Chapter 16

The player hero uses the ballista. If there are troops under his command, he can designate a small unit to help fire it, with the damage still attributed to the hero. If there are no troops, he has to operate it himself. This feeling is like driving a tank, which is quite exhilarating. Especially when the ballista is trained to master level, with 30 defense and 600 HP, it truly feels like an invincible tank!

Unfortunately, Da Fei's "tank" is far from this level, with the ballista now down to less than half its HP, in a precarious state! If he loses the ballista, Da Fei is absolutely finished.

So Da Fei didn't have time to think. Taking advantage of the zombies being pushed back, he hurriedly loaded the third ballista arrow!

At this moment, the zombie, which had been pushed back ten meters, slowly stood up and crouched again!

Damn! It can still jump! What kind of fight is this! What kind of zombie is this! It's just like the Jumping Demon! Staring at the meatball flying through the air, Da Fei's mind went blank!

—Boom! The ballista shook violently again! -37!!!

The ballista didn't explode! The damage wasn't as high as last time! It still had 5 HP left!

The sudden turn of events made Da Fei ecstatic. Without a word, he fired!

—Boom! The ballista arrow shot through! -55!!! But it didn't knock the zombie back again!

Da Fei's eyes widened in shock. The ballista's damage had increased again! Could it be that the zombie's attack is actually the Jumping Demon's signature skill, the Bounce Attack—where the farther it jumps, the more damage it deals, and the more it jumps, the more damage it takes?

The battle situation was intense, and Da Fei didn't have time to gather information. In this bizarre place, even the Sea Anemone King can use the Bounce Attack, so why not a zombie?

With his mind racing, Da Fei decisively stopped loading the ballista and immediately stood up, raising his gun to stab the zombie in front of him! Since the ballista's attack speed is 5 and the zombie's is 6, the next round would definitely be faster for the zombie! So it was better to engage in close combat!

One stab, blood spurted—"-16!"

Looking at his 4-7 base damage, which, due to the ineffective toxin enchantment against the undead, was actually only 3-6, Da Fei was completely shocked! Yes, this was indeed the aftereffect of the Bounce Attack.

Without hesitation, Da Fei struck with his second stab! The zombie had already started to swing its claws! Although the gunner's 10 attack speed was much faster than the zombie's 6, it wasn't twice as fast, so it was just a matter of who went first and who went second.

But it didn't matter. The gunner's advantage was the long weapon. He could stab it, but it couldn't hit him. So the zombie's target would definitely be the ballista, which was full of hate!

—Boom! -5! The ballista collapsed! And Da Fei took another -16 from the zombie!

Now, the tank was gone, and the showdown between the commanders began!

Da Fei stabbed the zombie again, and the zombie started to move towards him. Since the zombie couldn't reach Da Fei with his long weapon, it wouldn't waste its attack by swinging its claws, so it would charge forward!

"-16!" Da Fei's last advantageous strike!

Now, Da Fei had dealt a total of 155 damage to the boss! He had used all his cards, and now it was just a matter of trading blows!

From the situation last night where the boss's claw attack dealt 15 damage to Blood Sea Raging Wave, Da Fei's 32 HP would only last two hits. With his 10 attack speed, he could stab three times before the zombie's second attack at 6 attack speed. This was the difference in attack speed. If it was just one attack, it would be a matter of who went first and who went second, but with multiple attacks, the difference was quite significant! This was Da Fei's last advantage!

If three stabs couldn't kill it, then the boss's HP was really too much for Da Fei to say anything. Three stabs to decide the outcome!

"-16!" Da Fei's first stab!

"-20" The zombie retaliated! Da Fei was left with 12 HP.

"-16!" After being hit by the zombie, Da Fei's second stab followed!

Then, the decisive final stab—Da Fei closed his eyes in tension!

"—13!" A golden light shot up into the sky!

Hearing the system prompt, Da Fei excitedly opened his eyes!

—System Prompt: You have defeated the Swift Zombie, gaining 6000 experience! You have obtained the item "War Machine Skill Book," the item "War Machine Parts Storage Space Pack," the item "Artillery Commander Grin's Log (Quest Item)," and the item "Cargo Hold Door Key."

—System Prompt: Congratulations! You have reached level 8! You have gained 1 free strategic attribute point, 1 skill point, +2 HP, and +1 Leadership.

—System Prompt: You have further collected and perfected the information on the Swift Zombie!

—System Prompt: You have completed 2/10 of the achievement "Lone Hero 10 Consecutive Wins."

......

Ha! Hahaha! Da Fei laughed triumphantly! I won! I won! The skill book was on it! And it even came with a storage pack! It really had the key to pass! I've been holding back, let's see what this so-called Artillery Commander's attributes are!

—Swift Zombie: Small Undead Leader Unit; Attack 10, Defense 2, Base Damage 10-20, HP 200, Attack Speed 6, Movement Speed 4, Leadership ?, Experience 6000, Special Skill: Bounce Attack.

Sure enough, it was the Bounce Attack! I really am a master at predicting things! Hahaha, I knew I was a master, and my success is not without reason! I am truly amazing!

But what kind of bizarre unit has such a huge disparity in attack and defense? It doesn't even have the defense skill or disease special skill of a regular zombie? This damage range, between a level 4 and level 6 unit, is too out of place!

Never mind, boss units are all kinds of strange, unpredictable. In any case, winning is good! This information should be worth something if sold.

Da Fei took a long breath! Life is like this: when you're down, it's like sailing against the wind and a leaky roof; when you're up, good things come one after another, from one victory to another. I'm really turning my luck around!

After reflecting on life, Da Fei calmed down and began to check the loot.

First, of course, was the golden War Machine Skill Book. I can be sure that this is the hardest skill book to obtain in the entire world! Look at how easy it is for regular players to learn skills, just go to the machine workshop in a big city, talk, and pay. Not like me, who has to fight a boss to the death!

So, to make it worth my effort, I must learn it! I just leveled up and got two skill points, one for the main skill War Machine and one for the sub-skill Ballista Master.

Da Fei opened the book, and a golden light flashed!

—System Prompt: You have learned Basic War Machine Science, improving the durability and effectiveness of ballistas, siege engines, and medical tents. You can also repair damaged war machines.

Basic War Machine Science Ballista Attributes: Attack 10, Defense 10, Base Damage 2-3 (Total Damage = Base Damage × Hero's Total Attribute Points), HP 200, Attack Speed 5, Movement Speed 1, Special Skill: Knockback, Piercing.

—Ballista Master: The ballista can fire two arrows in succession.

The ballista can now fire two arrows! From now on, I can consider myself a master of the mechanical flow! With the ballista, winning the "Lone Hero 10 Consecutive Wins" is a piece of cake, hahaha!

Then, let's check the equipment.

—War Machine Parts Storage Space Pack: A space pack that allows players to carry war machine parts.

There's not much to say about this. It's essential for mechanical flow players, and the system machine workshop gives it to you when you complete the apprenticeship. It's like the relationship between a bowl and chopsticks for war machines.

War machines move extremely slowly and are too large to travel on rough terrain, so the solution is to disassemble them into parts and carry them in a pack, then reassemble them when needed. This means that for each battle, it takes ten minutes to assemble and ten minutes to disassemble, at least twenty minutes, and a day in the game is 2.4 hours! How many battles can you have in a day?

Annoying, right? Annoying! But this is the price of power. Just think about how real ancient wars transported supplies, and it's not so annoying! After all, the Ottoman navy even disassembled ships and carried them across the desert from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and they didn't have space packs back then.

However, these books, packs, and ballistas are things that regular mechanical flow players can get through routine means. I went through so much trouble to kill a boss and only got this much? That's not fair to me, is it? Could the key be in this key? A treasure vault key? Or in this log?

Let's check the log first. Maybe I'll get an epic quest? Or a god-level skill? A god-level skill would be best, but I don't want an epic quest. I just want to run a business and make money peacefully. I really don't want to deal with those complicated epic quests. But, a quest that comes to me, I can't refuse! Is it because I have a wife and daughter at home? Humph!

With the experience from the previous log, Da Fei carefully opened the first page of the diary.

—January 1, 150, a sacred and glorious day, the sacred moment when our Saint Anthony set sail! By the Emperor's decree, I, with excellent performance, have been honored to become the artillery commander of the Saint Anthony, responsible for the safety of the entire ship. I will not let the Emperor down! From today, I will record every day of our great voyage in detail!

—January 2, 150, sunny, our ship is sailing in the safe Shadow Sea. The Emperor's farewell speech yesterday has inspired me, so I will not be complacent in the safe waters. I have started the first round of training for my gunners!

—January 3, 150, sunny, training!

—January 4, 150, cloudy, training!

—January 5, 150, cloudy, training!

—January 6, 150, sunny, no enemy today.

Huh? No more training?

......

—February 1, 150, cloudy, nothing happened.

—February 2, 150, cloudy, nothing happened.

—February 3, 150, cloudy, nothing happened.

—February 6, 150, sunny, boring.

Damn! You said you would record every day! You also know it's boring! Can you record something interesting? What about the god-level skill? Keep flipping!

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