Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Just as the Ghost-Wood Vine hit the ground, it sprung back up again. Thick vines jumped out at Dumby like snakes striking at prey.
In the blink of an eye, Dumby was completely wrapped up in vines, looking as though it had transformed into a tree demon.
Each vine crisscrossed and rubbed against each other, trying to crush Dumby into pieces. At the same time, it triangular-shaped leaves ran against Dumby’s bones like little blades, giving off a raspy shaaashaaa sound. The leaves of the Ghost-Wood Vine were extremely sharp, each leaf acting like a circular saw.
Normally, when hunting prey, the Ghost-Wood Vine would use its vines to envelop the enemy and then use its sharp, knife-like leaves to lacerate the enemy until it either bled to death or its bones and organs were crushed by the pressure of the constricting vines.
But against Dumby, it seemed both of its killer moves were extremely ineffective.
When the vine leaves cut against Dumby’s tough bones, they hardly did anything at all other than create a piercing sound from the friction. In fact, they seemed to be removing all the dust, grime, and stains that were stuck on Dumby’s body. It was like polishing an object using sandpaper, and Dumby’s bones seemed to be getting shinier by the second!
As the vines wrapped around Dumby’s body, they simply slipped through the gaps between the bones. Without any leverage, they had no hope of crushing Dumby to death.
Even so, being tangled up caused Dumby a great deal of frustration.
The blue soul flames in Dumby’s eye sockets burned brightly as Dumby grabbed both ends of the Ghost-Wood Vine and pulled it apart with all its might. Despite using his full force, Dumby failed to break the vine. It simply stretched the vine further and further, causing a great deal of pain to the Ghost-Wood Vine.
“Da Zi.”
Gao Peng motioned Da Zi to assist Dumby. This was not the time to talk about fair fights.
As Da Zi rushed forward, the Ghost-Wood Vine noticed the danger and tried to escape. But the moment it loosened its hold on Dumby, Dumby caught it and held it out for Da Zi, who went up, opened its forcipules, and clamped them together viciously!
The sharp forcipules were like a giant pair of scissors, giving off a loud snip as they cut the vine in two. The wounds glistened and leaked white fluid.
Da Zi’s pitch-black eyes began to show wisps of purple electricity. The wisps coalesced into a thread, which then twisted together to create a dense net of electricity.
The electric net covered the Ghost-Wood Vine, exploding with a piercing, deep boom. The parts of the monster that were touched by the electric net were all charred, leaving a fish-net pattern of black marks.
The Ghost-Wood Vine thrashed about wildly, as though it had been hit in a vital spot. One of the vines whistled through the air before landing with a crack on Da Zi’s back, sending the familiar flying backward. Its back carapace concaved slightly, but then slowly returned to normal.
But this was the Ghost-Wood Vine’s final struggle. Da Zi rushed back into the fray and cut the vine into multiple pieces, scattering the ground with its fluids.
A Commander tier monster can die so easily?
Gao Peng was a bit shocked. He had not expected such an easy victory.
The result of the battle was Dumby being “polished” and a small dent on Da Zi’s carapace. Other than that, no other injuries were sustained.
But then again, thinking about it from a different angle, a Perfect grade familiar and an Excellent grade familiar had joined together to beat up a Normal grade monster. Sustaining any more injuries than that would have been rather pathetic.
After Da Zi finished off the Ghost-Wood Vine, Dumby planted its right foot behind it on the ground and kicked off, charging straight ahead!
In its chest cavity, the large blood-thread heart beat rapidly, releasing an explosive amount of energy. More than it ever had before!
Dong, dong, dong!
The White Earth Sandstone pillar shook violently as Dumby charged forward. On its surface, large cracks appeared from the shaking, and small bits of the material fell to the ground.
Dumby suddenly planted its left foot on the ground, and strands of red thread extended across the entirety of the thick leg bone, tightening and then relaxing.
With the left foot as the pivot, Dumby’s body rotated 180 degrees, and it smashed its right fist into the pillar with ferocious speed and power.
Boom!!!
The white sandstone pillar exploded into pieces, crashing into a pile of rubble on the ground. In the center of the rubble was an electronic device that was flashing with a red light. Dumby stomped on it, smashing the device into tiny pieces.
Gao Peng looked down and checked his score: 199 points. Compared to the start of the battle, it had increased 150 points.
Gao Peng wasn’t too worried about the points. He wasn’t concerned about such things, as he was not such a shallow person to begin with.
“Da Zi, come over here and give me a hand. There must be a monster core crystal within the body of this Ghost-Wood Vine. We need to search properly. That was an intense battle earlier. Who knows where the monster core crystal might have flown off to…”
Nearby, the trees shook, and a jet-black giant scorpion with golden rings across its body crept out of the dense forest.
[Monster Name]: Giant Monarch Scorpion
[Monster Level]: 21
Sitting atop the giant scorpion was a dark-skinned, well-built teenager with angular features. He had been attracted to the location by the fire earlier, as the column of grey smoke could be seen clearly from miles away. As he arrived, he saw that the battle had already ended and the pillar had already been shattered. He too had destroyed a point pillar, so he already knew what it was.
Alright, seems like I’m too late. No spoils to be taken.
He simply gave Gao Peng a friendly smile and left without any hesitation.
…
Although it had never been stated during the examination that candidates were not allowed to battle each other, the fact that it had not been stated meant that it was not prohibited.
“This examination does not actually prohibit fighting between the candidates,” said the host. “Is that a good or bad thing?”
“It makes it more realistic,” Duan Wu answered. “This is not a fighting match; they won’t be stepping into a ring for one-on-one fights. The real wilderness is much crueler! It is bloodthirsty!”
In the wilderness, killing and looting were common occurrences. After killing a person, one could simply dump the body anywhere in the wilderness. Without a doubt, not even a scrap of bone would remain by the next day.
It was not like an important base city with cameras installed everywhere; it was a wild land with no rules to protect you. In order to obtain treasures, precious monster parts, or even the young of powerful monsters, murder was actually very common.
…
“Participant Zhou He eliminated. Participant Zhou He eliminated.” The voice rang across the entire Dayang Mountain.
Gao Peng squinted. This was the fourth participant to be eliminated so far. He could predict that the next few days would see the most eliminations.
In another area of the forest, Zhou He was lying on the loose soil. His face was covered in blood stains and his mouth was slightly open. On his forehead was a bloody hole the size of a thumb, which was still leaking fresh blood.
Three personnel wearing blue and white combat suits looked over the body.
“He’s already dead,” said one of them. They took out a body bag and placed the corpse inside.
Not far from the corpse was a fiery red, Mouse-type familiar lying on the ground. Its already cold body was punctured all over with both large and small wounds.
“What do we do about the familiar?” asked one of the men.
“Let’s take it back and give it to the family along with the boy’s body.”
