Cras.h.!.+

A Ordinary Rank-3 Brown Hog was madly running around the woods, leaving several broken trees in its path. There was a sharp arrow with a trilobite tip stuck in its neck which had torn the hog's neck artery, causing the creature to bleed at a lethal speed.

Either due to luck or the precision of the shot, the wound grew larger and larger with the hog's movement. After blindly charging here and there for a few more seconds, the hog collapsed and stopped moving.

“Nice hit.” Ji Ye nodded to Qin Yueyu while staying at a safe distance from the beast.

They had just discovered a herd of about 20 Brown Hogs in the woods. Luckily, they took just enough people to surround them.

A slightly bigger hog had tried escaping by charging at one the s.h.i.+eld-bearing settlement guards, but was easily knocked back by a human two ranks stronger than itself.

Li Qing chased after the retreating hog while using his former soldier experience, then stuck a short blade into its body, quickly backing off before the beast could retaliate.

The maddened hog rushed at another s.h.i.+eld guard it could reach while spilling blood like a water pump. As it was helplessly pushed away again, it rolled onto its belly and never stood up, since Li Qing's weapon had already penetrated its heart.

Seeing most of the beasts killed, the guards moved away to allow several piglets to run off because they had no use for them.

“They're Ordinary Rank-4, which is the same as us, right?” one of the ladies watching nearby flinched upon seeing so much blood. “Are—aren't we a bit cruel?”

Ji Ye responded with a shake of his head. “Weaklings are either eaten or killed by the strong, this is how this place works. If we swap places, say, if a bunch of high-rank monsters came to us while we had nothing to keep them at bay, they'd probably kill every last one of us. Children included.”

He meant to remind both the ladies and the settlement guards about the brutality of this realm. Those hogs were unlikely to understand what “revenge” meant, so he had no problem freeing the babies. If they were dealing with “Eagle Men,” he'd be sure to leave none of them breathing.

Fearing that the Eagle Men would invade their settlement soon, Ji Ye wished to get everyone familiarized with monsters and combat as fast as possible. In a single afternoon, they had hunted down several packs of monsters.

Before people could take a breather after the last strife, however, they were interrupted by a series of hasty hoof sounds coming from nearby.

An even bigger hog with a pair of saber-like tusks and thick fur entered their view.

They knew what kind of danger they were in as soon as people saw it ramming through a thick tree without slowing down in the slightest.The big hog spent a second looking at its fallen brothers, before it pounced at Ji Ye's position with glowing, red eyes that exuded uncontrollable rage.

Xu Xue screamed at the top of her lungs.

Qin Yueyu readied an arrow for an attack, but Ji Ye stopped her.

“Stay here.”

He moved to the front of the group, and waited until the hog was almost upon him. Then he lifted a slightly glowing hand and punched.

Boom!

The large beast that seemed to be close to at least 300 kilograms heavy came to a full stop and toppled. Blood seeped out through its eyes and ears.

“It's a rank-6 elite monster. Killing it faster will usually give us useful drops.”

As the others watched with dumbstruck looks; Ji Ye had single-handedly picked up the stunned hog and tossed it to the middle of the group.

Poof! An arrow arrived and sank into the hog's left eye.

The sudden pain forced the creature to wake up and crawl away. But Li Qing was already waiting in its path, who used the same blade to puncture its shoulder. Once again, the blade precisely reached the creature's heart while avoiding its hardened fur and bones.

The deadly stab didn't finish off this “hog king” just yet, which gathered its remaining strength and aimed one of its tusks at Li Qing's stomach.

The man's face flushed as his adrenaline kicked in. He did an immediate combat roll and evaded the deadly reprisal by an inch.

Qin Yueyu released another arrow, which hit the hog's healthy eye. This might not be enough to kill it yet, but at least it wouldn't be able to see anything after that.

The hog's decisive death soon came, after it fruitlessly destroyed several random rocks and trees nearby.

A grayish “item orb” appeared just above its tusks.

All the new players knew what this meant, thanks to their enlightening forum visits before. As they watched in great excitement, the orb dimmed down and slowly gained the shape of a blade about a meter in length.

[Ivory Edge]

[Level: Ordinary Rank-6]

[Rarity: Common]

[A weapon created out of the tusk of a Brown Hog King that has decent st.u.r.diness and sharpness. A tool better used for stabbing rather than slas.h.i.+ng.]

As Ji Ye expected, the reward didn't look so good because he did most of the work.

The confederation government had already disclosed several “tricks” that explained how certain actions would affect the outcome of the battle. To obtain better items and more EXP points from the monsters, players would either have to go after finding targets of higher ranks than themselves, or perform a “beautiful fight” by fully utilizing their skills and environmental factors as much as possible.

Ji Ye's group achieved neither during their hunt. There was only Qin Yueyu and Li Qing who had earned a decent amount of EXP by partic.i.p.ating in a lot of battles, while the rest of them barely gained anything.

“Master, I've things to report!” Lu Zhishen approached them with a group of scouts.

“You've already found the target, Chief?”

“Yeah, the wolf's lair, as you asked. No offense but, are you sure you want our new friends to face Blue Wolves so soon? Those things may be only rank-4, but they are way smarter than the pigs you just killed.”

“Rest a.s.sured, I know what I'm doing,” said Ji Ye, “Though we might need your help when the alpha comes out, Chief Lu. It could be at the superior rank so we can't let our guard down.”