Chapter 280: Chapter 12: Enemies Meet
Bubute Ni turned and ran wildly into the distance, with a clear objective. Su Xiao was waiting somewhere, and over a dozen giant crocodiles were in hot pursuit.
Even though Bubuwang had to hold back a bit to pee, it ran like an unleashed wild dog, leaving those giant crocodiles in the dust.
After a few minutes of escape, Bubute Ni reached a valley. The valley was extremely narrow, with towering cliffs on both sides, the gap only about three meters wide. In ancient times, this kind of terrain was called a One-Line Sky, a place of extreme peril.
Bubute Ni darted into the One-Line Sky, its silhouette disappearing. Seconds later, the group of giant crocodiles arrived in pursuit.
The crocodiles lingered in front of the One-Line Sky, not daring to enter the narrow crevice. This was the instinct of the wild beasts.
Su Xiao stood atop the valley, looking down at the dozen or so giant crocodiles.
"Surprisingly smart."
He had planted four alchemy bombs within the One-Line Sky. In such a narrow terrain, the explosion’s power would skyrocket.
Bubute Ni soon ran to the mountain peak, coming to Su Xiao’s side. It was panting with its tongue out, its dog face filled with a look of despair.
A gentle breeze blew by, and Su Xiao frowned.
"What’s that smell?" Su Xiao looked at Bubute Ni, a strange odor wafting from it.
Bubute Ni lowered its dog head, not daring to look at Su Xiao.
"Did you... pee yourself from fear?"
Su Xiao looked speechlessly at Bubute Ni; this clumsy thing always had a lot of courage, but today it peed itself out of fear.
Bubute Ni turned its back and laid on a rock, covering its face with its front paws.
"Go lure them again, those crocodiles aren’t idiots."
At that moment, the giant crocodiles were still hesitating outside the One-Line Sky, unsure if they should pursue.
Bubute Ni glared angrily at those crocodiles; the humiliation of almost peeing itself was intolerable!
A few minutes later, Bubute Ni ran to the other side of the One-Line Sky, barking loudly several times.
When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with fury. For wild beasts, leaving their territory marked with another’s scent is as intolerable as coming home from work to find another man lying in bed with your wife.
Peeing in one’s territory is an unforgivable offense!
The crocodiles hesitated no longer, boldly crawling into the valley.
The bombs were placed in the middle of the One-Line Sky. These crocodiles couldn’t care less about the danger; for wild beasts, territory means food and mating rights. The crocodiles swung their sturdy short legs, crawling toward the bombs.
Su Xiao closely watched below the One-Line Sky as the crocodiles rapidly approached the bombs.
Ten meters, five meters, one meter!
When the crocodiles stepped over the bombs, Su Xiao expended four points of mana, triggering the alchemy bombs.
Boom!
The deafening explosion reverberated through the valley, echoing several times.
At the moment of the explosion, Su Xiao clearly saw three giant crocodiles who were just above the bombs, being blasted into the air like three cars suddenly jumping in place while driving.
The blast impact spread around, causing large cracks to appear on the cliff walls of the One-Line Sky, stones rolling down, and a minor landslide occurring inside, burying about a dozen giant crocodiles in rubble, with black-red blood seeping out from the cracks.
On one side of the cliff, a slimy white fluid slowly slid down—it was the brain matter of one of the crocodiles.
The brain matter was blown out, showcasing the power of the alchemy bombs.
In open space, the alchemy bombs wouldn’t have such terrifying power, but in this mere three-meter-wide One-Line Sky, the explosion’s power got concentrated.
A hook lock popped out from Su Xiao’s bracer, entwined with the Boundary Line, embedding in the cliff face as he jumped down from a height of dozens of meters.
Creak~.
A quick abrasive sound came from the wrist-mounted wire wheel. A few meters above the ground, Su Xiao tightened the wire wheel, pulling forcefully with his left arm. The hook lock embedded in the cliff got pulled, and the Boundary Line quickly retracted back into the wire wheel, allowing him to land smoothly.
The whole action was done seamlessly, and Su Xiao was quite satisfied with his bracer.
Standing before the pile of rubble, Dragon Slash appeared in his hand as he walked slowly toward the stone pile.
As if sensing someone approaching, the body of a giant crocodile under the stones stirred.
With a crash, rubble rolled off, revealing a bloody giant crocodile’s head, one eye blown away, and those sharp fangs skewed to the right, looking as if a train had hit its face.
Despite the ferocious gaze of the crocodile, Su Xiao knew this was just the last gasp of strength.
He slowly approached, reversing Dragon Slash in his hand and stabbing it into the giant crocodile’s brainstem with a reverse grip.
Piercing through its head was not enough, so Su Xiao twisted Dragon Slash to widen the wound.
[You have killed a Mutated Malayan Crocodile.]
[Your Talent ’Soul Eater’ activates, permanently increasing mana value by 10 points, current mana value 638 points.]
...
Su Xiao was somewhat surprised by the formidable strength of the giant crocodile, which unexpectedly increased mana value by 10 points.
It must be noted that the Soul Eater Talent increases mana value based on Su Xiao’s assessment of strength. Killing creatures vastly different in power wouldn’t add any mana value.
There were 16 of these giant crocodiles. If he killed them all, the Soul Eater could increase to this world’s limit of 100 mana points.
Easily slaying a giant crocodile, Su Xiao didn’t let his guard down. Instead, he became more cautious, boosting his perception to the extreme.
One must never underestimate these crocodiles; more than five could be his demise.
If not for the combined force of the four alchemy bombs and the special terrain of the One-Line Sky amplifying the bombs’ power, Su Xiao certainly would have had a tough battle.
Walking on the rubble pile, Su Xiao suddenly struck down with his blade.
With a squelch, the sound of a weapon penetrating flesh was heard, and seconds later, blood flowed from the rubble.
Pulling out Dragon Slash, Su Xiao flicked the blood off the blade, scanning the surroundings with hawk-like eyes.
Three on the left buried, five on the right, and the rest were blown to pieces.
Silently moving on the rubble pile, Su Xiao occasionally thrust his blade into the stones.
These giant crocodiles were knocked unconscious by the blast; Su Xiao quickly claimed their lives.
[You have killed a Mutated Malayan Crocodile.]
[Your Talent ’Soul Eater’ activates, permanently increasing mana value by 12 points, current mana value 650 points.]
[You have killed a Mutated Malayan Crocodile.]
[Your Talent ’Soul Eater’ activates, permanently increasing mana value by 9 points, current mana value 659 points.]
...
[You have killed a Mutated Malayan Crocodile.]
[Your Talent ’Soul Eater’ activates, permanently increasing mana value by 11 points, current mana value 713 points.]
Having killed the last crocodile, Su Xiao’s Soul Eater Talent had reached its upper limit.
The energy within Su Xiao surged. Recently, he had discovered something: his mana value differed from that of mages. Mages, upon casting spells, would have elements seep into their mana value.
Muscles, organs, and mana value all get some elements mixed in.
But for Su Xiao, the Absolute Demon Physique prevented him from contacting elements, resulting in an exceptionally pure mana value.
When you lose something, you gain something else. While unable to learn magic skills, Su Xiao acquired the purest mana value.
This type of mana value had numerous benefits, such as crafting powerful alchemy bombs.
For this reason, Su Xiao’s alchemy bombs were so popular, dealing high explosive damage over a wide area.
If someone else were to craft them, the power would decrease by a third.
Not just mages, everyone else’s mana value was more or less mixed with various elements. Su Xiao’s Absolute Demon Physique acted like a natural filter, filtering out all forms of elements.