Chapter 176 - Demonic Shadow Mantis

Although he was only nicked by a light attack that caused neither pain nor itch, Zhang Che didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of that exotic beast’s appearance either. He felt inexplicably annoyed by that.

It would be fine if he was alone. He could deal with the situation without worry, and make sure that phantom of an exotic beast wouldn’t be able to escape from his grasp.

Alas, he had to carry the four greenhorns around with him. He had to ensure they didn’t die!

This was simply…

“Let’s go. We’ll slowly walk out. Try to be cautious as best as you can. Don’t walk too far from one another.”

Left without a choice, Zhang Che could only leave this area with them, bringing them to safety. He would return alone after sending them to the valley’s entrance and get back at this exotic beast.

However, that exotic beast wouldn’t let Zhang Che’s group leave so easily.

Just as they took their first steps to leave, before they could get fifty meters away, a dark silhouette shot out like lightning and pounced at Li Da, who was at the front of the group. It was so fast that Li Da couldn’t react at all.

Of course, even if he managed to react in time, it wouldn’t be any use.

Wuuu… The Gale Wolf King let out a low howl. It directly turned into a green blur and charged forward, reaching in front of Li Da before the silhouette. After that, the wolf widened its mouth and shot six Wind Blades in succession.

Its skill was just done cooling down, and the Gale Wolf King immediately used it. It went to show how resentful it was for not being to retaliate against the unknown exotic beast earlier.

The dark silhouette didn’t expect the Gale Wolf King to actually have a skill attack, and failed to react in time, the wind blades being fast to begin with. The exotic beast was immediately cut by a few of the wind blades, fluid spurted out from the wounds. It suddenly scuttled to the rocks at the side, disappearing again.

Li Da, who came back to himself, suddenly pointed at the ground in front of him in shock. The phantom was injured by the Gale Wolf King’s skill and left a few trails of blood behind, which were right before his eyes. He exclaimed, “Hmm? Why is that thing’s blood purple in color?”

Everyone was surprised by this and hurriedly gathered around the blood. After taking a closer look, they realized that it was indeed true!

The blood stain on the ground was deep purple in color. It looked more like purple dye; no one would be able to put two and two together.

Of course, they were only curious about this, nothing else. The beast worlds were vast beyond imagination. Nothing was too bizarre!

A little bit of purple blood counted for nothing. It could only be considered as rarely seen, which was why everyone was curious about it.

“Come on, let’s increase our pace. That exotic beast from earlier is injured. It probably won’t ambush us again!” Zhang Che promptly made his decision and had everyone quickly leave this area.

Nevertheless, it was as mentioned previously. It would be fine if that exotic beast was a loner. If it was the kind of exotic beast that gathered in groups, it would definitely spell huge trouble. Everyone could forget about leaving alive.

“Right, right, right! Let’s go quickly! We’ll really be in trouble that monster went to call its friends!” Li Da, who nearly pissed his pants, quickly agreed.

Zheng Hongru and the others immediately stared at him in anger. -Can you not jinx it?-

——

Luckily, as things would have it, Li Da’s foul mouth wasn’t blessed by the monks, and what he said didn’t come true. As they retreated all the way to the valley’s entrance, no exotic beasts came pursuing them.

“Alright, you guys wait here for me. Don’t go anywhere. Notify me immediately if anything is amiss; I’ll rush back here as soon as possible.” Zhang Che instructed them. After thinking for a bit, he decided to station the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander here, in case anything happened.

In any case, the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander wasn’t really useful in the valley.

—

After returning into the valley, Zhang Che pondered briefly with his eyes shut. After that, he raised his head and looked around, before he summoned the Vampiric Demon Carpet with a wave of his hand.

Since the organizers had already gone through a thorough check before they entered the beast world, it was unlikely that they would set up tons of flying beasts in the sky to survey them. How many resources would they need to do that?

Moreover, the Vampiric Demon Carpet was outstanding at concealing itself, not to mention they were deep in a valley. There was no need to worry about being discovered. The reason Zhang Che didn’t summon the Vampiric Demon Carpet earlier was because he didn’t fully trust Zheng Hongru and the others. What if one of them decided to report him in the future? Who could he cry to then?

After emerging from Zhang Che’s spiritual sea, the Vampiric Demon Carpet was like a spread of algae, quickly melding into its surroundings. If anyone who was unaware didn’t take a closer look, they wouldn’t be able to realize that this was actually an exotic beast!

Now, he only had to wait quietly.

Zhang Che wasn’t interested in looking for that exotic beast in this complicated terrain. It’d be strange if he could find it so easily!

Not only that, in order to numb that exotic beast’s wariness, Zhang Che even directed the Gale Wolf King to leave his sight, stationing it in a rock forest a few dozen meters away.

—

Time slowly trickled by. Zhang Che slowly walked around in the valley, seemingly careless, but the Vampiric Demon Carpet was always hiding near him.

In the end, the phantom figure couldn’t hold it in anymore and jumped out from the pile of algae to the side, sneak attacking Zhang Che from the back, aiming for his head.

Zhang Che didn’t realize danger was approaching. He was still strolling carelessly.

The black silhouette was extremely fast, nearly upon Zhang Che’s back in just the blink of an eye, about to send out a fatal blow!

Right at that moment, a three-meter-square of algae suddenly slid off the rocks a few meters to Zhang Che’s left and flew towards that black silhouette. With a flash and a wrap, it enveloped the exotic beast in an instant.

The Vampiric Demon Carpet successfully captured its prey, and it was truly like a coiled-up carpet at that moment, rolling about on the ground. The suction cups on its belly quickly secreted large amounts of corrosive fluid and began to peel off the skin and armor of its prey.

From the outer appearance of the Vampiric Demon Carpet, puffed out erratically on all sides nonstop, Zhang Che could imagine how fiercely the captured exotic beast was struggling within.

Alas, all its struggles were in vain.

Since the Vampiric Demon Carpet only had one weakness, once a beast was successfully captured by it, the beast could only obediently await its death… unless it was a beast whose strength far exceeded its captor, and had a chance of freeing itself from the countless suction cups surrounding it.

After a couple of minutes, the exotic beast coiled up by the Vampiric Demon Carpet finally stopped moving. Zhang Che heard the familiar mechanical notification by his ear.

==[You Killed a Demonic Shadow Mantis. Obtained 8 Points of Soul Force. Obtained Demonic Shadow Mantis Card.]==

“Hah, I even got a beast card from it. It looks like this thing’s level and quality isn’t bad!” Zhang Che was overjoyed. It seemed like his unlucky nature would only come into effect when hunting those garbage-tier exotic beasts. This truly couldn’t get any better.

After Zhang Che commanded it, the Vampiric Demon Carpet immediately unfurled its body. Its furry body shook, and a shiny golden beast card bounced towards Zhang Che.

Zhang Che hurriedly caught it in his hand, his lips widening into a smile.

=========

[Demonic Shadow Mantis]

Level: Two Star (Level 16)

Quality: Gold

Type: Original Combat Body

Characteristics: Fast and Uncanny, Excels in Using the Environment to Conceal Itself, and Launch Sneak Attacks on Its Prey

Weakness: Fears Strong Light, Strength Greatly Declines When Under Strong Light

Innate Attribute: Shadow Conceal, Able to Adjust the Colors of Its Body When In Dimly-Lit Areas, Perfectly Concealing Itself

Potential: D Rank

=========