Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
This Adamantine Duck must have led a difficult existence in the forest.
At least, this was what Gao Peng thought until he read the monster’s description.
[Monster Name]: Adamantine Duck (Deviant type)
[Monster Level]: Level 10
[Monster Grade]: Epic
[Special Characteristics]: Gui power (Passive effect: When it is being attacked, it has a chance to expand its body for a certain period of time. Its strength, defense and speed will also be amplified at the same time.)
[Monster’s current state]: Healthy (Tired)
No wonder it had been able to keep itself alive for so long. Despite its slow-wittedness, it seemed to be quite formidable.
Gao Peng sensed that he had struck gold with this one.
“Say, ‘I’m not a duck, I’m a human male who just happens to be a bit more good-looking than the rest.’ Tell it that it can come along if it doesn’t mind me being a human,” said Gao Peng to Flamy.
Flamy seemed to be completely astonished by Gao Peng’s order. It then reluctantly translated what he had said to the Adamantine Duck.
A conflicted look came across the duck’s face as he listened to what Flamy said. It looked at Gao Peng uncertainly.
Finally, it shook its head and body. “Quarck quarck?”
“It’s ‘Quack,’” corrected Gao Peng.
The Adamantine Duck laughed happily. “Quack!”
Gao Peng didn’t know what was going through this absent-minded duck’s head. In any case, it seemed that his party had gained a new member.
Though its Monster Grade was Epic, the fact remained that it was still Level-10, meaning it wasn’t as agile as the other familiars.
It was also stubborn. Despite being the slowest in the group, it refused to let anyone help.
The Adamantine Duck skipped and bounced around at the back of the group happily.
It would sometimes sniff about here and there, poking its beak around.
The hair on the back of a black cat stood up as it was in the middle of mating with a female cat. It turned around and saw a duck giving it a strange look from behind a tree.
It was a calm, unfeeling look. What kind of creature was capable of such an apathetic look? The black cat was stunned.
The female cat below it let out a purr, somewhat annoyed that its mate had abruptly stopped what it was doing.
The black cat lightly pressed its paw on the female cat. “Shhh, quiet now. This duck has intrigued me. Its eyes give me goosebumps. I’ve never felt this feeling before…”
Thwap! The female cat slapped the black cat with its paw, sending it flying away. “Go then! Go be with your precious duck!”
After saying this, the female cat disappeared into the forest, leaving the black cat dazed on the ground.
The black cat turned around to look for the duck, only to realize that it had disappeared.
In another corner, a rabbit was happily digging a hole in the ground when it suddenly sensed that something was staring at it.
The gray-furred rabbit turned around and saw that something was poking its head out from behind a clump of trees. The head was staring at the rabbit unblinkingly with its lifeless eyes.
The head belonged to a duck.
The gray-furred rabbit let out a sigh of relief and continued digging its hole.
However, it began to feel the duck’s eyes squirming on its back like maggots. At first, the rabbit was able to endure being stared at by the duck, but finally, it couldn’t take it any longer.
It turned around, sprang forward, and gave the Adamantine Duck a powerful kick.
The Adamantine Duck staggered and fell on the ground. Then a purple light flashed across its body. In an instant, its body expanded like a balloon.
Surprised by this, the gray-furred rabbit immediately bolted from the scene.
“It’s just standing there, staring at nothing… I think the name Dumby should have been given to it instead,” Stripey said quietly to Da Zi.
Thirty feet away, the Adamantine Duck was squatting at an odd angle on the ground. Its eyes were wide like saucers as it absently watched a line of ants crawling by, as if there was some deep meaning to be taken from them.
Da Zi looked at it. It just couldn’t figure out what was going on inside the duck’s head. Then it looked away. “Food.”
…
“Earth Spirit Cores are usually formed deep in the caverns of mountains,” muttered Gao Peng to himself.
Before him stood a 2,000-foot-tall mountain. Black stone gleamed from one side of it. The black stone was riddled with dark and mysterious caves.
Plant life was scarce on the mountain. Only a few hardy types of plants had managed to survive in such a harsh environment. From afar, the mountain looked like a huge beehive that was riddled with holes.
One could tell from its appearance that there was something unusual about this mountain. It didn’t seem like a place where one could find any Earth Spirit Cores. Gao Peng shook his head.
As he was about to turn and leave, Gao Peng suddenly heard running footsteps from deep within the forest. The trees in the distance were shaking violently at the same moment.
Gao Peng frowned and waved a hand at the others to pull back.
Balls of red light burst out from the trees and hurtled towards the strange mountain. Silhouettes could be seen in the light.
The closer the caves were to the ground, the larger they seemed to be.
Gao Peng even saw a couple of caves at the foot of the mountain that were as tall as 65 feet.
There was no sign of activity after that.
Ten minutes later, another monster entered the mountain from another direction. The strongest among the monsters entering the mountain was around Level-30, while the weakest among them was in the Elite-tier.
This strange mountain seemed to welcome all who entered it.
Suddenly, Silly, who had been hovering beside Gao Peng all this time, began slowly drifting towards the strange mountain.
Gao Peng immediately grabbed a hold of Silly and took out some juice from its portable space.
In an instant, the entranced Silly regained its senses and happily picked up the juice.
“What happened to you just now? Why were you flying towards the mountain?” asked Flamy.
Silly scratched its head with a tentacle. “Dunno. For some reason, I thought that there was delicious fruit juice up in that mountain.”
“Master, there’s lots of fish up there…” Flamy suddenly pointed at the strange mountain.
“There are… Yin cedar needles too?” said Dumby in confusion.
“There’s lots of Stripeys in there!” said Da Zi, whose feelers twitched excitedly in the air.
Stripey glared at Da Zi, who realized that it had said something it shouldn’t have said. It quickly covered its mouth with its feet and looked away from Stripey.
