The sheer force of the charging Bison, barreling forward in a reckless charge, could only be described as a steam locomotive, magnified tenfold, hurtling forward at full speed. Who would dare stand firm against such a terrifying collision?

On the western flank where Fang Senyan and his group stood, there were perhaps a hundred contractors. At least seventy of them were ranged attackers.

Subtracting a few eccentrics who didn't follow conventional paths, and then factoring out the agile melee contractors, the number truly capable of holding the front line was barely over a dozen. Yet, those who could genuinely claim the title of 'Tank'—only Reef—were just one (only those whose talents inherently carried a defensive effect could be called a Tank).

This illustrates the scarcity of Tanks. As Mosha's signature golden A** unleashed a long muzzle flash, all ranged attacks converged, zeroing in on the giant beast's front-left leg—of course, due to the battle line spanning nearly a hundred meters wide, and various angle considerations, less than a third could actually manage simultaneous concentrated fire; the rest had to deal with the surging horde of common beasts.

In truth, if such a giant creature were alone, provided the ranged firepower was saturated enough to inflict crippling effects on its limbs swiftly, drastically reducing its mobility, its threat wouldn't be overwhelmingly severe. Its inability to launch ranged attacks was, after all, its greatest weakness.

The true terror of the charging Bison lay in its ability to break formations, allowing creatures like the Viper Wolves behind it unimpeded access to the ranged contractors in the rear. Such targeted assaults could instantly turn the tide of battle into chaos.

If an ordinary team were broken by such a charge, even if they weren't instantly wiped out, they would certainly suffer catastrophic losses. Fortunately, Reef possessed a powerful area-of-effect slowing skill, naturally capable of intercepting the subsequent assault from the Viper Wolves.

While the attacks from these common beasts were substantial, their lack of ranged capability prevented concentrated fire. At least Reef had about a dozen people near him who could follow up, peeling them off one by one, not aiming to kill them quickly, but simply to delay them.

Once the Bison's front leg was shattered, its movement speed significantly decreased, allowing a faster contractor to draw its attention and lure it away. The remaining contractors could then focus fire on the Viper Wolves, finally dispatching the Bison at their leisure.

Objectively speaking, Reef's battle plan was flawless. However, surprises always drifted across the battlefield like ghosts.

Just as the massive Bison closed to within twenty or thirty meters, over a dozen bizarre, golden-hued beasts simultaneously materialized from behind its rear, immediately arching their cheeks and violently spitting towards the ranged contractors who had just finished a volley of fire far behind. These golden-hued beasts possessed extremely peculiar appearances: long, slender beaks like a crane, a curved neck reminiscent of a wild pheasant, but with an oval, flattened lower body resembling a turtle shell.

They had six limbs; four were hoofed legs used for walking, while the front two were warped and mutated, appearing as scythe-like, serrated blades like a praying mantis, looking fiercely menacing. Their skin was smooth and dry, yet due to being loose, it formed slack folds, and the contours of their muscles could still be vaguely discerned beneath the skin.

When these creatures stretched their necks to spit towards the distant contractors, their necks even eerily swelled up like a cobra's, ejecting venom-laced barbs from their elongated mouths. Amidst the chaos, the contractor acting as the scout managed to report the creature's data immediately: Name: Slinger (Normal).

Scientific Name (in Na'vi): [No English Name Provided] Height 2.4m, Weight 62kg Strength 13 Agility 25 Stamina 8 Perception 17 Charisma 3 Intelligence 7 Spirit 7 Base Ranged LV4, Base Footwork LV4 Biological Ability: Embrace of the Stone: Owner's HP gains an additional 1000 points. Biological Ability: Camouflage: Slinger can effectively change its skin color to hide itself and launch surprise attacks.

Slinger Special Ability (Passive): Neurotoxin Secretion Overflow, causing muscle stiffness and difficulty breathing in those harmed, reducing movement speed by 33%, attack speed by 27%, and dealing 5 damage/3 seconds, lasting for 15 seconds. Slinger Special Ability (Passive): Tough Skin, reducing elemental damage taken by 15%; smooth skin grants a 10% chance for enemy attacks to miss.

Slinger Special Ability (Passive): Blade Legs: Every successful melee attack they land is a critical hit. However, their curved claws easily embed themselves in the enemy's body and are difficult to retract, thus, after a successful hit, there is a 50% chance they cannot engage in melee combat for 20 seconds.

Introduction: These animals, called Lenyg by the Na'vi, are among the strangest and most dangerous animals discovered so far on Pandora. These terrestrial carnivores inhabit tropical rainforests, primarily preying on the Hexapede.

They stand 2.4 meters tall and possess powerfully muscled necks; their triangular heads have venomous barbs capable of spraying neurotoxins. When approaching prey, to avoid making noise, these creatures move slowly and silently through the forest ferns.

Upon sensing prey, their rooster-like necks rapidly launch toxic needles before capturing the target. The first wave of needles spat by the Slingers immediately caused the deaths of two ranged contractors.

These highly intelligent creatures even understood focusing fire to concentrate on a single target. For the offense-heavy, defense-weak ranged contractors, the single-hit damage from their venomous sting could reach 50–70 points; even more shamelessly, the subsequent toxin damage after being hit could stack.

For example, being attacked by one Slinger results in 5 damage/3 seconds for 15 seconds; being attacked by two results in 10 damage/3 seconds for 15 seconds; ten Slingers result in 50 damage/3 seconds for 15 seconds, and so on. In fact, the first offensive focus fire from this group of Slingers targeted three individuals simultaneously, with four Slingers concentrating on each.

Naturally, they targeted the most conspicuous ranged contractors, resulting in the focused targets being instantly killed, most not even having time to use items. The only one who survived this barrage was the one hitting the highest DPS—Mosha—who benefited from a 100 HP bonus from the Silver Team ability, and whose gear had been reinforced with crystals brought back from the Star River World by Reef.

Even so, he was instantly thrown into near-death state. In sheer terror, Mosha immediately executed an ignominious, clumsy roll-forward dive, then activated the team ability 'Radiant Heal,' which managed to counteract the accompanying residual poison damage while providing continuous recovery.

Only after the 15-second poison duration elapsed did he bandage himself. He only stood up to re-engage after his health recovered past the halfway mark.

The appearance of enemies with comparable ranged attack capabilities caught the contractors completely off guard. This was mainly due to the Slingers being excessively sneaky, staying glued to the Bison's rear until they were close before suddenly bursting out, inflicting considerable damage.

However, the contractors who managed to fight their way this far were almost all elites refined through brutal selection. Despite the casualties, they were not inexperienced in fighting enemies with equal ranged capabilities.

Their first course of action was naturally to find cover and then calculate the enemy's attack interval. For enemies using firearms, this interval was the time taken to empty a clip and reload.

For creatures like the Slingers, it was the time needed to inhale and exhale after expelling a venomous barb. Grasping this attack interval meant grasping the pulse of the attack, seizing the rhythm of the assault, and seizing the initiative on the battlefield.

Five ranged contractors belonging to a team called "Sons of Cardan" focused their firepower, ensuring that every shot taken severely wounded or instantly eliminated a Slinger. Simultaneously, two agile melee contractors from the same team abandoned their current targets and stealthily moved around the Slingers' rear, clearly intending to take advantage of the confusion.

Strictly speaking, Fang Senyan felt that compared to the Tentacle Monsters encountered in the previous world, these monsters with ranged capabilities were still lacking. At least the circle of eyes on the Tentacle Monsters was incredibly potent, boasted as providing 24-hour, all-weather, zero-dead-angle surveillance—they certainly wouldn't be afraid of anyone sneaking up from behind to play games.

The Slingers suffered heavy losses the moment they were focused upon, but never forget that the two agile melee contractors had abandoned their intended targets to provide aid. Those two Viper Wolves they abandoned couldn't possibly remain stationary, yawning lazily in the sun with their bellies turned skyward for a roll, could they?

Naturally, they rushed towards Reef—if Reef hadn't conserved his strength, and if Fang Senyan was merely an assistant and lacked the potential to be a Tank, then without a doubt, Reef would have been crippled, if not killed, in this eventuality. More importantly, the moment the Slingers appeared, everyone stopped paying attention to Reef's command to cripple the Bison's front leg.

Thus, the Bison was still energetically chasing a fellow contractor wielding a sniper rifle. This unlucky fellow was inflicting the greatest damage, meaning the Bison held the deepest hatred for him.

By the time the Slingers were decimated, this contractor was about to be caught by the Bison. “Save—” Facing this situation, Fang Senyan roared loudly into the team channel, "F!"