C13 Desert Town

For their own safety, the group had no choice but to muster all their strength to fend off the encircling enemies, even if they were reluctant to aid the monsters.

The teams quickly formed up.

Melee fighters took the front lines, ranged classes positioned themselves in the middle, and support classes stood at the rear, ready to provide healing and assistance.

Outnumbered, Jiang Hao's strategic genius shone brilliantly.

He led the group to strike back at the weakest point of the desert bandits' encirclement.

They methodically cleared the perimeter of the desert bandits.

These mutated bandits possessed two abilities.

Their first was Intimidation, and the second, Bloodthirsty Poison Smoke.

Once released, the Bloodthirsty Poison Smoke affected everyone, monster or human explorer alike.

The Intimidation skill endowed the bandits with a sly adaptability, allowing them, as monsters, to use various threats to unnerve the explorers.

An elite desert bandit, brandishing a scimitar, stood with over twenty of his cohorts.

"Adventurers ahead, heed my warning," he called out. "This feud is between us desert bandits and the one-horned beasts. If you dare to meddle, once we've slain the one-horned creatures, I'll summon an endless horde of bandits to exterminate you all!"

"There's still time to turn back."

Their response was a barrage of attacks.

The elite bandit's scimitar danced through the air, effortlessly parrying the onslaught.

Having repelled the initial assault, he laughed maniacally, "Your strength is laughably inadequate. With such feeble power, you hope to rescue others? That's truly hilarious."

His fellow bandits joined in the raucous laughter.

The team's morale plummeted.

The battle-hardened team leader grew anxious.

Just then, clouds gathered overhead, and a light rain began to fall on the side of the desert bandits.

The previously domineering elite bandit now lashed out in a frenzy, not at the team, but at his own men.

Brandishing his scimitar, he began a ferocious slaughter among his ranks.

Having unleashed his special black magic skill, Jiang Hao shifted his focus to the remaining desert bandits.

The desert bandits might not have been particularly strong, but they had the upper hand with their sheer numbers. They also intermittently issued threats during the attack, which caused many to consider retreating.

"Why have they come out now?"

Jiang Hao was enraged as the situation seemed to stabilize. The unicorns, which had been defending the town, were led by the mayor in a sudden offensive. The first few unicorns at the vanguard fell victim to the desert bandits one by one.

Jiang Hao, feeling a sense of urgency, shouted, "First and second squads, get back there and hold them off! We cannot let them break through at any cost."

The other monsters' deaths were inconsequential, but the mayor's safety was paramount. The system had indicated that he was the sole individual capable of concocting antidotes. Should he fall, there would be no one left to neutralize the poison afflicting everyone.

Upon receiving their orders, the first and second squads ceased their current engagements and dashed towards the town's exit, colliding with the desert bandits who were locked in combat with the townspeople. The two squads, comprising twelve members in total, split into two groups to flank and squeeze the bandits into an increasingly confined space.

Now, only Jiang Hao, his squad, Zhou Yi, Lu Zhiyao, and Jiang Lulu remained.

Pointing to the enemies on the outskirts, Jiang Hao commanded, "Zhou Yi, take the front line."

Without a word, Zhou Yi brandished his sword, parrying the onslaught from the desert bandits ahead.

Jiang Hao then focused his attention on Lu Zhiyao. "Use your long-range abilities to target that oversized desert bandit."

The 'oversized desert bandit' Jiang Hao referred to was a towering figure standing at the edge of the fray, almost ten meters tall and wielding a blade taller than a large tree.

Lu Zhiyao expressed her concern, "He seems to be the leader of the bandits. Provoking him could draw us all into peril."

"We're already in grave danger," Jiang Hao stated emphatically. "Follow my command and attack."

Reluctantly, Lu Zhiyao executed the most powerful skill she had mastered to date.

A meteor-like arrow shot forth, slicing through the waves of bandits and striking their leader. The distant bandit leader, struck by the attack, was consumed with rage. Unable to contain his fury, he strode forward several paces. Standing about a kilometer from the town, he bellowed, "Kill those damned adventurers and the horned beasts that can neutralize our poison smoke!"

Jiang Hao, hearing this, finally grasped why the desert bandits were attacking creatures like themselves. The horned monsters possessed the antidote capable of countering the bandits' poison smoke. Observing the bandit leader's hesitation, Jiang Hao commanded his cousin, Jiang Lulu, to deploy the gunner's most powerful skill against their foe. They needed to draw him closer.

As she launched the attack, Jiang Lulu asked with uncertainty, "Brother, you're not planning to take on that monster by yourself, are you?" Jiang Hao nodded affirmatively, explaining, "The desert bandits are endless. We defeat one group only for another to emerge. Eventually, we'd succumb to the poison ourselves."

With time pressing, Jiang Hao couldn't afford to play defense. He was ready to confront the bandit leader directly, knowing that defeating him would cause the others to retreat. Boom! The cannon in Jiang Lulu's hands blasted the bandit leader's chest. Looking down from his vantage point, the bandit leader swung his large machete, sending out a razor-sharp wave of energy.

The blade wave was incredibly swift, almost invisible to the naked eye. "Brother, save me!" Jiang Lulu cried out as she saw no escape. "Sacred Shield," Jiang Hao called out, conjuring the paladin's basic skill. A golden shield materialized before Jiang Lulu, colliding with the massive blade wave and shaking the ground beneath them.

The resulting explosion sent a blinding cloud of sand into the air. "Ah!" Soon after, a series of agonized screams followed. Jiang Hao used his abilities to clear the sand, revealing his teammates, each bearing wounds from the battle—some slashed by swords, others with shoulders or thighs cleaved by axes.

The host's squad infuriated the bandit chief, pushing his rage to the brink. In response, he empowered his underlings with a buffing skill.

Jiang Hao spun the Destiny Wheel and discovered that the ordinary bandits, previously equipped with only two skills, had gained an additional ability.

Ranged Throw.

Now, the bandits were capable of not just melee attacks but also hurling their weapons at their foes.