82 Strange Rock Beetle

A small fire source quickly spread to the surroundings. Raging flames burned, and crackling sounds could be heard. Continuous cries came from the grass.

The nearby Rock Beetles rushed out. The fire could not kill them, but it could only stimulate their ferocity.

Rock Beetles covered in black and red flames charged towards the Elite Team.

“Warriors, hold. We can’t let them charge. Rangers, start attacking.”

!!
Close-combat Warriors and Forbidden Spellcasters blocked the incoming Rock Beetles one by one. Fang Ping realized that they were all very skilled.

Facing the Rock Beetle’s charge, he took a step diagonally forward and dodged the Rock Beetle’s attack. He did not retreat, so the Rock Beetle could not attack the back row.

At close range, the hit rate of a Ranger’s bow was also very high.

Arrows pierced through the gaps in the bodies of the Warriors and hit the carapace of the Rock Beetles before being bounced away.

With Heavy Armor, no arrows could shoot in.

Fang Ping did not give the order to use skills. Everyone’s energy was precious.

Moreover, more and more Rock Beetles rushed out of the grass. There was no qualitative change after using a few skills.

In the beginning, there were only seven or eight Rock Beetles, and a few Melees were dealing with one. Now, there were 30 to 40 of them. The pressure on the Melees increased greatly, and their line of defense continuously retreated.

“Fang Ping, this won’t do. We have to kill the first few Rock Beetles!”

Hearing someone shouting in the crowd, Fang Ping also felt that something was wrong. With so many Rock Beetles nearby, why did the Elf City Lord’s Guards in front not deal with them?

Was it possible that these Rock Beetles were all summoned by a Rock Beetle?

He quickly recalled the location of the surrounding Rock Beetles. They surged over from all directions, but they seemed to be missing a direction.

When Fang Ping and Qing Niao fell behind, Fang Ping heard the first whimper. There were exceptionally few Rock Beetles coming from this direction.

The flames were still burning. In the direction he had run over from, the dead tree had yet to burn.

He checked the characteristics to the dead wood and received feedback. There was indeed a Rock Beetle there.

After a few seconds, he used it again. There was still one. It did not move in place.

Something was amiss.

“Qing Niao, there’s a Rock Beetle at the location of the dead tree. Go and deal with it.”

Now that he had run to the location of the dead tree, there was a long stretch of fire on the field. Qing Niao had a special Self-healing characteristic, so he’s the only one who can do it.

“Mages, use the Mist. Retreat.”

A large white fog began to spread on the battlefield, and all the attacks stopped.

The fog did not last long before it slowly dissipated. Another person used the fog and the white fog filled the air again.

There were a total of eleven Mages in the Elite Team. Even if everyone used the Mist once, it could last for a long time.

However, in the fog, there were constant cries. He did not know how many Rock Beetles there were or how Qing Niao was.

“Failed to retrieve Characteristics. The target is Qing Niao, not the person.”

Qing Niao appeared where the Rock Beetle was just now, and the surrounding cries instantly stopped and became extremely quiet.

“The fog has stopped. Everyone, be on guard.”

The white fog slowly disappeared, and there was nothing in front of him.

There were only arrows scattered on the ground.

Not far away, a figure ran over with something on his shoulder. It was Qing Niao, holding a Rock Beetle high in his hand.

After passing through the fire again, he saw that his body was pitch-black, and his clothes and pants were burned beyond recognition.

“This is the Rock Beetle’s summoning source. I’ve already killed it!”

Hearing Qing Niao’s words, Fang Ping said, “The battle is over. Clean up the battlefield.”

The battlefield was actually just a place full of arrows. Rangers would pick up the arrows that could be used. Arrowheads can be collected from those that were already broken.

In the wilderness with no resources, arrows were no longer a one-time consumable item. Rangers had their own rules for recycling arrows, and Fang Ping was not too sure about how it is like.

Qing Niao ran back and threw the Rock Beetle to the ground.

There was a deep dent on its head. It was probably the Special Faith power given to Qing Niao that instantly killed it.

“These Rock Beetles don’t have any skills. They’re just cheap goods. Only the meat can be eaten.” Two or three Warriors walked over and began to dismember the Rock Beetles with knives.

Fang Ping was given a leg. Inside the black exoskeleton was snow-white translucent flesh tied with a strip of cloth.

Because there was no way to freeze and preserve the food, he had to eat it as soon as possible. This was today’s dinner.

Fang Ping looked at the insect leg in his hand, still feeling a little awkward.

Qing Niao also held one. Although it should be based on contribution points, most of the in-service training students were not interested, so many people who came could get it.

“This Rock Beetle is unbelievable. There’s only one of it, yet it dares to attack so many of us. In the end, it was eaten by us.” Fang Ping looked at the green blood on the ground and sighed.

“If we eat it, we can increase our energy. It also wants to eat us to increase its energy.”

Hearing Qing Niao’s words, Fang Ping gulped. So, this was a man-eating world?

Qing Niao tied the strip of cloth to the side of his backpack and took out a set of clothes. “If you hadn’t discovered its location, it’s hard to say what the outcome would be. Fang Ping, come over and help cover me as I get changed.”

“Sure.”

“Everyone, line up,” Elsa said after a while. Everyone put on their backpacks and lined up.

“Look around,” Elsa said and pointed around.

Other than the dirt road they were walking on, there was a layer of black dust around them. In the distance, they could see a fire burning.

“This is what I want to tell you. In the wilderness, don’t use fire casually.

At the same time in the wilderness, one has to be careful of fire.

We’ve been left far behind by the Lord’s Guards. Hurry up…”

Elsa suddenly stopped and looked at Fang Ping.

Fang Ping suddenly saw a bunch of light spots appear around him, quickly surging into his body. What was going on?

Quickly closing his eyes, Fang Ping realized that there was an additional ball of light in his stomach. There was originally only one, but now there were two.

“Speed up. Let’s go,” Elsa repeated and led the team forward.

Fang Ping opened his eyes as well. He shifted his backpack from his back to his front and jogged after the person in front of him. He reached in and grabbed the measuring stick.

“Fang Ping, why are you running like this?” Qing Niao asked.

Fang Ping happily took out his hand, closed his backpack, and put it on his back. He smiled and said, “It’s fine.”

He saw the results of the measuring rod. It was a total of 1,500 energy points.

He had exceeded the upper limit of 1,000 points for Class 1. In other words, he was now a Class 2 Forbidden Spellcaster.

It had been a month and a half since he became a Professional the day before he entered school. Fang Ping had also advanced from Class 1 to Class 2.

He had heard from Chen Long that it would take three to four months for a new student to become a Class 2 Professional.

On one hand, he had to practice his skills. On the other hand, he had to slowly increase his energy after reaching 900.

As for working students, it would take even longer.