My Players Are So Fierce

Chapter 223:

Miaomiao Shark’s ideal is to become a “Beast King”!

Well, there’s currently no such profession specialization in this game, so he settled for becoming an excellent vampire midnight hunter beast tamer.

Although for vampire hunters who can fly, whether or not they have a war beast at their disposal is not a necessary factor, due to some stubborn cognition, Miaomiao Shark feels that hunters without pets are nothing.

He has a “Pet Expert” character trait, probably because he’s been helping out in his family’s pet shop since childhood, and has been eager to catch a baby pet to play with since entering the game. He even wanted to collaborate with his little rich brother Feel You Poor earlier to see if they could get a manticore from the sewers.

It wasn’t until the witch hunters of the White Oak Battalion arrived in Transia that he learned that on this continent, no beast tamer has yet been able to tame giant creatures like manticores.

Or rather, the intelligence and wildness of beasts above the giant creature template are too strong, making it impossible for them to be tamed by simple beast taming techniques.

Even the elf hunters who are closest to natural creatures can only tame beasts up to the large beast size at most.

This once made Miaomiao Shark very regretful, but after unexpectedly finding four newborn hyena pups during today’s gnoll hunt, this regret quickly turned into satisfaction.

“Awooo”

The hyenas’ calls are quite strange and unpleasant, even the pups are noisy. These calls, when heard too often, sound like human laughter, not only making one’s hair stand on end but also easily raising blood pressure.

Therefore, when Miaomiao Shark brought the four little beasts back to the student party’s temporary camp, he was constantly criticized by others.

“Say, how can your taste be so strange?”

Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche, who was wiping his staff nearby waiting for sunset to go on another killing spree, couldn’t help but mock:

“If you say you can’t catch good pets, don’t rush. Wait until we level up and can leave the newbie village, we brothers will get you a leopard or a tiger or lion to bring along, how cool would that be? If worse comes to worst, learn from Lord Murphy and catch a bird, that’s not bad either.

Look, a hunter with a falcon, how cool!

You insist on catching a few hyenas

These things are ugly as hell, and they’re not good-natured. Be careful they might bite you back, I’ve heard these bloodthirsty hyenas are blood relatives of the gnolls, they might not be tameable.”

“You’re just talking nonsense! I specifically asked Bursting Belly, he told me that if raised well, hyenas can be very loyal.”

Miaomiao Shark ignored Cheche’s nonsense.

He took out meat strips from his spirit bag, tore them into pieces, added some water and bread crumbs to make a paste, and fed it to the four little hyenas crawling around his feet.

His movements in taking care of these little ones were very skillful, clearly an old hand at raising pets.

Beside him was a handbook on beast taming from the witch hunters, which not only described in detail the techniques of using nature spirit energy to gain the approval and following of beasts, but also had a section specifically collecting the habits of various beasts currently on the continent.

Miaomiao Shark teased the four little hyenas with his fingers and said with a pout:

“I got a book from the witch hunters, it says that even by the most picky standards, bloodthirsty hyenas are excellent war beasts. They are loyal and brave, dedicated and united, and among the most intelligent of medium-sized beasts.

They also know how to use tactics and can form good cooperation with hunters.

Many hunters, when traveling, would go to the Dark Mountains wanting to obtain their own bloodthirsty hyena.

It’s just that these creatures live alongside gnolls and only recognize one master in their lifetime, making it very difficult for other races to get purebred cubs, which is why they are so rare.

I just checked, among my four little doggies, there’s one female. I can cultivate her into a hyena queen, this way, I can have my own hyena pack. Then I’ll be a hunting squad all by myself.

Do you understand how valuable this is?”

“I understand, I understand, who dares not to understand the title of African Hyena?”

Cheche yawned.

He’s a standard “looks dog”, obviously not interested in ugly beasts like bloodthirsty hyenas. Of course, if they could turn into bipedal beast furry people, he might give them a few glances.

“It’s almost dusk! It’s time for Cheche’s killing spree!”

Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche looked up at the slanting sky. This daytime is too torturous for vampires, he was listless even though he was wrapped up tightly, and he didn’t dare to look at the real-time refreshing score pool on the character interface.

Currently, the competition for the “Super Killer King” at the top is extremely fierce, Sister Pomegranate and Brother Mao are like in a competition, one moment you surpass me, the next I surpass you.

They have forcefully created a gap with the third place.

Now Sister Pomegranate’s score is 58, Brother Mao is 61, and the third place East River Lion’s Roar is only 38 points, not to mention the brothers behind.

Both Sister Pomegranate and Brother Mao have their own teams, and basically only Black Iron rank elites can ensure they achieve such godlike results. These two groups are each guarding a small gnoll nest in battle, but other players don’t have such good conditions.

They can only follow around Onboard Joy Stick’s “Crimson Hammer and Sickle Team”, waiting for Stick Brother to command his brothers to break through the defenses of a medium-sized gnoll nest, and then everyone rushes in to grab kills.

There are still few players, so everyone generally adopts a very clever strategy.

First, they take out the small and medium-sized gnoll nests in the Baroness of Shadows’ territory, then go to gnaw at those large nests with over a hundred members.

But even so, today’s harvest still extremely shocked the Civilian Protection Officer Kudel, who serves as the commander of the encirclement operation, to the point of horror.

What’s wrong with Murphy’s warriors?

Don’t they feel tired?

They are so enthusiastic about killing, each like a barbarian berserker from the Ice Bay region. Not only those well-equipped Black Iron rank veterans, but even the recruits wearing squire leather armor can hold their ground and never retreat when facing dangerous gnolls.

And once the opponent shows any signs of collapse, these guys will immediately and extremely fiercely swarm up, defeating the enemy with decisive and dangerous melee combat to the accompaniment of some strange and sharp instrumental music.

What shocked Kudel the most was not how exquisite these warriors’ techniques were, nor how frightening their courage was, but that kind of frenzy, the indescribable frenzy displayed in battle.

It seems that in their understanding, death is as simple and normal a physiological activity as eating and drinking, not worth fearing, not even worth caring about.

This was a strange emotion that Kudel had never seen in his human lifetime plus the long hundred years of vampire life.

It was as if…

As if what was in front of them were not ugly and barbaric gnolls, but walking humanoid treasures.

“How many?”

Kudel, riding on his bright red warhorse, which was specially selected for him by the Adventurer’s Guild as the most magnificent demon-hunting steed, with added horse armor, making his warhorse look like a ferocious tank, asked the administrative officer sent by Baroness Miriam beside him. The latter looked at the notebook in his hand and the large pile of bloody gnoll fangs, claws, and blood-stained tails placed nearby. This glorious Transian civil servant shrank his neck and said softly:

“From dawn until now near dusk, in 8 hours we’ve killed 557 ordinary gnolls, 36 Black Iron individuals, 7 elite leaders, captured 2 gnoll chieftains alive, and destroyed a total of 13 medium and small-sized nests.

The number of killed kobold Black Iron individuals has also reached 60, 9 elite kobold geomancers were killed, and 4 captured elite individuals will be sent to Lord Maxim’s fight club along with the gnolls to be used as gladiators.

As for the casualties of ordinary kobolds living alongside the gnolls, it’s impossible to calculate!

Those dog things run too fast in the dark, even Lord Murphy’s fearless warriors find it difficult to catch up with them in the dim tunnels.

But according to the witch hunters, the local kobolds are naturally weak and only attach themselves to the strong. Without the fierce and unruly gnolls taking the lead, these guys won’t pose any threat. I remember when I was a child, my friends and I would drive away those thieving kobolds with wooden sticks under the leadership of the village veterans.

They are indeed very cowardly.”

“Hmm.”

Kudel nodded, this result could be called brilliant.

But it’s still some distance from Murphy’s goal of clearing the entire Count of Kadman’s territory within 20 days. However, considering that vampire individuals will join the hunt after nightfall, today’s hunting target should be achievable.

He asked again:

“What about the casualties among the warriors?”

“No injuries, only a few recruits were too rash in pursuit and were killed by fleeing gnolls,”

The administrative officer in charge of statistics said very regretfully:

“They are all very brave people, the most valiant warriors born on the land of Transia. It’s really a pity. If our recruits could be as fearless as these mountain warriors, even the Black Plague wouldn’t be worth fearing.”

“No, child, you say such foolish things because you haven’t seen the Black Plague with your own eyes.”

The Civilian Protection Officer said calmly:

“I’ve experienced it personally, and I can tell you, it’s not a disaster that individual bravery can reverse. When a true Black Plague erupts, even the gnoll vanguard used as cannon fodder would be stronger and more ferocious than these barbarians you see before you, and beyond individual strength, their terrifying numbers are enough to overwhelm everything in their path.

The gnolls in Transia are a degraded species, far less dangerous than their ‘relatives’ in the Dark Mountains.

I admit the fervor of these warriors commands my respect, but they need to be even stronger, no, they need to be much stronger, to have a chance at protecting everything that’s newly emerging in Transia. However, this fierce spirit is indeed commendable.

You take today’s spoils back to the city.

Remember to display these trophies in the camp, Murphy’s subjects need confidence, and these trophies will restore their confidence and sense of security.”

“As you command, my lord.”

The administrative officer bowed slightly, then turned to direct several camp guards to load these gnoll trophies onto carts. His mission for today in this encirclement operation was over.

The daylight hours above were entering their countdown, night was about to fall, the crimson hunting ground belonging to the vampires was about to open its curtains, Transia’s true terrors were about to join the hunt, and that meant the real show was about to begin.

——

“Puff”

Sister Pomegranate single-handedly dealt with a gnoll Black Iron barbarian, crushing the guy’s head entirely while she herself was hit by the opponent’s stone warhammer, tumbling to the ground and spitting out blood as she got up.

Of course, this was just the injury effect simulated by the physical projection.

For digitized players, the state of weakness is always difficult to define.

Depending on each player’s sensitivity and tolerance to pain, their performances when weakened also vary. For example, the unique Little Ashina can continue fighting with bone-chilling pain, but the pampered little rich brother Feel You Poor would howl in pain even if he accidentally stubbed his toe.

However, it’s certain that only when they die will they truly stop fighting.

“Power of nature, please soothe this warrior’s pain.”

Lady Aqua, with great role-playing spirit, chanted the name of Avalon’s deity, waving her thorn staff to cast a rejuvenating wind. Emerald spirit energy poured into Sister Pomegranate’s body, bringing healing that immediately invigorated her.

The ?Bruise? and ?Bleeding? effects on the character interface were quickly cleared away.

Because three of Lady Aqua’s five character traits passively enhance the effect of healing spells, this makes her Winds of Rejuvenation as a professional even more effective than the still embarrassing Meow King who has already passed the Black Iron trial.

It’s worth mentioning that this kind of “super healing” ability would be seen as a “divine blessing” in today’s Avalon Church, and coupled with Lady Aqua’s outstanding appearance, Old Eugene and Sister Jules have already begun discussing whether to cultivate Lady Aqua into a new “missionary”.

It’s just that the Avalon Church doesn’t go for the “Holy Maiden” setup, otherwise with Lady Aqua’s qualifications, she would definitely not escape the strange nickname of “Nature’s Holy Maiden” in the game.

“Pomegranate, take a break, you scared us.”

Fatal Orchid Huahua, leaning on her blood-stained kite shield, stepped forward and pressed Sister Pomegranate, who was about to get up and continue hunting, to the ground, saying:

“You’re very different today, you weren’t this belligerent before.”

“Oh, don’t stop her, she just doesn’t want that annoying Brother Mao to surpass her.”

The clear-headed Little Ashina chewed on fruit candy beside them, opened the interface to look at the personal score pool, and said in a drawn-out voice:

“But someone just killed an elite monster, Pomegranate, that someone’s score has surpassed yours.”

“Stop stirring things up, you idiot!”

Lumina Yanghen tapped Little Ashina’s forehead, then looked up to check their position.

This small nest that had been cleaned out was strewn with corpses, with over 20 gnoll barbarians all killed. Unfortunately, there was no elite leader here, and the accompanying kobolds had already fled through the tunnels when they saw the situation was unfavorable.

Those small guys are good at digging and ambushing, but are cowardly by nature. Without gnolls to back them up, even elite kobolds don’t dare to face human soldiers directly.

It’s quite a pitiful creature.

But they’re different from gnolls. According to Lady Tris, kobolds are not a “gift” from the Black Plague but a native species of Transia, and in fact, these creatures are widely distributed across the continent.

It’s said that even the cold Great Wilderness is covered with their nests, and even the most well-informed spirit mages or sun priests can’t say how many kobolds there are on this continent.

Therefore, from an evolutionary perspective, the kobolds’ survival strategy is clearly quite successful.

“Don’t worry about him surpassing you, the night time coming up is your stage.”

Lady Aqua looked at the time.

She needs to disconnect from sleep mode to make breakfast for her husband and children, and it will be at least 3 hours before she can come online again. Before logging off, this smart and gentle housewife advised Sister Pomegranate:

“After nightfall, there’s no need to focus on ordinary gnolls anymore. Take advantage of your and Little Ashina’s ability to fly, attack Black Iron and elite individuals to quickly rack up points. Facts have proven that Brother Mao’s skills are indeed a notch above yours, and his team is far superior to our five-person group in terms of destructive power.

But this doesn’t prevent you from playing to your own strengths.

Don’t be reckless at all costs.

If you get too anxious and something goes wrong, all your efforts will be in vain.”

After saying this, by the campfire lit by Lumina Yanghen, Lady Aqua laid out a mat and logged off, while the other four gathered around the fire for the great traveler Fatal Orchid Huahua to make them a meal in the game to replenish their tired bodies.

“It’s my fault.”

Sister Pomegranate sat to the side maintaining her battle claws, and after a few minutes of silence, she let out a long sigh and said to the other three:

“I was too invested today, ignoring your feelings. I know you don’t actually like all this fighting and killing. I just really hate being surpassed by others.

Second place is meaningless.

Only the champion has the right to enjoy flowers and praise.”

“But you’re already so amazing.”

Little Ashina nestled next to Sister Pomegranate, skillfully disassembling her two crimson hand cannons for maintenance while saying:

“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever seen! Even more amazing than my grandmother. Do you know how my grandmother deals with the gophers on the farm? She smashes their heads with a rake! But the sight of you smashing gnoll heads would make my grandmother exclaim ‘Oh my God’.”

“You just haven’t encountered a worthy opponent for a long time, and suddenly meeting a formidable one triggered your professional habit.

This is normal, don’t worry about it.

It’s like a few years ago when I was stupid on the Sichuan-Tibet line, insisting on competing with a fellow traveler, really couldn’t stand the sight of him, and ended up climbing too fast and getting altitude sickness.

In the end, it was him who carried me all the way down from the plateau, and we’re still good friends now.”

Fatal Orchid Huahua, who was mixing various dry foods and cooking them over the campfire, said gently:

“Relax your mindset, Pomegranate. You’re not a professional athlete anymore, don’t put so much pressure on yourself. You need to learn to enjoy a relaxed and happy pace of life.”

“Uh.”

The three girls by the campfire all looked at Fatal Orchid Huahua, who was playing the role of the “understanding big sister” at this moment.

A few seconds later, Sister Pomegranate coughed and said in a low voice with a straight face:

“But I’m more concerned about whether anything happened between you and that gentleman who carried you down.”

“Shut up, I’m comforting you! You ungrateful thing, mind your own business about my affairs!”

Fatal Orchid Huahua scolded fiercely, causing the other three to burst into strange laughter. However, Little Ashina, with the keenest perception, suddenly stopped laughing halfway and covered Sister Pomegranate’s mouth beside her. She stood up alertly, pricked up her ears to look around, and said:

“I heard a sound, someone is shouting ‘help’. The tone is very strange… it’s nearby, no, it’s in this gnoll nest! Quick, spread out and look. Fatal Orchid, you stay here to protect Lady Aqua, don’t let others take advantage of her.

Her husband is known for being protective, not easy to mess with.”

Under Little Ashina’s command, the three girls immediately spread out. Fatal Orchid Huahua stayed in place cooking porridge but also loaded a hunting rifle and kept it at hand. A few minutes later, Little Ashina’s strange cry came through the team channel:

“Holy shit! What the hell is this? Quick, come here! I found it! It’s a… gnoll locked in a cage, but it can talk!”

“? What do you mean it can talk?”

“Uh, I mean exactly what I said! Don’t dwell on these details, I feel like I’ve discovered something incredible, hurry up and come!”