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Chapter 781: Hornet's Nest

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the Secret Forest, Lin Huang's body had shrunk to a size of fewer than two millimeters tall. Everything seemed so massive to him.

Lin Huang felt that even an ordinary palm-sized leaf could be compared to a huge dome. Trees in the Secret Forest were like towering cliffs that nobody could pass through.

Fortunately, his combat strength and telekinetic power were not affected. The region detected by his Territory skill and his Divine Telekinesis were not restricted as well. He could still detect what was within a 4,000-meter radius and take great advantage of it. Under such circumstances in which all the creatures were shrunken, the coverage of his detection was expanded to 1,000 times larger. This allowed him to travel without obstacles and avoid danger.

Of course, Lin Huang did not bypass all the obstacles. Most of the time, he would choose to fight through it, going through all the obstacles in the shortest possible time. Only when he encountered monsters like the Witch Petals or obstacles that were rather troublesome or regions that he could hardly get through in a short period of time, he would ask the Mighty Ape for help to make it through these areas.

Standing on the Mighty Ape's shoulder, Lin Huang suddenly warned, "There's a hornet nest not far away from us. Let's prepare for a fight."

Roar!

The Mighty Ape let out a low growl, slowing down its crawling speed, and was on alert.

After a short while, Lin Huang then detected the hornet nest with his Divine Telekinesis.

The black hornet nest was not very large. It was approximately the size of two human fists and was hanging on one of the tree branches.

However, the hornet nest was extremely huge to Lin Huang in his condition. Each of the hornets that were flying around the nest was a few times larger than him. Some of them were even ten times larger than Lin Huang.

"The Combat Hornetdemon is on the 56th checkpoint for real. Perhaps it's the remaining Combat Hornetdemons on the 55th checkpoint that built these hives after the monster horde. Fortunately, the hornet nest became much smaller since the Combat Hornetdemons shrank. There should be less than 20,000 Combat Hornetdemons in the hive."

Combat Hornetdemons were monsters on the 56th checkpoint. Their nests were everywhere on the 56th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree.

Combat Hornetdemons were demons that liked confrontation. They had powerful territorial awareness, killing any creatures that attempted to invade their territory.

Their combat strength normally ranged from immortal-level rank-7 to rank-9. Their personal abilities were not that strong, but they were not afraid of death, and they liked to gather in a swarm and were venomous.

Contact with their venom resulted in pain and itching. The poison would spread quickly throughout a person's body. Black pustules would grow non-stop, and the fluid inside was contagious, and the infection could spread to others. The venom would only work on the surface of the skin in the beginning. However, after more than 24 hours, it would penetrate through the flesh and burrow deep into the organs after 36 hours. Even the brain would be infected. Eventually, the infected person would then die.

There was a slight difference in the composition of the venom in each of the Combat Hornetdemons' body. However, the venom could work in multiple doses.

If an immortal-level rank-9 was injected with a Combat Hornetdemon's venom, the person could only survive for, at most, 40 hours. If a second shot were given to this person by a second Combat Hornetdemon, the destructive effect would be multiplied and the time for it to take effect would be reduced by half. This meant that this person could only live for a maximum of 20 hours. If this person were stung by a third Combat Hornetdemon, the venomous effect would be even worse. Of course, the person's physique had to be able to support the multiplier effect of the poison. Most immortal-levels would die as they could not take it after getting poisoned by more than three Combat Hornetdemons.

Most imperial-levels would avoid places with a large swarm of Combat Hornetdemons. This was also the reason why they did not want to offend monsters like this. The venom of a Combat Hornetdemon seemed to have no effect on an imperial-level. However, if seven or eight Combat Hornetdemons attacked one, the imperial-level would be poisoned due to the multiplier effect of the venom. Since the number of poison multiplier was high, they would still die.

Seeing the hornet nest from afar, even the Mighty Ape, who was usually not afraid of anything, stopped moving forward. Although it could not recognize the Combat Hornetdemons, it could still sense that the monster was threatening.

"Since we've encountered the Combat Hornetdemons here, it's time to try a few of the hunting skills that I've previously thought of," Lin Huang mumbled, "Charcoal's dragon flames can restrict the Combat Hornetdemon's venom; Bai's Vampire Particles can be an excellent defense against the Combat Hornetdemon's attack. Because of Tyrant's defenses and its physique, it has no fear of the Combat Hornetdemon's poison. Lancelot's Dark Mirror can perfectly guard against the Combat Hornetdemon's attack. Its Saber Dao Territory and Sword Manipulation are good skills to attack with. Kylie's Lightning Control can be a counter to the negative effects and should be effective for the demonized poison while the Ghastly Clown's telekinetic power and illusion skill are good for fighting in a group. The Eclipse Boa's engulfment ability has no fear of the poison as well. There are also two fiends with advanced-level bloodlines (The witch is now with Lin Xin)."

Although the Mighty Ape that had gone through its third mutation was not weak, its ability was still weaker than Bai and the rest. It was not suitable to fight a venomous monster like the Combat Hornetdemon.

"This fight is not yours to take up. Get some rest first. We'll continue our journey later."

After recalling the Mighty Ape, Lin Huang then crushed the monster cards. Charcoal, Bai, Tyrant and the rest were summoned, and they appeared in front of Lin Huang.

"The plants…" Bai frowned. Charcoal and the rest noticed that the plants over there were strange as well.

"There are some special rules imposed in this forest. All creatures that enter, including local creatures, will be 1,000 times smaller," Lin Huang explained briefly and immediately got back to his main point. "The reason why I summoned all of you today is to kill the Combat Hornetdemons. Bloody will be in charge of the battle."

After briefly describing his plan, Bloody then projected the Combat Hornetdemon's information.

Bloody did not directly join the fight. He was in charge of strategizing the entire battle to maximize everyone's efficiency to kill. Parasitism would not work on creatures with a combat strength higher than Bloody's. It was currently on immortal-level rank-4 while the weakest Combat Hornetdemon was on immortal-level rank-7. If its combat strength were not restricted, Bloody could fight all the Combat Hornetdemons alone regardless of how many of them there were.

"This is just a warm-up battle. There's only a small number of Combat Hornetdemons. I hope that all of you can try your best to follow Bloody's plan, killing the monsters at the highest efficiency. The number of enemies will be hundreds of times larger during the fight on the 56th checkpoint. It'll be much more difficult. Not all of you are immune to the Combat Hornetdemon's poison, but I hope not to see any injuries," Lin Huang glanced at the Supreme Overlord as he said. He was not worried about the rest, but the Clown was quite a character.

Seeing Lin Huang looking at it, the Supreme Overlord stuck its tongue out, flashing a funny face.

Lin Huang then let Bloody take over the conversation. Bloody began distributing the work to each of them.

After a short while, Bloody was done assigning tasks to them.

"Alright, let the slaughter begin!"

Lin Huang raised his hand up, pointing towards the hornet's nest from afar. Before he could finish his words, Bai and the rest had already headed towards the hive.

Chapter 782: A One-Sided Fight

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were ten monster cards, and Bloody was there to be in charge of what went on behind the scenes.

Kylie, who was in her black armor, flapped the 12 pairs of black wings on her back and in the next moment, she arrived right in front of the hornet's nest.

Despite her flying abilities being restricted by the rules of the Stairway Tree and her speed being affected by her size, her short-distance flight was still the fastest among all the other monster cards. Even Thunder could not compare to her.

Before everyone else arrived, Kylie picked up her spear. A razor-like, purple electric glow sparked on her black spear.

As soon as the tip of the spear was flung out, a few of the Combat Hornetdemons were engulfed by the purple electric glow and instantly turned into ashes.

Just as Kylie attacked, the Combat Hornetdemons flapped their wings and surrounded Kylie. Many of the Combat Hornetdemons in the nest could sense the energy generated outside the hive. They immediately gushed out of the hornet nest, and Kylie was besieged on all sides.

Just before Kylie got entangled in an intense battle, Bai then joined the fight.

In its black robe with its 12 pairs of wings on its back too, Bai was a sight to behold. Its wings were made of Vampire Particles which were utterly blood red in color. Compared to Kylie's wings, Bai's wings were more like a weapon that possessed a terrifying ability to slice and kill.

As soon as Bai joined the battle, it was surrounded by another swarm of Combat Hornetdemons.

However, it had no fear at all. Its killing speed was even faster than Kylie's. Transforming its Vampire Particles into sharp blades or thorns, dead bodies of Combat Hornetdemons fell wherever its wings sliced through.

Soon after, Bai's attack had lured a large number of Combat Hornetdemons away, and Kylie's side of the battle had become less stressful.

Before the swarm of hornets surrounded the both of them, Charcoal and the rest struck.

As Lin Huang had leveled up to gold flame-level, Charcoal's combat strength was upgraded to immortal-level rank-4. It was now 4,000 meters tall. Despite the fact that its body was compressed to thousands of times smaller, it still stood at a staggering height of four meters. Charcoal was considered huge compared to the Combat Hornetdemons which were only about two centimeters tall.

As it opened its mouth, black dragon flames gushed out of its mouth and enveloped the massive swarm of hornets. Its speed was even faster than Bai's.

Not far away from Charcoal, Tyrant crushed the swarm of hornets like a tank. Although its body was less than a tenth of the Combat Hornetdemon's, each attack it rained managed to kill the monsters. As Tyrant struck a heavy blow on the Combat Hornetdemons, they exploded without him having to make a second attack.

Tyrant had never released its body after feeling the Celestial Giant's bloodline in his body. Its body had always been only about 2.5 meters tall all the while. Even Lin Huang had no idea how huge it could truly be.

Typically, the size of a giant could reach thousands of meters tall, and its body could be as large as a king sea monster or a super gigantic monster. An adult could grow more than 10,000 meters tall.

However, Lin Huang knew nothing about the Celestial Giant.

Not much information was passed down from the ancient times. He had referred to many of the information sources in the Martial Hunter College, but he found nothing about the Celestial Giant.

According to what Tyrant told him from the memories it had inherited, the body of the most powerful Celestial Giant during the ancient times was comparable to a galaxy. It was a tremendously powerful and terrifying creature.

Although Lin Huang had never seen Tyrant's real body before, he guessed that even if it was not a Celestial Giant with pure blood, it would not be any smaller than a king sea monster or the supreme giant.

Lin Huang was pumped up when he saw Tyrant's attack strike right into the Combat Hornetdemon's body.

Lancelot, the Ghastly Clown, and the rest of them were incredible. The one-sided slaughter began as soon as they got into the fight with the swarm of hornets.

In fact, the combat strength of Bai and the others were only 4-stars. Since they were immortal-level monsters that had gone through three mutations, they were capable of engaging in a battle to fight enemies that were two levels higher than themselves. In addition to that, the God's Blood creatures, the fiends, and the Celestial Giant had an enchantment effect on their blood. Even if it were only beginner-level enchanted blood, it could fight enemies that were a level higher, let alone Bai and the rest who now had advanced-level blood power. They were only one step away from getting the pure blood whereby they could then fight enemies that were three levels higher easily.

Although their combat strength was only on immortal-level rank-4, the addition of their combat strengths resulted in their abilities being on par with an immortal-level rank-9. Besides, Lin Huang would train them when he was free, and he would occasionally teach them something related to martial arts. As long as they did not encounter a supreme genius, they were capable of handling enemies below imperial-level.

The Combat Hornetdemon was only an ordinary double mutated monster and did not possess enchanted blood. Even if their combat strength was on immortal-level rank-9, they could definitely not fight Bai and the rest. Despite there being a large number of Combat Hornetdemons, they could not harm Bai and the rest.

The fight was a one-sided massacre. The horrifying Combat Hornetdemons were like helpless little lambs in front of them as they had no way of fighting back at all.

Bloody, who was in charge of the entire battle, did not give any instructions mid-way at all. At the beginning of the fight, Bloody issued some brief instructions and distributed the work among them. They then did the work on their own.

Bai and the rest knew each other's abilities very well, and they had great teamwork.

It took them more than half an hour to defeat more than 10,000 Combat Hornetdemons.

Just as Lin Huang was about to recall them back into their card forms, he heard Bloody's voice. He nodded after listening to what Bloody said, gathering Bai and the rest. "Your overall performance is quite good, but there are some minor problems. Bloody, please explain to them."

Bloody nodded and stood out from the rest. It then called out their names.

"Ghastly, I know that your fighting style tends to be lazier, but I hope that you can change your attitude in the following battles. You're only using about 20% of what you've got to protect yourself. You relied on the others to kill the enemies, and it's kind of irresponsible as a team member. Luckily, you didn't slow us down. Otherwise, I'd have asked Master to expel you."

Lin Huang frowned, looking at Ghastly. It was the one with the worst attitude among all his monsters.

"I actually think that the rest of you were capable of handling them. That's why I didn't help out. Since you're telling me this, I'll take it more seriously next time." The Supreme Overlord shrugged its shoulders, worried that Lin Huang might not summon it anymore.

Bloody caught a glimpse of the Supreme Overlord and did not say anything else, shifting its gaze towards Bai.

"Bai, you went too deep into the monster horde. Your physique isn't completely immune to the Combat Hornetdemon's attack like Tyrant. Although the defenses of your Vampire Particles is quite good, I guess you'll still collapse if you're attacked by tens of the immortal-level rank-9 Combat Hornetdemons."

"I'd suggest you not to go too deep into the battle. Try to reduce the number of enemies that you need to deal with at any one point in time. According to the control you have over your Vampire Particles, fighting 12 enemies at the same time will be ideal. There won't be a significant increase in your efficiency if you were to fight more enemies. There'll be only a 20% increase in your efficiency at the most. Therefore, as soon as you make it through the monster horde, it's unnecessary to fight 20 to 30 monsters at the same time. You should make sure that you're fighting at the best efficiency instead of the highest killing rate. The latter will cause you to make mistakes more easily. In the following battles, we'll fight in a team. If any of you happen to collapse, the pressure faced by the rest of us will increase. I hope that you're not the one that collapses."

"Got it." Bai accepted its comment.

Bloody nodded its head and shifted its gaze towards Kylie.

"Kylie, I know that you're pretty strong on your own. However, I wish that you can do better when you fight in a team. Instead of simply killing the monsters, you can actually have better control of the fight by unleashing your Lightning Control. Attacking with lightning reduces the number of monsters the rest of the team members will encounter, and it'll be much easier for them to handle the monsters. Moreover, the number of monsters killed in this way might not be lesser than what your number from directly killing them."

Kylie did not refute and nodded her head, expressing that she understood what Bloody was trying to say.

Bloody then pointed out each of their shortcomings and suggested ways to improve. All of them accepted his suggestions.

After recalling all the monster cards, Lin Huang looked towards the hornet's nest hanging on the tree branch and grinned. "The Combat Hornetdemon's honey is fantastic stuff. Selling it together with the hive will be worth even more!"

Lin Huang then appeared at the bottom of the hornet's nest in a flash. He took out his combat sword and hacked at the nest for about seven minutes before storing it in his storage space.

After putting the hive away, he summoned the Mighty Ape again and quickly climbed towards the forest.

Chapter 783: The 56th Checkpoint on the Stairway Tree

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The second half of the journey in the Secret Forest went smoothly.

It was not because the challenges on the 55th checkpoint were easy. Instead, Lin Huang had taken significant advantage of the situation as the capabilities of his Territorial skill and his Divine Telekinesis were not suppressed, allowing him to avoid the danger.

The Mighty Ape carried Lin Huang along and was guided by him. They did not encounter any obstacles on their way.

At about 4 p.m., the both of them finally passed through the Secret Forest.

The moment when the Mighty Ape swung through the Secret Forest from one of the tree branches, Lin Huang's facial expression changed. Before recovering to its original body size, he instantly recalled the Mighty Ape back into its card form.

The next second, he returned to his original state.

As he landed on the ground, he crouched down and hid in the bushes. He restrained his aura, studying the object that had caused him to turn grave through the gaps between the grass blades.

It was a massive hornet nest that was black. It was less than 300 meters away from where he was hiding.

After analyzing it for a couple of moments with his Divine Telekinesis, Lin Huang was relieved. "Oh, it's just an abandoned hornet nest. It scared me!"

The reason why he had recalled the Mighty Ape was that he had spotted the horrifying hive at first glance. If the Mighty Ape returned to its original body size, it would definitely become the Combat Hornetdemon's target within such a short distance.

Fortunately, the hornet nest was abandoned. Lin Huang was relieved when his Divine Telekinesis detected that there was no Combat Hornetdemon in the nest.

The abandoned hive could actually do no harm to Lin Huang, but he simply did not like to attack passively.

Instead of being attacked by a swarm of Combat Hornetdemons the moment he entered the 56th checkpoint, he would prefer to be the one who started the fight once he was ready so that he would be on the winning side.

Shifting his gaze away from the abandoned hornet nest, Lin Huang began to sense what was happening within the region covered by his Territory skill. He combed through the area with his telekinetic skill as well, overlapping with the area covered by his Territory skill. He could sense anything that was within a four-kilometer radius as if he was monitoring everything from God's perspective. He could even see what each Combat Hornetdemon was doing through the exterior of the nest.

"The hornet nests are densely distributed. There are 13 hives within a four-kilometer radius. Except for the one that's nearest to me, there are Combat Hornetdemons gathered in the rest of the nests." Lin Huang stood up, activating his Ocular skill, and headed towards the nests that he had just detected. In fact, all 13 hornet nests were clearly visible.

However, Lin Huang knew very well that he would not be discovered easily because the 56th checkpoint was somewhat similar to the 55th whereby the both of the checkpoints were rich with flora. As long as he hunched his body a little, he could hide in the bushes.

Confirming that he was temporarily safe, Lin Huang then summoned Bloody.

Bloody saw the hornet nest not far away from him as soon as it was summoned. Just as it was getting ready to fight, Lin Huang's voice was heard.

"Don't worry. It's an abandoned hornet nest."

"Is this the 56th checkpoint?" Bloody observed for a while, realizing that not a single Combat Hornetdemon was found near the hive. Only then did it begin to let its guard down.

"Yes, it is. I need you to check the distribution of the hornet nests. After locating the hornet queen, please check if there are any hornet guardians on security patrol." Since the area that could be detected by Lin Huang was very limited, he needed help from Bloody's Leech Pods in order to expand the area to monitor their whereabouts.

The hornet guardians he mentioned were directly under the hornet queen. They were triple mutated Combat Hornetdemons as well as having a combat strength of immortal-level rank-9. They were brutal and had the courage to fight even if they encountered an imperial-level despite not being able to fight them. However, if three hornet guardians were to fight together, they were capable of dealing with an imperial-level face-to-face.

As for the hornet queen, she dominated the hornets. The queen bred hornets and hornet guardians. Under normal circumstances, the hornet queen would not leave their nest or fight. It was said that the hornet queen would only give birth to a new generation and had no ability to fight. Somebody had also once said that the hornet queen actually possessed remarkably terrifying abilities and surpassed the abilities of the hornet guardians. However, she would not easily engage in a fight.

Of course, there were also the ordinary hornets which were what Lin Huang encountered in the Secret Forest. Their combat strength ranged from immortal-levels rank-7 to rank-9, and they were double mutated monsters.

After instructing Bloody, Lin Huang appeared at the bottom of the abandoned hornet nest in a flash. He raised his head and carefully observed the hive.

The lotus-shaped hive looked like a dried lotus from which its seeds had been extracted. The only difference was that it was slightly bigger. From the front, the hornet nest had a diameter of about 150 meters long, resembling a small hill. However, Lin Huang felt like it did not seem as large as the one that had hung from the tree branch in the Secret Forest. He was actually right. If the hive in the forest was magnified 1,000 times more massive, its diameter from the front should be approximately 300 meters. The diameter was double of what he saw now, and its volume was about eight times more.

Although there was no honey in the hive, the value of a complete hornet nest would be comparable to an ancient relic. Aside from being highly valuable, many insects liked to stay there. Imperial Censors who owned insects as pet monsters would be more than happy to pay a high price for it. Besides, after the hornet nest had decomposed, a rare constituent could be extracted for detoxification purposes. The extracted compound could be used to make an expensive broad-spectrum antidote which was effective for 80% of the known poisons.

Despite Lin Huang being really eager to store the hornet nest in his storage space, he decided to put that idea on hold.

The nest was too huge. If it disappeared, perhaps the other 12 hornet nests would find out that something was wrong. The rest of the nests within 20 kilometers would realize that something was off.

Suppressing his desire to take the hornet nest away, Lin Huang sat down quietly and patiently waited for the detection analysis from Bloody.

After about half an hour, Bloody finally opened its eyes.

"The hornet queen's nest is very far away from us. It's 1,000 kilometers away. Also, I can't detect any hornet guardians leaving the hornet queen's nest and patrolling."

"What about humans?" Lin Huang asked. He did not want anyone to see him summoning ten monsters at the same time.

"Two humans are trying to level up. The one who's closest to us is about 350 kilometers away."

After getting the updates from Bloody, Lin Huang grinned.

"Since the hornet queen and the hornet guardians have shut themselves up, and the human who's nearest to us is also 300 kilometers away, this is undoubtedly the best time to collect points."

"Xiao Hei, summon Bai, Tyrant, Charcoal … Lancelot!"

After finishing his words, Bai, Tyrant and the rest of the monsters appeared right in front of Lin Huang at almost the same time.

It took Bloody about half an hour to delegate the tasks to them. Bloody then repeatedly reminded them about a few of the things that they had to be aware of. After making sure that there was no other issue, it then nodded its head at Lin Huang.

"Are you ready?" Lin Huang gazed at each and every one of them.

"I'm ready!" Bai and the rest answered confidently.

"Begin the massacre!"

After receiving Lin Huang's order, Bai and the rest rapidly headed towards the first hornet nest.

Chapter 784: A Sudden Rise in Points

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The only tip the Heaven Alliance could give anyone to break through the 56th checkpoint was: get through it in one sitting!

It was as simple as that because the hornet nests on this checkpoint were densely distributed. There was a nest for about every 1,000 meters. Most of the areas with hornet nest overlapped one another. There was no safe route where they could actually avoid fighting the Combat Hornetdemons. Therefore, getting through the checkpoint in one sitting could significantly reduce the chances of encountering the Combat Hornetdemons.

However, Lin Huang's main intention was not to get through the checkpoint. Instead, he wanted to collect points.

At this moment, he was engaged in a tough battle as what he intended to do was different from the rest.

"Bloody, the first wave of reinforcement is arriving. There are eight hornet nests that have joined the reinforcement. The eight reinforcements have at least 2,000 of them and probably 4,000 at the most," Lin Huang whispered to Bloody, sharing what he observed according to the discovery of his Divine Telekinesis.

In less than a minute after Bai and the rest began to clear the first hornet nest, a few of the hives nearby discovered that there was a battle going on and immediately sent reinforcements.

Lin Huang was not surprised though as he knew earlier that it was only natural of the Combat Hornetdemons to do so.

On the 56th checkpoint, all the Combat Hornetdemons were the future generations of the hornet queen. Although they were living in different hives, they did not classify themselves according to the different nests but followed the entire hornet group instead. Realizing that one of the nests was being attacked, they would immediately send reinforcements to defend against the enemies.

In the beginning, the hives would send about a tenth of the total number of Combat Hornetdemons in the nests as back-up.

If the reinforcements were unable to help the besieged hornet nest, the second wave of Combat Hornetdemons reinforcements would swarm out, leaving only about 10% of the Combat Hornetdemons to guard their home nest. The rest of the Combat Hornetdemons would join the army, fighting the invaders at full strength.

Apparently, they understood that mutual dependence was needed for survival. Once the hornet nest nearby was being attacked, it indicated that their hive would soon be attacked.

Therefore, before their nest was attacked, sending reinforcements to kill all the invaders was the most cautious solution to get rid of the danger.

Unfortunately, the hornets were going up against Lin Huang and the rest.

"Ghastly, your task is to create chaos, activating an illusion to cover a wide area. Walk around the entire battleground and try your best to set the Combat Hornetdemons up.

"Lancelot, activate Sword Manipulation with extensive coverage. Each attack doesn't necessary have to kill. Causing severe injuries is good enough.

"Kylie, you are the fastest. Assist Lancelot and hit the Combat Hornetdemons that haven't died after being attacked by Lancelot's Sword Manipulation."

…

Bai and the rest that were led by Bloody launched a one-sided massacre.

Lin Huang's Stairway points increased tremendously.

He initially had about 24 million points when he was ranked first on the leaderboard. When he entered the Secret Forest and encountered the first hornet nest, his points had exceeded 60 million within half an hour.

The points were now increasing at an even terrifying rate.

60 million, 70 million, 80 million…

Just as the sky was turning dark, Lin Huang's points had exceeded 200 million.

Nobody had ever racked up points like that before, and it immediately became a hot topic among the members of the Stairway Tree who were now online.

"Is there something wrong with the system!? He has accumulated 200 million points in just a day!"

"If there's nothing wrong with the system, it means that even the Stairway Tree system can't detect when Lin Xie is cheating!"

"I'm saddened by Lin Huang's cheating. He has broken the rules of the Stairway Tree and has even violated the fairness and justice of the leaderboard on the Stairway Tree. He has disregarded everyone's else efforts. What I wanted to say is, bro, please count me in!"

There were only a small number of people who believed that Lin Huang had collected the points with his own ability.

"The monster with the highest combat strength on the 21st checkpoint is on immortal-level rank-4. Killing each of the monsters can only earn 80 points. Lin Xie managed to accumulate eight million points in one night. He's now on the 56th checkpoint where the monster with the weakest combat strength is on immortal-level rank-7. He'll gain 640 points by killing such a monster. He can even obtain 2,560 points for killing an immortal-level rank-9. It's not impossible to accumulate 200 million points in a day."

"If anyone else collected 200 million points in a day, I'd have thought that the person was cheating, but Lin Xie might have gotten the points with his own capabilities. He's incredible."

Lin Huang knew nothing about their comments. He was busy fighting the Combat Hornetdemons.

Many of them believed that Lin Huang had cheated because even people like Chan Dou would not want to offend the Combat Hornetdemons.

There were at least 20,000 Combat Hornetdemons in a regular hive. Although Chan Dou was strong, he did not have a monstrous physique like Tyrant and the rest. Furthermore, he was not immune to poison like Kylie. He could only deal with about 3,000 Combat Hornetdemons at the same time. He might die if he were to handle more than 3,000 Combat Hornetdemons. It was impossible for him to kill hundreds of thousands of Combat Hornetdemons in a single afternoon.

The reason why Lin Huang had managed to wipe out the hornets with ten summoning monsters was that the monsters that he had chosen were capable of controlling the Combat Hornetdemons to a certain extent. In addition to the bloodlines they possessed and the distribution of work almost being perfect, he could fight the Combat Hornetdemons with ease.

Of course, if Lin Huang were to fight them alone, he would be unable to collect points in this way.

At about 6.30p.m., the sky was turning dark.

"It's getting darker, and the monsters on the Stairway Tree are coming out to hunt for food," Bloody whispered to Lin Huang, "If we were to continue collecting points, we're not only going to face the Combat Hornetdemons. Two other types of monsters are way more powerful. We won't encounter monster hordes like this by then. It's going to be a massive monster horde consisting of tens of millions of monsters."

As the sky turned dark, the Stairway Tree would be a paradise for the monsters. All the monsters above checkpoint 55 and below checkpoint 66 would head over to the human gathering point on checkpoint 55.

"I'd suggest to exit first and continue tomorrow," Bloody added.

Lin Huang frowned, stroking his chin. Soon, he made up his mind and said, "The auction will begin three days later. I'm going to meet Yi Zheng tomorrow, so I guess I don't have much time left tomorrow. If I were to give up collecting points at night when there'll be monster hordes, I only have one day left…"

"I guess we can give it a try even though it's riskier at night. We can go back to the Secret Forest since it's rather spacious over there. When the monster horde appears, they'll become smaller in size. The monsters will scatter all over the place, and we can take advantage of that to hide. If the outcome of the detection happens to be undesirable, I'll recall all of you back into your card forms right away and log out of the Genius Union."

Chapter 785: Guerrilla

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At about 7 p.m., the sky was pitch black.

All the monsters on the Stairway Tree looked like they had consumed stimulants as they got ready to hunt for food.

On each of the checkpoints with monsters, a variety of creatures headed towards the human gathering point.

There were three checkpoints with monsters between checkpoints 55 and 63, namely checkpoints 56, 58, and 61.

The monsters that occupied checkpoint 56 were the venomous Combat Hornetdemons. They lived in a large swarm and were extremely difficult to handle.

The Mutated Serpent, a unique snake monster, occupied checkpoint 58. Almost all Mutated Serpents would go through a genetic mutation when they were young, causing each of them to be different from one another. Some of them were huge, some of them could release venom, some of them were terribly fast, while some of them could even control the elements. Even twins would be utterly different from each other after the mutation.

As for checkpoint 61, it was occupied by the Luna Beast. The Luna Beast was a type of monster with long ears, looking somewhat like a rabbit. It had red fur all over its body, fangs, and sharp claws which looked like the cat's claws. Its body was usually two to three meters long. It had explosive power and speed, and at the same time, it possessed immense strength. It had a very powerful defensive ability and was adept at close-range attacks. It could also absorb moonlight, going on a rampage whereby its combat strength would be multiplied.

All three types of monsters were not easy to handle. Still, Lin Huang decided to fight the monster hordes.

Just as Lin Huang returned to the Secret Forest on checkpoint 55 along with Bloody and the rest while waiting for the arrival of the monster hordes, the people at the gathering point on checkpoint 55 started discussing when they saw that Lin Huang's name was still lit up on the leaderboard.

"The sky has turned dark, and the monster hordes are arriving. Has Lin Xie not logged out yet?"

"According to the points he has just gained, he must be on checkpoint 56. He hasn't returned to the gathering point yet. Could it be that he wants to fight the monster hordes on his own?"

"He must've cheated. Why didn't he come back and fight the monster hordes with us? He didn't want us to see him cheating!"

The people from Heaven Alliance soon noticed that something was wrong.

"What's Lin Huang doing? The monster hordes are arriving, and he's still there to collect points?"

"Perhaps he's surrounded by the hornets and is unable to get rid of them."

"If he dies, he's going to have to bear the loss. He'll lose half the points from the 200 million points that he just gained."

As the creatures from the outside entered the Secret Forest on the 55th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree, their bodies would be reduced 1,000 times smaller. Lin Huang and the rest had many places to hide like behind the grass, the flowers or even the splits in the bark. This made their hunting much more convenient.

At that moment, Lin Huang and the rest were hiding in one of the bark fissures, patiently waiting for the monster hordes to appear.

At about 7.20 p.m., the sky had turned completely dark. Lin Huang knew that the monster hordes would come very soon.

After almost half an hour, Lin Huang heard a buzzing sound from far away. The sound was fast approaching.

"It's the Combat Hornetdemon. It seems like after their body size has been reduced, they scattered everywhere. There aren't many hornets, less than 50,000 of them. I guess they're from the same hive." Lin Huang could tell what was happening a few kilometers away with his Divine Telekinesis. "No other monster hordes are discovered so far within the area covered by my detection. However, we need to be fast. The monster hordes behind will catch up soon."

"Let's get ready to fight and give your all. Try to kill all the enemies at the fastest speed possible. After killing the hornets, we've got to move."

Bloody had discussed with Lin Huang earlier that it was not practical to launch a frontal attack on the monster hordes that consisted of tens of thousands of monsters. Therefore, they planned to launch guerrilla attacks according to the topography of the Secret Forest. They would move after the fight and try to get rid of the monsters.

"I'll be aware of what's happening out there. If there's any monster horde that approaches us, I'll judge whether if it's going to be harmful to us. If it is, I'll recall of you back into your card forms whether or not the hornets have been cleared. I'll then leave the battleground immediately. The same goes for the rest of the battles." Lin Huang and Bloody whispered to each other and came up with a strategy.

Bai and the rest had no objections. They clearly knew that their abilities were far from being capable of handling all the monster hordes.

After a short while, the hornets appeared in front of Lin Huang and the rest.

"Fight!"

Bai and the rest immediately rushed towards the hornets after receiving the instruction from Bloody.

Charcoal had returned to its original size. Despite it being reduced to 1,000 times smaller, it still looked gigantic at about four meters tall.

Black dragon flames gushed out as it opened its mouth. The hornets fled.

It was not easy to put the flames out once the dragon flames tainted them. Charcoal was a high-level dragonkin. With its dragon flames, even an imperial-level would not dare to offend it. Perhaps even the chief of the Heaven Alliance, Chan Dou, would not want to get tainted by the dragon flames.

Lancelot had fully activated its Sword Manipulation as well. Thousands of black swords accompanied by powerful sword intent penetrated through the swarm of hornets like swimming fish. If it were not on immortal-level rank-4 with its ability being restricted, perhaps it could fight the hornets with ease.

Bai's attack was like an artistic performance. No extra movements were needed. As it flowed, it managed to cut a few of the Combat Hornetdemons into half without a second attack. Despite it only being on immortal-level rank-4, encountering the immortal-level rank-9 Combat Hornetdemons, the fight was like slicing vegetables to it.

Ghastly was probably the most relaxed one compared to the rest. He made it through the Combat Hornetdemons leisurely, creating chaos wherever he passed. Not only could they not see Ghastly at all, but they had also gone insane and even attacked each other.

Other than Bai and the rest, even Lin Huang joined the fight so that they could get rid of the swarm of hornets as soon as possible.

Three supreme telekinetic weapons and thousands of telekinetic flying daggers whistled in the air. Controlled by his Divine Telekinesis, they penetrated through the Combat Hornetdemons' bodies.

Lin Huang was unable to dominate the ancient telekinetic weapons without using the Transformation Card. Despite the fact that the power of his flying daggers was much weaker than before, they were capable of killing the immortal-level rank-7s and rank-8s. Even if he could not kill the immortal-level rank-9s in one hit, the monster would be severely injured, and it would be much more convenient for Kylie and the rest to kill.

The battle lasted for about 20 minutes before it ended. Before completely obliterating the Combat Hornetdemons, Lin Huang suddenly raised his head and frowned, looking towards the border of the forest.

"Luna Beast?!"

Using his Divine Telekinesis, he could see that at the crossing point of checkpoints 55 and 56, a large number of Luna Beasts were heading towards the Secret Forest.

Chapter 786: Outstanding Bait

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Please hurry. The Luna Beast is entering the Secret Forest," Lin Huang immediately informed Bloody and the rest just as he detected.

"Don't worry. We're 3.3 kilometers away from the border of the forest. Under normal circumstances, the Luna Beast can travel a distance of three to four kilometers in a blink of an eye. However, since they'll be compressed to a thousandth of their usual size, the Luna Beast will need at least 40 minutes to reach here." Bloody felt that they had sufficient time to fight.

"I know, but it'll be better for us to get rid of the hornets as soon as possible. The more time we have, the better we can prepare ourselves." Lin Huang nodded. "The Luna Beasts are actually much stronger than the Combat Hornetdemons. Apart from that, there are more of them than the Combat Hornetdemons. At least 50,000 of them to be more precise. If we don't have any plan and were to fight them face-to-face, perhaps it'll be difficult for us to clear all of them."

"That's true," Bloody agreed with what Lin Huang said.

Although the ability of the Luna Beasts would be slightly weaker than that of the hornet guardians, they were much stronger than the ordinary Combat Hornetdemons. Even if it did not go on a rampage, a Luna Beast was capable of fighting three Combat Hornetdemons. If it did go on a rampage, one Luna Beast could fight ten Combat Hornetdemons. In addition to their strong defenses, killing them would be much more difficult than killing the Combat Hornetdemon.

"I'm thinking to ask the Clown to set several traps. However, it'll need some time to set those traps up. 40 to 50 minutes might not be enough for it," Lin Huang revealed his plan. However, he could not confirm whether if his plan could achieve the desired outcome. "Do you have any better suggestions?"

"Your plan is too time-consuming. Besides, if Ghastly were to set a large number of traps, the damage caused will be limited. If Ghastly were an immortal-level rank-9, it could easily kill the Luna Beasts. He's now only an immortal-level rank-4." Bloody immediately scrapped the plan and gave its own suggestion. "It doesn't have to be so troublesome. There are many dangerous places in the Secret Forest. We've avoided all those areas, and it's time to make good use of it now."

"We can actually lure the monster hordes to those places. Right after their strength has been drained, we can then capture all at once."

"Do you think that the Luna Beasts will be tricked?" Lin Huang was still worried.

"The Luna Beasts aren't smart, and they're monsters that are all brawn and no brains. As long as we try to bait them, they'll bite," Bloody said confidently.

"Bait?" Lin Huang frowned when he heard what Bloody said.

Bloody did not continue talking, shifting its gaze towards Kylie who was attacking the hornets instead.

Lin Huang immediately understood what Bloody's plan was and kept quiet.

"Only Thunder and her speed can compare to that of the Luna Beasts'. Aside from their speed, the Luna Beasts possess terrifying explosive power within short distances. They can even go on a rampage so that their speed can be multiplied. She is more suitable than Thunder to be bait." Still, Bloody did not mention Kylie's name.

Lin Huang remained silent as usual. Regardless of how fast Kylie's speed was, it would be risky for her to be the bait alone. She would be surrounded by the monster hordes even if only a small mistake was made. She would be ripped into pieces by tens of thousands of Luna Beasts. Moreover, if she were to lure the Luna Beasts to the danger zone, she had to enter the danger zone as well.

"I'll be the bait." Kylie appeared in front of the both of them all of a sudden. What she said had clearly expressed herself.

Bloody had not secretly contacted Kylie. Instead, she had heard the conversation between the both of them. Seeing Lin Huang's indecision, she then spoke out.

As Lin Huang was still keeping quiet, Kylie added, "I'll be fine."

"Alright, then," Lin Huang finally said, "I'll relinquish the task to you. Please be careful."

Kylie nodded and did not say anything else. She then returned to the battleground, killing the remaining Combat Hornetdemons.

"Where are you going to lure the Luna Beasts to?" Lin Huang turned his head back, looking at Bloody.

"There's a Fiendish Osiery about two kilometers away from us." Bloody had a plan.

"A Fiendish Osiery… That's too dangerous." Lin Huang frowned, lifting his head and gazing in the direction where Kylie was. He was still worried about her.

"We don't have any other choice. We need to bear some of the risks. Within five kilometers, the Fiendish Osiery is the most suitable area to fight the Luna Beasts."

"The Fiendish Osier looks like an ordinary willow, and no energy fluctuation will be alarming to the Luna Beasts. They're quite smart. If the prey doesn't go deep into the forest, they won't simply launch an attack. Right when the Luna Beasts realize something is wrong, perhaps the entire monster horde would've already entered the forest."

"The Fiendish Osier's abilities can restrict the Luna Beasts. The splitting of the tree branches can restrict the movements and the strength of the Luna Beasts to a great extent. However, with Kylie's speed, as long as she doesn't go too deep into it, it's not difficult for her to escape."

Lin Huang nodded and did not say anything else.

After a short while, they cleared the swarm of hornets. Lin Huang gathered Bai and the rest again.

Bloody pulled Kylie aside and whispered to her. After the conversation between them had ended, only then did they join the team.

"Kylie, please stay. The rest of you, please follow me and lie in wait outside the Fiendish Osiery. I'll explain the details later when we're on our way." Bloody did not say anything else. It nodded its head at Lin Huang, transforming into a vine and wrapping around his left arm.

"Follow me." As soon as Lin Huang uttered these words, he activated his double acceleration and headed towards the Fiendish Osiery.

Bai and the rest immediately followed after him. Kylie was the only one who stayed there, watching the rest leave.

Right after Lin Huang and the rest had disappeared from her sight, Kylie then transformed into a black glow and headed in another direction.

After half an hour, Lin Huang and the rest finally arrived where the Fiendish Osiery was.

Seeing the peaceful Fiendish Osier, even Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis could not sense anything strange. The Fiendish Osier was like an ordinary willow.

If the Fiendish Osier had not been introduced in the information provided by the Heaven Alliance, perhaps not only Lin Huang, even Bloody might not realize the specialty of this forest.

Scanning the forest, Charcoal then said, "It looks like an ordinary plant."

"Be careful. According to what has been recorded in the information provided by the Heaven Alliance, at least 50 people have died in this forest ever since it has been discovered. They were sent back to the first checkpoint on the Stairway Tree. Bear in mind that humans who reach here are supreme geniuses that have made it through 55 checkpoints on the Stairway Tree," Lin Huang reminded.

After listening to what he said, the facial expressions on Bai and the rest became serious.

In the Genius Union, those who managed to reach checkpoint 55 were at least immortal-level rank-7s. The geniuses of these combat strength were a step away from achieving imperial-level.

Although Bai's ability was on par with the geniuses that were three levels higher, it was much weaker than them, let alone the other monsters.

"Kylie has approached the Luna Beasts. We should do something now. Let's move and do what I've told you to do earlier." Bloody was monitoring Kylie with its Leech Pods.

Several kilometers away, Kylie had launched an attack as soon as she discovered the Luna Beasts. She summoned Lightning to cover the entire region, striking hundreds of Luna Beasts. They growled from the pain they suffered. Although not a single Luna Beast was killed, she had successfully triggered their rage. Hundreds of her victims then led the rest of the Luna Beasts to pursue her.

Chapter 787: Bloody's Misjudgement

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Kylie's speed and explosiveness in short-distance flight surpassed all the monsters Lin Huang owned. Even Thunder that was good at flying could only excel Kylie in long-distance flight.

Encountering Luna Beasts with extremely high explosiveness, it was apparent that Kylie could make better bait than Thunder. In fact, Kylie did an impressive job.

Kylie was about 10% faster than the Luna Beasts all the way.

The Luna Beasts had made several attempts to accelerate, but Kylie sped up only when they were less than a meter away from her, maintaining her speed at 10% faster than the Luna Beasts. Some of the Luna Beasts had gone on a rampage, but they were still trailing behind by Kylie.

Kylie maintained a speed at which the Luna Beasts could see her but were unable to attack her.

Lin Huang and Bloody were monitoring the situation on Kylie's side all the while. They felt relieved, seeing Kylie's performance.

All of a sudden, Lin Huang frowned.

"The Luna Beasts are slowing down!"

"It seems like they're giving up on Kylie." Bloody was surprised.

The Luna Beasts had terrible tempers, and they were monsters that held grudges. They were not intelligent and under normal circumstances, they would chase after their enemies non-stop and would not choose to retreat.

It seemed like the Luna Beasts had lost their patience upon realizing that the possibility of chasing after Kylie was low. They were not going to bug her anymore.

"She's made it through half the journey. What should we do now?" Lin Huang raised his head and looked towards Bloody.

"Ask Kylie to attack them," Bloody suggested.

"Would it work? Since they've already found out that they can't possibly chase Kylie..." Lin Huang doubted.

"I guess it'll work this time, but I'm not sure if it'll still work the next time." Bloody did not expect the Luna Beasts to retreat after being fooled by Kylie.

After getting the confirmation from Bloody, Lin Huang immediately contacted Kylie with his Divine Telekinesis and told her what to do next.

A few kilometers away, Kylie then turned back to the Luna Beasts after listening to what Lin Huang told her. She then realized that the Luna Beasts were actually slowing down. She scoffed and again, she activated her Lightning Control.

Hundreds of beams of black lightning rained down from the sky. The attack covered a broader range compared to the first attack launched by Kylie. Besides that, it was much stronger as well.

More than 500 of the Luna Beasts let out a howl of pain. Their fur was burnt and singed.

Still, Kylie was unable to kill any of the Luna Beasts.

Nevertheless, it was quite effective. The Luna Beasts lost their rationality and began to chase after Kylie insanely.

Seeing what Kylie did, Lin Huang flashed a thumbs-up. "They're now bearing a huge grudge!"

"Don't count your eggs before they hatch. While it's effective, it's still unknown whether Kylie can lure them to this place." Bloody pointed out pessimistically.

Lin Huang kept quiet for a moment, and something seemed to have dawned on him. "Does it mean that the effect will be reduced each time Kylie attempts to aggravate them?"

"Yes, it does. Although the Luna Beasts aren't intelligent and can be easily triggered, they won't be tricked repeatedly. Since they've already confirmed that they are unable to catch up to Kylie, they'll be wise enough to give up their target. Once attacked, they'll temporarily lose their rationality. The more they're attacked, the less likely they'll act irrationally and the higher the possibility that they'll give up their target." Bloody nodded while giving a detailed explanation. "Also, the Luna Beasts will regain their rationality in a shorter period this round. Soon, they'll realize that it's useless to chase after Kylie."

"What should we do?" Lin Huang's eyebrows knitted together. He now understood why Bloody had expressed its doubt on whether Kylie could successfully lure the Luna Beasts to this place.

"The best way is to change baits." Obviously, Bloody had a plan. "They've lost confidence in chasing Kylie, and it's time for us to change their target. They'll regain the thrill of the chase once they have a new target. They can then complete the second half of the journey."

"Do you mean that we need Thunder to be the bait?" Lin Huang knew who Bloody was referring to.

"Other than Kylie, it'll be the most suitable one." Bloody nodded.

"No, we can't. Thunder is too huge, and its agility is nowhere near Kylie's. If it happens to enter the Fiendish Osiery, it's difficult for it to survive through it," Lin Huang rejected.

Compared to Kylie, Thunder's size would make it an easy target. Moreover, Kylie's agility would allow her to avoid sudden attacks whereas Thunder was much weaker than her and it would be easier for the Fiendish Osiers to attack it. Once it became the Fiendish Osiers' target, it would be in great danger.

"Do you have any other plan?"

It was already risky for Kylie to enter the Fiendish Osiery. If Thunder was the one that entered the Fiendish Osiery, the probability of it surviving was close to zero.

A pet monster was different from humans. If it died on the Stairway Tree, it would die in reality instead of returning to the first checkpoint on the Stairway Tree.

Bloody kept quiet for a long while after listening to what Lin Huang asked.

"This isn't how you'd look like if you're running out of ideas." Lin Huang knew that it was not because Bloody had no other plans. It was because of some reason that it was reluctant to tell. "Just spit it out."

"Other than Kylie and Thunder, there's actually someone who can be the bait," Bloody then said slowly, shifting its gaze towards Lin Huang.

Lin Huang was stunned. After a couple of moments, he then pointed at himself and asked, "Me?"

After confirming that Bloody was referring to him, a thought suddenly ran through Lin Huang's mind. "Oh, right, the Transformation Card! How could I forget about it?!"

Lin Huang had almost forgotten that he could actually use the Provisional Transformation Card, transforming into Kylie or Thunder. As long as he changed into how they looked like, he would have all of their abilities, including their speed.

"I'll first transform into Thunder and become bait. As soon as I enter the Fiendish Osiery, I'll transform into Kylie and get out of there as swiftly as possible." Bloody was unwilling to reveal its plan. It did not want Lin Huang to take the risk, but it was running out of solutions.

Setting the Luna Beasts up was risky business.

"Alright, I'll take on the task!" Lin Huang accepted without thinking twice.

"It's too dangerous," Bai, who had kept quiet all the while, frowned as he said. It turned back and looked at Bloody. "Is there any other way?"

Bloody shook its head helplessly. "Changing the bait is the only way to solve the problem. It's uncertain whether any other solutions are going to work."

"Don't worry. After using the Transformation Card, my combat strength will level up to immortal-level rank-4. My abilities will be stronger than any of you." Lin Huang patted Bai's shoulder reassuringly. "I didn't really make any contribution for the whole day. It's time to move and do some exercise."

"That's it. I'm going to back Kylie up!"

Chapter 788: Falling into the Trap

Translator:EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor:EndlessFantasy Translation

In the Secret Forest, a charcoal grey silhouette flashed through the tree branches quickly.

The silhouette was extremely fast. The immortal-level rank-8 and rank-9 monsters only managed to detect that a black shadow passing through.

When one actually throttled down the speed of the silhouette 100 times slower, one could actually see that it was a charcoal grey bird with an intricate golden pattern on its body. It had a slender body that looked elegant yet powerful.

The bird that looked almost eerily similar to Thunder was, of course, Lin Huang.

Lin Huang could not get used to Thunder's body in the beginning. Unlike Bai and the rest that were humanoid monsters, he felt awkward having his hands change into wings. However, in less than an hour, he had gotten used to the body and even liked flying by flapping his wings.

Feeling excited for only a few minutes, Lin Huang started to calm himself down.

Sensing that Kylie was approaching him at a breakneck speed with his Territory skill, he slowed down. While waiting for Kylie to appear, he started practicing some skills that could trigger the anger of the Luna Beasts.

After a short while, he saw a black shadow flying towards him at lightning speed. There was a massive monster horde that followed the black shadow.

Lin Huang immediately fluttered his wings and stopped moving forward, staying in one place.

Kylie caught a glimpse of Lin Huang and brushed past him without slowing down.

This was what Lin Huang had instructed Kylie earlier. She had to pretend that she did not know Lin Huang and continued to flee, leaving the rest of the act to Lin Huang.

Obviously, Kylie did what she had been told. She did not even greet him. She directly grazed Lin Huang and flew away. It went so smoothly as though it had been practiced countless times.

"She simply just left…" Lin Huang thought to himself.

The Luna Beasts, of course, noticed Lin Huang in the first place. He now looked exactly like Thunder, and its body was a few times bigger than Kylie's, so it was hard not to steal the attention.

Seeing the monster horde chasing after him, Lin Huang did not immediately turn back and flee. He flapped his wings, and his body began to glow purple.

His body was flickering in a purple electric arc, creating peculiar patterns. As Lin Huang opened his mouth wide, a purple glow accumulated within his mouth.

The dazzling purple light glowed even brighter as Lin Huang flapped his wings. In just a short while, the intensity of the beam of purple light had reached its peak, becoming much more resplendent.

At that moment, Lin Huang let out a screeching bird cry, accompanied by the purple glow shooting out from his mouth.

The fist-like purple sphere lingered in mid-air. While it expanded, it rotated quickly. The purple sphere expanded to the size of a fitness ball in just one breath, and it was still increasing in size.

Just when the Luna Beasts were less than ten meters away from Lin Huang, the sphere that consisted of the purple thunder exploded.

A dazzling purple beam was instantly released. Nobody could gaze directly at the brilliant beam of light.

Countless beams of purple electric arcs were gushing out like snakes, spreading in the form of a fan towards the direction where the monster horde was. It was like casting a net into a lake full of fish.

The attack which Lin Huang had deliberately launched covered a much wider region compared to Kylie's. It covered almost half of the monster horde.

The purple electric arc struck tens of thousands of Luna Beasts. Although it could do no harm to the Luna Beasts, they would still experience numbness and pain. Reacting to the assault, the Luna Beasts roared in pain.

Despite the range of attack being much more comprehensive than Kylie's, the force was relatively weak. Lin Huang knew very well that the attack would not be able to kill any of the Luna Beasts, but it was the most suitable skill to trigger them.

Lin Huang turned back and fled after the attack without a moment of hesitation.

The angry Luna Beasts soon targeted Lin Huang and started pursuing him.

Although his agility was incomparable to Kylie's after transforming into Thunder, Lin Huang had his way of getting rid of the Luna Beast's attack. He did not fly in a straight line, but he flew in a Z-shape instead. He was like a drunkard, flying up and down.

He became much more provoking to the Luna Beasts. The insult level had been 100% initially, but it had now risen to 120%.

The group of Luna Beasts had forgotten entirely that they were previously chasing Kylie. The evil bird was now their target.

"The outcome is pretty awesome." As the bait-changing plan was working, Lin Huang felt relieved.

Kylie was flying at her maximum speed and had already disappeared from his sight.

Lin Huang then leisurely led the Luna Beasts forward.

Perhaps because the attack had triggered a large number of Luna Beasts or because Lin Huang looked much easier to defeat than Kylie, the Luna Beasts did not give up on him easily.

Lin Huang then managed to bring the Luna Beasts to their destination.

Sensing that Bloody and the rest had hidden well and were ready, Lin Huang grinned and looked towards the Fiendish Osiery. He then accelerated and headed towards it.

The Luna Beasts were so naïve, and they did not realize that the Fiendish Osiery was dangerous. They thought that Lin Huang wanted to get rid of them using the forest. Therefore, they sped up and followed him.

Of course, they did not realize that Bloody and the rest were hiding there. The monster horde followed Lin Huang and entered the terrifying Fiendish Osiery.

After entering the Fiendish Osiery, Lin Huang immediately looked back at the Luna Beasts. He was worried about the Luna Beasts finding out and retreating at the very last minute. The group of Luna Beasts was obviously not as alert as he thought. They went into the Fiendish Osiery without hesitation.

"Success!" Lin Huang was exhilarated.

As the Luna Beasts got into the Fiendish Osiery, 80% of the hunting plan had succeeded. He knew that he could gain tens of millions of points with extreme ease.

Although more than half of the plan was turning out well, Lin Huang did not let his guard down.

He did not immediately leave the Fiendish Osiery. Instead, he continued leading them deeper in.

He knew that nobody could retreat after entering the Fiendish Osiery. If he did so, the Fiendish Osiery would immediately block his way, and the Luna Beasts would definitely be startled by them.

In addition to the monster horde not going deep enough into the Fiendish Osiery, if they found out that something was wrong, it was highly possible that they could get rid of the controlling willow forest. Once they managed to get rid of the Fiendish Osiery's control, Bai and the rest would not be able to stop such a large number of monsters. The plan would definitely fail.

"It's best for me to go 43 meters deep into the Fiendish Osiery. The Luna Beasts will follow me at least 30 meters deep…" Lin Huang was doing the calculations in his mind so that he would not make any mistakes.

The best distance was, of course, calculated by Bloody based on its understanding of the Luna Beasts and the Fiendish Osiers. It was the distance where the Luna Beasts could be controlled, and at the same time, it was also the safest distance for Lin Huang.

"35… 40, 41, 42, 43!" As soon as it reached the depth calculated by Bloody, Lin Huang immediately flapped his wings, turning back and flying right towards the Luna Beasts that were chasing after him.

Chapter 789: The Uncatchable Prey

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang had caught the Fiendish Osier's attention the moment he turned back. It began extending its osiers, reaching out for Lin Huang.

The Fiendish Osiers in the Fiendish Osiery were really patient. If their prey did not go deep enough, they would patiently wait until they were confident enough to control their prey before launching any attack. However, as for those who wanted to leave after breaking into the Fiendish Osiery, they would immediately attack, forcing their victim to stay.

As Lin Huang retreated, he undoubtedly triggered the Fiendish Osiery's instinct which was to extend their osiers to stop him immediately.

Hundreds of osiers headed out for Lin Huang from all directions. Ten tentacles with the circumference of an adult's arm extended from the tip of each of the osiers.

"Although I've seen this earlier, it's kind of disgusting to see it at such a close distance," Lin Huang thought to himself.

The tentacles were green in color and looked somewhat sticky like a slug. It was like a future generation of the earthworm and the slug that had gone through some kind of mutation. Not only was it ten times bigger, but it was also hundreds of times uglier. One would indeed find them disgusting.

Lin Huang's mentality was considered stable, but still, he felt sickened seeing those tentacles.

Thousands of tentacles wriggled in mid-air, heading out for Lin Huang.

At the same time, the Luna Beasts in front of Lin Huang were in trouble as well. The Fiendish Osier extended their osiers, and there were millions of tentacles going after the Luna Beasts.

Since they had already revealed themselves, the Fiendish Osiers was not going wait any longer. If they did not take any action to make the Luna Beasts stay, perhaps the Luna Beasts could escape from the Fiendish Osiery very quickly with their speed, which was the reason why the Fiendish Osier attacked without hesitation.

As the group of Fiendish Osiers went on a rampage, Lin Huang did not feel panicked at all. What happened right in front of him was entirely within his expectations.

Tens of thousands of tentacles did not stop chasing him. There was an ocean of tentacles right in front of him. Lin Huang flapped his wings and distanced himself from the tentacles. Seeing that he was about to enter the ocean of tentacles, he immediately crushed a Provisional Transformation Card.

His immensely colossal body immediately shrank and transformed from Thunder to Kylie. He did not stop and sped up instead as he flew towards the Luna Beasts. He then entered the region where there were countless tentacles.

The Luna Beasts that were chasing after Lin Huang were caught in a frenzy as the Fiendish Osier was suddenly attacking them. At that moment, only then did they know that they had fallen into a trap.

The Luna Beasts could no longer go after Lin Huang as the Fiendish Osier attacked them. They were alarmed.

A majority of the Luna Beasts knew that they had to flee in the direction where they had come from in order to leave the Fiendish Osiery as soon as possible. A small number of them were confused, and soon, they were captured by the Fiendish Osier's tentacles.

Those who fled in the correct direction were entangled by the Fiendish Osier as well. They had no way of getting rid of them. Despite being able to break the tentacles with their fangs and sharp claws repeatedly, the Fiendish Osier's tentacles could regenerate on their own endlessly. Their energy and Life Power were being drained, resulting in many of the Luna Beasts being caught.

Regardless of how fast the Luna Beasts were, how powerful its explosiveness was, and how sharp its fangs were, they were vastly outnumbered by the Fiendish Osier's tentacles, putting them at significant risk in the battle.

Their destiny was like a script written in advance whereby the outcome had already been determined.

Lin Huang, who had transformed into Kylie, approached the ocean of tentacles as well.

There were 12 pairs of black wings on his back, fluttering at a horrifying frequency. He was traveling through the ocean of tentacles at an extremely fast speed. Like a swimming fish in the ocean, he was moving forward with ease.

The tentacles attempted to capture him several times, but still, he managed to avoid the capture perfectly by flapping his wings.

Lin Huang could clearly sense that the movements of all the tentacles that were covered by his Territorial skill. In addition to Kylie's speed and her explosiveness, he could easily sense the attack coming from any of the tentacles. He managed to dodge the attacks in advance and could even use Flicker when necessary. This allowed him to travel in the danger zone without obstruction.

Moreover, the Luna Beasts had caught the Fiendish Osier's attention. Lin Huang was not worried that he might be unable to leave the Fiendish Osiery at all.

The osiers of the Fiendish Osier spasmed, extending their tentacles towards their enemies.

If one of the tentacles tangled the Luna Beast, it was fated that it would be unable to break free from the entanglement of the tentacles. This was because if it happened to pause for just a moment, the rest of the tentacles would twist around it one after another.

Nothing would work even if the Luna Beasts struggled to rip them apart. After breaking one of the tentacles apart, more than ten others would replace it. The broken tentacle could even regenerate at the speed that was visible to the naked eye.

The Luna Beasts were being wrapped like dumplings. The Fiendish Osier soon realized that there was a prey that they were unable to capture.

It was much smaller than the Luna Beasts. Upon closer inspection, it was a humanoid monster with 12 pairs of wings.

It seemed as if any of the tentacles that approached him at a certain distance could complete the capture at the next second. However, he always managed to dodge the capture. Most of the time, he was capable of avoiding the attack of the tentacles by moving a little as though he could foresee things.

"You must have discovered the weird guy with 12 pairs of wings on its back." One of the Fiendish Osiers realized that Lin Huang was different from the rest as it failed to catch him after several attempts. Soon, the information spread everywhere, and tens of the Fiendish Osiers nearby could receive the incoming message.

"He might be a human. He has strange movements as though he can foresee the trajectory path of our attack." One of the Fiendish Osiers next to it found out that something was weird about Lin Huang.

"Humans used to be evil. It's normal if they invented some movements to restrict our attack." Seemingly, the Fiendish Osier had dealt with humans before and did not have a positive experience.

"I don't think that he can dodge all of our attacks!" After finishing its words, it immediately launched another attack on Lin Huang. More than 20 osiers headed towards Lin Huang and hundreds of tentacles gushed towards him.

"It's not easy to encounter such an interesting prey. Let's see who has the ability to capture him!" Another Fiendish Osier suggested. Many of the Fiendish Osiers agreed with his suggestion.

After reaching a consensus, most of them had given up capturing the Luna Beasts. Lin Huang was their primary target, and they were giving their all to catch him.

Lin Huang knew nothing about the discussion between the Fiendish Osiers. The only thing he knew was that the Fiendish Osier was quite smart, but he did not know that this type of monster could actually communicate with each other.

He unconsciously became the target of tens of the Fiendish Osiers.

Despite not knowing that they were talking about him, he soon noticed that something was wrong because there was a larger number of tentacles that attacked him.

"What's happening? Are they afraid that I'll be able to leave this place, so they're all turning on me?" Lin Huang soon realized that the tentacles of the Fiendish Osiers had ignored the Luna Beasts that were not far away from him. Not a single tentacle was extended towards them. Instead, the tentacles were all coming at him!

Chapter 790: The Insane Fiendish Osier

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Seeing the tentacles coming for him multiply many times over, Lin Huang frowned.

The events that had just transpired were far beyond his expectations. Although he was faster than the Luna Beasts and according to Bloody's calculations, there would still be half the number of Luna Beasts remaining when he would escape the Fiendish Osier. Theoretically, it would target the larger group of Luna Beasts who were clustered in a group and would be more easily captured. However, they seemingly had a greater interest in Lin Huang instead of the Luna Beast group.

"Bloody, what's wrong with the Fiendish Osiers? Why would they give up attacking the Luna Beasts and come after me?" Lin Huang was under a lot of pressure and asked Bloody with his Divine Telekinesis.

Bloody kept quiet for a moment before answering, "The information we have on the Fiendish Osiers is very limited. I didn't notice it previously as I used to think that they're just demonic plants that are rather evil when they hunt. However, it seems like I've underestimated the Fiendish Osiers' intelligence."

"Most of the triple mutated monsters or those who're weaker are limited by intelligence. They hunt for survival. However, it seems like the Fiendish Osiers are beyond that and are more intelligent. Not only are they hunting for food, they're also hunting for higher level needs — fun."

"You've probably become their main target because your unusual behavior drew their attention. Hunting for you has become a game to them, and whoever that managed to capture you will be the winner of the game."

"Just like how a well-fed cat will hunts for mice. They're not going to eat it, it's just for fun." Lin Huang soon understood Bloody's explanation, "I'm now the Fiendish Osier's mouse."

"You're right." Bloody nodded.

"So before I get caught, it's less likely that they'll give up such an 'interesting' prey right?" Lin Huang knew the predicament he was in.

"Yes, it is. Before getting bored of you, a well-fed cat will definitely not give up their prey that easily." Bloody was not panicked though, "You're halfway through the 43-meter flight. You'll be able to make it through the remaining 20 meters in your current condition. You just need to be extra careful."

"Alright, I got it. Don't worry and get ready to attack. Immediately launch an attack as soon as I get rid of the Fiendish Osiery!"

After contacting with Bloody and knew what was actually happening, Lin Huang felt relieved.

The Fiendish Osier was behaving like how a cat was trying to fool a mouse. They extended their tentacles, attempting to capture Lin Huang. However, they failed.

Lin Huang flew past countless tentacles and accelerated from time to time. At times, he slashed his sword to get away from the tentacles and occasionally moved his body aside to dodge the attacks. Flicker would also be used to get rid of the tentacles at times…

Regardless of how many tentacles there were, the angle he was being attacked from, and the speed the attack, they were unable to even touch the edge of Lin Huang's clothes. However, there were several hits when they managed to cordon the area off but still, Lin Huang managed to break through it with ease with Flicker.

Seeing countless criss-crossed tentacles before him attempting to wrap him up, he grinned.

'It seems like the Fiendish Osiers have no idea what they can still do now. They've used the same attack over and over again but they've been rendered useless. Still, they're using the same skill to attack.' Just as the thought ran through his mind, Lin Huang's body reacted. He flapped the twelve pairs of black wings on his body abruptly and soon, he completely disappeared. When he reappeared, he had already passed through the big net formed by the tentacles, appearing at a location where there were no tentacles at all.

However, when his body became visible, something had put him on alert.

He immediately activated Flicker and again, he disappeared.

At almost the same time that he disappeared from his original position, a big net made of tentacles emerged from the ground, enveloping the area where Lin Huang was initially at.

Lin Huang who was dozens of centimeters away saw what just happened and was glad that he believed his instinct so he managed to avoid the danger.

Lin Huang had his guard up after figuring that there was a trap. "It seems like the Fiendish Osiers are much more intelligent than what has been described!"

"There's less than a third of the distance remaining. Don't be careless anymore. I didn't even notice that they've set a trap underground with their roots. Despite their intelligence being inferior to triple mutated monsters, it's on par with the intelligence of a 10-year-old child. If you happen to underestimate them again, you're possibly going to bear some losses." Bloody reminded, "It was mere luck that you managed to overcome the danger with your instinct. However, bear in mind that your instincts are not there to help all the time. In order to survive in such a dangerous place, abilities and cautiousness are of utmost importance."

"In fact, I was too careless. I didn't expect the Fiendish Osier to be actually able to attack with their roots." Lin Huang admitted his carelessness. "The Fiendish Osiers are totally depraved. They set me up by using their roots that I've never seen before. I was almost tricked by them."

"Another thing that you need to be aware of is that breaking the Fiendish Osier tentacles might not be as easy as it seems despite how unassuming it looks. I've been monitoring the battle between the Fiendish Osiers and the Luna Beasts and realized that only a small number of Luna Beasts managed to break free form the tentacles after being captured. Most of the Luna Beasts struggled for a couple of moments before they gave up, looking sluggish. I suspect that the tentacles contain a poison that can restrict the activities of their prey."

"Got it. I'll be careful." Lin Huang was focused on fleeing from the Fiendish Osier but did not notice this point. The information regarding the Fiendish Osiers he had made no mention of their poisonous tentacles. However, according to what had been observed by Bloody, Lin Huang believed that it was true.

Lin Huang did not know that he had triggered the Fiendish Osier's rage when he managed to escape earlier.

"How can he possibly get away from us? He's really good at escaping!"

"His movements aren't the best. It's his ability to foresee the future! He can accurately predict our attack and dodge it in time. That's the scariest part."

"Did you realize that he's only immortal-level rank-4? If he advances to immortal-level rank-9, what's going to happen?"

All the Fiendish Osiers that joined the discussion then kept quiet.

After a short while, one of the elder Fiendish Osiers said, "After leveling up, perhaps he'll come back and take revenge on us. We won't be the ones attacking him by then, for the sake of our safety, I think we should make him stay."

"I agree!"

"I agree too!"

…

The rest of the Fiendish Osiers agreed with it as well.

"Since there are no objections, inform the rest of the members who're still able to reach him with their attacks, we don't need to catch him alive!"

All the Fiendish Osiers did not treat it as something fun now. Instead, they treated Lin Huang as their greatest enemy.

Although Lin Huang knew nothing about it, he was on alert after nearly being trapped by them.

After the discussion, the Fiendish Osiers' killing intent immediately grew, and Lin Huang could sense that the atmosphere was somewhat strange.

The next second, the battle escalated. The Fiendish Osier gave up hunting for the Luna Beasts. Millions of tentacles were now heading out for Lin Huang.

Lin Huang was shocked. Although he had no idea what was happening, his body had already responded to the attack.

He activated Flicker, transforming into a silhouette and disappeared from his original position. Just as the silhouette appeared, countless tentacles ripped it into pieces.

"Are they crazy?!" Lin Huang mumbled, feeling that it was ridiculous.

"Get out of the Fiendish Osiery as soon as possible. Stop bugging them." Bloody had no idea what was happening as well. What they had to do now was to make sure that Lin Huang could get rid of the region covered by the Fiendish Osiers' attack.

"Okay."

Just as Lin Huang answered while nodding his head, the tentacles pounced towards him again. The number of tentacles was about the same.

The entire dimension was being vacuumed as a large number of tentacles moved. No noise could be heard.

However, Lin Huang knew it earlier and again, he activated Flicker and was several meters away. He was less than eight meters away from the border of the Fiendish Osiery.

After stabilizing himself, the Fiendish Osiers performed another attack. They knew that they had very few chances left to kill him. Their opponent could escape for another three times at most before getting away from the area within the Fiendish Osiery's attack range.

Seeing countless tentacles come after him, Lin Huang activated Flicker again.

However, as soon as his figure could be seen, a huge net immediately emerged from the ground. Just as it was about to wrap Lin Huang up, Lin Huang disappeared again after slightly moving his body aside.

The next moment, shots scattered through the air and surrounded Lin Huang within a ten-meter-wide area as soon as his body appeared.

He fixed his gaze on the Fiendish Osier and noticed them exploding abruptly, transforming into countless daggers that flew in all directions. A majority of them did not take aim at Lin Huang.

"There's nowhere else you can escape to, and the only thing you can do is to attack while teleporting." Bloody could clearly see everything that happened with his leech pods from the top. The Fiendish Osier's daggers had covered an area with a circumference that spanned about 13 meters. The attacks of the daggers were irregular and there were no more safe places.

Lin Huang nodded his head. The next moment, he activated Dark Mirror. The daggers then hit the dark sphere that covered Lin Huang's body, creating ripples on the surface of the sphere before they were reflected.

After the activation of Dark Mirror, Lin Huang decided to test the attack power of these daggers. Again, he took a step forward and appeared a few meters away.

"The Fiendish Osiers must've gone insane. They'd rather harm themselves to kill me." As soon as he showed up, his Dark Mirror was attacked by countless daggers.

Lin Huang smirked as he was now only two meters away from the border of the Fiendish Osiery.

"He'll completely get rid of our control if he were to teleport again. Don't let him run away!" After listening to this, all the Fiendish Osiers went into a frenzy.

On the osiers, countless catkins were dispersed by the wind and instantly enveloped an area dozens of meters wide.

Just as Lin Huang was feeling terrified, the catkins exploded and transformed into flares. Seeing himself being surrounded by dozens of catkins that were about to explode, Lin Huang took a leap and soon disappeared.