Chapter 75: The Queen and the King
On one side, Ying Zheng commanded four Terracotta Warriors, forming a battle array that ceaselessly harvested the lives of monsters. On the other, Lu Bu had already plunged into the opulent palace. Much like Ying Zheng's tactics, Lu Bu did not rush into slaughter. Riding the Red Hare, he became a streak of scarlet lightning, darting recklessly within the palace, deliberately creating noise to draw the monsters’ attention.
With his extraordinary speed, the guards wielding bows and arrows could not aim at him; they were forced to chase him with spears, utterly led by the nose. Lu Bu was gathering the monsters together—a method commonly known as “monster herding.” As the guards’ numbers swelled, Lu Bu finally halted. He was now completely surrounded by monsters.
Roars and cries erupted as countless guards brandished their spears, charging at him. Those farther away simply drew their bows, ready to shoot down the madman.
“It’s about time,” Lu Bu murmured, unruffled, showing not the slightest tension at being encircled. “Very well, Unmatched... begin.”
A silver ring flashed. Immediately, the monsters surrounding Lu Bu seemed to freeze, as if someone had pressed pause. Then, their heads slid cleanly from their necks. A crimson afterimage darted through the crowd—monsters began to fall in droves.
Lu Bu, wielding the Sky Halberd, left not a single monster alive wherever he passed.
[Experience +240,000]
[Experience +240,000]
[Experience +240,000]
...
The terrifying haul of 240,000 experience points per kill instantly filled more than ninety percent of Song Qi’s experience bar, though he had just reached level twenty-four.
“Damn, this side’s even better—240,000 experience per monster!” Song Qi exclaimed, astonished at his experience bar. “It’s not even a minute, and I’m about to level up again?!”
He didn’t have long to wait; Ying Zheng unleashed another surge.
Ding!
A flash of white light descended—Song Qi was now level twenty-five.
“Damn...” he stood utterly stunned. What kind of astounding leveling speed was this?
Less than a minute, and two levels gained!
Bear in mind, the experience required for him to level up now was counted in the millions. For an ordinary intermediate class, leveling up would take months, if not half a year. Here, it was measured in mere minutes—terrifying indeed!
“If other adventurers knew my leveling speed, they’d die of envy!” Song Qi glanced to both sides, noticing about half the monsters remained. He calculated quickly.
“With the experience from the two monster leaders, reaching level twenty-six is definitely possible!” His spirits soared, and a bold idea flashed in his mind.
“If monsters at level fifty grant this much experience, what about those at level sixty? Wouldn’t it start at hundreds of thousands of experience points?! Maybe... I could try leveling up in the wild, hunting level sixty monsters?”
He felt a surge of excitement, but after thinking it over, he abandoned the notion.
“It doesn’t seem feasible. The Endless Snowfield is indeed a training ground for level sixty adventurers, but monsters at that level are mostly scattered. Their main attributes are at least above 2,000. If Lu Bu and Ying Zheng don’t use their skills, it would be truly difficult to kill them. If I did use skills, the monsters are so scattered that after killing a few, it would take a lot of time to find another group. The efficiency is way too low. By the time I find more, the skills would be on cooldown, and the time for experience cards would be wasted.”
Song Qi shook his head, sighing.
“In other words, if I can’t easily kill level sixty monsters in normal conditions... then it’s better to farm Snow Wolves. But is there any place where level sixty monsters gather in groups?”
He pondered for a while, took out the map given by the city lord, and eventually found a location.
Level 68 monster: Rock-Eating Earth Dragon!
These massive monsters lived in the desert in family units. Unfortunately, he ultimately decided against it—their habitat was marked on the map as a training ground for level eighty to ninety adventurers, meaning it was crawling with level eighty monsters. Trying to level there would be sheer folly.
“Forget it. Maybe when I summon a third spirit at level forty, I can give it a try. For now... better stick to farming Snow Wolves. If I use the triple experience card, each Snow Wolf still gives over forty thousand experience—not bad at all.”
Song Qi comforted himself thus.
...
A few minutes later...
Pfft!
The last blade-wielding maid fell under the Terracotta Warriors’ spears.
Boom!
From beneath the palace on the right, a towering female figure erupted from the earth. She was strikingly beautiful, clad in half-armored attire, wielding a knight’s sword with a bold, heroic air. Apart from being three meters tall, her appearance revealed nothing monstrous.
Song Qi opened her stats.
Monster: Queen Diana
Level: 58
Strength: 813
Constitution: 150
Agility: 5,276
Spirit: 1,000
Skills: [Gallop], [Knight’s Swordsmanship], [Blitz]
Description: The great queen possesses a pure and flawless heart, embodying the spirit of knighthood. Though the abyss has corroded her mind, she still remembers to protect her people and prevent the kingdom’s destruction.
...
As soon as the female leader named Diana appeared, she immediately stood apart from the others. She did not fixate on the Terracotta Warriors like the maids had, but locked her gaze straight onto Ying Zheng in the distance.
Her expression did not change. A faint blue light flashed beneath her feet, and a breeze stirred around her.
Then—
Whoosh!
She became a blur, her speed so extreme it was invisible to the naked eye. Only white shockwaves burst open in the air as she charged directly at Ying Zheng.
“So fast!” Song Qi gasped in horror. No wonder she was a leader-class monster—her agility was above 5,000! She was already approaching Lu Bu’s unmatched state. Not to mention she had both [Gallop] and [Blitz], clearly acceleration skills. She exploited her speed advantage to the utmost.
Although she sacrificed constitution, her speed would make her peerless even among level sixty monsters. Such an assassin-type monster, with extreme speed, was a nightmare for fragile backline fighters.
Ying Zheng, however, remained unflustered, only casting an awkward glance at Song Qi and murmuring softly,
“Ahem...my apologies, sir... I’m afraid I must offend you once again.”