Chapter 323: The Guardian Monsters (1)

Chapter 323: The Guardian Monsters (1)

The Pathfinder Monsters from before were like kittens when compared to the Guardian Monsters; they were in a league of their own.

There weren’t as many Guardian Monsters, numbering half that of the Pathfinder Monsters. Every single Guardian Monster differed in appearance, but there was one thing they held in common: regardless of their size, every inch of their body oozed with an intimidating level of power.

They were like experts in wuxia stories who’d gone into seclusion. At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary about them; you could even say that they looked foolish. But, in spite of that, they had an incomparable air of intimidation about them.

Shen Jingbin noticed that some of the female players from White Cloud Temple had already lost their wits and were shivering with fear. That being said, this was a very normal reaction for a person when they were faced with someone whose strength was far beyond theirs.

There were quite a few players from Jade Sea Pavilion near Shen Jingbin, and they subconsciously drew closer to her when they laid eyes upon the Guardian Monsters.

“We don’t have much time, let’s finish this as quickly as possible.”

Shen Jingbin led the charge by attacking first. When Mascot noticed the change in its owner’s emotions, it raised its head and issued a deafening roar. Even with the ocean’s waters reducing the impact, the roar was still just as powerful, leaving everyone’s ears ringing in the aftermath.

Mascot leapt forward like a lightning bolt and pounced onto the closest Guardian Monster. At the same time, the Black Tortoise poked its head and legs out of its shell and raised its little head. It opened its mouth and spat out five mustard coloured bubbles. The bubbles slowly drifted away and enveloped Shen Jingbin and her Four Divine Beasts. The winged serpents on the Black Tortoise’s back also swelled in size before it shot into the air. They turned their gaze to Mascot’s target and flew straight towards the Guardian Monster’s throat like an arrow shot from a bow. The Vermillion Bird also acted and rose to the sky. It issued a piercing shriek that everyone could clearly hear, and the next moment, its entire body was shrouded in brightly coloured flames. The fact that the Vermillion Bird could give rise to such intense flames in the ocean was a testament to its prowess. It flapped its enormous wings, and blazing fireballs began to fall from them like raindrops, smashing into the monsters beneath it and causing them to howl with pain. Not wanting to lose out, the Azure Dragon circled around itself and rose into the sky, its long beard fluttering about in the air while the other three Divine Beasts acted. As it did so, the body of water behind the Guardian Monsters began to surge. The Azure Dragon opened its mouth and shot out a faint cyan coloured Divine Beast. Almost as if it could see, the construct floated over to where the mob of monsters were and gradually dispersed once it was above them. When the particles descended, the monsters wearing armor found that their armor had instantly melted away, and all sorts of unpleasant roaring started up once again.

Shen Jingbin’s attack was like a signal for everyone else. Everyone, from the players who were adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach to those who didn’t know what to do, began jumping into the fray. With that, the battle between the players on the side of good and the Shinra Sect’s Guardian Monsters officially began.

Shen Jingbin used a rooting skill on a monster with the head of a cow and the body of a deer. The skill’s special effects flashed past the monster, but it appeared to have no effect. In return, the monster aggressively charged at her with its pair of sharp horns taking point.

“Ding.”

In the next moment, The Winds Of Ximen’s broadsword appeared in front of the monster and blocked its attack. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shen Jingbin threw out another rooting skill. It took effect this time around, and the monster was stopped in its tracks.

“Qi Mu, use Heavenly Punishment!” Shen Jingbin shouted.

Qi Mu reacted swiftly and cast all her buffs before calling down a Heavenly Punishment on the monster. The Vermillion Bird launched a fireball at it as well, and the monster with a cow’s head roared in pain. Try as it might, the monster couldn’t move due to the effects of Shen Jingbin’s rooting skill, and all it could do was glare hatefully at Qi Mu with its eyes that were as large as bronze bells.

The monster’s bloody gaze was so vengeful that Qi Mu’s hand involuntarily trembled, causing her skill to miss its mark. At the same time, the effects of the rooting skill had expired, and the monster immediately spun around and charged at Qi Mu. Seeing this, The Winds Of Ximen used every ounce of strength in his body to swing his broadsword and cut down the cow head monster who only had a sliver of HP left, and as a result, had its reaction speed decreased.

“Focus, don’t get distracted.”

A now pale-faced Qi Mu nodded back.

Shen Jingbin only had enough time to briefly glance at them before her attention was once again stolen away by another monster that beset her.

Although the Guardian Monsters were vicious, the elite players were managing to defeat them without too much trouble when they worked together. The ones who were really struggling were the players of average skill that were killed off by the monsters after only exchanging a few blows. If this continued, the number of monsters that the elite players would have to deal with would steadily increase, and this would affect their performance in the later stages of the battle.

By this point, the three Lead Disciples had already grouped up with the remaining elite members of Jade Sea Pavilion. If they hadn’t, Qi Mu might not have been able to make it this far.

At first, several players would band together to take on one monster, but as the number of players decreased, it turned into a situation where each player had to take on two or more monsters.

“Nutty, we’ve lost too many people. We can’t do it like this, what should we do?” The husband and wife pair, Long Life and Eternal Rest, weren’t looking so good. Not only did the Guardian Monsters have high attack and mobility, but their hardened skin also made it difficult for an attack to penetrate. Just half an hour of fighting in close quarters with these monsters had used up far too much of their strength.

Shen Jingbin wore a solemn look on her face. She instructed everyone to consume some of their Soul Returning Pills, but at the same time, these things weren’t easy to come by. They couldn’t keep relying on these pills. If they kept at it, they wouldn’t have anything left for the next two stages of the battle. Worst of all though, was that they were now boxed in by a ring of Guardian Monsters.

Compared to the Pathfinder Monsters, the Guardian Monsters were clearly far more intelligent and knew how to pick their fights. They’d go after easy targets, and they also knew how to launch a coordinated attack.

The Guardian Monsters had probably sense that Shen Jingbin’s group posed the greatest threat, so they dedicated a significant portion of their remaining forces to encircle them. And, it looked like they were planning to employ psychological warfare too...?

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