novelraw Chapter 215: Common Origin
Chapter 215: Common Origin
Su Zhan remained hidden.
The mist swirling around his body made him extremely difficult for these Mist Creatures to detect.
Without visual confirmation, they would simply perceive Su Zhan's energy fluctuations as belonging to one of their own.
Aberrants and Mist Creatures shared the same origin.
Thus the mist enveloping him became Su Zhan's perfect disguise.
Ahead.
Was a relatively open area where three soldiers had formed a crude defensive perimeter, their backs against the wreckage of a destroyed armored personnel carrier.
They were drenched in blood, their uniforms torn to shreds.
One of them had even lost an arm, with only a simple cloth bandage wrapped around the stump as blood continued to seep through.
Their spiritual energy was completely depleted.Two of them gripped tactical knives with blades that had been dulled and chipped from use, while the third had picked up a twisted steel reinforcement bar as a weapon.
Facing them were five or six Bone Corrosion Hunters.
Slowly closing in.
The leader was a young sergeant whose face still carried traces of youthful innocence, yet his eyes burned with ferocity: "Brothers! We haven't disgraced the fortress! We haven't disgraced these uniforms! We've broken even! Every kill from here is profit!"
"Kill!"
The other two roared in response.
This was the madness of taking the enemy down with them.
They launched a charge, throwing themselves at monsters that far outnumbered them!
Knives and steel bars clashed against monster claws.
Screams immediately erupted—some from Mist Creatures, some human.
One soldier drove his knife through a Hunter's eye, only to have his throat torn out from the side by another Hunter.
The soldier with the missing arm roared wildly as he smashed a Hunter's leg with his steel bar, then was pounced upon and swallowed by biting attacks.
The young sergeant traded injury for a kill, taking a massive gash across his abdomen as he drove his knife into the last Hunter's skull, then stumbled and fell.
Staring up at the gray, overcast sky.
A faint smile of liberation seemed to touch his lips as he slowly closed his eyes.
Su Zhan remained concealed, quietly observing everything.
These soldiers' choice was the only option left to them, preserving their final dignity.
He slipped away silently, continuing his hunt for prey.
Of course, while some fought desperately to resist, others were focused on escape.
After all, the brave were rarely the majority.
At a street corner piled high with obstacles.
Two soldiers were desperately trying to clear a pile of collapsed debris, attempting to create an escape route.
They too were covered in wounds.
"Hurry! Hurry! I think I heard something over there!"
An older soldier urged in a hushed voice, working while keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings.
"Damn it... it's stuck tight..."
The younger soldier gritted his teeth, straining with all his might.
A Corrupt Claw Beast caught their scent, emerging from around the corner with a threatening growl.
Both soldiers froze instantly.
The young soldier's face drained of all color as he instinctively stepped back, tightening his grip on his bayonet.
The older soldier immediately positioned himself in front of the younger one, raising his entrenching tool: "Damn... just one... we'll fight! Kill it! Otherwise we're both dead!"
After a brief standoff.
The Corrupt Claw Beast lunged forward.
The older soldier roared as he swung his entrenching tool, but the beast nimbly dodged, its sharp claws tearing a deep, bone-revealing wound across his chest!
He screamed as he collapsed.
The young soldier cried out as he thrust his bayonet, but fear distorted his movements, only scratching the monster's hide before having his arm bitten through, his agonized screams filling the air...
Two prey easily killed.
Becoming the monster's brief meal.
The Corrupt Claw Beast began chewing on the corpses.
Su Zhan slipped away silently.
His objective remained clear: hunt powerful Mist Creatures, absorb their life essence, and strengthen himself.
Everything else was irrelevant to him.
...
Half an hour later.
Su Zhan's aura grew increasingly condensed and powerful with each successive hunt.
Medium-risk second stage, achieved.
Breaking through a minor stage required only half an hour.
A Shadow Mantis Beast.
This monster resembled a hybrid of a mutated mantis and bat, capable of using shadows for short-distance teleportation.
Its pair of sharp scythe-like forelimbs could slice through metal and jade, its strength solidly at medium-risk fourth stage, possibly even stronger.
Somewhat challenging.
Su Zhan approached soundlessly.
But the Shadow Mantis Beast was extremely sensitive to energy fluctuations, detecting danger almost the instant Su Zhan entered its perception range!
"Screech—!"
It emitted a piercing shriek, its body instantly blurring as it merged with the surrounding shadows, reappearing directly above Su Zhan's side in the next moment, its scythe-like forelimbs descending with an air-rending shriek!
Extremely fast.
Golden vertical pupils lit up in Su Zhan's eyes as scales and sharp claws covered his arms.
"Clang! Clang!"
Crossing his arms to block, claws and scythes collided violently.
Tremendous force transmitted through.
The ground beneath Su Zhan's feet cracked inch by inch as his body sank slightly.
"Not bad strength."
Su Zhan noted mentally, not attempting to resist head-on.
Using the impact force to slide backward, he simultaneously focused his will.
The pale gray mist swirling around him transformed into countless icy tendrils, rapidly entangling the pursuing Shadow Mantis Beast.
The Shadow Mantis Beast charged into the mist's range, its speed noticeably slowing.
Its shadow-dependent teleportation ability.
Faced significant interference and suppression against Su Zhan's Mist Energy.
The human world brimmed with spiritual energy, and human Awakened individuals absorbed and utilized spiritual power for combat, with spiritual energy attacks capable of dealing massive damage to humans themselves.
Similarly.
Mist Creatures lived long-term in mist-filled environments, their physical structures and energy systems highly adapted to these conditions.
Therefore, they naturally possessed considerable resistance to Mist Energy.
This resistance meant that Mist Energy attacks of equivalent strength would have reduced effectiveness when striking them.
But this didn't mean Mist Energy was harmless to them.
Just as humans lived in environments filled with spiritual energy, yet could still be harmed by attacks converted from that spiritual energy.
For example, fish lived in water, but could still be injured by high-pressure water jets.
"Hiss!!!"
The Shadow Mantis Beast felt its movements hindered, its scythes swinging wildly as it attempted to sever these entangling mist tendrils.
A cold light flashed in Su Zhan's eyes as he closed the distance.
His claws aimed directly for the relatively vulnerable junction between the creature's chest and abdomen.
The Shadow Mantis Beast hurriedly raised its other scythe to block.
The two connected.
A loud crash.
The Shadow Mantis Beast was smashed into the wall by this punch, deeply embedded within.
Su Zhan withdrew his projected Mist Energy, tightly wrapping it around his own scaled armor like a flowing suit of gray battle gear.
Rushing forward rapidly.
The Shadow Mantis Beast thrust out both scythes.
Su Zhan neither dodged nor avoided, allowing the two scythes to pierce his body.
Trading injury for injury.
One punch shattered the Shadow Mantis Beast's brain.
He quickly absorbed the creature's life essence and immediately left the area, concealing himself.
The commotion here soon attracted other Mist Creatures.
5 seconds later.
They arrived at the scene.
But found nothing.
As for battle traces... in the fallen South Cang Fortress, they were everywhere, impossible to distinguish.
And besides...
They didn't have the intelligence for that anyway.
Of course, this wasn't completely foolproof.
Unless higher-level Mist Creatures with investigation-type abilities appeared.
Fortunately, he was lucky this time and didn't encounter any.