The Charm of Item-Based Tactics!

Monster Hunter: World, deep within the Ancient Forest.

"Roar—!!!"

A mournful dragon's roar echoed through the skies.

In the air, a massive wyvern covered in dark green scales and lined with back spines circled overhead.

Rathian—the Queen of the Land.

Compared to the Anjanath, which only knew how to charge headfirst, this thing was practically a beginner's nightmare.

Not only could it breathe fire and fly, but its most disgusting feature was that venomous reverse-hooked tail. One little graze, and your health bar would drain like a leaking bucket.

"Damn it! It's flying too high—I can't hit it at all!"

On the ground, Wang Dong angrily swung his Insect Glaive.

He could jump, but this Rathian was too crafty. It kept circling above the treetops, occasionally diving down to spit fireballs or whip out a poisonous spinning tail attack.

Wang Dong had just tried to leap into the air when a tail smack sent him straight back down.

[Status: Poisoned. Health continuously decreasing.]

"Antidote! Hurry up and drink an antidote!" Huo Yuhao shouted from behind. The light bowgun in his hands kept firing, trying to draw its aggro, but the damage against Rathian's hard scales was barely a scratch.

Xiao Xiao was having an even worse time on the other side.

She carried her enormous Hunting Horn, intending to play an "Antidote Melody," but just as she struck a pose, Rathian dived at her. Terrified, she hugged the horn and rolled straight into the bushes.

"Wuwuwu... This dragon is such a cheat! It won't even let me finish playing my song!" Xiao Xiao was so aggrieved she was nearly in tears.

This was impossible to fight!

The enemy flew through the sky while they ran on the ground. They could only take hits.

Just as the three of them were about to be wiped out—

"Tsk, tsk. Looks like you're all still too honest."

Lu Yuan's voice suddenly came through the team chat. "That's a dragon, not a soul master. Why are you talking to it about honor?"

"But it won't come down!" Wang Dong complained.

"If it won't come down, can't you invite it down?"

Lu Yuan prompted, "Huo Yuhao, look at what's loaded in your slinger. Then look at the Flashbugs on the ground."

Huo Yuhao froze.

He looked down at the equipment on his arm, then at the glowing insects clinging to the nearby tree trunk.

[Flashbug: Emits an intense flash when stimulated. Can be crafted into—Flash Pod.]

A spark went off in Huo Yuhao's mind.

Flash? Intense light?

His Spirit Eyes martial soul instinctively told him that this thing would be incredibly effective against visual creatures!

"Wang Dong! Xiao Xiao! Get ready to attack! I'm bringing it down!"

Huo Yuhao shouted as he quickly gathered Flashbugs and loaded them into his slinger.

At that moment, Rathian spread its wings, preparing for another fire-breathing dive. Its eyes were locked firmly on the three people below.

"Now!"

Huo Yuhao raised his hand, predicted its path, and fired!

An inconspicuous orb of light shot into the air in front of Rathian.

Pop!

With a crisp snap, blinding light erupted!

The flash was so intense that it was like a miniature sun had exploded in midair.

"Ao—!!!"

The Rathian preparing to dive let out a miserable cry.

The sudden brilliance instantly blinded its retinas. Its massive wings lost balance, and like a kite with its string cut, it fell stiffly from the sky before it could even correct its posture.

The massive wyvern body crashed violently into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. It flailed in agony, stars spinning above its head.

[Status: Blinded crash! Massive opening!]

"Holy shit! It really came down!" Wang Dong stared in disbelief. "You can do that?!"

"Stop staring! Beat it up!" Huo Yuhao roared. "Xiao Xiao! Hit its head!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Xiao Xiao was no longer upset. Hoisting her Hunting Horn, she charged forward.

"Fly again! Scare me again! Spray poison again!"

Earthshaker!

Backward Strike!

Right Swing!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The heavy Hunting Horn hammered Rathian's head again and again like a pile driver.

The poor Queen of the Land had only just recovered from the blindness when she felt as if her skull were about to crack open. Seeing stars, it collapsed to the ground again and twitched.

[Status: Stunned!]

"Hahahaha! That feels amazing!" Xiao Xiao smashed away happily. "I'll play you a lullaby, then!"

"We're not done yet!"

Huo Yuhao had already run to Rathian's feet and swiftly set up a strange device on the ground.

It was a Shock Trap, crafted from Thunderbugs and trap tools.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

A net crackling with high-voltage electricity spread across the ground.

Rathian had only just staggered to its feet when it stepped right into the electric net.

Aow—Gah!

The powerful current instantly surged through its body. Rathian went rigid all over, its mouth hanging open as drool spilled out, unable to move once more.

"Wang Dong! Cut off its tail! It can't move!"

"Watch this, young master!"

Wang Dong, who had been holding in his anger for ages, had finally found his chance.

Using his pole to vault upward, his Insect Glaive glowed with a red enhanced aura as it carved deadly arcs through the air.

Tornado Slash!

Slice!

That poisonous tail which had tormented the three of them was forcibly severed and sent flying.

"We won!"

With that seamless combo of "flash, stun, paralysis, tail cut," the once-arrogant Rathian had been reduced to a punching bag.

Three minutes later, the hunt was complete.

The three removed their helmets and looked at one another, each seeing the same feverish excitement in the others' eyes.

"That tactic... is so dirty! So shameless!" Wang Dong said, though his face was blooming with a grin. "But I love it!"

"Exactly!" Xiao Xiao waved her little fist. "That beating felt so satisfying! So you can fight like this too! The teachers always taught us to use soul skills openly and honorably. They never said we could use methods like this!"

Huo Yuhao, meanwhile, was deep in thought.

He rapidly sketched diagrams in his notebook.

"Yuhao, what are you doing?" Wang Dong leaned over.

"I'm thinking about how to bring this whole tactic into the real world."

Huo Yuhao pointed at his drawings, his eyes shining.

"Although there are no Flash Pods or Shock Traps in reality, the principles are universal."

"Wang Dong, your Radiant Goddess Butterfly martial soul has extremely powerful light-element abilities. If you can unleash a burst of intense light in an instant, couldn't you replicate the Flash Pod's effect?"

"Xiao Xiao, your Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron has a deterrent effect. If you use Cauldron Tremor the moment the opponent is blinded, couldn't you replicate a stun?"

"As for paralysis..." Huo Yuhao rubbed his chin. "I can ask Teacher Fan Yu for some fixed-installation soul tools with lightning attributes, then modify them into landmine mode..."

Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao were both dumbfounded.

"Hiss—" Wang Dong sucked in a breath. "Yuhao, you're trying to screw your opponents to death!"

"It's called tactics." Huo Yuhao closed his notebook and revealed an honest, guileless smile. "Boss Lu said it: a hunter's creed is, if you can solve it with items, never bleed; if you can gang up on them, never fight one-on-one."

"Tomorrow's assessment, we'll teach those freshmen a lesson."

The next day, Shrek Academy's freshman assessment area.

The place was packed with people.

As the number one academy on the continent, the freshman assessment was the touchstone used to test young geniuses.

Zone 33.

"Freshman Class One, Huo Yuhao's team, versus Freshman Class Three, Ouyang Junyi's team!"

The proctor, Wang Yan, stood atop the platform and announced the start of the match.

Across from them, the three members of Ouyang Junyi's team had already unleashed their martial souls.

"Hmph, one Grand Soul Master with two one-ring soul masters? This one's in the bag!" Ouyang Junyi looked at Huo Yuhao's uneven lineup, brimming with confidence.

"Brothers, charge! Crush them head-on!"

Ouyang Junyi fused with his martial soul, transforming into a leopard and charging forward at incredible speed.

Yet no one on Huo Yuhao's team released their martial souls.

Huo Yuhao, standing at the front, calmly took a cloth-wrapped sphere from his robe. It was a crude Flash Pod he had made overnight using a light-element soul tool core.

"What's that? A hidden weapon?" Ouyang Junyi sneered. "Cheap tricks!"

Rather than slowing down, he sped up.

The corners of Huo Yuhao's mouth lifted slightly.

"Three, two, one..."

He violently smashed the sphere against the ground and shouted, "Close your eyes!"

Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao expertly turned their backs.

The next second—

Bzzzz—!!!

A flash ten times more dazzling than the sun exploded in the center of the arena.

With no preparation whatsoever, Ouyang Junyi's team instantly saw nothing but white, tears streaming uncontrollably from their eyes.

"Ah! My eyes!!"

"Despicable! They used lime powder... no, it's light!"

Before they could recover from the blindness—

An impassioned horn melody rang out.

"Attack power UP! Speed UP!"

"Get them!"

Wang Dong charged into the enemy formation like a phantom, kicking one opponent after another into the air while they still clutched their eyes and screamed.

Xiao Xiao was even more brutal. She swung her massive cauldron and delivered an Earthshaker straight to Ouyang Junyi's head.

Bang!

The world fell silent.

Less than ten seconds had passed from the start of the match to its end.

Teacher Wang Yan pushed up his glasses, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.

"This... what kind of fighting style is this?"

"No soul skill exchanges, no martial soul clashes... They lost without even seeing their opponents?"

Below the stage—

Teacher Zhou Yi watched the scene. Her face remained ice-cold, but the corners of her mouth kept rising uncontrollably.

"Hmph. Those little brats have finally learned something useful."

"Items, control, burst damage, finishing blows. This is what real combat looks like!"

On the stage, Huo Yuhao and the other two looked at one another and high-fived.

"Plan successful!"

"For the next match, should we try that Pitfall Trap tactic?" Xiao Xiao suggested excitedly.

Looking at those three children smiling so harmlessly, the other freshmen around them suddenly felt a chill run down their backs.

Was this really an assessment?

This was clearly the hunting ground of those three "hunters"!