There are too many teammates who are complete losers.

Chapter 13 Battle Against the Void Beasts

Lu Ren handed her the short knife, about the length of his forearm, hanging on his bag, and asked with a hint of annoyance, "Don't we have any tactics?"

"You lure them over here, I'll lie in ambush and try to kill one or two with a single strike. Then you deal with one, and I'll take care of the rest. Don't be afraid of getting hurt, I have healing abilities."

Seeing that she didn't scream and rush over after getting the knife, Lu Ren felt a little relieved.

He also had a short knife just like Shen Yaoxing's, which he bought today. Lu Ren had never handled a knife before, but when he held the short knife in his hand, he felt a faint sense of familiarity.

Lu Ren knew that this was because he had 3 points of the "weapon manipulation" attribute.

The term "wielding tools" refers to the use of various tools such as firearms, short weapons, and metalwork.

I've heard that once your weapon handling attribute is high, it will also be reflected in your weapon. High-ranking "prop masters" can make even a toy gun for children fire with the power of an anti-aircraft gun, or wield a sword and unleash sword energy like an anime character, which is very cool.

Lu Ren couldn't do any of these things. Right now, he just felt that even though he hadn't learned them, he didn't feel unfamiliar with holding a knife.

As he drew closer, following Shen Yaoxing's directions, he saw four monsters, their bodies as black as baboons, drinking water by the stream.

Fortunately, the moonlight was bright tonight, and he could see those things clearly.

Lu Ren swallowed hard, and 20 meters behind the monster, he picked up two stones. Soon after, the quiet forest echoed with the sound of stones striking each other.

"Hiss!"

The mud-eating monsters noticed the commotion and turned around to look at each other; both sides could see each other clearly.

Lu Ren threw a stone at them, immediately jumped out of the dense forest, and then ran desperately towards the edge of the forest.

"Hiss!"

"hiss--"

Sure enough, the mud-eating monsters chased after him.

As Lu Ren ran, he looked back. It was a creature as thin as a skeleton. Although it had a humanoid body, it was hunched over and on all fours. Its deformed scales and claws were powerful.

A humanoid creature with some lizard-like features, and incredibly fast, capable of leaping several meters in a single bound.

They are absolute, brutal, and bloodthirsty monsters.

Lu Ren fled towards Shen Yaoxing, practically tumbling and crawling.

His heart pounded like thunder, his own panting mingling with the roars of the monsters behind him.

However, despite fleeing in a panic, a hint of madness was sprouting deep within him, in addition to fear.

One hundred meters, fifty meters, twenty meters...

"Whoosh—"

Another figure emerged from the woods. Shen Yaoxing burst from the shadows into the moonlight, and with a precise slash, she pierced the neck of one of the mud-eating monsters, pinning it to the ground.

Her appearance also dispersed the mud-eating monsters chasing Lu Ren.

"Don't be afraid of getting hurt! I have healing abilities!"

The girl shouted at him, and a mud-eating monster pounced on her. Shen Yaoxing quickly entered the battle.

Having just successfully ambushed and killed Shen Yaoxing with a single blow, the other six monsters, completely disregarding their companion's death, immediately charged at Shen Yaoxing fearlessly.

Just as the girl had told Lu Ren, she disregarded the possibility of getting hurt and stuffed her arm, which was wrapped in clothes, into the mouth of a mud-eating monster that pounced on her. With her other hand, she stabbed the monster in the chest with a knife.

This fighting style is basically aimed at trading injury for injury, and with a physique nearly ten times that of an ordinary person, Shen Yaoxing is indeed even more valiant than the King of Soldiers in his previous life!

However, even with the strength of tigers and leopards, the structure of the human body makes it difficult for humans to fight wild beasts head-on. There are too many enemies, and once a human is knocked down, he can't exert much of his strength.

He couldn't let Shen Yaoxing get surrounded; he had to help. Lu Ren's mind was still foggy, but his body moved.

"Ughhhhhh—"

He growled hoarsely, and in a moment of impulsiveness, he charged forward and, like a fool, grabbed a mud-eating monster from behind.

I had clearly thought of several plans on how to use a knife to defeat a monster, but when the time came, my mind went completely blank, and I didn't even know where I had put the knife.

He possessed a physique equivalent to four points, the strength of twice that of a strong man; in his previous life, he would have been a favorite to win the Olympic weightlifting competition.

He slammed the nearest mud monster to the ground, and the two wrestled together, with him using all his strength to restrain the monster beneath him.

The mud monster was not as strong as him, but its sharp teeth and claws easily scratched and wounded him.

Lu Ren also used his fists and elbows to strike the mud monster's forehead and neck, each blow powerful and heavy, swinging with all his might.

One punch, two punches, ten punches, twenty punches... His fists were covered in filthy blood, some from the mud monster, and some from his own!

Lu Ren's mind went completely blank; all he wanted to do was kill the monster.

He kept punching the mud-eating monster in the head.

He had reasons to live; he had a younger sister to support, and he had so many things he wanted to eat.

The monster's roar was gradually fading away, while his own breathing grew louder and louder, accompanied by the resounding thuds of punches raining down.

After an unknown period of time, Shen Yaoxing's voice suddenly rang out:

"Alright, you've almost smashed me into a meat patty."

Lu Ren looked up and saw that the young lady had dealt with the monsters sometime earlier and was watching him with her arms crossed.

He paused for a moment, still punching the monster beneath him, then looked up and asked:

"Resolved?"

"...Can't you stop first?"

Lu Ren then slowly stopped. Shen Yaoxing crossed her arms and snorted.

"It's just a few mud monsters. I'm a Candlelight Realm professional... How come you're making such a mess of yourself dealing with just one?"

Lu Ren looked down and saw that the black mud monster's head was almost buried in the soil.

So that's it. He won. He defeated a Void Beast!

Lu Ren let out a long sigh of relief and slumped back on the ground. He then felt excruciating pain all over his body. When he loosened his fists, he found that his arms were trembling uncontrollably as if they were filled with lead, and he couldn't even bend his fingertips.

As the adrenaline receded, excruciating pain surged from his wounds all over his body like a tsunami. He looked down at his hands, which were covered in black and red blood, and his stomach churned—not with nausea, but with a sense of emptiness that was akin to surviving a catastrophe mixed with unfamiliar violence.

"I... won?" he asked in a hoarse voice, more like he was asking himself.

Seeing his disheveled state, Shen Yaoxing asked impatiently, "Didn't you have a knife?"

"I was so nervous that I just rushed in without thinking."

Lu Ren felt a little embarrassed, but after calming down, he realized that the Mud Eater was not as strong as he had imagined.

Shen Yaoxing could probably have taken care of these guys by himself, or if he hadn't thrown away his knife, most of his injuries would have been unnecessary.

Of course, these are all assumptions.

However, in terms of the result, he successfully achieved the first kill, defeating the first Void Beast in his professional career.

"Restore the Holy Light—"

Shen Yaoxing held a beam of light in her hands. After being illuminated by the light, Lu Ren felt nothing, but the wounds from being bitten and scratched by the mud-eating monster quickly healed.

"Wow, that's amazing."

Watching his wound heal, Lu Ren couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of superpowers, and also... watching his wound visibly heal felt rather disgusting.

"After all, the injuries weren't serious, they just looked a bit gruesome."

Shen Yaoxing squatted down in front of the mud-eating monster he had killed, plunged the dagger into its head, and finally pulled out a small bead, tossing it towards him: "Catch!"

"This is……"

Upon receiving it, Lu Ren knew what it was: a spirit skeleton.

Shen Yaoxing said, "Absorb the spirit remains of the Mud Eater and see if you can gain a skill. The Mud Eater has a Black Iron-level skill, it is..."

Without her explanation, Lu Ren already knew the skill involved. After absorbing the spirit fragment, the feeling of fullness he had felt last night after eating something delicious returned.

A surge of power coursed through his body, and the feeling of comfort was so intense that he even felt like letting out a burp.

"It's like eating dirt," Lu Ren said.

Seeing his smug expression, Shen Yaoxing asked curiously, "What? Did you learn something?"

"Um……"

Lu Ren brought up his attribute panel and saw that the data displayed this morning had changed again.