10

After killing the green feathered monster, Cheng Yang said to Old Lee: "The next monster that appears will be for you three to handle together. The world has been turned into a game but I'm sure you've noticed a glaring difference from most games. Skills and attacks do not lock on automatically. That is to say, whether it be spells or arrows, if you can't hit your target then its a waste of resources. So, I want you to wait until the next monster gets close enough that you can't miss! This will allow the warriors to practice blocking for the ranged fighters as well."

Old Lee replied, "Mr. Cheng rest assured. The world has changed but we know what we need to do."

Old Lee then turned to the other two people with him, "Me and Du Cheng will stand at the front but since our damage is low we will need to rely on Feng Jie for DPS."

As he spoke, a Low Grade gray wolf had spawned outside the gate. Just like the green feathered monster it charged at the group.

"Prepare for battle." Cheng Yang said briefly then stood quietly behind them.

The wolf ran straight towards the gate. Fifty meters….. Forty meters….. Thirty meters….. Twenty meters…..

*Ptew* A white ball of light flew out from the gate and over the wolf's head. Not even a single strand of hair had been hit.

Fang Jie who was in his twenties looked nervous after missing his shot. "I-"

"No need for an explanation." Cheng Yang said expressionless. "Continue fighting."

Fang Jie closed his mouth. He realized that this wasn't the time to argue because the wolf was only ten meters away now.

Old Lee's expression was ruthless as he held up his shield to block the wolf's charge. The wolf slammed into the shield. The man and the wolf to engaged in a battle of strength, one the wolf won as Old Lee lost his footing.

The wolf stabilized itself and bounded over Old Lee rushing towards Du Cheng. Du Cheng shouted, suppressing his fear as the wolf charged. He panicked and instead of blocking with his shield he raised his iron sword to strike the wolf's head.

With a crisp sound Du Feng's sword hit the wolf's head. Unfortunately, gray wolves have an innate ability that adds three defense so their head covering it with a layer of iron. Du Cheng was only able to create a small cut. The wolf knocked Du Cheng's shield away and moved to bite his shoulder.

"Ah!" The distance was to close and there was no way for Du Cheng to avoid the monster's jaws.

After tearing apart Du Cheng's shoulder the wolf moved to rip out his throat.

*Pfft* This wasn't the sound of the wolf biting into Du Cheng but instead the sound of a magic missile searing into the wolf's chest. Feng Jie had managed to hit the monster!

After escaping the wolf's fangs Du Cheng no longer dared to defend alone. He quickly joined forces with Old Lee who had gotten back up. Although the wound on his shoulder was incredibly painful, faced with death he didn't have the time to care.

"Die!" In unison the two shouted and blocked with their shields then swung their swords. Old Lee hit the wolf on the side but Du Cheng's blade was blocked by its iron plated head. Nevertheless in the face of a combined attack the wolf was pushed back.

When Fang Jie saw that the wolf had been blocked he was no longer nervous and was able to calmly gather mana and shoot a Magic Missile at the monster.

He successfully hit the gray wolf!

Fang Jie didn't feel any satisfaction hitting the wolf. It was only three meters away so if he still couldn't hit it he may as well kill himself and save the wolf some time.

With the three of them working together the wolf was quickly killed with a third magic missile. When it did light particles flew from the wolf into each of their bodies.

Fang Jie did more than half the damage in this battle but if Old Lee and Du Cheng didn't guard the front he knew that he would have been killed without hitting the wolf even once.

Their battle lasted thirty seconds together whereas Chang Yang only needed nine or ten seconds on his own. Now that they understood how powerful Cheng Yang was the difference shocked them.

"I'll handle the next one." Cheng Yang said, "So come sit down over here and use the Meditation skill to recover." He didn't feel the need to explain why since they would understand once they tried.

After Old Lee and the others sat down Cheng Yang stood in front defending the gate. In the minute they rested the only thing that appeared was another gray wolf that Cheng Yang easily killed. Watching Cheng Yang fight the difference between the two groups was truly like night and day.

After a second battle Cheng Yang's remaining Mana was just 21. He only needed a few short seconds of meditation to recover. Even so it would be dangerous if he ran out of mana or was attacked while meditating since his body was only twice as strong as an ordinary human. Since Old Lee and the others were fairly reliable now he let them take the next fight.

Cheng Yang's group defended their gate well and the situation at the other gates was also stable.

Although the other three groups didn't have a powerful existence like Cheng Yang they had the advantage in numbers. In addition the Summoners could create a warrior that didn't fear death greatly alleviating the pressure on the defenders.

As time passed the monsters spawned more frequently but the skill of the defenders increased as well. At first only with four people could they barely stop a monster but now they could handle monsters in pairs. This wasn't much compared to Cheng Yang but considering the short time span since the apocalypse it was impressive. As long as they could put aside their fear defeating a dozen at once would be no problem at all.

Cheng Yang believed they were now ready to train solo against monsters. Doing so would be very dangerous, a single mistake could end their life.

A half hour later, when the sun finally began to dip below the horizon, the total number of monsters slain was one hundred and fifty. Cheng Yang alone killed more than thirty and was able to raise his proficiency in Magic Missile to 10%. Although others had proficiency improvements too, no one improved as much as Cheng Yang. After all, his Mana recovered faster and he was more powerful, it was natural that he would improve more.

In addition to increasing the proficiency of their skills everyone earned a large amount of Experience Fragments. Cheng Yang alone had over sixty while everyone else had ten or so.

At this time in Cloud City another disaster was ongoing. Thousands of monsters prowled the streets leaving terrified people hidden in their wake.

For normal people these monsters were simply too powerful. Normal people only had 10 HP and a one in each attribute so trying to fight a Low Grade Immature monster was the same as committing suicide.

Fortunately the speed of almost every Low Grade monsters was also a one allowing most people to escape unharmed.

The situation was no better for the military. Guns were no longer the king of all weapon's and it took twenty bullets to kill a single monster.

Later when they inspected the corpses they found that even high power bullets couldn't penetrate a monster fully.

On the streets and in the ruins people fled again and again. There was no where truly safe from monsters as they could spawn anywhere at random.

All around them people heard others collapsing to the ground before the sound of chewing and crunching could be heard. One by one people ran out of stamina. No one could stop this slaughter.

As an act of mercy god dictated that all monsters in the cities could only act alone and not in groups. If not for this maybe Cloud City would become a ghost town in a single night.

Cheng Yang's expression gradually stiffened. The spawn rate of the monsters continued to increase and now every group was fighting continuously with one or more monsters. If this trend continued the newly formed village would be in trouble.

For Cheng Yang and his people the limiting factor of their combat potential was Mana. They didn't have enough and even thirty seconds was too long to wait to recover.

The Warriors were a little better off since they could still attack without Mana and didn't need arrows but their attacks would only deal 80% of their max damage. As long as they could protect themselves they were fairly safe.

The other classes, especially the Rangers, were in a pinch. Cheng Yang almost regretted not staying in the Cloud City barrier to wait out the start of the apocalypse since the areas around a safe zone had less monsters. They would also be able to exchange Experience Fragments for health potions, something they couldn't do at Phoenix Village until it reached Standard Grade.

Even so, Cheng Yang wouldn't have changed his decision. He knew that if he did not secure Phoenix Village now it would only get harder with every passing day. In three months the stations would be discovered by the military who would send their elites. At that point even if he wasn't a trash, climbing to the top of the world would be impossible.

Besides, if it got to the point where it was unmanageable Cheng Yang could close the gates. He didn't want to if possible since soldiers trained in safety would crumble in a life and death battle.

Fortunately when the sun set the spawn rate of the monsters would greatly decrease and so long as there weren't any flying monsters they would be able to handle the rest.