My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 72: Dark Snipe

The Heavy-Armored Warhammer Dogman was dazed.

The green dot from the Cheetah Hunting Crossbow's laser sight settled on the Heavy-Armored Dogman's head.

Fang Zhen pulled the trigger.

The instant the 145 arrow was fired, the Heavy-Armored Dogman instinctively raised its left arm.

SWOOSH!

The 145 arrow shot out. The Large Laser Sighting Device was incredibly accurate, sending the bolt straight for the Heavy-Armored Dogman's forehead. It struck almost the instant it was fired.

However, the bolt that should have pierced the Heavy-Armored Dogman's skull was blocked by its arm.

The 145 arrow sank into the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman's vambrace but failed to punch through. It likely tore halfway through muscle and bone before getting lodged in its arm.

"What a shame."

Fang Zhen sighed to himself.

Without any desire to linger in the fight, he turned and fled up the spiral ramp toward Mine Cave C.

The high-intensity flashlight clipped to his waist lit the way, giving him excellent visibility and preventing him from stumbling in the dark.

The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman below wasn't so lucky.

The Heavy-Armored Dogman's left arm had been half-pierced, severely hampering its combat ability. Moreover, once Fang Zhen reached Mine Cave C, the ramp was plunged into absolute darkness—a massive disadvantage for a Kobold that feared it.

Fang Zhen paid it no mind. He raced into Mine Cave C and broke into a full sprint, covering more than fifty meters before finally stopping.

His position, the entrance to the ramp, and the passage to Mine Cave B formed an equilateral triangle.

Fang Zhen turned around. The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman had not yet charged into Mine Cave C.

Taking advantage of the moment, Fang Zhen switched off the high-intensity flashlight at his waist and deactivated the Cheetah Hunting Crossbow's Large Laser Sighting Device.

Instantly, the entirety of Mine Cave C was plunged into darkness.

There were no longer any candles in Mine Cave C; the only light source moments ago had been Fang Zhen's high-intensity flashlight.

Now that the flashlight was off, everything was swallowed by a profound darkness. The unsettling mystery inherent to the dark was enough to make one's skin crawl.

Fang Zhen quickly adjusted his mindset and emotions, calming himself as fast as possible so the darkness wouldn't affect his judgment or actions.

At the same time, Fang Zhen flipped down the right eyepiece of his head-mounted thermal imager.

In the near-absolute darkness, Fang Zhen activated his thermal vision and, by feel alone, pulled a Hunting Arrow from his quiver.

Hunting Arrows were longer and more powerful.

Fang Zhen loaded the Hunting Arrow onto his Hunting Crossbow. Holding his breath and making no sound, he waited silently in the darkness.

The darkness was now his best camouflage.

Having vanished into the shadows, the entire environment of Mine Cave C had become his ally—and an enemy to the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman, which was now blind and terrified of the dark.

Even through the thermal imager, Mine Cave C appeared quite dark.

Fang Zhen aimed his Hunting Crossbow toward the ramp entrance.

He was like a calm, silent, and solitary hunter, waiting for his prey to enter range and expose a weakness.

Another three or four seconds passed before there was a stir at the ramp entrance.

Through his thermal vision, Fang Zhen saw the white, humanoid silhouette of a Kobold slowly emerge from below and walk up the ramp.

Even from nearly fifty meters away, in the pin-drop silence of Mine Cave C, Fang Zhen could hear the Kobold's continuous, guttural whimpers born of fear.

Soon, the white Kobold silhouette reached the top of the ramp and began to move forward slowly, as if with great hesitation and fear.

Fang Zhen could now tell that the one on the ramp was the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman.

He could tell by its height.

Fang Zhen had also noticed a pattern.

A Kobold's willpower, and its resistance to the fear of darkness, seemed to increase with its status in the tribe.

The low-ranking Dogman Miners had almost no resistance to their fear of the dark and would fall into a frenzy shortly after losing their light source.

The Elite Dogmen, Scouts, and Iron Armor Warriors were a bit better.

The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman's will and self-control were clearly superior to that of the Elite Dogmen. There was no light source at the moment, yet it was still able to maintain a degree of control instead of going berserk.

Of course, in the darkness, the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman's condition was severely weakened. It didn't even dare to run, only shuffling forward tentatively, one step at a time.

'Heh, you can't see me, but I can see you.' A slight smile touched the corners of Fang Zhen's mouth.

He didn't rush to shoot.

The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman was still too close to the ramp; if he injured it now, it would likely just flee back down.

Although Fang Zhen had planned to use hit-and-run tactics, he had discovered a better method in the heat of battle. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

'Wouldn't it be much better to snipe from the shadows and turn the environment into a powerful ally?'

Within a few breaths, the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman had moved more than ten meters from the ramp entrance, feeling its way through the darkness of Mine Cave C. As it walked, it let out low, rumbling growls that seemed to originate from deep within its chest. They sounded angry and suppressed, but also seemed intended to bolster its own courage.

Fang Zhen continuously tracked the Heavy-Armored Dogman, his thermal vision feeding into the optical scope.

'He'd had his doubts before—would the thermal imager still be effective for aiming when paired with an optical scope in total darkness?'

Now, experience told Fang Zhen that it was.

'Almost... now!'

Fang Zhen tracked it for a few more seconds. The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman had advanced another sixteen or seventeen meters, but it had lost its way and was now heading toward the passage to Mine Cave B.

Fang Zhen felt the time was right.

He used his optical sight to aim at the Heavy-Armored Dogman's thigh. After predicting its movement and making a micro-adjustment for error, he abruptly pulled the trigger.

SWOOSH!

The Hunting Arrow instantly reached the Heavy-Armored Dogman. With a PFFT, it tore through the iron armor on its thigh and pierced all the way through.

The Heavy-Armored Dogman let out a bloodcurdling howl and staggered before crashing to the ground.

Fang Zhen's expression remained as placid as a calm lake as he drew another Hunting Arrow.

Cock, load, aim.

This time, Fang Zhen aimed for the fallen Heavy-Armored Dogman's other thigh.

SWOOSH!

A direct hit, and a clean pass-through!

The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman on the ground let out an even more wretched, rage-filled howl, as if cursing its unseen ambusher for fighting without a shred of honor.

Fang Zhen was unmoved.

He took out a 145 arrow. Cock, load, aim.

Fire.

The 145 arrow shot forth, breaking through the heavy armor!

However, the 145 arrow's power was less than that of a Hunting Arrow; it could break the armor but couldn't pierce all the way through.

The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman was wounded but not dead.

A rather bizarre situation was unfolding in Mine Cave C.

Fang Zhen was like a ruthless sniper from a war movie. He first crippled the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman's mobility, then hid in the darkness, unhurriedly tormenting the Kobold boss on the ground one arrow at a time.

Before long, the Heavy-Armored Dogman had seven or eight arrows sticking out of it, making it look like a porcupine.

And yet, it still wasn't dead.

If the Heavy-Armored Dogman was capable of thought and emotion, it would surely be in despair right now.

It possessed immense physical strength. Judging by its power, and comparing it to a regular Iron-Armored Dogman, the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman's raw power in close combat would have been a match for Fang Zhen—it might have even been stronger.

But since Fang Zhen had chosen the right equipment and strategy, the Heavy-Armored Dogman was helpless, left to be slaughtered, no matter how great its power.

The Heavy-Armored Dogman's legs were ruined. It couldn't stand up at all. With several arrows sticking out of its body, its howls of intense fury gradually weakened until they were listless, tinged with a palpable sense of despair and hopeless struggle.

Fang Zhen's mind was clear.

He had no interest in torturing the Heavy-Armored Dogman to death.

However, by crippling the Heavy-Armored Dogman without killing it, this continuous torment would put immense pressure on the still-living Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest.

Every agonizing cry from the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman would grate on the Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest's nerves.

The Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest was a Magic unit. Fang Zhen didn't want to risk his own skin; if he went down to Miner Ding, there was still a chance he'd get a Magic Flame Arrow to the face.

Fang Zhen didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Instead, he would use his current tactic to lure out the Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest.

In the blink of an eye, Fang Zhen had put nine arrows into the Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman.

The Heavy-Armored Iron Hammer Dogman's howls had lost all their vigor, becoming feeble and listless. It was barely breathing.

Fang Zhen started to have some doubts.

'Can the Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest really be this cowardly, just watching its last companion on the brink of death without showing itself?'

'Is it just going to cower down there?'

'Doesn't it realize that once the Heavy-Armored Dogman is dead, its own death is sure to follow?'

While he was lost in thought—suddenly!

A white, humanoid Kobold silhouette shot out from the ramp.

It was the Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest!

The instant the Dragon-Scale Dogman Priest burst out, a ball of fire swirled around its hand, appearing blindingly white in Fang Zhen's thermal vision.

'Not good!'

'Magic!'

Fang Zhen was instantly on high alert.

The next moment, the flames in the Dragon-Scaled Dogman's hand coalesced into a Flaming Arrow.

It flew toward Fang Zhen!