Chapter 536 - Taming the Fourth Year: Isolation - 8

เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มี.ค. 2569 07:42

Chapter 536 -536 – Taming the Fourth Year: Isolation – 8 The ecology of the depths changed dramatically once creatures reached Gold Rank. It was like crossing an invisible line where all previous rules of the underground ecosystem were completely rewritten. The lesser Deep Terrors that Ren had been seeking still behaved in some ways like the Deep Killers they evolved from: aggressive, territorial, dependent on quick ambushes and paralyzing surprise attacks. But when they reached Gold, their strategy evolved toward something much more sophisticated and passive. They no longer had the natural evolutionary advantage of being fast predators with superior abilities. Deep Worms had become much faster and more resistant with thicker layers, and their enormous vitality thanks to their massive size didn’t allow them to be easily paralyzed. Living Tunnels had developed a completely opposite, more passive strategy: instead of constantly working with worms, they now lived alone, encysting themselves in enormous crystal chambers to passively absorb mana from the environment in their huge spheres that Terrors could very rarely find and penetrate. The addition of other monsters that controlled broader deep zones like Shadow Mimics and two-headed Hydras that could compete with them head-on made active hunting even riskier. This ecosystem evolution had forced Deep Terrors to also remain still and become highly specialized opportunistic hunters. Ren knew, thanks to his knowledge, about their new strategy… but seeing it in person was something completely different. The cores they collected on their backs from previous prey combined with a long sticky organic network, extensions of their own bodies, to form a temporary reinforced mana web, similar to a weighted net but much more sinister. It wasn’t a traditional spider’s web, but rather depended on the Terrors’ long, adapted legs, each acting as a sensor, appendage, and weapon simultaneously. Once a beast was trapped in this web, the Terror embraced it forcefully, buried its long and powerful proboscis, paralyzed and slowly absorbed, no matter how much the victim writhed. The process could take some minutes, keeping the prey conscious while being drained of all its mana and vital energy. The technique was horrifically efficient. Unlike the quick kills favored by lower-rank predators, Gold-rank Terrors had learned that slow extraction maximized resource acquisition while minimizing energy expenditure. The enormous size of Gold Terrors, their extreme territoriality over their core collections, and their new less aggressive but more efficient strategy had ultimately resulted in a much smaller population of the species in this more competitive layer. From being abundant hunters, they had become solitary creatures that claimed vast territories and core collections, defending them to the death. Ren advanced through the Gold 1 layers, finding abundant evidence of this new predatory hierarchy. He eliminated some Deep Worms, each falling to his hydra’s superior combination of power, speed, and technique. The crystals accumulated in his wolverine’s dimensional storage, along with teeth, defensive plates, cores and other valuable materials. Each victory reinforced his growing confidence. The creatures that had once seemed powerful now felt manageable, even routine. The systematic nature of resource extraction was also becoming almost meditative. He discovered a giant Royal Living Tunnel cyst, a crystalline structure the size of a three-story building that pulsed with life. Breaking the outer shell required concentration, but the creature and its home represented expensive cultivation materials. Self-repairing gold-rank living crystals, and materials similar to those from worms but a bit more resistant. His most impressive encounter in Gold 1 was with a wild two-headed hydra he had found sleeping in a natural crystal chamber. The creature trusted its natural diamond defenses so much that it had completely lowered its guard, allowing Ren to get close enough for a surprise attack. The partial fusion he used on himself to eliminate it was so brief that it barely cost him energy. His jade crystal hand became a long sword of mineral that pierced through the defensive scales as if they were paper, finding the neural connection point between the two heads. A clean cut, and the hydra collapsed without even fully awakening. The diamond plates were an acquisition that brought him nostalgia, though their high value no longer seemed as impressive to him. The casual nature of the kill was almost disturbing. The hydra’s reputation as a fearsome predator meant nothing to him now. But after 2 hours of successful hunting in Gold 1, Ren realized he hadn’t encountered a single Deep Terror. ‘I suppose I can find one further down,’ Ren thought, beginning his descent toward the deeper layers. The transition to Gold 2 wasn’t very dramatic, but differences in the environment could be noticed. The crystals in the walls had grown somewhat larger, and Ren felt higher mana pressure and heat but all was still manageable for his three beasts. His adaptation to extreme environments was progressing faster than he had anticipated. And finally, Ren sensed what he had been looking for. A Deep Terror’s web. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but his enhanced perception could detect the mana patterns extending through a sizable area. The web’s nodes were cores from previously hunted beasts, each pulsing with residual energy that created a hypnotic sound for creatures highly sensitive to vibrations. Ren smiled with cold anticipation. Finally… He positioned himself carefully, using his earth control to move through the walls and appear directly behind the creature. Position was critical; Deep Terrors were vulnerable from behind, where their web and powerful proboscis couldn’t reach. The Terror he found was approximately the size of a small house, but its form was utterly disturbing. Dozens of long, hairy, articulated legs extended from a compact central body. Its proboscis extended from the front of its body like a living spear, capable of piercing 2-meter-thick armor and draining a victim’s vital energy in a matter of minutes. The creature’s appearance defied easy description. It was as if someone had taken the worst aspects of multiple creepy species and combined them into a single nightmare entity. This time, Ren knew his hydra alone wouldn’t be sufficient. The Terror’s mana density was approximately twice as strong as the Deep Worm he had eliminated earlier, and its superior intelligence made it a much more dangerous opponent. He summoned both his hydra and wolverine simultaneously. The two beasts materialized on either side of him. Together, they should be comparable in power to the Terror, but the battle would depend on strategy as much as brute force. Ren began by expanding a spherical chamber around the entire battle area again, completely sealing the combat space. The walls solidified until they became harder than normal at this depth, eliminating any possibility of the Terror escaping or using its web arrangement to gain advantage. But the Terror’s reaction was immediate and intelligent. Its legs moved with fast lethality, each attacking from a different angle while the cores at their extremities generated mana pulses on impact that functioned like energetic morning stars. The hydra responded by moving independently, intercepting and biting different legs while the wolverine used superior agility to avoid the mana pulses and attack from a distance with elemental attacks to seek openings in the Terror’s defenses. But the Terror had been hunting in these depths for decades. Its individual resistance and intelligence proved to be quite more sophisticated than Ren had expected. The legs weren’t just for attacking but also moving along curved walls in what was virtually still three-dimensional combat for the creature. They also functioned as distraction weapons, creating a forest of threats that made locating and attacking the real body a logistical nightmare. Each time the hydra or wolverine approached the central body, a leg appeared to block the attack while other legs attacked from blind spots. The mana pulses from the cores created disruption zones that interfered with the coordination of Ren’s beasts. The combat was becoming a complex dance of positioning and timing. Every attack had to be calculated not just for its immediate effect, but for how it would affect the overall situation. Frustration began to grow in Ren as the battle extended. Every attack seemed to be perfectly countered, every strategy neutralized by the Terror’s superior intelligence. ‘This is taking too long,’ he thought, feeling his energy drain from maintaining two beasts simultaneously in intense combat. He made a decision that would have been impossible without his three rings. He fused his jade wolverine with his diamond hydra. The two beasts combined into a creature that transcended the power of either individual form. A reptilian quadruped emerged, its body covered in jade crystal scales. It was approximately 1.5 times more powerful than the two individual beasts combined. Normally, this fusion would have created two copies of the fused creature, and Ren would have been able to manifest one within his own body for a total power boost of 300%. But having the three rings allowed him to use this fusion partially, applying it only to his external beasts and conserving enormous amounts of energy. The 50% power increase for his beasts proved to be exactly what was needed to break the stalemate. The new fused creature had the combined durability and elemental control, especially in earth and light, of both creatures. It began systematically destroying the Terror’s legs, using superior speed and power to overwhelm the creature’s defenses. The cores that had functioned as morning stars were crushed or separated from their host limbs, eliminating both weapons and sensors. The Terror fought valiantly, but like the worm earlier, its anatomy worked against it in close combat. Its powerful proboscis could only attack from the front, which was why it had developed the web strategy and specialized legs. Without those advantages, it was exposed on its flanks and back. Ren’s fused beast exploited this weakness ruthlessly. With most legs destroyed and its mobility severely compromised, the Terror made a desperate final attack. Its proboscis extended toward Ren himself, trying to bypass the beasts and attack the tamer directly. Ren caught the proboscis with his bare hand, having manifested a bit more of the partial fusion in time. The contact sent shockwaves of raw energy through both combatants, but Ren had been annoyed by the surprise. His three rings flared with power, and his system overcharged, then the boy responded by channeling and redirecting the energy back into the Terror. The feedback loop destroyed the Terror’s system in seconds. The massive creature collapsed, its vital systems shutting down one by one until only a valuable carcass remained. Ren deactivated the fusion, feeling both satisfaction and slight exhaustion as the individual beasts separated and returned to their normal forms. The Terror’s proboscis was exactly what he had been looking for. Gold 2, perfectly preserved in his hand, and with enchantments that would make the spear he planned to create significantly more effective than anything available commercially. ‘Though maybe a Gold 3 wouldn’t be impossible,’ he thought while examining his prize. ‘I’m already here and if I can handle a Gold 2 this well…’ After contemplating for several minutes, Ren made a decision that his fungus clearly disapproved of. He would carefully store the proboscis, collect any other valuable materials from the Terror’s carcass, and continue descending. Gold 3 awaited. The fungus remained silent, but Ren could feel its growing concern as a constant pressure in the back of his consciousness. Like it ? Give it a power stone! ┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻ – It’s free and you help me a lot Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know. Thank you so much for reading! (∿°○°)∿ ︵︵︵︵︵ ǝʌol

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