Chapter 411: Exotic Beast Butcher
Any warrior would be insignificant before a ma.s.sive fleet. Universal wars.h.i.+ps were this era’s hegemonic creation. While they lacked flexibility and sophistication, when they aimed their pitch-black cannons at the stars, even the strongest warrior’s heart would thump in fear.
Wars.h.i.+ps were fierce, but this did not mean that traditional warriors had lost their status. On the contrary, at certain moments, elite warriors could do just as much damage as wars.h.i.+ps, perhaps even more.
Xia Fei’s slaughter in the insectoid territory was clearly accelerating. Onboard Vampire and under the protection of the Estamel cloaking sytem, he moved from planet to planet, committing ma.s.sacre upon ma.s.sacre, coming and going without a trace. Moving around like a ghost, he butchered the targets he had long set eyes on.
The insectoids wanted to eliminate him, but they lacked the ability. Other than Xia Fei, no one knew who his next target would. It was not like they could mobilize a large number of fleets and elite warriors to protect important targets, right? It had to be understood that the insectoid’s main force was no longer in their territory. It was fully engaged in invading the Pan-human Alliance. Even if Uti wanted to carry out this plan, he did not have the resources.
The insectoid territory devoid of defences became like Xia Fei’s personal backyard. He might not have the ability to overcome a wars.h.i.+p, but in a battle against the elites of the insectoid race, with his supreme speed, he undoubtedly had the upper hand!
The speed ability was the counter to the vast majority of other abilities; Fire, ice, rock control special abilities? They could all go to h.e.l.l! In front of Xia Fei’s superhuman speed, these ability users would not even have a chance to use their moves, no matter how powerful they were. The moment they made an enemy of a high-ranking speed ability user, their miserable fates immediately became evident, and this was not even considering Xia Fei’s absurd Crafty Approach and powerful psychokinesis. Even his exclusive beast, Furball, was enough to present a major problem to these Sacred Warriors.
Speed ability users were incredibly powerful, but this did not mean that no abilities could contend against them. Mental suppression types, sonic types, illusion types, and spatial types were all quite effective against speed ability users. Fortunately, Xia Fei had infiltrated the insectoids’ internet. When choosing his opponent, he only needed to filter out those more troublesome fellows.
…
Vampire.
The Galetrigger Iron Lotus Seed was added to Xia Fei’s spoils of war.
In the operation just now, Xia Fei had killed the former chief imperial guardsman of the Golden Tent, b.u.ma. This b.u.ma had just retired from his post at the beginning of the year and returned to his hometown to spend the rest of his years. He had never imagined that, only a few months after leaving the Golden Tent, he would arrive at the legendary hall of King Yama to serve a different king, and going with him were several hundred members of his family.
If he had been able to predict this day, b.u.ma might have chosen not to retire. At the very least, staying in the imperial capital would have been much safer than his own home.
The Galetrigger Iron Lotus Seed was formed from one hundred eight conical spikes. Its name came from the fact that it looked very much like a lotus seed.
The most wondrous trait of this weapon was that it was practically weightless while remaining as tough as steel. When a wind ability user attacked, they could mix this weapon into the wind, thus striking the enemy from within the gale and catching them off guard.
Just like many of his other spoils of war, this Eternal rank concealed weapon was thrown into a special room. While they were good items, they were not very useful to Xia Fei. At most, they could serve as future items to be used in a trade. Besides that, Xia Fei’s mind was not on these items.
Petting Furball on the head, Xia Fei took a Purple Heart of Spirit from his spatial ring and threw it over. Furball delightedly licked this piece of ore, and then in one gulp, he drained it clean of energy.
“Eat. Eat as many as you want. The next opponent is a tough one, and I’ll need your help again.”
Furball pursed its lips in dissatisfaction. It was true that Xia Fei had opened up when it came to its diet lately, allowing it to eat as much as it wanted, but the work on Furball’s plate had also increased by a lot. Every two or three days, it must go with Xia Fei to commence a ma.s.sacre on some planet, its days tense and gruesome.
Helplessly nodding its head, Furball lazily made its way onto the sofa. The elite beast had to use this time to get some sleep in. While a masacre every two or three days was not much to Xia Fei, Furball was a slacker that wanted to do nothing more than eat and sleep. At the start, Furball had been affected by Xia Fei’s mood and been extremely excited, its eyes turning red the moment it saw an enemy.
However, as time pa.s.sed and the number of ma.s.sacres piled up, Furball gradually began to long for the days that it spent mostly sleeping, and two faint black circles emerged around its eyes.
Phantom smiled. “Furball has been working very hard lately, but it’s also matured very quickly. At the start, it needed to wait a few seconds before releasing an energy ball, but now, it can release almost one every second, and the speed has also become much faster. Enemies find it very difficult to dodge Furball’s attacks now.”
Xia Fei nodded. “This means that Furball’s growth doesn’t just require more energy but also constant hammering and tempering. As the old saying goes, ‘an uncut jade can’t be made into anything useful’, and the same is true for Furball. In the future, this fellow will definitely become a fierce character that can intimidate the world, but it seems that it will be hard to change this ball’s lazy and cunning temperament.”
Vampire moved quickly, and the command deck’s digital clock indicated that the time to the destination was only seven hours and twenty-five minutes before the next battle would begin. The killing of b.u.ma had taken place only two hours ago. To so quickly launch another attack was simply insane on Xia Fei’s part!
The screen turned, and Xia Fei began to inspect the internal movements of the insectoids while researching his next opponent, Hezar.
“He’s different from all your other opponents. Hezar is ranked sixteenth, and his ability somewhat counters yours. You’re really choosing to fight him?” Phantom worriedly asked.
Xia Fei solemnly replied, “It’s not a choice but a necessity!
“Hezar’s location is right along our route. If we miss this chance, are we gonna find another time to turn around and deal with him? Whether it’s b.u.ma or Hami, while they were elite experts of the insectoid race, they’re all already old and not even in the top eighty, but Hezar is in his prime and has reached a higher rank every year. If I succeed in killing him, I’ll give the entire insectoid race a huge shock.”
Phantom said, “So that means you already have a way to deal with Hezar’s ability?”
Xia Fei glanced at the sleeping Furball. “Not in the past, but with Furball, the situation has changed.”
In its dreams, Furball vaguely sensed that someone was talking about it, and the beast s.h.i.+vered in fear.
…
Scarlet River Valley, one of the few planets in the insectoid territory where exotic beasts gathered.
A giant river coiled around the planet like a giant dragon. It had flowed for tens of thousands of years, and unlike other rivers, its waters were red. Its countless tributaries spread like numerous dense veins.
An insectoid warrior walked barefoot along the sandy beach of the river valley. He was only wearing shorts, exposing his sinuous black body; he had black eyes and black hair. Fortunately, it happened to be noon on this planet. In the dark of night, it would truly be difficult to sense his existence.
The stones underfoot were sharp and craggy, but Hezar navigated the jumble of rocks so quickly that he seemed to be flying, the sharp rocks incapable of hindering his advance.
Legends said that a top-cla.s.s exotic beast, which could grow to one kilometer long, called the Watergloom, lived on the Scarlet River Valley planet. Thus, the ascetic Hezar, who enjoyed hunting exotic beasts, had come here in hopes of killing it and taking the Winterwarmth Pearl which had formed on its head.
Unlike the other Sacred Warriors who served the insectoid race, Hezar was an ascetic. He did not heed the call of the Golden Tent or the Sacred Guild. Flying on his shabby s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, he sought the most dangerous of planets to cultivate, and he lived a monotonous and b.l.o.o.d.y lifestyle.
To other Sacred Warriors, Hezar was undoubtedly a strange one. He thought only about increasing his cultivation and cared nothing for fame or women. Among the insectoids, this was simply unimaginable. A Sacred Warrior who did not consort with women, was he still a Sacred Warrior?
Warriors needed constant tempering to grow, and besides tempering, what they most required was fighting with other warriors to acc.u.mulate experience.
Hezar had never held any interest in fighting warriors of the same race. In his life, he had never liked fighting other insectoids. He only liked slaughtering exotic beasts. No matter what rank they were, whether they were kind or wicked, if they encountered Hezar, they would only face death.
His hands were drenched in the blood of exotic beasts. His favorite hobby was telling others of how he had cruelly killed some high-rank exotic beasts and then skinned their bodies. Each time, his face would turn alive with excitement. Thus, he had another nickname: the Exotic Beast Butcher.
In truth, Hezar was ranked sixteenth on the Sacred Warrior ranking not because he was weaker than the others but because, be it those ranked higher or lower, no one had ever heard of anyone challenging Hezar. This was because his ability was far too wicked, and no one wanted to make an enemy of him if they did not need to.
A Sacred Warrior, who had never challenged another warrior in his entire life, taking the sixteenth spot on the ranking purely through slaying exotic beasts, was enough proof of Hezar’s terrifying strength!
For two months, he had been seeking the Watergloom in Scarlet River Valley. During this hunt, any other exotic beasts he spotted got slain by him. Not even a cute and adorable Petal Mouse was spared. It was as if he naturally hated exotic beasts, seemingly not resting until all beasts in the universe were slain!
The Watergloom was a very intelligent exotic beast. It knew that it was no match for Hezar, so it had fled along the rivers. Hezar doggedly pursued until he had pushed it into a narrow tributary. Farther up ahead was a dead end, and the Watergloom had nowhere else to run. Excited, Hezar picked up the pace.
Around two kilometers away from the river, in a forest, Xia Fei leaned against a tree and observed the distant hunter.
Furball bared its teeth when it saw Hezar, his round face distorting while its eyes grew bloodshot.
Xia Fei patted Furball on the head and firmly said, “I know that that fellow has killed many of your kind, but don’t rush in just yet; let’s watch first before taking action. I guarantee that he won’t see tonight’s moonlight.”
Furball ground its teeth together, its fur standing up as a low growl emitted from this elite beast’s throat.
Suddenly—
A giant wave rose from the distant river as the huge silver Watergloom jumped into the air!