The First Clash on the Chessboard

The extent of the pressure Shu was currently under was unknown to [Vakh].

But looking at the familiar dragon coiled around Shu, [Vakh] suddenly calmed down… out of pure rage.

Shu, you're using a creature I created against me?!

He stared at Shu in silence. Aside from the veins on his forehead throbbing rapidly, it was as if this [Vakh] was a completely different person from the breakdown-prone clown from earlier.

He raised his hands, and countless fleshy masses appeared around him.

These masses grew only to the size of fists before flying off, forming numerous winged eyeballs in Shu's eyes.

This familiar sight made Shu's eye twitch.

He knew that the most difficult time was about to begin…

[Vakh], having successfully established an information-gathering network, indifferently assessed the [False Dragon] around Shu, analyzing its life force and other data.

Compared to the [False Dragon] he had ridden in on, this one was far inferior in size and other aspects.

It was a miniature version… but no matter how shrunken and weakened, it was still one of the strongest life forms [Vakh] had painstakingly guided into existence.

To deal with this [False Dragon], he either needed to evolve a stronger life form, use more life forms of the same level to besiege it, or…

[Vakh] smirked. The several giant creatures around him suddenly roared.

Then, those creatures, each over twenty meters tall, began to writhe and divide into even more bizarre life forms!

Shu's eyes narrowed. With a wave of his hand, the [False Dragon] beside him roared and shot out like an arrow, biting one of the divided creatures in its jaws.

But the next moment, countless spikes erupted from the creature's body, causing the [False Dragon] to scream in pain.

"Hmph…" [Vakh] watched the [False Dragon] frantically trying to spit out the ball of spikes. He looked at Shu with cold eyes. "Shu, don't forget, I am the one who created them… I know every weakness on their bodies!"

Shu didn't reply. [Vakh] assumed he was silent, but in reality, Shu simply couldn't hear…

Then, each of the bodies that had split from the giant beasts began to transform into those spike-covered creatures.

These creatures bounced on the ground like balls, charging towards the [False Dragon] struggling painfully in the air. Using the spikes on their bodies, and the barbs on the spikes, they latched firmly onto every part of the [False Dragon].

Shu stood on the ground, his expression serious as he watched the [False Dragon] screaming in the sky. He held a test tube containing some debris, trembling slightly.

"Hurry…"

"Roar—" The false dragon let out one final, agonizing cry, because it no longer had the strength to roar again…

The spiked ball creatures began to rapidly differentiate and reproduce on the [False Dragon]'s body. Their barbs grew shorter and shorter, eventually returning to their spherical shape, sticking to the [False Dragon]'s body.

Then—they began to secrete a hard shell…

"Barnacles…" In Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical, Otto frowned, his expression turning grim. "It's the worst-case scenario…"

The shells rapidly secreted by these spherical creatures squeezed and deformed the [False Dragon]'s scales, causing them to stand on end. Bloodied scales fell from the sky as the [False Dragon] struggled in agony.

Shu's hand trembled more and more, while [Vakh] looked up, smiling at the [False Dragon]'s death throes.

"A powerful life form, yet unable to resist parasitism… If it had a companion, perhaps it wouldn't be troubled by this problem…"

Flesh-sucking tendrils pierced the [False Dragon]'s body, where it lacked the protection of scales, greedily consuming its flesh and blood.

The [False Dragon] tried to struggle, to use the hard walls and ground to dislodge the parasites.

But it shattered the outer shells, yet couldn't get rid of the creatures themselves. They multiplied frantically, quickly covering the [False Dragon]'s entire body.

Finally, the [False Dragon] could no longer fly. It crashed to the ground, covered in shelled creatures, dead.

"What else do you have?" [Vakh]'s gaze finally turned to Shu, then he was stunned again.

Countless thin tentacles had appeared around Shu, each tipped with a small eyeball.

[Vakh] immediately recognized these as originating from the [Champion]'s tissue.

"Well… it seems our duel will be quite enjoyable!" Seeing Shu produce something from a previous version, Vakh looked at the winged eyeballs around him and couldn't help but smile.

Shu didn't speak. He couldn't lip-read. He simply braced himself, ready to respond to [Vakh]'s attack at any moment.

Vakh raised his hand, and the parasitic creatures eagerly detached from the [False Dragon]'s skeleton, regrowing their spikes, and pounced on Shu.

Shu glanced at the [False Dragon]'s gruesome remains. In just about a minute, a [False Dragon] the size of a train had been sucked dry by these parasites, reduced to skin and bones.

Turning back to the bouncing, spiky balls, Shu's expression darkened. He pulled out another test tube and threw it forward, simultaneously taking several steps back.

The next moment, the test tube shattered, and a giant snail appeared in front of Shu, crashing to the ground.

The giant snail shell, like a wall, blocked Shu, stopping the spiked balls.

The snail was covered in a thick layer of mucus. The spiked balls couldn't immediately pierce the snail's mucus and soft body, allowing the startled snail to retract into its shell.

Then, the dense mass of parasitic creatures latched onto the snail's shell, retracting their spikes and secreting their own shells.

"A desperate struggle…" [Vakh]'s brow furrowed instinctively. There were countless snails and shellfish in the sea, and sea turtles also had hard shells. What could stop barnacle parasitism?

Soon, these parasitic creatures used their shells to bore through the snail's shell. Then, their ravenous tendrils reached through the openings, eager for a taste of their "prey."

Then, they, like [Vakh], were dumbfounded.

What was beneath the shell?

Another shell!

[Vakh] focused his gaze, his eye twitching.

Shu hadn't thrown a snail… it was a snail with an ammonite shell!!

The layers of hollow armor formed multiple protective layers, and his parasitic creatures were stuck on the first layer! They couldn't abandon the shells they had expended so much energy to create, not without sustenance!

Shu was panting slightly, a smile forming on his lips.

"Otto… you really were spot on…"