County-level City 0201

The Fire Hammer Squad continued on their way. According to Gao Feng, they were still hundreds of kilometers from their destination, County-level City 0201, and it would take several more days to reach it.

Along the way, Luo Zhe and Luo Feng—the two newcomers being groomed as future pillars of the team—received careful instruction from the Fire Hammer Squad, both through explanations and by example. Sometimes the Wei Brothers took on monsters themselves; other times, they had Luo Zhe and Luo Feng handle them alone. Even Captain Gao Feng would occasionally step in to teach them, helping them gain practical combat experience.

Just then, Gao Feng was using a hammer in place of a blade as he faced two Tiger Mastiff Hounds. He darted and shifted within a confined space. As the two hounds lunged with their jaws wide open, Gao Feng moved toward them instead of retreating. With an elegant sidestep to the right, he evaded the right-hand hound's pounce while using its body to block the other hound's attack.

After easily evading the pair's assault, he swept his shield diagonally upward with his left hand. The right-hand hound immediately lost its balance, exposing its vulnerable throat. Gao Feng whipped his Bright Silver Hammer upward with his right hand. Thud! The heavy blow killed the hound instantly.

The remaining Tiger Mastiff Hound posed no threat to Gao Feng either, and he dispatched it just as easily.

After removing the four fangs from the two hounds and putting them in his backpack, Gao Feng returned to the group and asked Luo Zhe and Luo Feng, "Did you two see what I just did?"

Looking at the two Tiger Mastiff Hounds lying nearby, Luo Zhe fell into thought.

In theory, a hammer was a blunt weapon. Its striking surface was broad, so its force was spread out. With the same amount of strength behind a blow, it was less lethal against monsters than a War Blade.

Those two Tiger Mastiff Hounds had clearly been much stronger than the One-Horned Wild Boar they had encountered earlier. They were genuine F-Grade Monsters. Though their coats offered less protection than the boar's hide, Gao Feng's sidestep and upward shield strike had not only prevented the hounds from attacking together, but also exposed their vulnerable throats.

Even while facing two hounds at once, Gao Feng had chosen to close the distance. He must have wanted to leave them less room to react and create more openings to attack. The fight had been decided almost instantly. From start to finish, it had lasted barely more than ten seconds.

Thinking back to when he and Luo Feng had teamed up against the One-Horned Wild Boar, even after Luo Zhe had struck it hard first, he had nearly let it ambush Luo Feng. That had been a serious mistake.

Then he heard Gao Feng continue his lesson. "The best way to kill a monster is to target its weaknesses!"

"For most quadrupedal monsters, their weak points are their eyes, anus, throat, and mouth. The next most vulnerable spots are their soft bellies... followed by their necks and backs, which are exposed for long periods!"

"Opportunities to attack weak points are hard to come by, because monsters aren't stupid. They're always careful to protect their weak points. But if there's no opening, you can create one!"

Luo Zhe nodded. He understood all of that. It was why he had first kicked the One-Horned Wild Boar's right foreleg instead of slashing at it. His goal had been to throw off its center of gravity, make it lose balance, and create an opportunity to attack a vital spot.

His problem was that he had failed to seize the opening when the boar lost its balance. By the time Luo Feng caught up to it, its right foreleg had been badly injured, but it could still fight back.

Gao Feng added, "When fighting monsters, every action should ultimately serve one purpose: killing them as effectively as possible! Learn to make the most of your strengths. Be as effective and efficient as you can. Remember, every extra second a fight lasts is another second you're putting yourself in danger."

As they continued on their way, Luo Zhe gradually came to understand that the key to fighting monsters was making every attack count. He gradually abandoned unnecessary blade techniques, making each slash sharper, cleaner, and more efficient.

In the process, Luo Zhe also began to grasp the secret of the second level of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade: extreme refinement of speed and strength!

Once he fully understood this principle, he would break through to the second level of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade!

Three days later, at dawn.

The seven members of the Fire Hammer Squad moved quietly along a dilapidated ring road. They had reached the outskirts of County 0201.

Unlike their earlier journey along the highway, which had taken them mostly through desolate areas, this stretch was different. Monsters were rarely seen in the wilderness. But nowadays, most monsters lived in cities, among densely packed buildings! Places like county towns and urban districts were the truly dangerous areas.

In the long war between monsters and humanity, the monsters had learned that if they lived in open, desolate areas without cover, human armies and martial artists could spot them from a distance and attack them with heavy sniper rifles or even missiles.

But in urban districts, buildings stood packed together.

As long as monsters hid among the buildings, sniper rifles had little chance of hitting them directly—unless the snipers entered the city themselves! And if human troops entered the city and fought the monsters in the streets, the monsters would have a huge advantage.

Densely built-up areas were the monsters' paradise!

The monsters living in cities were especially likely to be pack creatures. If they encountered some monsters and failed to kill every one of them, those that escaped would soon return with a pack of their own kind!

So, to avoid alerting large numbers of monsters, all seven members of the Fire Hammer Squad moved with extreme caution, afraid that one careless mistake might draw a whole horde down on them.

Being chased by a horde of monsters was no fun. One mistake could even leave them all dead!

"Be careful, you two. As much as possible, avoid fighting from here on. If a fight breaks out, kill the monsters immediately so they can't call for reinforcements," Chen Gu whispered. "The outskirts and urban districts are far more dangerous than the desolate areas outside. Beast General Level monsters live in towns, and almost every one of them has a large number of Beast Soldier Level monsters nearby. We need to be extra careful."

Luo Zhe nodded.

Beast Soldiers and Beast Generals differed not only in strength. The most important difference was their intelligence!

Beast General Level monsters already had a certain degree of intelligence, not much less than humans'. To protect themselves, they instinctively gathered large numbers of Beast Soldier Level monsters around them. Except for a rare few, like Iron-Haired Wild Boars, that preferred to live alone, most Beast Generals had plenty of Beast Soldiers nearby.

"Everyone, stay alert. There's an Iron-Armored Bull nest up ahead," Captain Gao Feng suddenly said. "The leader of the nest should be a high-level Beast General, and there are a lot of Iron-Armored Bulls there. We'll go around it! Chen Gu, don't fire your gun under any circumstances. The rest of you, if you run into any Iron-Armored Bulls, kill them instantly. Don't let them call for help."

"Yes, Captain," the other six replied.