Chapter 663: Nitrox
‘Is that an Undead Beast King, the Nine-armored Land Drake?’ Xia Fei’s eyes sparkled as he muttered to himself.
The Nine-armored Land Drake was a level 9 Beast King. It was an undead, so despite its fairly majestic appearance at the moment, it was actually a living corpse.
Different from other types of exotic beasts, the Nine-armored Land Drake had a nucleus that was formed by absorbing Cosmic Origin Energy. It was called the Beast Spirit Core. The Beast Spirit Codex had mentioned this, but while exotics beasts had a Beast Spirit Fire, undead exotic beasts would actually ossify this Beast Spirit Fire into a s.h.i.+ny crystal core.
As long as the crystal core remained intact, no one would be able to kill it. Flesh which got chopped off could regrow, and it was the same for its internal organs. Unless that Beast Spirit Core got shattered, the creature could just keep coming back to life.
After all, the Beast Spirit Core was an amalgamation of both the Cosmic Origin Energy and the life force that exotic beasts uniquely possessed. It was very st.u.r.dy on its own and difficult to break without some superhuman cultivation or a divinely sharp weapon. These sorts of beasts were called undead not because they could not die but because most warriors would have no means by which to deal with them.
Xia Fei did not care about what undead exotic beast. The peanut-sized Furball on his shoulder was a Holy Beast, after all, and he was several times stronger than this dull and foolish lizard.
What really stopped Xia Fei’s heart was the nine vertical scales which were on the Nine-armored Land Drake’s back. They were sharp like honed knives and were faintly pulsating fiery red. A single glance and he could tell that it was something else. An undead exotic beast was of course quite magical, but the nine vertical scales were far more fascinating than the exotic beast itself.
“Haha! A Nine-armored Land Drake!” Lionheart Emperor Oro somewhat excitedly said. “There are plenty of treasures all over an undead exotic beast. Aside from its impressive fighting power, it can also be used as medicine. That crystal core inside can even be used as additional material in the creation of law weapons, giving weapons or armor additional attributes. The artificers would probably go mad if they were to come across one.”
“It’s precisely because undead exotic beasts are filled with such valuables that Law Warriors will hunt for them on a large scale. As such, they have become endangered nowadays, almost on the verge of extinction. Meeting a Nine-armored Land Drake here is truly a rare chance. Why don’t you ask these mercenaries if they’re selling it and buy that beast from them? It’s not like you have a lack of money, either.”
Xia Fei did not respond. The old demon lord was right; the Nine-armored Land Drake’s body was filled with treasures, and Xia Fei was far more aware of this fact than Oro as an inheritor of the Beast Spirit Codex.
Those nine fiery scales, as well as that crystal core inside its body, were enough to form a set of Nitrox!
Nitrox, or also called an instantaneous accelerator, gave a user super acceleration. At present, Xia Fei’s speed surpa.s.sed 30,000km/s, but if he was holding onto Nitrox, he could see his speed increase by threefold, reaching 90,000km/s!
The nine vertical scales were the key to activating Nitrox, with every activation consuming one scale. This meant that he could instantly accelerate nine times, and the Nine-armored Land Drake’s scales would appear fiery-red when fully grown; a threefold increase would just be the minimum, since it was possible for it to reach four or even five times the speed.
If his opponent had a speed of 50,000 while he only had 30,000, there was no doubt that the slower Xia Fei would fall into pa.s.sivity. After all, it was a huge headache to face someone with superior speed. Even an immemorial mystical armament like Peac.o.c.k Blue would have trouble ensnaring such an opponent, so how would Xia Fei be able to give them a beating if he could not even pin them down? How would he be able to pierce them with the Blood Crystal?
If he had Nitrox, Xia Fei could instantaneously suppress his enemies, and the unlucky ones would be those completely unprepared to face this sudden acceleration. Charging over, a single cut would decide the battle. Clean and decisive!
Against enemies who were faster than him, Nitrox was definitely a must!
The corners of his lips curled as Xia Fei mused. “Though the Nine-armored Land Drake is good, this group doesn’t seem friendly.”
Just as the old demon lord wanted to ask why, that old gentleman on the bridge suddenly spoke.
“Do you all want this Beast King drake of mine?”
“That’s right. Why don’t you tell us your price?” a mercenary with curly hair stepped up and asked.
“Hmph!” The old gentleman scoffed. “This drake is my precious, and there’s no way I’m selling it. You can try and kill it if you’ve got the ability to; this old man won’t complain if you succeed!”
“Those are your words, not mine!”
“You’d better not be heartbroken if I end up killing it!”
That pack of mercenaries all got excited as they began yelling altogether.
“However!” The older gentleman’s face turned frigid. “If you fail to kill my precious, you’ll have to hand over the weapon you’ve got in your hands, as compensation!”
The mercenaries all wavered. It turned out that this old coot wanted to have a wager with them, letting them use their weapons to attack the Nine-armored Land Drake. If they failed, they would all have to hand over their weapons.
It was as if the drake understood the language they were speaking, for it raised its head high and proudly, looking like it did not care about what was being discussed.
The mercenaries were all enraged, raring to give it a shot. Unfortunately, they did not know that it was an undead exotic beast; it would hardly be worth much if a simple stab was all it took to kill the undead. This was not mentioning the fact that the Nine-armored Land Drake was a level 9 Beast King, only a step away from being a Divine Beast. Forget these mercenaries, even a Law Emperor or a Great Law Emperor would be useless against it!
An undead exotic beast was just that transcendental of an existence!
“Let me go first!” A silly fatty unclasped a trident from his waist. It was inky-black, looking like it was a fairly decent weapon.
“Old man, you’re too full of yourself. Today, I’ll let you know that there’s no such thing as an unkillable exotic beast!”
The elder gentleman stroked his beard, a look of disapproval appearing when he heard that statement. Meanwhile, that Nine-armored Land Drake’s head seemed to have lifted even higher as its golden beady eyes became filled with scorn.
The fat mercenary bellowed with rage and stabbed his trident forward.
*Squelch*
His trident stabbed into the Land Drake’s body, but that strange beast did not even flinch, as if it were a statue!
“What! What’s going on here?” The mercenaries were all bewildered, completely at a loss.
“Does it not know pain?”
“Not even bleeding, is this lizard a fake?”
Just as everyone was airing out their exasperation and surprise, they saw that black trident slowly get pushed out from its body, falling onto the bridge. Meanwhile, the wound that the trident created moments ago healed up as if nothing had happened.
“It closed up!”
“This lizard couldn’t have an immortal body, could it?”
The mercenaries were all visibly annoyed. None of them had witnessed such a magical scene before. The wound actually healed by itself? What else was there left to say? Could this strange lizard really possess an immortal body?
The elder gentleman chuckled, and with a wave of his hand, that trident on the floor of the bridge disappeared.
“That settles it. Your weapon’s mine. Is there anyone else who dares make another attempt, go on ahead!”
Saying this, the gentleman threw an inadvertent glance at Xia Fei. With him standing so near, the young man had obviously seen and heard this.
When he saw that Xia Fei was not making a move, that curly haired mercenary stepped up and attempted to attack the Nine-armored Land Drake. Having learned from his comrade’s lesson, he used a knife that glowed blue and stabbed it right into the lizard’s head.
Anyone could tell that it had been coated with a layer of poison, showing just how sinister this method was.
Unfortunately, how could an undead exotic beast be poisoned? His weapon was also taken by the gentleman.
Everyone was infuriated, each of them trying all sorts of means and weapons to attack the beast. The Nine-armored Land Drake did not care, and the elder gentleman did not step in to stop them, either. In just the span of two seconds, the lizard had managed to abstract over twenty weapons from the crowd!
Daggers, long knives, shortswords, and longswords… There was even an awl, which was used to pry open red wine corks!
*Clatter*
These weapons all dropped to the ground like before, while the beast’s body, which was filled with injuries, had all but healed in less than a second!
Everyone was flabbergasted. The expression on their faces was priceless!
“Amazing! Truly amazing!”
The elder gentleman collected all the weapons on the ground as he cupped his hands. “I must admit that you, gentlemen, have been far too kind to give me so many precious weapons, enough for this old man to buy plenty of wine.”
The mercenaries all bristled in anger, but they had no idea what to say. At the end of the day, they had a verbal agreement that they would relinquish their weapons if they failed to kill that lizard, so their only option was to suppress whatever frustration they felt bubbling inside.
Xia Fei had been watching everything with a cold smirk. He strode over, and these mercenaries tacitly parted a path for him. None of them had the disappointment they were showing before but were evidently very excited, instead.
*Shuffle*
The Nine-armored Land Drake, which had been very arrogant before, suddenly lowered its head like a frosted eggplant, its entire body going soft as it kept licking Xia Fei’s two feet, appearing to be absolutely servile.
Everyone was very puzzled. Xia Fei had neither said a word nor done anything, so why would the undead level 9 Beast King just go soft like that? Its air of majesty had disappeared as well.
*Slap*
Xia Fei gave Furball, who was perched on his shoulder as usual, a slap. “Why did you go and scare it?”
Furball was now as small as a peanut and was hardly conspicuous. No one would have noticed him had Xia Fei not moved his hand.
Furball was not in the least bit annoyed after taking a hit from Xia Fei; instead, he became even more eager to ingratiate himself to Xia Fei.
The mercenaries had no clue just what sort of creature Furball was, but the older gentleman was very much aware. The expression on his face was livid, as sweat the size of beans trickled down.
‘A Holy Beast! That’s the Holy Beast Shatterstar!’ the elder gentleman yelped in his mind. This was especially so after he saw how Xia Fei had just given the Holy Beast a tight slap. That act frightened him immensely!
It was far more appropriate for most to treat the Holy Beast with reverence. Who would even dare to do what Xia Fei did and slap the beast? Did he not know that what he struck was a dignified Holy Beast?!
That was not all. Just as the elder gentleman was still reeling from shock, Xia Fei chided Furball once more, “Remember: It’s not okay to scare others.”
Furball nodded his head as if he understood what Xia Fei had said.
“You need to kill them like I do.”
Xia Fei said this very casually as if he were discussing whether to eat bread or biscuit for breakfast.
With that said, a red blur flashed past right into the Nine-armored Land Drake’s back!
The 1.5-meter long lizard was fat and weird. The instant his Blood Crystal stabbed its flesh, the Beast King Nine-armored Land Drake let out a shrill cry of heart-rending pain!
Without any resistance, it pleaded pitifully and was overcome with fright!
*Whoosh*
Like a football that had been deflated, the Nine-armored Land Drake, which weighed over three hundred pounds, rapidly shrank!
One second!
The level 9 Beast King, which was still alive a second ago, turned into a dried up mummy almost instantaneously!
*Thunk*
Xia Fei shattered the dessicated carca.s.s with a single kick, locating its golden crystal core within, then he took the nine vertical scales on its back, holding them in his hand to observe.
Everything had happened so quickly. Before the crowd could react, Xia Fei had already taken care of the Nine-armored Land Drake. They all showed unbelievably shocked faces, looking as devastated as if their own mother had died. This was especially true for the elderly gentleman, whose turbid eyes were shedding tears.
“Thanks.”
After saying just that one word, Xia Fei patted the dumbfounded Seth and continued along his way across the wooden bridge.
“To even offer up an undead Beast King so that you could put on a show, you guys are truly very professional,” Xia Fei seemingly said to himself.
*Cough*
Hearing that, the already heartbroken elder gentleman could no longer hold back and actually threw up a mouthful of blood! He went pale!
“Stop right there!” The gentleman wiped the blood from his mouth and shakily got up.