Chapter 550, Page 549: Immunity

"There are quite a lot..."

More than thirty "seafood monsters" of various shapes gathered in the spacious altar hall, frantically destroying the tall statue in the center.

The statue depicts a goddess with a blurred face and long hair made up of countless tiny tentacles. The material appears to be stone, but its true composition is unknown.

These monsters had clearly been causing the destruction for some time, but they had only managed to break about a quarter of the base of the giant statue, demonstrating its incredible sturdiness.

Scattered at the bottom of the hall were many corpses, mostly various aquatic monsters native to the Tide Sanctuary. Clearly, these invaders showed no mercy to the local monsters.

Among them was a fishman corpse broken in two, with a smooth cut, as if it had been instantly severed by something extremely sharp.

"Gurgle!" The guide merman was filled with rage upon seeing the scene in the hall.

However, its anger seems to be directed more at the enemy's blasphemy against the idol than at the tragic deaths of its own people.

It gripped the harpoon tightly, its body trembling slightly with excitement, and it didn't even care about controlling the surrounding water flow to conceal the three people's whereabouts.

This slight fluctuation was immediately detected by several monsters in the hall that were acutely sensitive to water flow!

Norris sighed inwardly. He had intended to observe a little longer, but now that he had been exposed, there was no room for hesitation.

If the enemy's exact strength is unknown, the safest option is to fight and retreat, withdrawing to the nearest secret passage.

If necessary, they sacrificed Jida to hold off the enemy, and the others took the opportunity to hide in the secret passage and escape.

These were all escape strategies that Sister Xue and he had discussed.

Norris executed a fluid roll, disappearing into the open driving space behind him.

"Follow my orders, retreat, I'll cover you!"

Almost at the same instant, a special mushroom hat hanging on Jida's waist was ejected!

[Wake Jet LV6]

The jet of air shot out from its tail, rapidly accelerating under the reaction force, and shot straight into the middle of the monsters charging at the front.

Immediately afterwards...

[Self-destruction LV10]

Thump—! ! !

It wasn't a loud explosion on land, but rather a deep, muffled rumble in the water that shook the very core of one's being!

The terrifying shockwave emanated from the point of self-destruction and spread wildly outwards and into the surrounding water!

The area of ​​water was instantly churned into a murky slurry, a mixture of pale blue blood, broken carapaces, chunks of flesh, and remnants of mycelium.

The three monsters closest to the target were completely torn apart before they could even react.

A powerful shockwave traveled rapidly along the dense water.

Norris was inside the Jida, where the outer shell and hyphae buffer layer absorbed all the impact.

Ming only swayed slightly, seemingly unaffected.

The merman guide beside him let out a muffled groan, and a few streaks of blood seeped from his nostrils and the corners of his mouth.

The powerful shockwave it generated underwater shattered the formation of a group of monsters behind them, sending them flying back and buying Norris and his companions time.

Seeing the new Puji achieve its first victory, Norris's spirits lifted, and he immediately shouted into the fungal network, "Now! We..."

Before the word "retreat" could be uttered, a figure had already braved the lingering shockwaves and rushed out!

"Jida is really amazing! Brother Norris, I'll do my best too!"

"Wait... damn it!"

Norris nearly choked. He couldn't understand how anyone could choose to charge headlong into an opponent whose numbers were vastly outnumbered and whose strength was unknown.

But then I realized that the other person was only one year old, and I understood.

Whether out of consideration for the mission or his responsibility as a senior colleague, he could not stand by and watch Ming get surrounded alone.

Norris gritted his teeth, spurred his Gida, and with a whoosh of jet propulsion behind him, he followed closely behind.

As for the merman guide, it had recovered from the shock of the explosion, and the anger it felt at witnessing the desecration of the idol had long since burned away its fear of numbers.

It let out a low growl mixed with hatred and fighting spirit, gripped the harpoon tightly, swung its powerful tail, and charged into the enemy ranks without hesitation.

With an almost brute force, Ming pounced on a crustacean enemy wielding huge pincers.

He managed to hold up the giant pincers that were strong enough to cut through steel with one hand, while his other hand, with fingers like a sword, stabbed fiercely into the monster's facial carapace!

Click!

The first strike produced a cracking sound as the shell broke.

Pfft!

The second strike broke through the defenses with the fingertips, penetrating deep beneath the carapace.

On the third strike, he twisted and pulled out his wrist!

Dark blue, viscous fluid mixed with broken carapace gushed from the forcibly widened hole.

The monster stopped its violent struggle and collapsed limply.

Ming flicked his filthy hands, the movement so fluid it was as if he were simply completing a routine training session.

Another enemy seized the opportunity to attack Ming from the side, but a sharp mycelium spring spike shot out from Jida's hand, pierced through its abdominal joint, and violently dragged it back.

Before it could even struggle, Jida's foot stomped down hard!

The shell burst open, and juices flowed everywhere.

"The enemy doesn't seem to be that strong..." The thought had just flashed through Norris's mind when a sense of crisis came from the side!

Before he could even think, he reflexively manipulated Jida's arm to move the heavy rock shield to his side.

A terrifying slash, several inches deep, appeared on the surface of the sturdy rock shield!

If this attack had hit Jida's body directly... he would probably have been cut in two!

The enemy is...

It was a bizarre-looking monster with a streamlined, slender body covered in fine, bluish-gray scales, and two pairs of constantly flashing, cold compound eyes on each side of its head.

It doesn't use weapons to attack, but rather its arms.

The bones in his forearm had mutated into two pale white bone blades that could be folded back and retracted. The blades were as thin as cicada wings, but Norris dared not underestimate their sharpness.

Just as Norris was fully focused, preparing to use the last torpedo at his waist to finish off this clearly elite enemy, the bone-bladed monster's four compound eyes flashed with blue light, and it actually abandoned its confrontation with Jida.

Its leg muscles suddenly contracted, leaving several eddies in the water, and it turned at an astonishing speed, rushing straight at Ming, who was fighting with two other monsters!

"Ming! Watch out!"

Norris reminded Ming while manipulating Jida to fire a series of spring-loaded needles.

But the bone-bladed monster's movements in the water were unpredictable, leaving a trail of afterimages as it easily evaded all attacks.

In desperation, Norris made a bold decision.

He leaped out of Jida's cockpit, and at the same time, the tentacles on Jida's arm wrapped around him, throwing him forward like a hammer thrower, hurtling him along the path of the monster's charge!

Knock knock knock!

Norris's heart pounded like a drum, his blood rushed through his body, and all his vital signs spiked in a short period of time.

This is a new talent he gained at the Gold level, a kind of ordinary enhancement skill that his boss described as "stimulating physical potential".

While activating it at full power now may not bring about a qualitative change, it adds a crucial advantage to the battle ahead.

He flew swiftly through the water, and magic rapidly gathered at the muzzle of the cannon on his chest.

Although the opponent's bone blade was sharp and their movements were agile, their slender and thin body did not look like the type that could withstand artillery fire.

If you can hit it with a single shot at close range, you have a high chance of completely eliminating it!

Of course, it probably wouldn't be too difficult for the opponent's bone blade to cut through his body; this was a life-or-death battle.

He must stop it before it reaches the light of day!

This was the only way Norris could think of at that moment to ensure Ming wouldn't be cut in two by that terrible bone blade.

Norris didn't blame Ming too much for his recklessness. It was his responsibility as a senior to make Ming the worst performer on his first battlefield experience. He only blamed himself for not communicating properly beforehand.

However……

"Ming! What the hell are you doing???"

What happened next almost suffocated him.

Faced with his warning and the enemy who was rapidly approaching and exuding a dangerous aura, Ming did not retreat but instead strode forward!

He somehow acquired a sharp bone spur, stained with blue blood, that he had forcibly broken off from the corpse of a monster on the ground, and he launched a fierce counterattack!

Faced with Ming's proactive approach, the bone-blade monster's four compound eyes flashed with blue light. Without hesitation, the pair of pale bone blades on its arms simultaneously shot out, drawing two almost imperceptible intersecting streaks of cold light in the water, slicing straight at Ming's neck and abdomen!

"No—!" Norris's frustrated roar echoed through the fungal web.

clang--!!!

The two incredibly sharp bone blades, upon touching Ming's body, seemed to have struck some indestructible entity, shattering instantly and sending fragments of bone flying in all directions.

Ming Qian's momentum was momentarily halted by the enormous impact, but he immediately pushed off with his feet again, and his body accelerated forward once more!

Without giving the opponent a chance, Ming's blood-stained, sharp bone spur pierced its head, which was covered with compound eyes!

Pfft!

Ming slowly straightened up and looked at Norris, who had just completed a clumsy double jump and hastily stopped his forward momentum.

A pale blue mist of blood, like a thin veil, slowly spread through the water between the two people.

“Brother Norris,” Ming said with a clean smile that was a mixture of shyness and expectation, seemingly unaware of the danger he had just faced, “did I do well?”

Glug—

"Ah... um... okay..."

Norris silently dissipated the magic that had gathered on his chest...

(End of this chapter)