Chapter 26: Sky Hunter
In the second floor of the Sleep House, Baha crouched on the experimental table, while beside him, Su Xiao was mixing something.
Gurgle~
A pale red solution churned inside a test tube. Su Xiao infused mana into the solution, sensed it, and confirmed that it contained no ancient god cells or the like—rather, it was a purified bloodline item, or more accurately, it resembled a class template.
He drew it into an injection gun and looked at Baha.
"This source blood is highly destructive. Two outcomes are possible: you transform into an unknown creature from the alternate space, or you 'digest' the source blood."
"That doesn't sound great, but I can handle it. In recent fights, I've been more and more of a sidekick."
Baha was clearly a bit annoyed. As the assassination specialist of the team, every time they encountered a strong enemy, he had never successfully assassinated anyone.
Su Xiao said nothing more, instead taking something out from his storage space.
...
Baha also received a notification. He shook his feathers and said, "If I die, this contract would be such a waste."
The moment Baha finished speaking, Su Xiao grabbed his head with one hand and thrust the injection gun into his neck.
"Crack!"
Baha let out an extremely pained sound, his feathers instantly bristling.
"Hah~ This is really something!"
Baha staggered on the experimental table, knocking over a row of glass containers.
With a crash, a test tube landed a few meters away, shattering on the floor. The space around it began to destabilize.
"Roar!"
Baha spread his wings, and a massive bird-like phantom appeared behind him.
After a full two hours of struggle, Baha finally lay flat on the experimental table, several loops of chains binding him.
"Boss, I didn't turn into an ancient god, did I?"
Baha's figure suddenly vanished, the chains collapsing into a heap.
Su Xiao reached out beside him, grabbed the bewildered Baha from the alternate space, and pulled him out.
"You're still the same bird as before."
Su Xiao extinguished the cigarette between his fingers and released Baha.
"Uh~"
Baha felt there was something off about Su Xiao's words but couldn't find any flaw.
Su Xiao checked Baha's information. Most of the rewards from this venture had been invested in Baha.
Name: Sky Hunter Demon Eagle·Baha
Type: Follower
Class: Sky Bloodline
Health: 100%
Mana: 5770 points (increased by 2000 points)
Poison Energy Cap: 5770 points (convertible from mana)
Strength: 97 points (True Attribute, increased by 17 points, evolved to True Attribute)
Agility: 134 (True Attribute, increased by 9 points)
Endurance: 95 (True Attribute, increased by 10 points)
Intelligence: 27
Charm: 45
Skill 1, Steel Body Iron Feather (Passive Lv.40): Health +2800 points, Mana +5500 points, Feather Armor +42 points.
Skill 2, Devoted Loyalty (Passive x): Baha holds deep gratitude toward his creator and is willing to fight to the death for him.
Skill 3, Sky Demon Eagle (Active Lv.69): Baha can perform spatial teleportation, consuming 50–200 mana per use depending on distance. This ability has no cooldown but imposes an endurance burden.
Skill 4, Backstab (Passive Lv.60): If Baha ambushes an enemy from behind, he deals Agility x2 True Damage + Base Damage + 142 points of True Poison Damage.
Skill 5, Throat Slit (Active Lv.44): After triggering Backstab (Passive), Baha can immediately follow up with this ability, tearing open the enemy's throat with his claws, dealing 200–700 points of critical damage, plus 142 points of True Poison Damage and severe bleeding. Cooldown: 10 hours. Cost: 200 mana.
Skill 6, Venom Shadow (Ultimate Skill·Passive/Active Lv.10): Due to the creator's ability traits, Baha gains partial enhancements. His body contains a growing biological energy venom. Each attack inflicts 142 points of True Poison Damage on the enemy.
Note: Baha can inject all venom into an enemy at once, dealing up to 2500 points of True Poison Damage, after which Baha will be weakened for 1–5 seconds.
Note: Venom Shadow is a growth-type ability. After Baha absorbs biological toxins from enemies of higher rank, Venom Shadow's level will increase, enhancing True Poison Damage and adding other effects.
Current additional traits of Venom Shadow: Lethal, Paralysis, True Damage.
Skill 7: Demon Eagle Domain (Ultimate Skill·Active Lv.20): Baha possesses six Spatial Feathers. When he fully 'spreads' his wings, all six Spatial Feathers shatter, interrupting/sealing all sixth-rank spatial abilities within a 1000-meter radius for 6 minutes.
Note: After the Spatial Feathers shatter, one feather recovers every 2 natural days.
Note: This ability can be upgraded; conditions unknown.
Note: While the Spatial Feathers are shattered and not fully recovered, Baha cannot teleport through space.
...
Baha's overall attributes had improved. Though only two new abilities were added, his combat power had skyrocketed. Now, Baha was a true assassin—coming without a trace, vanishing without a shadow.
Suddenly appearing, tearing open an enemy's nape with a claw, then slitting the throat with both claws, injecting massive amounts of venom into the enemy's body, dealing terrifying True Damage, and then vanishing just as suddenly.
More importantly, Baha's existence time limit had disappeared.
"Something... feels weird?"
Baha raised a wing to scratch his head. Hearing his doubt, Su Xiao condensed a crystal ball the size of a dragon's eye in his hand, flicked it with a snap, and it struck Baha hard on the head.
"Ouch! Hey? Why does it hurt so much..."
Baha tapped his chest with his wing, then sniffed the air in the room.
"Oh, I see—I've become a living creature."
Baha, usually full of chatter, suddenly fell silent. He needed to master his new abilities as quickly as possible.
"Bubu, Amu, stand by here."
Leaving this command, Su Xiao exited the Sleep House and headed straight for the Wizard Council.
Ten minutes later, on the thirtieth floor of the Wizard Council, before the Old God Church, Su Xiao pushed open the stone door. Gus was still hanging upside down, while Dawn was asleep on a stone chair, covered with a blanket.
"How's the intelligence investigation going?"
Gus opened his pale eyes. Su Xiao had been gone for only about an hour from leaving to returning—clearly, things hadn't gone smoothly.
"Killed."
Su Xiao stopped in front of Dawn's stone chair.
"You... killed the Dominator?"
Gus looked at Su Xiao in disbelief. Su Xiao ignored Gus and snapped his fingers in front of Dawn.
"Speak faster when you talk."
"Hm? What?"
Dawn opened his eyes, a look of confusion on his aged face.
"Hahaha, Sotos was killed by you, hahaha, the tone you just used... hahaha. Sotos, death doesn't feel good, does it?"
Gus laughed wildly, laughing until he was almost insane, chains clinking.
"The White Goat will come knocking soon. Before that, you need to do something for me."
Su Xiao pulled off the blanket covering Dawn. Below Dawn's abdomen was empty. Su Xiao's gaze shifted to Gus.
"You... know about this?" Gus's smile gradually faded, his voice low as he continued, "Ah, that's right, I tore it off myself. You monster, as clever as a ghost."
"Help me deal with someone. Right now."
"Who?"
Gus arched his body upward, snapping the chains with a click.
"Among the ancient gods... the hardest one to handle."
Su Xiao couldn't help but smile as he said this, because the hardest ancient god to deal with had been in disguise all along.
If Su Xiao's guess was correct, that was the final boss of the mission's ultimate stage. Su Xiao didn't plan to follow the rules and take them down one by one. Instead, he would arrange the final boss's fate directly, making sure the other party was dead cold before they could even break free from their restraints.
Su Xiao's only concern was whether the approaching White Goat would be scared off—that would make things troublesome.