Chapter 5: The Mysterious Black Panther
Linley frowned deeply.
He had never heard of this type of magical beast either. There were only a few kinds of panther-type magical beasts, but one that was entirely pitch-black, with dense, curved black patterns, was something he had never heard of before.
Generally, any magical beast one had never heard of could not be taken lightly.
The bald, one-eyed man continued, "That monster was right in front of us, eating the flesh from that magus's face and thighs... It tore off chunks of meat in one bite. All of us were furious and went mad, immediately attacking it together."
"But..."
The bald man shook his head. "What we didn't expect was that this monster was far too powerful. We originally thought that since it ambushed us and then fled, it wasn't that strong. But... when we all attacked it together, it easily severely wounded us."
"Severely wounded?" Linley asked, puzzled.
"Yes," the bald man said, his voice filled with fear and anger. "That monster definitely had the strength to easily kill us, but it didn't. It only severely wounded us."
"I originally thought we still had a chance to survive. But later, we realized that the monster had completely fixated on us. Every day, it would come and drag away two of us. Sometimes it would drag them away, and sometimes it would eat our friends right in front of us, not far away."
Linley's heart trembled.
He understood that magical beasts had high intelligence. The beast the bald man was describing was definitely an extremely powerful magical beast, and its intelligence would naturally be very high. This monster was probably truly twisted.
"We tried to escape back, but whenever we tried to flee out of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, that monster would come again and severely wound us again."
The bald, one-eyed man smiled bitterly. "We had no way to escape the Magical Beast Mountain Range. That monster came every day to drag away two of us. In the blink of an eye, our group of twelve was down to six."
"After my wife witnessed several times how the monster would devour our friends alive, she finally broke down. She begged me. Begged me to kill her."
The bald, one-eyed man smiled bitterly. "You simply can't imagine it. After three consecutive days under that kind of terror, almost all of us were on the verge of breaking down. My wife was weaker than me, even less capable... After a difficult choice, I ultimately decided to let my wife die without pain."
"You killed your wife?" Linley frowned.
"Yes, with my own hands," the bald, one-eyed man said painfully. "But on the very day I killed my wife, we ran into a few other people. One of them was a big shot from our Southwest Administrative Province. A rank 9 expert, 'Putuo'."
"We had all been in despair, broken. I had killed my wife, but at that moment, a rank 9 expert appeared. What do you think I felt then?"
The bald, one-eyed man's entire body trembled. "I was going crazy, really. I was in so much pain I wanted to kill myself."
Linley could fully imagine it. In a state of complete despair and collapse, to kill his own wife to spare her from being eaten alive by the monster, only to have a rank 9 expert appear right after he killed her...
That kind of contrast would absolutely drive a person mad.
"I was in pain, but my other friends were all very happy, because they thought there was hope. A rank 9 expert, second only to Saint-level experts. We told him about this, and Lord Putuo immediately said he would take care of the monster for us."
"When that monster came again, Lord Putuo struck directly." The bald, one-eyed man had a strange expression on his face. "In just one move, the monster withstood Lord Putuo's sword strike, and then directly grabbed and crushed Lord Putuo's head."
Linley's heart trembled.
A rank 9 expert's attack, and it could withstand it head-on. Its speed and defense were both this terrifying. This monster could not be underestimated.
"This time, the monster was very excited. Right in front of us, its body swelled up, from its original two meters in height to nearly five meters. Ten meters long. It directly opened its mouth and swallowed Lord Putuo whole." The bald, one-eyed man said in terror.
Linley's face changed.
"Body enlargement?" Linley was truly shocked.
Because all Saint-level magical beasts could do this. They could easily enlarge or shrink their bodies. Of course, a very small number of talented rank 9 magical beasts could also do it.
For example, Bebe could enlarge his body a bit.
That is to say...
That monster was either a Saint-level magical beast or an extremely talented rank 9 magical beast.
"It couldn't be a Saint-level magical beast, could it?" Linley felt a bit of fear in his heart. Although Linley was very confident now, he had no certainty at all against a Saint-level magical beast.
The bald, one-eyed man smiled bitterly. "And so, that monster continued to torment us, eating two of us every day. In the end, only me and my second brother were left. We fled all the way toward the central region, hoping that the monster would get into a fight with some powerful magical beasts, and we could take the chance to escape. But clearly, no magical beast could stop that monster."
Linley nodded.
He understood completely.
But this bald, one-eyed man had no good intentions toward him either. He insisted on following him, clearly wanting Linley to protect him. This kind of behavior completely disregarded Linley's own life.
Linley's face darkened.
"Sir, we, we had no choice," the bald, one-eyed man said, understanding what Linley was thinking. He quickly added, "I still have children, and my second brother has children too... We don't want to die."
"Do you think I want to die?" Linley snorted coldly.
Just from the bald, one-eyed man's description, Linley could at least determine the lower limit of this monster's strength.
A rank 9 expert's sword strike couldn't wound it. Its speed was faster than Bebe's.
Just these two points were enough to make Linley tense up. And this was only what had been shown so far. What was the monster's true strength?
Could it be a Saint-level magical beast?
Linley couldn't be sure. If it was a Saint-level magical beast, even if he teamed up with Bebe, Linley wouldn't have a shred of hope.
"You don't want to die, but you drag me into it?" Linley felt some displeasure in his heart.
"Bebe, let's go."
Linley immediately quickened his pace and continued forward. The bald, one-eyed man still followed Linley. Linley turned his head and glared coldly at him.
This bastard was still following him.
That monster was clearly targeting this bald man.
"Sir, please, just save me," the bald, one-eyed man said, his eyes full of pleading.
But this behavior only made Linley dislike him even more. He only thought of himself, without any consideration for others.
"A rank 9 expert died. Do you think I'm a Saint-level expert?" Linley pulled the Black Heavy Sword from his back. The bald, one-eyed man was so frightened he stumbled backward.
"If you follow me again, don't blame me for being ruthless," Linley said coldly.
Linley now, although he had reached the peak of rank 7 and could reach the strength of a mid-rank 9 after Dragonforming, was a bit stronger than he had been in Hess City. But back in Hess City, Linley had only been able to fight the rank 9 expert Caesar to a draw.
Now, to kill a rank 9 expert, Linley would find it very difficult to achieve a one-hit kill.
But that monster had easily killed a rank 9 expert.
Was it worth risking his life for a stranger?
Linley sheathed the Black Heavy Sword and continued on his way alone. The bald, one-eyed man stood where he was, not daring to follow, but he still looked at Linley's retreating back with despair and venom.
"Ah."
He had barely walked a hundred meters when a scream came from behind. Linley immediately turned his head to look—
On the snow-covered ground, a black panther, two meters tall and nearly four meters long, appeared before his eyes. In the black panther's mouth was the body of the bald, one-eyed man.
"Help, help me," the bald, one-eyed man said, not yet dead.
Linley's attention, however, was completely focused on this black panther. The panther had dense, curved patterns on its body, making it very beautiful. And the black panther's pair of icy-cold eyes were looking at Linley with great interest.
Clearly...
This black panther was playing a game, and now the game was at its end. Linley was its final prey in this game.
"Help," the bald man said, looking at Linley with hopeful eyes.
But the black panther suddenly bit down hard. With a crack, the bald man's waist was mostly severed, and his large and small intestines spilled out. The bald man struggled on the ground for a while, but didn't die immediately.
The black panther stepped forward gracefully, its sharp claws directly stepping onto the bald, one-eyed man's chest.
Crack!
The bald, one-eyed man's right chest caved in. In just a few seconds, he stopped struggling.
The black panther looked at Linley with interest, then walked gracefully toward him step by step. The panther's gait was indeed very elegant.
"Bebe, get ready to ambush. This time, we have to fight for our lives," Linley said. He could tell that this nameless panther-type magical beast had set its sights on him. Rather than letting the monster ambush him, it was better to face it head-on.
Linley pulled the heavy sword from his back and stared at the black panther.
"Hmph." At the same time, Linley's body began to undergo a drastic transformation. A cold spike emerged from his forehead, and black scales rapidly covered every part of his body. A sturdy dragon's tail also grew out. Spikes sprouted from his elbows, knees, and back.
In an instant, Linley had fully Dragonformed.
The black panther was startled to see a human suddenly transform into a monster that looked like a humanoid magical beast. Its sleek, glossy fur instantly stood on end.
One was a Dragonblood Warrior.
The other was a mysterious panther-type magical beast.
"Come on," Linley said, holding the Black Heavy Sword in one hand, standing motionless in the snow like a mountain, steady and unwavering.
The black panther lowered its body slightly, gathering its strength.
Swoosh!
Linley's dark gold pupils locked onto the black panther's figure. This time, Linley could barely make out the black panther's form. In the blink of an eye, the black panther had darted from nearly a hundred meters away to right in front of him.
Smack!
Linley's dragon tail lashed out like lightning, striking the black panther's body hard. In terms of speed, the lashing speed of Linley's dragon tail was much faster than the black panther's movement speed.
The black panther was sent flying, landing on the snow more than ten meters away.
But as soon as the black panther landed, its icy eyes stared at Linley, and it let out a low growl. Clearly, this time the black panther was going all out. The black panther pushed off the ground and leaped forward with incredible speed, a speed that made one's heart tremble.
Linley could see clearly that there wasn't a single trace of blood on the black panther's body.
The dragon tail of a mid-rank 9 Dragonblood Warrior couldn't even wound it.
Linley's Black Heavy Sword slashed down like lightning, a dark green-black light flowing over its surface. The black panther directly used its claws to swipe at Linley's heavy sword.
Clang! Linley's heavy sword was deflected to the side by one of the black panther's claws.
Pfft.
The other claw swiped across Linley's arm. On his arm, covered in black scales, a fairly deep mark was left, and two scales were cracked open.
The man and the beast clashed once and immediately separated.
"Roar, roar~~" The black panther stood on the snow, staring coldly at Linley. It had truly come to regard Linley as an opponent. The fact that its attack hadn't completely torn through his scale defense or severed his arm surprised the black panther greatly.
Linley looked at the injury on his scales.
Normally, a rank 9 magical beast couldn't break through Linley's defense, but that claw swipe had just cracked two scales.
The black panther's body suddenly swelled up, from its original two meters in height to five meters, and its body length reached nearly ten meters. Its black tail lashed about like a whip. The black panther continued to stare at Linley.
"Roar~~"
This behemoth leaped toward Linley again.
(End of today's update!)