Xu Jingming and the other four transformed into five streams of light that landed in the wilderness.
Huh? Xu Jingming looked ahead. In the vast wilderness, there was a massive alien army in the distance.
“Team Pearwood, you can be indefinitely provided with weapons and equipment in the preliminaries, but your stamina and injuries won’t be replenished by the system before the preliminaries end. Please consider the allocation of your stamina.” A voice echoed in the ears of Xu Jingming and the others. “In five minutes, the orc army up ahead will launch an attack! What you need to do is completely wipe out the orc army.”
“The orc army has a total of 1,000 orc soldiers. The number of soldiers killed by all the participating teams will be announced simultaneously!”
“Killing all the orc soldiers is considered as wiping out the orc army.”
“Remember, only the 30 teams that finish the fastest will enter the main competition.”
Xu Jingming and the others immediately started preparing their weapons and equipment.
“Five people against an army?” Wang Yi said. “Thankfully, we have unlimited supplies of weapons and equipment. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to carry so many arrows.”
“Consider the allocation of stamina,” Xu Jingming said. “Everyone has to wear armor; don’t wear leather armor. I can see that… many of the orc army’s cavalry carry bows and arrows.”
“They are cavalry archers.” Yang Qingshuo nodded seriously. “And there’s heavy cavalry. What are those generals riding? What huge mounts!”
Xu Jingming and the others carefully observed the orc army in the distance as they selected their equipment and weapons.
The orcs had brown skin and ugly faces, and the army mostly consisted of foot soldiers! There were also snow wolf light cavalry with bows and arrows and the even more terrifying heavy cavalry. There were also a few generals that could be vaguely seen riding massive drakes.
The orc army was also observing the five humans. The general had already begun giving instructions to his subordinates.
…
The number of viewers in China’s official livestream exceeded 1 billion! It could be said that most people in China were watching China’s official livestream late at night.
“821 Divine teams,” Liu Xin said. “Every Divine team needs to wipe out an orc army. Only the 30 teams that finish the fastest will enter the main competition; they will have a chance to fight the team led by Teacher Liu Hai and Teacher Lei Yunfang.”
“This preliminaries’ mechanism is quite interesting,” Liu Hai nodded and evaluated. “The number of soldiers killed by all the participating teams is synchronized and publicized. This means that every team knows the number of kills the other teams have accomplished. Even teams that are hiding their strength… have to ensure that they are in the top 30!”
“A team that isn’t in the top 30 needs to take greater risks and put their lives on the line. Otherwise, they will still be eliminated even if they wipe out the orc army.” Lei Yunfang nodded. “Moreover, it looks like this orc army isn’t easy to deal with.”
“Teachers, I can give some tidbits.” Liu Xin looked at the information in her hand and smiled. “The orc army is designed to be at a difficulty that will wipe out most Divine teams, and the clearance rate will be controlled at about 10%.”
“10%?” Liu Hai and Lei Yunfang nodded slightly.
“If one takes risks to pursue speed, the clearance rate might decrease further,” Liu Xin said. “Of course, there will still be 30 passing teams! Please believe in the virtual world system’s deduction abilities.”
“Alright, the orc army’s attack has officially begun!” Liu Xin looked at the livestream behind her.
******
There was no cover in the wilderness.
On one side was Xu Jingming and company, while on the other side was the orc army.
“Countdown to the orc army’s attack: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6… 3, 2, 1!”
The moment the countdown ended—
A general from the orc army in the distance pointed his sword at Xu Jingming and the others and issued an order in Orcish.
Immediately, the orc foot soldiers charged over amidst a rumble. At the same time, the snow wolf light cavalry started moving. These light cavalry soldiers were divided into two groups as they carried out a pincer attack on Xu Jingming and the others.
Whoosh!
The snow wolf light cavalry on both sides raised their bows and shot out arrows simultaneously.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The arrows rained down!
Xu Jingming and the other three finally experienced what it was like to suffer raining arrows. The moment those 300 arrows came falling from the sky, Xu Jingming and the others moved, unwilling to be live targets. Dozens of arrows also landed in their area.
“Raise your shields.” Xu Jingming, Liu Chongyuan, Heng Fang, and Yang Qingshuo raised their shields, completely blocking the area above them and protecting the entire team.
There was a crackling sound as arrows struck their leg armor, producing clanking sounds.
“Thankfully, they are ordinary arrows. If it were an armor-piercing arrow shot by a Divine sharpshooter, we would be in trouble,” Yang Qingshuo said.
“If all 300 cavalry archers were comparable to Divine sharpshooters, only Captain might be able to put up a fight. We’d all be finished,” Heng Fang said.
“The foot soldiers will be on us in a while. Sister Yi, it’s up to you then,” Xu Jingming said.
“Don’t worry.” Wang Yi nodded.
After suppressing them with three waves of arrows, the orc infantry finally arrived. The arrows in the distance also stopped; otherwise, firing another wave of arrows would implicate those foot soldiers.
“Incoming!” Xu Jingming and Liu Chongyuan held two shields each and were in charge of protecting the team—mainly Sharpshooter Wang Yi! There were too many orc soldiers, so it was more appropriate for the two of them to use shields simultaneously.
Heng Fang held a lance while Yang Qingshuo held a silver spear—the two of them were in charge of killing the nearby orc soldiers.
Roar!
These orc soldiers roared and charged over. Instantly, more than ten orc soldiers attacked simultaneously.
Most of them stabbed out with spears! At the same time, they threw out chain hammers and axes, all of which crashed down on Xu Jingming and the others.
Boom! Boom!
Xu Jingming blocked with his two shields, and with a jolt, the orcs on the left staggered back while the orcs on the right fell. The two shields Liu Chongyuan held were even larger, blocking a group of orc soldiers.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Wang Yi began to fire rapidly with her bow. She only drew the bow halfway before firing, shooting three arrows every time!
Three arrows shot out simultaneously! In the blink of an eye, nine arrows had shot out!
The most terrifying thing was that every arrow stabbed into the head of an orc soldier.
Wang Yi was expressionless. Every time she drew arrows and shot, there was a rhythm to it. Only when the quiver emptied did she pause for a moment before retrieving another from the virtual world system. She spent the rest of her time shooting mercilessly.
“Sister Yi is amazing,” Yang Qingshuo shouted.
“Sister Yi, you’re impressive,” Heng Fang said with a smile. He held his lance, and Yang Qingshuo was in charge of killing some orc soldiers that were coming close due to their charge.
As Wang Yi rapidly slaughtered the soldiers with her bow and arrows, Heng Fang and Yang Qingshuo naturally found it much easier. Xu Jingming and Liu Chongyuan only needed to protect their teammates.
Whoosh!
A large number of orc soldiers kept charging at Xu Jingming’s team like waves, coming wave after wave! They wanted to wipe out Xu Jingming’s team completely.
Team Pearwood was like a reef under the impact of huge waves, blocking the orcs’ frenzied attacks.
Xu Jingming looked up.
The number of soldiers killed by all the teams was displayed high in the sky.
1st: Team Zhou Yi (Captain: Zhou Yi), Number of enemies killed: 205
2nd: Team Fairydance (Captain: Zhang Qing), Number of enemies killed: 183
…
5th: Team Pearwood (Captain: Xu Jingming), Number of enemies killed: 152
6th: Team Heavenly Note (Captain: Zhuang Ziyu), Number of enemies killed: 139
…
10th: Team Golden Roc (Captain: Tie Lianyun), Number of enemies killed: 123
11th: Team Shield & Ax (Captain Xiong Tianshan), Number of enemies killed: 122
…
19th: Team Urim (Captain: Fang Yu), Number of enemies killed: 98
…
33rd: Team White Horse (Captain: Zheng Bailong), Number of enemies killed: 69
…
821st: Team Happy (Captain: Pang Yun), Number of enemies killed: 12
The number of enemies killed by all the teams kept jumping in the sky, and the ranking of the teams kept changing. Most teams focused on the top 30.