Chapter 29 Sudden Incident

So, the work is here.

Is it just my luck, or is life in Baiyuan City always this exciting?

Zhou Jing was secretly surprised.

Balong's expression tightened. He put down his wine glass and quickly explained.

Although the Terra Empire had been established for forty years, the exotic beasts in the human residential areas had been expelled and cleared out to some extent, exotic beasts still intruded from time to time.

Such emergencies occurred occasionally. The activity range of many exotic beasts was not fixed, and occasionally exotic beasts would run into human residential areas, possibly looking for food or accidentally straying in. The town's fortifications largely existed to deal with exotic beasts.

The sentry posts set up around the town were responsible for investigating this situation.

Once traces of exotic beasts were discovered, a warning would be issued, and rewards and intelligence would be posted in the tavern for hunters to choose from.

If the exotic beasts posed a direct threat to the town, such as approaching the town, the lord would immediately conscript the hunters in the city to jointly fight and kill the threat.

The few people didn't bother to continue chatting. Together with the hunters in the tavern, they surrounded the guard and asked about the situation.

"What kind of exotic beasts are they?"

"Where are they? How much time is left?"

Zhou Jing was a newcomer and didn't speak. After the other hunters asked, he also learned the specific situation from the flustered guard.

Not long ago, the sentry post sent an emergency report saying that two high-risk exotic beasts had appeared around the town. They had already attacked and killed a caravan and were heading towards Baiyuan City. Pedestrians on the road were in danger, and they had become a huge threat.

These two high-risk exotic beasts were both bear species with outstanding strength and defense, called Riftclaw Bears.

There were many kinds of high-risk exotic beasts, but the three most troublesome types of creatures were generally recognized: one was extremely fast, the second could control certain elements, spewing fire and spitting ice, and the last was extremely thick-skinned. Riftclaw Bears belonged to the third type.

"Both of them are Riftclaw Bears. This time, I'm afraid it won't be easy to deal with… How many of us are usable?"

Weiss didn't joke around either, his expression serious.

A hunter chimed in, "There are only seven of us here. There should be a few more hunters in the city, and I saw Webber a few days ago."

"Webber is here too? That's great." Weiss breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Jing's heart stirred.

When he was looking at the roster just now, he deliberately remembered the names of three Second Enhancement hunters, and this "Webber" was one of them.

At this moment, the guard hurriedly urged,

"Lord is gathering the troops at the city gate. Please go and join them quickly, everyone. Someone has also gone to notify the other hunters in the city."

"Okay, let's go over first then."

The hunters had no objection, and they poured out of the tavern and headed towards the city gate.

Zhou Jing also followed the team, poked the serious-looking Balong, and asked in a low voice,

"Is the lord's call for hunters compulsory?"

"Of course not…" Balong shook his head, his tone solemn, "But when facing the threat of exotic beasts, we have no reason to retreat. This is our duty. If even we don't fight, who else can fight against exotic beasts?"

"Understood."

Zhou Jing nodded lightly, gaining a further understanding of the hunters' beliefs.

Exotic beast hunters, this profession was ancient and glorious, emphasizing dedication. They risked their lives to gain power and hunted at the cost of their lives, all to protect the peaceful lives of more people.

They were quite reliable.

At this time, Balong sighed and instructed, "I didn't expect such a sudden incident. I was planning to find a low-risk exotic beast for you to practice with once you got used to your enhanced body, but now it seems there's no time for that…

Although your enhancement result should be good, you haven't practiced body control yet. Just follow our pace during the hunt. Don't mess around. With the Riftclaw Bear's destructive power, a couple of hits are enough to severely injure a hunter if they hit accurately."

In his opinion, even if Zhou Jing was gifted and obtained stronger power through exotic blood enhancement, he still needed a process of adaptation.

Balong wasn't afraid that Zhou Jing wouldn't be able to perform, but he was worried that he would be confused by the sudden surge of power and misjudge the difference in strength between himself and the exotic beasts. This often happened to novice hunters.

As for them, the veterans, they knew very well what they were capable of, knew the strength of various exotic beast attacks, knew how many hits they could take, and seemed to be taking risks, but they all knew what they were doing.

However, although Balong felt that Zhou Jing wasn't ready, he wouldn't suggest that he not participate in this hunt just to take care of Zhou Jing.

In his opinion, regardless of whether they were novice or veteran, as long as they were exotic beast hunters, they had no privilege of not participating in the battle unless they really lost their combat power.

"I'll see how it goes," Zhou Jing nodded.

Although he had just obtained extraordinary power and felt very fresh, he also knew that the strength of this power was limited, and he had adjusted his mentality last night.

However, hunting high-risk exotic beasts was one of the goals of this Star Realm Apostle, and he didn't reject this crusade.

Moreover, Zhou Jing felt that this was a good opportunity. It was always better to have a group of people besieging them than hunting alone.

Although he didn't have much hunting experience, he could also draw a simple truth based on his past gaming experience

—Killing monsters is definitely not as good as stealing kills!

……

The crowd hurried all the way to the city gate, which was already quite lively.

A large group of soldiers was gathered here, more than fifty people at a rough estimate, and they were busy transporting various trap tools.

A middle-aged man in gorgeous clothes was anxiously inspecting the troops under the escort of several guards.

Seeing the hunters arrive, the middle-aged man immediately looked delighted and turned his head to greet the hunters, shouting loudly:

"Hunters, you've finally arrived! Baiyuan City needs your help!"

"Lord, this is our duty."

The hunters nodded in greeting, neither humble nor arrogant.

This person was the lord of Baiyuan City that Balong had mentioned, Luther Crow.

Zhou Jing's heart stirred, and he secretly sized up the lord in the crowd.

Tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and regular features… He looked quite upright, and seemed more like a warrior than a lord.

Both sides were clear about their responsibilities, and Lord Luther didn't say anything polite, but directly said:

"This time, it's the same as before. You are responsible for intercepting the two exotic beasts in the middle. Even if you can't kill them, try your best to severely injure them. My troops will use the fortifications of the sentry post in the rear to set up some traps and ambushes. You need to delay enough time and not let them approach Baiyuan City so quickly. If possible, drive them to the location of the traps after we have set them up."

Luther quickly explained the tactics.

The hunters still had to rely on the hunters to fight the exotic beasts head-on, while ordinary soldiers generally would not directly enter the battlefield, but only do some construction or assistance.

Because ordinary people were basically giving themselves away in front of high-risk exotic beasts, and might even be counterproductive.

Moreover, on the battlefield, once the hunters failed to contain the exotic beasts and they rushed into the crowd, it would be a massacre, which could cause tragic casualties to the army.

It cost a lot of money to train a well-trained and equipped soldier, and unless there was no other way, they would rarely exchange unnecessary casualties for victory. Relying on hunters was still very desirable.

This was especially true for the Riftclaw Bears this time. They were thick-skinned and ordinary soldiers could hardly break their defenses, so there was no point in participating in the frontal battlefield.

The hunters were already used to this kind of situation and had no objection.

"After this threat is resolved, as in the past, you will not be short of rewards."

Luther promised a reward and didn't say much more. Then, he hurriedly turned around and continued to gather his army.

He only talked about the general strategy, and the hunting tactics were specifically formulated by the hunters. He wouldn't interfere.

Zhou Jing didn't say anything, but was quietly observing.

The exotic beast hunters present were not very respectful to the lord, but they were still polite.

However, the hunters were glaring at the silent guards around the lord, not hiding their contempt at all.

Zhou Jing's heart stirred. He thought of what Balong had said when he entered the city, and immediately poked Balong beside him.

"Are those people around the lord the exotic blood warriors who were drawn over?"

"Yes, they are this group of bastards and cowards. See, they are following the lord and don't have to risk their lives with us against the Riftclaw Bears." Balong spat on the ground.

Hearing this, Zhou Jing looked at the exotic blood warrior guards again.

They were preparing for battle, while those guards followed the lord step by step, not having to work hard, and could stay in the rear to wait for them to resolve the crisis…

Thinking about it this way, it was indeed infuriating… Zhou Jing understood the hunters' displeasure even more.

Suddenly, he felt a movement and vaguely noticed someone's gaze.

Zhou Jing turned his head and looked around, finally discovering that a figure was protruding from the crenellations on the city wall, seemingly looking down at them.

He looked up and saw a man with a expressionless face standing on the city wall. He looked tough, indifferent, and had a crew cut. He had a strange military air about him.

This crew-cut man stood with his hands behind his back, giving off a feeling of stability and poise. He looked down at the city gate, which was busy gathering to fight against the exotic beasts, as if he was detached from the situation.

At this time, the crew-cut man also noticed Zhou Jing's gaze, glanced at Zhou Jing with indifferent eyes, and then turned and left, disappearing on the city wall.

"This person…"

Zhou Jing blinked, a strange feeling rising in his heart.

For some reason, he always felt that this crew-cut man's style was a bit different, as if he was incompatible with the others.

Moreover, this person didn't participate in the army gathering and could still overlook the city wall, so he probably had some status in the town… I wonder who he is.

Although Zhou Jing felt strange, he didn't have time to inquire more. The crowd had already begun to discuss tactics, and the other hunters in the city were coming one after another.

Soon, the number of exotic beast hunters present reached twelve, which was the total number of people participating in this crusade.

There was only one Second Enhancement veteran hunter among them, Webber.

As soon as he arrived, the other hunters handed over the command to him to determine the tactics.

Webber was a tall and fierce man, the tallest in the audience. At first glance, he was at least two meters one in height. His muscles wished they could grow to his cheeks. The whole person was like a muscle that had become a spirit.

He wore a set of gray-black beast bone armor and carried a door-like giant blade on his back, the texture of which seemed to be a mixture of some kind of exotic beast bone and steel.

"The two Riftclaw Bears broke through the few traps set up by the sentry post without leaving any injuries. They are very fast. By the time we get there, they won't be far from Baiyuan City. There probably won't be time to set up ambushes. We can only fight a head-on battle."

Webber drew out a dagger and drew a pattern on the ground, using it as a simple sandbox. He said in a deep voice:

"Riftclaw Bears have long stamina, amazing strength, and extremely tough fur. They are extremely difficult to deal with. A pair of sharp claws can easily tear steel armor, and a careless move will result in serious injuries. I once killed one with six other hunters, and we sacrificed two people to kill it.

This time, two Riftclaw Bears are coming together, which is very dangerous. It is best to separate them, contain one of them, and then focus on the other one. We have to kill one first, or we won't be able to stop them."

Many hunters nodded.

Although the lord said to delay as much as possible, the most ideal result was naturally to kill the exotic beasts and eliminate the threat. Only when things were impossible would they withdraw.

Webber put the dagger back into its sheath, looked around at the crowd, and said steadily:

"So, we have to be divided into two teams, one with more people and one with fewer people. One team is responsible for containment, and the other is responsible for the main attack. The team responsible for containment will be under a lot of pressure. They have to try their best to ensure that the Riftclaw Bear they contain doesn't affect the battlefield of the main attack team… So I need to know the direction of your respective enhancements in order to allocate teams."

The hunters present basically knew each other and knew each other well, but they still said it again.

Soon, it was Zhou Jing's turn, the new face. Everyone's eyes looked over.

Some hunters who were not in the tavern were seeing Zhou Jing for the first time and had been curious since just now.

Balong directly introduced from the side: "His name is Jason Wood, the person I discovered. He just received the enhancement yesterday. The potion he took was Thunder Leopard."

"A newcomer who was just enhanced yesterday?"

Webber frowned, then relaxed, and said to Zhou Jing in a deep voice: "Then you should join the main attack team. Pay attention to observation after the fight starts. You don't need to worry about other things. You only need to roam around alone, don't affect the cooperation of other hunters, and find opportunities to cause damage."

After saying that, he ignored Zhou Jing and continued to talk to the others about tactics.

Because Zhou Jing was a newcomer who had just been enhanced, Webber was worried that he would be unstable, so he didn't dare to give him too many responsibilities and tasks, and marginalized his position to prevent mistakes from affecting more people.

This was human nature, and Zhou Jing had no objections. He himself planned to follow the arrangements and participate in a proper hunt.

In addition, he hadn't told anyone about Ross's successful enhancement, and he didn't let Ross participate at this time.

Although this follower had certain attributes, his combat skills were a blank slate. Participating in the hunt now would probably be just to be a snack for the exotic beasts.

He would rather let Ross stay near the battlefield and wait for an opportunity to act.

'Speaking of which, I can just take a look at the level of Second Enhancement…'

Zhou Jing's eyes flickered. Because he had just had a conversation with Webber, he could spend 10 Star Realm Points to check the other party's attributes.

He operated it, and Webber's attributes popped up on the panel.

[Attributes: Physique 32, Resistance 29, Perception 15, Spirit 7, Energy 0]

"The attributes of Second Enhancement are still higher…"

Zhou Jing nodded secretly, gaining a positioning of his own level.

His current attributes were just stuck between First Enhancement and Second Enhancement, exceeding the former but not reaching the latter, but the gap wasn't very big.

In an actual fight, the attributes shouldn't be overwhelming, and it mainly depends on the operation.

Soon, the hunters were divided into teams. There were eight people in the main attack team and four people in the containment team. Webber took over the containment mission with the most pressure, while Zhou Jing, Balong, and Weiss were all in the main attack team.

On the other side, Lord Luther also gathered his army, nodded to the crowd, and said solemnly:

"Baiyuan City relies on you!"

Webber nodded, waved to the hunters, and shouted in a deep voice:

"Let's go!"

……

Not long after, twelve hunters left, and the town's army also moved out under the leadership of the officers.

At this time, only Lord Luther and some guards around him were left at the city gate, and they did not go to the battlefield.

Luther watched the two troops leave, and then walked back to the town.

When passing through the city gate, a figure walked down from the city wall stairs next to him. It was the crew-cut man who had been watching on the city wall earlier.

Seeing this, Luther waved his hand and told the exotic blood warrior guards beside him to walk away and not eavesdrop on their conversation.

The crew-cut man came up to him, speaking in a stiff and strange northern dialect, and said lightly: "You have bad luck. Two Riftclaw Bears. It is estimated that half of the hunters will be lost."

Luther looked around and saw that the guards had all left. Then, he frowned and said:

"The hunters may not be able to solve it this time. I need you to take action."

The crew-cut man shook his head, his expression indifferent: "That's not within my duty."

Lord Luther's eyes rolled, and he said in a deep voice: "But if the town's defense force suffers huge losses, it won't be in your interest, right?"

"That has nothing to do with me. I only listen to the orders of my superiors. My task is to be responsible for handing over with you and protecting your safety. Other than that, as long as your town has not been truly attacked, then other things have nothing to do with me."

The crew-cut man was expressionless.

"How much stuff do you take from me every year? Now that I'm in trouble, you're unwilling to help. With your skills, it should be easy to solve two Riftclaw Bears!" Lord Luther said with dissatisfaction.

The crew-cut man's tone was calm, and he said slowly:

"Don't push your luck. Wait until your town is really attacked. The cooperation conditions we agreed with the person you are loyal to do not include solving this kind of small trouble… I said, I only act on orders."

After saying that, the crew-cut man decisively turned and left.

Luther looked at his departing figure, his face uncertain.