Chapter 351: Chapter 243: "The eight of you below, hands on your heads, squat down!
"Watch out!" Li Xiang shouted.
The frozen Exotic Beast stirred. Its power far surpassed that of the newly-hatched creature from before—Luo Feifei’s Ice Freeze Technique couldn’t hold it.
The ice shattered in an instant. With a furious roar, the Exotic Beast lunged at Luo Feifei.
Luo Feifei reacted in a flash. She slashed out with the White Tiger Sword, Spiritual Power surging and Sword Aura gleaming. One of the Exotic Beast’s claws was severed and sent flying.
The White Tiger Sword was a Tier Fourteen Extraordinary Spirit Sword, possessing two Extraordinary Attributes: Luck and Swift. Combined with Luo Feifei’s own innate Sharpness Superpower, even the Exotic Beast’s tough hide, comparable to a super-alloy, couldn’t withstand it.
Li Xiang’s Cold Ice Sword Qi hadn’t been upgraded, so its power was no match for Luo Feifei’s White Tiger Sword and her Refined Swordsmanship.
VMMMM—
The tip of the White Jade Golden Hook Rod produced a thunderous sonic boom as it broke the sound barrier, viciously plunging into the Exotic Beast’s chest and hoisting it into the air.
CRACKLE! Electric arcs flashed as a high-voltage current surged from the Exotic Beast’s body, snaking along the White Jade Golden Hook Rod like an electric python to strike Li Xiang.
’Whoa!’ Li Xiang jumped in fright. He had no desire to test high-voltage electricity with his own body.
The shaft of the White Jade Golden Hook Rod only looked like white jade; in reality, it was some unknown and highly conductive alloy.
He immediately let go. The White Jade Golden Hook Rod clattered to the ground, and the Exotic Beast seized the chance to escape.
However, after sustaining such a grievous wound, its speed finally dropped. The electrical charge stored in its body had also been nearly depleted in that last attack, leaving it a spent force.
Xu Xuan, Zhang Youyou, Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, Lei Xiaohui, and Lei Jiaming closed in, surrounding it from all sides.
They squeezed their triggers, unleashing a hail of bullets as if they were free. Unfortunately, the rounds just ricocheted wildly off the Exotic Beast’s body, completely unable to break through its defenses.
This Exotic Beast was a monster with an exoskeleton. With its mouth closed, its weakest point was likely the mass of densely packed eyes on its head.
However, its eyelids were also made of a hard, black, bone-like material and could blink rapidly to block incoming bullets.
Li Xiang had managed to hook out two of its hideous eyeballs earlier for two reasons. First, he was faster than its blink. Second, the golden hook of the White Jade Golden Hook Rod was incredibly sharp; even if the creature shut its eyes, the hook could slip through the gap and gouge them out.
Bullets, however, were ineffective.
Seeing their firearms were useless, everyone quickly emptied their magazines and switched to attacking with their Superpowers.
Just like before, since the Exotic Beast was already heavily wounded and surrounded, Li Xiang held back. He watched from the sidelines, giving his team members a good opportunity to get some practice.
When Luo Feifei saw Li Xiang put away his weapon, she smiled gracefully. With a beautiful flourish, she retracted her White Tiger Rapier into her body and came to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him, observing the fight.
The Exotic Beast, desperate to break through the encirclement, fixed its gaze on Zhao Xueqing. The mass of dark pupils on its head contracted sharply as it lunged.
"Bind!"
Zhao Xueqing flicked her slender fingers. Emerald vines, shimmering with Spirit Patterns, materialized from thin air. In mid-air, they instantly wove themselves into a hexagonal cage. Infused with her Wood Superpower, the lush, thorny vines trapped the Exotic Beast in an instant.
The cage constricted, tightening its grip.
This was a technique Zhao Xueqing had developed. She’d found that simply using loose vines was too weak. Weaving them into a net-like cage and deploying it directly was brutally effective for hunting.
The vines were so sturdy they could immobilize several tigers at once.
Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui were all constantly improving, and their progress was obvious.
They couldn’t advance to Tier Two anytime soon, so they had all focused a portion of their efforts on refining the application of their Superpowers.
Unfortunately, the Exotic Beast’s combat strength exceeded their expectations. Just when they thought the fight was over, the vine cage exploded with a loud POOM!
The sturdy, emerald vine cage had a hole melted through it by a corrosive slime the Exotic Beast spat out. With its geometric structure compromised, the beast easily shattered the rest.
The Exotic Beast burst free from the shower of debris, absolutely enraged. It opened its cavernous maw, and a dozen long, scarlet tongues covered in barbs whipped out like a nest of vipers, lashing toward Zhao Xueqing.
Zhao Xueqing’s Vine Technique was broken, and she staggered from the backlash, hastily retreating.
The tongues were disgusting. They were slimy, grotesquely shaped, and exceptionally ugly. Their tips ended in bone blades, and their lengths were covered in curved barbs. Though the Exotic Beast was only the size of a Doberman, its tongues could extend for several meters.
Slimy, tentacle-like things were what Zhao Xueqing feared most.
Even though she retreated quickly, one of the tongues still caught her clothes. The bone blade at its tip pierced straight through her bulletproof vest. Fortunately, it missed her flesh by a hair’s breadth. ’Wearing this vest was a good idea after all.’
"Don’t be afraid. Watch my Heaven-Returning Xuanming Sword."
Yao Yao charged forward like a whirlwind, her Mandarin Duck Double-Bladed Sword a blur. A Clear and Resonant Sword Sound cut through the din of the battlefield. Clad in Snake Skin Soft Boots and using the Flowing Cloud Step, her movements were nimble and graceful. She wielded her two swords like fiery pinwheels, and with a great WHOOSH, seven or eight of the Exotic Beast’s long tongues were severed.
Soon, Lei Xiaohui, Lei Jiaming, Xu Xuan, and Zhang Youyou also joined the fray. The group surrounded the Exotic Beast, and the battle became a chaotic, tumbling melee.
Nearby, a large crowd of onlookers had gathered, watching from a distance. Some even shone spotlights in their direction. However, everyone was smart enough to stay two or three hundred meters away, observing from the safety of their houses.
Several police cars had also arrived, but the officers didn’t dare approach. This was clearly something they couldn’t handle.
Las Vegas was a major city, and some high-ranking police officials were privy to inside information. Just last night in Tonopah Town, hundreds of United States soldiers had been killed. With their meager numbers, what could they do but serve as cannon fodder?
Fortunately, there was an air force base just a dozen or so kilometers outside Las Vegas. One of the officers immediately called it to request reinforcements.
The crowd chattered excitedly, whispering amongst themselves. Some raised their phones to film, but it was too far away and the middle of the night, so the footage was blurry.
"What is that monster? Why is it so ugly? Is it an alien creature?"
"It must be an alien! Bullets can’t even kill it!"
"Then who are those people fighting the monster?"
"No idea. Maybe they’re Marvel Heroes?"
"You watch too many movies."
This was because Li Xiang and his team were completely covered, their faces hidden.
Meanwhile, at Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, the call for help from the police was received. In truth, they had already noticed the disturbance in the city and were preparing to deploy.
Although radar couldn’t detect the Exotic Beast, it could detect the humans in the city, including Li Xiang and his team.
Li Xiang wasn’t wearing his Armor today. He didn’t need it.
Several helicopter gunships took off, and United States soldiers were deployed. Even an F-15 heavy fighter jet and two F-16 light fighters were scrambled.
Over a distance of just a dozen or so kilometers, the aircraft would arrive in moments.
By this time, the Exotic Beast was on its last breath. Li Xiang delivered the final blow, piercing its head with the tip of his spear.
System: "Congratulations, Host, for slaying the Tier Twenty-Eight Saint-level Mutated Creature, the Shadowy Abyss Tongue Demon. You are rewarded with 2800 Achievement Points, three Tier Fourteen Mutated Spiritual Medicines: Void Thousand Eyes Spirit Crystal, and one Tier Twenty-sixth Extraordinary Item: a set of Electric Light Illusion Armor."
As for the Exotic Beast’s corpse, the claw Luo Feifei had severed, and the seven or eight tongues Yao Yao had lopped off, Li Xiang collected them all into his system inventory.
All of these items had immense research value; they couldn’t be allowed to fall into American hands.
In the night sky, five helicopter gunships hovered, surrounding the battlefield. Their autocannons, rocket pods, and missile launchers were all aimed at the ground below.
Higher up, three fighter jets circled, their fire-control radars locked onto the area below. Their missiles were ready to launch at a moment’s notice.
A voice boomed from a loudspeaker on one of the gunships: "You eight people below, put your hands on your heads! Get down on the ground and don’t move!"
"Surrender the Exotic Beast! Do not resist!"
"Drop your weapons and submit to an inspection."
The voice thundered, echoing across the night sky.
