Chapter 17: Army of Wild Beasts

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" After another moment, a series of heavy footsteps came from the mist, pounding the ground as if beating a drum; even Meng Yifan and the others could feel the ground shaking.

"This is..." The villagers' cheers came to an abrupt halt. They all looked at the mist in astonishment, not knowing what kind of monster had arrived.

Meng Yifan, with keen eyes and ears, focused his attention on the mist, vaguely able to see a dozen or so behemoths, two meters tall, one meter wide, and three meters long, appearing within it.

"Hmph! Hmph!"

"Awoo! Awoo!"

"Hiss! Hiss!"

The number of wild beasts gathering in the mist was increasing, and they kept roaring as if communicating something, which made Meng Yifan frown, his palms starting to sweat.

"I really should have blown up the Wolf King with one shot earlier." Meng Yifan hadn't expected that beasts that had awakened their intelligence would become so clever, knowing how to exchange information with each other.

If the other beasts were like the wild wolves, keeping their distance and charging over first, Meng Yifan could have harvested another wave of Experience Value; but if all the beasts gathered together and swarmed in at once, it would be very tricky for Meng Yifan to handle.

Wild beasts already possessed physiques far superior to humans; if they all awakened their intelligence, how would ordinary people in this world survive?

There were powerful Martial Artists among humans, as well as some mysterious Immortal Cultivators, but those experts were only a tiny minority of the entire human population. The majority of humans were ordinary people who knew neither martial arts nor Immortal Art; facing beasts with awakened intelligence, they could only become lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Time passed bit by bit, and the number of beasts gathering in the mist grew ever larger. The roaring of the beasts was incessant, making all the young men increasingly nervous. They knew a great battle was imminent and didn't know if they could survive this fight.

"Xiao Qi, run faster, tell my father about the situation here, and notify them that we are ready to retreat to the second line of defense at any time."

Meng Yifan had long anticipated that this battle would not be easy to fight, so he had set up three lines of defense in Qinghe Village; he hadn't expected that the first line of defense would be unable to hold so soon after starting.

This was still with the Flying Tiger Demon not having shown itself yet; Meng Yifan now didn't know if he could win this battle.

Since the battle began, Meng Yifan's Experience Value had been rising. In the pits outside the village, 13 Level One Low-Grade Beasts were eliminated, and Meng Yifan gained 13 points of Experience Value.

For killing wild wolves, Meng Yifan did it himself; one could earn 5 points of Experience Value. He killed a total of 12 wild wolves, gaining 60 points of Experience Value in total.

The battle on Meng Dayong's side had also started, and they had eliminated many beasts there too, but perhaps because the distance was too far, Meng Yifan did not gain Experience Value for the beasts Meng Dayong and the others killed, which he felt was a pity.

By now in the battle, Meng Yifan had gained a total of 73 more points of Experience Value. He did not hesitate and added all the Experience Value to the proficiency of the Savage Bull Strength.

A warm current appeared in Meng Yifan's body once again, the True Qi within his meridians grew rapidly, and his comprehension of the Savage Bull Strength deepened accordingly, as if he had painstakingly practiced the Savage Bull Strength for several more years.

After a moment, once Meng Yifan had adapted to the suddenly increased True Qi in his body, he checked the Game Panel; the proficiency of the Savage Bull Strength had become Level 1 (293/300).

"Only 7 points more, and I can reach the peak of a First Grade Martial Artist. Father has been stuck at the First Grade Peak for many years and has never been able to break through to a Second Grade Martial Artist. I wonder if there is a bottleneck when using the Game Panel to add points?"

With the great battle approaching, the Flying Tiger Demon was a Third Grade Demon Beast capable of spitting Fireballs, and its strength was very powerful. Although Meng Yifan had Cannons, he had no certainty of victory.

He now longed for his strength to advance by leaps and bounds in the upcoming battle, becoming a Third Grade Martial Artist or higher; that way, even if he went head-to-head with the Flying Tiger Demon, he would have the confidence.

He didn't know if the Flying Tiger Demon was somewhat cautious or perhaps a bit careless, but it did not lead the team itself to wipe out Qinghe Village at the first opportunity.

This gave Meng Yifan the chance to accumulate Experience Value and rapidly improve his strength; now he was hoping the Flying Tiger Demon would be the last to join the battle.

Xiao Qi ran back, panting, and said to Meng Yifan, "Brother Meng, the situation on Uncle Meng's side is the same as ours. The beasts have also stopped attacking and are gathering in the mist; they are likely planning to launch an attack together."

Meng Yifan nodded. All the preparations that could be made had been made; now they were just waiting for the beasts to launch their attack.

"Roar!" Ten minutes later, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly came from the sky.

Meng Yifan looked up and discovered that a white-furred tiger with wings had suddenly appeared in the sky. Its body was extremely massive, its wingspan reaching over twenty meters, and its feathers shimmered with a cold metallic luster. A pair of eyes flashing with red light looked down at Meng Yifan as if staring at an ant.

"Roar! Roar!" The beasts in the mist roared in unison, seemingly responding to their king.

The Flying Tiger Demon already knew that the humans of Qinghe Village had Cannons. It had once seen the Shenwu Great General Cannon of the humans and knew that the Cannon's power was great and could harm it, so it did not rush in to slaughter immediately, but instead roared, ordering the beast army to launch an attack.

The beast army obeyed and swarmed out of the mist, charging toward Meng Yifan and the others.

There were too many beasts, and one could not see the end of them at a glance. The first to charge out was a behemoth 1.4 meters tall, with nostrils facing outward, a pair of tusks over a foot long in its mouth, and a one-meter-long sharp horn on its head; this was a fat and sturdy Wild Boar King.

The Wild Boar King walked out of the mist, its eyes blood-red, radiating a crazy light. It let out a low roar, and eighteen wild boars 1.2 meters tall followed out of the mist, launching a charge along with their king.

The nineteen wild boars were like nineteen medium-sized tanks; as they ran, it was like ten thousand horses galloping, making the ground shake.

Wild boars were naturally thick-skinned and fleshy; after being baptized by demon arts, the boars' skin was even tougher, and the Shrapnel Shells fired by the Elm Cannon would likely find it hard to penetrate their boar hide.

The Wolf King followed behind the Wild Boar King, its eyes fixed tightly on Meng Yifan. Its little brothers had all been killed, and it wanted to make the humans on the opposite side pay in blood.

Closely following behind the boar herd were fifteen pythons as thick as thighs, slithering out while flicking their forked tongues. These pythons had emerald-green bodies, with a yellow ring growing every so often.

From the original owner's memories, Meng Yifan knew that these pythons were called Emerald Yellow-Ringed Snakes here; they were highly poisonous, and once bitten, there was almost no saving the victim.

Behind the Emerald Yellow-Ringed Snakes, ten Yellow-Spotted Leopards rushed out, and finally, four tigers. Although they were not numerous, each one was a Level 1 High-Grade Beast, and the largest tiger was already a Level 2 Mid-Grade Demon Beast.

The tigers were considered the same clan as the Flying Tiger Demon, so they received special treatment. Not only were they very strong, but they were also the supervising team for the other beasts, acting on behalf of the Flying Tiger Demon to urge the beast army to charge forward.

"My Heaven, there are too many of them."

"It feels like all the beasts in Jiguan Mountain have come. Can we hold them off?"

"We can't hold them off, there are too many beasts."

Seeing so many beasts swarming over, many of the young men were scared pale, their hands and feet trembling.

In his previous life, Meng Yifan was a mercenary who had experienced battlefields filled with gunfire. Although the charge of these beasts before his eyes surprised him, to him, this was just a small scene; there was nothing to be afraid of.

Watching the rapidly charging wild boars, Meng Yifan held an incense stick, aimed slightly, and lit the fuse of the Elm Cannon loaded with solid ammunition.

"Sizzle! Sizzle!" The fuse burned, igniting the propellant inside the Elm Cannon, and then with a boom, a scorching Iron Ball sprayed out.

The Elm Cannon Meng Yifan fired was aimed at the Wild Boar King in the very front; after all, it was charging at the very front, relying on its thick skin and flesh, wanting to take the human Cannon head-on.

The Iron Ball streaked through the air, flying toward the Wild Boar King. The Wild Boar King was somewhat surprised; wasn't it said that what humans fired were handfuls of iron fragments and gravel? Why had it suddenly been replaced with a palm-sized Iron Ball?

The Iron Ball roared in at high speed; even if the Wild Boar King was thick-skinned and fleshy, it couldn't withstand it.

The Wild Boar King sensed danger. Its intelligence was also very high, and it didn't act recklessly. At the critical moment, it suddenly turned its direction and shrank back, putting the Wolf King in front.

"Awoo!" The Wolf King roared at the sky in anger. This was too unloyal! Your skin is so thick, and even you can't block it; you're letting me block it—isn't this sending me to my death?

The Wolf King also wanted to dodge, but the sharp horn on the Wild Boar King's head was aimed at it, pushing it so it couldn't dodge at all.

"Boom!" The Iron Ball smashed into the Wolf King's head. Wolves have copper heads, iron bones, and tofu waists; its skull was the hardest part, but under the bombardment of the Iron Ball, the entire wolf head was smashed open directly, just like a watermelon.

"Ding! Team-hunted a Level 1 Mid-Grade Beast, gained 10 points of Experience Value."