Chapter 53

"Charge!" The NPCs might still have some room for retreat; if they couldn't occupy the territory outside the city, they could simply fall back into the city. However, if Zhou Tian couldn't find a way to drive the NPCs back, he would face a tragic future. Therefore, when Zhou Tian took action, he held nothing back against the NPCs. As a result, when he found a good opportunity, Zhou Tian avoided the majority of the NPCs and targeted a squad of NPCs. Leading all his orc subordinates, he launched an attack, immediately engaging the enemy in battle.

This time, Zhou Tian chose a squad of ten NPCs as his target. The task of these ten NPCs was to search for Zhou Tian within a ten-mile radius. For the NPCs, such a task was as easy as it could be.

However, the NPCs probably didn't expect that the task they accepted would lead them right into Zhou Tian's activity area. With a small squad of NPCs appearing nearby, how could Zhou Tian resist the urge to attack them?

"Resurrection!" After the orc warriors and the NPC squad engaged in battle, Zhou Tian waved his hand, casting a skill to revive an orc warrior. At the same time, he himself charged directly at the group of NPCs.

Under normal circumstances, for the sake of his own safety and to maintain his dignity as a leader, Zhou Tian would not personally join the fight. However, this time the situation was different. Zhou Tian's time was limited. When the NPC squad was attacked, the main NPC force, which was surely in contact with them, would have already received the news. After receiving the information, NPCs would likely be on their way. In such a situation, to avoid being surrounded by the NPCs, Zhou Tian had to end the battle as quickly as possible.

Once Zhou Tian joined the battle, the tide immediately turned. Although the NPCs were stronger than the average orc warriors, their strength was still limited. Not to mention Zhou Tian himself, even the orc warriors under his command were stronger than the NPCs. In such a situation, when Zhou Tian personally joined the fight, the NPCs had no chance of resistance.

Zhou Tian charged to the front line, raised his dual axes, and with a single swing, split an NPC soldier in front of him into two. Not stopping there, Zhou Tian ignored the attacks from the NPCs and used his left axe to slice through their waists, trading a few minor injuries for the lives of two more NPCs.

Zhou Tian took down three NPCs in just a few seconds. Meanwhile, the orcs under his command, following his orders, also adopted a strategy of trading injuries for kills. Although some of the orcs were injured or killed in the end, the remaining seven NPCs soon fell to the orcs' weapons.

"Quick, retreat!" After using the resurrection skill again to revive a fallen orc warrior, Zhou Tian waved his hand and hurriedly led his orcs away from the scene.

This time, Zhou Tian had truly angered the NPCs. To the NPCs, Zhou Tian was not even a match for them. Even if this territory originally belonged to Zhou Tian, with their overwhelming strength, the NPCs considered him merely a minor nuisance. However, this minor nuisance had caused the deaths of hundreds of their members. Even during the search, Zhou Tian not only failed to flee but also eliminated one of their search squads. Although the number of casualties was not large, Zhou Tian's actions undoubtedly made the NPCs feel provoked.

As a result, shortly after Zhou Tian's retreat, the NPCs responded with even more intense actions.

No matter how Zhou Tian acted, the NPCs were convinced that his strength was not enough to confront them directly. With this belief, the NPCs acted with fewer reservations. As long as they could find Zhou Tian, they were confident that they could capture him.

To search for Zhou Tian, the NPCs still had to use their old methods. However, due to their previous experiences, they were well aware that Zhou Tian was likely hiding somewhere, waiting for them to make a mistake. As soon as they showed any weakness, Zhou Tian would likely jump out from the shadows and attack them.

Therefore, while the NPCs still chose to split their forces to search for Zhou Tian, the size of each squad increased from ten to a hundred members.

For Zhou Tian, this change in the NPCs' tactics naturally increased the pressure on him. Dealing with ten NPCs was not a significant problem for him. Although there was some risk, it was not too great.

However, with the NPCs forming squads of over a hundred members, the pressure on Zhou Tian increased significantly.

A squad of over a hundred members was not necessarily a formidable opponent for Zhou Tian. He could defeat them without much difficulty. However, the issue was that defeating such a squad would take a considerable amount of time.

At this point, Zhou Tian did not have the time to slowly deal with the NPCs.

If the NPCs surrounded him, with his current strength, he would have no chance of escaping alive. Dealing with a squad of a hundred NPCs would take a significant amount of time, during which the main NPC force could easily surround and eliminate them.

As a result, due to the NPCs' deployment, Zhou Tian found it almost impossible to find a target to attack. He was forced to retreat continuously, eventually moving away from his territory outside the NPC city.