ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!!
Black Gold · Strong-Maned Pig charged fearlessly into the group of Giant Lizards. Surrounded and attacked by a large pack, red damage numbers popped up above his head.
-231!
-224!
-235!
-225!
Seeing this damage, Ning Xi could not help but exclaim, "Such high defense!"
With a full set of gold-quality Poison equipment and the insane growth of Ancestral tier, Strong-Maned Pig's physical defense had reached a shocking 2920 points.
On top of that, his talent gave an additional 50% damage reduction.
As a result, even though he was only level 20, blocking the attacks of level 36 Giant Lizards was no problem at all.
At the same time, triggering the Heavenly Marshal talent, the Giant Lizards attacking Strong-Maned Pig began taking true damage equal to 1% of his max HP—
-678!
-678!
-678!
Strong-Maned Pig just stood there without moving, and the Giant Lizards' HP bars kept dropping.
Each tick was not huge.
But the fiercer their attacks, the more reflect damage stacked up.
This reflect effect was seriously insane.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Lin Mo followed up with Burning Sky · Starfire Prairie Blaze plus Heaven-Slaying · Seven-Star Volley, easily harvesting the entire pack.
"Looks like Strong-Maned Pig's HP still isn't high enough."
With that, Lin Mo's development plan became crystal clear.
"Forget everything else. Just stack HP."
From then on, with Strong-Maned Pig pulling monsters, the efficiency improved noticeably.
After all, Lin Mo was an archer. His 1600+ defense was already decent among players at this stage.
But against Giant Lizards, if a group surrounded him, he still risked being instantly killed.
So before this, Lin Mo never dared to rush into dense monster packs.
Now, Strong-Maned Pig had zero fear. With his iron body, he ran straight toward wherever monsters were thickest.
After circling once, more than a dozen Giant Lizards trailed behind him.
At that moment, Lin Mo only needed one ultimate, or a quick skill combo, to wipe out the entire group with ease.
With Strong-Maned Pig tanking, Lin Mo did not need to worry about being mobbed.
Even if he was surrounded, Strong-Maned Pig would transfer 90% of the damage. Lin Mo had no fear of being one-shot!
"Ancestral–tier pets really are insane!"
While marveling, Lin Mo unleashed full firepower, slaughtering Giant Lizards and farming Poison Gas Bottles.
Just then, a forced message panel suddenly popped up in front of both Lin Mo and Ning Xi—
[Hero of Troubled Times (Lv22 Warrior · Wealth Ranking No.1): "Chaotic World Guild recruiting experts level 30+ or talents D-rank and above. Join and enjoy a 50,000 monthly salary, plus bonuses and commissions. Limited spots, PM if interested."]
Seeing the message, Lin Mo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"10 gold coins per message. A full-area forced broadcast lasting only 3 seconds?"
"One message costs over 80,000 RMB. Wang Junjie, you're really willing to spend."
Ning Xi sensed danger, "Wang Junjie kicked everyone from his guild and is now recruiting high-level players again. He's definitely not giving up. He must still be planning to get revenge on you, Brother Lin Mo."
After a pause, she looked at Lin Mo and asked, "Brother Lin Mo, do you know that if an NPC dies in Divine Oracle, the employer gets penalized?"
"I know," Lin Mo replied, "For every NPC that dies, the employer suffers the equivalent of dying once."
One reason Lin Mo maxed out the City Lord's trial missions and secured full military authority was precisely because of this rule.
He not only wanted to use the army to counter Chaotic World Guild, but also to ensure the army's safety.
The more soldiers he had, the higher the safety margin.
Ning Xi frowned slightly, "I have a feeling that this time, Wang Junjie might not be targeting you directly, but your NPC army."
Lin Mo had already considered that possibility.
But he was not worried.
Even if Wang Junjie gathered first-tier players from Blazing Ember City.
A bunch of level 30 second-job players still could not stand against a thousand level 50 NPCs.
Unless Wang Junjie could mobilize all three million players in the city.
But even as the richest man in Ning'an City, Wang Junjie did not have that kind of influence.
Of course, Lin Mo still needed to prepare thoroughly.
This NPC army was a double-edged sword.
"Once I clear the remaining two dungeons, I'll hand military authority back to the City Lord."
Before that, Lin Mo still needed this army to guard against Wang Junjie's threats.
So he sped up farming Poison Gas Bottles, aiming to clear the remaining dungeons as soon as possible.
———
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Blazing Ember City, after Wang Junjie sent the forced broadcast, private messages flooded in:
[Invincible Under Heaven (Male, Lv30 Second-Job Berserker, Heavenly Ranking No.98): "50k monthly salary? For real? If it's legit, I'll leave my current guild and join you!"]
[Seven Times a Night (Male, Lv27 Assassin): "My level's a bit low, but I have D-rank talent! Bro, can I join?"]
[So Much Water (Female, Lv25 Priest): "Hero bro, my level and talent don't meet the requirements, but I have a special skill that'll definitely satisfy you. Let me join your guild and I'll let you try it~"]
Just as Wang Junjie locked onto the priest named So Much Water and eagerly prepared to reply, Chaotic World Zhuge noticed immediately and stopped him, "Brother Jie, stop fooling around."
"If we want success this time, we absolutely cannot have any distractions."
"If we want to use that NPC army to crush Rulebound in one go, we need to build strength fast."
Reluctantly, Wang Junjie closed the chat window with So Much Water.
Under Chaotic World Zhuge's screening, they filtered out unqualified applicants.
"Our previous Chaotic World Guild had numbers, but they were all weak trash. Huge investment, zero real combat value."
Chaotic World Zhuge adjusted his glasses and analyzed seriously, "This time, we focus resources. Like Dragon Soul Guild, we build an elite force."
"The gap before and after second-job advancement is huge. If we recruit a batch of level 30+ players who've learned their ultimates, then concentrate resources on them, even if we can't wipe out Rulebound's level 50 NPC army—"
"We can still cripple them. Break a few of his fingers. That's guaranteed."
As Chaotic World Zhuge finished speaking, Wang Junjie snorted coldly, "Break a few fingers? That's too cheap for him."
"This time, I'll cut off his entire damn thing!"
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