Chapter 11: 11
After killing a few waves of monsters the last ray of sunlight dipped below the horizon leaving the world bathed in a red glow. Even after waiting a minute no new monsters appeared.
"Why aren't more monsters spawning? What's going on?" Cheng Yang though. During the apocalypse monsters would never stop spawning. After one was killed another would spawn one minute later to take its place. There were no exceptions to this except in the barrier of the safe zones. The only time the spawn rate decreased was if there were already too many monsters in an area.
"Sit down and recover everyone!" Cheng Yang shouted sensing something bad was about to happen, "Hurry up!"
Less than twenty seconds after they sat down a powerful monster spawned at both the east and west gates causing blinding flashes of light. There were also less powerful monsters spawned at the north and south gates.
Cheng Yang's face fell, his previous composure gone. These were clearly much more powerful monsters. He estimated them to be elite Standard Grade Immature monsters. Elite monsters were almost the same strength as the monsters of the next level. How could such powerful monsters have spawned a few hours after the apocalypse started? It should be at least half a month before creatures like this would start to appear.
Suddenly, Cheng Yang thought of a possibility. When he first became Lord of Phoenix Village he had guessed there would be a trial but how could monsters appear for a trial before the apocalypse. These two monsters more powerful than should be possible appearing is likely the trial god had planned for those claiming a Territory Altar.
Of course, this was only speculation. Right now Cheng Yang needed to focus on passing this difficult trial. Even if he survived if he was unable to kill the monsters the village may revert to an unclaimed Territory Altar.
Cheng Yang pushed those thoughts out of his head and dashed towards the east gate. His incredible speed allowed him to close the gap eighty meters in mere seconds.
When he arrived the light had cleared and a green feathered monster stood outside the gate. This one was bigger than the others that had spawned thus far standing 1.6 meters tall and had a better looking weapon. It rushed towards Cheng Yang its speed only slightly below his.
"Yu Kai, go support the west gate! You only need to stall it until I kill this one." Cheng Yang shouted as he fired the Magic Missile he had been preparing towards the green feathered monster.
"Pfft." The monster was unable to dodge Cheng Yang's shot and was hit in the abdomen, deforming it.
Yu Kai hesitated but took his group and rushed towards the west gate.They had no choice now but to obey Cheng Yang as they didn't understand the current situation. If they didn't do as Cheng Yang they could only stand next to him uselessly.
Before the distance closed completely Cheng Yang was able to hit the monster in the face with another Magic Missile causing the beast to let out a tragic howl. The monsters face imploded from the damage but the new rules of the world would only let a creature die when its HP reached zero, so the injury to its face only made it uglier.
Judging from the monsters speed the monster was much stronger than your average Standard Grade monster. Cheng Yang couldn't be sure though since he didn't have the Observation skill. Just like humans monster didn't have fixed stats. Some monsters of the same type might be slower but have more health and vice versa.
Watching the monster attempt to enter the village Cheng Yang took the initiative and ran out of the gate leading the monster away.
The green feathered monster was hit twice by Cheng Yang and hated him to the bone so when Cheng Yang left the village instead of running in and attacking the others from behind it chased after him.
Cheng Yang didn't know how many times he experienced battles like this in his last life, and just as he predicted a few moments later he had predicted a gap opened up between them. As a member of Phoenix Village Cheng Yang's speed dwarfed all but the fastest of monsters in the same grade and naturally was faster than the green feathered one.
"Whoosh… Pfft…" Once again Cheng Yang smashed a Magic Missile into the monster whose roar changed from anger to pain.
Cheng Yang knew he had dealt 39 damage so far which means that the monsters health should be reduced by about two-thirds if it was a normal Standard Grade, maybe a little less since it was an elite. In comparison Cheng Yang's Mana had only decreased by a quarter so unless something odd happened Cheng Yang's victory was assured.
Cheng Yang knew how to use his speed advantage well and if he didn't have it he may not even find opportunities to cast Magic Missile much less win the fight.
Two minutes later Cheng Yang hit the monster with a seventh Magic Missile. This time its howl was a death knell. It fell to the ground with a soft thump and a large amount of light particles gushed into Cheng Yang's body.
Killing a single Standard Grade Immature monster gave Cheng Yang 4 Experience Fragments! Although a single Standard Grade monster was worth four Low Grade monsters most people would prefer to hunt below their level than try to fight stronger existences.
Cheng Yang's battle had ended well but the one at the west gate was quickly becoming a tragedy.
An unfortunate lumber mill worker had been killed by the monster. It's pitchfork gave it an attack power of ten points which was enough to kill a Low Grade Apprentice in just three hits. To have just a single person die was already a good result.
Cheng Yang was more than satisfied with that result. Although four other people were close to death the group of thirteen people was able to restrain the green feathered monster every time it tried to land a killing blow. It was currently surrounded by a ring of Warriors.
With just an hour of experience the Warriors were now capable of blocking most attacks. Although the shield warriors held was capable of blocking any attack no matter how strong it did have a weakness. If the attack was too powerful the Warrior would be stunned for an amount of time equivalent to the power of the attack. This fatal flaw made it hard for Warriors to battle solo.
Even so, not a single person was uninjured and two of the people could only hide in the back and fire arrows.
Cheng Yang directly rushed back into the base and towards the battle unleashing a Magic Missile once he was in range.
Cheng Yang's damage was about twice that of the others but if you took into account the monsters Magic Defense it was likely three times the damage of the others. Thus, when the monster was hit Cheng Yang instantly attracted aggro.
"Get out of the way!" Cheng Yang shouted as the monster locked its dark red eyes filled with hatred on him.
Although the defenders didn't react immediately, when they saw the monster rush towards Cheng Yang they quickly immediately reacted, making a path.
When it looked like two of the Warriors might have attracted the green feathered monsters attention Cheng Yang smashed a Magic Missile into its face causing its head to snap back to him. It was filled with a hatred that wouldn't decay after even ten thousand years.
This was the result Cheng Yang had hoped for. He quickly rushed backwards leading the monster away from the others.
The defenders weren't stupid and once Cheng Yang drew the monsters aggro the Rangers and Mages rained attacks down on it. Although their DPS was lower than Cheng Yang's they were strong in numbers! When they faced the green feathered monster before they didn't dare to attack so recklessly but now that Cheng Yang was kiting the monster they didn't worry about resource management. The effect of these attacks could be seen instantly.
After Cheng Yang arrived the battle lacked suspense and the monster fell in another ten seconds.
After Cheng Yang and the others killed the Standard Grade monsters the other two gates had been cleared as well.
After the trial ended monsters continued to spawn but they were no longer a threat to Cheng Yang and the others but rather a source of Experience Fragments.
After a few minutes Cheng Yang felt a connection form with the land under his feet. From the Territory Altar radiating out five hundred meters Cheng Yang was able to feel every creature.
The feeling was very strange to Cheng Yang he had heard about this phenomena but now he was experiencing it. He knew that Phoenix Village was now truly under his control.
Once he did Cheng Yang closed the four gates, keeping the monsters out. Unless a Standard Grade monster showed up it was impossible for the walls to be destroyed.
Cheng Yang then loudly announced a proclamation, "All ranged Professionals go to the wall and continue killing monsters. Warriors, move the logs towards the center of the territory. Also, someone bury the dead man. It is a luxury that we even get to do that."
Not a single person dared to disobey. After the trial Cheng Yang's prestige had risen to a whole new level. Fourteen people combined hadn't been enough to kill a Standard Grade monster but Cheng Yang alone easily defeated one.
Even so there was a stifling atmosphere due to the death of one of their own. This death felt different from the two that were crushed by logs. That incident was an accident but the still warm corpse on the ground had been a comrade they had failed to save. It caused all of them to feel as though death was right around the corner.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone