"This isn't a beast tide, just a pack of beasts summoned by a skill. They'll disperse on their own if we can hold out for ten minutes," said Mrs. Yun.
An experienced old Hunter had a flash of insight. "It was that roar from before! That's the skill of a tiger-type mutated beast—the Beast King's Roar! It can command all nearby mutated beasts of a lower life level!"
"There's only one type of Tier 3 tiger beast in the Black Rock Mountain Range. Don't tell me we've run into a Tier 3 Rock Tiger?"
"No, it's not a beast. It's a man!" Mrs. Yun's gaze locked onto the top of a tall tree, where a man in a black suit had appeared at some point.
Dozens of mutated beasts emerged from the woods along with the man in the suit. Their eyes gleamed with malice as they surrounded Su Ze and his group.
Su Ze did a quick count. He estimated there were fifty to sixty beasts, a mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2. Snakes, insects, rats, and ants; jackals, wolves, and birds—it seemed like everything that flew in the sky and crawled on the ground had arrived.
The presence of Tier 2 beasts meant that the man in the suit who had used the Beast King's Roar was a Butterfly Stage Evolved.
It was only then that Su Ze understood. He finally realized why, even with a Butterfly Stage expert like Mrs. Yun protecting Liou Wenxin, they still had to post an escort mission and hire so much "cannon fodder." Mrs. Yun must have known all along that their pursuers had the Beast King's Roar skill.
In a city, the Beast King's Roar was a useless, throwaway skill. But here in the Black Rock Mountain Range, a place teeming with beasts, it was incredibly powerful. A single person could become an army.
If the man in the suit managed to tie up Mrs. Yun, she wouldn't be able to protect Liou Wenxin. Without these hired Hunters, Liou Wenxin would have to face dozens of beasts all by herself.
Su Ze put the pieces together, and so did the other Hunters. Someone started cursing, "Fuck! I knew this money wouldn't be this easy to earn!"
Many of them started to feel regret, but there was nothing they could do. The client had repeatedly stressed the dangers of the mission when they'd accepted it. They had let greed blind them, hoping for a lucky break, and taken the risk.
"Hey, look! There may be twice as many beasts as us, but not many of them are Tier 2. Most are just Tier 1. This is a winnable fight!" a Cocoon Stage Evolved shouted, trying to rally everyone.
"That's right! We don't have to win, we just have to survive for ten minutes! We have a good chance!"
Su Ze chimed in with a word of agreement at the right moment. He wasn't really dissatisfied; this was still the best option he'd had.
If he hadn't joined this team, any other path would have been even more dangerous. At least here, they had a chance. It wasn't a hopeless situation.
Liou Wenxin spoke up as well. "Everyone, use any trump cards you have. I'll compensate you for any losses, and I'll take care of treating any injuries. Don't hold back!"
No one else in the group said a word. Things had already come to this; all they could do was their best to survive the coming crisis.
Liou Wenxin quietly tugged on Su Ze's sleeve, motioning for him to stay by her side. When the fighting began, the area around her would be the safest.
Su Ze got the message. He wasn't the type to put on a brave front, so he obediently remained by Liou Wenxin's side.
'Hm?'
Su Ze scanned the crowd and suddenly realized he couldn't see Li Gaojie.
At a critical moment like this, no one else had noticed a Pupa Stage Evolved had gone missing. But Su Ze, who had been deliberately keeping an eye on him, spotted his absence immediately.
'This Li Gaojie... he might be a problem!'
At that moment, the surrounding beasts were gradually closing in. The tension mounted, and a huge battle was about to erupt.
Mrs. Yun sneered, her eyes fixed on the man in the suit. "It's been a while. I was starting to think you'd given up and gone back to the Ancient An Country."
"Heh. I've followed you for this long, all the way across the Mu Country. Did you really think I'd let you go?" The man in the suit straightened his collar. "And don't bother probing. It's just me this time. No one else is coming. But I'm more than enough to deal with you."
The man in the suit drifted down from the treetop to stand face-to-face with Mrs. Yun. He continued, "I'll admit, out there, I'm no match for you. But here in the Black Rock Mountain Range, this is my home turf. Your defeat is certain. I deliberately waited until today to strike for this very opportunity."
Mrs. Yun wasted no more words. She exploded into action, her body crackling with arcs of electricity as she charged the man in the suit.
The man in the suit let out a low, bestial roar. As if hearing a battle horn, all the surrounding beasts surged forward, accelerating toward Su Ze's group.
In an instant, skills of every kind filled the air.
The battlefield split into two. On one side was the 1v1 duel between the powerhouses, Mrs. Yun and the man in the suit. On the other was a defensive struggle, with over twenty Hunters facing more than fifty beasts.
The situation with Mrs. Yun was relatively clear. Though they were trading blows, it was obvious she had the upper hand.
Su Ze's side, however, was pure chaos. A messy barrage of skills—fireballs, ice spikes, water arrows, even snake venom—rained down on them indiscriminately. The Hunters threw up their defensive skills while looking for openings to strike back.
Some specialized in close combat; one Hunter was locked in a deadly struggle with a massive bear-like beast.
Su Ze stood by Liou Wenxin's side, helping her block the random ranged attacks that came flying from all directions.
As far as Su Ze knew, although Liou Wenxin was a Pupa Stage Evolved on the verge of her second evolution, her specialization was in research. She had next to no combat experience and no combat-oriented skills. Nearly all of her abilities were designed to aid her evolutionary studies.
As a result, Liou Wenxin's combat prowess was practically zero.
Time ticked by. Many of the Hunters were now wounded, though they had managed to kill a good number of beasts in return.
But they soon discovered that more beasts were still arriving from the distance, a seemingly endless stream joining the fray.
They had been fighting for what felt like an eternity, yet the number of beasts hadn't dwindled. In fact, it had grown!
The Hunters, on the other hand, had no reinforcements. People were constantly getting injured or exhausted, and their overall combat strength was steadily declining.
The pressure on them grew, and with it, their despair.
At this rate, they wouldn't last ten minutes.
As for Mrs. Yun, despite maintaining the upper hand, she couldn't seem to land a decisive blow.
It was easy to see the man's plan: keep Mrs. Yun occupied while the beast pack crushed the escort team. Once the Hunters fell and Liou Wenxin was in danger, Mrs. Yun would be forced to fall back to protect her. Then, she would have to fend off both the man in the suit and the entire horde while shielding Liou Wenxin...
Liou Wenxin could also see how dire the situation was. Her face was pale, but she managed to force a smile as she spoke to Su Ze. "If you get a chance later, just run. Don't worry about me. I'm more valuable to them alive than dead. They won't kill me."
Su Ze shook his head. 'The team can't fall apart just like that,' he thought. 'Even if I managed to escape, how would I get to the Luofan Country on my own?'
"Don't worry," Su Ze said, patting Liou Wenxin on the back. "I'll make my move."