Chapter 161: Rat King

What are you still standing there for?

Lin An gave a soft laugh, sensing a monster rushing in:

That monster is coming...

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The great earthquake shook.

Deep in the white mist, a huge black shadow came charging out wildly.

Each step struck the crowd's hearts like a drumbeat.

Boom!

Stone fragments flew into the air.

"tan... ke!!!"

Accompanied by a deep, angry roar.

In the white mist, the monster smashed through the entrance wall, charging forward like a train.

Lin An turned his back on it without a care, as if the three-meter-tall mutant behind him were nothing but an ant.

Ha!

Zhang Tie let out a loud shout, his battle spirit rising.

Lin An's earlier performance made him a bit restless; he was also curious whether his current strength could match this Second‑Level mutant.

Bear Form!

A black bear appeared, pounding its chest and roaring in response.

Frenzied Charge!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The black bear's body flashed with red light, shield in hand, as it charged toward the monster.

Get ready for battle!

Gao Tian took a deep breath, instantly nocked an arrow, and fixed his gaze on the monster's massive form.

Hunt locked on!

Let me, the old man, take him on first!

Zhang Tie let out an angry roar, cutting off Gao Tian's skill, and then the two 'monsters' slammed into each other!

Bang!!

It sounded like metal on metal—though they were flesh and blood, they rang out with a metallic clang.

The black bear staggered back from the impact, its retreating steps losing force and breaking the ground behind it.

Awesome!

He felt dizzy and his vision swam.

Heavy Punch Blast!

Zhang Tie bared his teeth and roared, shield in his right hand, fist in his left, he hammered hard at the 【tank】.

The wind of the fist howled; the left punch of the Sewer burst with tremendous force, instantly punching through the monster's armored flesh.

The bear and the monster exchanged blows, each absorbing the other's damage.

The battle's aftermath resembled a pile driver on a construction site, each collision sending out an invisible shockwave.

The sight before them was terrifying.

If one were to say Lin An had been relaxed and carefree from start to finish, his strength was mysterious and unfathomable.

Then Zhang Tie was the embodiment of violence, his blows landing flesh on flesh.

Stop playing around.

Quick battle, quick decision.

Lin An gazed into the white mist's depths; in his perception a black shadow flickered past, disturbing the rising mist.

Moreover.

Not just one.

Liang Shaoguang also noticed this; he twitched his nose to sniff, and there were still monsters in the white mist, seemingly overlapping.

Got it! Damn it!

Zhang Tie was struck by the monster's heavy punch on his shield, the huge impact nearly knocking him over.

After stumbling to his feet, he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, refusing to back down, and threw another punch at the monster.

Although he couldn't take down the tank quickly, the bear and the monster were fairly evenly matched.

Those who had doubted whether Zhang Tie could hold out were now completely convinced.

This bear was practically another version of the 【tank】, and this was without Zhang Tie taking any medicine.

His physique was high, but his attacks relied entirely on the Sewer's left hand; without Wen Ya's aid, his damage output still fell short.

Hunt locked on!

Gao Tian saw that Lin An had already given the order, and directly linked up the weakness conveyed by the Judgment Eye, charging up.

Dark purple spiritual energy accumulated on the bowstring, gradually charging.

Moon Wolf!

Giant Stone Strike!

Liang Shaoguang and his wife both activated their skills; to Lin An's surprise, Zhou Fengling was a Half‑Elemental Half‑Physical System.

All that could be seen was her muscles bulging as she embraced a huge stone formed from the void, then she hurled it like a man‑made cannonball into the ensuing corpse horde.

Lava Spurt!

Fire Wall!

Fire Spear!

Three fire-element Awakened Ones had clear division of duties; single-target skill output 【tank】, while the fire wall technique created a wall of fire behind the monster to block the following zombies.

Zhang Tie also gave up exchanging blows with the monster, simply lowering his head to bear the shield and withstand the monster's output.

The monster's attack frequency wasn't too high, but each blast packed tremendous power.

Without full defense beforehand, even with a shield he was struck so hard he vomited blood.

Lin An did not choose to act against 【tank】; on one hand to test whether Zhang Tie could alone resist a Second-Level Mutant, on the other to give others more combat experience.

During a zombie siege, facing hordes of zombies and large numbers of mutants, it's impossible to rely on him alone.

His right hand lightly rested on the hilt again, his mental power sensing the constantly shifting dark shadow.

Mental power poured out like flowing water, and the Judgment Eye's information was transmitted back.

At this distance, the previously unclear data instantly became clear.

"Beep, detected Second-Level Mutant: Rat King"

"Danger assessment: low to intermediate."

"Mutant traits: group combat, virus bite, damage transfer, hive mind, high-speed movement."

"Weak point loading..."

Lin An frowned slightly, his vision through the white mist clarifying what the high-speed moving black shadow was.

It was a huge rat, like an enlarged black rat, with a long thin tail sweeping behind.

The weakness that should have appeared instantly was delayed by several seconds, instead spreading thousands of red dots across the monster's body.

Each red dot marked a weakness.

How could that be?

Even if this monster were weak, as a Second-Level entity it shouldn't have weaknesses all over its body, right?

Moreover, in Lin An's perception, the hidden overlapping mutant had always been the Rat King before him.

But clearly there was only one monster; where was the other hidden one?

And looking at it, the Rat King shouldn't be a mutant creature, so why is it classified among mutants...

Before Lin An could figure it out, the swiftly roaming Rat King finally couldn't hold back, letting out a sharp cry and turning into an afterimage as it charged over.

"Lin Team, be careful!"

Moon Wolf shouted behind Lin An at the instant the Rat King struck, just like Zhang Tie, Moon Wolf also possessed beastly instincts.

With dual perception, under certain conditions it functioned like a human radar.

He drew his knife and held it horizontally.

Lin An activated his combat instinct the instant he sensed it.

"Clang!"

He blocked with a side knife; the sharp claws and blade sparked on impact.

The ordinary metal Tang knife shattered on contact, exploding into scattering fragments.

The shooting fragments reflected Lin An's side profile like a mirror; in the bright shards, his pupils flashed silver.

"Divine Stab!"

Mental power brimming with destructive intent surged out, forming a substantive shockwave that struck the afterimage.

"Boom!"

Under dual damage, the Rat King's massive body instantly burst into a blood mist, yet the mental strike that could have directly hit consciousness was like a mud cow entering the sea.

"No... effect?!"