GOR
As they dared not send Adam too close, the picture shown on the monitor was blurry. Even so, Chen Xiaolian could still tell that the figure was Zhao Yun.
By the time the light burst into existence, she had already reached the edge of the camp. A light tap from the tip of her spear reduced the fence of the camp into ashes.
The most outrageous part of it all was her speed. She made no turns in her advance. It did not matter what was blocking her way. Be it a tent or a soldier, all would be reduced to ashes before the might of the light enveloping her spear-wielding figure.
Her objective was none other than the biggest tent within the camp.
Most of Cao Cao’s soldiers had been sent forth to besiege the horse soldiers. Thus, only a small number of soldiers could be seen here and there within the camp. The only exception was the area around the biggest tent. Large groups of soldiers continued standing guard near the big tent.
Although it was hard to get a good look at the armours and weapons on the soldiers, their equipment were clearly better compared to that of the ordinary soldiers. Despite the intensity of the battle up front, the soldiers remained at their stations, surrounding the big tent.
“The Tiger Guard?” Roddy smacked his lips. “In other words… … Cao Cao is inside? My idol is planning to go for the head!”
“Those horse riders are simply acting as decoy and sacrificial pieces. Their objective is to lure away the main force of Cao Cao’s army.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head, affirming Roddy’s judgement.
The instant Zhao Yun appeared, the soldiers – despite not receiving any instructions from their general – had already turned to face Zhao Yun while forming a tightly packed battle formation.
The first three rows of soldiers raised up large shields, which they thrust heavily into the ground to form a thick shield wall. The two rows of soldiers behind them held onto blades with both hands. As for the remaining soldiers behind, they all brandished halberds, which were thrust out in an orderly manner.
The toughness of their shield wall was practically at the level of being unbreakable.
However, Zhao Yun did not attempt to go around it. Instead, she chose to charge straight ahead.
Right before making contact with the shield wall, she performed a half-whirl with her spear before sweeping it furiously forward. A silvery, crescent-shaped beam, tens of metres in size, slammed upon the shield wall.
The powerful explosion resulting from that attack caused the shield-wielding soldiers who were in the front row to suffer as their flesh and blood scattered through the air. In that instant, an opening was created, exposing the soldiers behind.
“Pow… … powerful!”
Roddy, who was watching it all, became so excited, he nearly jumped out from his seat. “As expected of my idol! That is simply… … simply inhuman!”
The horse galloped forward, bringing Zhao Yun into the midst of the Tiger Guard soldiers. Her spear became like a torrential rain and every thrust would pierce the throat of a Tiger Guard soldier.
The light from the combat energy unleashed by the Tiger Guard soldiers was far brighter compared to the ordinary soldiers in the frontline. And yet, in face of Zhao Yun’s spear, they became akin to paper tigers, worthless items. They had not been able to stop Zhao Yun’s charge at all. In but moments, she had broken through half of the shield wall formation.
As Zhao Yun was about to rush into the big tent, the ground before her suddenly spiked up and a rocky giant, tens of metres in height, shook the soil off its body as it stood before Zhao Yun’s path.
Although the surrounding Tiger Guard soldiers were sent flying by the sudden appearance of the rocky giant, its appearance had also managed to stop Zhao Yun’s advance.
Zhao Yun’s spear, coated with a layer of silvery luminescence, stabbed forward, incinerating one of the rocky giant’s arm. Unfortunately, that action had also stopped her forward momentum.
“Jiang Long is giving orders through the guild channel. He wants all Awakened ones to prioritize the main tent!” Nightmare hastily said. “That move earlier, I know who did it. That fellow is also an expert from Thorned Flower Guild. He is of the magic-type, specializing in summoning hordes of puppets.”
“Given the speed at which the skill appeared, there is no way he rushed over there.” Chen Xiaolian was staring at the monitor. “The liaisons that they sent out into the various guilds must be the weaker members of their guild while the true powerhouses were held back to serve the guild’s needs.”
“In other words, they had long since expected that there will be a surprise attack on the main tent?” said Lun Tai with knitted brows. “Looking at the time, we have only been in this instance dungeon for a while. After realizing there was a surprise attack, he must have instructed his subordinates to search for Cao Cao’s main tent and assigned his elite members there to safeguard the tent.”
“He is truly smart.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head and continued looking at the monitor.
By then, the rocky giant had been destroyed by Zhao Yun with several spear thrusts. Its body collapsed and large rocks fell onto the ground. However, the corpses belonging to the Tiger Guard soldiers that Zhao Yun had killed just moments ago suddenly burst apart. Skeletons stumbled out from their corpses. Picking up the swords left on the ground, the skeletons charged toward Zhao Yun.
Two spider-shaped mechs appeared behind Zhao Yun. Each of the mechs was several times larger compared to the Black Widow monster. The two laser-powered miniguns installed on each began firing upon Zhao Yun. Although they were incapable of piercing through the silvery light around Zhao Yun’s body, every one of the lasers caused ripples to appear on the surface of the silvery light.
A crossbow-wielding Awakened darted about behind the Tiger Guard soldiers. Whenever he was done pulling his bowstring, he would quickly raise his crossbow and fire out a flurry of arrows, arrows gleaming with green light…
The number of Awakened ones to appear gradually increased. However, only those with long-ranged attacks would engage Zhao Yun. Chen Xiaolian could see several Awakened ones with melee weapons there. However, not a single one of the melee-type Awakened ones chose to step forward. They simply kept a close eye on Zhao Yun, who was besieged by the Tiger Guard soldiers, as they stood guard before the long-ranged Awakened ones just in case there was a surprise attack.
“Those fellows… … what is wrong with them? They are using tech-based equipment and magic spells right in front of Cao Cao’s soldiers! Have they gone mad?!” Roddy cried out. “Do they not want to work together with the NPCs anymore?”
When they first entered the instance dungeon, the system had given all the Awakened ones the identity of Cao Cao’s soldiers by default. However, revealing actions unbefitting of Cao Cao’s soldiers would result in them losing that identity and becoming the NPCs target of attack. Earlier, when Chen Xiaolian’s group chose to run away, Cao Cao’s soldiers became hostile toward them.
After all, all of Cao Cao’s soldiers, be it the high-ranking officers or the lowest ranking of soldiers, were all humans. There were not brainless monsters. While they may be able to get away with firing long-ranged weapons on the sly, revealing mechs and magic right in front of the soldiers’ eyes would certainly illicit a response from the soldiers.
“Jiang Long is a smart fellow. He would not do something stupid.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “Look, the soldiers are not responding to their actions.”
It was as Chen Xiaolian said. Despite seeing the Awakened ones using various wondrous abilities and equipment, the surrounding soldiers showed no reaction to them. They continued to send wave after wave at Zhao Yun. It almost seemed as though they simply weren’t aware of the Awakened ones.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Roddy shouted out resentfully. “Why then did they come after us?!”
“There will surely be an explanation.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head.
“Boss, just now, Jiang Long said that everyone can be at ease and freely use their skills,” said Nightmare, who quickly continued, “Both tech-based and magic-based skills can be used. Doing so will not result in losing our identity as Cao Cao’s soldiers. However, he proposed that melee-type Awakened ones should not join the battle. Just act as guards. As for meat shields, let the NPCs do it.”
Seemingly to prove his words as truth, a portion of the soldiers who were besieging the horse riders split off and rushed to reinforce the soldiers defending the main tent. The remaining soldiers continued to besiege and attack the horse riders.
The majority of the Awakened ones were lurking amidst Cao Cao’s soldiers as they rushed to reinforce the soldiers defending the main tent. Only a small handful had remained there, using their guns to kill off the horse riders to earn more points.
Several generals in high-quality armour had appeared as well. They swung the weapons in their hands as they confronted Zhao Yun. However, as Adam was too far away, Chen Xiaolian’s group was unable to get a good look at their faces. They were unable to tell who the generals were.
“They must be the great generals under Cao Cao like Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Dian Wei…” Lun Tai said grimly. “If their level of strength is the same as in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Yun will die.”
“This is an instance dungeon. The soldiers in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms cannot use combat energy.” Roddy rolled his eyes. “Also, Dian Wei should have died a decade ago.”
“Really?” Lun Tai laughed out and rubbed his head. “I didn’t read the book properly.”
The instant the generals appeared, they surrounded Zhao Yun. For a brief moment, Zhao Yun was incapable of breaking out of their encirclement.
“Jiang Long sounds very proud.” Nightmare continued to relay what was being said in the guild channel to them. “He says, he can now determine that this is the quest objective. Since the objective has come to us, we should work hard and directly kill him. We can complete the quest and safely go home.”
“Hey, Xiaolian! What should we do?” Roddy’s face had sunk slightly. “Given the current situation, Zhao Yun is really going to get killed! Should we interfere?”
“Are you planning on charging out right now?” There was a grim expression on Lun Tai’s face. “The few of us against tens of thousands of Cao Cao’s soldiers and over a thousand Awakened ones… … that is suicide!”
Roddy revealed a bitter smile. “Let’s not go into Xiaolian’s plan of bringing Zhao Yun out of this instance dungeon… … Qiao Qiao is still inside this instance dungeon! Zhao Yun is the only quest objective here. If she dies, this instance dungeon will immediately end. If that happens, how will we go find Qiao Qiao?”
“Die?” Chen Xiaolian sneered. He raised his head to look at Roddy. “If its this easy to kill her, will the system summon so many Awakened ones into this instance dungeon?”
Chen Xiaolian had just finished speaking when the monitor screen suddenly turned wholly white. Nothing else could be seen on the monitor.
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