The next morning.
Thump!
With a dull echo, an iron hatchet chopped into a tree and buried its sharp blade into the trunk. Afterwards, the axe handle wobbled, pulling out the blade along with some wood shavings.
The one using the axe was a dwarf from Tripleblade’s former mercenary corps.
His body still had bandages, and because he was chopping wood, blood seeped out and stained the white bandages.
Zhen Jin walked over, examined the dwarf’s injuries, and asked: “Did the potion have an effect?”
“Yes, Lord Zhen Jin.” The dwarf put down his axe at once, bowed to and saluted Zhen Jin, and gratefully said.
“Good, continue working.” Zhen Jin patted the dwarf’s shoulder and walked away.
However, even if it was a simple greeting and pat, it made the dwarf’s face glow.
The people that saw this also looked on in envy.
This was a noble, a templar knight expressing his greetings!
The dwarf swung the axe again and felt it had become somewhat lighter.
The dwarf had injuries, however in order to lumber as fast as possible, those injuries were flung to the back of his mind. After yesterday’s fierce battle, although only a few people were killed, many were seriously injured and had to recover in camp.
Those with minor injuries had to work like the one cutting wood with all speed.
Not only was it because food and water needed to be found, it was also because of the teleportation. Zhen Jin and Cang Xu originally thought the period between teleportations was fixed. However, they discovered from Mu Ban and the others that the teleportation interval was not like what they had presumed.
Perhaps the teleportation had a regular pattern, however they had not discovered it yet.
As a result, swiftly cutting wood was the optimal plan.
If they procrastinated and got teleported again without enough wood, it would be terrible.
During today’s breakfast, Zhen Jin and Zong Ge negotiated this matter and had their groups work together to lumber.
The lumbering still took place on the hillside where the boat craftsman got into danger, the trees there seemed more lofty than anywhere else.
Zhen Jin continued to walk and quickly saw Zong Ge.
Zong Ge shouted as the shadow of his axe cut the sky and imbedded itself deep into the tree trunk.
Tree bark flew and the large tree shook tremendously.
Zong Ge chopped a second time and then pushed the tree trunk with his foot. The large tree groaned and slowly accelerated as it loudly fell to the ground with astonishing momentum.
“Lord Zong is mighty!”
“He only took two swings……”
The mercenaries exclaimed in admiration as they looked at Zong Ge with admiration.
Zong Ge faintly smiled, stepped on the fallen tree trunk, and looked at Zhen Jin walking over.
Because he was cutting wood, he had taken off his chest armor, he was still wearing his lower armor though. His stomach had been wounded with bandages twisting around his stomach and back.
Still, Zong Ge’s massive pectoral muscles were hard to cover up. Due to his toiling, his upper body hair was glistening, on top of that, his heavy breathing, flowing sweat, and sticky brown hair made him appear all the more formidable.
Zhen Jin arrived in front of Zong Ge.
The young knight was not fully mature, his height only reached Zong Ge’s stomach. Compared to Zong Ge’s robust body, Zhen Jin’s build seemed flimsy.
“Are you going to try?” Zong Ge gave Zhen Jin his axe.
Zhen Jin smiled and shook his head: “I have come to give you guys potions.”
He gave Zong Ge a bag.
“These are the new potions Zi Di swiftly mixed last night, they can expedite your recovery.” Said Zhen Jin.
Zong Ge stared, laid down his axe, and took Zhen Jin’s bag.
“Many thanks.” He faintly replied.
“All of us are victims stranded on this island, we should help each other as much as possible.” Zhen Jin’s tone was sincere, “Oh by the way, do you know if you still have any bear meat? Zi Di said that if she had some bear meat and blood mixed into her potions, the efficacy of them would increase somewhat.”
“I can exchange my lizard meat for your bear meat.”
“No exchanges are necessary; I will give it all to you both.” Zong Ge loudly said.
“Good.” Zhen Jin’s smile became more genuine, “Then I will take my leave first.”
Just as he walked a step, he saw a distant flock of birds suddenly fly into the air.
The birds chirped with fright as they fled into the sky.
Everyone cutting wood stopped working one after the other as they looked at the birds, they were troubled.
They quickly heard a faint spell of clamorous roaring.
As the roaring became more distinct, everyone knew what the source was.
“It's the bat monkeys!”
“Quick, prepare to fight.:
Everyone cried in succession.
“Put on my armor.” Zong Ge deeply said.
“Yes my Lord!” Someone immediately got his chest armor and put it on him.
Zhen Jin accelerated his steps and returned to the boat craftsman’s and idiot’s side.
“Don’t panic, this time not only do you have me, you also have Zong Ge and his people.”
“United together, we will surely prevail like the last fight.”
Under Zhen Jin’s motivating words, everyone’s gaze grew more resolute.
The bat monkeys attacked again, however before setting out, everyone was mentally prepared for this, thus after some panic, everyone calmed down.
Zong Ge’s group, Zhen Jin’s group, these two groups quickly formed up and calmly awaited the bat monkey group’s arrival.
In a moment, everyone on the right and left side heard the bat monkeys screeching.
“Are we surrounded?”
“How many bat monkeys are there?”
Everyone inevitably became agitated.
The momentum of this beast group invasion far exceeded the ones of the two previous battles.
The forest blocked everyone’s line of sight, the people did not know which direction had the most bat monkeys and where the strongest offensive was headed.
Their formation was a square, most of their power was concentrated in the front and the sides, leaving their rear quite weak.
“I could use ultrasound to determine how many there are and where their main force is.” An idea flashed in Zhen Jin’s mind, however he quickly vetoed it.
If he wanted to scout it out, he had to transform.
If he wanted to produce ultrasound, he had to transform his throat and nasal cavity.
If he wanted to hear ultrasound, he had to transform his ears.
People could easily detect these things.
“Hold formation!” Zhen Jin loudly reminded, there was no time to adjust their formation, they could only brace themselves for battle.
Quickly, bat monkeys appeared in front, on the left, and on the right, charging towards Zhen Jin and the others.
The boat craftsman, Hei Juan, and the others picked up their crossbows. Zhen Jin also raised his rapid fire crossbow.
As the arrows flew, the bat monkeys screeched incessantly as corpses continuously fell to the ground.
Zhen Jin quickly emptied his arrow box and had remarkable battle results. He had killed twenty ordinary bat monkeys by himself.
He lowered the rapid fire crossbow, dropped the empty arrow box, and replaced it with a full one that was hanging from his waist.
……
Whoosh whoosh whoosh……
His companions were constantly firing arrows into the sky, the shadows they shot each killed a bat monkey. Because of Zhen Jin’s shooting skill, the bat monkeys’ frontal offensive became bogged down momentarily.
After emptying his second arrow box, Zhen Jin began helping his companions on the sides.
Under Zhen Jin’s covering fire, both sides’ line of battle rapidly stabilized. Seeing Zhen Jin’s shot almost never miss, the sailors’ morale greatly rose.
After Zhen Jin changed to a third arrow box, the bat monkeys were routed.
Zhen Jin did not slack off, he immediately assisted Zong Ge’s group.
Zong Ge and his people were still fighting.
They were fighting as many bat monkeys as Zhen Jin’s group was, however because they were using close combat, although they were winning, their killing efficiency was comparatively low.
With the support of Zhen Jin’s arrow, those bat monkeys were also routed.
The battle was already decided.
Everyone cheered.
Zong Ge and Zhen Jin met, both sides were worried.
“Although there was a great amount of bat monkeys, there were only a few bronze level bat monkeys and only two iron level monkeys, all of which escaped.”
“That silver level rhinoceros also did not appear.”
As the two people discussed, a pink flare suddenly exploded in the sky.
“The camp! They are under attack.”
“We need to support them together!”
Zhen Jin and Zong Ge glanced at each other, and without hesitation, quickly returned to camp with the group.
All of the wounded, Zi Di, and Cang Xu were in camp. If they fell to the attack, the losses would be inconceivable!
Fortunately, the lumbering site was not far from camp and everyone quickly returned to camp.
In the camp, the silver level rhinoceros was wreaking havoc.
The renovated wooden house had already been trampled by the rhinoceros.
However, the people in camp suffered few casualties.
Because the camp was surrounded by a thick smoke.
Zi Di had thrown a potion she had mixed into the torches and bonfires to create the thick smoke. The thick smoke targeted the bat monkeys by irritating their sense of smell. Thus, the bat monkeys did not dare to penetrate the smoke.
The silver level rhinoceros was not afraid of the thick smoke, however it only charged straight ahead, making it easy to dodge.
There were few structures that could stop the silver level rhinoceros, but at the same time, it gave the people adequate time to get out of the way.
“I will handle the bat monkeys, Zong Ge, I ask that you kill that rhinoceros!” Zhen Jin growled.
Zong Ge nodded, not because he was willing to follow Zhen Jin’s orders, but because it was the most rational plan. Since the situation was urgent, Zong Ge did not bother arguing with Zhen Jin much.
There were not many bat monkeys in the sky, however they were clearly an elite group with a considerable amount of bronze and iron level monkeys in it.
Zhen Jin first let the group into the thick smoke and then shot his crossbow.
The thick smoke obscured everyone’s line of sight, but fortunately, the bat monkey feared the smoke’s scent and did not charge in.
Sacrificing accuracy for everyone’s safety was a worthwhile tradeoff.
Only Zhen Jin’s arrows were still sharp.
Because he had narrowed his eyes and transformed his left eye into a lizard’s. With infrared vision, the thick smoke seemed to vanish.
The bat monkeys did not dare charge into the thick smoke and could only be reduced to arrow targets.
“Presently, I can only transform into a bronze level bat monkey. That kind of strength is too low, only by killing a few iron level ones can I strengthen the transformation.
Notes
Just to put into perspective on how op the queen bee bloodline is, try to snipe anything while firing an automatic weapon. It seems Zhen Jin can compensate for recoil and continue to headshot while maintaining an insane rate of fire because of reasons. This chapter also proves that melee is for inefficient simpletons who want to get bloody instead of using massive amounts of ranged weapons to kill shit faster. The only purpose of melee units is to protect the archers/gunners, unless of course your shield wall is your archers, then you’ve got a doomstack on your hands.