Learning from Gascoigne

One question remains: how do adventurers know the names of every elite or boss monster?

In fact, each name is learned in a different way.

Some can only be discovered by glancing at the Hunting Handbook after the battle, while others can be guessed from various clues during the earlier exploration. Examples include [Crucible Knight] and [Pontiff Sulyvahn's Phantom].

Some special monsters, when they appear, will have their names appear in large magical characters, just like the names of various regions. When combined with various cool special effects, the sense of shock is explosive. For example, [The Full Moon Queen's Mimic Tear] is like this.

Since Fan En and his companions did not have Hunting Handbook, they only learned the name of the Elite Monsters they encountered for the first time, "Cleric Beast," from its loot later.

Father Gascoigne is clearly not at the level of the Full Moon Queen's protective teardrop, because there is no real name revelation.

All the people knew was that this was a crazed hunter charging towards them.

Although they knew Father Gascoigne was a hunter, under normal circumstances, humanoid enemies didn't seem as impactful as monsters, or so Fan En and his group thought.

If any of the adventurers who are regular customers of Sion were here, they would quickly correct his dangerous idea. If you encounter a beast-like enemy with a formulaic appearance in the Sain-type of dungeons, you should be secretly happy. It means that they are nothing special except for their high desire to attack.

However, when faced with a humanoid enemy, even the most experienced individuals cannot guarantee that they will be in a good mood.

"Let's go!" The two hunters exchanged a glance and charged forward from the left and right. Sensing their intention, the others immediately opened fire from the front to draw Father Gascoigne's attention.

These two hunters were once street thugs. They had learned fighting techniques through frequent brawls, and their specialty was pinning their enemies to the ground and engaging in grappling and restraint.

That's right. Seeing how old Father Gascoigne looked, they wanted to use the fighting style of street thugs to overpower him and maybe even get some information out of him!

Both men were wielding Saw Cleaver; one was chopping off a hand, the other a leg. People in front of them fired shots, hitting Father Gascoigne's arm, trying to use the impact of the bullets to prevent him from swinging the axe.

"Oh."

With astonishing skill, Father Gascoigne narrowly dodged the two men's slashes at the last second, in a seemingly precarious position where he appeared about to fall. How much combat experience must he have had?

However, this is exactly the effect the two of them wanted!

"Drink it, watch me!"

"Fall down!"

The two men suddenly dropped their weapons, which they hadn't yet retrieved, and lunged at Father Gascoigne with both arms outstretched!

"Well done!" Fan En praised, as the two of them had indeed tackled the priest. He quickly rushed over, shouting, "Hold on, wait for us—"

Before the words were finished, two screams were heard. The two men, who had just tackled the enemy and hadn't even had time to form a binding position, were thrown out screaming.

Throwing two strong, healthy adults out at the same time? What kind of superhuman strength is that?

Fan En stopped abruptly, and Father Gascoigne stood up at that moment. His slightly taller figure stood in front of him like a large black tower, and one could even smell the blood in his breath.

It was at this moment that Fan En and the others realized something:

An enemy's strength cannot be judged solely by their size.

The Saw Cleaver slashed out suddenly, Fan En reacted immediately, slashing back with his own blade, however...

"Bang!"

A gunshot rang out, and Fan En, his face contorted with fear, knelt on the ground, wounded.

Damn it, I've discovered that in hunter battles, whoever strikes first is doomed.

While Gun Parry is exhilarating, it can also be incredibly satisfying if the gun falls into enemy hands.

"You little bastard, I'm going to kick your ass!"

The old lady Bell's distinctive sharp tone rang out from the side, luckily drawing Father Gascoigne away, who was about to have a heart-to-heart talk with Fan En.

The group attacked together, each using all their skills. Gunshots and the sounds of weapons clashing filled the air, making it even more lively than the Lunar New Year.

Father Gascoigne, with his rich combat experience, superior weapon proficiency, and superhuman strength, appeared incredibly brave during the siege. Ordinary attacks could not stop his offensive, and the attacks from the others had no effect on him.

It looks like people are surrounding him, but in terms of actual combat experience, it's more like he's surrounding the others!

Fan En finally recovered from his collapsed state. When he got up, he saw that several other people were kneeling on the ground just like him. They had obviously been Gun Parry. Some of them even had a close friendship with Father Gascoigne. Blood was splattered all over the ground.

This is an enemy even more terrifying than the Cleric Beast!

He rushed over to help, but after only a few moves, he was struck by an axe and sent flying backward. He felt as if many of his bones were broken, and he only stopped when he crashed into a tombstone.

These stone-carved tombstones look dilapidated, but they are surprisingly hard to the touch. There are many similar things in the cemetery.

"Hiss, there are three bottles left."

He injected himself with a Blood Vial. When his injuries were severe, the recovery time became relatively long, so he could only use this time to observe the enemy.

Father Gascoigne's attack moves were both wide and ingenious, and you never knew when he would sneak up on you with a shot. His success rate in Gun Parry was as high as 99%, and almost every time a shot was fired, someone would fall.

Compared to him, Fan En felt like a gorilla who didn't know how to use a gun properly. No, at least gorillas are strong; he should just be a monkey.

If only I could avoid becoming enemies with this seemingly experienced hunter and instead have him teach me combat techniques.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when his injuries began to heal thanks to the Blood Vial. He shook his still slightly sore and numb arms, ready to rejoin the battle. If he didn't hurry up and get back into the fight, everyone would be knocked down.

But just then, he suddenly heard a muffled thud.

It was that irritating dull thud that came from a weapon striking an indestructible, hard object.

Those caught in the fierce battle might not have noticed, but as an observer, he saw it clearly: Father Gascoigne's axe had missed its mark and struck an inconspicuous tombstone, which bounced back.

Could a tombstone make him deflect a knife?

Fan En's eyes lit up. With so many tombstones around, if they could figure out Father Gascoigne's attack methods and the terrain to guide him, could they use these tombstones to carry out their attack? It seemed like a very promising opportunity!

Is history about to repeat itself? He loudly shared this news with the others, who were overjoyed upon hearing it.

But by this time, everyone was already at a disadvantage and didn't even have the extra energy to observe the terrain or guide the enemy to the area with more tombstones. Fan En's eyes changed, and he suddenly cut his wrist and splashed his blood on the priest. The rich aroma of the blood, combined with the sound of gunfire, successfully attracted the other party's attention.

Father Gascoigne charged at him, Fan En ran away.

Having finally gotten a chance to catch their breath, the crowd shouted anxiously:

"Fan En, you're in the wrong place! There are even more tombstones behind you!"

"I know!"

Fan En pulled down his mask, revealing a passion ignited by his perilous situation, and turned to face the priest who had caught up behind him.

The place he was in was one of the few open areas in the cemetery, with no tombstones around. It would be a perfect spot for a fair fight, but they couldn't possibly win a head-on confrontation. What was he doing?

"You all rest now. While I hold him off, go find more places to fight near the tombstones," Fan En shouted to the group, then turned his gaze back to the priest. "I want to duel him One for One!"

"Are you crazy!?"

"I've finally met a fellow hunter with extensive experience, how could I possibly give up this precious learning opportunity!"

He looked at Father Gascoigne, his tone respectful, and said:

"I don't know if you can still understand what I'm saying. I'll try to learn your hunting techniques from you in battle."

Father Gascoigne exhaled a breath of stale air, seemingly in response, and launched the first attack.

Fan En felt a deadly threat, which only made his smile more unrestrained, and he charged forward to meet the attack.

He figured out a way to skip class, but he only told his friends and didn't put it into practice. Instead, he had a One for One duel with an enemy he couldn't possibly defeat.

It wasn't that he wanted to show off his high moral character; he simply wanted to train himself and learn more hunting skills. Facing his teacher, Father Gascoigne, head-on was undoubtedly the fastest way to improve, even if it meant dying many times.

He thought he would only use the tombstones in battle when he was really desperate to lose.

People watched as he charged forward to fight the enemy, putting up a fierce battle for a few seconds before being overwhelmed and beaten, leaving them speechless.

"I'll go check out the areas with lots of tombstones first." Someone turned around and quickly went to find more tombstones.

But some people watched Fan En's fighting posture and fell into thought. Finally, they sighed and said, "I also want to learn from him."

"Count me in too," someone else chimed in. "My axe is the same as his, but I know nothing about how to use it. It's hard to even hit him. I want to fight him a little longer."

"Why are you all like this? I'm a cane user, I wouldn't dare fight one-on-one. Anyone want to help me out?"

Through Fan En's actions, people gradually realized one thing:

Rather than focusing on the usual goals of adventurers, such as defeating Father Gascoigne or more enemies, or quickly increasing map exploration, they should be prioritizing improving their own strength.

Their goal is to reclaim Savis City and even the entire Red, not to fight to the death to conquer the dungeon!

"Change players!"

Fan En barely managed to hold on for two minutes before being sent flying by an axe. He was thrown out of the cemetery by a strange force and crashed onto the roof of a nearby building.

Even before takeoff, it didn't forget to give people a reminder, which shows how responsible it was.

"Oh dear, I feel like I've learned a lot, but when I think about it carefully, I can't remember it all."

His body was extremely exhausted, but a sense of satisfaction arose in his heart, which made him laugh repeatedly.

He turned to check on his companions' fighting situation.

But what he saw when he turned his head made him stop laughing.

Why is there a woman's corpse lying next to him? Was there this on the roof before?

Since this place was supposed to be accessible only after defeating Father Gascoigne, no one noticed the presence of a woman's corpse there.

There were countless corpses in Yanan, but one corpse was nothing to be surprised about. However, something caught his attention.

A brooch was pinned to the woman's body.

A large and beautiful Ruby Brooch.