10

This time, his goal was no longer ordinary insects, the weakest among all ordinary creatures, but the primitive red mantis often spotted in The Crimson Valley.

Although a primitive creature, a swift mantis had a fragile body and could easily be killed by a normal alloy dagger if stabbed in a vulnerable spot. However, a swift mantis was so fast that ordinary people couldn't keep up with it. And its pair of hacksaw-like forelegs could easily split human bones. Once hit by the forelegs, a person would be crippled, if not killed. So few humans would go to hunt this creature.

For Maddy, however, the swift mantis was the best option. It was in the end only a primitive creature, and there was no way it could cut open his Defense which was reinforced by the 3rd stage of Diamond Sutra. If he couldn't be hurt by the mantis, surely he could kill it.

The most important thing was that with claws and wings cut off, a red mantis could no longer fight back but could still live. This way, Maddy could easily take it back.

Of course, if he were able kill a few red mantises and got lucky, he might even gain a beast soul.

The beast soul of a red mantis was in the shape of a red jagged blade, which was a long dagger, a type of weapon that can be easily sold .

Although the red jagged blade was only a primitive beast soul weapon, it was the sharpest of all primitive weapons, and could even compare to some mutant beast soul weapons.

Because of the danger of hunting red mantises, few would go to Crimson Valley, and even fewer had obtained a ref jagged blade. If the rare weapon were to be sold, it would cost more than a million. So, if Maddy could score a beast soul of a swift mantis, there would be no need to sell mutant creature flesh any more.

The closer Maddy got to Crimson Valley, the fewer people he could see. Around the valley, there was no human activity at all.

Maddy did not dare to go too deep, so he found a hidden place and summoned the mutant bugzard gauntlet beast soul to arm himself, then he summoned the shadow. Taking a deep breath, he sneaked towards Crimson Valley.

Maddy did not dare to go too fast. The valley was covered with trees and wild grass as tall as a man. As the trees and grass swung with the wind, it was difficult to spot any swift mantis that might be hiding there. Even momentary carelessness could lead to broken bones from a mantis attack.

"System, launch the shadow hack, location, Crimson Valley."

This time, when the shadow activated and appeared, its body had an additional outlining shadow of the basic soldier combat suit and its hand now equipped with a shadow of the Mutated Beast soul–The Fire Gauntlet, unlike before when it was bare fisted.

"It can indeed be synchronized..."

Maddy yelled loudly within his heart.

Maddy found a more safe place where he can hide and started to control the shadow manually.

While stealthy hidden under the shade of the trees, Maddy carefully searches for a mantis.

Suddenly, Maddy saw something Red, about a foot-long, sticking to the grass like a leaf. If he didn't look closely, he would've thought it was part of the grass and would have never imagined it to be a red mantis that could split a human skull with a single blow.

Its pair of sickle-like, jagged forelegs were even longer than its body. Dark red in color, the forelegs were covered in a metal sheen, and were nothing like its fragile body. The rigidity of the forelegs was definitely comparable to the most advanced alpha alloy.

Maddy was lucky that he found the red mantis before it saw him. Moving towards it, he calculated the nearest he could get to it before being noticed by the red mantis.

When he was about six feet away from the red mantis,  Maddy did not dare to go any farther, fearing he might lose the opportunity to attack by stealth.

Tightly clenching his fist, The Shadow rushed out from the grass and punched at the red mantis' waist in a fast and ruthless strike.

But Maddy had still underestimated the speed and responsiveness of the red mantis. It had noticed his presence the moment he rushed out. All of a sudden, it rose into the air, gliding with wings spread towards Maddy in a truly swift move. Its forelegs had cut him in the head before he could even react.

Maddy subconsciously stepped back in shock, yet the mantis foreleg still hit his head. With a sound of metal clashing, Maddy felt only slight discomfort, as if his head were hit by a stone. And there was not even a scratch on the shadow's body, after the diamond sutra reached the third stage it gained an additional passive skill— Plus 50% resistance in any sharp weapons.

Filled with ecstasy, Maddy seized the opportunity to launch the [Insect Step] and instantly appeared in front of the mantis and a step and then  activated the [Consecutive burst punch] on the head of the red mantis in front of him. The red mantis head was burst like a watermelon, red mantis blood splashing his Shadow wet all over.

Maddy didn't care at all and listened to the strange voice in his head blissfully.

"Primitive creature red mantis killed. No beast soul gained. Eat the red mantis to gain zero to ten primitive geno points randomly."

It was then followed by the voice if shadow hack system,

[Ding, you have beaten and killed a primitive creature – Red Mantis, obtaining 100 experience points and 100 ability points.]

[Ding, you have killed the primitive creature – Red Mantis and a dimensional box dropped from the creature's body.]

"Cool, that's fantastic!"

Hearing the system's message, Maddy couldn't help but clench his fists tightly.