167: The devil sweeps in again!

"Accumulated military merit 600, promoted to Six-star Private, gained 1000 points, 5 academic credits."

"Accumulated military merit 700, promoted to Seven-star Private, gained 1000 points, 5 academic credits."

"Accumulated military merit 800, promoted to Eight-star Private, gained 1000 points, 5 academic credits."

...

After leaving the Dragonkin Camp dungeon, Xia Qi explored westward.

As he pushed deeper from the edge, the monsters he encountered became increasingly powerful.

However, large groups of Low-level demons like before did not appear, making the process of increasing military merit much more troublesome.

By the time dawn broke, after about eight hours of grinding wild monsters, Xia Qi barely managed to raise his military merit to Eight-star Private.

"It seems such good opportunities for gaining military merit are rare."

Xia Qi bit into a dragon nectar fruit, its juice sweet, and his physical strength rapidly recovered.

This was even without being refined by auxiliary professions like alchemists, yet it could quickly restore both physical strength and energy.

The value of the dragon nectar fruit was probably higher than he had imagined.

Casually slaying a monster, Xia Qi began to walk back.

The fog ahead grew denser, and approaching the combat zone, it was no longer an area he could venture into at his Rank.

The entire Dragon Battlefield was vast, including the coastline and combat zone, stretching for thousands of kilometers.

Coupled with the shroud of fog, the closer monsters got to the central area, the stronger they became.

Even the stationed soldiers generally would not approach the central area unless monsters actively attacked.

It was simply too dangerous inside; there were many high-level monsters, and even Three-turn Rank 70 monsters could appear.

Therefore, Xia Qi was not arrogant enough to think he could directly confront Three-turn monsters now; returning to the Dragonkin Camp was safer.

Relying on the beacons left by his mechanical creations, Xia Qi returned to the dungeon entrance in just over three hours.

He arrived just as the Dragonkin Camp dungeon's cooldown ended, and without much thought, he directly chose nightmare difficulty to clear the remaining Materials.

"Captain, isn't that Junior Xia Qi?"

"Yes, it is indeed Xia Qi; I saw him at the Home of Dungeons before."

"Target confirmed. Notify the Ogre Manor team to come quickly. Don't alert him yet. We'll wait for him at the dungeon entrance."

"When he comes out, hehe, we'll make our move directly."

Three people in plain clothes whispered in secret discussion. They were the academy assassins sent by Sikong.

The leader of the assassin team showed a glint of excitement in his eyes. After searching for so long, he finally caught Xia Qi's location.

However, Xia Qi had entered the dungeon, and they didn't react immediately, so they didn't directly kill him.

This was also good, as it gave their two teams time to converge.

Six students: the captain was a Shadow Assassin, followed by a Resolute Knight, a Berserker, two Archmages, and a Storm Archer.

All of them were Two-turn Rank 35 or above. Such a luxurious lineup could even clear the Dragonkin Camp on nightmare difficulty.

Dealing with Xia Qi would be a piece of cake.

Just as the three were looking smug, the fog around the camp gradually thickened.

Low growls slowly began to echo from afar, and the sounds gradually grew louder.

Cheng An's team had just teleported out of the dungeon. They had cleared the nightmare difficulty dungeon twice in a row, averaging six hours per run, which was a significant improvement in efficiency.

"Thanks to the Dragonman Spear, this breaking-limit weapon is truly amazing."

"Isn't that right? Normally, it would take us at least eight hours to clear it once, but now we're clearing it in about six hours. It's awesome!"

"Junior Xia Qi is really generous; buying this equipment for five million was a huge profit."

"Wait, do you hear a familiar sound?"

"Oh no, it's Low-level demons."

Cheng An's team immediately became alert, their gazes solemn as they looked at the surrounding fog, vaguely seeing the outlines of Low-level demons.

The other soldiers around the camp also frowned deeply. They had just experienced an invasion of Low-level demons yesterday, so they knew what was happening.

Only the assassin trio was still a bit bewildered, staring wide-eyed at the dense fog not far away.

"What's going on?"

"I have a bad feeling."

"Yeah, isn't this the edge of the Dragon Battlefield? There shouldn't be any danger, right?"

"Don't talk, I think the situation doesn't look right."

The assassin captain observed the crowd around him. There were over a hundred soldiers at the camp entrance at that moment, and all were veterans, with no military Rank lower than Five-star Private.

Logically, such a small gathering point should be very safe.

But his assassin's intuition told him that some great terror was about to arrive.

"Roar!"

Accompanied by a mighty roar, several Low-level demons leaped high, breaking through the mist and appearing before everyone.

And behind these few Low-level demons, more figures appeared in the mist.

Just a rough glance showed hundreds of them.

"Damn it, it's time to earn military merit! Those who are afraid of death, teleport away now!"

Cheng An shouted to the crowd. He held the Dragonman Spear and, with his teammates, charged directly to the front.

Everyone present was a soldier; none were cowards.

No one fled; they all entered combat.

At the dungeon entrance, an intense battle ensued once more.

Low-level demons surged forward again after one night.

And their numbers were even greater than before.

The dungeon exit was already completely surrounded by Low-level demons. If someone came out of the dungeon, the Low-level demons would attack.

"Unlucky, how could we encounter so many Low-level demons."

The assassin captain agilely dodged the attacks of two Low-level demons, then counter-attacked, stabbing one of the demons in a vital spot.

However, that demon seemed unfazed, as if the attack was just a mosquito bite.

"Tough hide. Even with ordinary gold-grade equipment, it only pierces the skin and flesh; it doesn't cause fundamental damage."

In direct combat, assassins were inherently at a disadvantage and simply couldn't compare to other soldiers.

"Captain, what do you say? Should we escape?"

Although the Berserker in the team could still cope, it was clear that the number of demons was greater than that of humans. They could hold on now, but if they ran out of strength later, it would be troublesome.

"We can't escape. We finally found Xia Qi. If we don't complete Sikong's order, we won't get anything good when we go back."

"But with so many demons, even if Xia Qi comes out of the dungeon, he definitely won't survive. Aren't we just waiting to die by staying here?"

The mage in the team anxiously shouted.

He was not like the assassin and warrior; if a demon got close to him, he would probably be done for with one claw.

The assassin captain hesitated. He thought about it and realized it made sense.

Just as he was about to shout for them to leave, the next second, his pupils suddenly widened.

Xia Qi, who had only entered the dungeon a few minutes ago, actually came out...