Chapter 120 – There can only be one leader

Translated by Sunyancai

The energy contained in the Fire Crystal in Shao Xuan’s hand could only be absorbed by Shao Xuan himself, and it was supposed that the others couldn’t absorb any of it. Before at the holdout, Shao Xuan had tried many times.

It was the same with everyone, whether it was junior warriors or intermediate warriors.

So, Shao Xuan had always believed that aside from himself, no other people or object could ever absorb the energy from the Fire Crystal, including the five hunting group leaders and Caesar. Besides, none of them made any reaction indicating that they might have absorbed the energy.

However now, in Shao Xuan’s special vision, he saw that some of the red traces of energy, that released from the “burning” Fire Crystal, were floating behind him, instead of being absorbed by his hand.

Who was behind him?

Uncle Mai? Perhaps there was another group leader from another hunting group?

There was more than one warrior. There were actually quite a few of them guarding behind Shao Xuan, so that he could concentrate on searching. However, …

Shao Xuan turned around, and looked at the direction that the red traces of energy drifted towards.

He saw an object in the shape of a diamond floating in the air. It was about three meters high, and Shao Xuan could not see its skeleton. All he could see was a big shining diamond.

Mai and the others had been keeping an eye on the surroundings, and they had never sensed anything abnormal. They even wondered whether the leader of the bat army was around in the cave or not. Or if it was in some vulnerable phase that it could not come out? It was really lucky that Shao Xuan found the missing three men, and they that they were still alive.

However, Mai and the others suddenly got goosebumps when they saw the look on Shao Xuan’s face as he turned around.

Mai reacted quickly and made a sudden turn. Before he could see anything, he tossed out his long spears in full strength, and it went directly towards the direction that Shao Xuan looked at.

The long spear didn’t touch anything. It kept flying in the air, and after a while, it hit the stone wall and fell on the ground.

There was nothing. That was the result that Mai and the others got after they turned around.

Shao Xuan looked down on his hand with the Fire Crystal again.

The red lines of energy altered their direction. Almost at the same time that Mai did something, it changed accordingly.

Now, the red lines from the Fire Crystal drifted up.

Mai and the others looked at Shao Xuan. Seeing that he looked up, they looked up as well. This time, none of them rushed into action. They intended to take a look first.

Mai and the others still didn’t see anything. At least, there was no object in the area that they could see.

When he looked up, Shao Xuan’s pupils shrank when he saw it.

Before, when they walked into the mist, Shao Xuan had paid attention to the ceiling, however, he didn’t see anything, he couldn’t even see the top. But now, since they were walking on big piles of dead bats, they got closer to the top. Nown Shao Xuan could finally see it.

There were a lot of shining diamonds hanging above their head.

And the one he saw earlier was the closest.

They seemed to be floating in the air in Shao Xuan’s vision.

That was the reason that those bats were acting abnormally?

If so, there were too many of them!

Not only one. There was not only one of that peculiar thing!

There were at least a hundred of them!!

There was still a little distance from the ceiling. Although it was less than fifty meters, it was still beyond Mai and the others vision in the mist.

While the spear that was tossed out by Mai did not even touch the edge of that thing!

Moreover, these fice group leaders couldn’t even feel the existence of that thing!

The gap between the two parties was so obvious. If those things decided to attack them, Shao Xuan could only use one word to describe their situation if he had to summarize it – death.

The energy flow of the Fire Crystal was drifting up.

Looking at the red lines floating up, Shao Xuan wanted to stop the Fire Crystal from burning and put it away. However, if he ever did that, no one would ever be able to locate the things above. Even Mai and the other hunting group leaders did not sense its presence, let alone the others.

“Uncle Mai!” Shao Xuan felt it difficult to even speak.

“What on earth did you see, Ah-Xuan?” Mai was not feeling well.

As Shao Xuan was about to answer, there was a slight sound of “crack” above their heads.

Mai and the others were able to hear that as well. Their looks changed immediately. Without caring about anything more, he shouted, “Careful!”

Cheng and some other warriors were checking on the status of their three missing men, but now they rushed to stand alert. However, aside from the sounds that they heard from above, they could not see or hear anything else.

Crack, crack, crack…

It was like some thin shells broke, and the sound continued on.

Shao Xuan saw that the shining diamond broke in the middle.

The breaking shell dropped down and revealed the creature inside.

Shao Xuan could only see its skeleton, which was very much similar with a bat’s skeleton. It was not big, but the sense of pressure that it brought was hundreds of times stronger than other big bats.

When the warriors of the hunting groups walked inside the mist, they could see big bats flying inside, and heading out after they dropped their game down. However, don’t know since when, but the bats had stopped coming in.

The creature above was still shattering its shell, and it spread its wings in silence. It just floated there without a flutter of the wings!

After it hatched from the egg, it looked down and glimpsed at Shao Xuan.

Shao Xuan felt a chill on his back, as if every hair he had was trembling. He could only see the skeleton and the sharp teeth in its mouth. He could feel that a pair of bloody eyes were staring at him, even though he could not see the actual eyes.

It was only a slight glance, and then it turned over to look at the other “diamonds” that hung there.

They were its own kind.

The next moment, Shao Xuan saw that it opened its mouth, and a few bones in his nose and throat moved in a weird way. It was fast, but very regular.

Originally, people were just standing on the piles of dead bats, but now they felt as if their heads were about to explode. All their senses, including sight and hearing, had all gone in an instant.

Lang Ga and the others directly hit the ground without saying a word.

Blood came out from the intermediate warriors’ mouths, noses and ears.

Puff!

After they spit out a mouthful of blood, Mai and the others fell on the ground, one after another.

The flames on the torches all went out, and there was no light in the cave.

Before they fell unconscious, all they saw was torches being put out, and then endless of darkness.

All they thought was the same thing: Why didn’t they go back to the tribe for help?

Yes, they would risk their lives for the sake of the Fire Crystal, but it didn’t mean that they didn’t care if all five hunting groups died at the same time!

Who would then bring the Fire Crystals back to their tribe?

In that scenario, they would become the tribe’s sinners instead of accomplishing anything!

The only one holding up was Shao Xuan. In fact, Shao Xuan was dizzy as well. Even with his special view, everything he saw was twisted. The thing that kept him holding on was the Fire Crystal in his hand.

As the fellow above hatched from its egg and came out, it stopped absorbing the energy of that Fire Crystal. So, all the energy of the crystal was used to support Shao Xuan.

Shao Xuan was regretful as well. Would any of these things have happened if he hadn’t dug up the Fire Crystal? Or perhaps he should have stopped everybody from jumping into the mission? Should they have gone back to the tribe for help? No, even with the whole tribe’s efforts, they might not be able to defeat those things.

There were over a hundred of them…

Bang!

Bang, bang!

There were large sounds of explosions, one after another. Shao Xuan put himself together and looked up.

What the fuck?!

The one that hatched out first was slaughtering its own kind.

All the “diamonds” hanging above began to explode one by one. They were not hatching, they were exploding!

Some “diamonds” already had cracks before that, and some were cracking a moment before. However, all the diamonds got slaughtered instantly. The diamonds directly exploded by sound waves, while those that had already started to hatch were directly torn apart.

The reason that a leader was called a leader was because it was in the leading position in a group.

And one leader was enough for a pack.

Shao Xuan struggled to walk towards Mai and the others, totally ignoring the falling corpses and body parts. He reached out to check their breaths, and was suddenly relieved, finding that they were still breathing. It’s good that they were still alive.

Since it was so hard to stand on the feet, Shao Xuan chose to sit down on the piles of dead bats and watched the first hatcher slaughter its own kind in an extremely brutal way. One of them was bitten off by the head and dropped in front of Shao Xuan.

Due to a lack of torch, Shao Xuan could not use his normal vision to see the world. All he could see was the skeleton that dropped in front of him.

He touched it, and felt the fur on its body. The muscle was very tight, and its wings were like shields.

If they had managed to live, this herd might have become the top lord of the forest. However, there was only one leader, and the others were doomed to tragedy. They were meant to be the stepping stones for the leader.

No wonder that the bats in the caves were no longer coming to this place. Now, with the things above fighting against each other, no other bat dared to come close to watch. Death would be their only fate if they came inside.

Numerous dead bats piled up high, and every one of them were the strongest of their pack. However, after a brutal fight, there were only hundreds of them that survived. Then, after some kind of special mutation that Shao Xuan was not able to understand, they transformed from powerful animals into top ferocious beasts.

After that, through a selection of brutal fighting, the solo winner would be the strongest one. For example, the one that was busy slaughtering its kind.

Just one small step ahead, and it was every step ahead.

Although there were still a lot of diamond that did not crack, they could move somehow. It was impossible for that one to slaughter them all at once.

The massacre lasted for about half an hour. Shao Xuan just sat there, watching, for about half an hour. Now, he was unable to get up on his feet, he couldn’t even keep balance. All he could do was remain seated on the ground.

When the massacre stopped, the sound waves finally ended. Shao Xuan felt that his mind was feeling less swollen up, and his vision was nopt twisted anymore.

Feeling something abnormal, Shao Xuan looked up.

Only half a meter away from him, there was a complete skeleton standing in front of him. Shao Xuan could even smell its blood clearly.

Shao Xuan looked at it right in the eyes for a few seconds. Just as Shao Xuan wondered whether it was going to kill the humans after it massacred its own kind, he saw the alpha bat bite on the headless corpse beside him. Quickly it loosened its bite, and walked to some other direction as it looked away.

It had the same folded forelimb-wings and strong back limbs. However, when it walked, it was very much lighter than the others. Even when he was in front of Shao Xuan, Shao Xuan didn’t hear any sounds of footsteps.

The alpha bat walked around that battle field, and everywhere it went, it would bite the bats that he killed earlier, as well as the other livestock that the bats brought back.

However, oddly enough, it avoided the people of the hunting team.

When that alpha bat walked away, Shao Xuan reached out and touched that headless body, and realized that it was sucked dry.

It didn’t look big in size, but it apparently had an astonishing appetite. Also, it was a very fast eater. The other bats would mostly just lick the blood, while the alpha bat took a casual bite and sucked up all the blood in the prey’s body. The poor prey basically turned from unconscious to dead in the blink of an eye.

Almost all the food delivered by the bats in the caves and stone crevices got bitten by the alpha bat, except for the humans of the hunting team.