45: Chapter 45 Using Pebbles as Shotguns

Lin Qi carried that rusty iron sword, his pace unhurried as he walked into the pitch-black entrance of the karst cave.

Zhang Wei patted his stomach and followed closely behind Lin Qi.

"Brother Qi, wait for me. This place is super eerie; I keep feeling a chill down my back."

Zhao Xiaoyu watched their receding figures and stomped her foot at the cave entrance.

"Are you really just going in like that? This is the entrance to an S-Rank dungeon!"

Wang Kai sighed and gripped the wooden bow in his hand tighter.

"Let's go. If we don't go in, the System will deem us as passive competitors, and we'll definitely be expelled when we get back to school."

The fire mage Chen Huo hunched his neck, clutching his staff as he hurried to catch up.

"Lin Qi, slow down. My Fireball hasn't finished its cooldown from the test earlier. If we run into a monster, I won't be able to protect you."

The five of them, one in front and four behind, slowly disappeared into the thick darkness.

Water droplets constantly fell from the top of the tunnel.

Drip.

Drip.

The smell of rot in the air mixed with the scent of blood.

"Stop."

Lin Qi suddenly raised his hand.

In the darkness ahead, dozens of small, dark red light spots lit up densely.

"What is that?"

Zhao Xiaoyu was so scared she grabbed Chen Huo's staff.

"They're Vampire Bats, Rank LV.5."

Wang Kai stared at the data refreshed on his panel, his voice trembling.

"Although their Rank isn't high, these monsters are gregarious and have a Confusion Sonic Wave skill. They're very troublesome."

Squeak! Squeak!

The red dots in the darkness began to move rapidly.

The ear-piercing screams overlapped and echoed in the narrow space, causing a throbbing pain in the brain.

"Chen Huo, hurry up and cast Fireball for light!"

Wang Kai shouted.

Chen Huo scrambled to raise his staff, chanting the incantation at high speed.

A Fireball the size of a human head whistled out.

The firelight instantly illuminated the tunnel ahead, showing countless pairs of black leathery wings flapping violently. The scene was extremely horrifying.

Bang.

Because he was too panicked, the Fireball slammed heavily into the rock wall on one side.

Aside from splashing up a pile of gravel and dust, it didn't even singe a single hair off the bats.

"You missed! Chen Huo, are you even capable?!"

Zhao Xiaoyu screamed as she saw the first batch of bats already swooping in close.

The bat swarm was enraged by the firelight, their screams becoming even more piercing.

Wang Kai gritted his teeth and drew his longbow, firing three arrows in rapid succession.

But against their chaotic low-altitude flight paths, all the arrows missed, pinning into the mud on the ground.

"They're moving too fast, I can't lock onto a target at all!"

The three bats in the front had already opened their mouths full of tiny teeth, aiming straight for Chen Huo's neck.

Lin Qi crouched down on the spot.

His movements were extremely natural; he supported himself on the wet ground with one hand and grabbed a handful of scattered, angular stones.

These pebbles were uneven and heavy.

"Everyone, get down."

Lin Qi's voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable steadiness.

Before his teammates could react.

Lin Qi's right hand was like a twitching afterimage, tracing a semi-circular arc in the air.

Swish, swish, swish!

Those were sharp sounds of breaking the air, with immense force.

The gravel held in his hand, under the augmentation of his Flesh Refining explosive power, was like shotgun pellets fired from a chamber.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The sound of heavy objects hitting the ground merged into one.

The previously fiercely charging bat swarm seemed to have collided with an invisible steel plate.

A dozen or so Vampire Bats didn't even have time to launch their sonic wave attacks before their heads were smashed directly by the pebbles.

Some had their wing joints precisely shattered, falling to the ground and flapping desperately, letting out dying screeches.

The remaining bats were intimidated by this sudden force; they didn't dare to advance further and scrambled back to the cave ceiling in disgrace.

The tunnel returned to an oppressive silence.

Chen Huo froze in place, the faint light at the tip of his staff still flickering, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

Wang Kai maintained his bow-drawing posture, his eyes completely dazed.

"What… just happened?"

Zhao Xiaoyu rubbed her eyes, looking at the bat corpses all over the ground.

"Lin Qi, were you hiding a grenade in your hand just now?"

Zhang Wei chuckled; he was long used to it. He ran over and picked up a bat corpse.

"Grenade, my foot. It's stones, just the kind you can see everywhere on the ground."

Zhang Wei shook the loot in his hand and pointed to Lin Qi's feet.

"One stone for one monster. Brother Qi, your efficiency is even fiercer than that S-Rank machine gunner at our school."

Meanwhile.

In the outside combat hall, the main screen was randomly playing footage of various groups.

The livestream room for Group 44 originally only had a few dozen passersby, but now its popularity was suddenly skyrocketing.

"Who is this? Did you see that move just now?"

"A blank slate? A blank slate with all 5s on the data panel?"

"That's impossible. Can throwing pebbles produce this kind of piercing power? Those pebbles are embedded into the rock!"

"The System didn't show a skill name. Did this kid use some kind of physical acceleration cheat?"

"I am an admissions observer from Tianhai University. This is definitely a top-tier muscle power technique. This kid's value needs to be re-evaluated."

On screen, Lin Qi had already stepped over the dead bats on the ground.

His expression was calm, as if he had just casually swatted a few flies.

"Don't zone out, keep moving."

Lin Qi took the lead and walked deeper inside.

Zhao Xiaoyu followed closely in his footsteps, not even daring to stay too far behind.

"Lin Qi, did you practice juggling at a circus before? This accuracy is too scary."

"Practice makes perfect, that's all."

Lin Qi replied casually.

They passed through the first corridor, and suddenly, the view opened up as they entered a huge underground plaza.

The terrain here became complex, with several branching paths winding inward.

Several pale figures were walking mechanically in the open space, carrying rusted broken blades in their hands.

Those were [Skeleton Soldiers], Rank LV.12.

These monsters have no sense of pain, and their entire skeleton is hard; they are a nightmare for novices.

"Watch me this time!"

To regain the Face he lost earlier, Wang Kai drew the short dagger from his waist and activated a dash skill.

His figure flashed, appearing behind a skeleton, and he stabbed fiercely at its spine.

Clang!

The dagger failed to cut through the bone as hoped; instead, it got stuck in the gap between the hard ribs.

The clashing sound was so crisp it set one's teeth on edge.

"Damn it, why can't I pull it out?!"

Wang Kai pulled hard on the hilt, his Face turning beet red.

The Skeleton Soldier slowly turned its head, a ball of ghost fire lighting up in its empty eye sockets, and swept its broken blade horizontally.

Shhh.

Wang Kai couldn't dodge in time; a gash over ten centimeters long was opened on his left arm, and blood immediately gushed out.

"Ah! I'm hurt!"

"Heal! Hurry up and heal Wang Kai!"

Zhao Xiaoyu screamed and began casting, her staff emitting a faint green light.

Wang Kai scrambled back, his Face deathly pale.

"This monster is too eerie. Its defense is at least over three hundred; my attacks can't penetrate its defense at all!"

Lin Qi shook his head. Before the Skeleton Soldier could swing its second blade, he had already walked in front of it.

His right hand did not unsheathe his long sword; he just slightly raised it.

"That's because your point of force application was wrong."

Lin Qi's voice was still calm, as if he were explaining a simple math problem.

"When dealing with this kind of fleshless skeleton, dismantling the joints is far easier than trying to break the hard bones."

After saying that, he was already within half a meter of the Skeleton Soldier.

"Watch."

The Skeleton Soldier's broken blade had already swung down to the top of Lin Qi's head.

Lin Qi didn't retreat; he lightly tapped with the sheathed long sword in his right hand.

Click.

This crisp sound seemed to trigger a rhythm of death.

"To dismantle bones, you need to find the joints."