Chapter 331: Heist
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang was a traveler from Earth. He was fearful of the nuclear bomb because he knew despite its size, it was dubbed as the most powerful weapon on Earth. It was the ultimate weapon during the war and was a deadly weapon to many powerful countries. It was clear that the seller had never tested the impact of the nuclear bomb before, so they handled them as bombs from the ancient times, which was how Li Lang had managed to get them from the black market. They probably did not even know if the bombs were still working, hence they had sold them to Li Lang at a cheap price.
Knowing how powerful the bombs were, Lin Huang had fled the explosion zone with the Alexandrian Eagle as the Putrescent Falcons left. He was 60 kilometers high in the air, using his Boundless Vision to watch the five Putrescent Falcons tossing the five nuclear bombs into the spiritual volcano.
Soon, a bright yellow spark shot into the air. A gigantic mushroom cloud that extended up to thousands of meters high filled the air. The white glow it emitted was so bright that it lit up a couple of kilometers. The high temperature from the white glow melted everything that was a few kilometers around the volcano. Even the gigantic spiritual volcano collapsed into flatland.
Outside the coverage of the white glow, the intense shockwave had shaken the earth 50 kilometers away. Everything within thousands of square kilometers was impacted and the trembling of the ground was felt far and wide. Even Lin Huang, who was riding on the Alexandrian Eagle 60 kilometers away, had to fight against the strong wind created from the shockwave. As the wind blew, Lin Huang could hear the explosion. It sounded like thunder, but it was much more intense with a fearful force.
Lin Huang watched the entire explosion take place, his thoughts going everywhere. The nuclear bomb had destroyed every physical thing on Earth. However, it was not enough here. As it was a different world, the creatures in this world were much more powerful than those on Earth. Even an ordinary person could easily live up to 100 years old, some of them even living over 150 years old. Meanwhile, the monsters here were more resilient and stronger than the animals on Earth. If the scariest lions and tigers were placed on this world, they would be food for the lowest-ranking monsters, which were the iron-level monsters.
"Master, you don't seem to be worried that the Molten Dragon might die from the nuclear bomb. If that happens, wouldn't you lose the opportunity to obtain the cross-ranking kill reward?" Bloody interrupted Lin Huang's thoughts.
"The physical attack will do limited harm to the Life Power… If anyone can use their Life Power to attack with the effect of a nuclear bomb, don't mention holy fire-level, the person can even kill an immortal-level," Lin Huang thought out loud and shook his head.
He did not think that the nuclear bomb alone could kill the Molten Dragon even though its combat strength had dropped.
"One of the reasons why I tossed the nuclear bomb is to destroy the spiritual volcano so that I can get rid of its geographical advantage. On the other hand, I can also drain its Life Power. It'll be even better if I manage to injure it, so that I can save some strength to fight it," Lin Huang said.
"But if I kill it with the bomb, that's just my bad luck then…" Lin Huang added.
"Compared to it dying from the explosion, what I'm more concerned about is that it will run away," Lin Huang voiced out his concern.
As the Molten Dragon was weak now, it would be unwilling to fight. Following the terrifying explosion, it might escape instead.
"There's a tunnel connecting to the lava river. But with the explosion, the entire volcano has collapsed, so the tunnel to the lava river must be destroyed as well. There's no way that it can run." Bloody was confident.
Looking at the volcanic ashes that covered the air, Lin Huang waited patiently for the Molten Dragon. As his vision was affected, it would be dumb to get closer to the Molten Dragon now. Soon, a furious roar could be heard from far away. A gigantic shadow appeared from the gravelly flatland. The gargantuan Molten Dragon flapped its broken wings in the air and looked around. Its powerful vision picked out Lin Huang who was riding on the Alexandrian Eagle tens of kilometers away.
"An Imperial Censor?" The Molten Dragon speculated as it saw Lin Huang. Soon it recalled that aside from the Imperial Censors, it had seen other humans summoning monsters using monster taming tokens.
Seeing that the black dragon had noticed him, Lin Huang smirked and gestured to the black dragon to advance. He knew very well that it could see what he was doing. Haltharad saw Lin Huang's challenging gesture very clearly. When it first saw him, it did not think that he was the one who had orchestrated the explosion as Lin Huang was too far away from it and it doubted that Lin Huang could attack from such a distance. On the other hand, Lin Huang's aura was too weak for it to believe that he was the one who had attacked. However, his challenging gesture made it doubt its own speculation.
"Is this human kid challenging me? Could he be the one who caused the explosion?" With doubt and anger, the Molten Dragon flew towards Lin Huang's direction. As the Molten Dragon was coming his way, Lin Huang patted the Alexandrian Eagle and landed at a crater nearby. He then recalled the Alexandrian Eagle and Bloody into card forms.
A minute later, the black dragon arrived above Lin Huang.
"Were you the one who attacked me, human kid?!" Haltharad demanded furiously.
As it got closer to Lin Huang, it could sense how weak this human was. He was not even a white flame-level. As it was flying over him, it planned to attack the human directly. However, it noticed that Lin Huang did not use a token when he was recalling his monsters, which proved that he was an Imperial Censor. It then thought of the God's Blood. Perhaps, it could get something out of Lin Huang.
"What do you think?" Lin Huang playfully teased. He could clearly sense that the Molten Dragon was now a blue flame-level, making him feel very relieved now.
"Are you messing with me?" Haltharad roared furiously.
"You should really brush your teeth." Lin Huang fanned his face and scowled. The black dragon had incredibly stinky breath.
"I heard that you've been hunting us humans down. It must be for the monster with the God's Blood, am I right?" Lin Huang added without waiting for the black dragon to respond.
"What do you know about that?!" Haltharad asked immediately.
"I know you want the God's Blood to increase the density of your dragon's blood, to level up to a dragonkin. I also know that you need the energy from the God's Blood to accelerate your third mutation. And what you want to know the most is where the monster with the God's Blood is right now…" Lin Huang knew the black dragon would definitely be tempted.
"What do you want?" Haltharad knew that Lin Huang would not provide it with the information without anything in return.
"I want all of the treasures that you have!" Lin Huang asked directly.
"You are too greedy, human!" Haltharad looked solemnly at him.
"The God's Blood is priceless and it's the one thing that you desire most. Moreover, I'm the only one in this ruins who knew who has taken that special monster away and where the person is."
"10%," Haltharad thought for a while and bargained.
"80%, I'm being generous to you. You still get to keep a part of your treasures," Lin Huang negotiated.
"30%!" Haltharad looked displeased.
"Half and that's my final price. If it's unacceptable for you, I shall keep the secret with me. By then, it'll be useless even if you capture me as I will not breathe a word." Lin Huang smiled as he knew that it would agree with the price.
"Half then! You'd better make sure that what you're going to say is the truth, or else, you know the consequences," Haltharad compromised as the God's Blood was too important to it.
"Of course," Lin Huang said and took out an empty temporary storage ring.
"You can use this storage ring by inserting your Life Power. Put the stuff in and I'll tell you the secret after checking the contents. Don't try to fool around, or else, the deal is off."
Lin Huang tossed the ring to Molten Dragon. The black dragon scoffed and put the treasures that it had collected over the years into the ring. It was not afraid that Lin Huang would escape with the ring as it planned to kill this obnoxious human after it retrieved the secret and get back all its treasures. That was its revenge for destroying the spiritual volcano!
Soon, the black dragon tossed the ring back to Lin Huang.
"That's half of my treasures. You can take a look at it."
Lin Huang took the ring and started checking. The more he looked, the more surprised he was as the black dragon had a crazy trove of items. It seemed to be honest about the amount of treasure it had. Even if it hid some, there was plenty in Lin Huang's ring already.
Seeing Lin Huang putting the ring away, the black dragon was nervous.
"Can you tell me who has the monster with the God's Blood and where is the person now?"
"Come closer." Lin Huang waved to the Molten Dragon.
The black dragon was shocked but it put its head closer to Lin Huang. Lin Huang walked right up to its ear from the edge of the crater.
"Actually… The person who took the monster with the God's Blood is...me…" Lin Huang grinned as he whispered. A couple of Punishment Chains appeared from the crater and whistled down towards the black dragon's head…
Chapter 332: Killing the Dragon!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang had done his calculations before this…
The volcano beneath him was a spiritual volcano. He had gotten the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit to hide in the spiritual lava, so no matter how close the Molten Dragon got, it was impossible for it to sense the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit's existence. Lin Huang had planned to fight the Molten Dragon by flying over to it and luring it closer to the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit to attack. He did not expect the Molten Dragon to come to him just by challenging it. Its desire of the God's Blood had oppressed its anger and they had chatted instead.
Lin Huang's request for treasure from the Molten Dragon was a trap. The treasure that he received was just a bonus. Humans were always driven by wealth, therefore, Lin Huang pretended to be a greedy human to lower the Molten Dragon's guard. His acting was so good that the Molten Dragon trusted him and even stuck its head closer to him.
Haltharad was not dumb, but its desire to obtain the God's Blood had blinded it, causing it to ignore many things that it should be aware of. When it heard Lin Huang talking about the God's Blood, it looked like it had been charmed by the devil and eventually, fell into his trap.
As Lin Huang revealed that he had the monster with the God's Blood, the attack came out of nowhere. The nine Punishment Chains were like hungry poisonous snakes that had been hiding for a long time. They pinned down the Molten Dragon's head and neck when it was unaware. Haltharad struggled immensely while the Vampire Particles in Lin Huang's right hand transformed into a bloody Seraphic Spear that pierced into the dragon's left ear. As the Blood Spirit leveled up to Vampire Particles , they were no longer in the form of wings anymore. They could turn into any form and be placed anywhere on the body instead of just the back.
As the Vampire Particles pierced through the black dragon's eardrum and arrived at its brain, the chains that were locking its head and neck broke. Lin Huang was flung away in the process. As the Vampire Particles had yet to leave the black dragon's ear, not all the Punishment Chains were completely broken, so Lin Huang decided to transform the spear into a gigantic ball that was stuck in its ear.
"Explode!" As Lin Huang shouted, the ball that was formed from the Vampire Particles in the dragon's ear exploded.
Without the defense from its Life Power, the left side of the black dragon's head exploded. It convulsed on the ground but it did not fall. At that moment, the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit's chains that were broken shackled it again while Lin Huang summoned the Alexandrian Eagle to get him. He took out his sword relic and filled it with Life Power. A golden glow gleamed at the tip of the sword. The black dragon was already badly injured from the explosion earlier, feeling very dizzy. It was stunned before it started to struggle and flapped its wings to attempt to break free from the chains. It knew very well that it would definitely die if its Life Power remained sealed by the Punishment Chains !
As the black dragon struggled, the Punishment Chains were losing their hold. However, Lin Huang had yet to charge his Worldly Purification . Seeing that the last chain was going to break, Lin Huang knew he had to use his trump card.
"Charcoal!" Lin Huang shouted as a powerful force oppressed the space around them. The black dragon that was struggling was shocked as it sensed the aura of a dragonkin. It was impossible that it was mistaken as the presence felt really close. Haltharad forgot to struggle while it looked at the direction where it sensed the aura coming from.
With it midnight black scales, Charcoal stared lethally at Haltharad. There was a young man sitting on its back. As Lin Huang summoned Charcoal, he recalled the Alexandrian Eagle and rode on Charcoal immediately as he knew that the Alexandrian Eagle was afraid of the Molten Dragon. The terrifying aura of a dragonkin was fearsome to most monsters and that fear also applied to monsters that were a level higher. The effect of deterrence worked best on monsters with a lower density of dragon blood, effectively suppressing them.
Under normal circumstances, Haltharad would not be affected by Charcoal's aura due to their difference in level. However, it was weak and injured now, so its defenses against Charcoal's deterrence was low. Because of that, Lin Huang had decided to summon Charcoal as his trump card because he knew that Charcoal could suppress the Molten Dragon. Haltharad's head was blank. Seizing the opportunity, the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit engaged its Punishment Chains around the black dragon again while Lin Huang, who was riding on Charcoal's back, had five Life Wheels with Life Power inserted into his sword.
Sensing the chains, the black dragon finally snapped out of it and started struggling again. The appearance of the dragonkin had made it realized a bigger crisis. The human was much more terrifying than it had imagined! It had never thought that a human could get a powerful dragonkin to be his summoning monster. How could a triple mutated monster be captured by a human? All of these happened with the same human, which made it fear Lin Huang now.
"I must escape, or else, I'll definitely die!" Haltharad only had one thought in its mind, which was to escape! Seeing that the chains were losing grip again, Lin Huang knew that it was his last chance to fight.
"Charcoal, go!"
Charcoal flapped its wings and dashed towards the black dragon. Since it had been a long time since Charcoal was let out, it was exceptionally aggressive. Although it was much smaller than the black dragon with a lower combat strength, it could feel the power of its own blood and the fear in the black dragon's eyes. That allowed it to attack the black dragon without fear as it extended its claws towards the black dragon's neck.
The black dragon that was already restricted by the chains was now compacted on its neck. It opened its mouth wide, attempting to shake off the oppression. Seizing the opportunity, Lin Huang used Seraphic Speed and Thunder Steps as he advanced towards the black dragon. A sparkly golden sword pierced into the wound on the left side of the black dragon's head. The black dragon's vision was blocked by Charcoal but when it saw the golden glow, it moved its head aside by instinct.
However, Lin Huang, who was in the air, transformed the Vampire Particles into a pair of bloody wings on his back. It was his last bit of Life Power that he had. As the wings formed, he aimed for the black dragon's wound. The black dragon wanted to run away desperately. Charcoal flapped its wings and released the black dragon's neck. Charcoal knew that it was not as strong as the black dragon but it knew that it needed to help Lin Huang. Without any communication, Lin Huang noticed that Charcoal was buying him time. He rushed into the opening of the black dragon's wound on its head.
Without the Life Power defense, his sword that was shining brightly like the Sun plowed into the temporal bone of the black dragon's head and right into its brain. The golden glow from Worldly Purification was released into its brain and the Molten Dragon's brain melted…
"Congratulations, you have completed a quintuple cross-ranking kill. You're rewarded with 20x card draws!"
"Congratulations, you have obtained Epic Molten Dragon card pieces x2"
Chapter 333: As Yet Unwitnessed
Translator:EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor:EndlessFantasy Translation
After putting away the Molten Dragon's carcass, Lin Huang recalled Charcoal and the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit into their card forms. He used Life Crystals to activate his dimensional relic after making sure that he did not leave anything behind. He did not even draw the reward cards and left before his Life Power could recover. Because the appearance of dragonkin just now would attract many powerful monsters, it would be dangerous if he stayed even for a second more.
The blue dimensional relic disappeared as he walked into it. Lin Huang did not go to Yi Yeyu and Li Lang. Instead, he went to the area where Tyrant was in the midst of its unsealing. Seeing the blue dimensional relic, Kylie took out her spear and was ready to fight. As soon as she saw that it was Lin Huang, she put away her weapon.
"I'm sorry. Due to some reason, I needed to change the color of the dimensional relic," Lin Huang explained when he saw Kylie's reaction.
After keeping the dimensional relic, Lin Huang then took out a Life Power Refill Card to refill the Life Power that he had lost. Within seconds, his five empty Life Wheels were completely filled. He was relieved as he felt energized again. Looking at the blood stains on his clothes, Lin Huang said to Kylie, "Could you please look away? I'm going to take a shower."
Kylie heard what he said and turned around to look at him intentionally, not bothering to look away.
"Never mind then, you can look if you want to. I'm a man anyway, so there's nothing to lose." Lin Huang then took off his clothes.
As he stripped down to his underwear, he felt shy as Kylie was still watching him intently. He did not want to take off his underwear. He then took out a large tub and filled it halfway with cold water. He then leaped into the tub with his underwear. It was a pleasure to shower with cold water under such scorching weather. Of course, he did not do that for enjoyment, but more to get rid of the smell and the blood stains on him. There was a strange fragrance from the black dragon's blood. It smelled like musk. He was worried that the fragrance might attract trouble.
After six tubs of water and using different brands of shower gel six times, there was still a light musk fragrance on his body, Lin Huang decided to give up.
"It seems like I can't get rid of the fragrance. I shan't waste water like this or else, I won't have any water to drink for a few days…"
He then got out of the bathtub and changed into a new pair of underwear while hiding behind the tub. He changed into new clothes and shoes as well. He then tossed his clothes into the lava and cleaned the tub before putting it into his storage space. He noticed that Kylie had been watching him.
"Haven't you seen a man taking a shower before?" Lin Huang teased.
"A man who showers six times a day? No," a lady's voice said.
"Who's that?"
Lin Huang was shocked when he heard that voice and he looked around but did not see anything. He calmed himself down as he did not see Kylie taking out her weapon to defend them.
"Was it you who spoke just now?"
Kylie remained silent but Lin Huang knew the answer.
"It's not that I want to shower six times a day but I've got the black dragon's fragrance on me…" Lin Huang knew that Kylie misunderstood, so he explained immediately. "Oh yeah, why didn't you speak before this since you can talk?"
"Because there's nothing to talk about." Kylie was cold towards him.
"Alright then…" Lin Huang accepted her response reluctantly as it was not bad that Kylie was able to express that.
"Is there anything else that you would like to say to me? If not, I shall leave now. I'll come back to you guys a few days later after Tyrant is done with its unsealing," Lin Huang informed.
"I have a question," Kylie spoke again after keeping quiet for a while.
"What's that?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow.
"Why do you wear clothes when you shower?"
"Erm…" Lin Huang wanted to blame it on her as she had been watching him but he thought about it and gave another answer, "I usually won't wear anything but it's different when there's a lady around. It's rude to be naked in front of the opposite sex."
Lin Huang wanted to say "excluding special people" but he refrained from doing so as Kylie might ask him what that meant. He was a simple man who did not like to explain a lot. He thought it was unnecessary for Kylie to know about all that.
"If there's nothing else, I'll make a move," Lin Huang said and summoned his dimensional relic.
Seeing Kylie shake her head, he then stepped into the dimensional relic. As the blue dimensional relic disappeared, Kylie mumbled to herself, "Is it rude?"
This time, Lin Huang went back to Yi Yeyu and Li Lang who were hunting down the Smoldervenom Toad. Li Lang was recovering his Life Power with snacks that looked like spicy strips. The poker-faced staff saw Lin Huang walk out of the dimensional relic but did not say a thing.
"Finally, you're back. It's been more than an hour. What monster were you after?" Yi Yeyu asked curiously.
"Nothing much, it was just a double mutated monster that took some time." It had only taken Lin Huang less than ten minutes to kill the Molten Dragon but he had spent most of his time showering.
"What're you eating?"
"Spicy bacon strips. It's a snack that's made of marinated pork with a special spicy sauce. It's good! It's very popular on the Heart Network. Do you want to try some?" Yi Yeyu took out a packet.
"I'll try one strip instead of an entire packet. I might have to throw it away if I don't like it." Lin Huang walked towards her.
"Alright, then." Yi Yeyu offered a packet that was opened to him.
Lin Huang took a strip from the packet, then passed it back to her.
"Why do you smell so good?" As Lin Huang walked towards her, Yi Yeyu sniffed the fragrance on his body.
"I had blood stains on my clothes, so I took a shower. I think it's the fragrance of the shower gel," Lin Huang came up with an excuse.
"This shower gel smells good," Yi Yeyu commented without thinking too much about it.
Lin Huang was relieved as Yi Yeyu did not ask further. He put the spicy bacon strip into his mouth. A spicy and savory taste filled his mouth. After some chewing, he savored the fragrance of the bacon. Just like what Yi Yeyu said, it was delicious but it was a little heavy on the palate. As they chatted, Li Lang paused his Life Power recovery and opened his eyes.
"Help me hunt down a Life Fire monster."
Lin Huang was stunned when he heard what he said.
"Sure!" He nodded and agreed immediately.
Chapter 334: Demon Slayer Token
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Although Lin Huang agreed to help Li Lang, he looked at Yi Yeyu in confusion. He thought Li Lang must have been triggered, or else, he would not have requested to do that on his own. Lin Huang had mentioned helping Li Lang hunt down a Life Fire monster earlier but he was rejected instead. Lin Huang did not expect him to mention this matter on his own again.
"Which Life Fire monster did you pick?" Lin Huang asked Li Lang.
"I initially wanted a Barbed Savage but I'd like a Hellish Spearfiend now," said Li Lang firmly. It was clear that he had decided.
"Hellish Spearfiend…" Lin Huang repeated that name softly. He could tell why Li Lang had chosen that monster.
The tinder of a Life Fire came with the monster's original ability and potentially, other abilities as well just like Yi Yeyu's Fire Phoenix that had bestowed her with the fire ability. Lin Huang was not sure if it came with any other abilities. Li Lang must be going for the Hellish Spearfiend's Spearheart. Even without other abilities, the Spearheart alone would allow Li Lang to improve his understanding of spear fighting. Compared to the once mutated Barbed Savage, the Hellish Spearfiend was much more difficult to overcome.
The Hellish Spearfiend was not only a dangerous demon but also a double mutated monster in human form. It held its weapon in its hand and usually sat on top of the pyramid among the monsters of the same level. The monster was no weaker than the Fiery Swordfiend that Yi Yeyu helped to kill for Lin Huang earlier. Perhaps, it was because of that that Li Lang did not target the Hellish Spearfiend at first as it was too far to reach. Although Lin Huang had no idea what inspired Li Lang to change his target, he decided to support Li Lang without thinking twice.
He remembered clearly how Li Lang had helped him a year ago. Without him, Lin Huang would not be able to afford to buy all the materials that he needed for the Reserve Hunter assessment. He would not have reaped the success today without Li Lang.
"I remember you didn't even research this ruins. Are you sure that there's such a monster here?" Lin Huang thought suddenly.
"Yes, there is. Although I didn't research this ruins, I have researched about the Hellish Spearfiend. It has appeared in this ruins before, that's what I remembered. However, it was five years ago when it was discovered. The Hellish Spearfiend was at white flame-level that time, but I'm not sure if it has leveled up to crimson flame-level now," Li Lang said and looked at Lin Huang.
"If it's now a crimson flame-level, that's bad luck for me and I'll just go for the Barbed Savage then."
"It's okay if it has leveled up. Since you have picked this monster, no matter white or crimson flame-level, I'll try my best to help you to kill it. Do you remember the coordinates?" Lin Huang asked.
"I only remember the rough coordinates," Li Lang admitted embarrassedly.
"Mark it down." Lin Huang projected a map.
Li Lang looked at the map for a while and drew a circle on the top right of the map.
"It should be in this area."
"Sure, let's look there." Lin Huang stared at the poker-faced staff who was far away. He did not enlist Bloody's help.
"I suggest you guys stop wasting your time. Confronting a double mutated monster isn't as simple as you guys think. Don't even mention about crimson flame-level monsters, the ability of the white flame-level is not to be underestimated either. Don't think that just because you guys have me and your white flame-level friend around that you can do whatever you want." Poker Face thought they had made their decision simply because they had him and Yi Yeyu with them.
"If you follow us, your tinder will disappear. You guys should not follow us tomorrow." Lin Huang glared at Poker Face and looked at Yi Yeyu.
"I'm okay." Yi Yeyu shrugged her shoulders.
"I disagree! As your chaperone, I must follow you wherever you go. if the both of you decide to leave the group, I'll have to follow the two of you as there are more people in your group instead of following her alone!" Poker Face rejected Lin Huang's arrangement without hesitation.
"We don't need you to protect us." Li Lang frowned.
"There's nothing to do with whether you need me or not. That's the order that I received. Your willingness has nothing to do with me. I'm just following the orders." Poker Face was upset. If not for the order from the management, he would not want to deal with them.
Lin Huang frowned. He did not want Poker Face to follow them as he was the staff of the Union Government. If he found out that Lin Huang was an Imperial Censor, Luo Li might hear about it and she might find out that he had the monster with the blood of God. After all, she had managed to come up with the speculation that was so close to the truth. If she managed to obtain more information, she would definitely find out.
"Just following orders? Then, this should work." Yi Yeyu took out a black token the size of half a palm. It had a black metal mast with a ferocious demon face on top and there were two words in red at the back saying "demon slayer".
"A demon slayer token?!" Poker Face was shocked when he saw the token. He stood stiffly immediately and bowed to Yi Yeyu.
"Since you know what it is, that makes things simple. I order you to follow me when the both of them are hunting the Life Fire monster."
"Yes, Madam!" Although Poker Face was unwilling, he did not dare to say no to her.
"It's a deal!" Yi Yeyu looked smugly at Lin Huang and Li Lang.
After Poker Face sat down in silence, he could not help but to ask Yi Yeyu, "Madam, may I know how did you get the demon slayer token?"
"My family name is Yi. Yi Donglai is my great-grandfather," Yi Yeyu told him the truth.
Poker Face was in shock, his mouth hung wide open for a while.
"My great-grandfather was worried that something might happen to me in the ruins, so he gave me this. I'll have to return this to him after I get out." Yi Yeyu did not know the token would be so useful.
"What does this token do?" Lin Huang asked. Although he knew about the Three Elite Divisions of the Union Government, he had no idea about the internal management of the troops.
"The demon slayer token was given by the Union Government for the temporary assignment of staff. Those who hold the token can transfer all the staff below the team leader and deputy team leader to them. It's the equal to an instruction from the deputy team leader," Li Lang explained.
"It's usually used when other troops need the Elite Division's assistance in wars."
"It would be incredibly powerful if a person owned tokens of the Three Elite Divisions…" Lin Huang thought to himself.
Lin Huang was relieved after settling Poker Face. He then discussed with Li Lang the details to hunt down the Hellish Spearfiend.
"Focus on recovering your Life Power today. We'll depart tomorrow morning to hunt down the monster!" Lin Huang came up with the arrangement after observing Li Lang's condition.
Chapter 335: One-trick Pony
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next morning, Lin Huang washed up and had his breakfast. He then summoned the Dimensional Portal.
Lin Huang had never been to the location where Li Lang specified. Therefore, he had never located the coordinates on Black Ink. He then chose a place that was nearest to the location specified by Li Lang so that they could be delivered safely.
After saying goodbye to Yi Yeyu, the both of them entered the Dimensional Portal and appeared in another region.
Upon arriving, Lin Huang took out a map and confirmed the direction to head towards. He then pointed in another direction. "We have to travel for about 2,000 kilometers by riding our flying mounts. We'll then arrive at the area you mentioned earlier. I'll ask Bloody to investigate the surrounding area. We'll probably get the results in a short while."
After Lin Huang finished his sentence, they summoned the Alexandrian Eagle and the Ashenquill Eagle.
Soon, both of the flying mounts then advanced rapidly towards their destination following Lin Huang's instructions.
About two hours later, both of them finally arrived at their destination. As soon as they landed on the ground, Lin Huang recalled the Alexandrian Eagle and summoned Bloody again.
"Bloody, please help us to look for the Hellish Spearfiend. It's a white flame-level monster that is within 200 to 300 kilometers around us," Lin Huang immediately briefed.
"Does it know how the Hellish Spearfiend looks like?" Li Lang started to feel worried when he saw Bloody pop its head out of Lin Huang's sleeve.
"Don't worry, it'll know how it looks like." Lin Huang was not going to explain Bloody's intelligence.
A few moments later, Bloody's leech pods were quickly spread around while Lin Huang and Li Lang were waiting for the results at their original position.
"Why did you suddenly change your mind?" Lin Huang asked. Perhaps, it was related to Yi Yeyu. He had not asked about it previously as Yi Yeyu was there.
"Are you talking about the change of monster to extract the tinder?" Li Lang turned back, looking at Lin Huang. As Lin Huang nodded, he then answered, "I knew that there must be differences among monsters that have mutated once and those that have mutated twice. However, I never knew that there's such a huge difference…"
"Before Yi Yeyu leveled up to holy fire-level, how big was the gap between our abilities?" Li Lang suddenly asked.
"Without considering her unique physique, there's not much difference between the both of you," Lin Huang shared his observation, "She has just mastered the sword realm and you're halfway through mastering the spear realm. Both of you are equally good with combat skills and movement skills. You're slightly better than her in actual combat and battle experience. Let's ignore the equipment used as it's not considered an actual ability. Overall, both of you are on the same level."
Li Lang finally told him the reason why he had changed his mind, "I think so too. However, ever since she obtained the tinder of the Fire Phoenix, her abilities are incomparable with the earlier ones. I used to think that it's because of her unique physique that she can hunt monsters easily. I then realized that this is not the truth. She can still easily kill monsters that are uncontrolled. I do have a friend that is on white flame-level too. His abilities were almost the same as mine previously. However, he killed a monster that had mutated once and his abilities are far beyond Yi Yeyu's current abilities!
"I wanted to upgrade to Transcendent without risking my life. Therefore, I've chosen the Barbed Savage as my target. However, after noticing the difference in their abilities, I found out that I can't do that anymore. I don't want to be an ordinary person. I want to be strong! Even if I can't be as strong as you, I wish that I can be a true hunter or, at the very least, I can't be weaker than Yi Yeyu is. She's a woman and she dared to fight the Fire Phoenix. I'm a man and if I have no guts to fight the Hellish Spearfiend, am I not worse than a girl?!"
"It's good that you want to be strong. I'll try my best to help you to complete the kill." After listening to what he said, Lin Huang grinned. He never knew that Li Lang's target was only to achieve holy fire-level and live a peaceful life right after that. However, at least his fighting spirit had been reignited now. Lin Huang felt happy for him as well.
After expressing how he felt, Li Lang remained silent. Lin Huang had no idea what he was thinking about and he kept quiet as well, patiently waiting for news from Bloody.
About 20 minutes later, a notification from Bloody arrived. "Master, I found it! However, it's not a white flame-level monster as you mentioned. It's a crimson flame-level instead."
"Where's it?" Lin Huang immediately asked.
Bloody quickly marked the location on the map.
"Has Bloody found it?" Li Lang could not hear the conversation between Bloody and Lin Huang as they contacted through their minds. However, he saw that Bloody had made a mark on the map.
"Yes." Lin Huang nodded and said, "It has found it but the monster has upgraded to crimson flame-level."
"Crimson flame-level… Can I handle it?" Li Lang panicked and he looked at Lin Huang desperately.
"There's nothing that we can't handle. It's just a crimson flame-level," Lin Huang said as he was the hunter that had killed the Molten Dragon on the first day after all. Of course, he would not be afraid of a crimson flame-level monster.
"Let's go." Lin Huang summoned the Alexandrian Eagle again and flew towards the sky, heading in the direction of the Hellish Spearfiend.
Li Lang immediately rode on the Ashenquill Eagle and followed after him. It took only five to six minutes for both of the flying mounts to travel over a distance of more than 100 kilometers and arrive at their destination.
The Alexandrian Eagle stopped at the side of the lava lake that possessed spiritual power and soon, Li Lang followed and descended.
"Where's the Hellish Spearfiend?" As soon as he reached the ground, Li Lang looked around. However, he could not find his target monster.
"Don't panic. Let's make some arrangements." Lin Huang summoned the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit and got it to hide in the lake.
"I'm a one-trick pony. I'm not sure if I can still directly kill the monster…" Lin Huang mumbled in a low voice.
"What're you talking about?"
"Nothing, just stay there and don't move. I'll then know exactly where the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit is hiding." Lin Huang asked Li Lang to stand at the side of the lake which was the position where the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit descended. He was standing less than five meters away from the lake.
"Do I have to stand still?" Lin Huang had actually briefed Li Lang about his plan on the first day. However, he had just described it shortly and Li Lang had no idea how he should do it.
"You can move, but not left or right. You can do anything after the monster is lured over here," Lin Huang explained. "Do you still remember when the right time for you to make an attack is?"
"I'll launch an attack right after it is completely locked in the Punishment Chains !" Li Lang nodded.
"It's highly possible that the monster will break the Punishment Chains . Therefore, its Life Power can't be sealed for a long period of time. You have to grab the opportunity to attack. You might miss the chance if you wait for me to remind you," Lin Huang emphasized again.
"Alright, I got it!"
"Wait here. I'll lure the monster!" Lin Huang rode on the Alexandrian Eagle again and moved forward…
Chapter 336: Lin Huang Versus The Hellish Spearfiend (I)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was said that the Hellish Spearfiend was discovered at Safety Zone No. 2, namely, the Dark Prison. It was located somewhere around the B-grade foothold. Therefore, it was named the Hellish Spearfiend.
Lin Huang was not familiar with this type of monster. There were more than 200,000 types of monsters recorded in the monster guide. He had looked through only the monster types that he was interested in. He could actually recognize less than 30,000 types of monsters and he managed to remember the detailed information of about 10,000 types of monsters.
Before last night, Lin Huang had no idea how the Hellish Spearfiend looked like at all. He then referred to the monster guide that he had downloaded previously before he slept.
The Hellish Spearfiend was a human demon with high damage capabilities. Not only did it possess powerful close-range combat abilities, it could do well in ranged attacks as well. Its only weakness was that its strength was lower than the Molten Dragon and the Fire Phoenix. In a nutshell, it was a monster with great overall strength. It was definitely one of the strongest monsters among monsters of the same level.
It was difficult to kill this type of monster from the front. Lin Huang mainly relied on the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit's Punishment Chains . Once the monster was locked in the Punishment Chains , the battle would basically end.
Sitting on the Alexandrian Eagle's back, Lin Huang quickly located the coordinates specified by Bloody and he found the Hellish Spearfiend.
It was a human-like monster that had a height of about 2.5 meters. Its body was covered by a thick, silver armor, including its head. There were two large horns on top of the silver armor and only its eyes could be seen. However, from afar, it looked so dark as if there was nothing inside the armor.
Its long spear was special as it did not look like the human weapons that Lin Huang had seen before. It was at least 3 meters long and was all black in color. The unique part of the long spear was that it looked like a large umbrella that was closed. Other than its handle, it was shaped like a cone. These two parts occupied a third of the entire length of the long spear. Further up the long shaft, it was a cone-shaped object with screws. It looked like screws that had been magnified about 100 times. However, it was apparent that they were much sharper than regular screws.
While Lin Huang was sizing up the monster in the air, it seemed like the Hellish Spearfiend could sense him as well. It suddenly lifted his head and looked towards his direction. Its dark eyes instantly lit up and turned red.
He expected to be discovered. Mid-air, he exchanged glances with the Hellish Spearfiend.
All of a sudden, the Hellish Spearfiend propelled forward towards Lin Huang.
Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Huang immediately told the Alexandrian Eagle to fly ahead, so that he could attract the monster to the targeted position.
Soon, the Hellish Spearfiend got closer to him. Fortunately, the lava lake was not too far away from him. In less than half a minute, the Alexandrian Eagle arrived at its destination and rapidly descended.
Seeing that the Alexandrian Eagle had returned and the Hellish Spearfiend in silver armor following after them, Li Lang was alarmed. However, he still stood in his original position.
The Alexandrian Eagle landed at a position that was less than 10 meters away from him and soon, Lin Huang immediately recalled it.
The Hellish Spearfiend descended as well. He glanced at Li Lang and attacked Lin Huang without hesitation. Obviously, Lin Huang was rather intimidating to it.
It initially landed at a position that was less than 20 meters away from Lin Huang. As it came one step forward, the long spear in its hand had already approached Lin Huang. It would penetrate through Lin Huang's chest within just a distance of one to two meters.
Lin Huang did not panic at all and extended his left palm. A Dark Shield was immediately formed, blocking the spear from moving any further. Vampire Particles immediately formed on his back, transforming into a bloody long blade. It then streaked in an arc across the sky and cut through the opponent as it bypassed the Dark Shield .
The Hellish Spearfiend was shocked when it saw that its attack was blocked. As it was getting ready to increase the strength of its attack, a bloody glow struck it and it immediately retreated.
To the Hellish Spearfiend, the aura of the human who was standing in front of him was not powerful. However, his body gave off a strange smell as if it was the remnant scent after killing a strong monster. It was associated with a multitude of other scents and the Hellish Spearfiend had no way to distinguish what monster he had actually killed. However, this put the Hellish Spearfiend on high alert.
Therefore, the Hellish Spearfiend decided to dodge his attack instead of fighting back at the very first moment when Lin Huang struck.
As the Dark Shield disappeared, the Hellish Spearfiend could then see that Lin Huang was in an unusual state. His eyes had turned blood red and a sharp blade that was created by a peculiar energy was extended from his back. He no longer looked like a human.
The Hellish Spearfiend was standing more than 20 meters away from him and it started to size up Lin Huang as it could not confirm if its opponent was still a human.
Lin Huang immediately grinned as he saw its reaction. On his back, three bloody wings rapidly formed.
Despite his Vampire Particles being able to transform into any form, he had chosen to transform them into wings. It was mainly because he was most familiar with this mode.
As soon as four of his wings were fully developed, Lin Huang summoned his sword relic.
His Seraphic Speed and Thunder Steps were activated simultaneously. As he stomped on the ground hard, he pounced on his opponent.
Although close-range combat was not the monster's weakness, Lin Huang did not have many skills in ranged attack. Therefore, he had chosen close-range combat since he was confident in that.
The Hellish Spearfiend's abilities were on par with the Molten Dragon's abilities. The only difference was the high temperature of the Molten Dragon's sword that restricted Lin Huang's close-range combat abilities to some extent while the Hellish Spearfiend did not possess such an ability. This was the reason why Lin Huang had the courage to go for close-range combat.
As Lin Huang stepped forward, he rapidly appeared at a position in front of the Hellish Spearfiend which was less than two meters away from it. Li Lang, who was watching this, felt like the distance between them had been shortened drastically. As a matter of fact, it was actually an illusion since Lin Huang's speed exceeded what his vision could capture.
As soon as he stepped into the attack range, Lin Huang's Thunder Sting was unleashed without a moment of hesitation, creating layers of sword shadows in the air.
His Seraphic Speed was complemented with the fastest sword skill he possessed.
Lin Huang made 58 consecutive attacks in a single second. Encountering such a strong opponent, he had managed to break through his personal best as he could only strike 46 consecutive attacks during practice sessions.
It was lightning fast!
The Hellish Spearfiend's first impression of Lin Huang was that he did not intimidate it regardless of his body movement skill, sword skill, or even his explosive speed. After all, it had achieved crimson flame-level.
However, this did not stop it from fighting back as its speed was on par with Lin Huang's.
The spear in its hand immediately deflected the attack. The long shaft resembled a large shield, blocking more than ten of Lin Huang's attacks.
He was not weak at all!
That was the second thought that flashed through the Hellish Spearfiend's mind.
The strength of each strike launched by Lin Huang was on par with the attack strength of a white flame-level hunter. More than ten strikes rained on it and it seemed like they were all formed into one powerful strike. The Hellish Spearfiend nearly failed to avoid the attacks. Perhaps, the large spear in its hand might slip had Lin Huang made another one or two more strikes, which was the reason why he immediately retreated the next moment.
"In fact, it's not strong. The consecutive attacks made just now are about to break its defense. Otherwise, it would not have attempted to pull further apart." Seeing his opponent's reaction, Lin Huang grinned again as he knew that the opponent's defense had reached its limit.
He was even more confident now although he was previously worried if he could break the opponent's defense without using Worldly Purification . However, the answer was apparent now.
"Come at me again!" Lin Huang yelled. He then leaped and plunged towards the Hellish Spearfiend once more.
Chapter 337: Lin Huang Versus The Hellish Spearfiend (II)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Is that Lin Huang's true ability?!"
Li Lang, who was standing somewhere near the lava lake, was astounded. Not only did Lin Huang launch a frontal attack on the Hellish Spearfiend, he could even pin down his opponent, blowing Li Lang's mind.
The Hellish Spearfiend was not an ordinary holy fire-level monster. Its ability was on par with a crimson flame-level's and it was a double mutated monster. Perhaps it was comparable to many of the blue flame-level monsters. As a human-like monster, its intelligence was similar to humans as well. Despite such circumstances, Lin Huang still managed to launch a frontal attack, indicating that his abilities were incredibly powerful.
"He must be a genius," the Hellish Spearfiend immediately concluded. His combat level did not match his abilities though. Be it his strength, speed, or even the use of sword skills, they all exceeded the standard of a gold-level hunter.
Lin Huang got stronger as the battle progressed. It had been a long time since he had been engaged in a close combat like this. He launched consecutive attacks with his Thunder Sting , forcing the Hellish Spearfiend to retreat. It was incapable of fighting back at all.
Nevertheless, the Hellish Spearfiend was not weak. The size of its spear was too big and therefore, was not suitable for close combat. Lin Huang noticed this weakness, so he intentionally approached it and directly rained a storm-like attack, hence his opponent would have no way to counterattack.
The Hellish Spearfiend retreated several times and it wanted to stay a distance away from Lin Huang. However, it was not as fast as Lin Huang and the human managed to catch up with him.It seemed like the Hellish Spearfiend was pinned down by Lin Huang.
Lin Huang clearly knew that despite his Thunder Sting taking the lead and his lightning fast speed, it had a limited effect on the Hellish Spearfiend. In addition, it was protected by an armor that did not look cheap at all. Even if his attack hit it, it was not very likely that the attack would cause any severe injuries. Once his opponent realized this and endured the attacks, he would be incapable of taking the lead like he was now doing once he was forced out of the attack range.
However, Lin Huang did not feel worried about that. He was clear about what was going to happen in the later part of the battle. What he currently had to do was to fight heartily.
The sword in Lin Huang's hand was shrouded in the golden Life Power. In actual combat, he became even more familiar with Thunder Sting , which was complemented with the second level of sword realm and each of the skills was performed almost perfectly. There was no flaw that the Hellish Spearfiend could figure out to attack back. It could only choose to defend against the attack helplessly.
Each onslaught performed by the Thunder Sting was extremely fast. Lin Huang continuously attacked it and his sword that was shrouded in Life Power had created layers of golden shadows in the air, enveloping the Hellish Spearfiend. When he switched skills, four of his bloody wings transformed into sharp blades at the same time. He was not giving his opponent a chance to rest at all.
Despite the Hellish Spearfiend defending against his assailant, not a single attack could break through its defense. He could feel that Lin Huang's single strike was not that strong. However, it dared not use its body to defend against the attack.
The close combat lasted for about ten minutes. Still, Lin Huang was taking the lead. As Lin Huang was thoroughly focused, he started to increase the speed of his sword. It started from 58 hits within one second, to 59 hits, 60, 61...
The Hellish Spearfiend was trying to adapt to Lin Huang's blitz speed. However, as Lin Huang started to increase his attack frequency, it could no longer bear it.
It seemed to notice that if this continued, it would be completely pinned down by its opponent. Then, the Hellish Spearfiend started to switch from defense mode to attack mode. It completely ignored Lin Huang's long sword that was about to pierce through its chest. Suddenly, it loosened its grasp on the long spear in his hand. The next moment when it gripped the long spear tightly, the Hellish Spearfiend grasped the top part of the shaft where it was less than a meter away from the tip of the spear. The tip of the long spear was about to pierce through Lin Huang's chest rapidly.
Although it could not strike at full force, the hit was so sudden and extremely fast. In addition to the short distance between the both of them, Lin Huang did not manage to summon his Dark Shield in time to defend against the attack. He could only use one of his bloody wings to transform into a large shield so that he could dodge the attack.
The Hellish Spearfiend then took that opportunity to stay a distance away from Lin Huang, returning to its original way of gripping the spear. Before it could even balance itself, it lowered its head and looked where Lin Huang had slashed its body.
There were only 23 injury points on its body. Lin Huang had only managed to leave a scratch that was about 10 centimeters long on its armor. Without a doubt, the attack would not be able to break its defense, let alone cause any injuries.
Although his opponent managed to pull their distance apart, Lin Huang did not chase after it. This was because he knew that it had already discovered that he was unable to break away its defense through close combat. It was meaningless to go after it.
"Human, I've to admit that you're strong but that's your limit. There's a big gap between our combat strength. If there's no way that you can overlay your skills, you'll be unable to break my defense." The Hellish Spearfiend picked up his long spear and pointed at Lin Huang. As soon as it finished its sentence, it glanced at Li Lang who was standing not far away from Lin Huang. It then continued, "I can sense that your companion has not even achieved the gun realm. His combat strength should be weaker than yours. Therefore, even if both of you were to fight me together, there's no way that both of you can defeat me."
"You're not the one who can decide the outcome of the battle." Lin Huang then pounced towards the Hellish Spearfiend, turning four of his bloody wings into sharp blades before blasting off towards its red eyes.
The Hellish Spearfiend scoffed. It seemed like it was angry that Lin Huang had provoked it. Picking up the long spear in its hand, it flashed through the air and easily deflected Lin Huang's attack.
Three meters away would be the main battleground! Lin Huang could then confirm his prediction earlier.
"It's true that my attack can't break your defenses. Your defense can't break my mine either. If our energy consumption continues draining in such a way, I might not lose!" Lin Huang grinned as he provoked it again.
"You're overconfident, human! You managed to dodge my random attacks but that doesn't mean that you can endure the attack that I'm going to launch at full force." The Hellish Spearfiend was quite confident in his combat strength. "I'll show you how big the gap between us is!"
As soon as it finished its words, the Hellish Spearfiend transformed into a beam of silver glow and dove towards Lin Huang. It was so swift that it looked as if a silver thread had streaked across the ground.
Lin Huang felt no fear as he grabbed his sword with both of his hands and attacked from the front.
Bang!
Right at the moment when the screw-like spear tip crashed into the golden knife blade, the whole battleground instantly exploded. Soon, a human silhouette appeared, standing in its original position. Impressively, it was a spearman dressed in silver armor.
Lin Huang spat out blood and retreated more than ten meters away, managing to balance himself. He was just one to two meters away from falling into the spiritual lava lake.
"Indeed, I can't fight the Hellish Spearfiend from the front," Lin Huang thought in his heart.
As soon as the Hellish Spearfiend saw this, he took the opportunity and headed towards Lin Huang, knowing that Lin Huang's defensive abilities would be incapable of protecting him from the corrosive nature of the spiritual lava lake. With just one hit, it would force Lin Huang to retreat and fall into the lava. Basically, the battle would then end there.
Lin Huang could feel the high temperature emanating from the spiritual lava behind him. He did not turn back, fixing his gaze on the Hellish Spearfiend.
He did not hesitate when he saw it heading for him and his left palm formed the Dark Shield in the air again.
At almost the same moment, the Hellish Spearfiend descended on him as well. The tip of its spear crushed into the Dark Shield.
Bang!
As soon as an explosive noise was heard, black Life Power then gushed into the long spear. The screw-like spear tip began to rotate insanely like a high-powered electrical drill…
Chapter 338: Li Lang Leveled Up
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The changes that occurred in its long spear were out of Lin Huang's expectations
He was quite confident in his defenses as he knew how terrifying Worldly Purification was. The Dark Shield was capable of defending against an attack that was ten times stronger than the Worldly Purification . Therefore, he was not worried that it would collapse.
Even if it was being attacked by a unique skill, it would not collapse in such a short while.
Lin Huang grinned. On his back, four of the bloody wings transformed into sharp blades. They then bypassed the Dark Shield and plunged towards the Hellish Spearfiend.
It seemed like the Hellish Spearfiend expected that Lin Huang's attack would not be able to break its defense. It ignored his attack, inserting its Life Power at full force as it wanted to penetrate through Lin Huang's black defensive layer.
Four of the bloody blades dashed against its body several times and the sound of colliding metal could be heard. On the layer of silver armor, not even a scratch was detected.
"Are you trying to tickle me?" The Hellish Spearfiend teased.
It could not see that behind the Dark Shield , Lin Huang was grinning.
The bloody sharp blades that were made of Vampire Particles had instantly transformed into ropes. The ropes had twisted around its arms and legs when it let its guard down.
The Hellish Spearfiend was terrified. As it was about to get rid of the ropes, a few flaming chains suddenly extended from the dark.
However, as soon as it managed to break away from two of the bloody ropes, its ankles were locked in the Punishment Chains . Its Life Power was completely sealed and soon, the Hellish Spearfiend was locked in nine Punishment Chains .
Li Lang, who was standing not far away from them, appeared, turning the long spear in his hand into a spiritual snake. It then penetrated through the Hellish Spearfiend's eyes.
The red glow in one of the Hellish Spearfiend's eyes dimmed…
Sensing the Hellish Spearfiend's aura fading, Lin Huang then removed the Dark Shield and recalled the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit. He retreated, leaving Li Lang with the Hellish Spearfiend to complete the extraction of its tinder.
Li Lang pressed against the Hellish Spearfiend's head, inserting his Life Power into it. Soon, the tinder inside its body reacted. Obviously, he was highly compatible with the tinder in the Hellish Spearfiend's body.
Watching Li Lang's aura start to change, Lin Huang was relieved as he knew that Li Lang had successfully obtained its tinder.
Lin Huang then shifted his gaze to the Hellish Spearfiend. Despite looking relaxed during the battle, it was not easy for him. Encountering such a formidable enemy like the Hellish Spearfiend, he could only manage to defeat his enemy with his best efforts.
"There's nothing wrong with my speed and sword skill but my strength is much weaker than the monster. Even if I possess supernatural powers or any passive skills that overlay my strength, it's still only comparable to white flame-level humans. If I clashed with a crimson flame-level monster from the front, there'll only be one outcome, which is an immediate collapse.
"Also, there's a gap between our Life Powers. Its Life Power is obviously stronger and more concentrated than mine. The primary reason that I can't break its defense is that it has added its Life Power to the surface of its silver armor. It significantly reduced the effect of the addition of my Life Power.
"Besides, the sword that I'm using is not a high-quality relic as it's only a 3-star relic. If it can be upgraded to four or five stars, most probably there'll be an increase in my attack strength…"
Lin Huang analyzed the results in his heart. He had discovered many of his weaknesses from the battle and he was thinking of ways to improve so that he could do better.
"Before upgrading to holy fire-level, there is still room for improvement in my strength through practice. I've not gone through any special strength training session so far. As for my Life Power, there'll be a substantial increase in it after I've leveled up to complete gold-level. Despite being incomparable to that of a holy fire-level's, there'll be a slight improvement in my attack and defensive strength. In regard to the sword relic, I'll look for some other swords after getting out of this place. It'll be best to get a 5-star relic, so I can directly use it until I reach holy fire-level…"
At the side of the lava lake, Li Lang took more than three hours to complete the ignition of the tinder and the initial process of his body transformation.
The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to express his gratitude to Lin Huang, "Thank you. Without your help, it would be almost impossible to obtain the tinder."
"You're welcome. That's what a friend should do." Lin Huang nodded with a smile and looked at the dead body on the ground. "The carcass is mine."
"Of course!" Li Lang immediately confirmed. It was useless for him to take the carcass. At most, he could only earn some credit points. Furthermore, Lin Huang should be the one who earned the carcass as Lin Huang had left the last hit to him instead of killing it right away.
After storing the carcass, Lin Huang then summoned the Black Ink that was blue in color. Both of them then strode over to the door.
They returned to the place where they had said goodbye to Yi Yeyu in the morning. She had remained in her original position.
The poker-faced staff was busy barbecuing a thigh of an unknown monster that was more than two meters in length. After it was grilled, the thigh turned golden brown with a shiny surface, giving off a fragrant scent.
Yi Yeyu was fixated staring at the thigh. Lin Huang and Li Lang turned their gazes on the thigh as well as soon as they saw it.
"Both of you are back! What took you so long?" Yi Yeyu grumbled. She knew that Li Lang had leveled up and was now on the same level as her which was white flame-level. However, she did not feel surprised at all.
"Eh, I need some time to ignite the tinder." Li Lang beamed. Right after he had leveled up to white flame-level, his mood improved.
"Did you guys really kill the Hellish Spearfiend?" It seemed like Poker Face could not believe that. He felt that both of them must have hunted down other monsters for Li Lang to obtain the tinder.
"Of course." Li Lang nodded confidently.
Poker Face glanced at Li Lang. Still, he felt that he was lying. However, he did not say it out loud and continued grilling meat.
"Hurry, show me how the Hellish Spearfiend looks like!" Yi Yeyu came over and asked Lin Huang.
Lin Huang then took out the carcass helplessly.
Poker Face then took a look at the dead body and found out that it was really the Hellish Spearfiend that they had killed. As he looked at it carefully, he looked even more surprised. "Is this a crimson flame-level Hellish Spearfiend?!"
"How is it possible? How did you know that it's a crimson flame-level monster?" Yi Yeyu asked curiously.
"Look at its arms. The crystals on both of its arms are red in color," Poker Face explained, "The color of the crystal on its arms would differ if it possessed different combat strength."
The three of them then noticed that a thumb-sized red crystal on both of the Hellish Spearfiend's arms which were garbed in silver armor. It seemed like there were two rubies inlaid on its arms.
"You are now capable of killing a crimson-flame level double mutated monster?!" After confirming the monster's combat strength, Yi Yeyu was bewildered and she stared at Lin Huang. She felt that Lin Huang was getting unpredictable.
"I was just lucky." Lin Huang grinned, seeing that Poker Face was looking at him with a strange expression. He then changed the topic, "It seems like we came back at the right time. We have meat for lunch!"
Chapter 339: Attack by the Monster Horde
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Since Lin Huang and Li Lang joined them for lunch, Poker Face did not say anything because he would not have been able to finish the thigh with Yi Yeyu anyway.
After lunch, the three of them started chatting. Poker Face did not join their conversation. He sat aside and took a nap.
Yi Yeyu and Li Lang's journey to the ruins was complete since their ultimate goal was to obtain a tinder and level up to holy fire-level. They had now achieved their goals. After Tyrant's unlocking was completed, Lin Huang could then achieve his target as well. The rest were a bonus to him. Since three of them had completed the second round of training, they were relaxed.
Poker Face did not urge three of them to hunt for any more monsters as he had heard from Yi Yeyu that they had already completed their mission.
"Lin Huang, both of us have achieved our goal. What's your purpose of participating the training? Do you need our help?" Yi Yeyu asked.
"Basically, I've achieved what I wanted to as well. However, I'm interested in the reward which is the monster egg." Lin Huang said with a smile.
"The person who ranks first will get rewarded with the monster egg?" Li Lang frowned. However, when he thought carefully, it was indeed possible for Lin Huang to get the first place.
"What if both of us pass the carcasses that we killed to you? You can then redeem the points with those carcasses," Yi Yeyu suggested.
"Isn't that considered cheating?" Lin Huang asked curiously.
"No." Poker Face slowly opened his eyes. Obviously, he had been listening to their conversation with his eyes closed.
"The three of you have completed the second round of training and the third round of training has yet to start. Therefore, you are in between the second and the third round of training now. During this period of time, it's break time for trainees. You're a free man now and you can assign any tasks to yourself. You can do whatever you like and you have the freedom to distribute the monsters killed as well. Be it the rules of the second or the third round of training, they don't apply during the break," Poker Face explained in detail. As soon as he finished his sentence, he closed his eyes again and dozed as if nothing had happened.
After listening to what he had said, they came to a conclusion – the dead bodies of the monsters could be handled in whatever way they liked.
"Alright, I'll treat you guys to a meal if I can get the first place," Lin Huang promised as a way to express his gratitude.
"I've heard from my grandfather that the monster egg was dropped by a chief-level monster when his disciple killed it previously. It was a monster that went through a triple mutation. His disciple then gave it to him as a gift. I'm not sure what kind of monster it was exactly. If you're able to train it, it'll be really useful to you in future," Yi Yeyu said.
"It's a monster that has gone through three mutations and possesses phoenix blood in its body. Why didn't your grandfather keep it for you?" Lin Huang asked curiously.
"It was originally intended for me but we found out later that my constitution is rather special. My grandfather said that the concentration of phoenix blood inside my body is rather low and the entire family is now helping me look for an actual phoenix." Yi Yeyu did not bother hiding anything from them.
"The head of armed forces is really generous!" Li Lang was envious of Yi Yeyu.
Even Poker Face's eyelids twitched as he heard that.
If the people over there did not know Yi Yeyu's family background and what they said had been heard by strangers, perhaps nobody would believe that it was true.
Lin Huang smiled. He was not envious of Yi Yeyu's family since there was nothing to envy. He was quite satisfied with his current condition. He had such a powerful Goldfinger like Xiao Hei. As long as his Goldfinger could be developed further, he could train a bunch of pure phoenixes as well as dragonkins and monsters with phoenix blood.
"I'm not an Imperial Censor. I can only engage one pet monster. Therefore, I have to choose it carefully," Yi Yeyu said with a serious expression. As soon as she finished her sentence, she raised her head and looked at Li Lang, then said, "You have leveled up to holy fire-level. It's time to consider having a pet monster."
"I should really get one. I'll ask around and see if there's any pet monster that suits me after we leave." Li Lang nodded with a smile.
There was actually no restriction on the combat strength in order to engage a pet monster, provided that one's Life Power was capable of doing so. It was because one would have to insert a great amount of Life Power in order to hatch a monster egg. Therefore, it would be impossible for an ordinary person to hatch one. However, anyone from iron to gold-level could do it.
Yi Yeyu and Li Lang considered having a pet monster only after they had leveled up to holy fire-level as they spent most of their time practicing before they achieved holy fire-level. They did not have sufficient time and energy to take care of the pet monster. Upon achieving holy fire-level, the increase in combat strength would start to slow down. They would then have extra time and energy, hence they would be free to take care of a pet monster. In fact, most of them who were confident to upgrade to holy fire-level would make such a decision. Those who had a pet monster before they could achieve holy fire-level were those that were incapable of upgrading to holy fire-level.
The biggest difference between a pet monster and a summoning monster was that the latter could be an adult. However, a pet monster had to be trained during its infancy stage. Therefore, to train a pet monster was far more troublesome than a summoning monster. This was also the reason why many people were envious of the Imperial Censor.
While three of them were chatting happily, Poker Face, who was taking a nap, suddenly stood up.
"Three of you, quickly get ready! There are monsters approaching us!" Poker Face shouted at three of them.
They immediately stood up as well and took out their weapons.
"What monster is that?" Yi Yeyu asked.
"It is a monster horde formed by a group of gold-level monsters. There are more than 300 of them," Poker Face answered.
"Are they coming after us? Or are they just passing through?" Lin Huang then asked.
"They look excited and it doesn't seem like they are just passing through."
"Could the barbecue's aroma have attracted them?" Li Lang stared at the charcoal fire that had not been completely extinguished.
"That's possible." Lin Huang nodded. However, he could vaguely feel that things were not that simple.
Soon, four of them were surrounded by the monster horde. Lin Huang could finally see their enemy. They were Black Spiritual Serpents.
Black Spiritual Serpents lived in the spiritual volcano. They looked like snakes. In fact, the Black Spiritual Serpent was a black spiritual object that had an elongated body. It was a spirit type monster that existed only in its shadow form. They liked to live in places where spiritual power gathered as they relied on the spiritual power of various elements to survive.
Seeing this type of monster, Lin Huang and the rest of them immediately turned down the possibility that the monsters were coming after the grilled meat. The monsters could not taste and smell at all. Spiritual power was their only food. They were not interested in human food at all.
Despite the large number of Black Spiritual Serpents that came after them, they were too weak compared to the three of them. In less than two minutes, more than 300 Black Spiritual Serpent were destroyed.
Just when Lin Huang and Li Lang were busy collecting the carcasses, Poker Face shouted at the three of them again, "The monster horde is attacking us again!"
The second batch of monsters was a group of Terraflame Scorpions. They were gold-level monsters as well. There were more than the previous batch of monsters - more than 1,000 of them.
The monsters were rapidly slaughtered by them as well.
"This is unusual…" After killing the second batch of monsters, Lin Huang frowned.
Right at that moment, Poker Face's Transmission Snail vibrated abruptly…
Chapter 340: Incident Investigation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Poker Face got up and avoided Lin Huang and the rest of them. He then connected to the Transmission Snail as he walked away. The three of them did not intend to eavesdrop anyway and continued chatting.
After a short while, Poker Face put away his Transmission Snail and returned. However, he looked upset.
"We have to go back to the mission submission area," he said while he approaching three of them.
"Is it related to the monster attack just now?" Lin Huang could roughly guess the reason behind this.
Poker Face nodded. "Zang Bing said that there's a monster outbreak. The reason is still unknown. For the sake of the trainees' safety, we have to bring all the trainees back."
"I've just leveled up. I wanted to kill some monsters for practice…" Li Lang forced a smile.
"Let's go!" Lin Huang patted Li Lang's shoulder and summoned the Dimensional Portal.
The four of them entered the Dimensional Portal and soon, they appeared where they had previously gathered.
When they returned, many of the trainees were already back. Poker Face and the rest of the staff had a dimensional relic given by the Union Government. Although Lin Huang knew that as well, he did not want to trouble Poker Face and summoned the Dimensional Portal immediately.
As he gazed at the crowd, Lin Huang looked towards Zang Bing's direction. Luo Li and Si Kongjian were there as well. Zang Bing looked somewhat gloomy. Other than that, Luo Li and Si Kongjian looked like they usually did.
The trainees were discussing the incident of the monster outbreak. The area was bustling with chatter.
A man saw Li Lang from afar and walked toward Li Lang.
"Li Lang, have you leveled up?!" The man was 20 years old and he was slightly taller than Li Lang.
"Yes, Brother Zhou." Li Lang smiled.
"I've told you that it's not difficult to kill a Barbed Savage. If you're willing to spend some time, perhaps you'll be able to kill it on your own." Brother Zhou patted Li Lang's shoulder.
"My friend helped me to kill it." Li Lang did not explain that he had not obtained the tinder from a Barbed Savage.
Brother Zhou then glanced at Yi Yeyu and Li Lang. When he looked at Yi Yeyu, his eyes lingered on Yi Yeyu's slender legs and her busty boobs. Despite being dressed in a military uniform, her attractive body was not covered. Soon, Brother Zhou fixed his gaze on Lin Huang.
"Is Lin Huang the one who helped you?" Brother Zhou could see that among three of them, only Lin Huang's aura was on gold-level. He could recognize that Lin Huang was Mr. Fu's disciple as well. He was the first one that Yi Donglai had appointed to enter the ruins. "I'm Zhou Quan, nice to meet you."
"Hello," Lin Huang acknowledged politely. Since Zhou Quan knew his name, there was no need for him to repeat it.
"You are…" Zhou Quan then shifted his gaze toward Yi Yeyu.
"She is Yi Yeyu, the eldest daughter of the Yi family," Li Lang introduced with a smile.
"You're from the Yi family? The head of the armed force?!" Zhou Quan opened his eyes wide. Among the royal families in Division7, other than the military, there was no other Yi family. Li Lang had intentionally emphasized the Yi family. Of course, he was referring to the Yi family of the armed forces. It was impossible that no one knew who they were.
After he had confirmed her identity, Zhou Quan held an obvious reverence for her. The Yi family was somehow a powerful family in Division7 and was comparable to the six royal families. They were at the top of the royal family pyramid in Division7. Small potatoes like him could not afford to offend them.
"Brother Zhou, you're well-informed. Regarding the monster outbreak, can you tell me exactly what happened?" Li Lang immediately asked after introducing Zhou Quan to the both of them.
"I don't know exactly what happened. However, our team has encountered several batches of monster attacks earlier. The staff then informed us to come back to this area and gather with all of you," Zhou Quan explained briefly. What they experienced was almost the same as Lin Huang and the rest of them.
"So, you guys were attacked by the monsters too." Li Lang then looked at Lin Huang and Yi Yeyu.
"I've asked two other teams and the same thing happened to them as well. Obviously, there's something wrong with the monsters." As he listened to what Li Lang said, Zhou Quan knew that Li Lang and his team had encountered the same thing as well. "I hope that the examiners can figure out what caused the monster outbreak as soon as possible. Otherwise, we won't be able to continue with the training."
Lin Huang's heart sank when he heard what Zhou Quan said. If the examiners were to stop the training and send all of them out, Tyrant's unsealing would be stopped as well.
The ruins belonged to an independent world. If Tyrant was left in the ruins and Lin Huang got out of the ruins, he would not be able to sense the existence of the card. Under such circumstances, the system would automatically recall the monster card. Of course, Lin Huang would not want this to happen.
"Xiao Hei, will the monster card be affected if the unsealing process is terminated?" Lin Huang thought of asking Xiao Hei about it first.
"If the unsealing process of the monster card is terminated, it'll be considered a failure. The monster card that fails to unseal will be completely sealed at the state it was in before unsealing. It can't be unsealed for the second time and it can't be leveled up as well. However, the monster card can still be summoned as usual.
"That being said, if the unsealing is terminated, Tyrant will remain on complete gold-level forever and it'll be unable to upgrade to holy fire-level. It can't evolve for the third time as well. Its combat strength and rarity will remain stagnant forever…"
Lin Huang's face turned grave. Tyrant was the second monster card that he had obtained. They had overcome so many dangers together. He could not accept if he was to put the card aside. "No! Whatever the decision of the examiner is, I must stay!"
About ten minutes later, the supervisors then led the trainees back to the area where they had first gathered.
Zang Bing counted the number of people. Right after he had confirmed that nobody was absent, he started talking.
"I guess everyone has been informed by our staff the reason why we asked every one of you to come back. There's a monster outbreak in the whole ruins and the reason is still unknown. Many of the trainees have encountered the monster attack. For the sake of everyone's safety, we asked all of you to come back. The examiners and our staff will investigate the reason behind the monster outbreak as soon as possible. We'll then decide if the assessment should be continued or stopped. Please be patient. Set up your tents and stay here for two days. We'll know the results soon…"
"It's just a monster outbreak. Is there really a need to stop the training?" Li Lang felt that Zang Bing and two of the examiners had overreacted.
"We've previously encountered gold-level monsters. What if the monster outbreak is not only on gold-level and it involves holy fire-level monsters as well?" Yi Yeyu asked LI Lang. "This area is a 2-star ruin. There are more than 10,000 holy fire-level monsters. Even people like us who are on holy fire-level can fight them, what about the crimson flame-level, blue flame-level, and purple flame-level monsters?"
What Yi Yeyu had voiced out was exactly what Lin Huang was worried about. If holy fire-level monsters were involved in the outbreak, it was highly possible that they would stop the assessment.
After comforting the crowd, the three examiners held a discussion. Soon, Luo Li and Si Kongjian summoned their own Dimensional Portal and left. Only Zang Bing was there to keep everyone in order…