Chapter 40:

“Bang”

Miriam pulled the trigger, letting the scorching lead bullet shoot out of the muzzle and hit the giant spider that pounced towards her, its body covered in eyes.

That thing was as big as a millstone, and its fast attack from the shadows looked terrifying, but its greatest threat was probably just its formidable appearance. After being shot through the body, it dissolved into a gloomy wisp of smoke on the spot.

But before Miriam could rejoice, that puff of smoke quickly combined with the dense surrounding shadows, turning into a gray four-legged snake lunging towards her.

Scared, Miriam’s expression paled. This was not something a lady and reserve scholar should deal with!

“Get back!”

Niuniu, who had just shot dead a phantasmal wolf with his hunting rifle, let out an angry roar. He grabbed the vampire emblem shield beside him, stood up, and swatted the pouncing four-legged snake away. Beside him, Cheche yelled and charged forward, wildly slashing with his two rapiers, cutting that strange creature into several pieces.

“Thanks,” the redhead girl said softly to Niuniu, but she doubted he even understood, because the tall and strong figure was soon excitedly going to find those astral realm monsters with his halberd.

For a moment, Miriam found it hard to understand the thought processes of these Murphy warriors.

The past ten minutes of defense and clearing had already proven that these monsters couldn’t be killed. They didn’t have physical forms, as if they were just projections of chaotic forces in the material world.

Normal people would know to conserve their strength and retreat in such a situation, but these guys seemed to enjoy sticking to this position, fighting any monsters they could see.

Some even went into close combat with those dangerous things using cold weapons instead of hunting rifles.

Often, several people had to work together to take down a wave of monsters, without any reward, but they looked excited as if they had found treasure.

Miriam wondered if these people summoned by Murphy were all incurable battle maniacs by nature.

Of course, the truth was not that simple.

Small players wouldn’t be enthusiastic about fighting without any loot, but if they could endure having no dropped items and keep fighting in the same place, it proved they could benefit from this process.

For example:

“Proficient! My Blood Vulture Sword Arts reached proficiency! My character level also leveled up to 3, ahahahaha, Cheche knew Cheche was definitely a one-in-a-million martial talent!”

Waving his twin swords, Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche, who had just taken down another illusion monster under Niuniu’s cover, laughed out loud. Just then, his player interface had notified him that his only close combat skill had reached proficiency, but before his laughter reached the third note, another pop-up notification made Cheche’s eyes widen.

“Damn! I can change jobs now!”

He excitedly shouted to Gugu Chicken and Niuniu beside him:

“The interface told me that since one of my skills reached proficiency, I became a professional, and it prompted me to change jobs to ‘Swordsman’. What about you guys?

Did you get any prompts?”

“I’m still level 2, just a bit away,” Gugu Chicken glanced at his player interface. The experience bar representing his strength mastery was at 70% of level 2. Shouldering his short sword, he told Cheche:

“I reckon I’ll be able to level up in another ten minutes of hacking.”

“Don’t just swing blindly! This isn’t like other games where you get experience for killing mobs. In this game, killing doesn’t give experience,” Cheche, being the “forerunners”, immediately became smug and instructed Gugu Chicken:

“You have to use the sword techniques taught by the white-haired NPC to kill monsters, understand? Your proficiency will naturally increase the more you hack.”

“Oh, I got one too!”

Just as he finished speaking, Niuniu, who had stabbed a giant spider to death with his knife and shield combo, also received a prompt. However, after carefully reading it, he told Cheche:

“But my job change prompt isn’t ‘Swordsman’, it’s ‘Shield Bearer’. Damn! Do I really have to go down the tank path?”

“You three, come back here!”

As they wavered, Meow King’s voice came from their computation beads. As the temporary “team leader”, Meow King gave instructions in a measured tone:

“You’ve charged too deep, quickly fall back! Lord Murphy ordered us to hold the city wall position. There are dangerous things inside the city, don’t go too deep.

By the way, did you get the job change prompts?

Don’t change jobs hastily!

Come back, we’ll discuss it together. We seem to have found some patterns.

Especially you, Niuniu! You have two character talents, don’t randomly change jobs and ruin your character. This game doesn’t have a reset option.”

“Alright, mission over, let’s go idle.”

Niuniu slung his shield over his back and grabbed another war dagger in his hand. Together with his two brothers, he quickly passed through the city wall breach they had already cleared and returned to the players’ position.

At this point, the small players had basically completed Murphy’s defense mission. Although the monsters turned into black smoke and transformed back into other forms after being killed, killing them repeatedly was too much for these strange creatures. The gloomy shadows near the torn city wall breach were noticeably thinner than other areas.

This guy had climbed halfway up the collapsed city wall and was using a monocular to observe the surroundings. He shouted out now:

“Quick! A few people come up and defend! Meow King, stop blabbering and bring people up here! Kono Maomao Shark and Pigeon, you two have ranged talents now, open your automatic hunting crossbows and prepare suppressing fire!

Our NPC is here, and he’s carrying someone!

Lots of NPCs from the city are running with him, probably civilians he rescued. Damn! I knew there had to be a reason we were told to hold this safe passage, it turned out to be a rescue mission all along?”

“Old Tune!”

Meow King called over Electronic Succubus, the best marksman in his team. He gave him his and Led More Than Three to Five Pecks’ guns and ammunition, instructing quietly:

“We’re a fixed five-man team. With your highest agility, you’ll be the shooter. Three to Five Pecks with high endurance will tank, Black Stockings with high strength will be the swordsman, Day One as the dual blade, and I’ll sub as the mage.”

“Ah?” Electronic Succubus was dumbfounded.

Staring at Meow King skeptically, he said:

“But your mentality is only 4! Lower than me, are you sure you can be a mage? Hey, you’re not planning to slack off, are you? Slacking during work is one thing, but slacking while playing a game?”

“You talk too much!” Meow King was unhappy, putting on an “I’m the boss, I’m right” expression, saying:

“Low mentality doesn’t matter now. Once I successfully become a vampire, won’t my mentality increase? Just like that Young Lady NPC, I’ll grow wings to fly you guys around later, you’ll see.”

“Bang”

Overhead, Onboard Joy Stick at the vantage point opened fire first. Currently a solo player not in a team, he had gone ahead and switched to the “Gunner” job.

With the class talent bonus, his firearm marksmanship became more precise and lethal. His bullets grazed Murphy’s shoulder, blowing the head off a swooping bird-like creature behind him, slightly increasing his skill experience.

This gunshot was like a signal.

The small players at the position immediately opened fire, driving back the non-corporeal monsters chasing Murphy.

Murphy strode forward carrying the weakened Tris, accompanied by an Astral Dire Wolf the size of a calf. This beast was extraordinarily fierce, attacking left and right to protect Murphy, preventing the twisted creatures emerging from the shadows from getting close.

As for the nearly hundred panicked civilians following Murphy, that was purely an accident.

Murphy hadn’t intended to look after them.

But when he found alcohol to dull Tris’s pain, he accidentally discovered a few refugees in the grocery store. Being neighbors, he couldn’t just drive them away. As a result, more and more terrified citizens joined them on the way to the city wall breach, leading to the current situation.

With so many fearful souls gathered, their emotional turbulence naturally attracted those astral creatures feeding on mental energy. Twisted beings constantly emerged from the shadows.

From time to time, they would snatch an innocent away to feast, scaring the others from straying far from Murphy.

Originally exhausted from the disaster and terror, when they reached the city wall passage and saw support up ahead, these innocents finally saw hope.

Mustering their last strength, they quickened their pace and escaped the hell Kadman City had become under the players’ covering fire.

“Miriam!”

Murphy rushed out of the city wall breach without a chance to rest.

Observing the astral energy dissipating outwards from the city, he turned to Miriam, who was hiding behind the small players pretending to be a powerful DPS while actually slacking off, and shouted:

“Take these people to safety! Tris told me astral creatures feed on their mental state and emotions. Staying here will only attract more danger.”

“What about you?”

Miriam, relieved to leave the battlefield, still asked for appearances. Murphy glanced at the small players still fighting behind him and said loudly:

“I cannot abandon my warriors. I must stay and continue fighting with them.”

Sounding lofty and noble.

While also conveniently raising the small players’ affinity.

In reality, not only did the small players need skill proficiency, Murphy did too!

Seeing the players frantically grinding mobs here, how could Murphy miss this opportunity?

According to what Tris said on the way, it would take at least seven more days until Kadman City was consumed by the astral realm and this catastrophe ended. So he decided to grind hard here, leveling his dual jobs and character level to 10 first.

Although claiming experience from the players didn’t sound good, it was unavoidable. How could he lead the small players to conquer the astral realm without leveling himself up first?

So, this city wall grinding spot was booked by Lord Murphy tonight!