Chapter 36: The Battle for the City’s Defense (Part Three)

Swish!

Countless piercing sounds cut through the air in a continuous line, composing a bloody symphony of flesh being pierced.

When Zhou Ke looked back again, the crab-like monster man, his body riddled with willow-leaf throwing knives, was slowly collapsing.

At the same time, the voice of the “Gate of Bi Yuewu” echoed in his mind.

“You have eliminated an elite monster, earning 3 points.”

“You have protected a citizen, earning 100 points.”

The first notification was normal enough, but the second caught Mr. Zhou by surprise.

“So generous, huh.” Zhou Ke raised an eyebrow.

From his understanding of the “City Defense Battle,” he knew protecting those NPC-like citizens would yield extra rewards, but he hadn’t expected so many points.

“Then can I deliberately lure monsters to attack the old lady and rack up points by protecting her?” Zhou Ke thought to himself as he kindly helped the old woman up.

While he was plotting this cunning scheme, a commotion had already erupted outside.

“What the hell is that? How did someone suddenly shoot to first place?”

“103 points? Must be cheating! The second place, Su Wumi, only has 13 points!”

“No way! It’s been less than five minutes, right? Killing a monster every three seconds?!”

The examinees who had struggled to earn single-digit points, or none at all, immediately lamented in despair.

Outside the “Gate of Bi Yuewu,” the three chief examiners in the VIP seats not only watched the leaderboard change but could also switch camera views at will, pinpointing Zhou Ke’s location precisely.

“Oh? Didn’t expect this candidate to discover the hidden scoring rule so quickly,” Liu Xishu praised Zhou Ke generously. “I recall the fastest previous candidate only figured it out after ten minutes.”

Jingmu remained silent, obviously recognizing Zhou Ke.

“This candidate is clever, but his aptitude is poor. Relying on cunning alone won’t make him stand out in the magister exam.”

Zhu Xusheng glanced down at Zhou Ke’s profile, holding little hope.

“Other candidates will soon learn of the new scoring rule, and his current lead will vanish.”

“I knew it, that’s why he’s not anxious.” Wu Bai, who stayed in the safe zone, couldn’t see the details but could guess what was happening from the score changes.

After all, this wasn’t his first time monitoring the Magister exams in Baiyue Province, so he wasn’t surprised.

He was just curious how long Zhou Ke could hold first place.

“The Magic Academy will select enrollees from the top fifty candidates in the province. Since the province is divided into three exam halls, one must rank at least in the top twenty in each hall.”

Wu Bai eyed the leaderboard, noticing Zhou Ke’s score in the first line fluctuating wildly in increments of a hundred points.

“Can you keep yourself within the top twenty until the exam ends?”

Second floor of the department store.

Woo—

The trumpeting call of the elephant beast sounded the charge, its pounding hooves shaking the building’s foundations.

The elephant-headed monster charged in a straight line, its unstoppable momentum seeming to obliterate everything in its path.

Zhou Ke stood right in that path, unhurried and unyielding.

He watched as the ivory tusks pierced through and pushed aside broken cash registers and shelves, piling them up like mountains about to crush him.

Then, at the moment they were about to collide—

Zhou Ke vanished from the spot.

A second later, without warning, he reappeared behind the elephant-headed monster.

“Too obvious,” he muttered, half mocking, half complaining as he scratched his ear.

No movement was visible on his hands, but several short blades had plunged deep into the back of the monster’s skull.

A fatal wound, beyond saving.

“Hm?” Just as Zhou Ke prepared to turn and retrieve his knives, a sudden intuition warned him something was wrong.

Without hesitation, he kicked off the ground and leapt backward.

The instant his foot left the floor, a metal-glinting claw burst through the ground!

Had he been a moment slower, he would have lost at least a section of his calf.

Taking advantage of still being airborne and the monster not fully emerged, he cautiously threw two throwing knives.

Clang! The thin blades were easily blocked by the metal claws.

The monster leapt free from the earth, revealing a black-and-white coarse hide.

“Ah, a honey badger this time?” Zhou Ke landed slightly ahead, so when the honey badger monster emerged, he was already charging forward with a kick.

Just as the monster’s lower body pulled free, a flying kick struck it head-on.

It hadn’t yet seen clearly what was happening before Zhou Ke’s strike sent it tumbling through the air.

Swish!

Zhou Ke intended to press his advantage, but another whooshing sound chased after him. He decisively reached out to intercept.

A fiercely powerful arrow was firmly grasped in his palm, held just three centimeters from his brow, unable to move forward an inch.

Zhou Ke glanced down the arrow’s flight path and saw a porcupine monster bristling with spikes near the escalator on the first floor.

The creature was drawing another spine from its back, using it as a sharp arrow on a bow.

“A ranged unit too, interesting, very interesting.”

Zhou Ke felt increasingly confident that taking the Magister exam was the right choice.

Just the sights and sounds before him made the trip worthwhile.

Swish!

The arrow tore through the air like a signal. The honey badger monster, dazed and furious, brandished its scythe-like claws.

The two attacks came from front and rear, completely sealing off Zhou Ke’s escape routes.

Dodge the arrow, and the honey badger would find a flaw in his defense.

Don’t dodge, and his head would be blown open.

“Then I won’t dodge.” Zhou Ke smiled and gave his answer, turning his gaze toward the first floor.

His eerie eyes bypassed the arrow’s sharp spike, settling on the porcupine monster.

The porcupine was chilled to the bone under his stare and before its underdeveloped brain could process the situation, the sharp arrow struck Zhou Ke’s brow.

Yet Zhou Ke was still smiling.

A strange, chilling, fragmented smile—like a phantom reflection in a dream.

It was an illusion.

By the time the porcupine realized this, the real Zhou Ke appeared beside it like a grim reaper.

In his hand, a spine taken from the porcupine transformed into a merciless weapon, piercing back through its owner’s body.

“You seemed to enjoy shooting just now, huh?”

One pass was not enough. Zhou Ke drove the spine into the porcupine’s head seven or eight times, stirring the brain matter into a pulp before finally stopping.

He carefully gripped its neck, lifted the battered body, and hurled it like a spiked projectile toward the honey badger monster on the second floor.