Chapter 43 : Chapter 43
Chapter 43: I Think Your Position Suits Me Quite Well
Everyone turned to look.
The one who had spoken was a sturdily built young man.
He had a flat haircut, a faint trace of stubble, and a sharply chiseled face. His eyes were bright and piercing.
"Vanguard Squad. We're short one person right now."
As he spoke, the burly captain extended a broad hand toward Li Mu.
Li Mu shook his hand and introduced himself. "Li Mu."
"Ma Jun!"
The burly captain gave his own name as well, then turned and introduced the other three teammates behind him one by one.
Coincidentally enough, there was also a pretty girl in this squad.
And in terms of figure, looks, and bearing, this female soldier was far superior to the woman from Loyalty and Righteousness Squad.
She was beautiful enough to be startling.
There was a heroic air between her brows as well.
Her cultivation was actually Third Grade Realm too, one full grade higher than the woman from Loyalty and Righteousness Squad.
Within Vanguard Squad, only the captain, Ma Jun, and this beautiful female soldier named Zhao Meiting were in the Third Grade Realm.
The other two were both at the peak of the Second Grade Realm.
When they introduced themselves, they even mentioned their weapons and talent types, which showed clear sincerity.
Li Mu agreed to join Vanguard Squad on the spot.
The young woman at the counter quickly added Li Mu to Ma Jun's squad.
In truth, any soldier could form a team through a tactical watch.
If someone designated himself as the captain, then he could freely assign up to four teammates and could even accept missions remotely.
But many squads were not fixed forever.
For most people, it was very difficult to find four teammates who got along perfectly and worked together with complete understanding.
So the mission area was basically a talent market.
Everyone gathered there to find teammates who could fill the gaps in their squads.
The entire process of Li Mu joining Vanguard Squad
was watched from the side by Loyalty and Righteousness Squad.
And when they saw Zhao Meiting from Vanguard Squad, the pretty woman from Loyalty and Righteousness Squad was filled with endless jealousy.
Then, when she saw them take Li Mu into the squad, the female soldier from Loyalty and Righteousness Squad curled her lip and let out a mocking laugh.
Unfortunately for her, the members of Vanguard Squad, including Li Mu, chatted and laughed as they left the mission counter.
Not one of them noticed her deliberate little performance.
After leaving the base hall, the group went straight to the Portal area.
Portals were divided into Random Portals and Fixed Portals.
However, the destination of both kinds of Portals was a Safe Zone.
Even when carrying out Blind-Zone Exploration missions, soldiers still expanded outward step by step from a Safe Zone.
The group used point-to-point teleportation and arrived in the Second Grade sweep zone.
The moment they entered the operational zone, all of them drew their weapons at the same time.
Ma Jun used a broad, heavy saber. It was over a meter and thirty long and nearly two palm-widths wide.
It looked extremely weighty.
As for Zhao Meiting, her weapon was actually a longbow.
She was a ranged attacker.
Of the remaining two, one was named Zhang He, and his weapon was a spear.
The other was named Song Biao, and his weapon was a single-edged saber.
The group first checked their surroundings on alert.
Only then did they each summon their warhorses.
The warhorses of Ma Jun and the others looked a full size smaller than Li Mu's.
When everyone saw Li Mu's warhorse, they all cried out in surprise at once.
"Damn! Brother, not bad. That's a Premium one, isn't it?"
Zhang He could not hide his envy. He could not help wanting to reach out and touch Yaogu.
"Yeah, Premium."
Li Mu chuckled but did not reveal that his warhorse was actually Special-Grade.
Zhao Meiting, meanwhile, stared at the cloak on Li Mu's back with shining eyes.
"That cloak of yours... is it the Size-Shifting Cloak? A Premium Spirit Treasure!"
"Uh... you've seen it before?"
Li Mu was rather surprised. Was this woman really that knowledgeable?
Zhao Meiting nodded. "I saw it in the Premium Spirit Treasure section. I think you need over 360 Merit before you're allowed to buy it..."
After Zhao Meiting said that, the others all looked at Li Mu meaningfully.
"Just got lucky. I happened to make a small contribution."
Li Mu laughed it off.
The others simply smiled and let the matter pass. Going any deeper would have been impolite.
It only showed that Li Mu was capable, and as his teammates, they were happy about that before anything else.
Zhao Meiting smiled faintly and said no more.
There was actually one more thing she had not said. She liked that cloak very much.
When she had first seen it in the Premium Spirit Treasure section, she had already set it as her goal.
She had not expected Li Mu to get it first.
But there was no way for her to say something like that now.
It would make it seem as though she were coveting someone else's Spirit Treasure.
Ma Jun checked his tactical watch, then tugged on his horse's reins and pointed in one direction.
"This way. There's a Red Zone ahead. Our target is to clear it down to Yellow."
The colors here referred to monster density.
From low to high, the density levels were Green, Yellow, Red, and Black.
The examination zones went no higher than Yellow.
So what they needed to do now was kill enough monsters in this Red Zone to reduce it to Yellow. That naturally meant a large number of squads were already operating in the area.
At Ma Jun's command, the warhorses immediately broke into a sprint.
They had not gone far before they encountered monsters.
The monsters in this area were a kind of hyena-like creature covered in bulging muscle.
They were called Dirt Hounds and were at the peak of the Second Grade Realm.
They were enormous. The smaller ones were close to two meters, and the largest could reach four or five meters.
These hyena-shaped monsters had extremely thick hind legs and could run upright.
For someone like Li Mu, who had come from Earth, the sight even felt a little eerie!
What kind of grotesque scene was it when a hyena stood upright and ran around with muscles more swollen than a gorilla's?
Especially when these monsters appeared, their gaze toward the warhorses was even greedier than the way they looked at Li Mu and the others.
"Dismount!"
Ma Jun shouted, and everyone dismounted at once and recalled their warhorses.
All five attacked together.
When a lion hunted a rabbit, it still used its full strength. That was the first law of the Abyss!
If you thought you could rely on a warhorse's charge, swing your weapon, and kill a monster of the same level in one stroke, that was foolish beyond measure. Monsters had countless ways to flip your warhorse over, then take your life while you were sprawled on the ground.
Ma Jun was the first to leap forward and slash with his saber.
The Dirt Hound viciously bit toward the blade. Although the corner of its mouth was sliced wide open, it still clamped down hard on the saber and twisted its body wildly, nearly pulling Ma Jun off balance.
Ma Jun roared and stomped his left foot hard into the ground.
Relying on sheer strength, he yanked the saber back and at the same time dragged the Dirt Hound into a stagger.
Zhang He followed up with his spear, thrusting straight at the Dirt Hound's head.
The Dirt Hound forcibly twisted its off-balance body and barely managed to evade the strike.
But Zhang He flashed aside, and from behind him a flying arrow suddenly shot forth!
The arrow let out a wailing wind as it tore through the air.
The Dirt Hound had no way to dodge this time. The arrow struck directly into its right eye!
"Awooo! Awooo!~~"
The Dirt Hound rolled on the ground, howling madly, and then its head was cleaved off by a fully charged heavy saber strike.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Li Mu had not even had time to step in.
These three clearly had not cooperated for the first time. Their teamwork was smooth, tight, clean, and decisive.
Li Mu had seen it very clearly. The final charged slash from Ma Jun's heavy saber was also Iron-Cleaving Form.
But when Zhang He attacked, wind had swirled within a certain range around him.
As long as allies were within that range, their attack speed seemed to increase noticeably.
Zhang He's talent had some support properties.
It made Ma Jun's Iron-Cleaving Form faster and easier to land. It really was an excellent match.
"The only thing on this Dirt Hound worth any money is the hide."
Ma Jun turned back to the others and put away his heavy saber.
"Whoever wants it can skin it. Too much trouble for too little."
Then he summoned his warhorse.
Naturally, the others did not want it either, and they all swung themselves back into the saddle.
Li Mu guessed that aside from himself, even if these four had Storage Rings, they probably were not very large.
Skinning a blood-soaked hound hide that would not even sell for a few hundred and then having nowhere to put it
really was not worth it.
Ma Jun looked at Li Mu.
"Team combat is all about coordination. Watch a few more kills and find your position in the fight."
Li Mu nodded.
In that last battle, Ma Jun had been responsible for opening the attack and standing at the front to hold the monster in place.
Zhang He attacked. If his attack missed, Zhao Meiting followed with precise ranged fire to wound the monster heavily, and then Ma Jun delivered the finishing blow.
Their division of labor was crystal clear.
Ma Jun wanted Li Mu to figure out where he fit within the team's formation.
The group mounted up and continued charging toward their target area.
Every time they encountered a monster, Ma Jun and the others worked together flawlessly. Even Song Biao had made two attacks.
After they killed the sixth monster, the group mounted up again.
Only then did Ma Jun ask Li Mu, "So, what do you think? Which position suits you? You should get moving on the next monster."
Li Mu pointed at Ma Jun.
"Your position."