"Ah! ~Err~ Ah..."
Several more bloodcurdling screams followed.
Li Yidao's three subordinates, sitting on the stones, had their bodies pierced by stone spikes, some had half their legs severed by stone blades, and one had half of his backside and waist embedded in the stone he was sitting on. At first glance, it looked as if a stone's gaping maw had bitten into him.
"Everyone stand up! Don't sit on the stones, there are Gargoyles!"
Li Yidao, after a moment of stunned silence, shouted urgently again.
At the same time, the firearm in his hand was replaced by the greatsword he had been carrying on his back.
"There are Gargoyles hidden in the stones around here. Their primal arcane energy is of the wood attribute. Gather around!"
Li Yidao shouted to his terrified subordinates while warily scanning his surroundings.
Soon, several men holding weapons like swords and axes gathered around Li Yidao.
"Brothers, come over. Don't be afraid. Wood attribute arcane energy naturally counters these earth attribute Gargoyles. Let's slowly retreat towards the southeast!"
As he spoke, Li Yidao's expression darkened, and the greatsword in his hand glowed green, the wood attribute arcane energy.
"Hmm?"
Ye Feng suddenly felt movement beneath his feet. He immediately hugged Xiao Xiao tighter and leaped to the side.
"Whoosh! Zzzzz~ Zzzzz!"
The moment Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao landed, seven or eight sharp stone spikes erupted from the ground where they had been standing.
"Damn it, it's the same as when I first met Xiao Xiao!"
"These Gargoyles that Li Yidao mentioned are the same kind of monsters I encountered before!"
Seeing this, Ye Feng couldn't help but recall the Gargoyles he had encountered near Little Chicken Town. That time, he had truly been on the brink of death...
Thinking of this, Ye Feng became enraged.
"Hoo~"
Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind came from behind Ye Feng.
Ye Feng spun around sharply and saw that the large stone behind him had softened at some point, revealing a distorted and grotesque human face – it was a Gargoyle.
"Geggegegegegegege~!"
The Gargoyle let out a series of eerie and terrifying sounds, and a large stone blade swung rapidly towards Ye Feng.
"Hmm?"
Ye Feng's eyes narrowed. He gathered arcane energy in his hand and slapped the stone blade.
"Bang~ Crackle~"
The large stone blade was shattered by Ye Feng's palm, infused with arcane energy.
Ye Feng didn't stop there. The light flashed in his hand, and the Tang blade instantly appeared. Arcane energy attached to the blade's edge, and he instantly slashed at the large stone with the grotesque human face.
"Whoosh! Zzzzz!"
The large stone was split in two by Ye Feng's slash, reverting to its solid stone form before shattering violently.
"Ding~ Host has killed a Gargoyle, gaining 50 usable points~"
As a large amount of shattered stone scattered and dust billowed, a mechanical voice sounded in Ye Feng's mind.
"So that's how it is!"
Hearing this voice, Ye Feng was quite pleased.
He had previously only guessed that his Tang blade, infused with arcane energy, could harm these strange Gargoyles, and the system's voice was an undeniable confirmation of his guess.
However, a new doubt arose in his mind: his primal arcane energy was not the wood attribute that Li Yidao claimed countered Gargoyles. It seemed to have no attribute, yet it could still kill them...
"Huh? What's going on?"
After waiting for a while and not hearing the system's voice, Ye Feng felt puzzled.
This time, killing a Gargoyle had only yielded usable points, not a spatial rift fragment?
He remembered that the last time he had accidentally killed a Gargoyle, he had received a spatial rift fragment as a reward.
"Clang! ~ Zzzzz!"
"Ah! ~"
Suddenly, the sound of swords clashing against stone and pained screams pulled Ye Feng back from his thoughts.
He turned his head and saw Li Yidao and his subordinates clashing with stone blades and stone maces against the Gargoyles.
Li Yidao and his men's weapons were not as sharp as Ye Feng's, and they could barely fight the Gargoyles to a draw. However, the Gargoyles seemed to be somewhat constrained, unable to freely change their weapons and shapes. After clashing, they had to retreat back into the stone and would only attack again after a while...
"Brothers, these Gargoyles are restrained by our wood attribute arcane energy. Once we repel them, everyone move forward a few more steps."
"But we must maintain our formation, otherwise, if the Gargoyles seize an opportunity to pick us off one by one, it will be disastrous!"
As he spoke, Li Yidao was somewhat out of breath. The recent battle had taken a heavy toll on him, and the other cultivators of wood attribute arcane energy were no exception. One of them was pale and breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Wood attribute arcane energy counters Gargoyles..."
Ye Feng pondered for a moment, took out his wood attribute arcane energy rifle, and at this moment, another Gargoyle emerged from the stone beside Li Yidao and his men.
"Bang!"
Just as Li Yidao and his men's wood attribute arcane energy surged, the wood attribute arcane energy rifle in Ye Feng's hand fired.
The bullet, imbued with wood attribute arcane energy, instantly struck the Gargoyle that had just formed spikes. The green wood attribute arcane energy immediately spread outwards, forming cracks on the stone where the Gargoyle was.
"Waaah waah waah~"
The Gargoyle immediately let out a horrifying cry like an infant's wail, seeming to be in great pain. Its cries were also filled with urgency.
In the end, it even extended two stone arms, vigorously pounding and pushing the area where the bullet had hit, as if trying to prevent the wood attribute arcane energy from spreading. However, it was futile. Even the stone arms that had just formed were filled with green cracks within a few breaths.
"Crack crack~ Crack~!"
Within a few breaths, the Gargoyle, along with the stone it was in, shattered into countless small pieces, some even turning to dust and merging with the earth.
"Ding~ Host has killed a Gargoyle, gaining 10 usable points~"
The system's mechanical voice sounded again.
"What the hell... what's going on? Why only 10 points?"
Ye Feng was very perplexed.
"Could it be because I used a firearm?"
Ye Feng frowned slightly. When he killed goblins before, there had also been a reduction in kill points when he used a firearm instead of a blade...
Immediately, Ye Feng's Tang blade reappeared in his hand, and he quickly ran towards Li Yidao and his men. To their astonished gazes, he sliced another Gargoyle in half.
"Ding~ Host has killed a Gargoyle, gaining 50 usable points~"
The system's mechanical voice followed closely.
"It's exactly as I thought!"
"It seems this system, while giving me usable points to become stronger, doesn't seem to want me to kill monsters by relying on firearms or similar items."
"It prefers me to engage in close combat!" Ye Feng muttered to himself.
Afterward, Ye Feng walked around the area with his Tang blade, waiting for Gargoyles to appear. However, after a long while, no Gargoyles showed up.
"All gone?"
Ye Feng looked around, frowning.
...