the extreme condensation of speed and power!

He believed that once he fully mastered this secret, he would be able to break through to the second fold of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade.

Three days later, in the early morning.

On a dilapidated ring road, the seven members of the Fire Hammer Squad moved quietly. They had already entered the suburban area of County-level City 0201.

Unlike their previous travel along the highway—where the surroundings were mostly desolate and signs of monster activity were rare—the vast majority of monsters now lived within cities and densely built-up areas. Places like county seats and urban centers were the truly dangerous zones!

This was because, during the long war between monsters and humans, the monsters discovered that if they lived in open, desolate areas without cover, human armies and martial artists could lock onto them from a distance and launch long-range attacks using heavy sniper rifles or even missiles.

However, in urban areas, there were countless buildings.

As long as monsters hid in densely built-up areas, it was difficult for sniper rifles to land a direct hit unless the snipers entered the city themselves. Furthermore, once human armies entered the city to engage in urban warfare, the monsters held a massive advantage.

Densely built-up areas were a paradise for monsters!

Monsters living in urban areas were almost exclusively pack animals. If you provoked a few and failed to kill them all, the survivors would quickly return with a whole group of their kin!

Therefore, to avoid alerting a large number of monsters, the seven members of the Fire Hammer Squad moved with extreme caution, terrified of accidentally provoking a massive horde.

Being chased by a large group of monsters was a miserable experience, and one wrong move could result in the entire squad being wiped out!

"You two, be careful. Try to avoid combat for the rest of the way. If a fight breaks out, kill the monster immediately to prevent it from calling for backup," Chen Gu whispered. "The suburbs and the city are different from the desolate areas outside; they are much more dangerous. There are Beast General Level monsters in these towns, and almost every Beast General is surrounded by a large number of Beast Soldiers. We must be extremely careful in our movements!"

Luo Zhe nodded.

The gap between Beast Soldiers and Beast Generals was not just in strength, but more importantly, in intelligence!

Beast General Level monsters possessed a certain level of intelligence, not far off from that of humans. To ensure their survival, they instinctively gathered large numbers of Beast Soldiers to protect them. Except for a very few solitary species like the Iron-Haired Wild Boar, most Beast Generals were surrounded by many Beast Soldiers.

"Everyone, stay alert. There is an Iron-Armored Bull nest in the area ahead," Captain Gao Feng suddenly said. "The leader of this nest should be a High-Level Beast General, and the number of Iron-Armored Bulls is significant, so we will detour! Chen Gu, do not fire your gun under any circumstances. Everyone else, if you are attacked by an Iron-Armored Bull, remember: you must kill it instantly. Do not let it call for its companions."

"Understood, Captain," the other six replied with a nod.