"Grab the cement! Assemble at the village entrance!"
At the Lord’s command, the ten Beastman Infantry immediately gripped their war axes and formed a line on the small path at the village entrance.
The tallest of them, Hellish Roar, stood at the very front, with the slightly shorter Blood Roar beside him. The other eight Beastmen stood with them, ready for battle.
Shen Xing pushed his wheelchair forward, positioning the Beastmen in front of him for protection, and took out his Mechanical Crossbow.
HUFF... HUFF...
One by one, monsters emerged from the Fog. The firelight illuminated their twisted, slender bodies, making them look like moving, withered trees.
There were a full twenty-three Lost Ones, two of which had reached the Ordinary Three-Star level.
In front of this group of monsters were a dozen or so creatures that resembled hunting dogs, with bared fangs and black mist coiling around their bodies.
[Evil Dog]
[Level: 2]
[Potential: Ordinary ★]
[Attributes: Power 5, Spirit 8, Agility 11, Constitution 6]
[Skills: Pack of Dogs Bite (Locks onto a single target, coordinating with other Evil Dogs to launch a frenzied assault of lunges and bites. Damage +30% during the assault.)]
[Talent: None]
[Bonds - Evil Dog (Active): When more than 10 Evil Dogs are present, lunge speed is increased by 30%.]
[Introduction: Vicious dogs from the Fog. Individually, they are not terrifying, but once they form a pack, they are capable of tearing a bull to a skeleton in a short time.]
...
’Oh? New monsters today. Judging by the skill description, they seem pretty vicious.’
Before Shen Xing could even finish his thought, the pack of Evil Dogs charged, lunging toward them.
These monsters didn’t just look vicious; they were utterly insane, attacking without a word like a pack of mad dogs.
But Shen Xing was no pushover.
"Hellish Roar, go and Slay the Three-Star Lost Ones inside their ranks."
"Blood Roar, take the men and hold back that pack of Evil Dogs."
The moment he received the order, Hellish Roar, who could barely contain himself any longer, exploded into action.
BOOM!
The powerful burst of force kicked up two shallow craters in the ground as he shot forward like a cannonball.
His explosive speed already surpassed a hundred meters per second!
"HRAAA..."
The swarm of Lost Ones let out hoarse roars, extending their black, sharp claws as they swarmed forward.
But before they could get close, a Double-Bladed War Axe swept through them like a hurricane.
THWACK! THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!
Like a hot knife through butter, it met no resistance. Four or five Lost Ones were sliced in two on the spot, sending severed limbs and black fluid flying!
The blow drew even more aggro, and a dozen or so Lost Ones completely surrounded him!
Hellish Roar looked at the closing enemies, unperturbed by the danger, a calm, yellow light glinting in his eyes.
"WAAAAAHG!!"
He let out an explosive roar, gripped the axe handle with both hands, and began to spin like a top!
WHOOSH! WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH—!
In an instant, the sound of a sharp blade whistling through the air and tearing through flesh echoed across the battlefield.
Hellish Roar powerfully slaughtered more than a dozen Lost Ones without the slightest pause and charged toward the two Three-Star Lost Ones in the back!
Enemies along the way tried to block him but were cut down with a single swing of his axe. He moved as if through an empty battlefield.
On the other side, the dozen or so Evil Dogs clashed head-on with the Beastman Legion.
But they had only charged a few meters before entering the range of the Arrow Towers.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
The two Arrow Towers simultaneously fired a pitch-black Elemental Arrow each, striking the two foremost Evil Dogs.
One of them even had its head blown clean off, a truly miserable death.
But these creatures were vicious by nature. Ignoring the death of their comrade, they pounced on the nearest Beastman, and the pack surrounded him, tearing at him wildly!
"You dare bite my brother!"
Blood Roar bellowed in anger, strode forward, and brought his Iron Axe down hard.
The axe blade sliced through fascia and shattered bone, cleaving the entire Evil Dog in two.
—Heavy Strike.
But he wasn’t finished. Blood Roar lunged forward, grabbed an Evil Dog’s head with both hands, and squeezed with all his might.
With a sickening POP, he crushed the dog’s head completely.
This brutal scene even brought a look of fear into the eyes of the other Evil Dogs.
With his eyes bloodshot, Blood Roar seemed to have entered a berserk state as he charged straight for the next enemy.
The other Beastmen also revealed their savage side, their Stone Axes falling like rain.
And in the rear, Shen Xing pushed his wheelchair with one hand while raising the [Mechanical Crossbow] with the other, taking aim at the enemy.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Three Bone Arrows shot out in quick succession like meteors chasing the moon, striking a Three-Star Lost One one after another in the chest.
Taking advantage of the monster’s brief moment of paralysis, Hellish Roar’s Steel-Cutting Double-Bladed Axe was already whistling through the air, viciously chopping down on its neck!
Another head went flying.
’Fuck, a kill-stealer?’
Shen Xing thought to himself, ’This Hellish Roar is so clueless. Doesn’t he know to let his Lord have a moment of glory?’
But the Beastman Fighter was completely oblivious. He just gave his Lord a simple-minded grin and pounced on the next target.
Soon, with Shen Xing’s superb Archery Skill and a little "help" from Hellish Roar, they successfully annihilated all the Lost Ones.
On the other side, the Evil Dogs were also wiped out under the combined assault of the Beastman army and the two Arrow Towers.
Shen Xing put away his Mechanical Crossbow, gazing thoughtfully at the corpses on the battlefield.
’The monsters today aren’t just more numerous than yesterday, their levels are higher too.’
’It seems to be just like they said on the forums. As time goes on, the strength of the monsters attacking the village will continuously increase.’
’The only way to survive is to get stronger at an even faster rate.’
What was strange, however, was that after only one day, the number of enemies had tripled, and new monsters like the Evil Dogs had appeared.
Compared to the other newbies on the forums, the increase on his end seemed a bit exaggerated.
’Could it be that this game adjusts the strength of nearby monsters based on the Lord’s power?’
Just as Shen Xing was lost in thought, a tall, slender black shadow suddenly darted out from the other side of the village.
It seemed to have been hiding in the Fog the whole time, waiting for everyone’s attention to be diverted before lunging toward the Campfire in the center of the territory.
Shen Xing’s expression didn’t change. After a day of experience, he was no longer the fresh-faced newbie he had been yesterday.
The monsters of this world were all sly ambushers. Many new Lords suffered considerable losses right after entering the Land of Mist.
That was how Lu Xiang had been killed.
But as a hardcore player who had completed the entire *Dark Soul* series on a single life and beaten Elden Ring with a naked Wretch build from the start, this was nothing new to him.
He made a grasping motion with his right hand, preparing to release [Void Hand] to intercept the black shadow.
But another attack was faster!
WHOOSH—
A tungsten-colored Double-Bladed War Axe spun through the air at high speed, carrying an aura of total annihilation, and instantly struck the sly ambusher in the chest.
The monster didn’t even make a sound before it collapsed limply to the ground.
The battle was over. The Beastmen began to clean up the battlefield on their own initiative.
Shen Xing, however, was thinking about that last axe throw, and an idea suddenly popped into his head.
’Hellish Roar’s strength is astonishing. He can even throw his War Axe as a ranged weapon.’
’So, could I equip him with some Bone Spears, or maybe some spare Iron Axes, to give him more ranged options?’
"Boss, we’ve finished cleaning up!"
A few minutes later, Blood Roar strode over excitedly, holding a pile of loot in his hands.
Shen Xing snapped out of his thoughts and stored everything in his inventory.
[Acquired: Soul Stone x26]
[Acquired: Vinar Silver Coins x23]
[Acquired: Broken Soul x14]
...
"Boss, one of our brothers was bitten. He needs to eat meat!" Blood Roar spoke up again.
Before Shen Xing could reply, Hellish Roar smacked Blood Roar on the back of the head and scolded him, "You idiot! Don’t make decisions for the Boss!"
"Everything in this territory belongs to the Boss. Only he can distribute these resources, understand?"
Blood Roar clutched his head. Though he looked a bit resentful, he still nodded. "Un... understood!"
Shen Xing was amused watching the two Beastmen interact.
’With their constant evolution, their intelligence is getting higher and higher.’
"Go on, take care of the injured Beastman. Give them an extra share of the meat," Shen Xing said with a wave of his hand.
"Thank you, Boss! You are truly a generous Leader!"
His face full of gratitude, Blood Roar strode away.
Then, Shen Xing took an ancient-looking Scroll from his inventory.
When he unrolled it, a shimmering hexagram pattern was revealed.
[Use Recruitment Scroll to summon an Ordinary ★★ Warg?]
"Yes."
The hexagram pattern in the center of the Scroll burst forth with a dazzling light, then flew into mid-air on its own and transformed into a massive Array.
VMMMM~
A pillar of light surged out from the Array and descended to the ground. Within the light, the silhouette of a beast flickered.
AWOOOO~!
Following a resounding howl, an enormous Warg covered in gray fur emerged, its steps heavy.
Its shoulder height was nearly one and a half meters, and its body was over two and a half meters long.
Just standing there, it gave off an astonishingly oppressive aura.
At that moment, its pair of eerie Green pupils looked down on Shen Xing in his wheelchair. Its fangs were slightly bared, and yellowish, rank saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth.
Shen Xing looked up, a strange expression on his face. ’This guy... does it see me as prey?’
He had seen information about this on the forums. In the Land of Mist, powerful creatures had their own personalities and pride.
If a Lord was too weak, it was impossible to make them submit. They might even suffer a backlash.
This was also why, even though in-game items could be brought into the real world—including many powerful Unit Nests and Recruitment Scrolls that could be traded in reality—no new Lord was able to form a contract with these Soldier Types in the early stages.
And now, Shen Xing, a Level-one newbie in a wheelchair, was nothing more than a walking piece of cake in this Warg’s eyes.
A sweet, delicious morsel that would melt in its mouth.
It let out a low whimper, as if it could already see the scene of itself biting through the human’s neck, blood gushing forth.
But before the delicious meal came a fist the size of a clay pot.
A Heavy Strike from Hellish Roar smashed viciously into its head.