Bai Xuan looked down at his left arm. The wound wasn't very deep.
He raised his right hand, and the golden light of the Holy Light Catalyst fell upon the wound. His flesh squirmed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After a moment, he shook his hand and flexed his fingers, confirming that it was nothing serious.
Phoebe walked over quickly and crouched down, skillfully dressing the carcass of the Shadowmane Wolf with swift, clean movements.
Bai Xuan stood to the side, his gaze falling on the experience points popping up on his status panel.
Level 7 was decent. The monsters in this area should top out around this level.
“Let's go,” he said to Phoebe.
Phoebe stood up and wiped the Magic Core she had extracted.
Then, she casually tossed it into the pouch at her waist and silently followed behind Bai Xuan as they ventured deeper into the dense forest.
Before they had gone far, the bushes ahead shook violently again, and another Shadowmane Wolf lunged out.
This time, Bai Xuan was on high alert. Gripping his staff tightly, he charged forward to meet it.
He fought with extreme caution, first shattering the wolf's front leg with a strike from his staff to disable it, then delivering a final Redemption Strike to finish it off completely.
Adapting to the oppressive pressure of this combat environment took time. During the scuffle, his left shoulder was accidentally clipped by the wolf's tail.
Although the injury wasn't severe, it still drained a bit of his mana, so he casually cast Holy Light to heal the wound.
By the time a third Shadowmane Wolf appeared at a fork in the path ahead, Bai Xuan had basically adapted to the rhythm of combat here.
He noticed that these Shadowmane Wolves did not hunt in packs, but the frequency of their appearances was steadily increasing.
Bai Xuan fought his way forward. Every time he was injured, he immediately used the Holy Light Catalyst to heal himself, causing his mana pool to drain at a rate visible to the naked eye.
He stopped and panted slightly, clearly feeling that his mana reserves had taken a significant hit.
“There are... quite a few high-level monsters here,” Bai Xuan muttered.
Phoebe didn't say anything. She simply stood quietly by his side and silently handed him her waterskin.
Bai Xuan took the waterskin, drank a mouthful, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he looked into the distance.
Ahead of them rose a continuous mountain range. Detouring around it would waste a significant amount of time.
Only a narrow path formed by a fissure in the mountain allowed them to advance in a straight line.
After a moment of deliberation, Bai Xuan made up his mind and headed toward the fissure path.
After walking for nearly ten minutes, their path forward was suddenly blocked completely.
A boulder the size of a millstone lay directly across the center of the passage.
Its surface was covered in a thick layer of dark green moss, and a sticky, grayish-black fluid congealed in its crevices, emitting a faint, fishy odor.
Bai Xuan frowned slightly. Just as he was about to gesture for Phoebe to bypass it through a narrow crack in the passage's side wall, the ground beneath their feet suddenly vibrated slightly.
Immediately after, the seemingly heavy boulder actually began to move slowly.
The moss on its surface flaked off in showers, and several deep brown cracks spread across the stone face, revealing a dark gray shell underneath, its edges embedded with sharp gravel.
With a dull, heavy rumble, a massive turtle-like monster slowly hoisted its body out from the pile of moss and gravel.
Its thick, stubby limbs planted themselves on the ground like stone pillars. With every movement, the entire passage shook slightly.
Its carapace was riddled with grooves, the patterns crisscrossing like a dried-up riverbed.
Turbid yellow eyeballs slowly extended from the shell, locking onto Bai Xuan and Phoebe.
Viscous, dark green liquid dripped continuously from the corners of its mouth, instantly sizzling and corroding tiny black holes into the ground where they fell.
Bai Xuan's heart tightened, and he quickly brought up his status panel to scan the creature.
【Rock-Shell Turtle Lv.8 (Transcendent)】
【Status: Alert (Max Hostility)】
【HP: 1750/1750】
【Mana: 240/240】
【Potential: 2-Star (Squire)】
His face instantly darkened, and his fingers subconsciously tightened around his staff.
A Transcendent Rank monster, even one that had only just crossed the threshold, possessed defense and attack power that far exceeded those of a Level 7 Practitioner Rank monster.
Not to mention, this Rock-Shell Turtle was undoubtedly naturally specialized in defense.
“Back up! Get to the side wall of the passage, and stay away from its front!”
Bai Xuan instructed Phoebe in a rapid-fire voice.
Phoebe understood instantly. Gripping her giant axe, she quickly retreated to the narrow crevice in the side wall.
Her body was tense, and her eyes were fixed on the Rock-Shell Turtle, ready to strike at any moment.
Bai Xuan stepped forward slowly, raising his staff slightly to deliver a tentative tap against the Rock-Shell Turtle's carapace.
With a crisp clink, the tip of the staff struck the shell, leaving only a faint white mark, while the recoil made Bai Xuan's arm go slightly numb.
Infuriated by this, the Rock-Shell Turtle snapped its neck back, and its carapace closed shut with a sharp click.
It crouched on the ground like an impenetrable stone wall, leaving only its two yellow eyes exposed to stare dead at Bai Xuan with cold, murderous intent.
“As expected, it relies on its shell for defense...”
Bai Xuan's gaze narrowed as he quickly circled to the side of the Rock-Shell Turtle.
He stopped testing the waters. The mana within his body surged rapidly, and the white light at the tip of his staff flared intensely.
“Arcing Strike!”
The staff tore through the air, smashing down hard on the weak point with all his strength channeled into the blow.
With a sharp crack, the Rock-Shell Turtle's carapace finally split open with a tiny fissure.
Dark green fluid slowly seeped from the crack, emitting a pungent, nauseating stench.
Howling in pain, the Rock-Shell Turtle spun around violently.
Its neck shot out like a spring, and its mouth gaped open to spew a torrent of dark green venom directly at Bai Xuan.
Bai Xuan threw himself to the side, dodging the venom.
Behind him, a loud sizzling noise erupted as the venom splashed against the stone wall of the passage, instantly sending up thick plumes of smoke.
The stone wall was corroded into a fist-sized crater, and loose gravel fell in showers.
“A venom-spitting turtle!” Bai Xuan steadied his footing, his heart tensing.
Seizing the brief window before the Rock-Shell Turtle could retract its neck, he closed the distance once more.
Raising his staff high, he added even more power to his Arcing Strike and slammed it ruthlessly onto the cracked fissure.
Golden light exploded outward, accompanied by a harsh cracking sound. A large chunk of the Rock-Shell Turtle's carapace shattered, and dark green fluid gushed out.
It let out a shrill, agonizing shriek, its thick limbs thrashing wildly as it tried to turn and flee. However, its injuries were too severe, and its movements were a fraction of a second too slow.
Bai Xuan was not about to give it any chance to escape. Giving chase relentlessly, he raised his staff once more.
【Concussive Field】
The Staff of Redemption slammed heavily onto the ground.
With the point of impact as the center, an invisible shockwave rippled outward, instantly pinning the Rock-Shell Turtle in place and rendering it unable to move.
Immediately after, a dazzling white light gathered on the staff once more, and a second strike smashed precisely onto the same crack.
The crack spiderwebbed completely, leaving more than half of the carapace teetering on the verge of collapse.
At that moment, Phoebe lunged forward from the side. Raising her giant axe high, she used her forward momentum to drive the blade deep into the wide crack.
With a low grunt, she poured strength into her arms and pried the axe upward with force.
With a loud crash, the Rock-Shell Turtle's carapace shattered completely, exposing its soft internal organs.
Seizing the opportunity, Bai Xuan raised his staff and delivered a brutal Redemption Strike straight down.
Rate on N.U.
