Newbie Guardians

Chapter 45 A Twist of Fate

Elise had anticipated the monster's strength and was prepared. She skillfully manipulated three vines, instantly forming a spiderweb to block the long tongue's attack. Jin Jun and Hannah rushed forward simultaneously, one after the other, but the village chief's figure vanished in an instant.

Elise shouted, "This is an illusion! Bite your tongue!" Everyone did as she said, but it was too late. The village chief quickly waved the rope and threw it upwards like a net. Instantly, countless ropes flew towards the crowd.

Elise reacted the fastest, breaking free of the illusion before the nooses even arrived. She forcefully lashed out with the vines in her hand, scattering the dozens of nooses into gusts of chilling wind.

The others only started biting their tongues after hearing the warning, and none of them escaped being hung up.

Huang Xin first felt a tightness around his neck, and then saw that his companions were also being hoisted up. The closest one was Hannaer, who was also looking at him with a complex expression, a mixture of apology, helplessness, relief, and relief. Perhaps she was glad that she could die with him.

A surge of intense resentment and anger welled up within Huang Xin. He struggled violently, but the more he struggled, the tighter the rope around his neck became, turning his face a deep purplish-red. The dense, eerie energy emanating from the knot gradually robbed him of consciousness. A cacophony of sounds filled his ears, and his vision blurred. Vaguely, he felt himself falling, landing in a completely unfamiliar yet strangely familiar place. He saw a skeleton wielding an axe running rapidly towards him, growing ever closer. It was Carlo! Was I already dead? Had Carlo come to take me away? A wave of emotion washed over Huang Xin, and he opened his arms to Carlo. For some reason, at that moment, he felt an urge to embrace Carlo, like a long-lost relative.

Elise bit her tongue again, rushed over, and spat a mouthful of blood onto Huang Xin's face. The noose vanished instantly, and Huang Xin fell to the ground, standing stiffly, motionless. Elise panicked, grabbed Huang Xin, and choked out:

"Please, please don't let anything happen to you! I beg you! Don't die!"

Just as Elise tightly embraced Huang Xin, Huang Xin also opened his arms and hugged "Carlo" tightly. His mind went blank, and a message appeared in his vision:

You have acquired some of the abilities of the God of War, Carlo.

Congratulations! You have officially become a Guardian and unlocked the extremely rare and special class – Phantom Archer.

Phantom Archer: An extremely rare and special class that does not rely on any attributes and possesses three abilities.

Ability 1: Sniping. Passive skill, increases firing range by 20%.

Ability Two: Eagle Eye. Passive skill, grants dynamic vision, enabling precise target locking while moving at high speed, as well as precise locking onto high-speed moving targets;

Ability 3: Slide. Active skill, allows you to quickly slide eight meters in any direction, with a 30-second cooldown.

You have gained some of the Armor-Piercing Bow's abilities. When you attack, there is a 5% chance that you will ignore any defense of the target. Each hit on the target increases the chance by 1%, and the effect resets to the initial value after activation.

You have gained some of the abilities of the Pure Heart Jade, granting you immunity to any negative mental states.

You have obtained fifty ordinary arrows.

After quickly reading the message, Huang Xin felt a softness in his arms. Looking down, he saw it was Elise. His face flushed red, and he hurriedly released her, nocking an arrow and shouting:

"Help! Save them!"

Whoosh! With the Eagle Eye passive skill, every arrow hits its mark, and in just three seconds, all five teammates were saved.

Liu Hanqin, panting heavily, complained:

"Huang Xin! You value your girlfriend over your friends! I was the last one rescued; I almost suffocated!"

Just as Huang Xin was about to explain, he heard Hanna'er exclaim in surprise:

"Huang Xin! This is our armor-piercing bow! How did you manage to do that?!"

Huang Xin pointed to the village chief who had just unleashed his ultimate attack:

"I was hung up by it, then I saw Carlo, and then that was it."

Hannah seemed to be deep in thought, thinking to herself:

"Was this an accidental fusion?"

Mu Lingshan shouted as she cast her Ice Spike skill:

"Huang Xin, stand back a bit and rescue us while we're being hoisted up. Everyone else, come at us together!"

In an instant, everyone unleashed their skills: ice spikes, five thunderbolts, and whirlwinds all struck the village chief.

The village chief had reached the sixth level of cultivation, so spells and skills could not cause much damage to him. Jin Jun's assault also failed to break through his defenses; only Hanna'er's sneak attack from behind had any effect.

The village chief crossed his arms, and a whirlwind of yin energy appeared before him. He pushed it forward, causing the whirlwind to accelerate rapidly. The surrounding temperature plummeted under the powerful influence of the yin energy, and countless ice blades appeared around the whirlwind's perimeter. The powerful suction made everyone lose their footing, slowly sliding towards the center of the whirlwind. If they were caught in it, they would surely die a gruesome death. Especially Hannah and Jin Jun, who were too close, were in grave danger.

Huang Xin had encountered a similar situation in his dream and shouted:

"Quickly lie down and hold your breath! The swirling yin energy will gradually weaken and dissipate on its own."

Everyone did as instructed, lying sprawled on the ground, all holding their breath. Due to the extreme tension, everyone's heart was pounding wildly except for Huang Xin, making it extremely difficult to hold their breath, especially Liu Hanqin, whose face had turned bluish-purple, yet he still had to endure it with all his might, looking extremely pained.

Three minutes later, the whirlwind disappeared. The village chief reluctantly withdrew his hands, looked around, saw that no one was there, patted his clothes with satisfaction, and turned to leave.

As the village chief walked away, everyone stood up, panting heavily.

Huang Xin waved his hand, signaling everyone not to move. He drew his bow and nocked three arrows, which flew toward the village chief's back without triggering the armor-piercing effect. The arrows bounced off and fell to the ground.

The village chief turned around, and Huang Shen whispered:

"Hold your breath!"

The village chief stood there for a long time, but found no signs of life, so he walked towards the tomb again.

Huang Xin analyzed:

"This guy was clearly not raised properly. Although he's incredibly strong, his intelligence is very low. As long as we hold our breath, he won't be able to detect us. Hannah, try holding your breath before ambushing him and see if you get caught. Be careful!"

Hannah is an assassin, and her breath-holding time is naturally very long. She launched a charge at the village chief, slashing twice from behind before immediately stopping, ready to launch a second charge to escape at any moment.

The village chief turned around stiffly, staring blankly at Hannah, his face full of confusion. Was it just his imagination? He looked around and waved his hand haphazardly a few times, but didn't touch anything. He shook his head, took a step forward, and continued walking.

Everyone's faces lit up with joy; this tactic had indeed worked. And so, Hannah followed closely behind, relentlessly finishing off the remaining enemies, while Huang Xin provided continuous ranged support, targeting the openings Hannah had made. A minute later, when the village chief returned to the tomb as if nothing had happened, his back was riddled with arrows. The last arrow had triggered its armor-piercing effect, ignoring all defenses and piercing his chest. Streams of black energy erupted from him, and the village chief's aura gradually weakened until he slowly collapsed into the coffin.

Elise shouted:

"Jin Jun, use fire arrows to burn the coffin."

Jin Jun drew his bow and nocked an arrow; swish, swish, swish, dozens of fire arrows all struck their target, and the coffin burst into flames. The village chief remained motionless, a thick plume of smoke rising from the tomb, emitting a pungent stench.

Hannah went straight to Huang Xin, glanced at Elise first, then opened her arms, the meaning of which was self-evident:

"I saw you hugging her, I want one too!"

Huang Xin looked helpless and had no choice but to pull Hannaer aside and explain softly that he had just been hallucinating and had accidentally hugged her, and that he hadn't meant to.

Mu Lingshan stood not far away, watching this scene unfold, her mood becoming even more sullen, muttering to herself:

"Elise didn't truly like Huang Xin, yet he hugged her. Hannah likes Huang Xin so much, but he refuses to hug her no matter what. What is this man thinking... Oh well, what does it have to do with me?"