In such a short time, over a hundred of the warriors at the forefront of the Ice and Snow World had been instantly killed. If Jiang Hao had been any slower, nearly half of the guild's 600-plus warriors would likely have perished.

The thousands of players in the beginner village were caught off guard by a group of monsters. When they saw 20 monsters, all of them kneeling in a neat circle around Jiang Hao, like a turntable, they were all speechless with shock.

The monsters' levels are determined by the highest level player present. Therefore, like Jiang Hao, they were all level 31. Players below level 20 couldn't see the monsters' rank. However, the oppressive aura emanating from the monsters was exactly the same as that of a giant boss, instantly sending chills down their spines.

Especially those soldiers standing at the forefront instantly realized that Jiang Hao had saved their lives once again without them even noticing.

It wasn't just them; even the players at the very back were stunned by the monster's overwhelming attack, witnessing it instantly wipe out hundreds of warriors. In that brief moment, despair enveloped the entire arena, shattering their newly formed confidence.

Even with the bonus from the three-star Killing Heart, you still can't escape the fate of being instantly killed by monsters!

Unexpectedly, the Lord of Hell had taken control of the battle in an instant. They snapped out of their despair and looked at Jiang Hao with even greater reverence than before. Jiang Hao, while turning to fight the monsters, summoned eight summoned creatures to join the attack, and shouted to the players in the arena: "These monsters are all epic-level, on the same tier as that giant boss. It's normal that you can't beat them."

Unexpectedly, after Jiang Hao said this, the players who were originally dejected only remained stunned for a short while before completely shaking off their negative emotions. Their fighting spirit instantly surged, and without waiting for Jiang Hao's instructions, they attacked one of the monsters.

As more and more players joined the attack, they completely surrounded the 20 monsters, centering on Jiang Hao. The innermost layer consisted of warriors and assassins, wielding broadswords, axes, and daggers, relentlessly hacking at the monsters. The outermost layer comprised mages, priests, and summoners, all wielding staves and striking the monsters with them. Some mages, unable to reach the monsters, simply crouched down and extended their arms to thrust their staves at them. Only the archers smiled, standing at a distance and firing arrows at the monsters.

Perhaps because the news had spread that some people missed out on the rewards when fighting the giant boss, no one in the newbie village stood by and watched anymore. Even if they couldn't reach the boss, they would try to squeeze forward and try to find a chance to attack the monster.

These twenty monsters had probably never suffered such humiliation before. It was bad enough that they were just kneeling in front of a player and being hit on the head, but to be ganged up on by so many players like in a street brawl, and what's worse, someone even poked them in the butt with a staff, it was simply outrageous!

They were simply unable to move due to Jiang Hao's dizziness control. Otherwise, they would have killed all the players here to avenge themselves.

Jiang Hao didn't know if the monsters he controlled were aware of their predicament. Looking at their miserable state, Jiang Hao thought it was better if they didn't know.

These monsters held out for over a minute before one of the gnolls finally lost all its health. Two gold-level and six dark gold-level summons were no longer sufficient to handle the current combat intensity. Jiang Hao had planned to revive a few epic-level summons, but unexpectedly, the gnoll flashed with white light and vanished instantly.

Jiang Hao's plan fell through, and a sense of unease rose in his heart.

The next upgrade challenge will probably be even more difficult.

Under the combined assault of over 5,000 players, the 20 monsters lasted less than two minutes before their health bars were depleted, and they vanished from the arena with a flash of white light.

Jiang Hao saw that the health bars of his eight summoned creatures had recovered, and apart from the hundreds of warriors who were instantly killed at the start of the battle, most of the players in the newbie village were still alive. His anxiety eased slightly.

Meanwhile, the players in the starting village cheered with joy when they saw that their side had actually defeated 20 epic-level monsters.

"Congratulations to the Noob Village No. 006 in Shanghai District for successfully challenging the Three-Star King of Heroes. All warriors who participated in the challenge will receive the Three-Star King of Heroes title."

"Sufficiency of warriors have been detected on the arena. The Warrior Village will now proceed to the next challenge. If the challenge is successful, the title of King of Warriors will be upgraded once again. Warriors, please prepare yourselves."

As expected, there are still challenges. Jiang Hao glanced at the number of teams in the newbie village, which was 5123. He was unsure if the leveling-up challenge was only available because the number of teams had exceeded 5000.

After all, the city lord of Jinling City didn't mention the upgrade challenge at all.

Jiang Hao was worried that this challenge would result in a large number of casualties, so he raised his staff before the system notification had even stopped.

As soon as the monster appears, he immediately attacks it to maximize the number of players he can protect.

At the same time, all eight summoned skeletons are lined up in front of the player to try to block the monster's attacks.

A large white light began to flash on the field. Jiang Hao's hand holding the staff was slightly sweaty. Even the players next to him seemed to sense that they might not be able to withstand this round of monster attacks, and their bodies began to tense up.

When the light faded, Jiang Hao could finally see clearly that a fierce-looking monster was standing on the opposite arena. This monster looked exactly like the Nian beast in the New Year's paintings pasted on doors during the Lunar New Year. It was strong, with a sheep's head and wolf's hooves, a body like a deer, a tail like a dragon's tail, and its body was covered with colorful fish scales. It was 4 meters tall, and just by standing still, its aura made the players in the novice village tremble.

Legendary!

Its aura was exactly the same as the oppressive feeling emanating from the legendary little skeleton, and even a bit stronger.

Jiang Hao was on high alert, and swung his staff violently. But just before the staff landed, the monster's body suddenly twitched slightly. Jiang Hao didn't even see it clearly before the monster vanished.

Jiang Hao was greatly alarmed, and a bad premonition rose in his heart.

Jiang Hao felt a jolt of joy as he felt his staff strike something. He saw the incredibly powerful monster kneeling beneath his staff.

Jiang Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he then noticed that the four skeletal rocs lined up at the front of the formation had their health bars emptied, and their bones were falling off one by one.