ROOOOAR!
The Scarlet Flame Dragon and the Frost Dragon held nothing back. Fire and ice intertwined, and the Black Claw Beast Lord was annihilated in an instant.
"What? It got blocked?"
A thousand meters away, the man's eyebrow twitched. He hadn't expected a wrench in the plan.
He was surprised, sure, but he didn't panic. He calmly brushed the dirt off his clothes and summoned a massive purple bird.
It was an S-rank Purple Fire Bird!
Fang Si and the others immediately spotted the man's position.
He stood atop the Purple Fire Bird and, rather than fleeing, actually flew closer to the group.
He gazed down at the five of them from above, nothing in his eyes but calm indifference.
ROAR!
The Scarlet Flame Dragon and Frost Dragon surged forward, growling low at the Purple Fire Bird.
The man spoke with cold detachment. "Didn't expect a Level 9 Beast Tamer to ruin things."
"I hope next time, you'll still be this lucky."
With that, the Purple Fire Bird shot skyward, its speed terrifyingly fast -- even the Mutant Thunderbird couldn't keep up.
No wonder this guy had the balls to showboat!
The man was also Black Iron rank. If he'd actually thrown down with Fang Si, he would've been buried right there within ten minutes.
Fang Si's expression was ice-cold, but she didn't act rashly. Instead, she prepared to notify the Dragon Guard to apprehend him.
Chen Shu, however -- his eyes burned with fury.
No matter who the target had been, anyone who tried to kill people in front of him had to die.
"You think you can show off AND run away? Who do you think you are -- me?"
A potion vial materialized in Chen Shu's right hand as if from thin air. But the liquid inside wasn't gray. It was a deep, profound black.
It was the Death Potion he'd just obtained!
The moment it touched his palm, mental usage instructions appeared automatically in his mind. Way more user-friendly than the Explosion Potion, that was for sure.
"Bro, just leave it to the Dragon Guard! There's no need to take Nanjiang City down with him!" Xie Sunan shuddered. He assumed it was another nuke...
"DIE!"
Chen Shu ignored him completely. He hurled the vial skyward with everything he had, fully confident in his aim.
And sure enough, it landed a solid five hundred meters off from the Purple Fire Bird...
But hey -- this time the blast radius really wasn't that big!
Just as the vial was about to hit the ground, the Purple Fire Bird suddenly let out a piercing shriek, wheeled around, and flew straight toward the Death Potion.
"Holy shit! What the fuck are you doing?!"
The man's composure vanished entirely. He panicked. He was absolutely losing it.
If he turned back now, wouldn't he get beaten into a pixelated mess?!
But no matter how he tried to control the Purple Fire Bird, the thing acted like it was possessed.
Before the Death Potion could hit the ground, the Purple Fire Bird opened its beak and swallowed it whole.
Does this thing really have that much pull on beasts?
The man frowned. Seeing that none of the five had taken the opportunity to attack, he let out a quiet breath of relief.
Even if the guy had thrown poison, with a contract spirit's monstrous constitution, it could tough it out for a while.
"Go!"
He ordered the Purple Fire Bird to take flight. No response.
He looked down. The Purple Fire Bird's eyes were shut tight, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.
"A sleeping potion?"
The man froze for a moment -- then his expression twisted violently.
He couldn't recall his contract spirit back into its space!
"D-dead?! It's DEAD?!"
Horror flooded the man's eyes. What the fuck did it just eat?!
His brain went completely blank. The beast beneath his feet was an S-rank, Black Iron-level contract spirit. Its life force was supposed to be absurdly resilient.
And now it'd been one-shotted by a single vial of mystery liquid?
Does fucking science even apply here?!
Suddenly, a prickling sense of danger made him raise his head. Chen Shu and the others had already surrounded him.
Every last shred of composure drained from the man's face. He forced out a dry laugh.
"I'm saying, this is all actually a misunderstanding -- you believe me, right?"
Chen Shu flashed a grin. "Ever thought about going lane-for-lane against Batman in Gotham?" [1]
"What's Gotham?"
Before the man could process the question, darkness descended.
Fang Si whipped out a urea fertilizer bag and jammed it straight over his head.
WHAM WHAM WHAM!
What followed was an utterly merciless beating. This time, nobody held back.
No matter what, this man was not walking away alive.
Attempting to assassinate a Dragon Guard -- that charge alone was enough for a death sentence.
"Motherfucker! You had the nerve to showboat in front of ME?!" Chen Shu unleashed a flurry of fists and kicks. "And the kicker is -- you thought you could showboat AND run?!"
The others piled on, raining down punches and kicks.
Sealed inside the urea bag, even a Black Iron-rank Beast Tamer's enhanced physique couldn't save him.
ROAR!
In a flash, the man desperately summoned a B-rank contract spirit.
It materialized for roughly half a second before the Scarlet Flame Dragon and Frost Dragon dogpiled it.
The contract spirit got beaten alongside its owner in a brutal tag-team pummeling.
Ten minutes later.
The man was nearly unconscious. His body twitched sporadically.
"Let's bury him!"
Chen Shu dusted off his hands, a spark of excitement in his eyes.
He'd never actually buried someone before. This was the perfect chance to experience what Shen Wushuang felt on a daily basis.
"I say we cook him..."
Zhang Dali was even more hardcore. He pulled out an iron wok and a spatula...
Fang Si's mouth twitched. "That's enough. You two are genuinely absurd. Hand him over to the Dragon Guard for investigation."
Xu Xingxing spoke up. "I agree. The fact that a Black Iron-rank Beast Tamer came here to commit murder is honestly hard to believe. The reason behind it is probably anything but heartwarming."
The man wasn't just Black Iron rank -- he'd also possessed an S-rank contract spirit.
Even if he could never break through to Silver, he still could've lived a comfortable life of luxury.
Fang Si rubbed her chin. "There's probably an organization behind him."
Just then, Chen Shu's eyes narrowed.
A faint red glow suddenly appeared on the man's body, accompanied by a steady beep... beep... beep...
His expression shifted instantly. "Watch out!"
Everyone scattered, but while Fang Si could dodge in time, the others might not make it.
In the split second before the bomb detonated, a figure dropped from the sky!
The Slime was snoring away, fast asleep -- and yet it descended like a savior from the heavens, its body radiating brilliant golden light, suffused with an aura of the sacred and divine.
Sure, it looked like a giant golden turd. But in that moment, in everyone's hearts, it was nothing less than a holy statue...
THUD!
The Slime planted itself on top of the bomb with magnificent valor, snoring the entire time. Utterly fearless. Absolutely dauntless...
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The violent explosion ripped through the air. The savage shockwave launched the Slime skyward once more.
The big yellow ball rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.
Even after tanking a bomb point-blank, it was still sound asleep...
"That was close!"
Chen Shu let out a breath of relief. Good thing his reflexes were fast -- using the Slime as a shield had been a split-second call.
"Goo-gii! Goo-gii!"
The Slime's Sleep-Kill passive had ended right on cue. All it registered was that its butt felt... drafty...
Its enormous eyes brimmed with grievance as it stared at Chen Shu, looking like it was about to burst into tears at any second.
First it was a bullet. Now a bomb. Was a nuke next on the agenda...
Looking into the Slime's eyes, Chen Shu sighed and tossed it a Dali Bun.
"Goo-gii! Goo-gii!"
The Slime's mouth flew open instantly. Its eyes lit up with pure ecstasy, and it began headbutting Chen Shu over and over in a flurry of nuzzling affection.
"You big yellow ball... you're actually pretty innocent, aren't you..."
Everyone stared for a long moment before finally coming up with something to say.
Contract spirits generally had low intelligence. The Slime, however, had clearly dragged the average down even further...