Chapter 3377

From all directions, the boar warriors charged in, causing the earth to tremble.

If viewed from above, after the Sun Fortress unfolded, the enemy contractors split into two groups: one group was the strong assault team, over a hundred contractors led by Holy Hymn and Orlando.

The other group was the rearguard, consisting of over six hundred contractors, with Holy Light Paradise and Hope Paradise contractors each making up roughly half, led by a man who called himself a Druid.

The Druid's elk-antler helmet and tattered animal skins gave him a beastly aura, leading many to believe he was Orlando's subordinate, though he was not.

Though in the same adventuring party—one as leader, the other as deputy—they were rivals: Orlando represented the broad-minded side, while the Druid embodied discipline and severity.

The two contractor groups were surrounded by boar warriors swarming from all directions, and this vast encirclement was rapidly shrinking.

Amid the chaos, Holy Hymn and Orlando remained calm, with Orlando saying: "I'll go to the outer perimeter to block."

"I'll hold him here—even if he isn't the leader of these boar warriors, his status is certainly not low."

As Holy Hymn spoke, over a dozen knight-clad men and women charged out from behind her.

Among them were tall, sturdy knights wielding large shields, petite women in leather armor holding daggers, and heavy crossbowmen carrying heavy crossbows and medium shields—these were the twelve of the Holy Song Knights, also known as the Mad Dog Knights.

The twelve Holy Song Knights charged at Su Xiao, and as they advanced, their shields, heavy crossbows, and other weapons clattered noisily along the way; all twelve drew their dual blades mid-charge, transforming into twelve "Dual-Blade Mad Dogs."

Among them, the originally shield-bearing heavy shield knight now wielded dual blades about 1.4 meters long, with blades as wide as a palm.

The light-armored knight drew dual blades about 1.1 meters long, with normal blade width; the petite female assassin's dual blades were about 1 meter long, with narrow edges but faster attack speed.

The three dual-blade types: heavy dual blades for armor-breaking + wide-area attack + strength suppression; medium dual blades for charge + dense attack + physical defense reduction; narrow dual blades for vital strikes + ultra-high burst damage + weak point punishment.

The twelve "Mad Dog Knights" closed in on Su Xiao, who did not retreat, as he sought to prevent the enemy from establishing a solid defensive line.

Su Xiao's Dragon Shadow Flash ability, upon reaching Lv. MAX+, could be used up to three times consecutively, at the cost of immense bodily strain and a 20-minute cooldown before it could be used again for spatial movement.

Immediately leaving the center of the battle group would be safe, but if he did so, the enemy contractors would cluster together, forming a defensive line to resist the boar warriors attacking from all sides.

Staying at the center was different—enemy contractors had already closed in from the surroundings, surrounding him in the center, giving the impression of "capture the leader first."

This choice was correct: if Su Xiao died, the Warlord Lord's buff would vanish, and being beheaded would deal a devastating blow to the morale of the boar warrior army.

If Su Xiao's estimation was correct, soon he would be at the very center of the battle group, surrounded by enemy contractors, with the boar warriors' encirclement lying beyond them—a large circle enclosing a smaller one.

Though it appeared Su Xiao was surrounded by over 700 enemy contractors and about to be focused down, this was not the case—the enemy were all eighth-tier contractors, and they would certainly make the most appropriate response to such a situation.

They would do their best to "inflate" the boar warriors' encirclement, creating more space within it.

They did this to avoid being packed shoulder-to-shoulder; once that happened, a single high-powered explosive or weapon could wipe out many contractors, and as those who had fought their way to eighth tier, they could all foresee this.

They wanted to expand the encirclement as much as possible, which required more contractors to resist the boar warriors' charge; thus, being able to face Su Xiao with even a few dozen enemy contractors was already good, and sending more to deal with him would risk failing to hold the ground or being broken through by the boar warriors.

Precisely because he was certain of this, Su Xiao chose to stay—and besides, he had a trump card: if things became too dire, he would use the 【Drifting Bait】 he had seized from Morel… cough, borrowed.

"Drifting Bait: After 1.57 seconds of spiritual guidance, spatial drifting can be performed, randomly appearing at a safe point 50 li away……"

Su Xiao's plan was: if he were truly at the center of the encirclement and about to collapse, he would use the 【Drifting Bait】 to escape.

Had it not been for the Sun Fortress beneath his feet, Su Xiao would have used the combination of 【Drifting Bait】 + 【Blazing Sun Wrath·Apollo (Hand-Clenched Instant Burst)】.

Su Xiao did not retreat immediately, both to prevent the enemy from using large-range spatial items to escape collectively and because the Sun Fortress was already deployed beneath him.

Another crucial point: once the melee began, if everything went smoothly, the center of Su Xiao's battle group would soon become very safe—of course, this safety was only for himself; for the enemy contractors, even if they luckily survived, it would be a nightmare-like experience.

The blazing sun hung high in the sky, Su Xiao stood at the center of the deployed fortress, already surrounded by over a hundred enemy contractors from the assault team, when a gold-blue cat-like shadow floated up from the ground and attached itself to him—it was the Dew Dew who had hidden earlier in the mine shaft below.

Shouts, roars, and the booming of explosions came from the edge of the defense line, one after another, with dull impacts signaling that the boar warriors had breached the outer defense and engaged the contractors.

Puchi, puchi, puchi……

Spear flashes stabbed repeatedly, blood and flesh flying, a cold-eyed man's long spear moved like a spirit snake, leaving only spear-tip-like glints in the air.

A boar warrior nearly 2.6 meters tall and powerfully built staggered as he charged forward, several bowl-sized holes pierced through his torso, weakening his body and making him about to collapse from the inertia of his charge.

Faint golden light particles drifted from the wound of this boar warrior; he felt that after the sunlight from above shone upon him, the pain from his injuries greatly subsided, and an unprecedented courage surged in his heart.

He let out a wow and spat a mouthful of blood, then, gripping a war hammer with a handle about 1.8 meters long and a hammer head as large as a water barrel, he propped up his body.

The boar warrior felt waves of dizziness, gritted his blood-stained molars, and swung his war hammer with all his strength.

With a clang, the spearman blocked the war hammer with his spear, preparing to counterattack—until he saw the wounded boar warrior staring at him with a pair of fierce, golden vertical pupils.

This made the spearman catch his breath; he didn't fear one such enemy, but if all the surrounding enemies were like this, the joke would have gone too far.

From the boar warrior's gaze, the spearman felt two immediate impressions: this "miscellaneous soldier" was wrong—his eyes held both the cold cruelty of the Zerg and a religious fervor.

The Zerg's coldness and religious fervor—either alone made for a troublesome soldier unit, not just a matter of strength, but of fearless charges and encirclements that were truly despair-inducing.

So saying, the Zerg's coldness and religious fervor, even taken separately, were each troublesome; combined, they were clearly somewhat inhuman.

At that moment, the spearman's heart filled with dread; his long spear swept out, first chopping off the thick left arm of the boar warrior ahead, then using the spear tip to slit open the enemy's abdomen, spilling his intestines, the membranous stench spreading.

Just as the spearman thought the boar warrior, after suffering his consecutive heavy blows, would fall, he saw the enemy grab his own spilled intestines with one hand and swing the war hammer with the other, smashing it toward him.

A vicious wind struck his face; the spearman's cheek twitched violently, his thought: "This miscellaneous soldier is too damn meaty—is this really a miscellaneous soldier?"

In fact, the boar warrior's performance was no surprise—first, due to their innate abilities.

"Skill 1, Tempering and Refinement (Passive, LV. 63): HP +4600, Physical Defense +10, for every 3% HP lost, gain +1 HP regen per second, stackable up to +14 HP regen per second……"

"Skill 3, Thick Skin (Passive, Lv. 65): Though boar warriors lack demon beast carapace, they have tougher skin, muscle, and bone, Physical Defense tier +1."

Besides these two abilities, the boar warriors' true strength attribute, under the Warlord Lord's buff, reached 195 points—the foundation of survivability; high strength means a solid survivability base.

This isn't the end—besides, there are other Warlord Lord buffs: HP cap increased by 45%, Physical Defense +30, further enhancing the boar warriors' survivability.

Additionally, the Warlord Lord granted a full ability level increase of Lv. 10, raising "Tempering and Refinement (Passive, LV. 63)" to Lv. 69—its maximum level.

"Thick Skin (Passive, Lv. 65)" was similarly raised to Lv. 69 (max level), giving boar warriors an additional 3.5% damage reduction.

Su Xiao had known from the start that boar warriors were unfamiliar with combat; even with the "Combat Instinct" ability, they couldn't just step onto the battlefield and become suitable fighters.

If so, then just stack on tankiness—if they can't fight, they still won't take hits?

As long as they don't die, under the "Combat Instinct" buff, they gradually learn how to kill enemies more effectively.

On the battlefield, boar warriors charging from all directions were fiercely blocked by the contractors standing in a ring formation.

During the charge, many boar warriors were blasted into flying minced meat, some were burned by ghost fire into skeletons, which scattered after a few steps of running; the contractors found killing them extraordinarily satisfying.

For a time, the several hundred contractors forming the ring defense each used their abilities to block the surging boar warrior army.

Bang, bang, bang……

Following the sounds of impacts spreading, the boar warriors, though still unskilled in combat, became fierce under the influence of high willpower and sun faith; since they could not fight, they used the momentum of their charge from afar to ram with their bodies.

As each boar warrior ran, mud and grass clippings splashed everywhere; on the battlefield, the dull thuds from their impacts rang continuously, causing the circular defensive line formed by the contractors to falter and even shrink slightly.

But the contractors were undoubtedly battle-hardened veterans; they immediately unleashed all kinds of abilities, driving the boar warriors back.

"Don't retreat! They're just grunts, all walking treasure chests."

A sorcerer shouted, pointing his staff forward; in the next instant, a burst of energy shot struck a boar warrior in the head with a bang—indeed, the sorcerer was truly strong.

Although the boar warrior army successfully surrounded the enemy, many had fallen during the charge, and the contractors discovered that, despite their fearsome appearance, the boar warriors merely swung their weapons wildly in close combat.

The initially tense contractors gradually relaxed, and some even charged into the boar warriors' formation, hoping to unleash a massacre.

A piercing cry rang out; several contractors turned toward the sound, only to see that the gunman from earlier had been seized by three boar warriors at some point.

A weapon resembling a horseman's saber pierced the gunman's abdomen; his two arms and one leg were gripped by three boar warriors covered in blood-soaked wounds, who held him down with their massive hands; the energy fluctuations on his body indicated he had just used a life-saving ability, but now he had no recourse.

Three boar warriors, their bodies riddled with blood holes, pressed the gunman to the ground, while another boar warrior stood before his head, gripping the handle of a war hammer with both hands and raising it high overhead, sunlight descending from above.

This scene fell into the eyes of the gunman pinned to the ground; his expression turned to utter terror, his voice trembling as he cried out: "Wait..."

"Repent."

After uttering these two words, the hammer-wielding boar warrior brought it down with full force.

Bang!

Brain matter mixed with dirt sprayed everywhere; the gunman's body arched, and the limbs held by the other boar warriors immediately went limp, blood spreading beneath him.

A young healer inside the circular defensive line witnessed the entire scene; though she had seen many corpses before, for some reason, after watching this, fear arose in her heart.

Two minutes into the close-quarters melee, contractors from both Holy Light Paradise and Watchtower Paradise realized a problem: these grunts felt strangely hard to kill.

They realized it wasn't that they were immovable lumps of flesh, but that each strike felt like it should kill them—yet they wouldn't die, instead charging forward bravely, their long-handled heavy weapons whistling with power.

Five minutes into the melee, several hundred enemy contractors grasped the severity: these "grunts" were not only tough-skinned and thick-fleshed, resistant to blows and slashes, but their numbers kept increasing.

Worse still, a few massive figures clad head to toe in heavy black armor stood far in the distance, exuding an unstoppable presence—these were the Sun Fortress's tier-5 unit, the heavy tanks.