Aside from that wave of danger, there was another: the collective charge of the Fatui Skirmishers.
After all, their intelligence was relatively high, they primarily used long-range attacks, and their various shields required specific elemental counters to break. Without the correct element, they possessed 80% damage reduction.
If it weren't for their currently limited intelligence, they might not have even fought the humans at all; after all, there were plenty of friendly “monsters” out there.
Even though they were born on the [Chaos] side, it didn't mean they couldn't “switch to Order,” just as humans could “defect to Chaos.”
However, Mo Shao unleashed a sequence of clustered lightning, followed by a series of water cannon blasts, and finally a round of rock spike attacks.
The shields of the Pyroslinger Bracers, Hydrogunner Legionnaires, and Geochanter Bracers were swiftly dismantled.
As for the Cryo-Gunners, Li Danhua handled them.
While his energy manipulation techniques weren't particularly impressive, he was Dead-bound to Durin’s Heart, giving him a significant stat advantage. Combined with his Flame arrows, he broke the Cryo-Gunners’ shields quite rapidly.
The only ones left needing shield-breaking were the Thunderhammers. They required the Cryo element to be broken quickly, something she currently lacked the means to provide.
However, while she didn't have the Cryo element, others did. With Wu Kunshou and Yang Shanbie leading the effort, the Thunderhammers were also swiftly dealt with.
The Anemoboxer Vanguards’ shields were broken with ease; as long as they were hit by an elemental attack, the shield would swirl with that element and then counterattack, making them truly trivial targets.
...
While the whole process sounded simple, it was purely thanks to Mo Shao's personal strength. Under normal circumstances, where would one find such a powerful mage?
Moreover, the reason this wave was considered dangerous was that they hadn't charged head-on—they had flanked the team by circling around the mountainside!
Monsters like the Fatui Skirmishers, who were already naturally intelligent, were now capable of executing sneak attacks after their intelligence had slightly increased!
Even though people were assigned to keep watch in that direction as a precaution, passing information still took time.
That brief window of time caused the battle against the Cryo Hypostasis to fall into disarray, and Bai Yingying nearly died on the spot!
The Cryo Hypostasis briefly broke free from its containment and immediately locked onto a larger target. With a single ice wheel charge, it smashed a gap into the city wall, rammimg three slow-moving survivors to death in the process!
Fortunately, Mo Shao's reflexes were faster than her thoughts. She flew over in a flash and held the Cryo Hypostasis back herself.
“Fire your arrows! Kill the Cryo Hypostasis quickly!”
After the initial panic, the crowd reacted instantly to Mo Shao's roar.
They quickly pivoted their aim, using their bows to force the Cryo Hypostasis into its recovery state. Once they bypassed its mechanics, they annihilated it in a single burst.
Only then did the group have a few minutes of breathing room to focus on dealing with the Fatui Skirmishers.
...
However, because the soldiers had approached via the mountainside where there was plenty of cover, it still took considerable effort to root them out.
Fortunately, Mo Shao could fly and possessed excellent energy control. She ascended to a high altitude to perform precise shield-breaking maneuvers.
She then grabbed the paralyzed soldiers one by one and dropped them into the open battlefield, significantly reducing the pressure on everyone else.
Even with only the Thunderhammers left to be broken, the group struggled for a while since they lacked any area-of-effect Cryo attacks.
That interval was long enough for many Fatui Skirmishers to recover from their paralyzed state.
Of course, since Little Ka was providing massive area-of-effect damage, those paralyzed soldiers never actually stood a chance of recovering.
One could say this unexpected wave was only overcome through the raw stats of a few heavy hitters; without them, the group would have been finished.
Once this wave passed, the night on Dragonspine finally grew quiet, leaving only a single Cryo Hypostasis that needed to be managed.
Throughout the entire exploration of Dragonspine, roughly a dozen people had died, which was considered an exceptionally “excellent” result.
First, a few had died in the sudden ambush by the four Frostarm Lawachurls.
Second, the sneak attack by the Fatui Skirmishers had allowed the Cryo Hypostasis to break free, and that wave of attacks had killed quite a few more.
The remaining casualties were from various accidents during the exploration of Dragonspine.
After all, it was a snowy mountain filled with monsters, and the paths were in a state of disrepair. A few deaths were only to be expected.
...
Finally, at roughly 7:00 AM, the Cryo Hypostasis returned to a dormant state after being killed one last time.
This signaled the arrival of daylight.
“Those of you who still have the energy, come with me for the clean-up,” Wu Yingzhe quickly issued orders. “If you can't hold on, go take a rest first.”
The so-called “clean-up” referred to finishing off the crippled monsters they had left alive the day before to prevent them from respawning.
Before leaving, they certainly had to take the remaining treasure chests and monster drops with them.
Ultimately, only about fifty people set out.
While many others were willing to help, their mental state simply couldn't endure any longer.
In an environment as harsh as a snowy mountain, they had stood guard all night, either constantly on edge due to danger or stuck in the mechanical repetition of farming the Cryo Hypostasis. The latter, in particular, was extremely mentally draining.
When people perform repetitive tasks, they easily fall into a state of drowsiness, let alone after doing it for an entire night.
In this apocalypse, the most difficult things to manage were always psychological issues, especially in the early stages before people's biological clocks had adjusted.
...
After spending some time thoroughly clearing out the monsters, the clean-up crew returned to the camp for a collective rest.
After resting for about three hours, they left the picked-clean Dragonspine at around 10:00 AM.
Though they were exhausted, the recovery speed of Dead-binders was quite fast.
Their next direction was naturally toward the west, entering the cities where the crystal core zombies were located.
After traveling for approximately two hours across several hilly terrains, they finally reached the outskirts of a city.
“I’ll go scout ahead. The rest of you wait here,” Mo Shao volunteered. With the unknown ahead of them, entering recklessly was far too dangerous.
With fewer people, the chances of passing safely would decrease. Although she had flight and invisibility, she couldn't keep them active indefinitely.
Invisibility was one thing, but flight was different. Even with the Jewel of Life, the duration was only extended severalfold.
Her current Life Rank was still too low.
As for the invisibility tactic, the answer provided by Identification was that these zombies relied on hearing and smell to detect targets.
So, she still had to scout the situation...
When Mo Shao stealthily entered the city's edge, she immediately noticed something was wrong.
Quiet—that was the first impression the city gave her. There was no noise at all; it was as quiet as a dead city.
However, the city displayed two distinct “art styles”: one was a wasteland style, while the other was normal. This proved one thing.
Unlike the Phantom Realm they were in before, the core of this city was clearly the Real Realm, with a zombie Phantom Realm simply inserted into the middle of it.
In other words, there were likely many survivors still here!
Rate on N.U.
