The bunch of snakes including Tang Yue slithered around the hilly terrain, wandering here and there under the blanket of their invisibility spell.
Unlike the frogs, the lava salamanders were all not that strong. Tang Yue spotted a couple of weaker ones lingering outside their nest near a tree.
She swiftly dashed towards them and slashed at the beasts with her soul sword. However, she didn't finish them off just yet.
She waited for them to attack first to observe their strengths and weaknesses.
The couple of lava salamanders had long lizard-like bodies lined with red scales and big mouths which they snapped at Tang Yue, revealing rows of sharp teeth.
Tang Yue easily evaded their snaps and waited. "Do you guys have anything else to show me or am I just going to have to eat you and find out for myself?"
The two beasts roared at her, angered by her words, and lashed their tails at her. "Guess, I am going to have to eat you guys after all. Sigh."
Tang Yue did not waste more time and slashed at them again with her soul sword and the two salamanders split midway shrieking as they died.
Ding. 1 Lava Salamander killed
Ding. 500 Experience points have been rewarded
Ding. 1 Lava Salamander killed
Ding. 500 Experience points have been rewarded
And after they fell limp and lifeless, Tang Yue quickly activated her Soul Parasite skill, absorbing the fragments of their souls.
Ding. Soul Strength has increased
Ding. Soul Strength has increased
"Mmm… Not bad." She hissed. "So can these guys use fire-type attacks or not?" She then squatted down and peered curiously, observing their body in close detail.
"The head seems to be the weakest part since the torso is covered in scales."
"Hmmm… The scales, however, are not that strong. Are these guys just weak?" She hissed.
But then again, the ones that were currently split open in front of her were mere low-grade beasts.
There could be more mutations in higher-grade salamanders.
Tang Yue quickly tossed the two corpses into her spatial ring and once again continued slithering making herself invisible.
The group started slowly circling the outer edges of the hilly terrain, steadily closing in on the three active volcanic hills in the center of the cluster.
Apart from the two low-grade lava salamanders, they came across other lava salamanders as well, with Tang Yue taking care of the stronger ones and Jin Wei and the others taking care of the weaker ones.
And, with every animal that dropped dead, Tang Yue's soul strength was also increasing bit by bit.
So she didn't mind grinding these smaller fries.
As the group slowly made their way through the hilly terrain, Tang Yue finally spotted a group of mid-grade lava salamanders near a small watering hole.
There were seven lava salamanders in the group and all seven of them seemed stronger and more ferocious than the ones they had been slaughtering up until now.
Tang Yue could even see small wisps of fire rising out of their dark red scales every few seconds.
"Here we go." She hissed.
Since in this matchup they were all fire-type attackers, the one with the higher affinity to the fire element inevitably had the advantage.
She promptly summoned out Little Plum and then turned around to talk to the other snakes.
"This battle. You guys should sit this one out." Tang Yue curtly warned them.
Unlike her, they didn't have the advantage of a body immune to elemental attacks and there was no point in fighting a losing battle.
With just Little Plum and herself, it might be 2 vs 7 but still, they had several advantages.
Like her immune body, Little Plum had the sliver of heavenly flame, and more importantly, Tang Yue was itching to try out her upgraded venom.
After all, it was this venom that had kept the salamanders at bay and terrified of the frogs.
The frogs on the other hand feared their fire-type attacks and stayed away, creating a sort of balance between the two groups and thus, each staying within their own territories.
But now Tang Yue had both these tricks up her sleeves! So she confidently dared to face them even if it was 2 vs 7.
Tang Yue morphed into her serpentine form and slowly slithered towards the beasts while remaining invisible.
Some of them were even lying on top of one another, so her long slender blue body slithered across the rocky ground to reach the one that was at the back of the group and crawling by itself.
The lava salamander was chasing a small black beetle and it seemed to be doing it out of pure boredom.
The beast, however, suddenly froze, stopping its movements. It sensed something abnormal out of nowhere, an intruder perhaps!
The beast was at least mid-grade and since it was living on this island, its fighting skills were surely sharpened.
So even though it couldn't see Tang Yue, it still knew that something was up.
It looked left and right in confusion and before it could voice out its concerns to its nearby friends and group members, Tang Yue revealed herself, her blue head pulled back.
The next instant she plunged her fangs into the lava salamander's neck instantly poisoning it and paralyzing it at the same time.
She then quickly reverted back to her invisible mode, licking her lips in satisfaction.
This was a mid-grade beast and she had managed to corner it in a second. She felt exhilarated at such one-sided domination!
It was a different feeling when compared to a victory after a long and drawn-out battle, but both were equally satisfying.
And not long after, a bunch of notifications popped up.
Ding. 1 Lava Salamander killed
Ding. 5000 Experience Points have been rewarded.
Hisss… Tang Yue grinned.
However, she didn't have the luxury of happily absorbing the beast's soul fragments as its other companions all turned around to look at the one who had flopped onto the ground with a light thud.