Reborn as the Vampire Prince at Server Start, I am Invincible-Chapter 65 : Monster Siege (9)

Monster Siege (9)
"Captain! There are more and more elite monsters nearby; we've been sold out!"
The voice of a teammate came through his ear.
Hearing this, the young man instantly froze, his consciousness gradually awakening from the frenzy of slaughter.
He slowly lifted his head and looked around, only to see a dark mass—rows upon rows of ferocious-looking large goblins, flexing their muscles and cracking their knuckles, eyeing him with evil grins.
He suddenly felt his mouth go dry, licked his lips, and asked hoarsely, "Where's that silver-haired girl...？Did she die already? What about the monsters she attracted—why did they all end up coming our way?"
"She just gave us a little smile, then ran off!"
The teammate beside him looked ready to cry.
"Damn it, that bitch. Let's retreat too!"
Upon hearing this, the captain finally panicked. He cursed under his breath and tried to turn and make his escape.
However, they all had been completely absorbed in racking up experience at lightning speed and hadn't noticed any changes in their surroundings at all.
Unbeknownst to them, their group of twenty people had already been thoroughly enveloped by the large goblins, with all paths of retreat completely cut off in every direction.
Ask yourself, what does it feel like to be completely surrounded by hundreds of large goblins, all armed with clubs and built like bodybuilders?
From a great distance away, Chen Zixuan could already hear a chorus of wails and anguished screams rising behind him—each one more tragic than the last. It was enough to break your heart and bring tears to your eyes.
Heartbreaking? Absolutely devastating!
The silver-haired girl's shoulders shook with barely suppressed laughter.
Then she gently pursed her lips, revealing a serenely merciful smile.
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From the very beginning, Chen Zixuan had never considered himself a good person.
On the contrary, he was bad—a cunning kind of badness, hidden deep inside.
In these times, people always say "suffering loss is a blessing," and many even treat this phrase as a personal life motto, earnestly living by it.
Whenever they're wronged or treated unfairly, they just laugh it off, never quarreling with others.
Yet, few people realize that those so-called clever folks use this phrase precisely to fool the gullible.
If someone must always be the one to suffer losses, then where have all the fortunate ones gone?
Chen Zixuan himself rather liked a passage once mentioned in a book by Wang Xiaobo.
They say pain is the wellspring of art, yet only the pain of others is the source of art; if it is you who suffers, you simply become the material for others' art.
Given the choice, Chen Zixuan would surely rather be the one not suffering.
If others treated him sincerely, he would, of course, do the same in return.
But that squad hadn't even bothered to greet him before trying to use him to pull monsters his way. Naturally, he showed no courtesy in return—he turned on his heel and walked away, and thoughtfully left them with a farewell "present."
Thinking of those people's desperate shouts, the silver-haired girl found her mood improving immensely.
Humming a tune, she strolled leisurely through the sea of monsters, taking off an elite monster's head with a casual slash from time to time.
At this pace, in just a few more minutes, she should be able to reach level 7...
Meanwhile, several hundred meters away, on another battlefield, another team was fiercely battling a group of large goblins.
At the center of a group fawning over him was a man dressed in a riot of colors.
A crimson chainmail shirt, deep blue pants, olive green plate boots, and an obsidian black longsword—anyone could tell at a glance that this was a patchwork "discount set," assembled from bargains, which both showcased the man's robust spending power and made him look like a comical clown.
Still, even if the colors clashed horribly, it was nonetheless a full set of blue-rarity equipment.
The impressive attributes still made him as formidable as a war god, managing to single-handedly hold off three large goblins at once.
After striking down one of the large goblins, his throat moved slightly. Suddenly, a shrill roar burst out from his mouth, and as the soundwave swept out, all the surrounding monsters suddenly slowed.
[War Cry], a blue-rank skill of the Warrior class, could weaken monsters' attacks in an area and also slow their attack and movement speed.
Seeing the large goblins debuffed, the teammates behind him instantly swarmed in—spellcasters hurled spells while archers shot arrows, quickly reducing the goblins to a mangled mess of flesh on the ground.
"System prompt: you have reached level 5..."
Hearing the system notification in his ear, Dragon Abyss rubbed his faintly sore throat and gave a scornful snort.
I finally reached level 5. Cecilia, let's see what you have to fight me with now!
You'd better hope I don't run into you in this event, or there won't be any mercy for you!
This event was perfect for seasoned squads with tight teamwork.
Their fighting power was nothing to scoff at—on the contrary, they were quite formidable. Whether it was the leader's strategy or the members' discipline, they left average players in the dust.
On the very first day after the game's launch, it was only their lack of adaptation to the brutal realism of combat mechanics, combined with under-leveled gear and the rush to claim the world's first BOSS kill, that left them struggling with a rough start.
But this event fit them perfectly, filling in the gap in their experience bar. The tidal wave of monsters became the best possible source of XP.
In just a few minutes, the number of monsters encountered exceeded what they'd usually see grinding in the wild zone all day long.
As long as players could survive the initial onslaught, experience flooded in like a tidal wave.
In almost no time, many leveled-up to level 3 or even 4.
Dragon Abyss, already high-level to begin with, had been power-leveled to 3 by the squad, and then targeted only elite monsters, so his upgrade speed was even faster: he directly shot to level 5.
Taking advantage of the brief respite to recover energy, Dragon Abyss downed a health potion, and his lost HP slowly began to regenerate.
While such rapid leveling was great, his equipment and weapon durability was plummeting just as fast.
Looking at his remaining gear durability, even Dragon Abyss felt a twinge in his heart.
The set of equipment he was wearing was altogether worth more than a million, but barely thirty minutes into this event, over half the durability was already gone.
At this rate, another two hours and this million-level blue gear would likely be completely trashed.
Just two hours to burn through such expensive gear, and this was only the starter equipment—Dragon Abyss had never played a game so costly.
Still, thinking of the rewards he could expect from this event, his mood brightened.
Barring any accidents, everyone in their squad should reach around level 5, and he himself might hit 6.
As for that Cecilia, she was probably still clearing her red name status out in the wilds, right?
He wondered what expression she would have when she saw him next.
Just imagining that scene was enough to make him look forward to it...