71: Chapter 71 The Gift of War is Still in Effect

As long as one layer is smashed through, it will fall down another layer.

The first Mineral Vein Guardian smashed through twelve layers of cover plates this way, finally crashing to the very bottom of the shaft, its six legs kicking wildly at the sky.

Following closely, the second trap.

Another Mineral Vein Guardian fell for it.

It seemed to have a premonition, so as it fell to the third layer, it tried to use its arthropod limbs to brace against the wall.

But the walls had been specially polished by the Troglodytes and were extremely smooth.

Then, its claws slipped.

It continued to fall.

Bang, bang, bang!

Twelve layers to the bottom.

Xu Qin watched as one red dot after another fell into the traps and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hahaha..."

Then came the third, the fourth... the eighth.

There was a set of traps every thirty meters, and the passage was curved, so the Mineral Vein Guardians behind couldn't see that their companions in front had already fallen into the pits.

They would just charge forward blindly.

The fifteenth.

The thirtieth.

...

In some passages, the Mineral Vein Guardians pushed against each other; the one in front would still be hesitating, and the one behind would simply shove it into the pit.

Xu Qin could no longer hold it in and burst into laughter.

"To tell you the truth, the IQ of these things is approximately zero."

"They are truly fierce, but they are also... truly pathetic."

Tian Ming watched silently from the side, his soul fire motionless.

Three minutes later.

Eighteen passages, nearly four hundred traps.

Three hundred and thirty-five Mineral Vein Guardians had all fallen into the pits.

Not a single one escaped.

The extra traps were prepared by Xu Qin for the Mineral Vein Guardians that would be born later.

Looking at it now...

The difficulty is lower than imagined.

As long as they don't respawn, it'll be fine.

On the command panel, Xu Qin brought up the trap distribution map.

Every trap shaft was marked with a red dot; some were struggling at the bottom, others were stuck in the middle.

Not a single one could climb out.

"The Troglodyte race."

Xu Qin put away his smile and said with a serious face,

"They cannot be underestimated."

Indeed, if he hadn't had the full reconnaissance of the Skeleton Sand Rats and the airdrop capability of the Floating City initially, and had just relied on a ground assault to attack Hardy Wright's trap labyrinth... he really might have suffered a huge loss.

But now, this tactic was being used in reverse by him.

The effect was perfect.

"Tian Ming, Chuan Yun, take the Ranged Troops over there. Start attacking from the first trap."

"Manniu, guard the side and stay on alert the whole time. If any Mineral Vein Guardian climbs out, suppress it immediately."

"Yes."

Tian Ming led the team and moved to the top of the first trap shaft of the first passage.

Xu Qin opened the command panel and observed through Tian Ming's perspective.

Inside the shaft, a Mineral Vein Guardian was struggling frantically at the bottom.

Its crystallized shell glowed with an orange light in the dimness, and its six arthropod limbs dug at the smooth walls, completely unable to find any purchase.

"Attack."

One thousand Skeleton Elf Archers drew their bows.

Hum!

A rain of arrows poured into the shaft.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

The soul energy arrows struck the crystallized shell, sending orange debris flying.

Damage numbers appeared.

-3, -3, -3, ...

Xu Qin stared at these numbers.

One thousand arrows, focusing fire on one target, dealing 3 points per hit.

The defense of this Mineral Vein Guardian was indeed high; ordinary arrows couldn't penetrate its armor.

But...

Xu Qin crossed his arms over his chest and said:

"Fortunately, soul energy arrows deal true damage."

As long as it can drain HP, the rest is just a matter of time.

"Tian Ming."

"Here."

"What about your skills? Give it a try."

Tian Ming raised his bone staff.

[Wither]!

A cloud of dark purple mist fell into the shaft, enveloping the Mineral Vein Guardian.

Defense, attack speed, and movement speed were all reduced.

Following that...

[Shadow Barrage]!

Three shadow bolts struck down in succession.

-87!

-91!

-184!

The third shot dealt double damage.

Xu Qin's eyes lit up.

"Good!"

As expected of Tian Ming!

His magic damage is already this high!

And, the most critical point is that the Mineral Vein Guardian is trapped at the bottom of the pit, unable to run away or hit anyone.

It's a complete sitting duck.

"Continue, no rush, one by one."

Xu Qin patted Tian Ming on the shoulder,

"Safety first, don't get greedy."

"Yes, Master."

Tian Ming began to output damage in an orderly manner.

Chuan Yun launched a Precision Volley every thirty seconds.

He commanded everyone to accelerate their shooting, maximizing the damage output.

The Mineral Vein Guardian's health bar began to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye.

...

Less than a minute.

The first Mineral Vein Guardian's health bar hit zero.

Its massive crystallized body shattered with a boom and scattered at the bottom of the shaft.

[Target Killed: Mineral Vein Guardian x 1]

The battle summary panel popped up.

[Target Killed: Mineral Vein Guardian x 1]

[Basic Drops:]

Mineral Vein Guardian remains x 1

...

[Talent 'War Gift Level 10' triggered! All loot quantity x 11!]

[Final Gains:]

Mineral Vein Guardian remains x 11

soul energy + 35200

[Battle Rating: B]

[Level Up Progress: 4241 / 6000]

At the bottom of the trap.

In the shaft that originally only had one set of remains.

A golden light flashed by,

and in an instant, one set of remains turned into eleven sets of crystallized remains.

Xu Qin wasn't the least bit surprised by the B rating.

With two thousand ranged units plus two heroes attacking one guardian, it would be a miracle to get an S.

But it didn't matter.

The mission objective this time wasn't to farm ratings; it was to mine.

Xu Qin turned his attention back to the Mineral Vein Guardian's data.

The ranged firepower from Tian Ming's side took about fifty seconds from the start of the focused fire to the kill.

One thousand arrows, plus the skill rotations of Tian Ming and Chuan Yun...

All in all, this Mineral Vein Guardian's total HP...

"Is around one hundred thousand."

Xu Qin clicked his tongue in amazement.

A single Mineral Vein Guardian has one hundred thousand HP.

In his current troop panel, that's equivalent to the total HP of one thousand Skeleton Elf Archers.

In other words, if there were no traps, if this thing charged into a crowd, it alone could slaughter several hundred undead soldiers.

Fortunately, Xu Qin didn't choose to engage head-on.

"Tian Ming, send people down to retrieve the remains."

"Yes, Master."

Tian Ming turned to give the order.

Eleven Troglodyte heroes entered the bottom of the shaft from the auxiliary passage reserved on the side and began to transport that pile of orange bones.

One minute later.

Tian Ming's voice came from the command panel.

"Master, the remains are glowing."

Xu Qin was stunned and immediately pulled up Tian Ming's perspective.

In the image, the eleven sets of Mineral Vein Guardian remains were glowing with a faint orange light.

The light seeped out from the cracks in the shattered shell, and the frequency was getting faster and faster.

Like a heartbeat.

Xu Qin's expression changed; he opened his inventory directly and collected them remotely.

The moment the orange icon entered his inventory, he clicked on the description.

[Mineral Vein Guardian remains]

[Quality: Legendary (Orange)]

[Description: The core crystal of the Mineral Vein Guardian possesses self-repairing properties. If the remains are not processed within 600 seconds, they will automatically reorganize and resurrect, restoring full HP.]

[Processing Method: Place the remains into forging equipment for mineral decomposition to obtain "source crystal essence". After decomposition, the Mineral Vein Guardian is permanently eliminated.]

Six hundred seconds?

That is, ten minutes?

Xu Qin looked at the countdown for the remains; there was less than nine minutes left for resurrection.

But...

As long as they are put into the inventory, the countdown automatically pauses.

"In other words, if left alone, 11 Mineral Vein Guardians will resurrect in 10 minutes!"

"It's a good thing I came here myself, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable."

Thinking this, Xu Qin walked quickly back to the Forging Area.

He took the eleven sets of remains out of his inventory and stuffed them all into the decomposition furnace.

Boom!

The furnace started, and orange flames engulfed the remains.

Ding!

[Decomposition successful!]

[Obtained: source crystal essence x 11]