Seriously Suspecting the Game Was Targeting Them

"Holy crap..." Xilaier's face turned green. "Where did those two come from?!"

"We can't shake them." Shen Que quickly scanned their surroundings. The canyon was too narrow to get around them. "We have to deal with them, or we won't make it out of the canyon."

He looked at the other two, his voice steady. "Ajiasi, can you take one on alone?"

"Yes." Ajiasi had already tightened his grip on his short blade. He stepped forward, shielding Yuqing. "The Frost Rabbit on the left is mine."

"Good." Shen Que nodded and drew his longsword. "Xilaier and I will take the one on the right together. Aili, stay behind us and watch yourself. Just support us with your mental power."

Yuqing took a deep breath and nodded.

She closed her eyes, and pale white mental power slowly flowed out of her body. Like a gentle stream of water, it silently enveloped the three men's mental domains.

The next second, all three of them jolted.

Shen Que felt his thoughts grow clearer. His mind, which had grown somewhat tired from running, instantly cleared, and his reactions became much faster. Xilaier felt strength surging through his body. He had even recovered most of the stamina he had spent running, and the small wound on his back barely hurt anymore.

Ajiasi felt it most keenly. The mental power in his sea of consciousness, agitated by his continuous killing, instantly settled down. His attention became intensely focused, and his blade could strike even faster than before.

A guide's mental enhancement... was actually this powerful?

Did the game really have an NPC with such an outrageous setup?

"Don't get distracted. Focus!" Sensing the others' attention wandering, Yuqing instinctively used her mental power to forcibly pull it back. After speaking, even she was taken aback.

Whoa, System Bro, what was that just now? I felt like I was controlling other people.

[Host, that should be the mental control attainable at lv2. It's probably the effect of just reaching the beginner level.]

But I'm only lv0.

[This game was designed for sentinels. It's too difficult, so very few guides log in. Even so, the game's designers took that into account. When programming it, they suppressed the sentinels' levels but didn't restrict guides. They may even have applied the enhancement to guides at the same time.]

I see. Yuqing slowly clenched her hand. She had to admit, controlling other people felt great.

Meanwhile, Ajiasi charged straight at the Frost Rabbit.

When the Frost Rabbit saw him coming, its ears twitched, and a trace of almost human disdain flashed through its ruby-like eyes. It opened its mouth and spewed out a torrent of white frost. Everywhere it passed, a thick layer of ice instantly formed on the ground.

Ajiasi pushed off with his toes and leaped into the air. He kicked off the rock wall and reached the Frost Rabbit in a few bounds, his short blade flashing coldly as he brought it down hard!

Clang! The short blade struck the Frost Rabbit's fur, producing the crisp ring of metal on metal. The soft-looking white fur was actually harder than steel! The Frost Rabbit raised a paw and gave him a light swipe, sending Ajiasi flying backward into the rock wall. Loose stones pattered down from the impact.

On the other side, the Hidden Wolf was astonishingly fast and skilled at concealing itself. It kept vanishing into the shadows during the fight, then launching surprise attacks from different angles, making it impossible to guard against.

Shen Que and Xilaier stood back to back, one attacking and the other defending. They worked seamlessly together, yet could barely fend it off, unable to touch so much as a hair on it.

This can't go on. We already used up some of our stamina running away. If we don't end this quickly, we'll inevitably be worn down and killed. Yuqing watched anxiously from the side but forced herself to calm down. Her mental power was already enhancing the three men, and if she wanted to attack, she could only use one move. She had to find the right opportunity to strike.

Yuqing kept her eyes fixed on the Hidden Wolf and the Frost Rabbit. She slowly calmed down as the two mutated beasts' movements began to slow in her mind, their actions playing out...

Found it!

She shouted, "Shen Que, its left hind leg is injured. It limps a little when it runs! Attack its left hind leg!"

Shen Que reacted instantly, thrusting his longsword backward with a reverse grip!

"Awooo!"

With a scream, the Hidden Wolf tumbled out of the shadows. A deep wound had appeared on its left hind leg, exposing bone, and blood streamed from it.

"Nice!" Xilaier's eyes lit up. He charged forward and brought his greatsword down hard with a rush of wind. The Hidden Wolf had just been injured and was a fraction slower. It barely dodged, only for Shen Que to drive his sword through its shoulder from the side.

The two men flanked it, coordinating flawlessly. The Hidden Wolf struggled to defend itself and retreated step by step, soon accumulating several more wounds.

Meanwhile, the battle between Ajiasi and the Frost Rabbit had also reached a fever pitch.

The Frost Rabbit's fur was as hard as armor, and its ice attacks covered a vast area. For the moment, Ajiasi couldn't get close at all. A thin layer of ice had formed on his clothes, and his fingers were growing stiff from the cold, but he didn't retreat an inch.

"Ajiasi, attack the spot between its brows!" Yuqing had found her chance, but she couldn't kill it on her own. She needed Ajiasi's help.

"Okay." Ajiasi had already tried every spot he could. The area between its brows was indeed a weak point, but not a fatal one. Aili had been watching from the side the whole time, so she couldn't be unaware of that. Since she had brought it up, she probably had an idea, and he would cooperate.

Ajiasi put all his strength into a slash at the spot between the Frost Rabbit's brows. Sure enough, the Frost Rabbit flew into a rage and leaped into the air.

Yuqing seized the opportunity. She unleashed the full force of her mental power, transforming it into a giant blade that struck straight at the Frost Rabbit's belly, which it had kept pressed down!

The Frost Rabbit's body went rigid, its ruby-like eyes widening as if it couldn't believe it had been ambushed. It swayed, then fell to the ground with a thud. Its fluffy body twitched twice before going still.

[Congratulations on killing a level 5 mutated beast, Frost Rabbit. Points +1000]

[Congratulations on killing a level 4 mutated beast, Hidden Wolf. Points +800]

Silence returned to the canyon.

Xilaier leaned on his sword, gasping for breath. The back of his clothes was soaked with sweat, but he wore a radiant smile. "We won!"

Que also breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to Yuqing. "Aili, it's thanks to you. If you hadn't found their weak points, we'd probably have been in real trouble today."

Ajiasi walked over, holding a fist-sized, ice-blue crystal core he had dug out of the Frost Rabbit's head.

He stopped in front of Yuqing and held the core out to her. "A level 5 crystal core. Use it to replenish your mental power."

Even NPCs needed to use rewards to level up, yet Ajiasi gave her the most valuable crystal core.

"You can have this crystal core too!" Xilaier had also dug out the Shadow Wolf's crystal core. It was purple.

[Host, the purple crystal core is lightning-element. It's no use to you. You can only absorb water- and ice-element crystal cores.]

"I'll just take this one. You can keep that one and use it yourselves." Yuqing took the crystal core Ajiasi offered and put it in her game inventory, planning to use it later.

"I'm so tired. Let's rest for a while."