While the Level 5 Stone Giant raged and everyone else was forced to retreat, there was one exception.
Zhao Xuanxuan — because she was genuinely the Stone Giant's natural counter.
No question about it.
Earlier, she hadn't used her hamr. She had used the Three-Star Enchanted Tiger Head Great Blade — a long weapon that, with enough strength behind it, was essentially a battlefield windmill.
Of course, Zhao Xuanxuan knew her own limits. She hadn't gone all out. She had been picking off a Level 3 Ability User here and there at the edges, leaving more opportunities for the Freeman soldiers and reserves. Training opportunities like this were rare.
But once the Level 5 Stone Giant appeared, it was her turn.
She didn't charge it directly — at the Stone Giant's terrifying attack power, even getting close would send shockwaves through you hard enough to make you vomit blood.
The only option was to flank.
Every ti the Stone Giant hamred the wall with both fists, she would jump down from the wall, weaving through the storm of flying stone debris, scrambling and dodging — looking a bit clumsy, but every move landed exactly right, avoiding the shockwave each ti.
After a grueling approach, she finally reached the Stone Giant's rear — and then didn't attack at all. She took out her hamr, and like a miniature stone giant herself, began striking the main wall.
The Level 5 Stone Giant had a pattern: two frenzied strikes, then a full-body lunge forward, a heavy finishing blow — like a leaping slam dunk.
Zhao Xuanxuan matched that rhythm exactly, like a percussion player adding her own beats. The pattern went sothing like: boom boom — crack, boom — crack crack, boom crack — boom crack — boom crack crack. Deeply strange.
The Stone Giant's highest-priority targets were anything blocking its path. Or perhaps its dull senses simply hadn't detected Zhao Xuanxuan.
The two of them played this duet for seven or eight seconds. Then, as expected — a four-ter-wide section of reinforced concrete wall collapsed. And Zhao Xuanxuan was very much one of the reasons why.
But there was one small difference in the details. The Stone Giant's rhythm had been landing on the "boom boom" position — so it habitually followed up with its slam dunk: body forward, jump in place, heavy downward strike.
Massive as it was, the motion was surprisingly fluid.
But the wall had collapsed. Which ant the Stone Giant's final lunge-strike landed on nothing — its enormous, heavy body pitched forward into the slam, and went straight into the gap left by the collapsed section, wedging itself in.
It was almost funny. Also terrifying. Because this was Zhao Xuanxuan's real skill.
The wedged Stone Giant would break free quickly — easily, in fact. Ten to twenty seconds at most.
But for it, that was already a death sentence.
"AHHH!"
Zhao Xuanxuan let out a battle cry, activated Bloodline Frenzy, and in one bound was on the Stone Giant's back. The Enchanted Hamr began its performance — first a rapid, rain-like sequence of quick strikes, like playing music. From a distance, it almost sounded like soone was singing: who is knocking at my window...
And then, without warning, a single devastating heavy blow.
Throughout the process, Zhao Xuanxuan didn't even glance at the colorful stone tumor on the Stone Giant's back — even though it looked exactly like a vital point.
The Stone Giant roared. It was trying to get up. It was angry. But Zhao Xuanxuan's hamr grew heavier with each strike, slowing in speed while gaining in weight, each blow landing like a drumbeat, resonating with the Stone Giant's own roars.
From beginning to end, a strange rhythm sustained itself — unbroken, undisturbed.
From the soft patter of early rain, to a morning breeze, to the surge of a great river, to the howl of a hurricane, to the shaking of the earth — step by step, beat by beat, building toward a climax.
You couldn't hear the Stone Giant's roar anymore. You couldn't hear the sound of Zhao Xuanxuan's hamr striking. Only the continuous rolling thunder of echoes.
A roar.
In the distance, the third Level 5 Ability User forced its transformation to completion. It had been encased in a massive egg, its shell impossibly hard — now it was breaking free.
It wanted to save the Level 5 Stone Giant.
But Li Wei reached for the Four-Star Enchanted Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrow.
He nocked it to the Enchanted Strong Bow and drew slowly. The entire motion carried no killing intent whatsoever — until the mont the bow reached full draw. Then it was like thunder in a silent room, a beautiful dream shattered. Boundless killing intent tore through the air, tore through every boundary, and poured down onto the battlefield.
One shot. One arrow.
It pierced the egg's shell and pinned the nearly-complete Level 5 mutant — along with its life cores — inside.
Its body had already erged halfway. It would have been a flying, winged Level 5 Ability User. Both wings had already grown colored feathers.
The next second, Zhao Guozhu flashed down — first the head, then the wings, then the egg shell collected. Only when it had no further value did he finish it off with repeated strikes.
Five-Star magical materials. Extrely valuable. He had the presence of mind for that.
Almost simultaneously, Zhao Xuanxuan's barrage reached its finale. With the last hamr strike, the Stone Giant let out a dying wail — and its massive body shattered like crumbling rock, exploding outward in all directions, as if sothing inside had detonated in a shaped charge. If any fragnt larger than a fist remained intact, she'd call it a loss.
Every life core was destroyed at the sa mont.
What remained was the colorful stone tumor — and one Universal Gold Card, blazing with golden light.
The battle ended there. The remaining Level 3 Ability Users were either shot down or fled, to be hunted down later.
Plague Witch Alice never appeared in person.
She had just sent three Five-Star Universal Gold Cards.
How generous.
Li Wei signaled from the rooftop. Zhao Xuanxuan collected the three cards. At the sa mont, several lines of text appeared.
[You have won this brief engagent, but the war continues. You may now initiate pursuit.]
[You have obtained three Five-Star Universal Gold Cards. Note: the internal magical energy is identical across all three. The difference is only that so Magic Zombies reached full developnt while others did not.]
[Please choose!]
—
Li Wei didn't hesitate long. He sold two of them, receiving 4,000 standard gold coins, and bringing his total submitted Universal Gold Cards to 68.
His treasury's standard gold coin total was once again approaching the 50,000 mark.
This was mainly because Liang Yuzhi hadn't applied for settlent, and taxes hadn't been paid yet. As long as Li Wei didn't apply for settlent, taxes were temporarily deferred — he could wait until the three-year mission ended. If he obtained genuine noble status by then, he could reduce his tax burden to so degree.
The last Universal Gold Card he exchanged for a Silver Clearance Token, at the cost of an additional 60% mission difficulty increase.
Several Freeman soldiers had perford exceptionally in this battle and could be considered for upgrades.
Zhao Xuanxuan could also reach Four-Star Blacksmith within a few months. She needed a Black Iron Clearance Token.
He needed to start preparing the team for next November's special boss fight.
Though Liang Yuzhi believed triggering the difficulty wasn't necessary, Li Wei felt the second year still warranted a push.
Without being told, Freeman Administrator Nelson had already begun managing the aftermath — including treating the 387 Level 2 infected.
They were far too thin and malnourished. Even with Plague Witch Alice increasing the dosage, their bodies couldn't complete the mutation — it would just kill them outright. In the brief ti just now, five had died and three had beco Level 3 Ability Users.
For Level 2 infected, the territory had more than enough experience by now.
First, quickly administer three to five doses of One-Star Blood Resistance Potion to each person. Then quarantine. And internally, purchase One-Star Profession Cards — yes, the veteran Freen had accumulated one or two different Profession Cards through their daily work.
Under normal circumstances, they probably wouldn't want to donate them. So Li Wei didn't test anyone's character — he bought them at one gold coin each.
Within ten minutes, 300 cards had co in. The remainder was filled from existing stock.
With that, the 387 natural persons were brought under the Prestige Card's managent coverage.
Li Wei's territory population grew from 362 to 752 — including Li Wei, Liang Yuzhi, and Zhao Xuanxuan, who also counted as territory residents.
By any asure, this was a win for everyone.
But Li Wei still hadn't left the rooftop. The last Four-Star Enchanted Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrow sat in front of him. He was still waiting for the distinguished guest to arrive.
He waited until around three in the afternoon, when Liang Yuzhi appeared in a hurry. The mont she saw Li Wei, she smiled. "That woman is more troubleso than I expected. I couldn't finish her. But she's definitely seriously wounded — she lost at least fifty more units of magical energy in this engagent. She won't be coming back."
"And after this battle, you've eliminated the troublemakers and sent a clear warning to Zhao Kewu and Socrates. No one should co looking for trouble again."
"Second Aunt — are you alright? This worked because of your planning. I couldn't have co up with this on my own." Li Wei said it sincerely. It was true — this had been a plan he and Liang Yuzhi had worked out together. Not particularly elegant, but enough to fool Witch Alice.
The specifics were simple.
Li Wei used Perception 5 to track the plague rats' movents and deduce Alice's likely approach. Once Alice made her move, Liang Yuzhi would depart from the port camp. If Thomas and the others were encountered along the way unhard, the plan was working. If they had been ambushed, Alice had a different sche in play.
Either way, Li Wei held the center and waited.
With Perception 5, Full-Grid Resonance, and the Enchanted Strong Bow, he wasn't afraid of Alice causing trouble. Just hold her attention for a mont, and Liang Yuzhi could strike from behind.
But even the now-formidable Liang Yuzhi hadn't been able to finish Alice — which showed just how dangerous she was.
"Second Aunt — from here, please hold the territory. I'll go to the port camp. Co spring, I can work on my Farr Destiny Grid. As for this Silver Clearance Token — give one Black Iron Token to Zhao Xuanxuan. Distribute the rest as you see fit."
"And the Three-Star Tavern — I'll leave that to you as well."
"Done."
Liang Yuzhi was decisive. Li Wei handed over the Prestige Card and left without looking back.
No month-end summary needed now. No family eting. His departure wouldn't affect anything.
That was the advantage.
What followed would be a long period of quiet consolidation. As long as no one ca looking for trouble, he was already ranked first — and he had no intention of stirring things up.
His real opponents were no longer these people.
Maximizing gains within the rules — that was his most important goal now.
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