Chapter 312: Operation Begins, The First Camp! (6000)

While on the road, Cao Xing took out the [Gale Snowfield Map] from his backpack.

Looking at the bright sun symbols on it, a smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

To Cao Xing, these were nothing but resource points!

Moreover, because of the defeat at Lake Doron City, the King had issued more bounties.

By killing these Hunters, Cao Xing could not only gain Honor Points but also collect the loot dropped by these Hunters upon death, while simultaneously plundering the resources in the camps!

It could be said that it was one battle for three types of rewards!

Among the over one hundred sun symbols on the map, Cao Xing quickly selected the first target to attack.

"Follow me, the target is Zavada Village!"

This village was the very same one Cao Xing had encountered on the road when he previously found Elisa.

It was adjacent to Hoge Village, but it had already been occupied by the Church of Light.

This sun symbol only belonged to the medium category.

This indicated that it should be a medium-sized camp inside.

He could use this stronghold to infer the situation of the Church of Light.

In the snow.

A group of figures, completely clad in pitch black like a demon squad, moved rapidly through the night, blending into the darkness.

Only the accumulated snow on the ground could reflect their silhouettes.

Cao Xing's current movement speed bonus had reached 120%, so even while on foot, he moved incredibly fast!

And [Zavada Village] was thirty kilometers away from them.

At their pace, they would be able to arrive in about ten minutes!

Soon, they arrived near the target point.

From afar, Cao Xing saw a village appear ahead.

Even though it was late at night, there were a few faint lights still shining inside the village.

And on the watchtowers, there were a few militiamen on guard.

Clearly, these militiamen were all Hunters in disguise.

Cao Xing gave a wink to Sarah beside him.

Sarah understood his meaning and instantly vanished from where she stood.

In less than two minutes, a system notification appeared in Cao Xing's ear.

[Your territory member: Sarah Blade Dance killed Hunter lv31, Tier 4 normal creature, gained EXP: 1240]

[Combatants gained EXP: 620]

[You gained Honor Points: 4]

[Your…]

…

After a few combat logs.

All the militiamen on the watchtowers collapsed.

And when Cao Xing saw the system notification, a smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"As expected, now killing these wild Hunters can also grant Honor Point rewards!"

"This is really great!"

On the watchtower, Sarah waved at Cao Xing and his group.

Cao Xing quickly ordered: "We will all go in, and then take out the Hunters inside at the fastest speed."

"Muxue, you and Hilda guard the village entrance; do not let anyone out."

Everyone nodded one after another.

Their faces also bore expressions of excitement!

How should one describe this feeling? It was like they were about to do something bad.

Isabelle, being a member of the clergy, felt somewhat uncomfortable.

However, when she thought about the fact that they were going to deal with that group of crazy cultists, this Priest of Holy Light quickly adjusted her mindset.

"Swish! Swish, swish!"

Several black shadows rushed into the village at a terrifying speed!

And Sarah had already silently sneaked into several houses with lights on, taking out the Hunters who were sleeping inside.

Then, without even a scream, lines of kill notifications began to flood the screen.

Cao Xing was just about to give the order for everyone to deal with the Hunters in the houses.

But just then.

A squad of Hunters dressed as militiamen walked towards them in the village.

They seemed to be a night patrol team, and they also noticed the group of pitch-black figures under the light that were exuding an aura of darkness.

Instantly, the pupils of all the Hunters constricted!

They exclaimed: "God of Light above, what are those things?"

"I don't know, they have such a terrifying aura on them that it makes me feel uncomfortable."

At the same time, Cao Xing and his group also noticed this group of militiamen.

Instantly, Renice and Elisa simultaneously drew their bowstrings.

"Shoo! Shoo, shoo!"

Three or four arrows hit the leading Hunter simultaneously.

[-9123!]

[-4431]

[-9052!]

[-4219]

…

Several terrifying damage numbers floated up.

[Your territory member: Elisa killed Hunter lv27, Tier 3 elite creature, gained EXP: 2700]

[Combatants gained EXP: 1350]

[You gained Honor Points: 9]

…

At this moment, the group of Hunters saw their companion instantly killed beside them and immediately realized they had been attacked.

They hurriedly shouted!

"Damn it! Hurry and ring the alarm!"

"There are intruders here! Everyone come out!"

"Ring-a-ding-ding!!"

In the middle of the night, a harsh alarm bell rang out in the village.

Those sleeping Hunters woke up in a panic and quickly rushed out of their rooms.

Everyone was just about to rush up and take out these cultists.

But Cao Xing said: "Let them come."

"It's perfect; I'll take care of these guys all at once!"

After saying this, Cao Xing directly entered the [Advanced Demon Transformation] state.

"Whoosh!"

Massive demon wings unfurled, and terrifying black energy overflowed from his body.

The cultists rushing from all directions also saw this scene.

They immediately exclaimed: "Damn it, it's a demon!"

"God of Light above, how could such a creature find us!"

"Priest, save us!"

At this moment, Cao Xing glanced around and found that the number of Hunters in the entire village was around seventy.

He thought to himself: "As expected, just as I thought, there are far fewer Hunters in the village."

"It seems that the situation in the other camps is the same."

Thinking of this, he felt more confident about the upcoming operations.

Then, he directly used [Shadow Entanglement], a wide-area crowd control skill.

"Clatter…"

With Cao Xing as the center, a dark aura quickly spread across the surrounding ground, covering the entire 200-meter area around him.

Then, countless pitch-black arms appeared under the feet of those Hunters, firmly dragging them down.

And a demonic force was constantly eroding their bodies!

However, this was not over yet.

Cao Xing then used [Soul Withering], an ultra-wide-area AoE skill!

Anyway, the cooldown time of these two skills was not long; they would definitely finish cooling down before he reached the next camp.

"Sizzle~"

It was like a fire in the depths of their souls had been ignited!

Cao Xing currently possessed the strength of a level 40 Frost Mage.

At this moment, the [Advanced Demon Transformation] state increased his base attributes by 100%!

His magic attack power had stacked up to 5447, plus Liu Muxue's [Blessing of Courage] added 1600 magic attack!

In other words, his magic attack had broken through seven thousand!

This was a terrifying number; even Renice, a Tier 5 boss-level creature, only had this much attack power.

You have to know, for a Survivor Lord, trying to catch up to the attributes of these natives was a very, very difficult thing.

After all, they could not advance, and their base attributes were a huge step behind.

But Cao Xing, because of his powerful gear and the bonus from his skills, had reached this terrifying height.

"Boom!"

The first wave of flames ignited, and dense damage numbers floated up!

[-7517]

[-6712]

[-7325]

[-6654]

[-7532]

[-6321]

…

Every second, two damage numbers would appear above their heads.

One wave was the damage caused by [Shadow Entanglement], and one wave was the damage caused by [Soul Withering].

In the blink of an eye, the health of these seventy-plus Tier 4 Hunters on the field began to pour out like flowing water.

"What is this? They've grabbed my feet!"

"There's also a terrifying power on these arms."

"Ah!! So painful!"

The Hunters struggled frantically, but the control of [Shadow Entanglement] was extremely formidable, dragging them firmly in place.

And [Soul Withering] was burning their souls.

Screams rang out continuously.

In less than two seconds, all four waves of attacks were over.

And all the Hunters on the field had already fallen.

The space in front of him was instantly flooded with a large number of system notifications.

[You killed Hunter lv35, Tier 4 normal creature, gained EXP: 0]

[Combatants gained EXP: 700]

[You killed Elite Hunter lv37, Tier 4 elite creature, gained EXP: 0]

[Combatants gained EXP: 1480]

[You…]

[In this battle, you killed a total of 72 Hunters, gained Honor Point reward: 218]

…

Whether it was ordinary Hunters or Elite Hunters, they were all taken out directly under Cao Xing's two waves of AoE attacks!

This was his current terrifying attack power.

With four waves of damage fully dealt, he could inflict at least over fifty thousand AoE damage.

Even a Tier 4 boss-level creature couldn't withstand it!

Therefore, as long as he didn't encounter Tier 5 creatures or Tier 4 bosses, they would all perish under Cao Xing's wave of AoE attacks.

The people behind him also watched Cao Xing's burst with expressions of shock!

After all, killing over seventy Hunters in one wave was a scene that was truly full of visual impact.

Little Chuchu said with an admiring face: "Wow! Big Brother has become even stronger!"

Braum, who was carrying a pitch-black great shield, also grinned and said: "As expected of our Lord!"

"Other Otherworld Lords are so weak, but our Lord is so powerful."

"I feel like I wouldn't be able to withstand your attacks anymore."

Cao Xing smiled.

At the same time, Sarah had also taken care of the Hunters inside the houses.

[Ding! You have cleared a medium-sized camp of the Church of Light, Reputation +200…]

…

Seeing the system notification, Cao Xing knew that all the Hunters in this camp had been killed by him!

This time, it could be said to be at lightning speed.

From the time they entered until the battle ended, it added up to less than three minutes.

Just as mentioned before, their strength was already at a level where they could crush these small-to-medium-sized camps!

Cao Xing quickly ordered: "Alright, now Assam and Andrew, start cleaning up the battlefield."

"Sarah, go search the entire village, don't let any fish slip through the net, and by the way, find the location of the resource storage point."

"Everyone else, split up and take away all the resources you can, including wood, stone, and these basic resources; don't let anything go!"

Everyone nodded one after another.

They also knew that the camp was currently in a period of expansion, and it was exactly the time when they were lacking a large amount of supplies.

Then, they started to split up and act.

And Cao Xing himself exited the Demon Transformation state.

Then he headed straight for the central area of the village.

Generally speaking, the place with the most resources was in the center of the village.

Of course, the tavern in the village also had quite a few good things.

However, this village had been occupied for some time.

The resources inside had probably been consumed quite a bit by the Hunters, but this did not stop Cao Xing from having expectations in his heart.

Soon, he arrived beside a three-story building.

This was also the most luxurious building in the entire village.

Compared to the other houses in the village which were built of wood, this house was made of stone, and it even had a small courtyard; one could tell at a glance that it belonged to a wealthy family.

He kicked the door open and then stepped inside.

[You have entered, Zavada Village Mayor's Residence…]

"Oh? At the village head's house already?"

"There should be some good stuff hidden here, right?"

Although the supplies inside had likely already been scavenged by the Church of Light, perhaps there were still some missed treasures.

Crossing the small courtyard at the entrance, he went straight to the three-story house in front, where a wooden door blocked his path.

"Click!"

The heavy wooden door was pushed open.

Cao Xing walked in swaggeringly.

The village head's house was large, unlike those of ordinary villagers.

Inside was a spacious hall, with many wooden cabinets on the sides, and tables and chairs scattered on the floor.

Cao Xing began to rummage through cabinets and drawers quickly.

Most of the contents were miscellaneous items: scissors, thread spools, candlesticks, etc…

Cao Xing didn't refuse anything and took it all.

[Acquired: Rusty Scissors * 2]

[Acquired: Candlestick * 1]

[Acquired: Linen Spool * 2]

[Acquired…]

…

Although with his net worth, these miscellaneous items didn't bring much value.

However, Cao held to a policy of taking everything, so naturally, he wouldn't let any corner go.

If it weren't for the fact that the wooden furniture on the floor took up too much backpack space, he would have wanted to take it all back.

Burning it as firewood wouldn't be bad either.

No choice, the territory was currently too short on resources!

After finishing the living room, Cao Xing entered the bedroom to the side.

This place looked like it hadn't been searched yet.

Cao Xing saw a few books on the cabinet by the bed.

He collected them all.

[Acquired Book: The Child Who Raised Horses]

[Acquired Book: Song of Gede]

[Acquired Book: One Night of the Merry Widow]

…

"Not bad, not bad, harvested three more books."

When Cao Xing noticed the quilt on the bed, he could tell at a glance that the quality of this quilt was not low.

He directly put it into his backpack.

[Acquired: Silk Quilt (Blue)] * 1

…

"Tsk tsk, as expected of the village head's room, even the quilt is made of silk."

"Sleeping under this must be very comfortable."

After searching this room, he went to search the other bedrooms and the kitchen area as well.

Then he headed to the second and third floors.

Soon, this three-story small villa had been completely searched by him.

Cumulatively acquired:

[Coins] * 7243

[Silk Quilt] * 4

[Condiments (Fine Salt, Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar)] * 12

[Books] * 5

[Vitality Secret Potion] * 2

[Tiger Whip Wine] * 2 jars

And some miscellaneous things.

…

Cao Xing frowned slightly.

Obviously, this harvest did not satisfy him.

Although there were over seven thousand crowns.

But this was the village head of a village; this amount of resources was still too pathetic.

Therefore, Cao Xing didn't believe it.

After coming out of the room, he circled the courtyard again.

Under the scan of [True Sight Eye], basically those low-level hidden areas couldn't escape his eyes.

And in one corner of the house, Cao Xing really found something wrong.

It was a stone, right under the wall corner.

He stepped forward and kicked it, finding that this stone was actually loose!

The next moment, information appeared in front of him.

[Village Head's Secret Passage Door]

[Durability: 500]

[Attached Effect: None]

…

"Haha, I knew there was a hidden area!"

Seeing this, Cao Xing casually threw an Ice Ball spell at it.

"Bang!"

That stone was blasted into pieces.

Then, a dark passage, only wide enough for one person to enter, appeared in front of Cao Xing.

He was bold due to his great skill, and without thinking, he jumped straight down.

[You have entered the Zawada Village hidden area, Village Head's Secret Passage…]

…

This passage was not long.

Cao Xing held a Magic Energy Stone torch and moved forward in the dark through this passage.

Soon he arrived at a relatively spacious location.

And just at this moment.

A gust of eerie wind whistled over!

Four balls of ghostly green ghost fire lit up around him instantly.

When he got closer, he realized they weren't ghost fire, but four spirits floating in mid-air!

They all had disheveled hair, with resentment and anger on their faces!

And they were staring fixedly at Cao Xing!

One of the spirits made a sharp sound, "Get out!"

If an ordinary person saw this scene, they would probably be scared silly on the spot!

"Good fellow, are you guys filming a horror movie?"

Cao Xing was fine, seeing those spirits rushing over, he directly raised his staff!

Then he threw out [Ice Breaking Flying Blade].

Bang! Bang bang!

[- 11942]

[- 11732]

[- 10321]

Three ice balls exploded, bursting out a large amount of ice thorns, dealing the second stage of area-of-effect damage.

"Puff! Puff puff!"

[- 3661]

[- 3652]

[- 3527]

…

Instantly, the four spirits screamed, and then were all instantly killed on the spot.

[You killed Village Head's Spirit Lv21, Tier 3 Common Creature, gained experience: 0]

[You killed Village Head's Wife's Spirit Lv23, Tier 3 Common Creature, gained experience: 0]

[You killed…]

…

…

Cao Xing was stunned, "Uh, did I just kill the spirits of the village head's whole family?"

Scanning with his eyes, he saw four corpses in the corner.

Beside one of the corpses, there was a half-written letter.

[Acquired: Alexei's Last Words]

…

Cao Xing opened it and took a look, finding it was written by the village head's son.

Their family hadn't been discovered after the Hunters entered the village.

So they took the opportunity to hide in the secret passage.

However, because they ran too hastily, the whole family didn't bring food or water.

As time passed, they were all tortured by hunger and lost their sanity.

So the village head and his wife discussed letting their son contribute a leg, but the son didn't agree and hoped his mother would contribute her own body.

The two sides had a disagreement, then started fighting, all got injured, and finally could only starve to death here.

Cao Xing was also a bit speechless; this family was really funny, they were about to starve to death, but didn't know to go out and try their luck.

Ignoring the corpses on the ground, Cao Xing started rummaging through cabinets in this basement.

And on one of the shelves, Cao Xing really found a good thing.

It looked like an iron box.

He leaned in to take a look.

[Discovered unlocked money box, open?]

"Oh? Actually a money box?"

He clicked 'Yes' without hesitation.

[Acquired: Coins * 273213]

[Acquired: Gold Bar (1000g) * 4]

…

"Haha, 270,000 crowns, plus 4 kilograms of gold, earned it, earned it!"

According to market rates, these four gold bars were also worth 200,000 crowns, adding up to nearly 500,000 crowns in profit.

If Cao Xing hadn't come in, he probably would have missed it.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the corner of a treasure chest under a pile of debris in the corner.

"Eh? There's still something?"

Cao Xing leaned in to take a look.

This treasure chest was also covered in dust, but if you looked closely, you could still see a faint golden luster!

"My goodness, it's actually a golden treasure chest, this trip wasn't in vain!"

With a look of surprise, Cao Xing walked over.

[Discovered unlocked golden treasure chest, open?]

"Yes."

[Opened successfully]

[Acquired: Iceberg Drop Skill Book (Gold) * 1]

[Acquired: Primary Library Construction Blueprint * 1]

[Acquired: Magic Pattern Stone * 5]

[Acquired: Eternal Gold Ingot * 8]

[Acquired: Advanced Magic Energy Crystal * 3]

…

"A golden skill book, and a library construction blueprint!"

"This chest opening is satisfying!"

With a joyful expression, Cao Xing looked at the attributes.

[Iceberg Drop Skill Book (Gold): Exclusive Skill Book for Frost Mage]

[Skill Effect: Summon 3 small icebergs, then drop them from the enemy's head, dealing 3 times 157% area damage to enemies within a 50-meter range below, Cooldown: 90 seconds]

…

"Not bad, a very pure area-of-effect skill."

"If I don't enter the Demon Transformation state now, I only have one Extreme Ice Bloom skill that can do area damage, but this skill has a slightly long pre-cast."

"This Iceberg Drop really makes up for this shortcoming of mine."

Cao Xing directly clapped his hands together and clicked to learn.

[Successfully learned skill book: Iceberg Drop…]

…

Then he looked at the attributes of the other blueprint.

[Primary Library Construction Blueprint]

[Armor: 50]

[Durability: 300]

[Building Area: 159 square meters]

[Number of books that can be placed: 3000]

[Building Effect: Can increase the attribute gain from reading books by 10%]

[Construction Requirements: Lords Cabin Level 3, Wood * 200, Stone * 100, Iron * 20, Primary Elemental Crystal * 10…]

(Note: A building that can increase territory prosperity and resident happiness, it is recommended to build it as soon as possible…)

…

"Now that I have the library construction blueprint, my territory is becoming more and more civilized."

At this point, the harvest from this hidden area was completely looted by him.

Cao Xing didn't expect that he could get so many good things in this village head's basement.

At this moment, a 'buzzing' electrical sound came to his ears.

Sarah's voice sounded in his ear, "Lord, the food storage area of this village has been found."

Hearing this, Cao Xing became instantly excited!

He attacked these camps partly for honor points, and partly for food.

Now, it was finally time for the harvest!

…

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