23: Disadvantages of spore sensing

Countless dense green eyes stared intently at Qiao Yu from the dark corners, and threatening low growls roared like countless engines.

Fighting a Beast Soldier Level monster one-on-one is not scary; what is scary is that these Beast Soldier Level monsters often gather together in groups.

“Damn it, why are so many Tiger Mastiffs gathered here? Aren't they usually just small groups of two or three?”

The Burly Man's voice was urgent; he hadn't anticipated this situation at all.

The purpose of the Warrior Combat Assessment is to test Quasi-Warriors, not to kill them. The selected monsters are generally difficult enough for most Quasi-Warriors to handle.

The officials specifically chose species that do not overly congregate, yet at this moment, these Tiger Mastiffs were gathering in large groups!

“Beep!”

“Qiao Yu! Qiao Yu! Hold on! Reinforcements are coming immediately!”

The communication watch on Qiao Yu's wrist beeped, and the voice of the officer from the monitoring room came through the watch, filled with anxiety and concern.

A red light flashed on the communication watch, like the solitary eye of a lone wolf.

Qiao Yu swallowed hard. It was impossible to say he felt no psychological pressure seeing such a massive horde of monsters right before his eyes for the first time.

Hundreds of Tiger Mastiffs were the size of fierce tigers, their entire bodies tightly muscled, greedily inhaling the bloody air.

Qiao Yu wasn't worried about being unable to defeat this group of Tiger Mastiffs. Every Tiger Mastiff present had already ingested a large amount of Flesh and Blood Spores, and the flesh and blood mycelium had taken root inside them.

If he wished, making this entire pack of Tiger Mastiffs instantly explode and die where they stood would be effortless.

However, with the official cameras watching, he dared not fully reveal the true power of the fungal swarm.

Qiao Yu could only let the fungal swarm continuously consume the oxygen in the Tiger Mastiffs' blood, putting them in a state of hypoxia and increasing their physical exhaustion.

At the same time, the swarm devoured the monsters' vital essence, feeding it back to him. With this method, his physical strength alone was enough to deal with all these Tiger Mastiffs.

In the blink of an eye, after only a few seconds of thought, the circle of Tiger Mastiffs closest to Qiao Yu had already launched their attack.

Surrounded on all sides, Qiao Yu at his current stage could not handle them all at once; he had to defeat them one by one.

Qiao Yu held the Hexagonal Shield on his left arm and gripped the blood shadow battle blade horizontally in his right hand, delivering a heavy horizontal slash toward the four Tiger Mastiffs leaping at him from the front.

Empowered by immense strength, the blood shadow battle blade sliced open the flesh of the four Tiger Mastiffs with a single strike, exposing the pale white bone beneath.

But having dealt with the Tiger Mastiffs in front, the ones on the left, right, and rear charged and bit simultaneously, determined to take Qiao Yu down.

Although surrounded, Qiao Yu used Spore Perception to find safe positions between the monsters, evading a flying pounce with a slide tackle.

While dodging and maneuvering, Qiao Yu delivered several more swift slashes, cutting across the abdomens of several Tiger Mastiffs, spilling their organs onto the ground.

These Tiger Mastiffs showed no fear upon seeing their comrades injured or even dead; instead, the scent of their comrades' blood triggered their vicious nature.

The Tiger Mastiffs that had been watching from the periphery now recklessly leaped toward Qiao Yu, the depths of every eye filled with a yearning for Qiao Yu's flesh and blood.

Their greedy eyes looked as if they had spotted Tang Monk's Flesh; if they could just take a bite, they would achieve eternal life.

“According to the information on the Tiger Mastiffs, their sense of smell is tens of thousands of times more sensitive than other monsters. They probably view the Flesh and Blood Spores as some kind of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and since I am the aggregate of these spores, they must see me as a great tonic...”

Taking advantage of the brief gaps when the Tiger Mastiffs collided with each other, Qiao Yu seized the opportunity and delivered several consecutive strikes.

The sprayed blood pooled into a puddle, soaking Qiao Yu's combat uniform. The warm, foul-smelling blood was nauseating.

Relying on Spore Perception, Qiao Yu had no concerns about getting injured. He fought with increasing vigor, the energy fed back to him by the flesh and blood mycelium allowing him to fight tirelessly.

If the officer and the Burly Man were still in the monitoring room, they would find that Qiao Yu was like a slippery catfish; no matter how the Tiger Mastiffs attacked, they couldn't even brush against his clothes.

As time ticked by, the corpses of the Tiger Mastiffs piled up into small mountains on the ground. Qiao Yu had to change position every time he killed a few Tiger Mastiffs.

Fighting while stepping on the corpses of the Tiger Mastiffs severely limited his ability to exert force; he needed to stand on the ground to strike accurately.

Under the dim light, a brilliant red star continuously pulsed.

Every spin and leap was accompanied by the soft sound of a blade entering flesh... By the time the rescue team arrived deep within the town where Qiao Yu was, only six minutes had passed.

Four or five military jeeps arrived simultaneously, with a dedicated soldier operating a machine gun on the roof of each, continuously sweeping the surrounding monsters attempting to approach.

The officer, the Burly Man, and Zhuge Tao all rushed to the scene.

They looked at the young man standing alone amidst the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, holding the Hexagonal Shield on his left arm, his right blade tip pointing toward the ground, monster blood continuously dripping from the tip into the pool of blood.

His heavy breathing dictated the heartbeats of everyone present.

“Clap!”

“Clap! Clap!”

“...”

No one knew who started clapping first, but the dozen or so other people followed suit.

Zhuge Tao quickly stepped forward to check Qiao Yu for injuries. Seeing that the combat uniform was completely undamaged, even Zhuge Tao, a High-level Wargod, couldn't help but praise him.

“Qiao Yu, you truly surprised me. That was hundreds of Tiger Mastiffs! That counts as a small beast horde!”

“Although the Tiger Mastiff pack isn't a cooperative monster type and their coordinated combat ability is poor, you managed to retreat unscathed and even counter-kill them one by one using only the strength of an Intermediate Warrior! Your movement technique has reached the Subtlety Level! Your ability to fight above your rank might even reach the Elementary Warlord level!”

Zhuge Tao lightly clapped his hands, offering sincere praise to Qiao Yu.

“Those were just some basic maneuvers, Supervisor, you flatter me!”

Qiao Yu's response was lukewarm.

As soon as Qiao Yu saw Zhuge Tao and the others approaching for rescue, he sucked all the spores in the air back into his body, ensuring that powerful High-level Wargods like Zhuge Tao wouldn't discover any anomalies.

Fortunately, Qiao Yu could easily handle the remaining few Tiger Mastiffs even without Spore Perception. After all, once a person knows their limits, looking back at previous challenges feels very simple.

“Hahaha! You kid, you really f*cking love to show off. But I like it! Are you interested in switching sides and joining my Thunderbolt Martial Arts School? I, Wang Heng, promise you a special training contract from the Thunderbolt Martial Arts School!”

The Burly Man, Wang Heng, bounced over, shoved Zhuge Tao aside with his butt, and patted Qiao Yu on the shoulder, adopting a solemn and earnest look.

“Hey, hey, hey, Old Wang, aren't you shameless? Qiao Yu is an innocent young man, don't keep saying 'I like it, I like it,' you rough brute, people might misunderstand! Just because your Thunderbolt Martial Arts School has a special contract, does that mean my Dojo of Limits doesn't? The gap between the second strongest and the first strongest isn't small!”

Seeing Wang Heng shamelessly poaching talent, Zhuge Tao got annoyed. The two had been old friends for many years, constantly competing openly and secretly, and Zhuge Tao naturally refused to lose to Wang Heng.

The first time Qiao Yu met Wang Heng, Wang Heng was already somewhat unconventional, so Qiao Yu didn't find Wang Heng's behavior inappropriate. However, he hadn't expected Zhuge Tao, the supervisor who had seemed so imposing upon their first meeting, to also drop his facade and joke around with Qiao Yu and Wang Heng.