Chapter 83: Bloodthirsty Carnage |
On the balcony, Chen Chu appeared to be basking in the sun, but in reality, his consciousness had already shifted over to the armored beast.
Forty days had passed since the second evolution. Through continuous eating, the armored beast's physique had grown even bigger. Its body appeared robust and heavy, resembling a crocodile clad in armor.
The three pairs of feathered-horns on both sides of its head, bright red like blood, each about half a meter long, and with spikes standing erect on them, made the armored beast look mighty and imposing.
In the dark waters over twenty meters deep, the beast kept its limbs to the sides of its body, its tail swaying slightly as it searched for suitable prey.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a shadow as fast as lightning flashed by in front, and if the armored beast had not been constantly observing its surroundings, it wouldn’t have noticed.
Swoosh!
The almost imperceptible sound of water flowing rang, and the shadow appeared again, this time flashing past from behind the armored beast.
What is that, so fast? The beast was slightly surprised. Since being released, it had eaten nearly two hundred ordinary mutated fish of various species, but had never encountered one with such speed.
Swoosh!
Just as Chen Chu was starting to doubt himself, the shadow flashed past the left side of the armored beast again. Due to the depth of the water and the distance of more than ten meters, the creature couldn’t be seen clearly.
What was clear was that the mutated fish had already set its sights on the armored beast.
This fish was circling around, most likely observing the beast and looking for the right opportunity to launch an attack.
You came to me, it’s your funeral. The armored beast's tail swayed, and its heavy body started to swim forward slowly, as if it hadn't noticed the fish at all.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared behind the armored beast, and with terrifying speed, it instantly appeared at its rear side. It was so fast that the beast wasn’t able to react before a large mouth with sharp fangs fiercely bit at its tail.
Bang!
The momentum from the rapid movement knocked the armored beast over, and then…
Crack!
A row of teeth mixed with blood slowly floated through the water.
The ambush on the armored beast had failed, and it was instead the fish that had been injured, losing its set of sharp teeth. The fish quickly released its grip in pain and tried to escape, but this time, it wouldn’t be able to come and go as it pleased.
Boom!
Just as the fish let go of the tail, water splashed explosively. With the burst of energy from its muscles, the armored beast suddenly turned around and slapped the mutated fish with its claw. While its movement speed was slow, the same couldn’t be said for its close-range attack speed.
Under the burst of power a hundred times stronger, the armored beast's left claw landed on the fish's back with a thunderous sound. The horrifying force was like an underwater cannon, directly splitting the fish's body into two. It even sent a shockwave through the water, stirring up violent currents, until it slowly subsided about ten meters away.
As its size grew, the armored beast, with its two innate abilities, became even more terrifying. Its defense was invincible at the same level, and nothing in the same weight class could match the power of its hundredfold eruption
It was only now that the armored beast could finally see what this fish looked like. In the murky and bloody river water, the two-meter-long, flat and slender body of the fish slowly floated, covered in gray scales. Its back fins spread out like the mast of a sailboat, and its head looked fierce and resembled the mouth of a sea wolf, narrow, long, and filled with sharp teeth.
No wonder it was so fast. Just from its appearance, the armored beast could tell that the fish’s mutation had been speed-oriented. But it had already been broken in two by the beast’s tail. Being fast became useless the moment the opponent could take advantage of such weak defense.
Its tail swayed, and the armored beast reached out with its front paw to grab a piece of the fish's body. Its large mouth, full of fangs, fiercely bit off large chunks of flesh to devour. But while the fish had a long body, it weighed less than a few hundred kilograms in total. It only took a moment to devour it completely.
Unsatisfied, it rampaged in the estuary for a while. Only after finally being fully satiated did it swim towards the shore to return to its lair and rest for digestion.
As the armored beast approached the riverbank, something fell into the water with a splash and slowly sank in front of it.
Seeing a small fish the size of a palm floating in front of it, with a fishing hook attached to its back fin, the armored beast's eyes showed surprise.
What's going on? Is someone fishing here?
Suddenly, a fierce smile appeared on the armored beast, revealing its sharp white teeth. Its sharp right claw reached out, grabbed the small fish, and pulled it.
On the surface, the bobber quickly sank, and a middle-aged man on the bank holding a net shouted excitedly, "It's here, quick, quick, pull it."
"I see it." Another middle-aged man holding a fishing rod looked very serious and pulled hard.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
Under the immense force, the nine-meter-long fishing rod was bent to its limit. Despite being capable of withstanding hundreds of kilograms on its fishing line, the rod started making squeaking sounds.
"Wow damn, it's so heavy. This fish must weigh at least a few hundred catties."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm not lying. You know, I'm a cultivator. I'm only at the Second Heavenly Realm, but with a swing of my arms, I have the strength of several hundred kilograms. And I still can't pull up this fish in one go. Just imagine how big it is."
"Yeah, hurry, I'll use my phone to record it for you."
"Watch me, I'll tire out the fish and then force it to come up. Today will be my time to shine..."
The man began to desperately pull the rod from left to right, but he couldn't move the big fish underwater, which made the both of them even more excited.
Under the water, the armored beast lazily lay on the riverbed, holding onto the fish hook and letting it be pulled around. Occasionally, it would lift its claw slightly to give them some motivation.
After about half an hour, the armored beast felt that it had played enough, and it suddenly reached out its left claw to grab a twenty-centimeter-long fish that was swimming past.
On the shore, Zhang Feng suddenly felt the change in force and shouted excitedly, "Here it comes!" With that, he exerted more strength and pulled it up.
Boom!
The water splashed everywhere, and a small fish shot out of the water, landing with a slap on the shore.
Looking at the struggling small fish on the grass, both Zhang Feng and his companion were bewildered. What's going on? Where's my big fish?
***
With the experience gained from the continuous life-and-death battles and the resources exchanged from the huge sums of contribution points, this was the best time for cultivation. Everyone diligently trained over the next two days, including Chen Chu.
After breaking through to the Third Heavenly Realm, his efficiency in absorbing energy had skyrocketed while cultivating with the Blue Crystal. The thirty percent of the energy that used to dissipate was now being fully refined, without any waste.
Besides cultivation, Chen Chu occasionally chatted with the group, exchanging their experience in battles and enemy encounters and asking about everyone’s preparation for starting cultivation in high school. It turned out that the Lin sisters, Yi Rui, and Luo Fei had all had resources prepared for them by their families.
During this period of continuous death-defying battles, Lin Xue and the others had also made rapid improvements.
On the third morning, Chen Chu put on his battle armor and arrived outside the hotel for assembly.
After several battles of blood and fire, the childishness of the newcomers had disappeared from their faces, replaced by a more mature and resolute demeanor.
This, however, was rather conflicting with the appearance of their battle armor.
Two days had passed, and a lot of students had made additional changes. Bai Mu had swapped out his angel wings for a larger pair that wrapped around half of his body and could be folded and retracted.
Meanwhile, some of the students had adorned their heavy armor with a black cloak, which looked quite badass.
Even Li Hao, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, had not only thickened his armor all over, but had also welded the four horns of the mutated bull to his shoulders and back. With the horns over a meter long, paired with the three-meter-long pole he carried on his back, he looked like an ancient warrior, mighty and imposing.
Chen Chu, on the other hand, hadn't modified anything on his armor. He appeared relatively ordinary as a result, not fitting in with the surrounding classmates.
Should I also go for some modifications? Just as Chen Chu was pondering over this question, three teachers, including Pang Long, walked out.
Pang Long solemnly said, "Now that the main force of the demon cults in Leisteru City has been wiped out, most of the military experts and troops will be transferred to support other areas."
"What? You guys are leaving?"
"What about us?" The surprising news caused a commotion among the crowd.
Pang Long replied, "Don't panic. Ms. Liu Feixu will stay behind, and you all also have an important task.
"According to interrogation information, Leisteru has been infiltrated by the Blood Cult, with the strongest leader at the Third Heavenly Realm. They are aiming to spread the Blood Seed, a seed of evil power. When absorbed by ordinary people, they can instantly become true cultivators.
"People who absorb the Blood Seed are called Blood Cultists, and they can quickly increase their strength by hunting and refining the flesh and blood essence of ordinary people."
Liu Feng exclaimed, "Refining the flesh and essence of people, isn't that cannibalism!?"
Pang Long continued solemnly, "That's right. This is the terrifying aspect of the Blood Cult. Many of the cultists killed in the battle three days ago were Blood Emissaries.
"The Blood Cult has been infiltrating Kyrola for a long time, breeding a group of high-level Emissaries and a large number of initiates by killing and refining the flesh and blood essence of people. This is why the Federation is exterminating the demon cults. These people are already out of their minds."
Pang Long's words were unpleasant and heavy to everyone.
"But you don't need to worry. There are only ordinary Blood Seeds in Leisteru currently. They are few in number, and the highest growth potential is only to the Third Heavenly Realm. If it weren't for the fact that the cultists blend in with ordinary people and are difficult to distinguish in a crowd, we would have wiped them all out already."
"Now, you can act alone or in groups. Pay attention to places where crimes occur, and you can basically always find some clues."
"In addition, the last rebel remnants scattered in the vicinity need to be cleaned up. Prevent them from joining forces with the demon cultists in the other cities and reigniting the flames of war..."
After some more detailed instructions to the students, Pang Long announced the end of the meeting.
