A Frenzy of Monsters

"Well, aren't you gnolls the strongest? As the saying goes, the capable should shoulder more work. Naturally, the toughest assignment should go to the strongest person. Besides, the temple might be harder to take, but it'll probably give more reputation too."

"Bullshit. Do you think I'm that **** Hogger, who loses his bearings after a little flattery? I'm not attacking the temple. Whoever wants to go can go." Derek immediately turned hostile.

A troubled look appeared on Xiao Yu's face, and he turned to Black Rod. "How about Boss Black takes charge of attacking the temple?"

Black Rod sneered and shook his head. "Come on. Since Boss Eric is the one who started this whole operation, naturally we should leave a chance to stand out like this to him."

"Right, right! I think Boss Eric is the perfect one to attack the temple!" Seeing someone back him up, Derek immediately redirected his fire at Xiao Yu. He even kicked Big Gold Tooth beside him, who hurriedly chimed in, "Right, right, Boss Eric should be the one to handle this assignment."

Xiao Yu looked as though he had backed himself into a corner and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing that, Derek immediately sneered inwardly. Got nothing to say now, huh, punk?

Although Xiao Yu looked troubled, he was laughing inwardly. Just as I expected. How could little schemes like yours escape my calculations?

He had wanted to take charge of attacking the temple from the start, but he had been afraid the others would see his deeper intentions. So he had deliberately assigned the temple to someone else and given himself a task that looked easier and offered some profit. Just as he had expected, the others refused to accept it and instead pushed the task of attacking the temple onto him. Heh heh, then I won't stand on ceremony.

Xiao Yu hesitated for a long time before finally putting on a resolute expression. "Fine, I can attack the temple if you want me to, but each of you has to lend me some troops. That archdruid won't be easy to deal with."

"Well, lending you some troops isn't out of the question, but we can't give you too many."

"Not too many," Xiao Yu said, striking while the iron was hot. "Boss Black, just lend me two of your Defias healers. Boss Derek, four kobold geomancers from you will do."

Every monster faction had some special units, and the Defias healers and kobold geomancers Xiao Yu had asked for were among them.

Defias healers were among the few monsters capable of casting Heal, while kobold geomancers could throw fireballs. Both were special monsters with mana bars.

Black Rod and Derek exchanged a glance and nodded. "Fine, it's settled."

Xiao Yu still seemed unsure. "Also, if I can't take it when the time comes, remember to come support me."

"Don't worry, how could we leave you short?" the bosses said, thumping their chests, while thinking that when the time came, he could go to hell for all they cared.

Amid all this scheming, the plan to attack Nightwhisper Village was settled.

"All right, let's get started, then." The monster bosses returned to their respective groups, and with a blast from a gnoll bugler's horn, the monster army surged out of the forest toward Nightwhisper Village like a tide.

A few minutes later, the army reached the gates of Nightwhisper Village. Such a commotion naturally couldn't escape the village guards. The branches and trunks of two thorn trees came down, blocking the entrance, while several night elf archers raised their bows and fired at the monsters below. With monsters packed so densely, it was almost impossible to miss, and several were shot dead in the blink of an eye. Xiao Yu, however, had already anticipated this.

"All archers, concentrate your fire on the guards in the tree tower-loose!"

At his command, arrows flew like a swarm of locusts.

Their accuracy was awful, but there were so many archers on their side-nearly a hundred of them. A dense rain of arrows flew over, and in the blink of an eye, the night elf archers on the tree tower had been turned into pincushions.

"Fireballs and fire arrows, ready! Aim at the gate-fire!" Another command rang out. This time, the kobold geomancers, Defias arsonists, Xiao Yu, and the fire elementals he had summoned attacked. Fireballs and fire arrows of all kinds rained down on the thorn gate. In the blink of an eye, its durability was burned away, and it was reduced to a pile of ash.

The others, who had long been unable to hold back, rushed in together. Several night elf guards blocking the way behind the gate were cut down by the surging monsters before they could react.

"Good! Everyone, charge inside! Don't stop, don't stop!"

Xiao Yu felt a surge of excitement. Looks like the plan's going pretty smoothly this time.

But they had barely charged inside when three enormous ancient trees blocked their way. During the earlier reconnaissance, the three trees' names had been green, marking them as friendly units, and they hadn't looked too frightening. Now, however, their entire bodies radiated a savage aura, and their enormous forms creaked as they moved. They looked so terrifying that the monsters at the front stopped almost instinctively.

"Don't panic! Everyone who can use fire attacks, gather at the front!"

In the blink of an eye, the Defias arsonists, kobold geomancers, Xiao Yu, and his fire elementals stood in a line.

"Focus fire on that ancient of war! Attack!"

In an instant, a dense barrage of fireballs and fire arrows flew out. Xiao Yu roared, firing Flame Missiles one after another. The ancient of war was huge, but as a tree, it was vulnerable to fire. In the blink of an eye, it was engulfed in flames, its health plummeting. Though it had as much as three thousand health, it couldn't hold out for long.

At that moment, the two ancient protectors behind it picked up enormous rocks and hurled them over. The boulder throw was an area attack, and it flattened three or four kobold geomancers and four or five goblin scouts in one blow.

"Damn, that attack's powerful! No, we can't wait! Everyone, charge!" The monster bosses roared, and their underlings immediately rushed forward, going around the ancient of war, which had already burned to ash, and pouncing on the two ancient protectors.

The two ancient protectors threw a few more rocks, crushing several unlucky low-level monsters to death, before the monsters overwhelmed them.

Swords hacked and axes chopped. In the end, two fists were no match for four hands. After struggling and stomping more than a dozen monsters to death, the two enormous ancient protectors fell one after the other with two thunderous crashes. In the blink of an eye, they were chopped into splinters.

"Hahaha, this is great, this is great! Now this is what I call a game! Stick to the plan, everyone-kill!" Derek the gnoll howled with excitement. After playing as a monster for so long and being killed by adventurers so many times, he could finally hold his head high.

Black Rod's eyes flashed, all trace of his earlier expert's demeanor gone. Deathclaw and several of his friends were howling even louder. For a time, monsters rampaged everywhere.

With the trees no longer blocking them, nothing stood in the monster army's way, and it poured into Nightwhisper Village like a tide. The first people the monsters encountered were the civilian players watching the excitement. Civilian players had no combat skills and only a basic hundred health points, leaving them utterly helpless against the monsters' attacks. Those who had activated the combat exemption service were fine: they automatically became part of the background, and attacks couldn't touch them. Not only did they take no damage, they could also watch a free war movie on the spot. Watching the spectacle was a real thrill.

Those who hadn't activated the combat exemption service had it much worse. In the blink of an eye, they were hacked to pieces and decapitated. Although civilian players had no pain system, they would probably be left with psychological scars.

"Wahhh, you damn couples! Running out in the middle of the night to flaunt your love instead of sleeping! Die, all of you!" Perhaps he had built up a lot of resentment from being unable to get a girlfriend, because Derek specifically picked out couples to hack at. Unfortunately, the game had no molestation system; otherwise, who knew what he might have done? Even so, he was covered in blood from all the hacking, a truly frightening sight.

Black Rod, on the other hand, specifically targeted night elf guards and adventurers who came to support them. Those were all living, breathing reputation points.

As for the beasts, they vanished as soon as they entered the village. There was no telling where they had gone to bite people.

Xiao Yu, however, did not join in the slaughter. He still remembered exactly why he had attacked Nightwhisper Village this time.