Several female students from Phoenix Academy were walking quickly, and Zhang Chen couldn't catch up even with a jog, eventually losing track of them.
Instead, the graduates from other schools behind him followed Zhang Chen closely, standing at the intersection, panting heavily.
"Why are you following me?" Zhang Chen asked in surprise.
"Why... why were you running?" the boy at the front asked.
"I was chasing someone!" Zhang Chen replied with a helpless expression.
"I thought you found some treasure!" the boy said indignantly.
"There are only demon spirits here, where would there be any treasure?"
"You wouldn't know, before, the highest-level demon spirits in Can Yang City were only level 3. They were processed to reduce their threat level to what it is now! But many spirit masters died here before, dropping a lot of treasures. If we could find their rings or storage bags, we'd be rich!"
"I'm not interested in those, I just came to practice fighting demon spirits!" Zhang Chen shrugged and said.
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a rustling sound, as if something was approaching.
"Demon spirit, there's a demon spirit! This is the induction compass I bought, it reacts when a demon spirit appears!" A chubby boy held up the compass nervously, pointing it towards the road on the left.
On the road, a "person" appeared with no skin, its muscles exposed! Its eyeballs and teeth protruded from the muscles, making it look exceptionally terrifying.
"Charge, it's time to show our strength!" the leading boy shouted, and immediately took a stance.
"Fire attack, Fireball!" He opened his right hand, and a soccer-ball-sized fireball shot towards the monster.
*Bang!*
The fireball hit the demon spirit, charring a patch of its body. However, the demon spirit seemed to feel no pain, its bulging eyes staring directly at the boy.
"Giggle giggle..." It opened its mouth and let out a series of horrifying cries.
"This isn't working either, keep going, everyone use whatever skills you have!"
"Piercing Arrow!"
"Gale Slash!"
"Wind Blade!"
"Basic Attack..."
Everyone unleashed the skills they had learned, though some hadn't learned any and could only rush forward with basic attacks.
After a barrage of multicolored attacks, the level one demon spirit finally fell to the ground, motionless. In a moment, it dissolved into a ball of black gas, leaving behind a light green, level one Spirit Core.
"Great, we succeeded!"
"I knew we could do it!"
"Level one demon spirits are nothing!" The dozen or so people shouted excitedly.
Watching this scene, Zhang Chen shook his head helplessly. So many people fighting one level one demon spirit, how would they split the Spirit Core? And what was there to be proud of for over a dozen people defeating one? Zhang Chen's expression was one of exasperation.
"Meow!" Mo Ran suddenly jumped out of Zhang Chen's backpack, transforming into its human form clad in combat gear.
"You sensed it too?" Zhang Chen squinted and asked.
"Meow!~" Mo Ran looked seriously at the quiet street in the distance. Although it appeared calm on the surface, Zhang Chen could see countless energy networks converging on the road.
Suddenly, a woman crawling on all fours appeared in view. Immediately after, small, slender demon spirits with bared fangs appeared behind her. Various types of level one demon spirits swarmed onto the street.
"Giggle giggle..."
"Woo..."
"Ah..."
They emitted terrifying sounds and slowly moved towards the dozen people at the intersection.
"This... so many?!" The leading boy, upon seeing this, instantly fell to the ground in terror. The others also looked ashen. Some were even preparing to contact corpse collectors.
Previously, it took everyone's combined effort to eliminate one demon spirit. Now, the number of demon spirits far exceeded the human presence. In such a situation, there was no hope of victory!
"Retreat, quick, retreat!"
"Everyone run, don't look back!" Zhang Chen yelled at the crowd, his voice filled with tension.
"No, they'll catch up, we can't escape!" The leading boy was already terrified, crying with a runny nose and tears streaming down his face.
"What are you panicking about? I'll stall here, you guys run quickly, and whatever you do, don't look back!" Zhang Chen shouted again.
Seeing the massive horde of demon spirits drawing nearer, the group didn't have time to think. They pulled up the boy and desperately ran back in the direction they came from.
"Yeah, run fast, put in more effort, don't look back!" After saying this, Zhang Chen turned around and looked at the level one demon spirits filling the street, a smile on his face: "Spirit Core little babies, here I come!"