The Ultimate Evolution

BANG!

A loud noise echoed throughout the canyon, repeatedly reflecting off the canyon walls, traveling far into the distance. Although the crimson, fleshy “rope” was extremely tough, it was severed by the shot. A large amount of dark red fluid gushed out from the severed parts like high-pressure water cannons that had gone out of control.

When the liquid splashed onto the bank and flowed down the rocks, the rocks were rapidly corroded, producing loud hissing noises and foul smelling white smoke which assaulted the nose. A terrible and strange cry of agony, low and muffled like continuous belching, came from within the water. Based on the ripples and whirlpools produced by the creature, it was obviously something huge!

Faced with the sudden attack, not only were the rest of the team not in panic, they were actually extremely excited! That was because Sheyan and the other two had fought against the ant queen previously and won, so that gave them the illusion that the creatures on this planet were no big deal. As long as they stayed in a group and fought seriously, the creatures were just preys waiting to be slaughtered.

Hedi Curry and Azsa had both rushed over. They shouted the same name at the same time.

“Pokan!!”

Pokan had only rested for a short while and his MP had not recovered much, but he immediately took an honorary dosage. Then, he pulled out a magic wand and started chanting an indecipherable spell!

The outer appearance of the wand was similar to the wands in the world of Harry Potter – a little like a baton. The end of the wand was embedded with a yellowish crystal the size of a fingernail. While Pokan was chanting, the yellowish crystal gave out a dazzling light. All of them could clearly feel the earth shaking, trembling, and responding to the waving of the wand!

When the chant reached its end, the earth shook violently. A stone wall rose from the river to a height of about 100 meters, enclosing the area around Sheyan in an arc. The river immediately narrowed by half, causing the current to become more turbulent. In contrast, the water in the encircled area turned calm.

Pokan sat down again in exhaustion while shouting out a time frame.

“Ten minutes!”

That should be the duration of the stone wall.

The monster in the water started to ferociously attack the stone wall, causing the stone wall to tremble violently. Cracks even began to appear on it. However, that proved to be all that the monster could do to the wall.

Ronnie has silently sneaked closer and was now less than 20 meters away from the river. He stretched his hands outwards. The outline of the underwater monster was then clearly marked. A huge, glowing mark that could only be detected by the contestants’ retinas also appeared on top of the monster’s head. The mark was in the shape of a giant skull.

This was one of Ronnie’s abilities: the ‘Mark of Death’.

The enemy marked by him would lose any invisibility, refraction, and illusion effects, and the chance of sustaining an explosive hit would also increase by 5%.

The contestants could clearly see from Ronnie’s marking that the attacker was a huge creature, no less than four meters in height, and had astonishing width to boot. It currently stood on two legs, so it seemed to be some kind of humanoid creature.

After identifying the target, Vassily lifted a weapon that seemed to be an enhanced version of a Vulcan cannon. These cannons were usually mounted on well-known fighter jets like the F-14, the F15, the F-16, and the F/A-18. They were hydraulically or pneumatically driven, six-barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannons which could fire at a maximum rate of 6000 rounds per minute! Although Vassily was a military weapon expert, he had a refined demeanor, so Sheyan really did not expect him to have such a fierce side to him!

Amidst the roar of the Vulcan, a terrifying storm of bullets rained down on the monster. Sheyan saw that some of the bullets were enchanted with a fire-type special effect. Even when they shot into the water, he could still see many red lines penetrating through, burning the water red. The monster still wished to attack the stone wall, but the horrible hail of 6,000 bullets per minute on its back was definitely not a pleasant sensation.

It initially wanted to sneak away while remaining hidden, but Ronnie’s ‘Mark of Death’ exposed it. In the end, it issued a cry of pain and stopped trying to run away. Instead, it jumped out of the water in Vassily’s direction!

The monster’s leaping ability was astonishing! It jumped more than six meters above the water surface, and when it landed on the bank, the ground trembled violently.

At that moment, they finally saw the monster’s real appearance. It was huge like they expected, and was covered in a tough looking, bluish-black skin that was full of bulges like a crocodile’s. The skin was so tough that the bullets could not completely penetrate into its body. When it moved, a large number of bullets dropped down from its skin.

The creature had the head of a toad. Blood was trickling down the corner of its mouth. All of them could now guess what had previously bounded Sheyan. It was obviously the monster’s tongue.

The monster resembled a giant humanoid toad. Its two muscular thighs could contract and then explode with a tremendous force to enable the creature to either escape or attack.

One thing that stood out about the creature was its unbelievably sharp claws. On the inside of the claws were many weird threaded dents that looked like hardened octopus suckers. Like Wolverine claws, the claws grew on the monster’s palms, and they were extremely sharp and frightening.

A series of data were transmitted to Sheyan when he scanned the monster with his probing ability.

[ Slaad ] (TL: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Slaad )

[ HP: Very High ]

[ Defense: Average (Its thick skin that is full of warts not only secretes venom, but also provides an outstanding defence) ]

[ Speed: 4 m/s ]

[ Jumping Speed: 15 meters per second. After each jump, it must rest for 30 seconds before it can jump again. ]

[ Attack Power: Strong (attack carries “armor piercing” special effect). Attack may also carry biological power. ]

[ Biological Characteristic(s): Bonus resistance to water-type attack. ]

[ Attributes: Strength 80, Agility 35, Physique 40, Intelligence 30, Spirit 30, Charm 10, Perceptive Sense 70 ]

[ Natural Habitat: Wide waters, rivers. ]

[ Community: Small groups (4-10 per group) ]

[ Value: Dried venom (toad venom), leather, claws, tongue. ]

[ Biological Power(s): Information yet to be collected.]

[ Possible Loot: These humanoid, semi-elemental creatures have high intelligence, so they have learned to protect themselves with various kinds of armours and weapons. May drop loot. ]

[ Description: The Slaadi are powerful humanoid creatures. They are chaotic and evil in affinity, so do not expect to ally with or befriend them. When you see one, you have only one choice: to fight bravely, because if you run away, you will expose your back to it. The only fate awaiting you if you do that is to be caught by its tongue and become its dessert. ]

[ Would you like to pay 5,000 utility points to instantly connect to the database to get information on their biological power? (Yes/No) ]

***

Sheyan, of course, would not pay 5,000 utility points for more information.

The Slaad was obviously not a simple creature. It was probably several tiers higher than the Cockatrices in the pecking order. But thanks to the strength of the team, killing it should not be a problem.

When Sheyan was previously caught by the Slaad’s tongue, William had severed the tongue with a single shot, so Sheyan had already successfully escaped. His mixing skill was already so high that he could now freely control the effect duration of his mixes. So, he simply threw a buffing gene-mix into the crowd and signaled for everyone to step into the resulting smoke cloud. This way, everyone could get +8% or at least +6 in all attributes. Of course, the duration only lasted for 30 minutes.

After that….he considered himself to have fulfilled his support responsibility to the team and started to slack off. He positioned himself among the mage-contestants and the gunners to play the role of their protector. No one could blame Sheyan for doing so because he had done his job well.

After landing from its amazing leap, the Slaad charged towards Vassily who had been bombarding it with bullets.

Hedi Curry and Azsa were both prepared for the Slaad, but they seemed to have come to an agreement to lure the monster deeper ashore, so they both simply stood and waited.

Vassily just kept bombarding the Slaad with his Vulcan without any signs of panic. He completely ignored the shortening distance between them, as if the Slaad’s charge was nothing threatening to him. The Slaad almost went mad from being attacked. Its eyes had turned bloodshot. As soon as it reached Vassily, it immediately raised its claws high and slammed them down hard.

If the claws struck Vassily, he would sustain severe injuries for sure, if not outright die from the blow!

But in that instant, Hedi Curry, who was 30 meters away from Vassily, abruptly stretched his hand out in Vassily’s direction. A strange purple line suddenly appeared between him and Vassily. The line rapidly enlarged into a pitch-black tunnel. After a flash of blinding light, Hedi Curry and Vassily’s positions were switched!

Sheyan’s eyes narrowed into a slit. This move may seem unimpressive, but for an MT who had to prioritise the safety of their teammates above all else, it was something that could save others and turn the tables at critical moments! It was a godly skill! If this ability could be used on the enemies too, it would be comparable to an S-level ability in the right moments!

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