by <unknown>
Jade Green Sky stared at the Heavy Mechanical Arm with excitement. This thing was stronger than the Light Mechanical Arm; it could largely increase his strength.
He looked at the price—120,000!
“So expensive!” Jade Green Sky’s face twitched. Although the guild was rich, 120,000 was still a significant amount; it was the price of dozens of firearms and many boxes of gunpowder.
After some hesitation, Jade Green Sky decided to buy it. He believed that it had more worth than anything else he could buy with that money!
Large guilds were rich. They purchased many pieces of equipment that totaled to 300,000 dollars, and they were given to Core Group One for the prize-pool mission.
Han Xiao earned a fortune and offloaded some machinery that was useless to him at the same time—a very profitable deal.
He had set security measures within the machinery that he sold. The Mechanic players at the moment would only be able to pass through these measures only in their dreams, so it was impossible for the blueprint to be leaked. Therefore, Han Xiao was very confident when he sold them.
Having sole possession of the technology meant a monopoly—it was the most profitable business as there would not be another place where these products could be bought.
Du du!
Frenzied Sword and the other three returned right after Jade Green Sky left, bringing along new discoveries.
“We have detected a very high radiation strength, almost reaching the maximum on the measuring device,” Maple Moon said and passed the device back to Han Xiao.
Han Xiao was a little shocked. With such high radiation, creatures that lived near it would very likely go through mutations. Whether the mutation enhanced one’s strength or the other way around depended on the species and habits of the creature. Stronger creatures that had a higher resistance would more likely have enhancing mutations.
Which means there might be elite mutated variants in this Shadow Stalker Viper herd, Han Xiao thought.
“We have also discovered the source of the mutation—it’s these things,” Frenzied Sword said as he took out a bag of blue crystals and laid them out on the table. The crystals were filled with mist and cracks—they looked very turbid. The blue crystals reflected a mist-like aura from the light. They looked magnificent and almost magical.
_____________
Unknown Crystal: A crystal formed by unknown reasons. It is highly radioactive.
_____________
The measurement on the device increased noticeably as it was moved closer to the crystal.
Han Xiao wore a pair of gloves. He held up a finger-sized crystal and looked at it carefully. “Where did you find this?”
“On the walls deep inside the nest.” Hao Tian gave a very simple answer.
Frenzied Sword added, “These crystals were embedded in the wall. We wouldn’t have found it either if the slime on it wasn’t scraped off during the battle. Furthermore, these crystals became more concentrated as we went deeper into the nest as did the monsters. We were unable to go even deeper, so we came back early.”
Han Xiao could feel the warmth from the crystal itself even with gloves, which solved one of his questions. These crystals provided the heat energy that made the Shadow Stalker Vipers build their nest here.
Han Xiao waved at Frenzied Sword.
Without a hint of hesitation, Frenzied Sword walked toward Han Xiao, who suddenly did something shocking. He grabbed Frenzied Sword’s mouth and stuffed the crystal into it. Then he blocked his mouth, not letting him spit it out.
“Swallow it.”
“Wuuuuuu—” Frenzied Sword’s face was filled with shock. He struggled all he could, but Han Xiao’s hands did not budge even an inch. Then, the crystal went down his throat. The three people watching from the side were stunned.
“Any reactions?” Han Xiao stared at him.
Frenzied Sword let out a sigh like he accepted his fate. He touched his chest and looked at his interface.
_____________
You have swallowed a type of high radiation strength crystal (Unpurified).
Race Detected: Human
Endurance is less than 50.
No related ability gained.
You have entered the ‘Radiation Damage’ state!
_____________
Radiation Damage: -33% Maximum Health, -33% Maximum Stamina, -50% across all attributes
Duration: 2 hours
Related medication can be used to recover in advance.
_____________
Frenzied Sword described the status. Undying players were the best choice to test drugs. Han Xiao gave a large amount of experience to Frenzied Sword as a reward and said while nodding, “Well done.”
Frenzied Sword felt much better when he saw the experience. He looked at the rest of the crystals on the table and pondered, Will there be more experience if I eat all of them? It actually tastes like sweets.
Han Xiao knew what Frenzied Sword was thinking from the expression on his face. He awkwardly collected all of the crystals, denying Frenzied Sword’s thoughts.
From the experiment, the rough uses of the crystals could be seen—purifying this type of radiation crystals would create crystal-formed energy, which was a form of clean energy.
Han Xiao had a thought. There were a lot of such crystals in the nest. He could use [Basic Extraction] to purify them and turn them into energy storage, and these energy crystals could even be used on all kinds of machinery if he made an energy transformation device. It was a valuable discovery.
Crystal energy was most commonly used in magic civilizations, it would also appear sometimes in technological civilizations. In a more fashionable way, such clean energy crystals could also be called ‘Non-Elemental Crystal’ or ‘Magic Crystal’. Mages would use magic techniques to harvest energy from these crystals to become their own energy or to power magic, so there were many uses for it.
The concentration level of the crystals should lead to the core of the nest, Han Xiao thought and called Huang Yu over immediately.
After describing this discovery, Huang Yu instantly marked an area on the nest map that they had drawn.
“There’s a ninety percent chance that this is the core area.” Huang Yu pointed at the map confidently.
“Very good.” Han Xiao nodded.
Time to act!
…
At midnight, players continued to fight in the nest as they did not need to sleep.
The prize-pool mission motivated the players. Although there was no direct mission, they still received quite a lot of experience from killing the Shadow Stalker Vipers, which were a much higher level than them.
Sky Territory was at the top of the rank!
“Quickly, T3 (third tank) pull the monster. T1 (main tank) and T2 (secondary tank), come back here now!”
“Pugilists attack at close range quickly!”
“Come on Espers, last longer! Go to the side to recover if you’re out of energy!”
“Mechanics don’t go too close, stand further away to deal damage!”
“Those carrying eggs leave quickly, don’t get hit by the fallout!”
The people of Sky Territory were surrounding a Shadow Stalker Viper and took it like a BOSS. Jade Green Sky was commanding and yelling, and they were having a very exciting time. The cooperation of Core Team One was very in sync.
The slime in the nest would lower the players’ speed, but although the nest favored the Shadow Stalker Vipers, it still was a fish in a net when facing the core team of Sky Territory, which was extremely experienced in fighting BOSSES. The Shadow Stalker Viper could not break out of the net no matter how it tried, and its health was decreasing at a steady rate.
“Killing Line 1 ! Everyone, deal damage now!”
All kinds of attacks downed on Shadow Stalker Viper. Its carapace started cracking, and slime splashed all over.
Jade Green Sky charged forward. He wore a Heavy Mechanical Arm much thicker than his hands on his right arm and activated the
active ability of the Heavy Mechanical Arm.
The motors made a loud noise. Heated steam shot out of its ventilation pipes, and the iron fist hit straight at Shadow Stalker Viper’s head. At the same time, Jade Green Sky shouted out loud with passion!
“Haaa! Iron Fist Burst!”
Chapter 226. Demolition‽ |
The iron fist punched the chitin carapace. The skull of the Shadow Stalker Viper shattered, and its health reached zero. It screamed in agony and fell to the ground, dead. The air in its lungs came out of its mouth and nose, and its swollen body slowly deflated.
Jade Green Sky took a deep breath and looked at the damage ranking—he was unexpectedly first once again. The damage of the Heavy Mechanical Arm would not be exceeded easily by the players at the moment.
The Heavy Mechanical Arm also had very high armor stats—it can even be used to withstand damage from the monster. Several times, they had been in danger of being wiped out, and it was Jade Green Sky who had saved the situation. While the other players got wiped out once in a while, they had not died once. Thus, their contribution points increased steadily, and they reached rank one.
Buying this weapon was more than worth it!
Black Phantom’s products were expensive, but they were worth every penny. It was really a great deal—Jade Green Sky was very contented.
Vice Team Captain jokingly complained, “How old are you already Captain? Are you not ashamed when you yell out the name of the ability?”
“I like to do that. None of your business. Plus, why bother to play Pugilist if you’re not going to yell out your ability names?” Jade Green Sky replied.
The carcass and eggs of Shadow Stalker Vipers were both contribution points. The team members started to clean up the battlefield.
Wuuu—
Suddenly, the sound of a piercing wind echoed from further down in the tunnel. Something was approaching at very high speed!
A shadow passed by them in an instant and created a strong gust of wind that almost made everyone in Sky Territory lose their balance. It was so fast that they could not even capture it with their eyes—no one could see what had passed them.
“What was that?”
“It disappeared in a flash!”
Jade Green Sky looked in the direction where the shadow disappeared and said with surprise, “That’s probably toward the deeper part of the nest!”
Everyone exchanged looks of surprise.
“Let’s follow and take a look.”
The speed reducing slime was everywhere in the nest. They chased for a while, but that shadow was long gone. The players of Sky Territory felt a little beaten.
“Stop chasing, we can’t catch up.”
“Wait… what’s that?” Someone noticed something abnormal.
The flashlight shone over, and a pungent smell entered their nose as they saw the carcasses of Shadow Stalker Vipers all over the tunnel and extending all the way into the darkness. It was a shocking view.
The carapace that players tried so hard to penetrate looked as fragile as eggshells. The carcasses were still fresh, which meant the shadow had gotten rid of all the beasts obstructing his way within the short period of their chase. The LV 40 beast herd did not stop him for even a second.
Everyone instinctively thought of Han Xiao.
“It was Black Phantom that just passed by, right?”
“The monsters we took so long to beat were killed by him within seconds. He’s definitely at max level.”
When the players scanned Han Xiao, the information they got was always all question marks except the danger level being [Extremely Lethal]. People had tried guessing his level, and now that they had something to compare with, they had a more accurate deduction. Black Phantom was definitely one of the strongest in Planet Aquamarine.
Jade Green Sky suddenly became happy. “He opened up a path for us. We can follow along.”
…
Han Xiao, who was covered in his black combat mechanical suit, dashed through the nest following the route from the tactical screen.
Slosh…
Two Shadow Stalker Viper pounced out of the darkness, where the human eyes could not reach. However, the mechanical suit radar had detected the vital signs and heat energy long ago. Without dodging, Han Xiao activated Enhanced Mode, and the biological muscles under the armor swelled up. Power surged from his fists and smashed straight at the Shadow Stalker Vipers!
Devastating strength difference!
Shattered carapaces, splashing slime, and screams of pain.
Claws hit on the mechanical suit and only left a string of sparks. Han Xiao passed the two beasts without pause and sent out several punches within an instant, killing these two beasts immediately. With the LV 55 attributes, Viper’s advanced performance, and the difference in level, Han Xiao could kill those Shadow Stalker Vipers within a second easily.
He did not stop.
Wiping off the slime on the wall, the radiation crystals were becoming more concentrated.
“The core area should not be far away—monsters are appearing at a higher rate,” Han Xiao muttered as he casually killed a Shadow Stalker Viper. He looked at the map on the screen and confirmed that he was on the right route.
The screen showed that the temperature on the outside was increasing. The crystals contained heat, so the higher the temperature, the more likely it was that the Shadow Stalker Viper Beast King would be living nearby.
The high temperature from the crystals had turned the infrared and night vision images completely red. Han Xiao changed it back to normal vision, and it darkened immediately. However, a few seconds later, it was bright again. This was because of the [Night Stalker] class talent [Bat Habit], which provided vision in darkness and bonuses when fighting in the dark.
Passing through a cave, the space suddenly became much larger. A thick, pungent smell filled the place, and slime on the ground was thick and dense. This was an underground cave that looked like a honeycomb. The walls were embedded with large, dark-blue radiation crystals, surrounded by more than a dozen entrances of a tunnel that lead to many places. This was the center of the nest.
Dense red eyes blinked in the dark. Dozens of Shadow Stalker Vipers lay low on the floor and bared their teeth, demonstrating their authority over the unwanted guest. There were also a few more frightful looking elites in the herd.
The Shadow Stalker Viper Beast King was the most conspicuous one surrounded by the herd; it was three times larger than the others. It looked down on Han Xiao with condescension as the slime in its mouth dripped down onto the ground, corroding the floor and emitting a pungent odor.
It’s so big. It has to be the Beast King, Han Xiao thought.
The Shadow Stalker Vipers pounced toward Han Xiao fearlessly. The Electromagnetic Hover-boots allowed Han Xiao to ignore the slimy terrain and move freely. He dodged the attack and took out the Ghost sniper rifle from his back, using it as an assault rifle. Blue flashes appeared on the muzzle as ‘Needle’ magnetic bullets were being shot out rapidly.
He changed targets continuously—doing so was to keep triggering [Lethal Shot], which did not trigger on the same target within five minutes. This talent was more useful during group combat, and the right way to use it is to keep changing targets and maximizing the damage output.
Flesh exploded one after another—the Needle bullets penetrated the carapaces easily and slaughtered the herd at a very fast rate. An elite monster snuck behind Han Xiao and pounced toward Han Xiao, thinking that he would not notice. However, Han Xiao turned around and slammed his leg on the skull of this Shadow Stalker Viper like he had eyes behind his back. Its skull was flattened.
The herd charged toward Han Xiao one after another in waves, but Han Xiao was like a reef—he did not budge at all. The herd became less and less dense as they fell one by one around Han Xiao.
“Roar!” The Shadow Stalker Viper Beast King growled. The soundwaves echoed in the nest, summoning their own kind.
The play
ers in other areas realized that the Shadow Stalker Vipers that were fighting them stopped simultaneously and dashed toward the center of the nest without looking back.
The tunnel rustled, and the ground shook. A large number of beasts were approaching. The longer the battle lasted, the more difficult it would be. Han Xiao’s eyes focused. He activated [Overload], [Flaming Will], and [Lethal Critical Hits] at the same time and fired at the Beast King lingering at the edge of the battlefield.
Buzz!
The firing sound of the Ghost sniper rifle was a buzz made by its electrical circuits.
A flash of dark blue appeared and disappeared the next second, penetrating the carapace of the Beast King and exploding its empty cavities.
This shot also triggered the True Damage from [Lethal Shot]!
– 2853!
An astonishing damage number appeared. The health bar of the Beast King dropped a huge portion instantly, and it growled and rolled on the floor in agony. Han Xiao saw the attributes of the Beast King from the interface.
LV 53 BOSS, very high Dexterity and Endurance… but only 9,000 Health‽ Han Xiao was surprised. His shot just now had taken almost a third of its health—this health amount didn’t match up to its BOSS status.
Is it one of those Dexterity-type Beast Kings that are more focused on attacking? But it doesn’t look like it with such a huge size.
The Beast King rolled over, but unexpectedly, it did not pounce over immediately. Instead, it ran to a corner of the cave and took many large bites into something stiff. Han Xiao looked over through the gaps in the herd and was shocked when he saw it clearly—the Beast King was eating barrels of high energy waste marked with radiation symbols.
Beasts consuming wastes in long term would very likely induce mutation, or they would gain a special ability—he realized that the Beast King’s health was recovering at a remarkable speed, gaining back 1,000 HP within seconds. Clearly, consuming waste materials quickly recovered its health.
Then it occurred to Han Xiao that this Beast King was the type that stalled people to their death. This environment had put him at a very bad disadvantage. He took a deep breath and adjusted himself to his peak performance, before jumping up high into the air and flying over the herd in an arc, slamming on the back of the Beast King with a huge amount of energy. Upon impact, they both rolled over.
