The archers of the Divine Arm Squad were indeed elites. In just a short moment, they cleared the Level 3 Bandit Archers from the stockade wall.
During this process, Zhou Yuan received two experience notifications. The second one was for an assisted kill, granting him 20 experience points.
"Advance ten steps to the right and clear out the archers in the arrow tower."
Military Sima Cai Cheng pointed with his long spear, and the Mystic Armor Squad immediately moved, shielding the Divine Arm Squad.
On each of the two wooden arrow towers stood two Level 3 Bandit Archers. From their high vantage point, they unleashed a volley on the shield formation. The terrifying force of their shots nearly pierced through the hide-covered greatshields.
If it were just an archery duel, the Divine Arm Squad wouldn't be suppressed, even while shooting upwards.
The key issue was that the arrow towers had shooting slits, while the rest was constructed from hard logs.
Therefore, the Divine Arm Squad couldn't take them out quickly and could only hold their breath, waiting for an opportunity.
But this wasn't a problem for Zhou Yuan. The enhancement from his skills made his shots extremely accurate, and the tight shield formation didn't affect his performance.
He found an opening and loosed two consecutive arrows, piercing the arms of two archers and greatly relieving the pressure on the Divine Arm Squad.
"Good shot! The rest of you, focus fire on the left arrow tower. Newbie, take care of the ones with injured arms."
The archers with injured arms didn't retreat. Instead, they drew their daggers and prepared to climb down the arrow tower to continue fighting.
Zhou Yuan kept his eyes on the wooden ladder, lying in wait to kill the two injured archers as they came down.
[Ding! Killed Level 3 Bandit Archer x2. Experience +60]
Meanwhile, the archers in the left arrow tower also fell one after another under the focused fire of four Divine Arm Warriors.
"Mystic Armor Squad, adjust formation and prepare for melee! Divine Arm Squad, take the high ground on the slope and provide covering fire!"
No one explained, and no one asked questions.
The veterans skillfully repositioned. The new recruits of the Mystic Armor Squad didn't even need to move, just coordinate with the comrades beside them.
Only Zhou Yuan, mimicking the veterans' actions, climbed up the steep slope nearby.
"Creeeak..."
Before long, with a grating sound of wooden beams, the stockade gate was opened from the inside.
Over twenty melee bandits charged out from the stockade, letting out a series of roars.
Zhou Yuan noticed the veterans around him had all switched to their bows for rapid firing. Following their lead, he also switched to the faster-firing 2-Stone Bow.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."
A continuous stream of arrows rained down on the bandits, while the entrenched Mystic Armor Squad held them back with greatshields and long spears.
Ding, ding, ding. The sound of gaining experience rang out incessantly. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
With armored soldiers protecting the front and teammates providing support from the rear.
This squad of soldiers was like a professional power-leveling team, giving Zhou Yuan a taste of the joy of leveling up quickly.
As the bandits fell one by one, Zhou Yuan saw several white orbs of light drop to the ground.
The satisfaction of gaining experience and the anticipation of item drops made him exceptionally excited. The bow in his hands subconsciously moved a little faster.
"Cease fire! Mystic Armor Squad, advance and secure the gate!"
After clearing out the melee bandits, Military Sima Cai Cheng didn't order a rest. Instead, disregarding the injured squad members, he commanded a swift push to secure the gate.
Compared to the Mystic Armor Squad holding the front line, the Divine Arm Warriors were undoubtedly much safer.
While passing through the recent battlefield, Zhou Yuan deliberately lowered his head as if observing the difference between the Secret Realm's Demons and humans.
In reality, he was stepping on the orbs of light one by one to pick up the drops.
[Ding! Obtained Long Saber x3, Long Spear x2, Rice Ball x8, Golden Sore Medicine x2]
The number of drops in each orb of light varied. Some contained only one type of item, others multiple. Among them, Rice Balls were the most common, and Golden Sore Medicine was the best.
Rice Balls were a food item that provided a small amount of continuous health regeneration after use, while Golden Sore Medicine was a potion for rapid healing.
Without taking a closer look at the information on the other drops, Zhou Yuan walked a few steps among the bandit corpses before quickly catching up with his teammates.
"Strange, isn't it? That the Demons in this Secret Realm are actually people."
"Yeah, it's a bit unbelievable. I almost thought we were just attacking regular mountain bandits."
"Heh heh, you'll get used to it. When you come back next time and see them respawn as usual, you won't think of them as people anymore."
The veteran wanted to show off his knowledge to the newbie, Zhou Yuan, who played along and feigned ignorance.
By the time they reached the gate, the Mystic Armor Squad soldiers had already formed a defensive shield wall. It seemed they planned to use the narrow gateway to reduce the area of engagement.
"Two steps forward! Hold the gateway! Divine Arm Squad, fire at will!"
The Mystic Armor Squad advanced two steps, creating just enough of an angle for the Divine Arm Squad to shoot.
By now, the bandits inside the stockade were swarming toward them. Once again, the Mystic Armor Squad desperately held the line while the Divine Arm Squad stood back and shot at targets.
Because the distance was so short, the 2-Stone Bows had more than enough power within the narrow passage. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Coupled with Zhou Yuan's steady and accurate shots, all aimed at their faces and necks, taking them down with a single arrow became possible.
However, his room to attack was bought by the Mystic Armor Squad. Even with the protection of greatshields and iron armor, the men holding the front couldn't avoid bleeding and getting injured.
Only after they had cleared the enemies once more did Military Sima Cai Cheng order a rest, allowing the injured to apply medicine, stop their bleeding, and withdraw from the Instance to be replaced by another Mystic Armor Squad.
Zhou Yuan took the opportunity to pick up the new drops, obtaining 6 assorted sabers and spears, 12 Rice Balls, and 3 Golden Sore Medicines.
"Everyone, switch bows. We're about to face a powerful Demon."
While waiting for his new teammates to arrive, Zhou Yuan mentally calculated their previous kill count and realized they had killed about sixty bandits in the two battles.
He glanced at his attribute panel and saw his experience points had already reached 320.
Given the current situation, he prioritized allocating the experience to his 'Bow Control' skill.
This large allocation of experience instantly raised his 'Bow Control' skill to Level 8, just two levels shy of the maximum.
(Bow Control skill: Level 1 requires 10 EXP, Level 2 requires 20 EXP, ... Level 10 requires 100 EXP.)
"As expected, grinding Instances is the best way to gain experience."
"I trained so hard for days just to get my Bow Control skill to Level 4, but a single wave of monsters boosted it all the way to Level 8."
Looking at the skill's rapidly soaring level, Zhou Yuan couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
He had quite a few skills, and there were also martial arts like saber techniques, spear techniques, and horsemanship available to learn in the camp.
If he could max out all his skills, he would definitely undergo a complete transformation.
"Military Sima, Xuanjia Squad Four has arrived."
The squad rotation for the Mystic Armor Squad was highly efficient. Before long, the second squad arrived at the gateway.
This time, their weapons were switched to hooked spears, and their hide-covered greatshields were replaced with iron-plated tower shields.
Using the Instance's mechanics to have injured members withdraw midway and be replaced by fresh reinforcements seemed very professional to Zhou Yuan.
In a way, this simulated the rapid recovery abilities of a normal player.
"The Demon Chieftain is brutally violent. This will be a battle of control."
"Divine Arm Squad, you must use heavy bows and shoot swiftly to kill the Demon Chieftain as quickly as possible."
"Newbie, how are you holding up? Can you still go on?"
"Don't worry, Military Sima. I'm naturally strong, and using the standard bow earlier didn't take much of my stamina."
"Good. After entering the stockade, find advantageous positions and open fire. Mystic Armor Squad, form up to engage the enemy!"