Chapter 20

No matter how powerful a monster is, it remains a monster. Although the group of competitors that Zhou Tian faced seemed to be more intelligent than the previous monsters, the weaknesses that all monsters possessed were not lacking in those half-orc warriors. As a result, those half-orc warriors, due to their habits, paid a heavy price.

Thinking the players were easy prey, the half-orc warriors did not expect that after they eliminated the players, they would still face retaliation from them. Thus, following the monsters' territorial nature, after settling in a territory, the half-orc warriors generally would not easily change their location.

This led to a situation where the half-orc warriors eliminated the players quite efficiently, but because they never changed their positions, when the players noted their locations and returned for revenge, the half-orc warriors were easily caught.

At first, the newly arrived half-orc warriors caused quite a stir, eliminating a large number of players on the first day. However, once the players reacted, it only took a day for Zhou Tian's competitors to be reduced by seventy to eighty percent.

The situation had developed to this point, and although Zhou Tian's competitors were not completely eliminated, they had become like frightened birds. Even if they still harbored thoughts of the leadership position, the threat to their lives had likely cooled their enthusiasm.

While the other half-orc warriors were in a state of fear, Zhou Tian, who had been relatively inactive, finally began to take action.

From the beginning, Zhou Tian did not want to engage in direct conflict with the players. Although he did not want to reach that point, it did not mean he was afraid of the players. In fact, after observing the series of actions taken by the half-orc warriors, Zhou Tian had already made the necessary mental preparations. Now, although he did not want to see the situation come to this, he could accept the outcome.

Regarding how to deal with the players, Zhou Tian had already made a plan.

Throughout the process, Zhou Tian's approach to handling the players had not changed. In his view, there was no other solution to the threat posed by the players to the half-orcs. The only way to escape the predicament was to drive them out of the territory.

Of course, while the idea was simple, the specific implementation required careful planning.

In fact, the half-orc warriors who had already failed had the same idea as Zhou Tian. The difference between them and Zhou Tian was merely in their methods. Zhou Tian believed that the half-orc warriors' actions were too crude, and as a result, what could have been easily resolved turned into the current situation.

In Zhou Tian's view, before the half-orc territory was recognized by the players as a place with many bosses, he had to take action. Otherwise, if the players formed that perception, the half-orcs would be largely doomed.

For Zhou Tian, changing the players' perception of the half-orc territory was not difficult. Addressing the root cause, solving the problem was actually quite simple.

The players' attention to the half-orc territory was due to the new half-orc warriors drawing too much attention. Because they saw many bosses in the half-orc territory, the players thought it was a place to make a profit.

Zhou Tian had only one way to deal with the current predicament: to make the players recognize that the half-orc territory, while having many bosses, was also very dangerous. Ideally, he would make the players view the half-orc territory as a dangerous area. Only by changing the players' perception of the territory would the attention on it diminish.

With a plan in mind, the next step was how to execute it.

To be honest, while Zhou Tian's idea was not wrong, his approach carried significant risks. Players were not easy to deal with. NPCs could interact with players normally because the players could not attack them. However, as a monster, Zhou Tian would surely face trouble if he encountered the players.

However, since Zhou Tian aimed for the leadership position, he could not do nothing. Even if he knew his actions were risky, in his mind, taking such risks for his goal was entirely worth it. Moreover, in Zhou Tian's view, dealing with the players might not be as dangerous as he thought.

With the players in the open and himself in the shadows, and the players not expecting their opponent to have human intelligence, these were all advantages for Zhou Tian. With a clear plan, Zhou Tian did not believe that, with so many advantages, he would ultimately be outmatched by the players.

"Boss!" Without hiding, Zhou Tian was quickly discovered by several players. Perhaps because they had been fighting bosses frequently, the players' reactions were quite skilled. After greeting each other, they moved toward him.

Zhou Tian knew that, under the current world barrier, the players could probably only see a few scattered half-orc warriors besides him. However, in reality, Zhou Tian would not travel with such a small group. If the barrier were removed, and the players saw the situation around Zhou Tian, they would likely turn and run without a second thought.

Zhou Tian was cautious by nature, and this time, dealing with the players, he had gathered all his forces. Many half-orc warriors had been killed or injured recently, and Zhou Tian had recruited many of them. In the world where Zhou Tian was, the number of half-orc warriors around him was likely over a thousand, though he had not counted them.

In most cases, the number of subordinates a boss had was meaningless when dealing with players. The barrier not only prevented players from seeing most monsters but also made it as if they were in different worlds. Players could pass through monsters, and monsters could not touch them.

However, Zhou Tian had recently discovered a unique ability, possibly due to his穿越 (穿越 means "穿越" in Chinese, which can be translated as "穿越" in English, but in this context, it refers to a special ability or power that Zhou Tian gained, possibly from a different world or dimension). When a player and a monster were within 100 meters of Zhou Tian, the barrier between them was weakened. Although they could not see each other, they could touch each other. Once a monster was attacked by a player, the visual barrier would disappear. This ability did not increase Zhou Tian's strength but gave him a significant advantage in combat with players.

This was the situation now. When the players saw Zhou Tian, they attacked him. If it were another half-orc warrior, the players would likely have killed them despite the warrior's strength. However, because the players were targeting Zhou Tian, their actions would not only fail to defeat him but would cost them their lives.

As the players charged halfway, they suddenly stopped.

"Why aren't you moving?"

"Damn, there were no monsters here before, but suddenly so many half-orc warriors appeared."

"This is a bug, definitely a bug."

When the players were forced to stop due to Zhou Tian's ability and the half-orc warriors' contact with them, the players, seeing the half-orc warriors, could only attribute it to a bug.

While the players were shouting about the game bug, Zhou Tian did not let them off. After the half-orc warriors revealed themselves, Zhou Tian ordered them to surround the players and attack them with their numerical advantage.

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