The Hope Convoy would stop to rest for six hours, which gave them a fair amount of time.
However, there was no road they could drive along in the direction of their target. After a little thought, Luo Fan and the others took out some supplies and rented two motorcycles from the convoy.
Niu Dagang carried Rose, while Luo Fan carried An Xiaoran. The four rode in the direction Zhao Chunfeng had pointed.
After traveling about six or seven kilometers, they parked the motorcycles and continued on foot.
At this late hour, none of them knew whether the sound of approaching motorcycles would alert their quarry.
After all, Zhao Chunfeng's divination had foretold danger, so they naturally had to be cautious.
"I'll scout ahead first..." Luo Fan told Niu Dagang and the others.
He belonged to the Assassination Sequence and had Spirit Void Step, so he was indeed the best suited to serve as their advance scout.
"All right. Be careful," Niu Dagang nodded and reminded him.
Luo Fan activated Spirit Void Step, and his body immediately became light and supple, as though he could cross snow without leaving a trace as he ran nimbly forward.
As he sprinted, Luo Fan could feel the scenery around him rapidly falling away behind him.
After his Sequence level rose to Lv9, Luo Fan's movement speed with Spirit Void Step increased considerably.
Fast and light-footed, Luo Fan moved through the night like a ghost, carefully observing everything around him.
After running for about four or five minutes, Luo Fan emerged from the trees.
He could see a lake amid the woods, its surface shimmering in the moonlight.
On a large rock beside the lake lay a deer, its entire body blue-green.
The deer was enormous, standing over two meters tall.
Moreover, the corpse of a feline Fierce Beast lay torn apart on the rock. The deer was lowering its head to feed on it.
Before the apocalypse, beasts like lions and tigers hunted deer. Who would have thought it would be the other way around afterward?
That deer should be a Fierce Beast that has entered the rank.
But ordinary survivors can't eat ordinary Fierce Beasts, or their bodies will mutate. Can Fierce Beasts that have entered the rank eat them, though?
Watching the deer eat the ordinary Fierce Beast it had killed, Luo Fan silently wondered to himself.
After watching for a while, Luo Fan quietly backed away, returned to Niu Dagang and the others, and explained the situation to him.
"Luo Fan, how should we attack? Do you have any ideas?"
It seemed that, of the scales, hide, and Weird Crystal they still lacked, they could collect the hide tonight. Niu Dagang asked Luo Fan about their battle strategy.
"Although we've killed Fierce Beasts that have entered the rank before, we had Lian Ziqiong's help with the first one, the Fire Rotbird. With the second, the Black Bear, we also had help from the Luo father and son. This is our team's first time taking the initiative to hunt a Fierce Beast that has entered the rank, so everyone, be careful."
"Brother Niu, you'll fight up close. Don't worry about how much damage you deal; focus on keeping that Fierce Beast tied down."
"Then, Rose, you'll harass it from a distance with Missile."
"Xiao Ran, act as you see fit. Whether it's Healing or Shield, your timing has been spot-on every time, so I'm not worried."
"As for me, I'll provide support as the situation demands."
Luo Fan gave them a rough outline of the battle strategy.
With the four major classes covering melee, assassination, spells, and support, this division of roles could be considered very straightforward.
Once everyone understood their roles, Luo Fan and the others headed toward the little lake in the woods to surround their target.
Luo Fan and Rose emerged on either side, taking positions to the Fierce Beast's left and right.
Meanwhile, Niu Dagang approached from the front, carrying his Fire Axe.
Noticing Luo Fan and the others' movements, the deer rose from where it had been lying and enjoying its meal.
Crack, crack, crack...
As the deer moved, frost rapidly spread across the ground beneath its feet, and the air temperature dropped considerably.
Clad in the Black Bear's carapace and with Overlord Body activated, Niu Dagang charged straight at the Fierce Beast with tremendous momentum.
With his Level 10 Sequence level, Niu Dagang was like a raging bull.
With a shrill cry, the deer charged at Niu Dagang as well.
The Fire Axe came down hard, but the deer lowered its head and thrust its thick antlers upward.
A tremendous crash rang out, like two speeding cars slamming into each other.
Then Niu Dagang was forced back step by step. With its antlers pressed against him, the Fierce Beast advanced one step at a time.
In terms of raw strength alone, Niu Dagang was clearly still slightly inferior.
Not bad. Although he isn't as strong as that Fierce Beast, at least he wasn't sent flying outright.
Although Niu Dagang was being forced steadily backward, seeing him barely hold his ground rather than collapse under a single blow made Luo Fan raise his eyebrows. The situation was better than he had originally expected.
Whoosh!
An egg-sized Missile appeared and struck the deer directly.
At Rose's Sequence level, even though the Spell Sequence excelled at dealing damage, her attack caused no substantial harm to the deer.
Seeing this, Luo Fan gripped his Beast-Fang Short Blade and closed in with ghostlike speed while the Fierce Beast's attention was on Niu Dagang, swinging the hilt toward the deer's head.
Opening with Sap was not just faster; if he could stun his opponent, everything afterward would be easier.
However, although Luo Fan moved quickly, a gust of freezing wind suddenly blew from the deer's body.
Bone-piercing cold seemed to penetrate Luo Fan's body in an instant, leaving him frozen stiff from the outside in. His movements immediately slowed.
It was not just Luo Fan. A large mass of ice crystals immediately appeared on Niu Dagang's body as well.
Then the deer whipped its head violently to the side.
Niu Dagang was flung straight out, while those thick antlers swept viciously toward Luo Fan.
Hum...
An Xiaoran reacted as quickly as ever, immediately placing Shield around Luo Fan.
However, against a Fierce Beast that had entered the rank, An Xiaoran's Shield was not very effective. It offered a brief resistance before shattering with a bang.
Then the antlers continued toward Luo Fan without losing momentum.
In that critical instant, Luo Fan could only hold his Beast-Fang Short Blade across his body to block.
Then came a sensation of weightlessness as the antlers tossed Luo Fan straight into the air, sending him seven or eight meters away. He even lost his grip on his Dagger, which spun several times in midair before falling to the ground.
Luo Fan flipped backward in midair after being launched and barely managed to land on his feet. His arms felt numb, as though they no longer belonged to him.
The strength of a Fierce Beast that had entered the rank was truly terrifying...
As though it too knew to pick on the weaker target, the deer turned its head to stare at Luo Fan after flinging both men away. Luo Fan's strength naturally could not compare with Niu Dagang's.
Then it broke into motion and leaped toward Luo Fan.
The deer opened its mouth, revealing interlocking sharp teeth drenched in blood, with bits of flesh and shattered bone still visible...
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