Chapter 10 The Mountain Devil

The viper's headless body swayed and stumbled forward, collapsing to its knees. The three black orbs and the surrounding thorny jungle instantly dissipated.

Li Ang repeatedly pulled the sniper rifle's trigger, shattering the viper's arms and legs.

Simultaneously, he stomped hard against the ground, flicking his long spear. The sharp blade swept horizontally toward the viper's waist, intending to cut it in two.

High-level players' methods of self-preservation were all outrageously exaggerated. Without system notifications, the only way to be safe was to reduce the enemy to ashes and dust.

Just as the spear blade was about to tear into the headless body's waist, a thick, human-arm-sized, red-black centipede suddenly burst forth from the viper's left chest.

The centipede's body was long and flat, covered in red-black segmented armor. Along its sides were more than twenty pairs of sharp, golden claws.

The portion of the centipede visible outside the viper's body was already half a meter long.

Coupled with the massive mandibles constantly dripping green venom, it looked extremely grotesque and terrifying.

The half-centipede, still covered in bloodstains, moved with agile swiftness. It twisted its body with lightning speed, using its segmented armor to block the spear blade.

The red-black armor steadily blocked the blade, and the point of impact even sparked visible flames.

Not dead!

Li Ang's pupils abruptly constricted. He dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding a large pool of venom that the centipede sprayed like a water gun.

*Puchi, puchi.*

Within the viper's body, the sound of blades tearing through cloth echoed continuously.

Dozens of red-black centipedes extended from the viper's neck, shoulders, hip bones, chest cavity, and abdominal cavity,

acting as its head, arms, and legs.

As the Epiphyllum, a long-standing and secretive organization, it inherited many of the Kuiyang School's assets. The most numerous of these assets were records analyzing the supernatural power of demons.

Within the Epiphyllum, many experiments were conducted to integrate demonic power into the human body. Those organization members truly trusted by the higher-ups could also voluntarily undergo demonic transformation.

By transplanting demonic organs into their bodies, they would gain demonic power and become half-human, half-demon "monsters."

Of course, demonic transformation was extremely dangerous and unstable.

If they became too dependent on the demonic organs and excessively unleashed demonic power (according to the Epiphyllum's research department, exceeding the 'awakening' threshold), they would irreversibly become demons, permanently altering their original personalities.

Once fully awakened, their original selves would be completely replaced by the evil thoughts contained within the demonic organs, no different from death.

Only those Epiphyllum members without player qualifications, and Epiphyllum players who desperately needed power, would choose to undergo demonic transformation.

After all, the current Killing Field game environment had not yet reached the point of extreme brutality, where everyone was constantly on the verge of death.

"Aaaaaaa!"

The centipede at the viper's neck screamed shrilly, releasing sound waves indiscriminately.

The wind surged wildly, dust flew, and visible shockwaves pushed Li Ang back several steps. The aftereffects of the sound waves sent the crowd dozens of meters away sprawling.

At this time, the viper was still some distance away from fully unleashing demonic power and completely awakening the demonic organs.

Using the [Millennial Black Witch]'s title skill to forcefully bind his soul to his body, he endured the mental shock from the demonic organs and took out a scimitar from his backpack, preparing to finish off his enemy in one go.

However, Li Ang disappeared once again right before his eyes.

He came softly, and he left softly, not taking a single speck of dust.

The viper was very clear that his opponent hadn't used any stealth or invisibility skills or equipment. These centipedes on his body were all demonic creations.

Not only could they perceive the wind through the fine hairs on their bodies,

but they also possessed spiritual wisdom, allowing them to see the imperceptible and understand the obscure. Ordinary stealth skills were useless against them.

In the complex perception of the centipede limbs, only the other party's aura remained in the air. There were no more traces to be seen.

Disappeared?

The viper braced himself, and the flat centipedes growing out of his body wrapped around him like pythons, leaving no gaps.

*Shu——*

A shrill sound of wind rang out again behind the viper. A bone-like spear blade slashed directly at the centipede above his head.

The sharp cross-section of the spear blade precisely carved into the small segments of the centipede's carapace, cutting the entire creature in half at the waist.

The viper hastily turned to strike, but the long blade in his hand only hit air.

Li Ang disappeared again.

Unbeknownst to the viper, on the edge of the trench cliff, Qing'e Armor, inhabited by Miss Chai, was holding the true Grand Astrologer by the back of the neck, repeatedly jumping on the edge of the cliff.

Using the Killing Field game's sphere formation setting, she was constantly opening the gray-white world for Li Ang, dodging the viper's attacks again and again.

The sphere formation setting meant that the inside and outside of the gray-white world could not interfere with each other.

As long as Miss Chai grasped the frequency of the repeated jumping, she could completely help Li Ang enter the gray-white world again and again.

From the viper's perspective, it looked like Li Ang was suddenly disappearing and reappearing.

After several repeated jumps, Li Ang, who was constantly flashing in and out of existence, used his bone spear to cut off wave after wave of centipedes from the viper, like harvesting leeks.

The latter was extremely enraged, but all the attacks he unleashed only hit the surrounding open ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

In the end, the viper's centipede reserves were completely exhausted. He didn't even manage to reach the stage of fully unleashing demonic power, completely awakening the demonic organs, or transforming into a demon. He fell to the ground and was frustratedly burned to ashes by Li Ang, who shoved a white phosphorus grenade into his chest cavity.

At this time, the ritual itself had already entered a new stage.

The long pole stuck in the center of the open space had been covered in white light up to the middle. The dark clouds high above continued to spin, and lightning flashed, seemingly piecing together a demented and distorted beast's face.

The two black figures who had been maintaining the ritual earlier, watching the viper die, now had their hands free and turned to face Li Ang.

"You—"

One figure was just about to speak when a narrow arrow shot from afar pierced through his head, not even giving him time to react.

Liu Wu'dai's arrow used the Horned Good Bow's guaranteed hit effect. After a long period of charging and various buffs applied by Chu Yin and Wu Mu, it was a one-hit kill.

It directly nipped the threat in the bud, not giving the opponent any room to display their strength.

It wasn't that Ash and the others lacked the ability or confidence to fight.

But the effect of the sphere formation was still in place. If they went down, they would only trigger the formation and prevent themselves from reaching the enemy. They could only let Li Ang go down himself.

In addition, Liu Wu'dai relied on her financial resources to buy all kinds of equipment and props, which could be described as high-end and luxurious among players of the same level.

The guaranteed hit arrow effect was perfect for this kind of surprise attack.

The effect of Ash and the others fighting in person a thousand meters away was not as good as letting Liu Wu'dai focus on support, letting this rich woman focus on output.

From Li Ang repeatedly jumping around to eliminate the viper, to Liu Wu'dai's arrow killing the unknown Epiphyllum member, only ten seconds had passed.

However, the last remaining black-robed figure still stood there alone, with no intention of attacking or escaping.

Li Ang didn't rush to put the viper's body into his backpack. He brandished his spear, staring at the motionless, thin, black-robed figure, and walked step by step toward the long pole.

The surrounding crowd was still shouting wildly. Their faces had become even paler, visible wrinkles appeared on their faces, and the black smoke pouring from their mouths spewed out frantically, as if draining a pond to catch all the fish.

"Heh heh heh heh heh..."

The black-robed figure suddenly let out an extremely abrupt laugh.

"It's good that you killed them. The taste of those two wastes was too tempting. It took me a lot of effort to resist eating them."

He spoke slowly in a hoarse voice that didn't sound human, reached out a hand without skin, and slowly took off his hood, revealing a simian face completely composed of flesh buds and black hair. "Should I say, long time no see?"

Shan Xiao (Mountain Devil).