Flawed Cooperation

"Uhh, do you have any special abilities?"

"M-my body is pretty strong but other than that, not really?" Zhao Fan felt a little awkward.

Huo Long looked at him and stayed silent for a moment before turning to the youth with the shield.

"Okay I guess let's distribute the roles for this hunt. First, Gong Yu can take the role of vanguard since he uses a shield as well as earth, you are only at the fourth realm so I will help you"

"Got it" The latter wasn't surprised with his role.

"Zhou Da, you can stay in the back since you rely on long range attacks. Jia Shuren and Liu Zhong, you guys stay at the sides and wait for an opportunity to pincer the beast since you aren't as good in head on attacks and use assassination." The three nodded. It seemed like a logical division of roles which brought out everyone's strength. Now the only person left was Zhao Fan, but the problem was that he didn't seem to have any strengths in the first place!

"Hmm, Zhao Fan you can go in the back as well, if we need backup you can try to help. Your main goal should be to protect Zhou Da and the rest of the group from being flanked"

"Understood"

"Now does anyone have any questions?"

Seeing nobody say anything, Huo Long continued.

"Let's set out then, first let's find some tier 5 beasts and then we can try to move on to some weak tier six."

Only tier six? Little did they know, Zhao Fan solo'd a tier six beast in under ten seconds!

"Aren't they underestimating me? Putting me in the back with the ranged attacker like I'm completely useless" Zhao Fan felt a mixture of sadness and anger and wanted to protest the decision.

"Why would they trust you? It's very reasonable they put you in the back considering that you are not only the lowest in terms of cultivation but you don't even have any comprehension of any element" Hei Long's response sounded. Zhao Fan could just think aloud in his head and Hei Long could hear it. It was a very convenient way of having a conversation, because they produced no sound.

"Can't we wield that weird energy?"

"How does that help you? We can't fuse unless absolutely necessary because of the lightning storm that follows. The only way you can use it is if you let me take over the body, but that can't be considered your own strength"

Zhao Fan couldn't even argue with Hei Long, it was already unexpected that they didn't throw him out once he introduced himself.

Realizing that bickering was useless Zhao Fan realized he could only prove his power with actions!

Having finished the job delegations, the group set off towards the forest. Huo Long led the group into its depths with a confident posture, as if just taking a casual stroll.

Whenever they ran into a beast, Huo Long casually flicked his fingers and shot out a spark of lightning. The weaker beasts were instantly killed from the shock while those at tier 3 and above were paralyzed. The moment they regained control, they ran away seeing that the group was out of their league. In such a casual manner, the group headed deeper and deeper into the forest.

"Finally, a tier 5 wolf"

As the group walked into a clearing, they saw that a large wolf stood on the other side. A faint aura of beast essence emanated from its sturdy body covered in majestic fur. The rest of the group took out their weapons and assumed battle stances.

"ROAR!"

The wolf let out a loud roar before rushing into the group. In its eyes, all it saw were a pack of weak young cubs who offered themselves right at its doorstep.

"Lightning Upheaval!"

Huo Long's tall figure shrouded in a dense lightning aura and he bent his legs. The hard earth below his feet cracked, unable to withstand the pressure of his jump. His jump elevated him ten meters into the air at which point the lightning aura emitting from his body all flowed into his spear like a violent flood. His glowing golden spear shone like a star, filled to the brim with lightning qi. The wolf below him watched the boy with the golden spear rapidly descend on him.

What an idiot!

The wolf did not jump at Huo Long or wait to be struck, instead it charged towards the rest of the group!

Huo Long's eyes widened. He was not at the Foundation Establishment realm so he couldn't maneuver qi outside his body. If he wanted to descend somewhere from the sky, he could only let gravity take its course. He could only continue his attack and crash down on the ground with his glowing spear aiming at the ground below him.

Boom

The explosion from Huo Long's skill pushed him up and countered the force of gravity to let him land on the ground elegantly. Clearly, this was a practiced move which was flashy and inflexible, it was only now that he had participated in a battle that he realized its uselessness.

"Dark wind severing!"

"Wind blade!"

Huo Long turned around to see the two flankers unleashing their moves on the approaching wolf. At the moment, the wolf already charged past him by quite a large distance so he couldn't rejoin the battle.

The two appeared on either side of the wolf and unleashed their ultimate moves in a flash. Two sharp lines of bright colors rapidly approached the sprinting wolf.

WOOF

The wolf's hide was sliced apart and two horrifying gashes appeared on its body. Its majestic white fur was quickly tarnished by its blood and its eyes turned red as it roared in fury. Seeing the retreating figures, the wolf gave chase to the one on its left.

These cubs actually injured it! The wolf could not swallow the humiliation, and pounced on the retreating Jia Shuren without a trace of sanity. Her eyes widened, assassins like her and Liu Zhong couldn't face the beast head on since that was not their specialty.

"Sh*t!"

"Earth Sphere!"

A figure arrived right next to Jia Shuren and raised his shield which radiated like the sun. In the blink of an eye, a dense brown colored qi surrounded Gong Yu and Jia Shuren in a sphere.

The wolf saw the brown light and snarled. It's huge maw opened and snapped down on the sphere at full force.

Bang!

The sphere trembled violently but managed to hold on. The wolf on the other hand was thrown back slightly and blood as well as fragments of teeth flew out of its mouth. Huo Long had already closed the distance a great deal and once he joined the fight, the wolf would be as good as dead.

ROAR

The blood-dyed tier 5 wolf roared in agony and fury. It was played with by weak human cubs and couldn't even take out one of them. It suddenly turned its head when it felt the temperature increase by a few folds. A short distance from it, was a female cultivator wielding a long staff and a youth wearing red gloves. The girl seemingly fueled a huge fireball above her head as tendrils of energy escaped her staff and slowly increased the size and intensity of the fireball.

The wolf's furious eyes reflected a huge crimson swirling mass of fire and its instincts screamed in fear. If the spell was released, the wolf would immediately scatter to ashes without even putting up any resistance!

Suddenly, its clouded eyes turned rabid. This was the chance for it to take someone along with it to the grave!

"No, quick stop it! It's going for Zhou Da!"

Huo Long shouted as he struggled to catch up to the dashing wolf. No one could do anything. Gong Yu and Jia Shuren couldn't exit the sphere in a short time and Liu Zhong already retreated after attacking. Zhou Da spell required a long time to channel and she couldn't do anything in the meantime.

Zhao Fan stood in front of Zhou Da but he obviously couldn't do anything since he was only a rank 3 cultivator.

In the end, Huo Long couldn't catch up to the wolf with its head start and he already imagined the worst. As the team leader, he actually allowed a noob like Zhao Fan to participate and even assigned him to protect their most vulnerable person. Being among the strongest in the city's youngest generation, any one of them had a considerable background and Huo Long would definitely face consequences for this mishap!

At the moment the wolf swung it's sharp claws at Zhao Fan, everyone went pale and imagined the outcome. Only Liu Zhong had a trace of hope and prayed silently to the side.

"Steel Gorilla's Fists!"

"Flaming Assault!"

Zhao Fan's hands suddenly expanded and the red gloves he was wearing lit on fire. With a calm expression, he swung out at an incredible speed at the wolf's descending claw.

"What??"

Just as everyone was expecting to see his hand ripped off, Zhao Fan's fist snapped the claws of the wolf! Not only that, it continued its trajectory and flew straight at the wolf's shocked face. The burning fist deeply seared the side of its head as it made contact and made it dazed for a few moments. That was all Zhao Fan needed.

"Fire Bullet!"

While Zhao Fan attacked with his right hand, his left hand was accumulating qi for a big strike. At the moment the wolf was dazed, Zhao Fan turned so he was standing perpendicular to the wolf and pointed his right hand's palm at the wolf's head. His other palm swung to the opposite side, to the left of his body, creating a straight line going across his two hands and his chest. The bundle of accumulated energy in his left palm's meridians accelerated like a bullet and shot out of his right hand's palm. The glove gave his qi a fire attribute causing a highly condensed and fast fire bullet to shoot at the wolf's head.

The poor wolf didn't even have the chance to resist as it's head was blasted open. At that moment, the onlookers had their mouths' opened so wide an egg could fit inside.