Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21 Skin-Flayer Fiend! Heading to the Fiend stronghold!
The moment Ye Ze sensed something amiss, he immediately activated Eye of Insight.
As expected, he found the problem at once.
The two young women before him had both already fallen victim to a fiend's cruelty.
What stood before them now were two Fiends disguised in human skin.
Level 20 elite fiends, Skin-Flayer Fiends!
From the name alone, one could tell how bizarre and unpredictable their abilities were.
【Skin-Flayer Fiend (lv.20)】
Type: Elite-grade Fiend Lieutenant
Attributes: Strength 100, Constitution 70, Agility 70, Spirit 140
Characteristic: Flaying — It strips the skin from a corpse, slips inside it, and perfectly assumes the target's appearance.
Skills: Breakout Smash, Skin Suit Repair, Mimicry.
Although their combat power seemed fairly ordinary compared to other Fiends, the military's published data showed that Skin-Flayer Fiends had caused more casualties than any other elite fiend.
Their ability to replace a person's appearance was simply too deceptive.
Moreover, Skin-Flayer Fiends were the most intelligent among elite fiends and excelled at imitating humans.
Any ordinary newcomer could easily be tricked into approaching one. Caught completely off guard, they would either die on the spot or be gravely wounded by a full-force blow.
At that moment, the two Skin-Flayer Fiends were still acting.
They played the part of heavily wounded women, their voices weak and frail. "Help... please... save me..."
Ruan Xiaoyou's reaction was not slow, either.
But as a first-year student, she did not have much experience entering the Contaminated Land.
The instant Ye Ze stopped her, she also sensed that something was wrong.
Both girls were so severely injured, so how had they managed to escape from several elite fiends alive?
She turned to look at Ye Ze.
Only to discover that he had already walked over without the slightest sign of caution.
What the hell? He stopped me, yet he is the one going over there?
At least put on your armor first!
Ruan Xiaoyou roared inwardly.
Then she drew an azure-blue dagger in a reverse grip and stood ready.
If anything happened, she could rush over to support him at once.
Ye Ze walked calmly to a spot not far from the two "girls" and said in an even tone,
"Do not worry. I am here to help you."
"Could you let me see where you are hurt?"
Seeing someone approach, the two "girls" seemed to relax in relief, as though they had just been saved.
When they heard Ye Ze ask to inspect the wound, they assumed he meant to treat them and found nothing strange about it.
One of them turned slightly and lifted her clothes, revealing the skin at her waist.
"The wound is here. It hurts so much! Come and take a look!"
It eagerly invited Ye Ze to come closer.
Yet Ye Ze shook his head and said, "No, no. The wound is not there."
The two Skin-Flayer Fiends froze for a moment, as if trying to understand what he meant.
Ye Ze raised a finger and pointed at its neck.
"Your wound is here."
The instant his words fell, a Shadow Squirrel burst out from the fiend's shadow.
It activated Shadow Assault!
A crimson gleam flashed from the Crimson Demon Blade in the squirrel's paw, and a line of blood sliced across the exact place Ye Ze had pointed to.
In the next second, the Skin-Flayer Fiend's head flew into the air.
【Killed Elite Fiend: Skin-Flayer Fiend. EXP +500.】
【Level: 6 (710/3100)】
The entire process was astonishingly swift.
It was as if Ye Ze had merely pointed out a dish he wanted, and in the next breath, the other side was already decapitated.
Ruan Xiaoyou, who witnessed the whole thing with her own eyes, was instantly dumbfounded.
He killed it that decisively?
Was he not afraid that he had judged wrong and killed the wrong person?
And just from outward appearances, it had truly looked like a living, breathing human girl, fragile and helpless at that.
Yet when Ye Ze struck, he did not hesitate in the slightest.
She had seen plenty of people capable of killing a Skin-Flayer Fiend.
But someone as decisive as Ye Ze, aside from veteran Demon Suppression Army soldiers with more than a decade of experience, was someone she had never seen before.
And the strength displayed by Ye Ze's summoned beast was just as unbelievable to her.
Sneaking into a shadow to launch an attack... that was practically a divine skill for an assassin!
The quality of that skill had to be at least epic-tier or above!
She herself was an assassin, so she naturally understood the value of assassin skills. For a moment, she could not help feeling a little envious.
A summoned beast that possessed a skill above epic-tier.
So this was Ye Ze's trump card...
Its strength was not weak at all.
Meanwhile, on the other side, after one Skin-Flayer Fiend had been slain, the other had not even managed to react.
It had happened too suddenly.
They had barely exchanged two sentences before he attacked. Was he the fiend, or was I?
But it never got another chance to move.
After the squirrel struck, two Shadow Clones sprang out from the other Skin-Flayer Fiend's shadow!
A squirrel's Shadow Clones could not use the skill Shadow Clone itself, but other skills such as Shadow Assault could still be used.
The clones only possessed eighty percent of the original's attack power.
To make absolutely certain, Ye Ze had secretly ordered the squirrel to hide two Shadow Clones here in advance.
In truth, that caution had been somewhat unnecessary.
After all, with two Legendary Renown auras in effect, the Shadow Clones also benefited from the aura's attack bonus.
And against an unguarded Skin-Flayer Fiend, seventy points of Constitution was as brittle as rotten wood. One slash was enough to cut it apart.
【Killed Skin-Flayer Fiend. EXP +500.】
As expected of level 20 elite fiends, the two of them gave a full 1000 EXP!
His experience bar surged upward by nearly half.
This was the leveling speed he had truly come to the Contaminated Land for!
As the two headless corpses of the Skin-Flayer Fiends collapsed, their true bodies appeared—rubbery, twisted forms like those of grotesque mannequins.
Ruan Xiaoyou walked over. Even though she had already guessed the truth, she was still surprised.
"They were both Skin-Flayer Fiends!"
"But... how exactly did you see through them?"
As she spoke, her peach-blossom eyes fixed on Ye Ze with lively curiosity.
Like a little black cat that had locked onto its prey, she looked sharp and inquisitive.
That question was only natural.
Ye Ze had exposed them far too quickly, almost like a veteran Demon Suppression Army soldier with ten years of experience.
Naturally, he could not reveal his true method—Eye of Insight.
He was not yet close enough to Ruan Xiaoyou to tell her everything.
Still, before using Eye of Insight, he really had noticed something unusual.
"Because Fiends do not run away."
"So when they pretend to be humans escaping for their lives, there are huge flaws in the act."
"The movement of their legs while running, the emotions in the way they cry for help, all of it is noticeably different from a real human's."
Liu Boyan had taught all of that in class.
Of course, that could only serve as fifty percent of the basis for a judgment.
But once Eye of Insight confirmed it, that instantly became one hundred percent.
It was the same as knowing the answer first and then answering the question. Naturally, one would be much more confident.
Who could not copy the answer once they already had it?
Even so, what Ye Ze had pointed out was enough to make Ruan Xiaoyou intensely interested.
Ye Ze rose to his feet and asked instead, "Do you have any fire?"
He glanced at the two shriveled human skin suits on the ground.
Ruan Xiaoyou immediately understood what he meant. She took out a Flame Stone from her backpack and tossed it onto them.
Flames instantly burst to life, cremating the two skin suits.
Ye Ze waved a hand. "Let us go. Shall we spar a little?"
"No need. I have already seen what your summoned beast can do. Sparring with you now would not be fair."
Ruan Xiaoyou smiled faintly. "I am not the kind of big sister who bullies people."
"Your summoned beast's abilities are decent. Its attributes are just a little lacking. You still need to work harder, little brother Ye Ze~"
As though she were comforting him, she patted Ye Ze on the shoulder.
The latter's face darkened.
Just being one year older really was enough to press someone down.
Still, if she thought he only had one summoned beast, then she was very much mistaken.
At that moment, Ruan Xiaoyou pointed ahead.
"Come on, then. The two of us will go and test out that Fiend stronghold."
"It is not easy to find a teammate who can solo elite fiends, after all..."
She had already seen the squirrel's clone skill, and her confidence in Ye Ze had risen considerably.
Inwardly, she had already made her judgment. With a clone skill like that, Ye Ze should be able to hold off the other six elite fiends.
Taking down the stronghold was now a real possibility!
Ye Ze was also looking forward to that fiend stronghold.
Following behind Ruan Xiaoyou, the two of them left the area one after the other.
And headed deeper into No. 19 Contaminated Land...