leonardwarren Chapter 280 Random Start, [Ladder Cloud Leap] Skill Book!
Chapter 280 Random Start, [Ladder Cloud Leap] Skill Book!
Chapter 280 Random Start, [Ladder Cloud Leap] Skill Book!
The Abyss Knight let out a hoarse howl like a wolf, a cry intertwined with anger and despair.
Because he commanded all the goat-headed monsters to move closer to him at the last moment, thus providing some protection, the bone spears and death ripples did not kill him directly.
Despite this, the Abyss Knight's body still suffered extremely serious damage.
His only eye also lost its light under the corrosive energy, becoming an empty void in the darkness.
Fangzhou shook his head, not intending to waste any more words.
Just as he was about to finish off the last enemy with another bone spear, the scene froze again.
Fang Zhou couldn't help but feel a little doubtful. Did Lu Renjia and Lu Yiyi discover any hidden plots besides the opening scene?
"Li Wu, do you still recognize me?"
With Fang Zhou watching from the sidelines, the punitive knight Li Guang caught up from behind.
When he saw the figure of the black-armored Abyss Knight, his eyes immediately blazed with a chilling rage.
"Who—who are you?"
Upon hearing this unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice, the Black-Armored Abyss Knight's face, which had been blank due to his blindness, was now filled with surprise and unease.
"I am Li Guang, a survivor of Shelter No. 10086."
Li Guang said, enunciating each word clearly, "Li Wu, do you still remember the battle at Vault 10086?"
"Vault 10086—" the black-armored Abyss Knight repeated softly, a cold smile playing on his lips.
"Of course I remember, that was the turning point in my transformation from a lowly human into a noble demon!"
But Li Guang? Who are you to me that I should remember you?
As he finished speaking, he had clearly recovered from his initial panic.
Slowly, the black-armored Abyss Knight held the badly corroded longsword horizontally in front of his chest, assuming a standard defensive stance.
Despite being blind, he was still able to pinpoint Li Guang's location thanks to his years of combat experience and keen hearing.
"If you hadn't been the first to choose betrayal and escape in that life-or-death battle, we wouldn't have suffered such a complete annihilation!"
Li Guang's voice grew louder and louder, and his emotions became increasingly agitated.
"The commander will not sacrifice himself because of this!"
He was already a powerful Iron-level professional at that time!
"If it weren't for buying us a chance to escape, facing the enemy alone, he would never have fallen on that battlefield!"
Li Guang's eyes were bloodshot, and the muscles on his face twitched with rage. He looked like a volcano about to erupt, a stark contrast to his calm demeanor during the battle. He was clearly extremely agitated.
"I already possess the strength of a Black Iron-level professional, yet I'm still covering the retreat for you useless trash."
Such a corrupt fellow deserved to die in battle.
The black-armored Abyss Knight sneered, then shook his head left and right a few times, as if searching for something.
"Shut up, you traitor to humanity!"
The middle-aged soldier, who had been watching silently from the sidelines, held a battle axe and spoke with righteous indignation.
"Traitor? What a cruel title."
The Black-Armored Abyss Knight's lips moved, as if he were chewing on the bitterness brought by the title.
"When the demonic calamity struck, I immediately responded to the call and summoned all those in the shelter who were capable of fighting to resist the demonic invasion."
Since I awakened the power of a professional, I have personally led the charge.
The number of demons I've killed is beyond your wildest imagination!
But what did I get?
Where are the reinforcements during the battle at Vault 10086?
Where was salvation when I was captured by the devil?
The Black Armored Abyss Knight became excited.
However, the refugees watching from the sidelines were not swayed in the slightest by the sophistry of this demonized man.
"Traitor! Traitor!"
"Kill him! His hands are stained with children's blood!"
"He's nothing but a slave to the devil, unworthy of being called a human!"
The Black Armored Abyss Knight's facial muscles twitched, and he was about to say something when his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a sharp pain in his chest.
Suddenly, most of his strength disappeared, and even the longsword he was holding tightly in his right hand became extremely heavy.
In excruciating pain, the black-armored Abyss Knight couldn't help but reach down with his left hand, touching something hard on his chest.
It was a sharp longsword, and it had already pierced deeply into his vital chest!
The black-armored Abyss Knight let out a scream, his five fingers loosened, and the pitch-black longsword fell to the ground. Then, his body trembled and he knelt down.
"I-
The demonized Li Wu wanted to say something more, but Li Guang didn't want to give him any more chances.
With a forceful pull of both hands, the sword that had pierced his vitals was pulled out, accompanied by a spray of blood, thus severing Li Wu's lifeline.
Blood gushed from the Black Armored Abyss Knight's mouth. His body trembled one last time before he fell backward, collapsing heavily onto the scorched earth.
"Long live Sergeant Ark!"
With tears in his eyes, Li Guang raised his arms and shouted.
The refugees around him exchanged glances and immediately joined in loudly.
The voice grew louder and louder until even the middle-aged soldier joined in.
Amidst the jubilant atmosphere, the simulated battlefield system's notification sounded, announcing a glorious victory.
"Task completed, time taken 17 minutes, completion rating: [Perfect], reward: 9 contribution points."
"First-time completion of the [Defense of the Shelter] on Normal difficulty, earning 12 contribution points as a first-clear reward."
"Congratulations, Fang Zhou Shangtu! Your team is the first in this grade to clear the [Shelter Defense] on Normal difficulty. You have earned 15 contribution points as the first team to clear the grade and received the achievement blessing: Simulated Battlefield loot drop rate +1% (cumulative 10%)."
"Congratulations, Sergeant Ark! You have completed the [Defense of the Shelter] challenge on Normal difficulty in 17 minutes, ranking 1st on the all-time speedrun leaderboard. You are expected to receive 18 contribution points as a ranking reward this month."
"Triggered a loot drop, obtained 1 [Ladder Cloud Leap] skill book, which can be exchanged for 10 contribution points."
"After 5 minutes, you can continue to challenge the Hard difficulty."
The series of pleasant notification sounds echoed in Fangzhou's ears, making his mood soar.
First place in the grade!
First in history in speed!
Fang Zhou nodded in satisfaction; all of this was within his expectations.
He didn't waste any more time and exited the simulated battlefield, quietly waiting for 5 minutes to pass.
Compared to the easy difficulty of the Vault Defense, Arknights actually took less time to complete the normal difficulty level this time.
This was naturally because he chose to appear directly on the front lines of the Sanctuary Wall, engaging in fierce combat with the Demon Chapter immediately, thus skipping the time spent on the previous march back through the dense fog jungle.
Given Ark's strength, it would win decisively once the battle began.
Therefore, although the Goat-Headed Legion encountered this time was more powerful than the Lesser Demon Legion last time, the Goat-Headed Legion was reduced to ashes in a short time under the bombardment of the Ark's carefully prepared bone spears and the continuous bursts of death waves, causing almost no trouble for the Ark.
Meanwhile, outside the simulated battlefield, a group of second-year students looked at each other, speechless.
Their strength is far inferior to that of the Ark.
Therefore, without that capability, they simply couldn't imagine what kind of combat methods the tactical genius Ark would use.
After a long while, the mage student sighed leisurely and said, "Another perfect clear."
I wonder if the difficulty level will be this easy.
One student remarked subconsciously, "These starting options aren't available on the hard difficulty."
Or rather, the start of a game on the hard difficulty level is random.
The shelter's defenses are not as comprehensive as those in the first two difficulty levels.
The Ark shouldn't be able to operate so easily.
Lu Renjia and Lu Yiyi exchanged a glance, pursed their lips, and remained silent.
The Ark's top players are too high-level and too powerful; ordinary people like them really can't just sit back and observe from afar.
As the cadets were lost in their own thoughts, the military academy instructors in the distance watched the live broadcast through special equipment, and they couldn't help but feel excited.
Instructor Lu Hu was so excited that he clenched his fists.
"Given Ark's incredible performance in the two difficulty levels of the Vault Defense, he would have absolutely no problem participating in the recruit competition on his own."
Instructor Lu Hu was secretly making plans in his mind.
He knew that Ark was not only a powerful individual fighter, but also a strategic genius.
He is an army all by himself.
As long as you are careful of the bizarre attack methods of the various rare professionals in other military academies, Ark is much stronger than a well-matched team of professionals in terms of direct combat ability.
This is not only due to the massive army of skeletons summoned by the Ark, but also to the [Bone Spears] unleashed by the Ark at full power.
The damage limit of the [Death Ripple] skill has almost exceeded the capabilities of an apprentice-level advanced professional.
For Haicheng Military Academy, the Ark is undoubtedly the ballast stone in this new recruits' skills competition.
With his presence, the school not only has the opportunity to stand out in the competition, but also has the potential to break historical records and achieve unprecedented results.
Ignoring the storms and turmoil outside, Ark had already adjusted its mindset and was once again attempting the difficult Vault Defense challenge. The moment the screen started rolling, Ark was slightly surprised.
He found himself in a dense and secluded forest.
The sunlight tried to penetrate the thick canopy of the trees, but could only cast dappled shadows.
Fangzhou's gaze pierced through layers of greenery, finally settling on the now-ruined shelter, and he sighed softly.
The shelter was devastated and in ruins.
The once sturdy fences and wooden walls were reduced to charcoal by the raging flames.
Even amidst the ruins, one can still feel the intensity and cruelty of that battle.
In some places, dark red embers are still burning.
A wisp of smoke rose from the ruins, and the sounds of clashing swords and roars from both sides still echoed in the sky.
However, if you listen carefully, you can only hear silence, with the faint breathing of a dying person.
The defenders in the shelter resisted fiercely and resolutely, and traces of intense fighting could be seen everywhere.
Black and red bloodstains were splattered everywhere, on the walls and along the fence.
The corpses of kobolds and goblins were scattered inside and outside the wooden wall, occasionally interspersed with the corpses of one or two lesser demons.
Just as the ark landed, a particularly fierce battle broke out at the main gate of the wooden wall.
A dozen fully armed shelter warriors stood guard there, refusing to yield an inch, stubbornly resisting an enemy several times their number, until the fire demons ended their resistance with fireballs.
The scene before Ark's eyes was frozen, like a series of slides being slowly played.
He knew in his heart that this must be the opening scene.
According to Lu Renjia's guide for the Hard difficulty level, the shelter defense battle on this difficulty will have different opening storylines and starting locations.
The slightly easier ones are similar to the first two shelter defense battles, where the trial trainees will appear at the forefront of the shelter defense line and resist using various fortifications.
The most difficult situation is naturally the one he is facing now.
He found himself in a remote jungle, while a demon army poured into his dilapidated sanctuary from the hills.
The shelter's once-solid fortifications have been razed to the ground, and refugees are fleeing in all directions like lambs to the slaughter. In such an environment, it would be extremely difficult to protect even a small number of refugees and hold out for a period of time under the siege of the demon army, or even just to complete the mission.
Not to mention, as Fangzhou envisioned, protecting refugees as much as possible, eliminating demons as much as possible, and striving for a perfect completion rating.
At the top of the hill, a Flame Demon leader stood silently.
Its eyes burned with blood-red flames as it gazed at the ruins beneath its feet.
As a powerful and composed demon leader, it not only wields blazing flames but also boasts impeccable judgment. Behind this leader are not only a regular demon army composed of lesser demons but also a similarly sized cannon fodder force of goblins and kobolds.
These cannon fodder units, having suffered heavy losses in previous battles, are now listlessly awaiting new orders.
The sight below the mountain caused a small commotion among the demon army behind the Flame Demon leader.
The lesser demons whispered amongst themselves, their eyes growing even more bloodthirsty, gleaming with greed.
The enormous canine demons, each the size of a small calf, opened their massive mouths, and the dripping saliva on the ground emitted wisps of blue smoke.
The brutal horned demon could no longer contain its inner rage, pounding its chest from time to time and letting out threatening growls, as if warming up for the impending massacre.
Under the command of the treacherous Flame Demon leader, a dozen lesser demons barely managed to drive the goblins and kobolds, along with other cannon fodder, into the shelter by cursing and kicking them. They managed to gather together and began searching each room one by one.
This approach is clearly very effective.