The Praying Mantis did not give Ku Wai any quarters. It executed its swings precision and power. While the shield did reduce Ku Wai’s mobility, he was thankful that he had brought it out to fight against this monster. He had made some careless miscalculations regarding the monster, which nearly cost him his arms if it were not for the shields blocking the attacks for him.
However, Ku Wai could see that the shield would not be able to last if the Praying Mantis continued being relentless in its attacks. As much of a musclehead he was, he too read the reports on Jin’s dungeons.
And from the reports, he concluded with one statement… they were difficult. It was not just because they were story-based but the monsters Jin created through dimensional technology was tip top. Upon fighting against this particular praying mantis, which was definitely not the boss, he could already see that Jin’s skill in creating monsters was superior to the dungeon suppliers the Royal Zodiacs contracted.
And that was without even mentioning the atmosphere and actual characters. The customers might think that it was easy for the dungeon suppliers to create an instance and fill it with the environment or non-playable characters like Hui the One Eyed Panda. It was not. To bring life into an empty world that was decided and ruled over by programming rules and a high manipulation of magic was not a feat to be underestimated.
Unfortunately, both Ku Wai and Yang Ling did not know the truth. Jin was not actually that smart, after all, it was only because of the System that Jin was able to do what he did. Yet Jin was not pushing the system to its the maximum potential because of the fallout they had had with each other.
True, the System was still giving out missions, but the missions were not as forgiving as they used to be. Perhaps the System did not really care much about Jin any more.
But with limited feedback and Yun as the middleman, playing on both teams, it was difficult for Jin and the System to reconcile.
Thankfully, Ku Wai had sufficient experience in combat and eventually learnt the patterns of the praying mantis. Hence, he started to be more aggressive in his attacks and even used the claw shields to their limits in order to close the gap between the praying mantis and himself.
He pushed forth until he was in contact with the praying mantis’ underbelly. “Intermediate Fist Arts, The Ambush of the Terrifying Terrific Tiger!” He shouted loudly and his hand turned slightly shadowy in nature and yet his fist was stronger than steel. The punch was strong enough to not only cause a dent through the praying mantis’ carapace body but it went into its organs too.
Ku Wai did not stop there as he poured his chi through his fist and both Hui and Yang Ling could see the Praying Mantis melt right in front of their eyes. It was part of the Terrific Tiger Style to insert chi into the cultivator’s punches. But Ku Wai did more than that. He let his own chi pulsate through the praying mantis causing its body and its functions to be disrupted like microwaves vibrating the molecules and exciting it to the point where it melted.
Later, Ku Wai took out a handkerchief to wipe the melted parts of the mantis away from his hand and proceed to look at the wares that were destroyed in the caravan. “Nothing much of use nor any hidden treasure. Guess the report is true.”
Ku Wai remembered that Jin’s dungeons only gave their rewards at the end now, as compared to other dungeon suppliers who will place certain prizes in monsters’ body. Jin used to do that but felt it was too inconvenient and broke the pacing of the story if they were in a theme.
“All clear, we can go ahead.” Ku Wai knocked on Hui’s side of the truck as he went back to the open load bed and joined the other monsters.
“Nice fight.” Ke Mi said simply and gave him a thumbs up. Even the wyrm ants were clapping with their legs. It was still a mystery how the ants were able to play instruments but Ku Wai guessed he would probably see it later on in the dungeon. However, the only one that was unhappy was Ms Sandy. In fact, she felt a little off as compared to the other monsters.
“You okay?” Ku Wai asked not because he was concerned but more to test her and check her body language. Ms Sandy, however, did not respond nor even looked at Ku Wai at all.
Meanwhile, Yang Ling was taking notes of the dungeon instances and was comparing it to the monsters they had fought before in previous dungeon suppliers. “Hmm, even the road has its uneven variations. Jin really took much into detail for his dungeon instance. Now I can roughly understand why it costs a lot. There are many things not included in the report and I am glad I have entered one of his dungeons.”
Hui continued to ride his truck and Yang Ling continued to feel that this particular dungeon instance felt more like a trip along the countryside than a dungeon. “Not a bad place to be honest, I have been in the city for so long, it sure is nice to have a bit of change of scenery.”
Yang Ling did not usually feel that way about life as she lowered the window of the truck. The crazy pace of competition in the Royal Zodiac family was crawling up her head. The loss of her cultivation along with her crippled legs made family ties even more strained than ever. Of course, it does not really matter much to her since she was the youngest daughter and her two other brothers would most probably be vying for the head position of the Sect.
Probably this was the one time she felt at peace for the longest time ever but that peace was interrupted after a short while. “Hmmm, I think I hit some rock or some sharp object along the way and we did not notice it.” Hui said as he stopped to check the integrity of his truck, only to find out that one of the wheels was really punctured.
“Time out for a while.” The Panda banged at the side of the truck to notify the rest of the monsters and Ku Wai.
Suddenly a sentient root appeared from the sides of the road which was most probably camouflaged by the tall grass. It grabbed onto Hui and caused him to fall, hitting the truck first and later the ground, which led to him becoming unconscious. More roots appeared and dragged Hui into the depths of the tall grass.
“Hui!” Ke Mi shouted and immediately looked at Mr Hot, the Fire Wyrm Ant. He nodded his head and sent a blast of fire from its mandible to the tall grass. The entire field went up in flames and the roots that were holding Hui were startled by the attack, making them flinch and throw Hui away in order to protect themselves.
The Great White Snake quickly slithered through the grassy knolls on fire to grab Hui and threw him towards the road as it tried to return back to Ke Mi’s side. However, the roots that once took Hui, now targeted the Great White Snake and it held the snake tight to the ground, causing it to choke in the smoke and burn in the fire.
Ms Cold realised something was amiss and tried to blow some ice cold breath at that particular area only to see the Great White Snake being wrapped around with vines struggling. The struggle was getting weaker each second, so Ke Mi did not hesitate to use her Zither and cut the vines with sonic waves.
Ku Wai rushed in to drag it to safety, only to see he was being interrupted by roots appearing from the ground, trying to not just to grab him but to stab him too. Fortunately, he had speed inscription of the tiger on, which increased his agility and he retreated back.
“Ohohoho, not bad.” A large ancient tree crawled towards the musical troupe Enlightened and it revealed its face.
No doubt, it was none other than Shu who was causing trouble.
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