The insect landed on the edge of the jagged hole in the Holy Beast's skull, its needle-shaped mouthparts piercing into the soft tissue around the wound.
Then, Ethan witnessed a bizarre scene.
The Holy Beast's massive body began to wither at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The dark brown hide lost its luster, collapsing inward until it clung tightly to the bone.
Muscle, internal organs, blood—every valuable part was being frantically devoured by the half-meter-long insect.
The Holy Beast's corpse was like a punctured airship; its fifty-meter-long frame was rapidly shrinking.
In less than three seconds, the insect lazily flew up from the shriveled hide.
Its six wings emitted a faint hum as they vibrated, and a trace of pale green slime still hung from its needle-like mouth.
On the ground, nothing remained but a pile of filth.
The insect extended a slender forelimb and wiped the slime from its mouth, its movements as leisurely as a diner who had just finished a feast.
"Heh heh heh, the taste is passable."
It turned around, its compound eyes lingering on Ethan for a moment before its wings vibrated, and it flew off toward another Holy Beast in the distance.
The dark purple figure quickly vanished into the swirling dust.
Ethan looked down at the crystal in his hand.
A pale blue glow flowed slowly inside the crystal, the runic patterns flickering in and out of focus.
"Wait, buddy, you're trading this piece of junk for the corpse of a First-Tier lifeform? If I weren't so sure I'd lose, I'd have plucked those wings right off you."
Just as Ethan was feeling disgruntled, a voice suddenly came from the Wizardry Tool in his right ear.
"Ethan Leo, this is Fortress Command. There is an Amons World war machine zone a hundred miles north of your position. Destroy all war machines. Reward: 1,000 magic stones."
Ethan's stride faltered for a moment before he immediately changed direction.
Damn, this mission is way too generous.
I'd be an idiot not to do it.
"Let's get to it."
As Ethan moved, dozens of apprentices and tens of thousands of cannon fodder legions near the war machines also changed direction simultaneously.
Target: war machines. Advance!
A hundred-mile journey didn't take long for Ethan.
However, the area was currently a chaotic battlefield filled with Amons, wizard apprentices, and cannon fodder legions.
Ethan was forced to carve a path through the carnage.
After harvesting three ten-thousand-man battle groups along the way, Ethan finally arrived at the location of the Amons war machines.
A thousand meters ahead lay the war machine battery.
The scale of the site was quite large.
Over thirty catapults were mounted on earthen mounds, constructed from dark brown timber with emerald vines serving as torsion ropes.
Piles of energy ball ammunition sat like small mountains next to each catapult, the emerald light orbs shimmering under the sun.
Behind the catapults, a row of a dozen ballistae were parked. The bolts were as thick as an adult's arm, their shafts wrapped in glowing runic patterns.
Further back were several machines Ethan couldn't name; they looked like some kind of launch devices, their barrels pointing upward and their surfaces covered in complex engravings.
Every time these machines fired, they inflicted over two thousand casualties on the cannon fodder legions.
No wonder Fortress Command was offering such a large reward in magic stones.
Confronted with this situation, Ethan felt no fear.
After all, these natives only numbered about ten thousand.
Boom!
Ethan kicked off the ground, causing the earth to shatter instantly.
Using the recoil, he charged toward the defensive legions at high speed.
The moment Ethan entered range, the sound of vibrating bowstrings erupted in unison.
Emerald arrows poured toward him like a rainstorm.
The arrows sliced through the air, letting out sharp, piercing whistles.
Unfortunately, these things couldn't even penetrate Ethan's current Wood Armor, let alone the version enhanced by Potential Burst.
Moreover, Ethan wasn't a fool who would just stand there and take hits.
Boom!
The ground exploded.
Hundreds of wooden stakes erupted from the soil, each as thick as a man's waist.
The Amons warriors were impaled from the soles of their feet, the stakes tearing through their abdomens and emerging from the tops of their heads.
Corpses hung from the stakes as pale green blood trickled down the rough bark.
Before the natives could react, Ethan's mana surged. Countless wooden stakes stabbed out in succession, skewering Amons warriors and archers one after another.
At that moment, a white figure swept over Ethan's head.
It was a young apprentice with pure white wings on his back.
The wings spanned a full four meters, each feather shimmering with a pale gold luster.
He wore a silver-white short robe that flapped loudly in the wind.
In his hand, he held a pale gold short staff tipped with a fist-sized white crystal.
He hovered twenty meters above Ethan, pointing his short staff forward.
Orbs of white light shot from the tip of the staff, slamming into the ranks of Amons warriors below.
The moment the orbs exploded, the surrounding Amons warriors were flipped over by the shockwaves, sending pale green severed limbs flying in every direction.
The apprentice looked down at Ethan.
Ethan was standing in a forest of wooden stakes, treading upon mountains of corpses while continuously firing Flying Leaves and wood spikes.
The stakes around him were lined with rows of Amons warriors, their pale green blood already turning the mud beneath his feet into a swamp.
The winged apprentice blinked in surprise.
"So arrogant?" His voice drifted down from the air, carrying clear astonishment.
Ethan didn't even look up.
"You've got some guts, flying around in a situation like this."
Before he could finish his sentence, the archers at the back of the battery had already turned their attention toward the sky.
Over three hundred archers simultaneously drew their hunting bows to full draw. The sound of bowstrings vibrating merged into one as emerald arrows shot toward the apprentice like an upward-flying rainstorm.
The apprentice's pupils constricted violently.
His wings flapped frantically as he shifted his body to the left.
He dodged the first wave of arrows, but the second wave had already sealed off all avenues of escape.
He swung his short staff, and a pale gold light shield expanded in front of him.
Arrows slammed into the shield with a dense series of impacts.
The shield vibrated violently, and fine cracks began to appear on its surface.
The third wave of arrows arrived.
The shield shattered. Three arrows drove into his left wing, four into his right, and two more pierced through his right leg.
The pure white feathers were soaked in blood, and his wings could no longer support the weight of his body.
The apprentice plummeted from twenty meters in the air.
He crashed into the muddy ground, splashing up a ring of blood-mixed muck.
The surrounding Amons warriors immediately lunged toward the crash site, their battle-axes and spears descending from all directions.
Ethan sighed.
"Foolish kid."
As for saving him?
Ridiculous.
None of my business.
If you're not strong enough to be this flashy, you deserve what you get.
Ethan raised both hands as emerald light surged from every part of his body.
The soil beneath his feet began to churn, and the surrounding plants started to grow frantically.
The corpses of the Amons warriors still hanging from the stakes were swept up by vines and hurled toward the back of the battery.
The corpses tumbled through the air, crashing into the archer ranks and knocking over the archers who were in the middle of drawing their bows.
Ethan's mana erupted completely.
The ground exploded.
Rate on N.U.
