"Lao Gou, behind you!"
Hearing his old comrade's shout, Lao Gou, who was battling Evil Sludge, switched to Black-Armored Snake form without hesitation. Without even looking back, he lashed his tail out and sent the incoming Dark Tide Evil flying.
Then he decisively switched back to human form, took a dagger from his Spatial Inventory, and stabbed forward with a reverse grip.
With a piercing shriek, the worm before Lao Gou was skewered by the blade. It drooped limply, then turned into black mist that flew toward Lao Gou and his comrade.
Just then, a Demon Flea attacked from the side. Lao Gou quickly switched the dagger in his hand for a spirit-energy firearm and pulled the trigger. The patterns engraved on the weapon lit up from the rear, spreading along its body.
Boom!
Light burst from the muzzle. The bullet pierced the incoming Demon Flea, blasting it apart in midair.
The sequence flowed seamlessly, killing all three attacking Dark Tide Evils.
"Kandao, I need to heal."
"Coming."
A mass of Evil Spirits surged toward them. The veteran called Kandao stepped in front of his fellow veteran, timing his attacks to hold off the assault while continuing to deal damage.
Just then, someone tossed over a bottle of red potion from nearby. Lao Gou leaped up to catch it, twisted off the cap, and poured it into his mouth.
As his stamina rapidly recovered, Lao Gou looked up at his old commander in the distance, who swept through everything with an axe like a god of war. Envy rose within him.
But the fighting spirit rising from his heart soon suppressed that feeling. His gaze swept swiftly around before he shouted to a comrade a short distance to his left:
"Shui Wa, two o'clock!"
Hearing him in the midst of