Monster Paradise

The 28 hunting teams waited patiently on the branch opposite the main branch on the 21st checkpoint of the Stairway Tree. The third monster horde was more arduous than the second one. Besides the furious Tentacle Beetles, there were also the Velocious Swordfiends from the 29th checkpoint. The Velocious Swordfiends were immortal-level rank-4 creatures that possessed terrifying speed like an immortal-level rank-6 monster. Half of the 200-strong crowd could not fight the Velocious Swordfiend on their own. It was even trickier as the Velocious Swordfiend would always hide among the monsters and attack sneakily.

All of them had grave expressions as none of them wanted to die there. If they were killed, not only would they be sent back to the first checkpoint of the tree, 50% of their points would be deducted. Soon, the monster horde finally came. Countless black beetles were leading the pack. Lin Huang was watching from a distance, but he did not see the Velocious Swordfiend that Zhao San mentioned.

The hunting teams did not move as well. They only started attacking when the beetles got nearer to them. However, the teammates were not fighting on their own anymore. Instead, they were split into two groups. The same happened to Zhao San’s group whereby the six of them formed three groups. They ignored Lin Huang completely. Judging from Lin Huang’s ability to kill the furious Tentacle Beetles within a second, he had proven that he was much more powerful than them. They were sure that as a psychic, Lin Huang could control at least hundreds of telekinetic weapons by himself. However, he had only been using one telekinetic flying dagger so far and did not show what he was really capable of. Therefore, they would rather focus on themselves than on him.

Just like before, Lin Huang walked before Zhao San’s team like a tourist. He was like an odd species among the people who were fighting the beetles to death. All of the Tentacle Beetles that dashed toward him died following a silver glow that flashed by. There was nothing alive ten meters around him besides the fading monster carcasses.

As he walked further into the monster horde behind Zhao San’s team, he realized he had yet to see the Velocious Swordfiend.

”Are the monsters so skilled at hiding or are they not even here?” Lin Huang was interested in the unknown monster as he had never seen it in the monster encyclopedia. On the other hand, the monster’s attack technique was a sword skill. Just as he was thinking to himself, a couple of black silhouettes darted out from the monster horde. They were like black bolts of lightning that were advancing toward him.

Lin Huang noticed the black figures as soon as they appeared. He knew that those were definitely not the Tentacle Beetles as they were not that nimble.

”They’re finally here!”

Lin Huang smirked as two more flying daggers appeared before him. The three silver glows aimed for the three black shadows that were coming toward him. In the next second, the silver glows pierced through the black shadows and groans were heard. The cries did not sound like the screeching chirps from the Tentacle Beetles when they were killed. They sounded more like groans of ferocious beasts.

Many of the humans looked at Lin Huang’s direction when the odd groans broke out. Even Zhao San and the rest turned around to look. Suddenly, a couple of black figures hurtled toward Zhao San and the rest who were not paying attention. Seeing the black glow heading toward them, it was too late for them to do anything although they noticed them at the last second.

The three silver glows in front of Lin Huang barreled at a speed faster than before. Just when the black shadows almost got to them, the three silver glows cleaved through the black shadows as Zhao San, and the rest gaped in shock.

In less than two seconds, Lin Huang had managed to kill six Velocious Swordfiends. All of the people around watched with their jaws slack. Even some of them who had not noticed him as a newbie were stunned by how powerful he was. Zhao San and the rest had a new impression of Lin Huang’s real ability. However, Lin Huang did not bother about what the others thought about him as he watched the Velocious Swordfiend’s carcass that was fading away. He finally got a decent look at how the monster looked like.

The Velocious Swordfiend had a triangular head with its eye occupying half of its face. It had a saw-like mouth, and its upper body was covered in a hard pod with four sharp sword arms and a pair of black wings. On the lower part of its body was a pair of long, spiky legs which could undoubtedly jump impressive heights. Although the monster walked on both legs, from its body structure, it resembled an insect. It was completely different from what Lin Huang’s imagination illustrated from Zhao San’s description.

”I thought it was a human-form monster, but it’s an insect instead.” Lin Huang shook his head in disappointment. He now understood why he had not noticed their existence as the Velocious Swordfiend possessed a dynamic mimicry ability which allowed it to blend into the environment without being noticed.

”It’s got great speed and amazing mimicry, but overall, such a monster is only talented at assassination,” Lin Huang mumbled to himself after having overcome the Velocious Swordfiends.

”Its attacking ability isn’t bad, but it has a weak defense. Its ability is just mediocre as a whole. As soon as its killing plan failed and it revealed itself, it was easily killed by people who are skilled in close-range attack.”

However, the hunting teams on the 21st checkpoint were afraid of such a monster’s abilities. As soon as Lin Huang killed the six Velocious Swordfiends, the beasts knew that he was tough and did not target him anymore. They vented their anger on other humans instead. Many of the teams were attacked by the Velocious Swordfiends, and some of them were killed. Unfortunately, Lin Huang did not manage to save them.

As he witnessed more and more people getting disqualified while Zhao San and the rest attempted to retreat, Lin Huang thought he had to offer his true abilities.

”Come out, Lancelot.” Lin Huang waved and summoned the Ruthless Sword Dominator Lancelot. He was now almost two meters tall in his maroon armor and exuded a dangerous aura. Some of them, who were sensitive to the change, noticed something odd coming from Lin Huang and looked at Lancelot.

”Kill all those monsters with the mimicry ability as fast as you can. As for the rest, kill them if you want to or just leave them to the others,” Lin Huang instructed.

Lancelot nodded and stared at the monsters. He held his sword in front of his cheek and raised it above his head as he mumbled to himself. Soon, nine sword servants appeared and squatted in front of him in a single line.

”Kill them!”

The blue glow in Lancelot’s eyes sparkled as he pointed his sword at the monsters. The nine sword servants then stood up and lunged toward the monsters. Lancelot followed behind them.