Kill and Gain

"It's moving too fast. I can't aim," Qin Yang said at once.

As an archer, he was best at sneak attacks. Hitting a moving ferocious beast in such dense mountain forest was far too difficult... and the key was that this Leaping Flying Bear was too powerful.

It moved too fast.

Around level 24.

Generally, martial artists were considerably stronger than beasts of the same level, but that was because they had advantages in equipment and skill. In terms of sheer explosive physical strength, martial artists were inferior to beasts of the same level.

Thus, ferocious beasts were often faster than human martial artists of the same level.

"Roar!"

The Leaping Flying Bear was larger, standing over two meters tall. It had already discovered its companion's corpse. With intelligence far surpassing that of an ordinary beast and the scent of blood, it understood in an instant... its companion was dead.

Boom!

Roaring, it charged at Bai Chen like a small mountain, moving with lightning speed and terrifying ferocity.

"Get back!"

Bai Chen's gaze turned icy. Thanks to Xia Yao's warning, he had already put down the short blade. He seized his spear and thrust forward, its tip flashing like lightning as he tried to kill the Leaping Flying Bear.

But!

The Leaping Flying Bear was terrifyingly agile. It tilted its head and dodged Bai Chen's powerful thrust, then immediately slammed a massive paw against the shaft, knocking the spear aside.

Boom!

The Leaping Flying Bear lunged forward, its body smashing toward Bai Chen like a vehicle traveling at an astonishing speed. Bai Chen's expression changed.

The ferocious beast's strength and speed were both astonishing.

He wanted to dodge, but caught off guard, he couldn't evade it completely, even if he unleashed his hidden force.

Bang!

A black figure darted out from the side, carrying a huge shield, and slammed it into the Leaping Flying Bear's massive body. The bear couldn't dodge in time, and its high-speed charge made it even harder to keep its balance. It veered to one side and crashed into a large tree, splitting the trunk in an instant.

"Roar!"

The Leaping Flying Bear roared and immediately scrambled up, its eyes red as it stared at Fang Yu, who had charged out.

"Fang Yu, thanks," Bai Chen said quickly.

If Fang Yu hadn't arrived in time, he would certainly have suffered a minor injury.

"Captain, let's work together and create an opening for Qin Yang." Fang Yu held a saber in one hand and a shield in the other, staring fixedly at the Leaping Flying Bear and watching its every move.

"All right."

Bai Chen nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as he thought, Fang Yu seems even stronger than I imagined, and he isn't afraid of fighting high-level ferocious beasts at all. He really is a great help.

Fang Yu's timing was spot-on.

"Good." Qin Yang, Xia Yao, and Xiong Meng, watching from a distance, also breathed sighs of relief. If Bai Chen had been injured, the next month of actual combat would have been troublesome.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The three of them hurried closer.

Meanwhile, Fang Yu and Bai Chen were already working together in a fierce battle against the powerful Leaping Flying Bear.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Bai Chen was immensely strong. Every spear thrust flashed like lightning, forcing the Leaping Flying Bear to swing its paws to fend them off again and again, never daring to meet them head-on.

But each time it blocked, the spear tip would spin, tearing with astonishing force and delivering a tremendous impact to its paws. Tough as its skin was, it couldn't withstand the repeated blows. Soon, both paws were covered in blood, and numerous wounds had appeared on its chest, waist, and back as well.

"Roar! Cough! Hmph!!"

Whenever the Leaping Flying Bear charged recklessly at Bai Chen, Fang Yu would interfere from the side. Fang Yu was far weaker and slower, but the power of his saber was not to be underestimated.

Quickly.

The Leaping Flying Bear realized... it couldn't win this fight.

Its companion's death had filled it with rage, but the pain from its many wounds quickly brought it back to its senses. It realized that if it kept fighting, it might lose its life.

"Roar!"

The Leaping Flying Bear tried to retreat.

At that very instant.

Whoosh!

A metal arrow tore through the air like lightning and plunged straight into its eye socket. Its eyeball burst instantly as the arrow drove deep into its brain.

Thud!

The Leaping Flying Bear's enormous body fell heavily to the ground, though it was still twitching.

"Nice shot," Fang Yu couldn't help praising.

It truly was a masterful shot.

Without that arrow, he and the captain would probably have had to unleash their hidden force to keep the Leaping Flying Bear from escaping... and today was only their first day of hunting.

"Fang Yu, quick, don't waste time. You cut up the smaller one," Bai Chen said, reacting swiftly. "I'll cut up the bigger one."

"All right," Fang Yu quickly replied.

Neither dared delay. They quickly began cutting, while Qin Yang, Xia Yao, and the others hurried to the battlefield. Xiong Meng also helped cut off the pelts.

In less than a minute.

"Move!" Bai Chen ordered.

Xiong Meng and Xia Yao each carried a large bundle of pelts as they raced with Fang Yu and the others toward the upwind side, leaving the blood-soaked mountain forest behind.

Ten minutes later, in a safe area.

"Haha, everyone did a great job."

"We're off to a good start. In our first encounter, we killed a level 23 and a level 24 Leaping Flying Bear," Bai Chen said with a smile. "Qin Yang's two arrows were crucial, especially the second. He killed the level 24 Leaping Flying Bear outright with one shot."

"It really was impressive," Fang Yu said with genuine admiration.

Such accurate archery would have been understandable against a stationary ferocious beast, but to hit a fast-moving beast in the eye with a single arrow?

It was simply incredible.

"Luck," Qin Yang said. "It was mainly thanks to you and the captain, Fang Yu. You kept the Leaping Flying Bear occupied, so it couldn't spare the attention to guard against me. Otherwise, it would definitely have protected its vital spots."

Fang Yu listened.

These high-level ferocious beasts were highly intelligent. They understood what bows and arrows were, so once they discovered that an enemy had a powerful archer, they would do their best to guard against them.

And with ferocious beasts' powerful vitality, unless an arrow struck a vital spot directly, they could easily escape from sight even after being hit.

In the wilderness, human martial artists generally didn't dare pursue them recklessly, for fear of drawing out some extremely powerful ferocious beast or a pack of beasts.

"Mm, Fang Yu was impressive too. Without you, I reckon I would have been hurt, and the second Leaping Flying Bear would have been hard to kill," Bai Chen said with a smile.

The others also looked at Fang Yu.

After this battle, they had fully acknowledged Fang Yu's strength and truly regarded him as a member of the team.

"All right."

"Xia Yao, preserve both pelts first. Everyone else, rest," Bai Chen said. "We'll set out again shortly. Our goal is to kill ten ferocious beasts above level 20."

"Understood."

"Okay." Everyone voiced their agreement. Except for Xiong Meng, who stood guard, Fang Yu, Qin Yang, and Bai Chen all closed their eyes and rested.

As Fang Yu rested,

he checked the two messages he had just received on his communication star ring.

My Coefficient Score has already risen to level 1.2, and I'm back in third place? Fang Yu thought.

Yesterday, he had been busy cultivating and hadn't killed anything in the safe zone outside the base, so his Coefficient Score ranking had fallen straight to twelfth among the new students.

Killing the two ferocious beasts also earned me 0.3 and 2.3 points, respectively, Fang Yu thought. Sure enough, hunting intermediate ferocious beasts is faster for earning points.

In just that short time, I caught up to what I earned hunting low-level ferocious beasts in the safe zone for so long.

The team continued onward, killing more than ten low-level ferocious beasts along the way, but they encountered no more above level 20. Two hours later, the members of the Crimson Flame Squad finally reached their destination: Great Spirit Mountain.