Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 100 Halfway
When the group stepped into the narrow streets of the Demon-summoning Village, the enemy groups wandering nearby were alarmed one after another. The howling of the Demon-maw slaves spread like beacons, and the chain reaction made the whole village boil.

The light source on the players' bodies was the best indicator on such a hurried and desolate rainy night. The hospitable locals broke down the doors and windows, squeezed through the fences, and swarmed towards them.

In the distance, there were crowds of people in the night. Enemy groups from three directions blocked every road. The roar of the evil servants was as shocking as rolling stones over the hillside, mixed with the sharp and disturbing devil's howl.

[Yao]: It’s like a war!

[Agile Monkey on the Tree]: Don't doubt it, the ten-man team is facing a war-level difficulty.
[Lighthouse Visitor]: Some enemies are moving around from both wings and may attack from behind.
Lin Bo overlooked the battlefield from the air, having the best view. He switched his eye enhancement component to thermal imaging mode. The clustered heat sources on the ground looked like orange streams in his eyes, flowing and converging along the streets.

[Senior Priest]: We're doomed if we're surrounded on all sides. Let's run! The Mage will show us the way out.

Under the guidance of the air units, the paladins and dwarf knights charged towards the three o'clock street, and the rest of the teammates followed closely behind, crashing into the enemy group head-on like a sharp arrow.

In Lin Bo's vision, almost at the moment of the enemy's confrontation, the players' tactical formation blocked the enemy tide like a reef cutting off the water flow.

In close combat, the paladin's halberd stabbed with a hail of spear shadows, slicing the faces of several monsters like melons, sending brains and blood splattering. The dwarf's long-handled axe slashed left and right, leaving the frantic villagers torn apart by the axe blade and fall to the ground, only to be trampled by the heavy goats.

The two of them kept pushing forward, and any enemies they missed were dealt with by their teammates behind them.

Although these monsters are enhanced versions with affixes, the difference in individual strength is still obvious. They can only struggle for half a round longer in the hands of the player.

[Senior Pastor]: Be careful of the houses on the roadside. There are people hiding and firing guns.
Rain will wet the gunpowder of the musket, and it is not suitable for outdoor combat in such weather. Therefore, there will be some crazy villagers hiding in the houses, aiming at passing players through the doors and windows.

Even though the matchlock gun is not very powerful, the projectiles ejected are cursed with the [Unclean Blessing], which can cause severe negative states such as weakness, slowdown, and paralysis, posing a huge threat to the team of players trying to break through.

This kind of dangerous situation does not exist in the pioneering team, but because of the influence of random affixes, the matchlock gun, which originally had little lethality, becomes a fatal factor.

[My dog ​​is hungry again]: I'll go deal with it. Can you, mage brother, help me deal with the monsters approaching?

[Lighthouse Guest]: OK
The Ranger whistled and, with his black dog companion, sped away from the group, rushing in front of the frontline defenders and facing the enemy horde head-on.

The silver arcs falling from the sky were like continuous chains of lightning, jumping one after another in the pile of monsters. The ranger just ran wildly with his head down, and the flashing iron balls opened up a passage for him with corpses everywhere.

Before more enemies gathered, Ranger and Gouzi rushed out of the encirclement first, turned into the alley, and quickly shuttled between houses. They only needed to get close to the doors and windows and take a breath to smell whether there was the smell of gunpowder in the house.

The villagers who fired the gun were either beheaded by the rangers who broke in through the window, or had their cervical vertebrae bitten by the huge black dog.

The player team followed the safe route taken by the Ranger, and soon the enemy group was left behind. Without the risk of being surrounded on all sides, they could now turn around and attack the enemy group from the flank.

When facing opponents that far outnumber you, classic guerrilla tactics are still the player's first choice.

After the tug-of-war just now, the enemies that were originally scattered throughout the village gradually gathered into a large mass, and nowhere could they escape Lin Bo's sight.

Nearly five hundred crazy villagers, three elite monsters and an unknown number of sea monsters.

Lin Bo was curious about how much Mantrabending proficiency these enemies could provide. If he were to deal with them alone, he would have to drink at least a dozen bottles of whale oil revitalizing potions to keep up.

If victory is determined by any means necessary, players can use some unorthodox methods to cheat, such as high-powered explosive bombs that can wipe out a group of enemies in one shot.

However, everyone was reluctant to waste the opportunity to gain practical proficiency, and the penalty for death in the dungeon was not severe, so they all chose the simplest way to fight.

The team began to implement guerrilla tactics. The mage continued to provide reconnaissance support in the air, the ranger explored the area and eliminated the hidden guns, and the rest of the people used the cover of the buildings to rush to the flank of the enemy group. After hacking and killing for a while, they broke out while the encirclement was not closed.

Just like peeling potatoes, after two or three rounds of consumption, the total number of the originally huge enemy group has been reduced to less than two hundred.

At this time, everyone's fighting spirit was high. Although they were a little tired, they were in good condition.

The bard plucked his harp, playing an epic tune that gradually grew in volume.

[Hate the Rainy Season]: Is it time to start a decisive battle?

[Senior Priest]: Don't be so serious, I haven't even completed a quarter of the dungeon strategy.
[Yao]: But it feels like a whole season has passed
[Bulwark]: This is what war feels like.

They rested briefly and then launched a frontal assault on the last enemy group in the village.

The three-headed sea priest had been eliminated by the wizard in the guerrilla battle just now, leaving only the dwarf boy.

This dwarf is agile and stealthy, hiding among the enemy groups almost like a non-existent ghost, and always suddenly backstabs the player.

This elite monster caused the first casualty in the pioneering team. No one knew the dwarf boy would leave the temple. Lack of intelligence often leads to unexpected events.

Now that everyone knows what's going on, they will naturally be doubly vigilant, stick together tightly, and not give isolated individuals the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

[I really want to eat meat]: The big bug is coming!

The sea monsters covered with heavy shells followed the crazy villagers forward. Once these things gathered together, people felt powerless as if facing traffic on the road. Dealing with them was not much easier than dealing with elite monsters.

Normally they would have been as prepared as if they were facing a formidable enemy, but at this moment everyone was calm and composed, slightly tightening their formation and preparing to engage the enemy in such a carefree manner.

The weaknesses of the sea monster are its mouthparts and the soft shell of its abdomen. Its mouthparts are exposed when it spits water arrows, and its abdomen is close to the ground. It is necessary to use ground spike traps or knock over its heavy body to attack it.

Lin Bo now masters the power of resonance and directly controls the iron ball to drill under the body of the strange insect, break through the soft shell, penetrate all the way to the brain, and finally fly out from the mouthparts.

The teammates witnessed the silver cold iron flying close to the ground, sliding lightly into the enemy group, and then the moving sea monsters fell down one after another.

While fighting the crazy villagers, the sorcerer counted: there are nine left... seven, six, so fast, there are only four left... It's over, all the bugs are dead
The ranger sniffed, then suddenly pointed to the cat priest's back at the edge of the group and whistled loudly. The black dog beside him darted forward, opened its jaws, and pounced, snatching a short, stocky creature from the throng of frenzied villagers. The cat priest's whiskers stood on end in surprise; he hadn't expected the dwarf boy to creep up beside him.

[Holy Light]: I was scared to death, brother Ranger, please save me!
The black dog ran to a distance and bit the dwarf boy to death, then spat out the corpse and turned around to escape from the range of the corpse explosion.

The battle ended quickly, and the players checked each other's physical condition.

Lin Bo descended from the air and took another potion. Every time he was on the verge of exhaustion, he would gain proficiency. The difficulty of this dungeon would definitely trigger skill checks frequently.

[Skill judgment successful...]

[Exquisiteness coefficient × 1.8 (ingenuity)]

【Health Status Coefficient...】

[Combat Proficiency (Defeat the Enemy +0.5) (Defeat a Strong Enemy +1) (Terrorist Sudden Attack +1.5) (Brutal Sweep +2)]

Final calculation result: [Mantra Control - Style] proficiency +7.8

[[Mantra Bending Technique - Raw] Proficiency +7.8]

This is the third time that Lin Bo has triggered a proficiency check since entering the dungeon.

Perhaps due to the increased monster strength from the dungeon affixes, a new bonus for defeating powerful enemies had been added to the combat proficiency. Lin Bo asked his teammates, and they confirmed they had also received this bonus.

[Lighthouse Operator]: Should we take a rest first or go straight to the temple?

[Barrier]: It is better to attack in one go and take the temple before resting.

Everyone agreed.

Because the density of monsters is too high at this difficulty level, the crazy villagers in the temple are also alarmed and join in the hunt for the players, so at this time the only thing left in the temple is the elite monster, the Desecrated Apothecary.

But it is not alone. There are many villagers who have been transformed into poisonous mud monsters guarding the wellhead leading to the underground.

The poisonous mud monster is the second stage of the pharmacist, a sticky colloid with vitality.

The group came to the temple's blazing gate and looked inside. The pharmacist was still wielding a serrated knife in front of the altar, cutting up corpses. On the open ground, purple-black mud balls were crawling. The pungent smell in the air made the ranger's dog sneeze a few times.

There were more than twenty poisonous mud monsters, which formed a pond when gathered together. The extreme poison and stench made it even more difficult to deal with. It felt like fighting against an ominous creature in a toilet.

[Senior Priest]: These slimes are afraid of cold, heat, and lightning, but they are highly resistant to blunt and sonic attacks. What do you think?
[I really want to eat meat]: Let me go first. Uh, can the mage brother get rid of the herbalist first?

Lin Bo nodded slightly, and an iron ball was ejected, pinning the pharmacist who was busy on the altar to the spot. Then he cut open the stomach and beheaded the elite monster, as if it had entered a fully automatic slaughtering assembly line. In the blink of an eye, there was no sound. The operation was so smooth that the new teammates silently stayed away from him.

The druid pulled a mini umbrella from his pocket and began chanting spells and gesturing, drawing the power of the wilderness from the magic network.

In the direction of his finger, a ball of inky black cloud condensed from the air and floated under the dome of the temple, and then began to drop biting freezing rain and hail.

This is a third-level spell, Snowstorm, which creates a harsh environment.

More than a dozen poisonous mud monsters were soaked and frozen solid, slowly turning into ice sculptures. The remaining poisonous mud monsters followed their instincts, bypassed the rain and snow, and crawled towards the players at the door.

The druid did not use snow and rain to block the door because the perception range of these slime monsters is limited, and they will not rush towards the players if they are blocked by snow and rain.

[I really want to eat meat]: Just drive the rest into the snowstorm area.

Everyone rushed forward, dodging the attacks of the slime monsters. Those who swung hammers swung hammers, and those who wielded long weapons swung long weapons, and they slammed the poisonous slime monsters into the freezing rain like playing baseball. They were soon frozen solid and shattered into pieces after two hits. The temple area was completely cleared.

In this way, the dungeon has been cleared for more than half of its progress, and there has been no casualties, not even injuries.

A series of sighs of relief were heard. After the fierce battle, everyone was in urgent need of rest.

A moment later, a crackling bonfire in the corner of the temple emitted warmth.

One by one, the teammates walked up to the mage and asked him to hold his shoulders. Then the rainwater on their bodies was drained out and they became dry again.

The druid made a bunch of godberries for everyone to share, and the priestess pulled a stew pot from her backpack and set it on the fire to boil water.

The bard plucked the strings of his harp, which had returned to dryness, and played a soft country tune, singing softly. He had a wonderful voice, and his songs and music could lead people to escape from this bloody temple, step onto the soft ridges and dirt roads, and smell the fragrance of wild flowers.

The orcs sang in their native language, which only Limbo could understand. He smiled and sat cross-legged beside the campfire, listening to the bard tell a short story about a carefree young man embarking on a hero's journey.

The teammates warmed their hands and feet by the fire, drank the tea stewed by the priest, and when the bard finished singing, they applauded and cheered, and asked for another song.

It wasn't until half an hour later, when the heat had subsided and everyone was satisfied, that they let go of their human-shaped music players.

Everyone regained their energy and began to prepare to go underground. Everyone took out a small poison-purifying incense burner, the ground units put on protective boots, and the dwarves left the goats in the temple to keep the ranger's black dog company.

Next, still led by the Holy Knight, everyone went down the dark well one by one and headed towards the deep underground cave.

(End of this chapter)