My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 52: Some Combat Intelligence, but Not Much
On the one hand, Fang Zhen could feel the tension, excitement, and impulsiveness welling up inside him. He felt all these emotions, no different from any normal person.
But on the other hand, Fang Zhen felt as if his consciousness existed on a higher plane. It was like a raging sea, whipping up storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis with its violent winds and surging waves, yet utterly unable to affect the serene, jade-like moon hanging high in the sky.
Fang Zhen’s emotions and impulses were the raging sea, while his consciousness was the moon, observing and controlling everything from a higher dimension.
In this state, Fang Zhen was unaffected by fear or impulse. His movements took on a strange, aesthetic quality as he calmly continued with his plan, loading another Crossbow Arrow.
The Kobolds charged forward. Five remained. The one at the very front was a Dogman Miner, brandishing its pickaxe less than six meters away from Fang Zhen.
Fang Zhen raised the weapon. He didn’t even bother with the sights, relying purely on his combat instincts as he fired a shot.
A steel ball struck the nearest Dogman Miner in the throat, piercing through. The creature staggered, its pickaxe slipping from its grasp. It clutched its throat with both hands and knelt on the ground, hacking dryly.
After taking out the Dogman Miner, Fang Zhen tossed the Dragon Gall Crossbow behind him. His right hand found the high-intensity flashlight propped up on a pile of rubble and flipped the switch.
The flashlight suddenly flared to life, blasting out an intense beam of light.
At this moment, the closest one to Fang Zhen was another Dogman Miner, and behind it was a Dogman Warrior wielding a short axe, its torso covered in iron armor and its lower body in a leather kilt.
The former was only about three meters away from him.
The moment Fang Zhen switched on the flashlight, a brilliant white light washed over the four remaining Kobolds, completely engulfing the charging creatures.
The Kobolds immediately shrieked in pain. Their charge halted as they instinctively threw their hands in front of their faces, squeezing their eyes shut against the direct glare.
’Heh, that’s exactly what I wanted!’
Fang Zhen’s Spirit was roused.
He could guess what the four Kobolds were experiencing. It was like driving at night when an oncoming car flashes its high beams, leaving you momentarily blind and disoriented by the glare.
From Fang Zhen’s experience, it would take several seconds for the Kobolds to recover, and even then, their vision would be impaired.
Fang Zhen snatched up the spear he had placed beside the flashlight. He lunged forward and thrust it straight at the nearest Kobold’s heart.
Fang Zhen’s position kept him out of the flashlight’s glare, and he was striking from a position of advantage. Employing basic spear techniques, he delivered a precise and vicious thrust that buried itself in the foremost Kobold’s chest.
The Dogman Miner shrieked, stumbled, and fell. After a brief struggle, it lay still.
Fang Zhen yanked his spear free from the Dogman Miner’s chest and immediately thrust it at the neck of the next closest enemy, a Dogman Warrior.
This was the Dogman Warrior in the leather kilt. It was still dazed by the light, unable to open its eyes.
Fang Zhen knew his spear wouldn’t easily pierce its iron armor, but its neck was exposed—a clear weak point.
Fang Zhen’s basic spear technique was steady and precise, and his strike was ruthless. The spearhead plunged into flesh.
The Dogman Warrior shrieked as the spear pierced its neck. It was clearly much tougher than a Dogman Miner, however. It managed to counter-attack, swinging its short axe wildly and striking the shaft of Fang Zhen’s spear.
The blow carried considerable force, and it was the blade of the axe that struck the shaft.
A jolt ran through Fang Zhen’s hands. The force behind that swing was comparable to a human of the Kobold’s height, perhaps even stronger.
If the spear had a wooden shaft, the axe would have likely snapped it in two.
But the shaft of Fang Zhen’s current spear was made of alloy.
The Dogman Warrior’s axe, far from breaking the shaft, only caused the embedded spearhead to twist violently in its neck. The puncture wound became a ragged tear, and blood gushed from the Kobold’s neck like a fountain.
Fang Zhen sidestepped the spray of blood as he pulled the spear free, giving it a sharp twist on the way out for good measure.
The Dogman Warrior’s wound widened, and the bleeding intensified.
The Dogman Warrior was tough. Its neck was half-pierced, and blood was spraying out like a fire hose, yet it still hadn’t collapsed. It staggered forward, still trying to charge, its will to fight astonishing.
But Fang Zhen gave it no chance to fight to the death.
Fang Zhen pulled his spear back, preparing for another strike. He aimed for the Kobold’s eye, intending to finish the Dogman Warrior off.
But before Fang Zhen could strike...
Suddenly!
Behind the injured Dogman Warrior...
...the Iron Dogman Warrior—the one that had been holding a candle with a Longsword on its back, presumably the leader—had at some point drawn its weapon. The candle now lay discarded on the ground.
This Armored Dogman Warrior let out a savage bark and, gripping its Longsword with both hands, swung it in a wide, horizontal arc.
Slightly startled, Fang Zhen quickly retreated to evade the Longsword.
The Armored Dogman Warrior with the Longsword was still blinded by the flashlight’s glare. Its slash was wild and undirected. It missed Fang Zhen completely, but its swing carried it from behind right into the neck of the short-axe-wielding Dogman Warrior, who was still spurting blood.
The blood-gushing Dogman Warrior had been about to charge Fang Zhen one last time. But now, its unfortunate neck was struck by one of its own kind... no, by one of its own dogs. The Longsword was sharp, and the axe-wielding Dogman Warrior’s neck, already grievously wounded, couldn’t withstand the blow. It was severed in one clean cut, and the head tumbled to the ground.
The body of the axe-wielding Dogman Warrior took two more steps forward before the headless corpse knelt and collapsed. Its head rolled several meters away.
Even in his state of heightened combat focus, Fang Zhen was momentarily stunned by the sight.
’Holy shit, that’s ruthless!’
’What kind of tactic is that?’
’Going so crazy you even kill your own dogs?’
’Savage!’
’No, a savage dog.’
’So heartless!’
Fang Zhen was astonished for half a second, but his body kept moving. He took another half-step back, and then it dawned on him.
Fang Zhen instantly understood. The Armored Dogman Warrior hadn’t gone mad and killed its own kind; it was simply blinded by the glare.
This Dogman Warrior possessed a degree of combat intelligence. It must have guessed that Fang Zhen was about to press his advantage while it was blinded. So, it had simply swung its Longsword recklessly to force its enemy, Fang Zhen, to retreat.
It had either forgotten about its ally in front of it, or was simply too selfish to care.
The result? Well, it achieved its goal of forcing Fang Zhen back a step. The unintended consequence, however, was beheading another Warrior-class ally who could have still put up a fight.
Fang Zhen figured it all out in an instant. His gaze toward the ’savage dog’ became complicated.
’How should I put it?’
’The Armored Dogman Warrior with the Longsword is cunning and selfish, for sure.’
’And it has some degree of combat intelligence.’
’But... it’s not exactly a genius.’
At this time, the Longsword-wielding Armored Dogman Warrior and the Dogman Miner behind it had both recovered from the blinding glare.
Perhaps realizing its last slash had missed Fang Zhen and killed its ’own dog’ instead, the ’savage dog’ became flustered and enraged. It barked furiously and charged at Fang Zhen alongside the remaining Dogman Miner.
