Chapter 35 National Emblem

There were alien beasts in the Earthbone Tribe's nest.

Everyone was taken aback, quickly stopping their movements to observe the situation.

Roars echoed, growing louder and clearer. Soon, three alien beasts of the same species crawled out of the nest.

These three alien beasts resembled giant lizards in appearance, covered in dense brown scales. Their necks were like snakes, and they crawled on all fours. Two of their forelimbs had rudimentary wings, but they were quite atrophied and didn't seem capable of flight.

The most prominent feature was that their heads resembled those of dragons, with two extremely long canine teeth growing from their upper jaws.

"Those are... Saber-Toothed Drakes!"

Zhou Jing's eyes flickered. He recalled the alien beasts that Barron had introduced, and one type matched perfectly.

Alien beasts were divided into many types: wolf species, bear species, avian species, and so on. Among them, dragon species were the strongest on average, and beneath the dragon species was a bloodline branch called the pseudo-dragon species, which were often quite powerful as well.

However, Saber-Toothed Drakes were an exception. Although they were a pseudo-dragon species, their combat power ranked among the "shame of the dragon species," being merely low-threat alien beasts.

They looked fierce on the outside, but were actually just for show, a little over two meters long, and only reached the chest height of a normal person when they were on the ground.

And Saber-Toothed Drakes were also one of the few alien beasts that could be tamed.

At this time, the necks of the three Saber-Toothed Drakes were wrapped with bone chains, and they were being pulled along by several Earthbone Tribe members. Simple saddles were tied on their backs, indicating that they had been domesticated.

Barron's eyes narrowed.

He hadn't expected that this group of Earthbone Tribe members had actually domesticated alien beasts... Although they were only low-threat, they were still alien beasts, and he had to give them some respect.

Three Saber-Toothed Drakes and a hundred Earthbone Tribe members wielding weapons...

Barron turned to look at the others, his eyes questioning, his meaning very clear—given this situation, should we attack or not?

Zhou Jing returned a look.

Just three low-threat alien beasts. Let's divide them up, and quickly take care of them. If you two can't handle it, I can take care of all of them myself.

We've come all this way, let's go for it!

Seeing this, Barron took a deep breath and no longer hesitated, gripping his large axe and charging out.

"Go!"

The group immediately rushed out of the bushes, charging toward the group of Earthbone Tribe members who had just climbed out of the nest like headless flies.

Caught off guard, many Earthbone Tribe members didn't have time to organize a large-scale counterattack, and could only fight individually.

Some drew their bows and shot arrows, the sparse arrows flying towards Zhou Jing's group. Others held bone spears and charged forward with strange cries.

Zhou Jing took the lead, casually deflecting the arrows, and brushed past several Earthbone Tribe members who had charged up, without even turning his head.

Behind him, the Earthbone Tribe members froze with their weapons raised, bloodlines quickly splitting open on their necks, followed by a burst of blood, and they all collapsed to the ground.

Seeing this scene, three Earthbone Tribe members immediately flipped onto the backs of the Saber-Toothed Drakes, driving their mounts to fight.

The equipment of these three was more "sophisticated" than that of the other Earthbone Tribe members. While others wore rags, these three at least had rudimentary armor, holding shields and sabers in their hands, and were the riders who had tamed the Saber-Toothed Drakes.

One of the Earthbone Tribe riders locked onto Zhou Jing and charged head-on.

The dragon-drawn cart crashed head-on, stirring up a fierce aura.

Zhou Jing didn't dodge, holding his twin blades in front of him, and directly met the leading Saber-Toothed Drake head-on.

Between breaths, he suddenly released a vibrating breath, and the muscles all over his body bulged, a powerful force erupting.

Hunter's Breathing Technique!

Clang!

The figure collided with the Saber-Toothed Drake, stirring up a cloud of dust!

The huge impact directly forced the Saber-Toothed Drake to stop its crawling charge, and two broken fangs spun and flew into the sky.

The Earthbone Tribe rider was almost thrown off by the momentum.

Before he could steady himself, Zhou Jing had already flipped onto the back of the Saber-Toothed Drake and kicked straight out.

The Earthbone Tribe rider only had time to raise his shield to block.

Crack!

The shield shattered instantly.

The Earthbone Tribe rider flew more than ten meters, slamming into the ground, his body unrecognizable, and was kicked to death.

An alien blood warrior was like a humanoid alien beast, with strength far beyond what ordinary people could withstand. Even without weapons, his bare hands were deadly.

The Saber-Toothed Drake beneath him struggled violently, trying to throw Zhou Jing off.

However, Zhou Jing moved as if on flat ground, adjusting his center of gravity with the swaying of the Saber-Toothed Drake, raised his twin blades, and plunged them into the base of the Saber-Toothed Drake's neck, then slashed in a crisscross pattern.

Puchi!

The Saber-Toothed Drake's head, along with its long neck, fell heavily to the ground, its body only left with a huge bloody wound, in the center of which was the cross-section of the cervical vertebrae.

The head was gone, so there was obviously no saving it.

The Saber-Toothed Drake crashed to the ground with a loud bang, blood spurting out like a fountain.

It took only a few seconds to take care of a Saber-Toothed Drake. Now, this kind of low-threat alien beast with low defense and average speed posed almost no challenge to Zhou Jing.

Zhou Jing turned his head and saw that another Saber-Toothed Drake that had just brushed past was adjusting its direction, trying to turn around and continue to charge towards him.

He put away his twin blades, took off the Unyielding Iron Heavy Blade on his back, held it with both hands, and then held his breath.

The next moment, an electric-like feeling exploded in his body.

"Thunder Strike!"

A flash of lightning flashed in Zhou Jing's eyes, and he suddenly swung his arm and threw the heavy blade in his hand.

At the moment of release, explosive power burst forth!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

The sound of wind breaking whistled. The heavy blade spun and flew with the force of a thousand pounds, slamming into the Saber-Toothed Drake's body with a bang.

Bang!

The part of the heavy blade hit instantly caved in, breaking an unknown number of bones, and even one of its forelimbs was broken and twisted beyond recognition.

The Saber-Toothed Drake fell to the ground with a thud, struggling in agony, but couldn't stand up.

The Earthbone Tribe rider on its back also rolled to the ground. Before he could get up, Zhou Jing, who had come in a few strides, crashed half of his head with a knee strike, killing him completely.

Seeing that this Saber-Toothed Drake was still struggling, Zhou Jing picked up the heavy blade and flattened its head like smashing walnuts, completing the kill.

"Two down, one left..."

He turned his head and saw that the last Saber-Toothed Drake was trying to charge at the soldier squad, but was intercepted by Barron and Weiss halfway.

Barron used the axe to withstand the dragon-drawn cart head-on, taking several steps back, but also forced the Saber-Toothed Drake to stop.

Weiss took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, stabbing the rider on its back to death with a spear, and then picking off the Saber-Toothed Drake's treasure with a backhand strike. His movements were quite skilled.

The two cooperated, and also crippled the combat power of a Saber-Toothed Drake in one exchange.

The Saber-Toothed Drake, a low-threat alien beast with no strength, no speed, and even average defense, was not difficult for them to deal with as experienced hunters.

The rest of the battle was no longer suspenseful. Zhou Jing and the other two dealt with hundreds of Earthbone Tribe members like bulldozers, quickly resolving the situation.

Body-strengthening supernatural powers often had long stamina, and their combat endurance was considerable. Without masters of the same level, trying to kill them with numbers would come at a heavy cost.

Zhou Jing silently estimated during the battle that, with his level, taking on a hundred Earthbone Tribe members was no problem. Given some time, he could kill all of these enemies alone, and directly solo the dungeon.

Moreover, this time he had helpers, as well as Barron and Weiss, and a dozen other people in the subjugation squad.

To cause trouble for them, the number of Earthbone Tribe members would have to be doubled or tripled.

In this battle, only one soldier was very unlucky and had his head blown off by an arrow from an Earthbone Tribe member. The others only suffered some minor injuries.

Everyone finished off the enemies all over the field, stabbing to death any Earthbone Tribe members who could still breathe.

Then they organized people to search the nest and moved out a pile of supplies from the Earthbone Tribe's inventory.

Although the purpose of this trip was subjugation, they could still earn a handful of spoils along the way, and couldn't waste it.

After emptying the things in the nest, everyone threw the corpses into the nest, and then set the entire nest on fire.

The flickering firelight reflected on everyone's faces, and the group silently watched the nest burn.

"This group of Earthbone Tribe members has been threatening the vicinity of Frostwood Village for too long. Today, we finally eliminated them... Brothers, we have avenged you."

Griff breathed out and whispered a lament for the hunters who had died at the hands of the Earthbone Tribe members.

Barron patted Zhou Jing on the shoulder and sighed, "We have also avenged your brother."

"...Right."

Zhou Jing came back to his senses and nodded.

This group of Earthbone Tribe members ambushed him in a despicable manner and killed his previous apostle. This debt had been settled, and he felt much more comfortable in his heart.

He had mainly been looking at the panel to count his gains. He had triggered two achievements during the battle, namely [Earthbone Tribe Killer] and [First Kill of an Alien Beast - Low Threat].

The trigger condition for [Earthbone Tribe Killer] was to kill fifty Earthbone Tribe members, which gave 1000 Star Realm Points.

[First Kill of an Alien Beast - Low Threat] was relatively weak, only giving 200 Star Realm Points, with no other achievement rewards.

However, he did obtain a new milestone message.

[Milestone [True Alien Beast Hunter] progress: 3/5]

[Completion condition: Successfully trigger the first kill achievements of alien beasts of all levels]

[Reward: 8000 Star Realm Points, 50 Information State Particles, [Qualification Improvement - Comprehensive (Medium)] x1, [Auxiliary Function Upgrade] x2. When the Star Realm Apostle is an alien beast race, he can obtain certain attribute bonuses]

There were a total of five first kill achievements for alien beasts of all levels. He had completed the low-threat, medium-threat, and high-threat, and there were still the lethal and King-tier alien beast first kill achievements left to unlock this milestone.

But... go fight a King-tier alien beast?

Good lord, was this milestone really an alien beast hunter, or an alien beast "hunt"-er?

"Even that Raymond, who had been strengthened eight times, was killed by a King-tier alien beast. In what year and month will I be able to complete this milestone?"

Zhou Jing wanted to scratch his head. The rewards were good, but the conditions were quite harsh.

Compared to the Star Realm Point rewards, he was more tempted by the [Auxiliary Function Upgrade], which was very useful.

The effects of auxiliary functions mostly had some restrictions, but they themselves could be upgraded to strengthen the effects.

For example, the [Follower Function] used by the current Star Realm Apostle "Jason Wood" currently only had one primary follower slot. After the upgrade, it would probably add new slots or increase the follower level.

Other auxiliary functions were the same.

And the last effect of this milestone was more special.

The race and appearance of the Star Realm Apostle could be customized. Although he hadn't tried it, he estimated that he could also be made into an alien beast. And an alien beast race Star Realm Apostle could obtain a bonus... This milestone effect was quite unique.

Zhou Jing secretly clicked his tongue.

There seemed to be no need to make the Star Realm Apostle into a beast form.

And wouldn't that mean that he would have to live the life of a beast?

Wasn't it good to be a human!

Anyway, he felt that he shouldn't have any hobbies in this regard.

Seeing that Zhou Jing was a little distracted, Barron thought that Zhou Jing was emotionally excited after completing his revenge, and was saddened by his brother, so he didn't bother him too much.

At this time, Weiss rummaged through the spoils and found a battle axe from the Earthbone Tribe's inventory, and shouted:

"Hey Barron, is this the axe you dropped?"

"Hey, yes, it's mine!"

Barron was overjoyed and quickly took it. This was a weapon lost during an ambush by the Earthbone Tribe members half a year ago, and had now been recovered.

Everyone was immediately interested and joined in, counting the spoils together.

They were just busy moving things out and quickly lighting a fire, and hadn't carefully inspected all the items.

Many of the Earthbone Tribe's inventory were things that had been plundered, and looked quite fragmented, like a pile of junk.

Moreover, they had been stored for too long, and the nest wasn't very hygienic. Some things couldn't be seen without careful identification.

"Yo, there's a lot of money in this box."

"It's probably the harvest from plundering a caravan. The Earthbone Tribe members don't even go out with the money."

"There are also some books here. Is it useful for them to grab this? Can they understand our writing?"

Everyone was enthusiastically counting the spoils.

Just then, Griff took out a metal badge covered in dust from a large pile of fragments, wiped it slightly, and then gave a soft exclamation.

"What is this emblem?"

Everyone looked over and glanced at the pattern on the badge, shaking their heads.

"I haven't seen it either."

"It's quite good-looking."

"It should be the crest of a small tribe. Maybe there were people from this tribe in the caravans that the Earthbone Tribe members plundered."

"Speaking of which, this thing is quite delicate. To be able to engrave so delicately on metal, I wonder which craftsman's work it is."

Hearing everyone's conversation, Zhou Jing subconsciously glanced over.

However, with just this one glance, his gaze couldn't move away.

Zhou Jing's pupils shrank, and a storm suddenly rose in his heart.

He recognized the pattern on this badge...

—It was actually the national emblem of one of the countries in the main world!