As time passed, the number of Dragonfang Soldiers that had initially surged like a tidal wave began to dwindle.
At first, a single arrow could pierce through more than ten of them in one shot—but now, most arrows could only manage to kill one at a time.
This monster-farming feast was nearing its end.
Bai Qiu soon realized that due to the overlapping effects of the Sword of Hatred and the [King of Monster Grinding] achievement, the Dragonfang Soldiers were charging at him with suicidal frenzy—some of those too far away even collapsed midway from exhaustion…
Just like ordinary humans who can only sprint at full speed for about twenty seconds before running out of breath, the Dragonfang Soldiers also had limits to their stamina.
Long-distance, high-speed flight was a serious strain for them!
Unlike last night's passive waiting, Bai Qiu now had long-range attack capabilities.
With the Triple Arcane Crystallized Eyes enhancing his vision, his hit rate was nearly perfect.
Whenever a monster entered within 800 meters, he would immediately take the shot.
As for why he didn't start attacking from farther away—it was mainly because beyond that range, he might not be able to automatically retrieve the drops.
An 800-meter radius was just right for both efficiency and recovery.
Before long, after a frenzy of relentless shooting, Bai Qiu realized in astonishment that he had practically wiped out every monster in the area.
He even had to pause for a couple of seconds now and then, waiting for new Dragonfang Soldiers to enter range.
"Well, fine then. I'll just finish off this Dragonfang General and move to the next spot," Bai Qiu muttered, turning his gaze toward the pinned-down Dragonfang General—only to freeze in surprise.
It was gone.
Wait—there was no blood on the ground…
When Bai Qiu opened his mission interface to check his progress, he was stunned to see:
Kill the Ten Dragonfang Generals: 5/10.
So, it must have died from struggling too much.
Although he'd intentionally avoided vital spots, constant struggling could still cause massive bleeding and death.
Bai Qiu didn't dwell on it.
He pulled out all the Darksteel arrows embedded in the floor and packed them away, along with the Sword of Hatred.
Then he took out a Stamina Recovery Potion and a Mana Recovery Potion and downed them both in one go.
Time was short, and the mission was critical!
He opened the map, located his next target, and—after confirming the direction—leapt straight off the rooftop!
Of course, it wasn't that his body was so tough that he could survive a fall from dozens of floors—rather, he was bounding from rooftop to rooftop, traversing the city's skyline in swift, calculated movements.
And he had every reason to feel confident.
First of all—his strength.
As long as he wasn't dropping from the top floor straight to the ground, a gap of ten or so levels didn't bother him.
After all, he'd already learned how to manipulate externalized magic to assist his movements.
In short—his margin for error was huge.
Meanwhile, just as Bai Qiu left that building's rooftop, another scene unfolded at a different safe zone's Black Tower…
"[Sage], that person's gone," said a cat-eared girl softly.
The one she addressed as "[Sage]" was a dark-skinned middle-aged man, who stared intently toward the distant building.
"It seems that a remarkable adventurer has appeared in Onipur's sector…"
"Our side hasn't even produced a single adventurer who can complete the mission," the cat-eared girl said irritably, puffing her cheeks.
"And that guy's already farming Dragonfang Generals to the point they're spilling into our territory!"
The Sage chuckled faintly. "Still, it's far better than not having any outstanding adventurers at all. At the very least, having someone from this world's humanity complete the mission of slaying ten Dragonfang Generals ensures that the three surrounding sanctuaries won't fall in the first wave of the monster tide."
There are differences between people—and likewise, there are differences between sanctuaries.
..........
In the middle of the night, inside a single dorm room within an industrial park, a haggard-looking woman sat on the windowsill, gazing out at the world beyond.
Because she hadn't turned on the lights, and the sunshade curtains were drawn with only a small slit left open, no Dragonfang Soldiers had discovered her yet.
But ever since the calamity struck, all her coworkers in the factory had either fled or died, leaving her completely alone.
Now, her food supplies were almost gone, and still, no one had come to rescue her.
After the catastrophe, every military force in the world went silent — as if they had vanished from the face of the earth.
Without killing monsters, she couldn't level up or grow stronger.
As the monsters' levels rose and her malnourished body grew weaker from lack of food, the inevitable result was a slow, drawn-out death.
She had studied the map and even tried chatting in the cross-district channels, but no one responded.
Either they were too far away to help, barely surviving themselves, or simply ignored her — for the calamity had only magnified the indifference of human society.
Now, the Dragonfang Soldiers outside had grown stronger and larger, their fangs longer, their power greater — and their numbers ever increasing.
She could no longer see any hope of survival.
Just as despair began to consume her, a shadow suddenly caught her eye.
A figure — surrounded by a faint red glow — was leaping and climbing up the buildings below, moving swiftly between floors.
Naturally, such movement made some noise, and the Dragonfang Soldiers screamed as they rushed toward it.
Yet that figure didn't stop for even a moment — continuing to climb upward.
Those foolish enough to stand in his way met a grim fate — even a mere collision with his body was enough to kill them, their forms dissolving into white light upon death!
What was that?
At that moment, Zhou Wenhui was struck with a mix of fear and awe.
Her eyes locked on the mysterious silhouette against the night sky.
"Screeeech—!"
Before long, a chilling scream echoed from the top of the tallest building in the industrial park.
The shadowed figure stepped toward the rooftop's edge, and countless monsters roared and surged toward him from all directions.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Zhou Wenhui's night vision was poor, and with the sunshade curtain still drawn, she couldn't clearly see what was happening outside.
Yet from the faint bursts of light when monsters died, she could tell — some mysterious being had arrived, slaughtering the creatures mercilessly.
She wanted to pull back the curtain for a clearer look, but fear paralyzed her.
The sheer number and density of the monsters outside were suffocating.
They covered the sky, an endless dark swarm rushing toward the lone figure like moths to a flame — and yet, not a single one managed to get close.
Only the relentless sound of bowstrings, roaring through the night like a storm, echoed across the dark sky.
A thousand meters above the industrial park, a magician-merchant hovered in the air, watching the young man's brilliant display below with astonishment.
"Remarkable… though he's classified as a Lancer, his shooting precision is extraordinary. And that Triple Arcane Crystallized Eyes— he only learned it tonight, didn't he? Yet he's already mastered it this well… and that flow of magical energy around him…"
"Such talent is rare even across the entire planet. I wonder if he has the potential to become a true Magus…" the magician murmured thoughtfully.
Then, in the blink of an eye, his figure vanished into the sea of clouds.