Chapter 115: The Onslaught

Wei Yi clenched his fists and declared, "Then what are we waiting for? Since their lair is right here, let us wipe them out today and rid Sunshine Town of this menace once and for all."

Chief Jing nodded. "Young Master Wei makes a sound point."

Led by the head guard, the group located the entrance to the underground passage and stepped inside. Once underground, the faint moonlight of the night vanished completely, leaving them in total darkness, forcing everyone to bring out fluorescent stones for illumination.

The passage was not particularly narrow, but it was thick with toxic fumes. The swarms of mosquitoes seen earlier were absent here, though occasionally, a few elite mosquitoes would emerge, only to be incinerated by a fireball spell cast by Wei Yi, who led the way.

Slowly, the toxic mist grew denser. The underground passage twisted and turned, and with the fog obscuring everything, even the light from the fluorescent stones could barely penetrate the gloom. As the group waded through the black poison mist, losing sight of the person ahead of them was a constant risk if they were not careful.

Chief Jing warned, "Everyone, be careful. Stay close and do not get separated."

From time to time, elite mosquitoes would suddenly burst from the black mist to ambush them. Some of the caravan's carriage captains realized the vast gap between their skills and Wei Yi’s; without the ability to cast fireballs, they found it difficult enough to even land a hit on the insects, let alone kill them in one strike. They had to pour every ounce of their focus into simply avoiding being bitten.

"Chief, the mosquitoes here are stronger than we imagined. They are all at the Innate Realm!"

"Everyone, watch out!"

...

Halfway through her meditation, Yun Qing was startled by a cacophony of clattering sounds coming from all directions. It sounded as if hail were pelting the roof and walls of the inn.

"Liu Liu, the humidity in the air hasn't changed, so it’s not summer hail. Judging by the faint buzzing, I fear the mosquitoes are attacking the inn."

"That is highly likely."

While the inn's structure seemed secure, Yun Qing felt a mounting sense of oppression, as if the building’s defenses could be breached at any moment. She teased, "Liu Liu, mosquito meat is still meat. Are you hungry?"

Liu Liu rolled its eyes. It had meat in its backpack; it had no intention of eating mosquitoes.

The buzzing and the clattering grew louder. The noise above Yun Qing’s room began to taper off, while the sounds elsewhere intensified. Listening closely, she realized the commotion was coming from the area where the lion-horses were kept. At the same time, the roar of the lion-horses erupted, signaling they were under attack.

"Boom! Crash!" A sound of collapse echoed. Yun Qing thought to herself: *This is bad. The building must have given way.*

The most vulnerable area of the inn was where the lion-horses were stabled. Since the caravan's lion-horses were all over level 30, their blood was highly attractive to the mosquitoes. Being kept together in a group only increased that allure, and the relentless insects found it easy to breach the flimsy defenses.

The only weapons the lion-horses had to defend themselves were their tails, but their reach was limited, leaving many parts of their bodies exposed to the swarms. Tethered in place, the creatures became stationary targets.

Some of the lion-horses, unable to bear the agony of the bites, struggled violently, breaking the pillars they were tied to. Finally free, they galloped around the courtyard, trying to shake off the pests, but no matter how they ran, the mosquitoes remained locked onto them. They were forced to resort to ramming into walls or rubbing against them in a desperate attempt to crush the insects.

"The inn has been breached! Everyone, come out and kill the mosquitoes!" Old Li’s voice rang out from outside the room.

Immediately, the sound of multiple doors opening followed. Yun Qing grabbed a torch and stepped out.

Fluorescent stones illuminated the courtyard. The mosquitoes of Sunshine Town feared only sunlight, not the light of the stones. The dense, black swarm, upon seeing the exposed martial artists, shifted their focus from the lion-horses to the humans.

The mosquitoes invading the inn were mostly between levels 20 and 35. Compared to those seen in the afternoon, their bodies were darker—these were the elites of the swarm.

In the courtyard, the lion-horses were running wild, their bodies covered in dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of mosquitoes. With only about twenty people left—the remaining caravan members and the inn staff—the scene was one of total chaos.

Old Li shouted, "Control the frenzied lion-horses first! We cannot let them tear down the inn, or it will only attract more mosquitoes."

Little Jing said, "The whistles to control the lion-horses are with the Chief, and he and the other captains aren't here. None of us know how to handle them."

Yun Qing suggested, "Let's help them kill the mosquitoes on their bodies first."

A level 39 lion-horse charged toward where Yun Qing was standing, drawn by the wooden pillar nearby. Yun Qing recognized it—it was the Chief's mount and the lead lion-horse of the first carriage.

The pillar could not withstand its impact. Yun Qing vaulted over, grabbing the reins. Man and beast struggled for dominance; she pulled in the opposite direction while using her other hand to stroke the beast, trying to soothe its panic.

The lion-horse was in agony from the bites, but it still retained some sense. Having been fed by Yun Qing for some time, it respected her, and when her hands were strained to the point of pain, it finally stopped its struggle.

Yun Qing kept one hand on the reins and, with a thought, summoned her mosquito swatter.

She didn't need to swing it hard or activate the sticky function; she simply pressed the mesh against a level 26 mosquito on the lion-horse's hide, ensuring the mesh touched nothing else.

The mosquito swatter’s critical hit could reach 200 damage. A level 30-something lion-horse only had about 200 health, so Yun Qing, fearing she might injure or kill the beast, carefully channeled only a sliver of her internal energy into the swatter.

"Snap!"

Critical Hit -100;
Combat Experience +26;

With a crisp sound, a brief, dazzling flash erupted where the mesh touched the mosquito. The insect that had been biting the lion-horse turned into a puff of ash and fell away.

Looking at the lion-horse, the spot where it had been bitten was now scorched black.

"Hey, are you hurt?" Yun Qing asked, stroking its head.

The lion-horse seemed to understand. Feeling the spot she had just treated—where the mosquito was dead and the sting no longer painful—it nuzzled her hand and twitched its ears, urging her to quickly clear the mosquitoes from the rest of its body.

She had only used a tiny amount of energy, yet it had instantly killed a level 26 mosquito. Yun Qing moved the swatter to a level 28 mosquito, again channeling a mere thread of energy.

Critical Hit -100;
Combat Experience +28;

Another critical hit! Was her luck that good? She tried again, this time targeting a level 31 mosquito on the lion-horse's neck.

Critical Hit -200;
Combat Experience +62;

100% critical rate—was this due to her weapon, or her internal energy? Yun Qing recalled past battles, where she had generally relied on ranged attacks—arrows or stones—to strike creatures tainted by toxic mist.