At dusk, the carriage arrived at the forest to the south of Haunted Farm.
Unlike the gloomy scene Heine had imagined, the scenery here was excessively mundane.
The setting sun cast a golden hue over the rippling waves of wheat.
But few could imagine that beneath this picturesque scene lay prowling decaying corpses, Blood Beasts, flesh harvesters, and hyenas.
Blood Beasts were a creation of the Gittilers, a fusion of field rats and slime creatures, retaining the former's reproductive capabilities and part of the latter's form, with two feet, adept at running and jumping.
They were not undead creatures, and would become the predominant "wild beasts" of the fields after the Holy Light descended upon the Makala mountain region.
Heine spread the map to take a closer look, while the other two discussed.
Brother Yang sighed, "I'm very curious why, out of the entire Scorching Valley, this farm was never bombarded by orbital cannons?"
"Because there's an Energy Well for an orbital cannon hidden here."
"Huh?"
"The Whispering Forest to the east, Haunted Farm to the north, Ying Xian Mountain to the south, three Energy Wells in total in three different directions. How else could the advance have been so smooth?"
Zhuo Yang exclaimed in astonishment, "Did the Gittiler family betray us that completely? Wouldn't these upright and red-rooted Necromancers be settled by Eternal Dawn?"
"Only boss number 3 of the dungeon, Hunter, is truly naive; the others were all deceived. They thought that thing was a Holy Light Isolation Device. There's nothing wrong with that thinking either; the Energy Well gathers Holy Light from dozens of kilometers around. Isn't that isolation?"
"Are there elites guarding that place? Can we take it down?"
"We can go, but we might not be able to take it down, and if we can't beat them, we can run. The only problem is that place is in the northeast corner of the farm, and the map given by the npc has all its markings in the southwest corner. We're heading in the exact opposite direction."
Hearing them talk like this, Heine quietly flipped the map upside down.
This was a crudely drawn hand-made map, with no words, just circles.
He held up the map as if looking at it and suddenly pointed to the northeast corner.
"Let's go in this direction."
Both of them were startled:
"What's the situation?"
"Damn it, he's holding the map upside down!"
"Is this some kind of incredible luck, a hero's halo, right?"
...
Initially, Heine was somewhat restrained.
He loosened the restrictions a bit, allowing Zhuo Yang to take the lead, while he and Teacher Xia waited for an opportunity to act.
But with the first hyena cleaved in two by the Bone-Chopping Knife, things started to change.
The scent of blood spread, and all hell broke loose!
The Blood Beasts quickly swarmed in, their commotion drawing in even more hyenas.
Facing monsters that might appear from any direction at any moment, Heine issued a few pretense commands before decisively lifting all restrictions.
"I command you to act freely!"
Now he could finally focus on handling the monsters charging at him.
Gaining experience was one aspect, but it was also time to sharpen his combat skills.
Although he could not summon Wandering Souls, Heine excelled in his other courses.
Especially after leveling up, he could now cast Bone Spear and two basic curses.
However, as the two skeletons started letting loose, the area within three meters of him was as barren as a road at 4 a.m.
Only the dim green experience orbs flying towards him, clinking continuously in his ears.
Hold on, where are the wild beasts?
Oh, the wild beasts were queuing up to die.
Zhuo Yang's cutting board threw out each time, stunning a leaping hyena, the momentum perfectly offset by his shield. They both came to a halt, and he stepped forward to remove the shield and bisect his opponent with a firm stroke.
The movements were as fluid as if the hyenas were jumping up to bite the cutting board.
Enchanted with a slight jungle ward, Teacher Xia's cloak made him look like a light brown grasshopper, almost blending into the wheat.
His actions were not nearly as fast as Hunter's that night, but his two daggers, glowing faintly green, danced like butterflies.
Every up and down movement ended with a hyena's whimper or the thud of a Blood Beast hitting the ground.
At last, the slightly noisy buzzing shattered the silent dusk.
An old, decrepit harvester appeared amidst the floating grass stalks.
This too was an undead creature, Wandering Souls not adhering to corpses but to scrapped machinery instead.
The cutting board was thrown first, hitting the harvester's chest solidly.
The clear sound suggested the core had shattered, yet the harvester did not cease its movements. Zhuo Yang, unable to dodge in time, was cut by the rotating saw, sparks flying from his armor, the noise grating.
"Eh? Why isn't it paralyzed? Is its core not in the chest?"
"This is an undead creature; your knowledge of mechanics doesn't apply here."
Almost at the same time, a Bone Spear struck the harvester's elbow joint.
The massive inertia made it stagger backward, and the arm connected to the saw broke off and fell.
"Focus on attacking its joints," Heine advised.
Both of them were taken aback.
"Brother Yang, even the npc is smarter than you!"
"Ah, right, right, right..."
...
The northeast corner of the farm.
The Holy Light Energy Well was located in an underground mine, with several tents erected at the entrance, but there were no miners.
"...This is Mr. Donald's wish. In the hunt two days from now, he hopes to deal with that ignorant boy."
A man wrapped in a cloak said, "He specifically requested you, Miss Jianglu."
The named elf snorted in disdain.
"We are in a collaborative relationship with Eternal Dawn, not a hierarchy."
"He said this can compensate in advance for your dereliction of duty."
Jianglu frowned, "What did you say?"
"The expelled student is accusing the Gittiler family. The lord is very interested in this. If he is still alive, the lord will inevitably investigate the Haunted Farm, and by then, this place might..."
"Are you threatening me?"
"I'm merely stating the facts."
Jianglu was about to reply when her pointed ears twitched suddenly.
"Wait here."
Her figure suddenly disappeared.
...
Elsewhere.
As the battle continued, Heine's face unnaturally flushed with a faint red, and the breath he exhaled was also surprisingly hot.
The experience he had absorbed seemed to have exceeded his limit, leaving him somewhat overstuffed.
Suddenly, Heine had a premonition of danger!
His consciousness subconsciously focused on Teacher Xia as if he was about to be struck hard the next second...
This thought guided the heat in his body, suddenly transferring a large portion of it over.
The skeleton encased under the leather armor of the latter transformed, becoming more lustrous and solid.
His perception also sharpened, especially in predicting death.
An ambush?
He immediately turned around and swung out his dagger—
Clang!
A force transmitted from the dagger forced him to retreat two steps, but this potential lethal strike was blocked.
It appeared so abruptly, and his block was so timely, as if the two had perfectly performed a scripted play.
"Huh?"
The assailant slowly revealed herself, an elf in dark purple tight leather armor.
How did the enemy suddenly become stronger?
At the same time, a chopping board glowing with blood light flew over, interrupting Jianglu's train of thought.
She disappeared like a shooting star, vanishing rapidly into the air.
Teacher Xia called out, "Brother Yang! Seven o'clock!"
The Bone-Chopping Knife swung immediately toward that position!
The air twisted for a moment, and a curse in the Elvish language burst out, followed by the nimble figure stumbling into appearance.
Jianglu almost twisted her waist to avoid crashing into the blade edge!
How did this guy discover me?
But that wasn't the end of it.
Almost as she appeared, two slow, weak curses landed lightly on her.
Whoosh! A bone spear shot through the air, which she barely dodged with a back bridge.
How can this Necromancer also predict my position??
Jianglu felt she had really hit a run of bad luck, having encountered nothing but odd events in what was supposed to be an easy fight!
But she was not the least bit worried about being captured.
"You think you can catch me with that?"
Jianglu snorted in disdain as a smoke bomb slipped from her sleeve.
But before that, Heine had already received a warning:
"She'll try to escape with a smoke bomb. I'll watch her left hand, Brother Yang, you watch her right!"
So, he gripped the electric shock wand, waiting for this very moment!
Watching the thumb-thick arc of electricity bloom in her view, Jianglu could only sneer inside.
Did they really think such a trivial trick would work on her?
Her armor instantly lit up with a faint purple mist, enough to deflect most basic elemental spells.
However, the arc of electricity was not aimed at her upper body...
Crack!
Jianglu's right hand felt as if it had been fiercely whipped, the smoke bomb flying away, and a grasshopper-like figure picked it up.
Done for, now she had really messed up.