Chapter 97: Splitting the Forces, a Risky Move on the Chessboard of War, First Update

Lin Xiao heaved for breath as he yanked free his battle axe. With a sweep of his hand, the corpse of the great demon king, its skull cleaved open, vanished into his inventory in an instant and was broken down into two LV5 essences.

He looked over the battlefield. Bodies lay everywhere, but they were all demon hounds; none of them were on their side.

For one thing, none of them were ordinary people. Nick and Eddie were Green Hunters, and Eric was a Blade Warrior, no weaker than Lin Xiao himself. The pack of young werewolves were likewise tough beyond reason, like creatures that simply refused to die.

For another, the two essences distributed before the battle had proven immensely effective. Whenever someone was wounded, a single swallow was enough to restore them to full vigor.

To avoid exposing the existence of the system, Lin Xiao fought while secretly gathering the great demon king's corpses. With the night dark around him and the melee in full chaos, few noticed what he was doing.

Nick and Eric did notice. Both were shrewd men; they understood without saying a word and merely pretended to know nothing.

As for the werewolves?

Watching them tear apart demon hound corpses in all directions, Lin Xiao finally relaxed. Their brains were made of muscle; how could they possibly understand a system? Even if told, they would never believe it.

After that fierce round of fighting, the demon hound army was annihilated. It also yielded six more great demon king corpses, bringing the total of LV5 magical essence to ten. Only eight more were needed to complete one of the class-change requirements.

The class change was close.

Before they could even catch their breath, Eleven's urgent voice rang out:

"Jonathan, this is bad. The demon hound army over there has charged into the residential district of the town and is searching for residents everywhere. It looks like they're capturing humans.

There are still many people in the residential area who haven't made it into the shelters or air-raid bunkers, and they're staring out from their windows. At this rate, they'll be attacked very soon."

Lin Xiao spat fiercely. The Mind Flayer was indeed old and cunning; when one scheme failed, another immediately took its place. Its purpose was plain enough: it wanted them to rush off in rescue, scatter their forces, and be picked off one by one.

"Eleven, check quickly. Where is the Mind Flayer now?"

Lin Xiao stepped over and asked. The demon hound army was nothing to fear. However numerous they were, so long as they held favorable ground, the hounds could not pose much of a threat.

The real danger was the mastermind in the shadows: the big boss, the Mind Flayer.

Eleven once again closed her eyes. After a moment, she opened them and answered, "No, there isn't any trace of the great demon king anywhere in the whole town. It doesn't seem to have come over to our side. It may still be in the other world."

Not daring to come over, or planning something else?

"Jonathan, I want to go home. My family's air-raid shelter was dug rather shallow, and I'm afraid my parents won't be able to hold out," Lucas said anxiously as he came over in human form again. His home was also in the residential district and was about to face the demon hound army's assault.

"Yes, Jonathan, we can't just stand by and watch people die. We have to hurry over there and save them, or there will definitely be heavy casualties," Sheriff Hopper added. It wasn't that he lacked strength; if it were up to him, he would already have led the others over. It was just that, among those present, almost no one listened to him. They would only heed Jonathan's orders.

"The Mind Flayer! The Mind Flayer has appeared!"

Suddenly, Eleven cried out in alarm, startling Lin Xiao. He hurriedly drew her into his arms and told her not to be afraid.

The shadow cast by the Mind Flayer not only lingered in Will's heart, but also had a profound effect on Eleven. Or rather, no one failed to fear this great fiend.

Even Lin Xiao felt wary. With their current strength, they would likely find it difficult to confront it head-on. Perhaps only after completing the class change and advancing to the second tier would he be able to face it in direct combat.

"With me here, nothing will happen. Eleven, what is it doing?"

Comforted by Lin Xiao, Eleven gradually calmed down. She once again closed her eyes, then immediately opened them and said, "Oh my God, this seems to be the Mind Flayer's true body. It's absorbing the bodies of the captured soldiers. Those people burst apart with a bang, and it's pulling them into itself, like they're becoming part of its flesh."

"What?"

Lin Xiao suddenly recalled that in the third season, the Mind Flayer had used rats and human bodies to form a gigantic monster. In the end, it was only when Joey shut down the machine that closed the gate to the other world that the creature died.

There was actually a huge loophole here. If its avatar died that way, then when Eleven had closed the gate to the other world before, its avatar should already have perished.

Since it could not die then, it should not be dying now either.

"Jonathan, what do we do now?"

The cry interrupted Lin Xiao's thoughts. His mind raced. The priorities were clear: first, rescue the residents; second, stop the Mind Flayer; third, close the gate to the other world and eliminate this threat once and for all.

Eleven, now an intermediate witch, had the ability to seal the gate to the other world.

There was no time to waste, so he immediately gave the order:

"The situation is critical. We can only split into two groups. Nick, Eddie, Eric, Sheriff Hopper, and Lucas, take nine werewolves and rush to the residential district to save people.

Eleven and I, along with Michael and nine werewolves, will stop the Mind Flayer and close the gate to the other world, cutting off the problem at its root."

Hearing his command, everyone nodded in agreement. This was the best arrangement available.

"Wait, what about me? I want to go back and help too," Dustin shouted as he scampered out.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao figured that the boy had already become a vampire and should be able to contribute something. So he let Eric take him back to help save people. More hands would be better.

Before setting off, Lin Xiao distributed the two essences again, giving the remaining fourteen LV2 essences entirely to Sheriff Hopper and the others. With such good items, of course they welcomed them without hesitation.

Then Sheriff Hopper and the others got into the car. Lucas transformed into a werewolf and led the nine sturdy young werewolves, who had also transformed, running after the vehicle as they all hurried toward the residential district.

Lin Xiao also drove the family's last car, taking Eleven with him. At the same time, he had Michael transform into a werewolf and lead the other young werewolves behind them as they sped toward the laboratory.

On the way, Lin Xiao asked Eleven to keep a close watch on the Mind Flayer's movements and its changes in size. They had to get there before it completed its giant monster form, destroy it, or seal the gate to the other world and see whether that would kill it.

At the same time, while driving, he brought up the system interface and checked his current attributes and items.

After reaching level ten, his attributes were all excellent. Strength, intelligence, and spirit were all around sixty points, and vitality had even reached sixty-nine, just one step away from the seventy mark.

He also had six SP points unused. He was saving those to light up class-change skills after advancing, or to continue upgrading LV2 mastery skills. For now, he had no intention of using them.

As for essences, he had ten pieces of LV5 magical essence, used for synthesizing lower elemental crystals and not something to waste lightly; he also had ten pieces of LV5 flesh essence, a life-saving reserve for critical moments.

As for source power, in the chaos of the earlier battle it had been impossible to count the exact number of kills, but it had risen to 136 points. Breaking down each of the lesser hounds cost two points, and each of the larger hounds cost five, so a considerable amount had already been spent.

Of the three major class-change requirements, two were nearly fulfilled. The hardest one remaining was killing a second-tier extraordinary creature.

The Mind Flayer was probably second tier. If they killed it, the class change would be complete. The real question was: could they defeat it?