49: Chapter 49 Hu Jinsi Wants to Fly on a Magic Broom

After the Shadow Mage dissipated, the aura of negative energy in the air gradually faded, replaced by an even thicker smell of burning.

Hu Jinsi plopped down onto a half-charred stone mill, rubbing the shoulder where he had been struck by the bone finger, his gaze wandering around the environment.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire battlefield a dark red, and the suspension bridge in the distance was reduced to nothing more than a blurred silhouette in the twilight.

Yet the combination of those dilapidated buildings, burned wooden fences, and scattered barrels by the roadside felt like a key, slowly unlocking a dusty door deep within his mind.

He suddenly stood up, walked over to a relatively intact barrel by the side of the road, raised his long staff, and struck it hard.

"Snap!"

The barrel shattered into several pieces, leaving it completely empty inside.

Unwilling to give up, he walked over to the wooden fence nearby and swept his long staff across it; the fence broke at the sound of the impact. It was still empty.

He continued to smash four or five more barrels and two sections of the fence, but apart from wood chips and ash, nothing dropped out.

Hu Jinsi sighed and hoisted his long staff onto his shoulder.

He had already recognized the prototype of this dungeon: it was the first level of the arcade game *Knights of the Round*, the Burning Village before King Arthur pulled the sword from the stone.

The suspension bridge in the distance, the destroyed thatched cottages, the Soldiers in leather armor, and the swordsmen holding tower shields all matched up.

But the problem was, there was no monster like a Shadow Mage in that game, and those Soldiers who knew how to roll, backstab, and coordinate tactically were far smarter than the enemies in the original game.

"The advantage of foresight has been greatly weakened..." he muttered to himself.

Beside him, Lin Rui and Su Wan saw Hu Jinsi knocking and hitting a pile of broken wood, but they didn't ask any questions.

After all, having known each other since childhood, Hu Jinsi had done plenty of strange things; if they had to get to the bottom of every single one, they would have been exhausted ages ago.

"Stop knocking, it's getting dark." Lin Rui looked up at the sky. "Let's find a place to spend the night."

Although it was not yet five o'clock, as the sky gradually darkened, the black smoke by the roadside combined with the dim light made visibility worse and worse.

The three of them walked along the burned street for a while and finally found a small hut by the roadside that hadn't been set on fire. It had stone walls and a thatched roof; the door was long gone, but all four walls were still intact.

Lin Rui went in first to check around, and only after confirming there were no ambushed enemies did he beckon the other two to come in.

"We'll stay here tonight."

---

While preparing dinner, Hu Jinsi's irritable mood gradually subsided.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, took out some dried meat and biscuits from his backpack, and suddenly asked:

"Since you've both researched the information, will the monsters in the dungeons we face later be as smart as the ones in this one? Will they have tactics, coordination, and will a single mob have such a rich skill set?"

Lin Rui thought for a moment and replied:

"Not necessarily. Think about it: the number of monsters we killed in this dungeon today was only a few dozen, not even reaching triple digits. The number of monsters in this dungeon is much lower than in others, and at the same time, the monsters' intelligence and abilities have greatly increased."

"For the Demon Cat Forest dungeon that was available at the same time, they still win by the sheer number of monsters, and their intelligence is not much different from before."

"As for the Ragefire Chasm dungeon, it uses the environment to pressure us; the minimum temperature there is over 40 degrees, so the battle is a race against time. After all, our bodies can't last 72 hours in that kind of heat."

He took a bite of dried meat and continued:

"The distinction between monster types and environmental types in the dungeons is also to accommodate squads with different styles, making it easier for them to choose. If it were people like the Gunpowder Squad, they would obviously prefer a dungeon like the Demon Cat Forest, since a few bursts of gunfire would solve the mobs."

"If they are better at dealing with single targets, like the Nature Squad or the Pear Garden Squad, they might find this dungeon simpler. After all, a batch of mobs is at most five or six; for them, the battle has some pressure, but it's much better than having dozens swarm them right from the start."

Hu Jinsi nodded, chewed the biscuit, and swallowed it. In that case, choosing a dungeon was indeed a science; one had to match it to their own squad's characteristics rather than blindly rushing in to fight head-on.

---

Before dinner started, Su Wan took a wand out of her backpack. The wand was about thirty centimeters long, with fine patterns carved into the wooden shaft and a fingernail-sized crystal embedded at the tip.

She recited a short incantation: "Scourgify."

The crystal flashed with a soft silver light, which spread out like water ripples, enveloping herself, Lin Rui, and Hu Jinsi.

In an instant, the traces of battle, filth, and blood on the three of them vanished; their clothes and armor were restored to a clean and fresh state, and even the dust in their hair was completely cleared away.

Hu Jinsi looked down at his hands, then touched his Raccoon City standard-issue police uniform, his eyes widening.

"What kind of item is this?"

Su Wan put the wand back into her backpack and explained: "This is an item that flowed out of a dungeon opened in the last month or two. The monsters inside drop all kinds of wands, potions, and candies, but none of them are combat-oriented. Some can heat up food with a wave, and some can make heavy objects levitate with a wave."

"The one I bought is the most basic one, called a Scourgify Wand. It automatically recharges three Charges every day and costs about a thousand credits each. Its function is what you just saw: it can clean the filth off our bodies."

"Before, we were always filthy when sleeping in the dungeons, and I couldn't stand it, so I bought this wand. That way, I don't have to spend time cleaning myself up every day at dinner, and after getting cleaned up, I can have a comfortable night's sleep."

Hu Jinsi instantly thought of the origin of this wand. The White Wizard and his students, that world of magic schools, flying broomsticks, and the Killing Curse.

What he hadn't expected was that even that world could be converted into a dungeon fragment. What was the combat like in that world? Could it be a group of people besieging the noseless freak? That wasn't the kind of dungeon Hu Jinsi wanted to go to; at least, Hu Jinsi didn't think he could take a hit from Avada Kedavra.

But upon second thought, he suddenly sat up straight.

After getting out, he would search online for the relevant dungeon drops, he told himself; at the very least, those flying broomsticks from that world were pretty good items, and they would be perfect to replace the bicycles in the squad's hands that were gradually becoming obsolete.

As dinner finished, Hu Jinsi turned his concern toward intelligence on the enemies ahead.

"So, what's the deal with the next two bosses?"

Lin Rui said: "The second boss is a Berserker, and he's guarding the other end of the suspension bridge. The mechanics for this Berserker boss are disgusting; you can't launch too many ranged attacks at him. As long as there are no melee enemies in front of him, if you launch a ranged attack, he will directly destroy the suspension bridge."

"Once the suspension bridge is destroyed, there will be no more path to the interior of the Burning Village, and you'll just have to waste time here in the dungeon until the time runs out and you leave."

"If you engage him in melee," Lin Rui continued, "it's equivalent to him standing on the flat ground at the other end of the suspension bridge, while you are standing on the bridge itself. Furthermore, since he's called a Berserker, he will go berserk and use a Whirlwind Slam similar to Whirlwind, and the weapon in his hand is a giant hammer."

"Besides that, the internet says you can't use Heavy Strike on this boss. Once you use a Heavy Strike on him, he will immediately deal a powerful counterattack. In short, he's a monster you must fight in melee, but fighting him in melee is quite disgusting."

"Right now, the strategy provided by most teams that have cleared it is to find one melee fighter to engage him, and then the melee fighter just engages without dealing too much damage, leaving the ranged fighters and mages in the back to output damage. It's somewhat similar to our tactics against Rakanishu, but due to the terrain restrictions, we definitely won't be able to dig pits or set traps for the Berserker."

"Since the intel is already this detailed, have you made any pre-planned strategies for it?" Hu Jinsi asked.

Lin Rui said: "I've made some. Plan A is that I will first try to use Charge and Shield Bash to push him away from the edge of the suspension bridge. That way, as long as he is pushed away, you and Su Wan can quickly cross the bridge to support me. If even my strength can't push him away from the edge of the bridge, then we will adopt Plan B, attempting to let Su Wan use Thunderwave to knock him back."

"Didn't you say that once he takes that kind of ranged skill, he will start destroying the suspension bridge?" Hu Jinsi asked.

Lin Rui said: "Yes, so this is Plan B, and when Su Wan uses Thunderwave to hit him, it also requires someone in front to melee engage this Berserker, while also potentially being hit by Su Wan's Thunderwave. This is a very costly tactic, so I put it in Plan B."

Hu Jinsi asked: "Then what if we sandwich him from the front and back, like we did with the swordsman?"

Lin Rui said: "It's possible, but this boss has a Whirlwind Slam similar to Whirlwind, so even if you are behind him, you might still get hit by his attack. Plus, the giant hammer in his hand deals quite high damage and has a knockback effect; if you aren't careful, you might get knocked off the suspension bridge, and if that happens, you're kicked out of the dungeon."

Hearing Lin Rui's explanation, Hu Jinsi wanted a flying broomstick even more. If he had a flying broomstick, there wouldn't be such troublesome matters; he could just fly over.

He was silent for a while, then said to Lin Rui and Su Wan: "Then is it possible we have a Plan C? Implementing a tactic like this—I move quickly on the suspension bridge, and when I get close to the end of the bridge, I use Parkour to fly past the Berserker and get behind him, trying to make the Berserker turn around."

"In that case, his back will be turned to the suspension bridge. At that moment, Lin Rui, you take Su Wan and run quickly toward the bridge. If the boss discovers this situation, then when you are close to crossing the bridge, you can choose to throw Su Wan onto the ground at the end of the bridge."

While speaking, Hu Jinsi even struck a pose like throwing a medicine ball to explain.

Su Wan punched Hu Jinsi on the shoulder. "Why am I a medicine ball being thrown over?" She glared at Hu Jinsi. "Since you've already got the boss facing away from the bridge in your plan, can't my Thunderwave plus Lin Rui's Charge push the boss onto the ground to the side?"

Hu Jinsi rubbed the shoulder Su Wan had hit and said: "I already said, aren't we discussing Plan C? Plan C refers to the final option when Plan B also fails to knock him back. We can't really fight on the suspension bridge, can we? Apart from my higher mobility, where I can do a big jump directly from the suspension bridge, it's almost impossible for you guys to jump from the side of the bridge to the land."

"So this plan of being thrown over, I think it's already a very safe plan. As long as Lin Rui can throw you over, for the rest, whether Lin Rui uses Charge or Tactical Roll, he can find a way to rush to the land by the bridge."

"Once we get on the land, who cares how the Berserker goes crazy? He's strong in melee, so we'll just output damage from afar and kite him; that'll be the end of it."

Lin Rui said: "Let's settle on that for now, and adapt as the situation requires."

After discussing business, the three of them started chatting. Hu Jinsi suddenly thought: "It's just the feeling the boss of this dungeon gives me. Do you guys have a feeling that the boss mechanics in recent years are getting more and more warped, and compared to what we saw in the textbooks, they are a bit disconnected?"

He then added, "When I say warped, I don't mean the boss is strong, because based on your description just now, this boss itself isn't very strong; it's just that his combat style and response mechanics are disgusting."

Lin Rui also said with deep feeling at this moment: "It's not just you who has noticed. My father sometimes talks to me about this at night."

He said that when they were young, they would run dungeons together. Thirty or forty people would face a Black Dragon boss, and the fight was just melee tank-and-spank; you just kept hacking away at the boss.

Occasionally, the boss would fly up and breathe dragon fire, and you just had to find a place to hide, and that was it. The mechanics were very simple.

"Even when we were only four or five years old, when they went to deal with bosses, the bosses' only real traits were that some were immune to physical damage, and some were immune to magic. But it wasn't difficult; you just had to control the health of two bosses simultaneously and kill them at the same time."

"But recently, when my father and his teammates run dungeons, they say that a single boss fight is more exhausting than playing for an entire day used to be.

Fighting a boss is like doing Parkour; you need to position yourself, watch out for poison on the ground, sometimes enter portals to teleport, and sometimes even jump on elastic substances on the ground to fly into the sky to dodge the boss's massive area-clearing skills.

Modern bosses aren't just disgusting to the extreme in terms of combat mechanics; they also constantly hit you with instant-kill melee attacks, followed by instant-kill attacks for all ranged teammates standing a certain distance away.

Sometimes everyone needs to stand together to share damage, and other times everyone cannot stand together and must maintain a certain distance."

He doesn't really want to run those new types of dungeons anymore. He says the new dungeons are too exhausting to play, and his main focus now is dealing with those old, soon-to-be-closed dungeons with his old teammates.

He says that although the loot in the old dungeons isn't attractive anymore, at least they are safe, and they don't require as much mental effort."

Su Wan interjected at this point: "My father feels the same way. You know my father is a Magic Harpist; he needs to maintain the state of playing his instrument to provide buffs to the team or control enemies.

But now, combat requires constant running and jumping—how is he supposed to find time to play?

In dungeons from over a decade ago, the combat rhythm required most skills to have a casting time. For other classes, that might be a cast bar, but for us Bard-type classes, we need to chant or perform the skill."

"But the rhythm of modern dungeons requires instant casting; there's simply no time for you to chant or cast spells.

So my father also laments that the transcendent classes born in their generation might not be able to keep up with the current era.

That's why most of the transcendent classes born in their generation are stuck at the threshold between transcendent and high-order transcendent.

Since there aren't many dungeons suitable for them, they can't find the path they need to take. Converting all their abilities from sustained performance skills to instant skills is too painful, both in terms of manpower and financial resources."

Lin Rui then continued: "When my father was helping me analyze this Burning Village dungeon, he also lamented that when they were our age, they had never seen mobs with four skills. Even when approaching level 30, they had never seen this type of dungeon format.

The dungeon monsters they fought back then were very simple; they only had one or two attack skills and would just hack away blindly, having no idea how to dodge.

When I tell my father now that when we clear mobs in Goldshire, we need to dig pits, set tripwires, and even set up bonfires to fight, he finds it unbelievable.

Their newbie map back then was called Ginkgo Valley; it was just non-stop killing chickens, deer, scarecrows, and cats. Once they reached level ten or so, they would go to the Orc Tomb, where the enemies were just skeleton-type monsters. Compared to the battles we face today, it was simply incredibly simple."

"So he is a bit lost now, not knowing whether the increase in the energy level of the entire Water Blue Star is good or bad for our generation and the future.

The good point is that our starting point is higher; the bad point is that because the starting point is higher, the monsters you face are also becoming stronger and stronger."

The three of them fell silent for a while. The campfire crackled, casting their shadows onto the stone wall, flickering unsteadily.

---

After finishing their stress-relieving venting, the three of them double-checked the loot from the day.

In addition to the equipment already mentioned, the day's loot actually included a tower shield and a short sword.

[Military Tower Shield]

[Type: Shield] [Defense Bonus: +4]

[Effect: You gain an additional advantage when using this shield for shoving or similar actions.]

[Item Description: This is a massive tower shield made of thick oak and reinforced iron edges, capable of covering almost the entire torso of an adult male. The shield surface is covered in deep marks from swords and axes, as well as scorched burn marks; dried, blackened bloodstains can even be seen on the edges. Although it is too cumbersome to wield flexibly in narrow alleyways, on the front lines of the battlefield, it can build an indestructible moving wall for the shield-bearer.]

[Poisoned Short Sword]

[Type: Magic Weapon / Military Weapon] [Damage: 3-9 / Piercing Damage]

[Effect: Adds an additional 1-4 poison damage. Agility can be used instead of Strength for attacks.]

[Restriction: This is a one-time military consumable. After combat, the poison effect will naturally evaporate, and it must be re-poisoned (consuming poison resources) to trigger again.]

[Item Description: This is a standard-issue short sword; the blade has undergone a special bluing treatment, and the edge faintly gives off a pungent, fishy-sweet smell. The crossguard is engraved with the unit's poison agent serial number, clearly built for rapid bloodletting rather than honorable duels.]

The tower shield was given to Lin Rui, as expected. It just so happened that Lin Rui's second-hand tower shield was on its last legs; once it was used up and broken, it could be discarded.

This new tower shield would be perfectly adequate for all of Lin Rui's dungeons leading up to the winter break. Hopefully, the little extra advantage it provides will be enough to take down the Berserker tomorrow.

As for the Poisoned Short Sword dropped by the Soldier, none of the three really needed it at the moment. It was better to wait until they left the dungeon and ask other classmates in their class if anyone wanted to take it.

---

The next morning, it took the three of them two hours to cover the last kilometer to the suspension bridge while being harassed by monsters.

By nearly nine o'clock in the morning, the three of them finally arrived in front of the suspension bridge. At this moment, they could see the Berserker on the opposite side from far across the bridge.

He was a man as heavy and imposing as a moving anvil.

A full set of plate armor, covered in dents and burn marks, wrapped almost his entire body. His pauldrons were exaggeratedly wide, his breastplate was covered in jagged white marks left by hacking and slashing, and the edges were still stained with uncleaned black blood.

In his right hand, he carried a massive warhammer that stood half as tall as he was; the hammerhead was covered in rust spots and dried blood scabs, and the end of the handle was wrapped in old leather straps that were worn to the point of fraying.

His visor was flipped back, revealing a face smeared with a mixture of soot and sweat. Dust was trapped in his stubble, his eyes were bloodshot and red, yet a near-maniacal grin hung on his lips.

The whole person looked like a red-hot iron rod dragged out of a fire—not yet cooled, and already about to smash into an enemy.

Hu Jinsi swallowed hard. Just looking at this thing, he knew it was trouble.

"Get ready." Lin Rui said in a low voice, holding the new military tower shield horizontally in front of him.

There was no preamble. Hu Jinsi was the first to Charge onto the suspension bridge, triggering [Chi Torpedo]!

The suspension bridge was less than twenty meters long; for Hu Jinsi in the state of [Chi Torpedo], he could reach the other side in two seconds. Lin Rui and Su Wan were also behind Hu Jinsi, accelerating as they ran onto the suspension bridge.

Approaching the Berserker, Hu Jinsi activated [Parkour], stepping on the ropes of the suspension bridge, leaping high, brushing past the Berserker, and landing on the solid ground.

The Berserker turned around. But his heavy, full-body plate armor caused him to turn extremely slowly, like an elephant forced to turn around, with his metal joints emitting a harsh, grating sound.

He didn't seem to care about any potential sneak attacks from Hu Jinsi behind him, simply slowly turning his body toward this new intruder.

Hu Jinsi took advantage of the Berserker turning around to poke the opponent's ankles and the back of his knees with his long staff.

[ - 1 ]

The damage number was outrageously low; it was practically an insult.

The Berserker finally finished turning, and the red light in his eyes suddenly flared. He gripped the end of the warhammer with both hands and swung it at a speed completely inconsistent with his heavy armor— [Whirlwind Slam]!

The giant hammer carved out an arc, sweeping in a circle with a whistling sound that tore through the air.

Fortunately, due to the heavy plate armor, the Berserker's startup speed was slow. Hu Jinsi, maintaining [Crane Stance], quickly back-jumped and crouched, narrowly dodging the blow. The hammerhead swept over his head, and the force of the wind it created made his cheeks sting.

Lin Rui on the suspension bridge had also reached a sufficient distance to [Charge]. He took a deep breath, [Charge]!

He rushed straight at the waist of the Berserker, who had finished spinning, carrying the brand-new military tower shield, and simultaneously activated [Shield Bash] at the moment of contact to increase his impact force.

[ - 5 ]

The damage was very low. The Berserker in full plate armor only swayed a little, showing no signs of falling over. That heavy armor was like a moving iron mountain; Lin Rui's [Shield Bash] hit it without even leaving a dent.

Before the Berserker could counterattack, Lin Rui performed a [Tactical Roll], rolling back onto the suspension bridge and coming to Su Wan's side.

Su Wan began preparing [Thunderwave]. Her fingers rested on the strings, the strings vibrated slightly, and golden sound waves began to gather at her fingertips.

Hu Jinsi saw that Lin Rui's Plan A had failed and could only continue to step forward to entangle the Berserker. Maintaining [Crane Stance], he borrowed the jumping and evasion bonuses brought by the stance, like a hummingbird fluttering around a giant beast, constantly looking for opportunities to attack.

He tried many times to attack the Berserker's unarmored head, but unfortunately, he really couldn't reach it. The opponent was over two meters tall, and even if he jumped, he couldn't reach the face mostly covered by the visor.

He also didn't dare to use his long staff to clash head-on with the Berserker's giant hammer; it would break.

Su Wan's chanting ended, and [Thunderwave] hit the Berserker's back directly.

[ - 15 ]

There was no damage reduction, but obviously, the impact of [Thunderwave] couldn't affect the Berserker; that massive body didn't move an inch. Plan B failed.

Having taken ranged damage from the back, the Berserker seemed to have triggered some mechanism and attempted to turn around to destroy the suspension bridge. He raised his giant hammer with both hands and smashed it toward the supports of the suspension bridge.

Hu Jinsi hurriedly stepped in close, disregarding the potential damage he might take, jumped up, [Flurry of Blows]!

Left, right, left, three consecutive kicks, striking the Berserker's back of the head.

[ - 11 ] [ - 13 ] [ - 15 ]

The Berserker let out an angry roar, followed by another [Whirlwind Slam]!

But Hu Jinsi didn't land after [Flurry of Blows]; instead, he stepped on the Berserker's shoulder, performed a backflip, dodged the attack, and simultaneously drew the Berserker's attention back.

Seeing Lin Rui and Su Wan still dazed on the bridge, Hu Jinsi roared:

"Plan C! What are you waiting for!"

Lin Rui reacted, picked up Su Wan, took a running start, and threw Su Wan out when he was two meters from the end of the suspension bridge.

The Berserker noticed the movement behind him and attempted to turn around again.

This time, Hu Jinsi didn't stop him. He took the opportunity to reach the edge of the cliff, leaped up, used his long staff to deflect the momentum, and caught Su Wan in his arms in mid-air.

Lin Rui also took advantage of the Berserker's distraction again, [Charge], and squeezed past the suspension bridge along the Berserker's side.

Although he still took a [Giant Hammer Slam] when passing by the Berserker.

[ - 25 ]

But he still made it over.

Then the three of them discovered a very strange fact.

This Berserker seemingly could not leave the edge of the suspension bridge. He still stood in place, trying to attack the three of them, but his feet could never move forward.

That heavy plate armor was like an invisible shackle, pinning him firmly to that small patch of ground at the entrance of the suspension bridge.

The three looked at each other.

"...He can't come over?" Hu Jinsi asked tentatively.

"Seems so." Lin Rui said, clutching his shoulder which had been struck by the giant hammer, his expression complex.

Su Wan jumped down from Hu Jinsi's arms and patted the dust off her light armor:

"Then what are we afraid of?"

Hu Jinsi looked at the Berserker, who was raging impotently at the edge of the suspension bridge, and then looked at the long staff in his own hand, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up.

"This boss, could it be a stationary target?"