Chapter 26 : Chapter 26
Chapter 26 Extreme Blade Mantis! A Ferocious Beast No One Has Ever Successfully Contracted!
The moment Ye Ze saw that notification, he instantly realized something.
Those two squirrel clones from earlier had probably not been killed by the Cursed Knight at all.
Now that he thought about it, there had indeed been something suspicious about it.
The Cursed Knight attacked slowly and specialized in charging. How could it possibly have had the speed to kill squirrel clones that could use Shadow Meld?
And now, the last two clones had been instantly killed as well, which left no doubt.
Whatever was hunting nearby was a ferocious beast with terrifying lethality and astonishing attack speed!
Ye Ze and Ruan Xiaoyou both snapped their heads toward the same spot.
In the temple's main entrance, a figure about the height of a person emerged.
Its head was triangular, and its two huge compound eyes gleamed with a savage blood-red light. Its shell gave off a dark sheen, and the two pairs of wings on its back were as thin as cicada wings.
Its two forelimbs were the most striking of all, huge and sharp like scythes, flashing with a chilling light.
Its aura was violent and dangerous.
Its level was clearly not high, yet the pressure it gave off seemed even greater than that of the Cursed Knight!
Ye Ze asked, "Is this the ferocious beast that was being transported to Dongwu City?"
One could judge the potential of an outstanding summoned beast just from the aura it gave off.
And the one before him was clearly a natural-born hunter-type summoned beast with immense potential!
"That is right. It is the Extreme Blade Mantis."
Ruan Xiaoyou nodded in confirmation, but when she saw its eyes, she could not help sighing.
"What a pity... It has been polluted by Abyssal aura. It is doomed."
Polluted by Abyssal aura?
The Cursed Knight's cause of death in life had been Abyssal aura pollution... and in all of Blue Star, there had never been a single successful case of recovery.
Ye Ze immediately activated Eye of Insight and checked its information.
【Extreme Blade Mantis】
Quality: Outstanding ☆☆☆☆
Level: 12
Attributes: Strength 150, Constitution 140, Agility 178, Spirit 130
Characteristic: Hunting — After killing an enemy, it absorbs their nutrients and permanently increases the Extreme Blade Mantis's attributes, intelligence, and damage multiplier.
Talents: Compound Eyes (Outstanding), Hidden Ambush (Rare)
Skills: Gale Slash lv.6 (Outstanding), High-Speed Movement lv.3 (Rare)
Potential Evaluation: One of a Kind
Status: Under Abyssal Pollution...
"It really has been polluted by the Abyss, and it actually developed a Characteristic!"
Killing enemies to permanently increase its attributes!
Even among Fiends, that kind of Characteristic would rank at the top, at least at the level of a general or even a king!
And now, a ferocious beast had actually mastered it!
No wonder it had received a potential evaluation of One of a Kind!
What a pity. Once polluted by the Abyss, it could survive for at most another week...
Ye Ze could not help sighing, while Ruan Xiaoyou gripped her blade, preparing to kill the mantis on the spot.
"My mission was not only to retrieve the supplies, but also to bring this mantis back."
"But it has already been polluted, so the only option is to kill it here and bring its corpse out of the Contaminated Land!"
Ye Ze understood what she meant.
If the corpse were left in the Contaminated Land, it would become like the Cursed Knight and turn into a Fiend that had lost all reason.
And with this Fiend-like Characteristic, it might even become a new Fiend General.
Naturally, a threat like that had to be dealt with as soon as possible.
Ruan Xiaoyou shook her head helplessly. "Poor thing. It did not even make it to Dongwu City before it was polluted by the power of the Abyss."
She had only said it casually.
Yet unexpectedly, the polluted Extreme Blade Mantis actually opened its mouth and asked in return,
"Poor... thing?"
Its voice was hoarse, like metal scraping against metal, enough to send a chill down one's spine.
"You are wrong. In this world... weakness is what is truly pitiful!"
The moment those words fell, a black shadow flashed like lightning!
The Extreme Blade Mantis and Ruan Xiaoyou launched into battle, hunter against assassin!
"It can actually talk?"
Only then did Ye Ze belatedly realize, "Its Hunting Characteristic must have increased its intelligence as well."
As long as it kept killing, it could continue growing without limit. Its potential truly was terrifying.
Yet on the battlefield, things were not unfolding as Ye Ze had expected.
He had originally assumed that with Ruan Xiaoyou's attributes and combat strength, she would be able to take down the Extreme Blade Mantis with relative ease.
Instead, the two of them repeatedly fought to a standstill!
On one hand, Ruan Xiaoyou had just finished killing the Cursed Knight. More than half her stamina was gone, and she had already used many of her skills.
On the other hand, the Extreme Blade Mantis fought in a completely suicidal manner!
Its offense was incredibly fierce, and every strike was thrown with its full strength. The longer it fought, the more frenzied it became, savage to the extreme!
"Its combat talent is actually this strong..."
Even Ruan Xiaoyou, a talent who could be called one of East China's finest, could not help acknowledging it.
"No wonder Qingfeng City went to such lengths to try to contract it."
She made one last attempt to persuade it.
"Extreme Blade Mantis, why not come back to Dongwu City with me? I can find someone to help suppress the polluted aura in your body."
The Extreme Blade Mantis replied with a question. "Suppress it? Why should I suppress it?"
"Because otherwise you will die!"
"Even if it cannot be eradicated for now, suppressing the polluted aura can let you live a while longer. Maybe in the future, there will be a chance to cure it completely!"
Ruan Xiaoyou took the initiative to stop attacking. A summoned beast of this caliber was too much of a pity to kill just like that.
But upon hearing her words, the Extreme Blade Mantis let out a hoarse burst of laughter.
"Hahahahaha!!"
After laughing for a while, perhaps knowing that its life was already drawing to an end, it suddenly began speaking as if telling a story.
"On the Blood-Red Plains, among hundreds and thousands of lifeforms..."
"The mantis is one of the weakest, lowest creatures in the food chain."
What the hell? It even knows what a food chain is?
Although the situation was rather grim, Ye Ze still could not help complaining inwardly.
Exactly how many enemies had it hunted to grow this intelligent?
The voice of the Extreme Blade Mantis rang out again.
"Because we were weak, the mantis race had no food, no nutrients..."
"When a female mantis reproduces, she must devour the male mantis to replenish her nourishment and ensure the health of her offspring."
It spoke of its race almost from the perspective of an outsider.
"So from the moment I was born, I understood this: weakness is the original sin!"
"And now that I possess Abyssal aura... I can feel freedom! I can feel power!"
"Even if I die tomorrow, I will do so willingly!"
The moment its final words left its mouth, the mantis erupted with killing intent once more!
But this time, the one who stepped forward was not Ruan Xiaoyou.
It was Kung Fu Panda!
Ye Ze stopped her and explained, "Recover your stamina first."
"It is fighting like it does not care about its life. Even if you win, you might still get hurt..."
Hearing that, Ruan Xiaoyou gave Ye Ze a strange look. In the end, she simply nodded and began restoring her stamina.
As for Panda, with the support of Battlefield Legend, even now it still had more than seventy percent of its stamina left.
A ferocious fighter like the mantis happened to be perfectly countered by Panda's softness overcoming hardness.
Still, Ye Ze had already given instructions in advance.
Hold back. Do not kill it!
A summoned beast with such heaven-defying potential was something no Summoner would ever want to miss.
In terms of combat talent and potential alone, the Extreme Blade Mantis definitely ranked among the very best in the East China Region.
One only had to look at the fact that nearly every Summoner in East China had already tried to contract it.
So Ye Ze wanted to give it a try as well.
He said to Ruan Xiaoyou, "Do not kill it yet. Give me one chance. Let me try to contract it..."
"Contract it? Are you crazy?"
Ruan Xiaoyou's delicate brows drew together. "It has already been polluted by the Abyss. It is doomed to die!"
"More importantly, ever since it was captured, not a single Summoner has ever succeeded in contracting it!"
"The strong failed, the weak failed, and even those with enormous wealth all failed..."
Ye Ze merely smiled, unconcerned.
"Since so many people have already tried, one more attempt from me will not make a difference."
Ruan Xiaoyou stared fixedly at Ye Ze, her beautiful eyes full of worry. "You..."
But when she saw that handsome, spirited face of his, and those bright, star-like eyes brimming with confidence, she swallowed the rest of her words.
Forget it. At worst, she could kill it after Ye Ze failed to contract it.
She turned her gaze toward the battlefield. Panda and the mantis were still locked in combat, but the latter was gradually beginning to lose ground.
Ruan Xiaoyou drew out her dagger. The moment the contract failed, she would strike at once!
And Ye Ze's confidence did not come from nowhere.
From what the Extreme Blade Mantis had revealed, its desire was perfectly clear:
Power!
The most common desire, and also the hardest to satisfy.
Everything depended on just how great a summoned beast's hunger for power was, and as for the Extreme Blade Mantis's obsession, that hardly needed saying.
But Ye Ze had already thought of a way to break through...