God-Tier Awakening: The Dead Can Still Level Up

Chapter 30: Bigger Toys

Just as the Moonless Black Panther’s claw was about to fall, the mark on Xingluo’s forehead suddenly shone with a dark light.

A snake’s mouth burst out from the mark, its body still half-formed from soul power as it shot straight toward the Panther’s face.

The Panther reacted fast, but the snake was even faster at this distance and before the beast could pull its head back, the snake twisted in midair and drilled directly into its left eye.

The Panther froze for half a breath and then its roar tore through the forest.

It forgot Xingluo completely and slammed its own face with one paw, tearing skin and fur apart as black blood sprayed from its blinded eye.

Xingluo stumbled forward, barely realizing that she had just escaped death.

At the same time, a system notification rang inside Shen Wuxia’s mind.

[Soul Soldier destroyed.]

[Poison Soul Snake has perished.]

Shen Wuxia laughed softly instead of getting angry as his gamble had worked.

That snake had ambushed them two days ago, and Xingluo had only survived because he noticed it one breath before it struck.

Even when alive, it had been poisonous enough to kill even most Level 100 Awakened with one bite.

After becoming a Soul Soldier, it was too weak for direct combat, but as a hidden needle released at the right moment, it was perfect.

His thoughts stopped there because the Panther’s roar suddenly changed.

Black pus poured from its ruined eye, but instead of collapsing, the beast lowered its body as the silver lines beneath its fur twisted and turned dark red.

Its wounds began closing at a visible speed, even the damaged eye slowly reformed, though the new pupil looked blood-red instead of pale.

Xingluo’s face changed at once. "You have to be kidding me."

Shen Wuxia’s expression darkened. "Bloodline talent."

The Moonless Black Panther raised its head again, its fur now shining with black and blue-striped patterns under the dim moonlight.

Its aura became heavier, sharper, and far more unstable than before, the Panther moved first.

It crashed into the bear-shaped Soul Soldier with enough force to throw the massive body backward, then turned and tore through three wolf Soul Soldiers before Xingluo could even step in.

Wuxia’s eyes narrowed, and the mark on Xingluo’s forehead shone again and more Soul Soldiers emerged from it one after another.

Wolves, thorn beasts, horned deer, and two armored apes formed around the battlefield, their dark bodies spreading out like a wall between Xingluo and the transformed Panther.

The Panther did not slow down, Instead It charged straight through them, tearing apart anything blocking its path, but every second it spent destroying the Soul Soldiers gave Wuxia more room to control the field.

The bull rammed into its side, and the bear followed from the opposite direction, locking the Panther between their bodies for a short moment.

The Panther roared and slashed down, splitting the bull’s shoulder open and crushing part of the bear’s neck with its jaws, Wuxia did not repair them normally this time.

Several weaker Soul Soldiers behind him collapsed into dark fragments, their bodies burning away completely as the soul power rushed into the bear and bull.

The two heavy Soul Soldiers became denser at once and their bodies grew larger, their dark outlines turning more solid as they forced the Panther back for the first time.

Xingluo seized the opening and rushed in from the side, cutting toward the wound she had made earlier.

The blade sank in, but the Panther twisted and sent her flying with a strike from its tail.

She hit the ground hard and rolled twice before forcing herself up again.

The Panther tried to follow, but the bear slammed into it from the front while the bull lowered its head and drove both horns into its wounded side.

Black blood spilled across the glowing grass.

The beast struggled harder, tearing through their soul bodies again and again, but each regeneration was slower than before, and each burst of strength made its breathing rougher.

Its bloodline talent was powerful, but it was not free, the healed wounds began reopening, and the red glow in its eye flickered with every movement.

Without needing another command, the wolves moved low through the grass and kept snapping at the Panther’s legs, not trying to kill it, only forcing it to keep changing direction.

The Panther grew more violent, and that made its movements wider, Xingluo waited until it raised one paw to crush a wolf, then threw a talisman toward its face.

The Panther instantly tilted its head away, expecting an explosion but the talisman was empty, at the same moment, Xingluo’s real talisman landed beneath its injured hind leg.

The ground burst upward and the Panther lost balance for one breath, and the bull crashed into its side with all its weight.

Its body slammed into the broken rocks near the cliff base, and before it could rise, the bear pinned one front leg while the remaining wolves buried their jaws into its wounded hind leg.

Xingluo rushed forward and the Panther twisted its head toward her, but its body was too slow this time.

Her sword cut through the side of its neck, not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to slow its roar.

The Panther struggled again, snapping two wolves apart and tearing the bear’s chest open, but Wuxia burned another cluster of weak Soul Soldiers to hold the bear together.

Xingluo did not stop, she cut once, stepped back from the claw, then cut again into the same wound.

The Panther’s movements became heavier, its claws still tore through stone, but the timing was no longer clean, after several more exchanges, Xingluo finally found the opening.

The Panther lunged with its remaining strength, aiming for her throat, but its injured hind leg slipped on the broken ground.

Xingluo stepped to the side, raised her sword with both hands, and drove the blade through the already-open wound in its neck.

This time, the sword went deep and the Panther’s body stiffened.

Wuxia forced the bear and bull to press down together, crushing it against the ground before it could make one final struggle.

Xingluo clenched her teeth and dragged the blade through, black blood sprayed across her armor as the Moonless Black Panther’s roar broke apart halfway.

Its massive body trembled once, then finally collapsed beneath the dim light of the Dungeon.

A golden light shone around Xingluo’s body the moment the Moonless Black Panther finally stopped moving.

The warm glow spread across her arms, chest, and legs before sinking into her body, and a level-up notification rang inside her mind.

[Congratulations. You have reached Level 77.]

Xingluo froze for a moment after seeing the panel.

Even after hunting inside the Eternal Night Basin for a whole week, gaining this much experience from a single beast still felt terrifying.

But when she looked at the Panther’s corpse and remembered how close she had come to dying, the reward suddenly felt reasonable.

Normally, a mini-boss like this would need a large, well-equipped team to kill, and even then, the experience would be divided between everyone.

This time, almost all of it had gone to her, Xingluo’s eyes moved toward Shen Wuxia for a moment, and a strange thought appeared in her mind.

Am I really just riding a big thigh?

The moment that thought appeared, she coughed lightly and hurriedly pushed it away.

Then her gaze landed on the place where the Moonless Black Panther had died, two faint lights were shining beside the corpse.

Xingluo’s tired eyes brightened at once, and she hurried over before kneeling beside the drops.

When she picked them up and checked their attributes, her heart almost warmed completely.

One was a Level 85 Platinum-grade longsword, and its attack power, mana conductivity, durability, and sharpness were all much higher than her current weapon.

The other was a Level 85 Platinum-grade armor set, made from dark flexible plates with faint silver lines running through the surface.

It was almost as if the dungeon had directly paid her back for the armor the Panther destroyed earlier.

Xingluo held both items in her hands, and for a moment, even the pain in her body seemed to fade.

Shen Wuxia looked at her expression and said calmly, "Stop it, you are almost drooling on them."

Xingluo immediately hugged the sword and armor closer before glaring at him. "Shut up, i trained and hunted so hard I deserve to be happy for a moment."

Wuxia looked at the Panther’s corpse, then at her. "You almost died three times in this fight."

"Exactly," Xingluo said without hesitation. "That makes the reward even more precious."

She looked at the armor again and nodded with satisfaction. "At least this little kitty paid back my armor damages."

Then she glanced at Wuxia and added, "Now you better pay for my mental damages."

Shen Wuxia’s mouth twitched slightly as he stared at her with one raised brow.

Xingluo coughed and looked away. "Just joking."

She stored the sword and armor into her necklace space before stepping back from the Panther’s corpse.

"I know you helped a lot," she said, raising both hands slightly. "Go take your reward, do your business on this little kitty."

Wuxia sighed once, but his gaze had already returned to the Moonless Black Panther.

Unlike the ordinary elite beasts they had hunted before, this was a mini-boss with a Lord Bloodline.

If even elite beasts could become Soul Soldiers, then a beast like this should have far more value.

But because of that, Wuxia was not fully certain the extraction would be simple, he floated closer to the corpse and placed one hand above its head.

The familiar dark threads spread from his palm and sank into the Panther’s body, at first, the process looked no different from normal Soul Extraction.

The dead beast’s body trembled faintly, and dark soul power began rising from the wound on its neck, gathering toward Wuxia’s hand.

But after only a few breaths, the entire corpse suddenly shook violently.

The silver-red lines across the Panther’s fur lit up again, even though the beast was already dead.

Xingluo’s expression changed. "Wuxia?"

"Do not come closer," he said immediately.

The mana around the corpse twisted, and the glowing plants nearby bent away from it as if pushed by an invisible pressure.

Dark soul threads tightened around Wuxia’s arm, but instead of pulling the Panther’s soul out, something inside the corpse pulled back.

For the first time, the extraction resisted him, Wuxia’s eyes narrowed, and more soul force poured out from his body.

The air turned colder, the Panther’s corpse slowly rose a few inches from the ground, its limbs hanging lifelessly while black blood dripped onto the glowing grass beneath it.

Then a deep growl echoed from inside the dead body, Xingluo’s face turned pale at once. The Panther’s soul had not fully disappeared; it was still struggling.

The dark threads around Wuxia’s hand stretched tight, and the mark on Xingluo’s forehead began to burn with a dim black light.

Several stored Soul Soldiers stirred inside the mark, as if reacting to the pressure from the Panther’s soul. Wuxia clenched his teeth and forced the extraction deeper.

The Panther’s body cracked open along the wounds Xingluo had made, and a massive black soul outline slowly began to rise from the corpse.

Its shape was incomplete, but the pressure it released was much heavier than any Soul Soldier before it.

Just as Wuxia was about to pull it free, the Panther’s soul suddenly opened one blood-red eye, and a violent tug struck Wuxia’s mind.

His vision blurred instantly and pain exploded inside his head, sharp enough that his soul body flickered and almost lost shape.

Xingluo stepped forward in panic. "Wuxia!"

He did not answer and the extraction threads were still locked around the Panther’s soul, but the Panther’s soul had also latched onto him.

The corpse below trembled harder, the surrounding mana grew chaotic, and the unfinished soul outline above it struggled between collapse and formation.

Shen Wuxia held on, his face dark and strained, while the pain in his head grew worse with every passing breath.