Chapter 592
Chapter 592 - 572: Severance
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7 min read
"The opportunity for a big haul is right in front of you, but all you can think about is going home to rest?"
Lu Ping’an’s astonishment was undisguisable.
In his eyes, this group of 20 people, consisting of 2-tier and 3-tier professionals, had decent strength, forming a force together. How could they be so easily discouraged?
But in reality, the strength of 2-tier student soldiers and 2-tier veteran adventurers were in completely different leagues... Not to mention the vast difference in their practical experience. Experienced professionals at 2-tier often had two or three additional professions, while student soldiers at 2-tier might only have one.
The absence of professions and practical experience (accumulated through breathing techniques) naturally led to a huge gap in attributes. Veteran 2-tier soldiers might have an average attribute of Middle Brass, while novice 2-tier soldiers were mostly Black Iron, with many at the Lower level of Black Iron.
The difference in combat experience was huge... Lu Ping’an had clearly overestimated the strength of the senior students and senior brothers present.
The "students" he was familiar with, like Xue En, Hua Xueyi, and Guan Xinxian, couldn’t be considered as regular combat power standards.
Twenty Hua Xueyi’s could easily kill their way through this level, while the people here had extreme difficulty hunting here alone.
Comparing them to the 2-tier professionals that Lu Ping’an had worked with before, those old stagers could easily fight two or three new soldiers, while star rookies like Hua Xueyi had strength above ordinary veterans, making taking on two enemies no challenge at all.
Simply put, a star hard-core character like Hua Xueyi could easily take on a team of ordinary students, which was why they were highly sought after by elite units like the Special Service Team.
But the people here represented the normal strength of student soldiers, roughly equivalent to Mei Yuge after she had worked hard for a while... The "Avengers" Lu Ping’an encountered that day were of this level, and could be killed by a zero-order Lu Ping’an.
"...So that’s how it is."
He had entered this level too fast and fought too quickly, not noticing the students’ actions or realizing they had been forced into a corner.
Now that he had been reminded, he noticed that something was wrong. Many of these seniors were injured, and their condition was not good.
"...It seems I misunderstood."
It was doubtful whether these people could safely return to the surface, let alone continue further in.
But this mismatch disrupted Lu Ping’an’s original plan and deployment in an instant.
After carefully assessing his senior brothers, estimating their combat capabilities, he couldn’t help but frown unconsciously.
"... So, these are the ordinary third and fourth-year students? Why are they so weak...?"
He had stopped to recuperate and planned to cooperate with these people to hunt further in... but now he found that not only could these senior brothers not serve as manpower resources, they were mostly burdens.
"Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I just started college and don’t have much experience." He noticed the faces of the people opposite him becoming a bit ugly.
The unintentional blunt truth made the atmosphere a bit awkward, but it was reality.
All the way, Lu Ping’an had been killing effortlessly while fully deploying his war-platform, not really noticing the strength of the magic beasts here.
He only thought about how hard it usually was to find Wisdom Demons, but now they appeared in bunches, making it a great opportunity for a big fight...
"Alright, I’ll escort you guys up first... Going up a few levels should be safe, right?"
With a sigh of helplessness, he couldn’t just stand by and let them die.
Given the current situation, letting these senior brothers go back alone might indeed be sending them to their deaths.
"...Stay away from me during the fights."
After a brief rest, Lu Ping’an set off again.
On this journey, he also witnessed the standard of "ordinary professionals"... It was quite "amazing" indeed.
"What the hell is this guy doing, why is he rushing straight in? Isn’t he waiting for his teammates?"
"What’s the point of him guarding in this direction? Opening a position directly in the middle of the formation is just selling out his teammates, right?"
"Is Captain Yan stupid? He’s not reprimanding them..."
"What a joke, you call yourself a captain? With your strength and command ability, you’d be lucky to be an ordinary soldier in the Special Service Team."
These student soldiers fully demonstrated the lower limit of professionals... But considering they had only completed the basic training at a training institution and were just beginning to gain practical experience, Lu Ping’an could understand.
"College students", no matter how rich in theoretical experience, still needed time to polish their skills to truly become professionals.
But as they watched their clumsy performance, Lu Ping’an didn’t want to waste any more time and directly took matters into his own hands.
Even without using his flame ability, which had a wide range of damage, he could just roll over them with "Zhi Xi" alone.
"This should be the staircase to the nineteenth floor... Once upon a time."
But the development of the situation did have some unexpected twists.
The original passage to the upper level had been blown up.
"Trap them inside and catch them in a snare, huh?" There was no need to guess, it was likely the work of the Wisdom Demons.
There were no unbreakable rules in the real world’s underground palace. Naturally, it made sense to cut off the passages between the levels and separate the intruders in order to kill them.
If Lu Ping’an hadn’t been killing his way down, the passage between the 20th and 21st levels would also have been cut off. The encounters that Lu Ping’an experienced near the passage were not coincidences; those Wisdom Demons indeed had a mission.
"It’s quite high..."
Lu Ping’an looked up, seeing the upper level faintly. He might be able to fly up there himself, but bringing others along would be a stretch... And he noticed that there were still signs of collapse above, which might require digging through.
If his guess was correct, going up would not be any different; they would still face the siege of the Gray Axe Tribe and the local Demons.
"Can they move freely?" Lu Ping’an didn’t think the Demons would cut off their own paths.
"The passages between different levels vary in size. We only control a few, but they probably have more."
The local inhabitants held a natural advantage, and the fact that most of them were "stone-species creatures" made it perfectly normal for them to possess several passages that only they could traverse.
The blocked path upwards was unexpected and disrupted everyone’s anticipation.
As a result, some students showed signs of a morale collapse.
"Let’s go down and see..."
Even local inhabitants couldn’t sever the connection between each level, so going down seemed like the only option.
"...Prepare for battle."
After separating the prey, it was only natural to wait for the chance to kill. Lu Ping’an speculated that traps and armies awaited them further down.
— End of Chapter 592 —