Chapter 132: The Appearance of the Merman King

Inside the village, the NPC guards stood in battle-ready phalanxes, facing the direction of the siege engine. Further back, the players were gathered together, many already chanting spells or nocking arrows to their bows.

The number of players present was noticeably smaller, as per Lu Kuan’s suggestion, many had been dispatched to the village perimeter to clear out the remaining straggling murlocs.

The ultimate goal of this mission was to kill Yuka while preserving the village civilians as much as possible. If the villagers in the rear were wiped out by the murlocs, it would have a catastrophic impact on the mission’s completion rating; no amount of enemy kills could compensate for that.

"Creak..."

The massive head of the battering ram slowly retracted, leaving behind a dark, three-meter-wide hole in the wall. Illuminated by the village fires, it looked like the gaping maw of an immense, monstrous beast.

"Gulp." Someone in the crowd involuntarily swallowed hard, gripping their weapon even tighter.

The next moment, a sharp shriek erupted from the hole in the wall. A sturdy, pitch-black murloc, armored to the teeth, burst out of the opening with a shield in one hand and a spear in the other.

"Wulala..."

Following closely behind, like a black tide surging forth, countless murlocs scrambled out, hurling their spears fiercely at the crowd ahead!

"Attack!"

The leader of the Qingshui Fortress cavalry roared. The warriors charged forward fearlessly, slamming into the murloc horde with a deafening clash of battle cries.

"Fireballs, aim for the hole!"

"Clerics, Warlocks, where are your curses? Fear, Bane... throw everything you’ve got! Even if they don't do much damage, annoy them to death!"

"Buff the NPCs! The guards in the front have low health—heal them, keep them up!"

The players were divided into three teams, and in every team channel, such desperate shouts could be heard—it felt just like a raid group attempting a new dungeon.

But this time, the number of players united against the monsters was not just twenty, but several hundred!

"Boom!"

Tao Bo, who had been resting for a while, struck again. A massive golden fist materialized out of thin air above the battlefield. With the sound of a roaring tiger, it slammed down onto the ground, the resulting shockwave rippling the earth into waves.

Where it passed, murlocs wailed in agony, leaving a scene of utter devastation.

A player in the crowd couldn't help but exclaim excitedly, "Ha! I’ve seen this move before! Isn't that the Dragon-Tiger Fist used by the Monk in the game’s promotional CG?"

Indeed it was. Morale surged among the players; a torrent of healing spells rained down on the NPC guards as if they were free.

However, the murlocs' combat prowess was not to be underestimated. Had these been the common murloc minions from before, they would have been scattered by now. Instead, these black-armored murlocs seemed to grow fiercer the longer they fought. Player attacks dealt limited damage, and the defense relied heavily on the NPCs.

The murlocs continued to push into the village, though they struggled to expand the front line. The players kept the black-armored murlocs tightly surrounded, yet were unable to annihilate them. The battle reached a stalemate, with NPCs and murlocs dying every minute.

Now was the time to test the players' resilience.

In his previous life, the Qingshui Fortress mission had ended right here, with Tao Bo dying in the fray. Lu Kuan didn't know exactly what conditions were required to pass or how long they needed to hold out for a perfect completion.

But Lu Kuan knew that as long as the Qingshui Fortress guards remained, and as long as Tao Bo lived, victory would draw closer.

"All archers and other ranged classes, get onto the rooftops and the walls!"

Lu Kuan shouted in the team channel and was the first to climb the ruined perimeter wall.

Hearing Lu Kuan’s voice, the Rangers, who had been firing aimlessly, regained their focus and scrambled to the high ground. Soon, the vantage points around the battlefield were filled with Rangers of various races, genders, and builds.

Once the players were in position, Lu Kuan shouted again, "Watch my skill glow and fire in a volley with me! Don't scatter your fire! Rangers first, then Mages—don't let your spells interfere with the impact of the arrows!"

Lu Kuan’s orders spread to every corner of the battlefield. After waiting ten seconds, Lu Kuan nocked an arrow, activated his Arcane Shot skill, and fired at a specific spot in the fray below.

The next moment, a swarm of arrows flew from all directions, accompanied by flashes of multicolored magical light. For that instant, it possessed the overwhelming power of ten thousand arrows falling at once!

The crowd heard a massive, humming roar of arrows cutting through the air, followed immediately by a barrage of attack spells and debuffs slamming into the ground.

"Hum!"

"Boom!"

With everyone’s attacks concentrated, the smoke cleared a few seconds later, leaving everyone stunned.

Centered around where Lu Kuan’s arrow had landed, all the black-armored murlocs within a five-meter radius had fallen, as if a bear had rolled through a cornfield, flattening everything in a neat patch. The damage numbers were so thoroughly mixed that they formed a massive, rising cloud of red mist—a truly spectacular sight.

"Oowa..."

The damage was clearly beyond everyone’s expectations; compared to fighting individually, the effect was extraordinary!

"Keep it up! Watch my arrow, second volley!"

Lu Kuan shouted. Under the gaze of his fellow Rangers, he drew his hunting bow again. This time, the players clearly sensed the murlocs faltering; wherever Lu Kuan pointed his arrow, the murlocs in that area would instinctively dodge.

Lu Kuan grinned and released his two fingers.

Another fierce, peerless rain of arrows! Below, the murlocs shrieked in agony as another group fell.

Although these murlocs were fearless, this situation—where they could only take a beating without the ability to fight back—made them truly understand the meaning of despair.

As Lu Kuan began to draw his bow for the fifth time, someone hidden within the murloc army could no longer hold back.

A flash of red light streaked through the dense crowd of murlocs. A small, dark-armored figure burst forth and leaped onto the roof in a single bound!

Before anyone could react, the red light reached Lu Kuan. The figure extended an arm and slammed a fist into Lu Kuan’s chest.

"Clang!"

Surprisingly, the solid impact produced a loud, metallic ring!

Lu Kuan was sent flying directly off the high wall. The crowd’s eyes involuntarily tracked him as he tumbled through the air like a broken kite before crashing into the back alley.

"He-he-he~" The figure let out a wild, hideous laugh.

By now, the sky had brightened, and everyone could see the figure clearly: it was a short murloc, similar in size to Old Murk-Eye, dressed in black robes and wearing a pair of bright red gloves. The dazzling red light was emanating from the surface of those gloves.