Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 292 - 283: Rootless Wood’s Debut

Ah Kun confidently swayed its body, whipping up a wave dozens of meters high as it charged forward.

The sight was quite intimidating.

The Grouper Fish was no more than a meter long, yet it stirred up a massive wave dozens of meters high. This was no longer a mere display of Power; it demonstrated complete control over the water.

A flicker of surprise flashed in the Night Demon Duck’s eyes.

It hadn’t expected this tiny Two-star Spotted Grouper Fish to have greater control over the lake water than itself.

In their contest for control over the lake, the victor was decided in a single clash.

The Night Demon Duck didn’t press the issue, knowing its Dao Practice on the water’s surface was inferior. Instead, it resorted to an Ultimate Skill it hadn’t used in a long time.

It violently flapped its yellow wings, sending a storm of yellow feathers flying out like sharp blades, drifting nimbly through the air.

They continuously accelerated, circling and dancing in the air, gathering Speed and emitting a piercing shriek as they broke the sound barrier, forming a Suspended Sword Array.

Once they reached maximum Speed, they would shoot toward Ah Kun and pierce it through.

’Can this break the Spotted Grouper Fish’s defense?’

Ah Kun slapped the waves with its tail, and countless more surged forward, enveloping it in a Water Wall five to six meters thick.

The sky-filled Sword Array of feathers stabbed downward, striking the Water Wall and sending up splashes several meters high. A violent PITTER-PATTER resounded, as if the feathers were striking a steel plate.

At that moment, however, Ah Kun swam down through the poisonous water. It dove beneath the Night Demon Duck and used the control from its Wave-Swallowing Technique to overturn the water under the duck’s feet. It flung the duck high into the air, tossing it onto the crest of a wave and making it lose its balance.

Just then, the melon-seed-eating hamster, which had been waiting nearby, charged forward, treading across the poisonous waves.

Its paws were covered in earthy-yellow ripples, like a constantly shifting Array, as countless clods of earth churned around them.

This was the method of Walking on Water that Gu Ming had developed while solving a competition problem.

Mouse Treasure was moving fluid earth to its paws, allowing it to walk quickly across the surface, even though the lake was highly toxic.

Ah Kun had already used its Wave-Swallowing Technique to control the water droplets in the air, preventing the poison from forming on Mouse Treasure.

Everyone stared in stunned silence as the hamster charged furiously across the water, closing in on the Night Demon Duck.

Who would have thought that this basic hamster, a common Pet Beast, would be locked in battle with a Three-star Night Demon Duck?

’Does it really think the Night Demon Duck is just some harmless duckling if it doesn’t get angry?’

The next moment, the hamster leaped from the water’s surface. The Foundation Establishment Tripod on its body trembled, and the illusion of an Earth Dragon appeared behind it.

Its body was covered in a thick layer of soil, forming a defense like metal armor.

A giant Earth Dragon Claw formed and followed its soaring leap, stomping down hard on the Night Demon Duck’s body.

The Night Demon Duck let out a series of QUACKS. Though the blow sent it stumbling through the air and caused the lake behind it to explode into a giant splash...

...it quickly used the ebb and flow of the water to regain its footing. It gave a light shake, apparently not seriously injured.

Seeing this, Mouse Treasure knew it would be difficult to provide effective offensive support in this fight.

’With that in mind,’ Mouse Treasure leaped back, simultaneously flinging the earth it had brought with it into the sky. The air above the lake filled with clumps of soil that began to slowly fall.

At this moment, Cyan Treasure finally made its move.

The crowd had long been anticipating its move. They watched as it weaved and darted between the falling clumps of earth, climbing higher and higher until it "flew" into the sky.

Then, with a flick of its tail, it scattered several grass seed clones of Rootless Wood into the air.

The pure black seeds glowed in the air before drilling into it and vanishing.

Cyan Treasure’s Foundation Establishment Platform vibrated, emitting a loud dragon’s cry. With a slight pat of its palm on the air, it channeled the Power of the Grass and Wood Flood Dragon through the nearest Grass Seed.

Inside its body, the life-bound Seed of Rootless Wood Grass it had refined also activated, stimulating the growth of all the other seeds.

The next instant, the Seed of Rootless Wood—a seed from a distant time and space, one not yet born in the current era—sprouted for the first time. It tore through Space, absorbing energy.

It needed no soil to nurture it. It grew wildly, taking root in the void and absorbing the Space Power within.

Then, Cyan Treasure’s mouth began to glow. It fired its Plant Life Light Wave, sweeping over the seeds one by one. This skipped the Rootless Wood’s long growth period, causing them to mature instantly.

In the blink of an eye, several enormous, black-and-purple roots as thick as buckets tore out from four rifts in the void and coiled around the Night Demon Duck.

The Night Demon Duck quacked frantically. For some reason, it felt an inexplicable terror from these dark vines of Rootless Wood.

’How can Grass Seeds scattered by a mere Two-star Pet Beast possess such terrifying power?’

’This is like a replica of the Pet-Eating Flower, but it’s more aggressive and even has a Spatial Attribute!’

The Rootless Wood burrowed into its body, and immediately, countless black thorns sprouted from the roots.

The thorns, incredibly sharp, pierced its skin, sank into its blood vessels and bones, and began to frantically drain its Life Energy.

This, in turn, strengthened the Rootless Wood. With a dual source of nourishment and twofold growth, the roots quickly took on a terrifying, blood-red hue, becoming a mix of black, red, and purple.

The Night Demon Duck’s expression changed drastically. Unable to hold out for even three seconds, it immediately unleashed its ultimate move: Nightfall.

It let out a chaotic squawk as a red light flashed in its eyes, and a powerful Dark Power erupted from within its body.

In the blink of an eye, the sky above them darkened.

What had been a daytime sky was suddenly filled with stars.

However, an observant person watching the battlefield from a distance would notice that the sun and moon over the Eight-star Dao Field still hung high in the sky.

Above the Night Demon Duck, a false black cloud had formed, within which a fake starry sky twinkled.

But within the nighttime environment it had created, it received an unprecedentedly massive boost.

Its Physical Strength, Power, and even Mana were all amplified several times over.

At the same time, its body began to expand rapidly. The edges of its beautiful, large yellow feathers gradually turned a pitch-black.

But as it tried to break free from the Rootless Wood’s prison with immense brute force, it found the vines only bound it tighter.

A powerful Space Power emanated from them, locking its body like a cage door and preventing it from growing any larger.

It felt a sense of despair as it realized that no matter how much its body tried to swell, its bones and flesh had no more Space to grow into.

It was as if the very Space it occupied was being carved up by the Rootless Wood.

This caused its bones and flesh to be crushed inward as they expanded within the confined space. Soon, it began to bleed from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and its black-and-yellow feathers were slowly stained bright red.

’How could this be?’

’Is something wrong?’

The proctor monitoring the exam by the lake watched with his heart pounding in his chest.

The thought of stopping the fight had crossed his mind several times.

After all, this Night Demon Duck was a Pet Beast he had raised himself.

Using it as the boss had already consumed a significant amount of internal resources.

His superiors had even promised that all medical expenses for any injuries sustained would be fully covered.

Having all medical expenses covered was a wonderful prospect.

Only through intense battles and the use of High-Level medicine could the Night Demon Duck’s future Evolution be even more potent.

But at this moment, watching the Rootless Wood maintain its firm grip while frantically draining blood from the duck’s body was becoming more and more alarming.

The Night Demon Duck hadn’t used all its moves yet. Nightfall was just a prelude; its strongest attack, Night Magic Roar, had yet to be unleashed.

That was its strongest attack, a concentration of Dark Power even more profound than the Black Water Lake below it, capable of corroding anything not of the Dark Element.

If it could fire that blast, any Two-star Pet Beast would be instantly annihilated.

But if it came to that, it would just be bad luck for the candidate.

This competition was no child’s play. Unless the proctor called a halt, there would be a winner and a loser, and even casualties were possible.

The proctor waited anxiously, his forehead beaded with sweat.

He didn’t want his duck to kill the other Pet Beasts, but rather to use its ultimate skill to break free from those black, red, and purple roots.

He could tell this was Cyan Treasure’s strongest move. If the duck could break these roots, Cyan Treasure would lose.

The Night Demon Duck did indeed want to use its ultimate skill.

But there was one thing it hadn’t considered.

The control and severing of Space by the Rootless Wood was something neither the Night Demon Duck nor its Beastmaster had anticipated.

As it transformed and expanded during Nightfall, the lack of space to grow meant that even the muscles and bones in its throat were severely compressed.

This dislocated the bones in its throat, making it difficult to breathe.

It couldn’t even fire its Night-Piercing Cannon. The attack was stuck in its throat, and it looked to be in excruciating pain.

As time passed, it bled more and more, and the light in the duck’s eyes began to fade.

Seeing this, the proctor knew it was over. The Three-star Pet Beast couldn’t use its ultimate skill.

Although it was absurd—how could a Two-star Pet Beast have such ridiculous suppressive power?—he had to admit defeat. He hastily shouted:

"The exam battle is over! Gu Ming’s team, you can retract the vines now!"