Chapter 33 Battle (1/2)

Giving their best was crucial for adventurers even when taking on the weakest of monsters; not everyone could shrug off the deaths of their teammates as if nothing had happened after all.

For this very reason, the head guard gathered the best of his men to exterminate the ankhegs. Soran briefly glanced at them, realizing they were all warriors who were Grade 2 or above. Warrior was the easiest profession to train in, considering the only requirements were a sufficient amount of meat and repeated training in skills. Other professions, especially spellcasters, required a lot of resources to level up and advance to the next grade. With that said, becoming a Grade 3 warrior was not an easy task either.

”Spread out! Lift the shields!” Soran took command of the subjugation group and ordered the men in a low voice, ”Look out for movements underground. Ankhegs produce a weird noise before launching their attacks.

”Maintain a minimum distance of five steps from one another!

”Don't try to take the acid spray attacks head on. Dodge them whenever possible. Stay away from each other to leave room for dodging.

”Forget the crossbows. Unless you're a sharpshooter, crossbows are pretty ineffective against ankhegs.

”Don't attack their backs. Aim for their stomachs, which have the least defence, and be aware of their sharp claws and the thorns on their bodies.

”They also have great strength, so be mobile and don't receive their attacks unless there are no other options. Ankhegs reach up to five meters tall when standing, so protect your heads from their downward rushing attacks.

”Their jaws can tear apart trees, so you don't want to get bitten by them. If they target you, immediately roll to the front and enter their blind spot.”

Soran issued one order after another. The guards were startled at first but then began to respect him; it was the respect one felt toward the strong. One's strength was not limited to physical strength; intelligence and experience also played a major role. There were plenty of occasions where experience and intelligence were more useful than brute force.

Soran finally felt the feeling of adventuring after a long time. There were basically no monsters which could threaten his life back in the game after he entered the Realm of Legends. It truly had been a while since he took part in this type of battle.

The key point for taking on ankhegs was to avoid their bites and acidic spray attacks; the reason to avoid them was rather self-explanatory. As they were arthropods, ankhegs had blind spots when attacking. One example was that they could not bite targets within a roughly one-meter radius. Furthermore, they had limited movement as half of their ten-meter-long bodies remained buried underground. It would be fine to just be aware of the six to twelve wailing legs and their jaws.

In fact, there was a much easier way to handle the situation. The mistress, being a daughter of a Northern witch, could simply use spells and achieve great results, but spellcasters rarely engaged in combat willingly. They had to save their spells for crucial moments as there was a daily limit to spells, thus the main forces of adventuring were warriors.

Under normal circumstances, spellcasters would use ranged support weapons such as light crossbows, short bows, and slingshots as their main weapons, with some of them opting for staves or quarterstaves. Whatever was fine as long as they did not hit friendlies anyway. It was only when they encountered large numbers of enemies or monster bosses that they would unreservedly cast spells.

A Grade 2 wizard could only cast a dozen or so spells in a day. They had great firepower, but their sustainability was extremely poor.

”Off your horses!”

Before reaching the area where they previously encountered the ankhegs, Soran told the guards to get off their horses and walk on foot. He laid down and stuck his ear to the ground, then said to the others, ”Stomp your feet!

”Try to keep the same rhythm and stomp as hard as you can. Pay attention to your surroundings as you do so!”

Ankhegs had Tremorsense, thus they were very sensitive to vibrations and sounds from the surface. Stomping the ground was the easiest way to enrage and flush them out.

As Soran had anticipated, the ground lightly shook and bulged up soon after.

”They're beneath us,” Soran yelled and began retreating.

He was unfit to fight head on as his wounds were still recovering, but he could still deal the final blow to the ankhegs when necessary.

”Spread out!”

The head guard growled, his muscles swelling up. The Northern barbarian's Rage was a very special skill; since Northern barbarians trained their bodies in extreme cold, the skill had no after effects even though it placed a huge burden on their bodies. The only drawback would be its limited duration.

Beastmen berserkers and barbarians could use their Rage ability for fifteen to thirty minutes. During that period of time, their stamina and explosive power would be multiplied several times, turning them into killing machines.

On the other hand, Northern barbarians could only use Rage for several minutes. The profession Northern Barbarian was classified as an advanced warrior profession and did not belong to the barbarian branch despite its name.

The ground creaked as an ankheg suddenly appeared from beneath the ground. It sprayed its acid at the nearest guard, but he managed to roll and dodge a large portion of the attack, albeit slightly panickedly. He covered his body with a shield just in time to block the remaining acid heading for his torso. His shield was corroded, but he did not suffer any injuries.

”Kill it!”

The head guard held his longsword up and charged in, joined by the other nearby guards. The five of them constantly moved around while encircling the ankheg, with the rest of the guards waiting for the other ankhegs to show themselves.

The ankhegs did not appear all at once, but were waiting for the opportunity to attack those who were left out instead.

”Dammit!” Soran suddenly panicked.

He took a shield and began running forward; the ankhegs had set their sights on him. As he was keeping his distance from the battlefield, the ankhegs had deemed him as a left out individual.