Chapter 139: Chapter 102: Not a Drop Left
"Ice Glaze, clean up any Snowstorm Apes that get past Hong Ji."
"Xiaolingdang, you’ll do the same as before. Command the Blade Butterflies to kill any Snowstorm Apes that get past Ice Glaze."
"If any Ice Storm Apes start flinging projectiles of hard ice at us from a distance, use offshoots from your Blade Butterflies to block them."
"Don’t worry if the Blade Butterflies get injured. I’ll be there to heal them immediately."
"The safety of the three of us is in your hands."
"Ah Xuan, this battle is your time to shine. Command the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother with all you’ve got. Let the Poison Chains dance through this Ice Cave."
Lan Po, who had been resting in Zhong Yi’s arms, let out a few meows, anxiously pawing at his chest.
Seeing this, Zhong Yi immediately placed a hand on Lan Po’s small head.
"This isn’t your battlefield, Lan Po. Just stay put in my arms."
Previously, Zhong Yi’s group had been moving through the various ice tunnels, fighting one skirmish after another. This time, however, they were facing a defensive battle, much like a tower defense game.
Hong Ji knew exactly how brutal this battle was going to be.
In past fights, Hong Ji could freely dodge enemy attacks, using her superb combat skills to eliminate her opponents.
But this time, Hong Ji knew she had to become an unbreachable wall. Retreat was not an option.
Hong Ji transformed her legs, turning them into spined, fork-like appendages covered in tough bone.
After plunging her new legs deep into the icy ground, barbs erupted from their smooth, bony surfaces, anchoring Hong Ji firmly in place.
Hong Ji originally only had four tentacles, but now, the flesh on her back writhed and pulsed with effort.
Four more tentacles, thicker and stronger than the last, burst from her back.
The teeth and exoskeletons on these new tentacles were clearly sturdier and more lethal than those on the original four.
Moreover, the teeth on these four tentacles glistened with a faint purple sheen, obviously coated in the venom of the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother.
Hong Ji directed these four venom-coated tentacles to strike, extending them forward.
The four tentacles, each fifteen to sixteen meters long, whipped through the Ice Cave with immense force, lashing out at the Snowstorm Apes in the vanguard.
They snapped the charging apes in half at the waist.
In the very first exchange, nearly ten Snowstorm Apes were torn to pieces, and another thirty were grievously wounded.
Shen Xuan didn’t even need to command the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother to sting the Snowstorm Apes with its tentacles.
The Poison Chain had already begun to conduct, leaping toward the healthy Snowstorm Apes at the rear.
When the Poison Chain conducted into a healthy Life form, the spreading toxin caused excruciating pain to instantly wrack its entire body.
The excruciating pain from the spreading Poison Chain caused the afflicted Snowstorm Apes to falter.
Hong Ji’s brutal offensive had already struck fear into the hearts of the frontline Snowstorm Apes.
However, the Ice Cave was narrow, and the apes in the rear couldn’t see what was happening up front.
As the apes in the front slowed or faltered from the excruciating pain, a massive stampede occurred.
At least two hundred Snowstorm Apes were trampled and grievously injured by the ones charging from behind.
Over five hundred more suffered minor injuries.
During the chaos of the stampede, Hong Ji seized the opportunity to launch another ferocious assault.
Her eight fifteen-meter-long tentacles cracked like sonic booms as they lashed into the chaotic horde of Snowstorm Apes.
In a matter of moments, a high wall of Snowstorm Ape corpses was already half-formed.
This wall of bodies wasn’t meant to block the Snowstorm Apes behind it.
Instead, it acted as a speed bump, slowing their advance.
The apes in the rear now had to climb over the bodies of their own kind to attack Hong Ji and the others behind her.
Taking full advantage of the chaos in the Snowstorm Ape horde, Hong Ji used every trick at her disposal.
She grabbed the grievously wounded, dying Snowstorm Apes that were already infected with the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother’s venom and flung them into the horde behind, accelerating the Poison Chain’s conduction.
Just then, that sharp, bizarre screech echoed once more.
The frontline apes, which had been cowering in fear and pain, suddenly seemed to have been shot with adrenaline. They charged forward again, heedless of death.
The cloying, metallic stench of blood filled the Ice Cave.
Severed limbs and blood coated the walls of the cave, covering them in a thick layer of gory slush.
A battle of attrition had now begun!
Fortunately, in this protracted battle, Hong Ji could sustain herself by eating and drinking through large mouths that grew on her tentacles.
Otherwise, no matter how powerful she was, she would never have been able to defend the Ice Cave against the assault of several thousand Snowstorm Apes.
「Three hours later.」
Shen Xuan, holding the exhausted Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother, said,
"Young Master, Purple Erosion is completely out of venom."
But despite his words, Shen Xuan’s face was filled with pride.
The lethality the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother had displayed in this battle made Shen Xuan realize his own worth.
He had also figured out how he wanted to strengthen his Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother in the future.
Cradling the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother, Shen Xuan felt a growing sense of gratitude toward Zhong Yi.
’Wen Tao once said I was a pearl covered in dust.’
’But this pearl had been covered in dust for more than a decade. Just as I was about to be crushed and thrown into the mire, Zhong Yi was the only one who wiped that dust away.’
’He let me truly shine, as brilliant as a pearl!’
Looking over at Zhong Yi, who was busy calculating the number of remaining Snowstorm Apes, the pride on Shen Xuan’s face deepened.
’Only now, his pride was no longer just for the power of his Order Beast, the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother.’
’He was proud that he was able to follow by Zhong Yi’s side!’
"Ah Xuan, forty-five Poison Chains are enough."
"Each of those forty-five chains has already conducted more than ten times, and each one can kill a Snowstorm Ape in under thirty seconds."
"Right now, out of the three of us, you’re the strongest when it comes to fighting groups."
"Those forty-five Poison Chains are all far from Hong Ji now. Just let them jump freely. Have the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother start recovering its Energy."
"If you see a four-armed, monkey-like monster with silver-blue fur, just have the Ten Thousand Corrosive Poison Mother rein in the Poison Chains to avoid friendly fire."
Seeing the Secret Realm Exploration Level had reached fifty-eight percent, Zhong Yi thought to himself, ’I suppose coming to explore the Ice Cave Secret Realm this time counts as a good deed for Starlight City.’
「Meanwhile, outside the Ice Cave Secret Realm in the North City Suburbs of Starlight City.」
Wang Xin, captain of the Starlight Monarch’s patrol squad, stood cautiously behind a black-haired woman in a long black dress. She had a somewhat frail, scholarly look about her, filled with a sense of fragility.
You Weiwei’s demeanor and voice were in stark contrast to her appearance.
But right now, the feeling of being broken inside her was no less than the fragile image she projected.
"Do you think the two of them will make it out of this Ice Cave Secret Realm?"
Wang Xin had lost count of how many times the woman in black before him had asked that same question.
Every time he heard it, a tingling numbness crept over his scalp.
’How am I supposed to know if those two will make it out of the Ice Cave Secret Realm?’
Wang Xin had recognized You Weiwei the moment she arrived at the Secret Realm Entrance.
As the principal of Starlight Academy, You Weiwei often appeared in the public eye.
’At first, Wang Xin had been skeptical of what Zheng Yufeng said. How much of a death wish must two newly awakened Celestial Destiny Seekers have...’
’...to explore an Ice Cave Secret Realm on the verge of an outbreak!’
’Even if those two Celestial Destiny Seekers were powerful, their strength was only at the Mortal Beast Tier.’
’Four people went in total. Even if all of them were Celestial Destiny Seekers, what could they possibly accomplish in the Ice Cave Secret Realm?’
’A community of over a hundred Snowstorm Apes was no laughing matter.’
"More than a day had passed, and the two of them still hadn’t emerged from the entrance."
He figured their chances of survival were slim.
But that was obviously not something he could say out loud.
"Lord Xu Zhi, those two are blessed by fortune. They will surely make it out of the Ice Cave Secret Realm."
"The Commander of the Starlight Monarch’s 42nd Army Corps has arrived. Lord Xu Zhi, would you like to see Commander Pang?"
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