461 Capture The Key

Because everyone was used to fighting the normal dungeons, they neglected one fact. The fact was that most of the monsters in a faction dungeon actually belonged to The Sixth Apostle's army.

The greatest uniqueness of an army was not the high combat power but the combination of discipline, organisation and formation. Any group of monsters or players without these three points would, at most, be a mob and not an army.

The first three Eagle Riding Demonic Apes should be fulfilling the roles of a scout. One could tell from looking at how good the first Eagle Riding Demonic Ape was so good at escaping.

In the dungeon's setting, if one of the monsters was not let off, the rest of the Eagle Riding Demonic Apes would come in groups of three. This way, players could clear each stage of the dungeon successfully. However, because they let that one monster back, they attracted the entire army of Eagle Riding Demonic Apes.

The situation became really dire right now. Everyone was already at the waist of the mountain and if they were to run now, they would definitely not be able to outrun the flying beasts. If the hundreds of Eagle Riding Demonic Apes were to throw the rocks down together in such a narrow path, it seemed like there were no other outcome except mass obliteration of the squad.

In a blink of an eye, the Eagle Riding Demonic Apes reached the top of Ming Du and Yang Nuo. Big rocks started descending like raindrops but Yang Nuo was still surviving well. This lady was as agile as a monkey and with her archer's [Sidestep] skills, there was no danger to her life as of now.

Ming Du was the doomed one. This fella was a magician and the only life-protecting skill he had was [Flash]. Facing the descending rock rain of this scale, Ming Du was trying frantically to escape and his life was in imminent danger.

Fearless noticed that and shouted, "Everyone! Do not panic! Stick to the mountain walls and slowly make your way forward."

The two sides of this narrow path were mountain walls. From the height that the Eagle Riding Demonic Apes were throwing the rocks, there had to be a certain trajectory. In such a narrow path, the descending rocks would bound to hit the adjacent walls and rebound off it. Even though leaning towards the walls might not ensure ultimate safety, it was still safer than running around headlessly.

As he spoke, Fearless was the first to lean against the wall. Ming Du and Yang Nuo instantly listened to Fearless' instructions and indeed, the number of descending rocks decreased. Ming Du and Yang Nuo gradually felt the pressure being relieved from them.

"Let's lure these b*stards to the bottom of the mountain to fight them." After calming down, Nine Solitary Spears shouted at Fearless.

Fearless replied, "Keep moving forward! Do not move back! These fellas were clearly well trained and they outnumbered us by a lot. Heading down the mountain will pose more danger for us."

Facing a large scale air-raid, the best place to take cover would be an air-raid shelter. The two walls at the sides of the narrow path served that purpose now. If they were to head into an open space, even protective screens wouldn't be of much help. It would expedite their death.

Moreover, the mountain path was never very wide to begin with. With that many rocks being thrown down, what if those rocks obstructed the path? The corpse of monsters in dungeons would not even clear when they die so how could they be sure of rocks… Therefore, their only route would be to continue heading up and not turn back.

Nine Solitary Spears was planning to disregard Fearless' comments anyway. He wanted to head back down immediately but within a few steps, he realised the piling up rocks behind him. Hence, he had no other choice but to follow behind the Quan Zhen Sect.

The squad avoided the falling rocks as they continued to make their way up. The Eagle Riding Demonic Apes continued to throw waves after waves of rocks at them. The journey from the mountain waist to the peak of the mountain was about ten minutes walk and these Eagle Riding Demonic Apes continued to pester and follow the Quan Zhen Sect. This was becoming a real headache for them.

This was especially when they were closer to the peak of the mountain where the walls of the mountains were gradually becoming shorter. Many times, they were almost killed by the descending rocks… As the peak of the mountain was just in front of them, the squad didn't feel safer. Instead, they were feeling increasingly nervous.

In terms of openness, the peak of the mountain was much more spacious and empty as compared to the bottom of the mountain. After all, the bottom of the mountain was a canyon and while the space was huge, there was a limit. It was different for the mountain peak as there was not a single object that could be used to shelter them. As long as these Eagle Riding Demonic Apes fired a wave of rocks at them all at one go, they could easily exterminate the group of them.

The Eagle Riding Demonic Apes's firepower came down waves after waves as they gave the Quan Zhen Sect no breathing space at all. This resulted in everyone being dejected and depressed as time passed by.

"F*ck! The coordination of these monsters is too good. This can't go on forever." Nine Solitary Spears sounded out.

Prideful Frost added, "Exactly! We can still avoid the rocks earlier on but now, who dares to continue heading forward?"

As a Mage, he had a short reach and low defense and Prideful Frost was not the only one to feel this way. A few of the Quan Zhen Sect members started to feel helpless too.

Similarly, how can Fearless not know this? Fearless pondered for a moment before replying, "We will definitely not be able to kill our way through these monsters. However, there must be a way to deal with these since the system arranged it this way. Everyone help to think of any possible idea."

Everyone entered into their own train of thoughts…

The first person to voice his opinion was expert Thunderlord Block, "If all of us were to die once, we should be able to leave the battle. After leaving the battle, is it possible that these fellas will return to their lair like those skeletons at the bottom of the mountain?"

Fearless nodded his head, "This makes sense but it is useless even if we die now."

"Why?"

Fearless pointed at the path behind them, "The path has been obstructed so even if we respawn to the original position, how are we going to ascend the mountain?"

Everyone looked back and saw how the countless rocks had already piled up to the mountain waist. The path was definitely blocked off.

"This… If you had listened to us and retreated from the start, we wouldn't have been forced into this situation." Thunderlord Block continued to pin the blame on Fearless.

"Haha." Fearless laughed but didn't fight back. Instead, he asked the others, "Anyone else got any idea?"

Spring Halo answered, "I also agree with Thunderlord Block. The Eagle Riding Demonic Apes have perfect coordination with each other so it will be impossible for us to stand still, let alone fight them all."

"Don't you think that something is weird here?" Fearless suddenly asked.

"What's weird?" Spring Halo replied.

Fearless answered, "The skeletons at the bottom of the mountain were departed spirits and their coordination were still considered decent. So isn't it weird that these fellas had such great coordination and chemistry with each other?"

The undead characters in the game were set to be a unique group, especially the skeletons. They were usually not very strong but their intelligent were extremely low.

Because of this, monsters like the skeletons were the easiest to control. Just a Spectre Dharma alone or an equipment would be enough to control a large crowd of skeletons to form the White Bone Army.

The Eagle Riding Demonic Apes were authentic living things. From how they knew fear and knew how to escape, one could tell that their intelligence level shouldn't be too low.

If an army of monsters of such intelligence were to lose their commander, they would definitely not be able to fight with such great chemistry.

"You're trying to imply that there is a BOSS commanding them now?" Spring Halo asked.

"Indeed!" Fearless replied, "From the first stage, we can tell that this dungeon cannot be cleared using brute force. Every stage requires a certain skill to clear. The first stage should be to kill the BOSS that is controlling them which will result in the collapse of this army."

"But how are we supposed to find the BOSS among all of them?" Spring Halo questioned.

The sky was filled with monsters so it was never going to be easy if they wanted to find the BOSS.

"Very simple! We will retreat back to the mountain waist!"