Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54: The Mantis’s Wings Evolve! Are You Really Human?
No. 19 Contaminated Land was the most recently formed, and also the weakest, of all the Contaminated Lands.
And even here, a Fiend General had appeared?
Xu Feng fell into deep thought...
As for Ye Ze, although he did not know the reason, his delight did not diminish in the slightest.
Looking at that black point on the monitoring sand table that represented a Fiend General, all he saw was a massive bundle of experience!
"Report the situation first. Ye Ze, do not act rashly!"
Xu Feng made a prompt decision and issued instructions to the clerks.
At the same time, he pulled out his own weapons from his pack: a pair of long blades.
"Looks like I have to take action myself..."
"Call the Deputy Commander over to take charge of the Monitoring Division. Bring two more third-advancement Class Users and come with me!"
Even though Xu Feng himself was a third-advancement Class User, he did not dare be careless.
Fiend Generals were usually above level 35. In a one-on-one fight, even the number one high school student in the South China Region—a level-13 rare class user whose equipment and skills were all at least Outstanding-grade, and whose combat strength was in no way inferior to ordinary class users of the same level—still could not contend with such an enemy.
Among third-advancement Class Users, there were perhaps some who could solo a Fiend General, but Xu Feng was not necessarily one of them.
If this Fiend General happened to possess some bizarre ability, they might even need to request reinforcements from higher up.
At that moment, however, Ye Ze said with a helpless laugh:
"Commander Xu, there is no need to make it so troublesome. I can go by myself."
"I have experience with this."
Naturally, he was not foolish enough to wait for Xu Feng’s approval. At the same time, he began directing one of the squirrel Shadow Clones to move into position.
"You have fought a Fiend General before?"
Xu Feng asked in surprise. After thinking for a moment, he nodded. "Fine. I cannot properly judge your strength anyway..."
"The two of us will go together. At the very least, we cannot let the defensive line at No. 19 Contaminated Land collapse!"
"All right."
Ye Ze was slightly surprised by how readily Xu Feng agreed.
In truth, the Demon Suppression Army was never rigid or pedantic. In wartime status, as long as someone had combat ability, then no matter who they were, they had to step forward!
...
At that moment, the Contaminated Land was filled, as far as the eye could see, with an army of Liches.
At their head stood a white skeletal figure over eight chi tall, draped in a tattered robe inlaid with cursed runes and holding a bone staff as it commanded the army forward.
Not far away, a blue-haired boy and a girl in green were fleeing for their lives while clearing away the weaker Liches around them.
"This is ridiculous!"
"Why did I run into a Fiend General the very first time I came to a Contaminated Land?!"
The blue-haired boy, Fu Wanjun, roared in frustration.
Even though he was the number one high school student in the South China Region, a level-13 rare class user whose equipment and skills were all at least Outstanding-grade...
he still could not even break a Fiend General’s defenses.
The gap was simply too great!
"I am actually starting to think the special training camp would be easier. At least I would not run into a monster as terrifying as a Fiend General there!"
As he spoke, Fu Wanjun fled at top speed with the aid of the wind-element acceleration provided by Song Qiaoqiao’s Windstrider class.
"A Demon Suppression Army officer is here!"
Song Qiaoqiao’s expression shifted as she spotted two figures rushing toward the Fiend General.
But when the two of them got a clear look at those figures, their faces filled with confusion and shock.
"Why is it him?!"
The person beside that Demon Suppression Army officer was actually Ye Ze, whom they had just met earlier!
But they had clearly seen Ye Ze’s face before. He was obviously a high school senior around their own age.
How could a third-year high school student take part in a battle against a Fiend General?
After all, even he, Fu Wanjun, the number one high school student in South China, could not break the opponent’s defenses!
"Could he be here as support?"
"That is possible! His mental power is not weak. He might be a support-type class user!"
"No wonder he would not team up with us back then. So he was already cooperating with the Demon Suppression Army!"
As Fu Wanjun speculated, he did not forget to console his own wounded pride.
Yes, the reason he did not team up with me definitely could not have been because he looked down on me...
Seeing a Demon Suppression Army officer arrive, the two of them visibly calmed down.
But at this moment, the Demon Suppression Army officer himself was not nearly as calm...
"A summoning-type Fiend General? What rotten luck!"
Xu Feng took a deep breath, then clicked his tongue and muttered a curse.
Hearing that, Ye Ze also activated Eye of Insight and examined the opponent’s attributes:
【Lich Commander (lv.40)】
Type: Fiend General
Attributes: Strength 460, Constitution 460, Agility 400, Spirit 500
Characteristic: Soul-Stealing Distortion — when a living being dies, its soul is stolen by the Lich Commander and twisted into a Lich soldier.
Skills: Corruption Aura, Touch of Darkness, Soul Drain.
————
Once a Fiend reached the General level, the variety of Characteristics it could possess became extremely diverse.
The Lich Commander before them was similar to a Summoner. Both were summoning-types.
The difference was that it won through quantity, while Ye Ze won through quality.
Although, in the current situation, the surging tide of Liches was indeed terrifying.
Even third-advancement Xu Feng seemed short on confidence.
"We have to hold them back... Which one can you deal with—the Lich Commander, or the other Liches?"
Having already witnessed Ye Ze rapidly kill Special Elites, Xu Feng had gained some confidence in him.
At the very least, he now regarded Ye Ze as someone with combat power on the same level as his own.
Otherwise, he would not have asked such a question.
Ye Ze answered without hesitation, "I will deal with the Lich Commander first."
But before Xu Feng could respond, the Lich Commander in the distance let out a sinister roar:
"Struggle, humans!"
At the same time, it swung its bone staff, and an invisible dark power enveloped everything nearby.
Xu Feng’s expression turned grave. "That is Corruption Aura. It reduces damage by 30%..."
"Corruption Aura?" Ye Ze repeated in confusion.
Then he quickly realized the issue. With Martial Dao Mastery in effect, he could not feel negative statuses at all.
As for the mantis, it was a Void Creature. Its adaptability surpassed all things. It could even adapt to Abyssal Aura, so something like Corruption Aura would be overcome in a second or two.
"Do not worry. I will test it first!"
With a thought from Ye Ze, the panda and the mantis hidden in the Void launched their attack.
He opened with his strongest killing move from the very start!
Taiji Aura spread out, and Martial Saint Domain opened.
In an instant, the Lich Commander was engulfed by the domain, and its attributes plummeted:
Strength -187.5, Constitution -193, Agility -205, Spirit -159.5!
Sensing this dangerous power, the flames in the Lich Commander’s skeletal eye sockets flared upward...
"Guards!!!"
With a single order, countless Liches tried to use their own bodies as shields to protect the Lich Commander.
But once they entered the domain, some of the Liches whose Agility was lower than 205 had it reduced all the way to zero and could not move at all.
To capture the ringleader, one must first seize the king.
The mantis emerged from the Void and struck in tandem with the panda’s punch!
The sheer shock on Scout Camp Commander Xu Feng’s face became indescribable.
This was the first time he had truly felt Ye Ze’s combat power for himself.
With just this single burst of damage, if he had been the one facing it, there was at least a ninety percent chance he would have died on the spot!
Martial Saint Domain + Martial Saint Aura + Void Slash...
This was practically Ye Ze’s strongest burst combo at present.
The Lich Commander had no other defensive means. It was blasted into ruin by the punch, then sliced into two by a rift from the Void.
The mantis landed the finishing blow!
【You kill Fiend General—Lich Commander and gain Experience: 8000!】
【Hunter — Crimson-Eyed Mantis has slain a powerful enemy once and may evolve one body part once!】
With the Lich Commander dead, the remaining Lich Fiends became leaderless.
"Against a summoning-type opponent, once you instantly kill the summoner, the rest become much easier to deal with!"
Feeling his experience bar surge upward by more than half, Ye Ze spoke cheerfully.
The Lich Commander dropped two pieces of equipment, but both were level 40, so he could not equip them. In that regard, the outside world was not nearly as considerate as dungeons.
At the same time, Ye Ze once again chose an evolution for the mantis...
"Void Slash is already max level, so let me first see what the other options do."
Carapace, Compound Eyes, Wings... This time, Ye Ze chose Wings.
【Ding! Evolution successful. Current level: Wings +1!】
【Wings +1: Agility +20, Attack Speed +20%, Critical Damage +20%, Movement Speed +20%, skill "Void Thrust" level +1!】
Of the mantis’s two attack skills, Void Thrust rose from level 4 to level 5.
As a Legend skill, it was just as powerful. It was simply that there had not yet been any opponent who required the mantis to use a second offensive skill.
A streak of purple light flashed past, and the mantis’s dark violet crystalline wings grew a little longer.
Much like the improvements to its arm blades, the bonuses from this evolution were also heavily combat-oriented.
Ye Ze began speculating about what the evolution effects of the other two body parts might be...
Beside him, Xu Feng wore the expression of a man who had seen a ghost, and he could not help swallowing hard.
In the span of mere seconds, Ye Ze had instantly killed a Fiend General!
Let alone third-advancement Class Users—even fourth-advancement Class Users would feel ashamed after seeing a feat like this!
He could accept Ye Ze killing eight Special Elites in two minutes...
But instantly killing a level-40 Fiend General? How was anyone supposed to accept that?!
He looked at Ye Ze and voiced the question rising from the deepest part of his soul:
"Are you really a rookie who just changed classes? No, wait..."
"Are you really even human?!"
From the moment Ye Ze arrived at the Scout Camp until now, Xu Feng felt as though his entire worldview had collapsed.
Ye Ze scratched his head and revealed a harmless smile.
"Actually, it is mainly because I got lucky."
"If this Fiend General had been ten levels higher, I probably would not have been able to kill it in a single strike..."
Xu Feng: ???
What are you even saying?
Do you actually think that a rookie killing a level-40 Fiend General in a single strike is normal?!