Level Up: Level 5 → Level 6

Little Drill Wind ran up the mountain path. When he reached a steep slope, he suddenly skidded to a halt, spun around, and used his momentum to dive back down.

His short blade slid from its sheath, cold light cascading like a waterfall.

He ignored the warlord at the front, sweeping past his side and heading straight for the two goblins in the middle of the group.

The two goblins clearly hadn't expected him to turn back so suddenly. They scrambled to raise their shields, but the flash of his blade reached them first.

The first slash severed the arm holding up a shield.

The second thrust pierced the other goblin's throat.

One strike each, clean and precise.

Instant kills.

Su Mu narrowed his eyes and understood at once.

The two goblins hadn't been at full health.

During the earlier chase, Little Drill Wind had attacked them a few times, whether deliberately or not. Coupled with their run along the steep mountain path, their health had already been chipped away.

Little Drill Wind had chosen to strike them first because he had calculated that their remaining health was just low enough for him to kill them in one hit.

This yaoguai... can he count cards and track health too? Su Mu was secretly astonished.

The battle that followed confirmed his guess.

Little Drill Wind was like a snake slithering through the shadows.

He never lingered in a fight, picking off only monsters at the rear of the group whose health was below full and whose positions had become separated from the others.

If a strike missed, he fled a thousand miles; if it landed, it was sure to kill.

The goblins were led around by the nose in circles on the mountain path. Their formation stretched thinner and thinner, and their morale fell further and further apart.

In less than ten minutes, he had whittled the twenty goblins down to seven.

And Little Drill Wind had gained two more wounds.

One was on his shoulder, the flesh turned outward; the other was on his lower leg, deep enough to expose bone.

But he seemed completely incapable of feeling pain.

Only now did Su Mu truly feel the terrifying resilience Little Drill Wind possessed as a "yaoguai."

Those injuries would have impaired the movement of any ordinary creature card long ago. But the more wounded he became, the fiercer he fought. Not only had his speed not fallen, he had even grown a little faster.

Seven left.

The warlord was utterly enraged.

He no longer cared about formation. Swinging his great axe, he charged at Little Drill Wind, while the six goblins around him each fought on their own, chasing Little Drill Wind all over the mountain.

Amid that chaotic chase, Little Drill Wind killed the remaining lesser monsters one by one.

At last, only the warlord remained.

And Little Drill Wind had reached his limit as well.

He had less than 40% health left and seven wounds of varying sizes across his body. The deepest was on his back, where bluish-black bone was faintly visible.

But he didn't stop.

"Time to end this," Su Mu said quietly.

This final battle was actually simpler than the earlier fight against the group.

One on one, Little Drill Wind gave the warlord no opportunity from beginning to end.

Like a gray phantom, he circled the warlord without stopping, his short blade leaving wound after wound deep enough to expose bone.

The warlord's attacks were ferocious. Every blow could smash great swaths of mountain rock, but not one could touch Little Drill Wind.

The gap in their health was gradually worn away in the face of absolute skill.

By the time Little Drill Wind drove his final strike up through the warlord's jaw, a full six minutes had passed.

The warlord's massive body crashed to the ground.

The fifth wave was cleared.

Su Mu stood where he was, silent for a long moment.

He looked at Little Drill Wind.

The yaoguai was sitting with his back against a rock, cutting off a strip of cloth with his short blade and licking the wound on his leg, his face expressionless.

Drenched in blood, he nevertheless maintained a calm that made even Su Mu's blood run cold.

At the same time, a warm force surged from the depths of his soul.

[Level up: Level 5 → Level 6]

[Soul Power +10]

A light also shone around Little Drill Wind.

His level had likewise reached 6.

The panel refreshed.

Name: Little Drill Wind

Rank: A

Level: 6

Health: 13500/13500

Attack: 1130

Defense: 667

Speed: 1020

Combat Index: 13641

After leveling up, his health and injuries recovered instantly.

Little Drill Wind raised his head and stretched his pointed snout, as if he had smiled.

He used his blade to push himself to his feet, moved around a little, then looked toward the rift at the mountain pass.

The sixth wave was here.

Outside the trial grounds.

Time ticked by, one second after another.

The dark red Nightmare light screen still stood there quietly, but Su Mu's figure had yet to emerge from it.

The excited discussion outside gradually turned to doubt.

"It's been over ten minutes, hasn't it?" A student glanced down at his phone, then looked back up at the light screen, his voice full of disbelief. "Why hasn't he come out yet?"

"Ten-odd minutes is enough to reach the third or fourth wave." The person beside him chimed in, but laughed at his own words. "No way. What do you think a Nightmare dungeon is? Maybe in a normal dungeon."

"Then why do you think he hasn't come out?"

"Do you even have to guess? He's obviously stalling in there."

Someone wore an expression that said he saw through everything. "Su Mu's had good grades for three years. How could he not have a good head on his shoulders? His dungeon has a large area and lots of mountains, so he's just leading the monsters around. As long as he doesn't take the initiative to attack, the monsters have to search slowly for his core card's location. It's perfectly normal for him to drag things out for ten-odd minutes."

As soon as this explanation came out, quite a few people agreed.

"True. He has 210 Soul Power, so he can easily make a huge area. Once the monsters go in, they have to cross mountains and ridges first. Until they find the core card, they're running around for nothing."

"Good grief, he's playing hide-and-seek in there."

"The problem is, you can hide for a while, but you can't hide forever. Relying on the terrain to stall is useless. Each wave has more monsters than the last, and they get stronger every time. No matter how complicated the terrain is, it'll get flattened eventually."

"Then they'll all come pouring in at once, and he won't even have anywhere to run."

"So I'd just barely scrape through the first two waves, but I'd definitely die on the third."

"Just wait and see. It won't be long now."

Wang Hao stood at the front of the crowd, listening to the discussion around him as the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

Of course he agreed with the assessment that Su Mu was "stalling for time."

It was the only reasonable explanation.

He had personally experienced even the first wave of the Nightmare dungeon. Anyone who hadn't been through it simply couldn't imagine that oppressive feeling.

What did Su Mu have to fight with? Just an E-rank card awarded by the school?

A colossal joke.

Still, Wang Hao had to admit that Su Mu's desire to survive was strong.

Using the dungeon's area and terrain to slow the monsters' advance was humiliating, but at least it would keep him alive a while longer.

"This kind of shameless tactic only has a little effect the first time."

Wang Hao spoke with a cold sneer, his voice quiet but just loud enough for those around him to hear. "Once the monsters tear apart all his terrain, he'll have nothing left but that lousy rock. Then a bunch of goblins will surround him and pound him. I feel sorry for him just thinking about it."

As his words fell, quiet laughter rippled through the people around him.

Li Ming stood nearby, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

He wanted to argue back, but couldn't open his mouth.

Because even he couldn't find a reason to refute it.

Su Mu had been in there too long.

So long that it had gone beyond the bounds of normal combat.

Judging by the fighting style Little Drill Wind had shown in the Hard dungeon, he had always fought quick battles, every strike deadly, never dragging things out.

If he really could beat them, he would have cleared one wave after another long ago. The fact that he had dragged things out for so long suggested instead that he couldn't win and could only run.

Brother Mu... what on earth are you doing in there? Li Ming asked himself over and over, staring fixedly at the light screen as if he could stare an answer out of it.

Just as the crowd's discussion grew louder and louder, the dark red light screen suddenly rippled violently.

"He's out!" someone shouted.