Rise of The Demon General

Chapter 788: Chapter 788. Fighting the Snail Beast

The spectators above the pit could witness everything that transpired under there. They saw that Amon was about to reach the snail beast, but the beast jumped away. Amon then suddenly became staggered. Most in the audience were unaware of what had happened, but the upper-class group was.

Arrasixx, who stood beside Ublaith, snickered at the sight. ”He is a goner. He doesn’t know that the altered beast he faced has the brain of a Mind Devourer. It can easily take control of a spirit beast in the vicinity. Though it cannot do the same to creatures of high intelligence, it can still project a mind blast to incapacitate its target. For the mind of someone with his cultivation, I say he will be unconscious for at least an hour. In other words, he is doomed.”

Ublaith didn’t comment, but his gesture showed that he agreed with Arrasixx’s assessment.

The carapaces on Xlasstazh’s forehead slightly folded, making him look like someone frowning. He was indeed so. He had expected that his peers might not agree to cooperate with Amon simply because he received a divination from what he believed to be the Creator. He had prepared this Worthiness Trial from before they had the meeting to decide Amon’s fate.

He was among those who prepared the list of participants. While he had no choice but to include a Lower Primordial Beast due to the other elders’ insistence, the snail beast was not among the altered beasts used for this trial.

He turned to Ublaith. Like how he had asserted his authority to include Surressh in the trial, maybe Ublaith had done the same by including this snail beast. Ublaith was not there when they discussed the trial, but he was a direct descendant of their supreme leader. He could very well find out about the prepared trial later and requested a minor change, such as substituting one of the altered beasts with the snail beast.

’This is bad,’ Xlasstazh thought. Under special circumstances, the snail beast with the Mind Devourer’s ability could prove more dangerous than the Lower Primordial Beast they used on the trial.

From what transpired inside the pit, Xlasstazh feared that the worst had happened. Amon, unaware of the snail beast’s ability, had been hit by a mind blast. He was now reeling and seemed about to fall.

The snail beast landed and charged back toward Amon. The two protective shells opened, and its snail body emerged again. This time, it enlarged exponentially. A vertical mouth filled with sharp teeth appeared in the enlarged body. The mouth opened wide, preparing to bite into Amon, who hadn’t moved from his spot.

When everyone thought the snail beast would finish Amon with the bite, a shadow emerged from Amon’s left arm. This shadow manifested into a weirdly shaped beast and pounced at the incoming snail beast. The snail beast was forced to stop its approach.

”What is this? He violates the rules! I said no tamed beast!” Ublaith exclaimed.

”Hold! It is not a tamed beast,” Xlasstazh said. He tapped on a screen before them. The words of power engraved around the pit were not only to erect a barrier to keep the participants from escaping, but also to monitor everything that happened inside. They added this feature because the misty border suppressed their cultivation senses. They needed to know everything that happened during the trial.

”The energy signature didn’t indicate a mental link between Amon and that shadow beast,” Xlasstazh added. ”From this reading, it is more akin to a soul imprint.”

”It can still be considered using outside help,” Ublaith argued. ”He should be disqualified.”

”I disagree,” Xlasstazh countered. ”A soul imprint is usually done on a subject without consciousness. Doing so to a conscious subject normally erases the original consciousness, or a mental battle will take place to decide which consciousness controls the body. In other words, they are one. It cannot be considered outside help.”

Another elder voiced his opinion. ”I don’t like to disagree with you, Master Ublaith, but I must agree with elder Xlasstazh in this case.”

”Master, never mind. That imprinted beast is just delaying the inevitable. It doesn’t seem to have control over Amon’s body. He is still a goner,” Arrasixx said.

”Hmph,” Ublaith harrumphed but said nothing further.

*

Under the pit, Bo Wu continued to obstruct the snail beast from advancing. Because it couldn’t fight past Bo Wu, and its mental attack also didn’t work on him, it resorted to releasing the exploding worms. These worms now slithered from Amon’s flanks.

Bo Wu had to swerve left and right to strike these worms while still hindering the snail beast. The acid from the worms’ explosion couldn’t harm him, but he was bound to get overwhelmed because the snail beast increased the number of the exploding worms.

”Hey, bastard! Wake up! How long are you going to stay unconscious?” Bo Wu exclaimed.

Bo Wu’s yelling did not only sound in the real world, but it also reverberated inside Amon’s mental space. Amon already had high resistance against mental attack. Bo Wu’s yell further stimulated Amon’s mind, allowing him to recover earlier than he should have.

”Ugh...!” Amon grunted. Everything was blurry, and he felt like he was spinning, but at least he began to feel something.

”Hah...!!” Amon yelled. He gave himself a hard slap to force his mind to focus. The fog that clouded his mind slowly waned. He could think and see again, just as a jumping worm, which Bo Wu failed to stop in time, was about to hit him.

He used the Invisible Sky Steps to zoom away.

”Bloody hell! That was close!” Bo Wu yelled.

”Good job!” Amon praised his hell passenger.

”Shouldn’t you thank me for saving your life?”

”Don’t act like you are doing this for my sake. You are doing this to save yourself.”

”Tch! I should have just let you lose a hand or a leg. See if you can still talk like this next time.”

Amon threw his flying knives. They struck the worms, and they exploded. The snail beast crawled toward Amon. Amon moved away. It must get to a certain proximity to use its mind blast. Amon believed he should have developed a resistance against the same mind blast, but he didn’t think testing this hypothesis was wise, so he kept his distance.

Seeing that its prey was avoiding it, the snail beast decided to return to its original intention. It moved toward the other altered beasts to assume control of their minds.

Amon looked in Surressh’s direction. He had taken out all the worms. He only had the dog beast to contend with. He seemed to be on the winning side.

Amon originally wanted to keep his Elder God Veil secret from Surressh, so he could score an easy win once they defeated all the spirit beasts. It seemed that he could not afford that luxury. He activated the art.

The shadow suit protected him from physical and elemental attacks. He never tested it against a mental attack. He also didn’t think it was wise to test it in this trial, so he kept his distance. He threw his flying knives coated with dark elements.

Like before, the snail beast proved to possess keen instincts. It jumped away when the dark knives arrived.

Amon foresaw the beast’s moves. He used the four dark tentacles on his back. The tentacles elongated and caught the snail beast in mid-air. He didn’t pull the beast toward him. Instead, he spun the beast, keeping it at a safe distance, and threw it away.

He didn’t throw it randomly. His position was near the center of the pit. He threw the snail beast right toward the center, where the pond with the black hole was located.

The snail beast seemed to realize the danger midway. It stabbed its four large legs with pointed tips into the ground. This slowed it down until it stopped just next to the pond.

Amon wasn’t going to let his effort go to waste. The moment he saw the snail beast stab its legs, he executed Silent Swift Shadow Fist. Combined with the speed boost from his shadow suit, he slammed into the snail beast.

The snail beast used its mind blast. Amon’s mind was struck. His thoughts went blank again.

While the snail beast’s mental attack succeeded another time, it was too late. The impact of Amon’s punch caused it to jerk back. Its two hind legs fell into the black pond. The moment they did, the swirling energy inside intensified. It also released a powerful sucking power.

The snail beast frantically tried to pull itself back using its forelegs, but its effort was futile. Its body continued to submerge into the black hole.

Amon’s conjecture was right. He had a strong and easily adaptable mind. As long as it was the same mental attack from the same source, its efficacy was reduced if he was hit the second time. He didn’t need Bo Wu’s intervention to release himself from the blackout. His consciousness returned by itself a few seconds after he passed out.

When he could think again, the snail beast was already gone.