The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 540: Quick Evolution

Boom!

Lithe Snake’s right arm blew up, the fire blazing and emitting thick rolling smoke. The crimson force field shrouding everyone disappeared for a moment.

Lithe Snake held on the stump of his arm as blood gushed out, his face pale.

Nine Frost ran up to him and administered his shoulder with a shot of Medicine C without delay. He turned to the explosion not far from him. “Is it dead?”

“Of course not. The fight is only starting.”

War Tiger narrowed his eyes slightly and tightened his grip around his weapon rather than loosened it. Since Gao Yang’s Fire could hurt the little abomination, Lithe Snake’s Self-Detonate naturally could, too. However, it would be naive to think that a medium-level explosive would be able to kill the evil spawn of a life monster.

“What is it?” Nine Frost frowned.

“Don’t know,” War Tiger said in a grave tone. “Should be one of the three children painted on the obelisk. Can’t tell which for certain. It doesn’t seem like any of them.”

“Should be the third one, but it mutated after death,” Qing Ling guessed.

“Likely so.”

They thought similarly.

First off, it must not be a Forlorn Ghost. It was stronger than a Spectre, for one, and it didn’t have the signature silver hair and red eyes.

Moreover, Spectres grew up in a similar way as a human, while this monster’s quick evolution during fight didn’t make any logical sense.

It was unlikely to be the child in the second mural, either. That child radiated golden light, looking holy and friendly.

The little abomination seemed most similar in temperament to the child consisting of black lines on the fourth mural: evil, angry, and resentful of everything.

Gao Yang scowled, hearing another warning in his head.

[Luck acquisition increases to 10000.]

“Here it comes!” he shouted.

Ring.

An insidious crimson force field emerged from the fire, dispersing the flames and the thick fog before shrouding the entire court again, pressuring everyone.

Above the still burning ground, the little abomination hovered in the air. It had learned to fly.

Its distorted, sickly thin body was covered in injuries left by the explosions and fire, the charred flesh and skin mixing with fat-like red liquid. The word “ugly” wasn’t even enough to describe it.

Its empty eye sockets seemed darker still, the air of chillingness piercing.

Hiss. Hiss.

The little abomination divided.

Like a thin sheet of paper, it split from head to pelvis into symmetrical halves like it had been torn by an invisible hand. Then the two halves each grew a limb and a leg, and their half a head grew into a smaller, complete head.

In seconds, the little abominations had divided into two entities.

Gao Yang started. It was imitating his Double in its own way!

“Gao Yang and I will take one!” War Tiger made the call decisively. “You take the other!”

It made sense. At the moment, the only Talents they knew to do any real damage to the little abominations were Fire and Self-Detonate, so Gao Yang and Lithe Snake had to be on different teams.

On War Tiger’s side, he would be in charge of keeping the little abomination busy, while Gao Yang would be in charge of attacking.

On the other side, Qing Ling and Nine Frost would be occupying the little abomination, while Lithe Snake attacked—he would have to sacrifice an arm or even a leg, but with level 6 Gecko enhancing his vitality, he would be able to regrow his limbs.

Without hesitation, they did their best to adapt to the crimson force field’s aversive influence on their mobility and each charged at their targets.

While the force field did have a significant impact on War Tiger’s mobility, he was still quick.

With his flexible body, he charged at one little abomination and made a cut near the ground, sending a crescent of cool indigo blade aura at it.

The duplicate bent backward with impressive speed. It seemed that it had very few bones, if any, and it was able to bend backward at a right angle, dodging War Tiger’s blade aura.

War Tiger scoffed.

Thud. He jumped with both feet at his full power, giving himself a sudden boost, allowing his “melting” body to move like rubber and fly toward the little abomination.

The little abomination was just about to straighten its back after dodging the slash when War Tiger reached right above it in a strange, stretched-out posture.

Whoosh!

At the price of tearing the muscles in his waist, War Tiger twisted his body suddenly in the air, making a beautiful slash with his Green Dog Demon Blade and decapitating the little abomination.

War Tiger landed a few meters away, tumbling twice before picking himself up unsteadily. He held onto his side, grimacing. “Ow, ow ow...”

Seizing the opening, Gao Yang teleported to the target the moment War Tiger decapitated it.

“Fire Punch!”

He didn’t dare to get too close, so he threw a punch at the little abomination’s chest from half a meter away. Although his energy was stuttering inside him, he still managed to shoot out a fierce torrent of flames.

The flames should’ve devoured the little abomination, but the blazing torrent became askew and only burned half of its body, which was to be expected. Under the influence of the crimson force field, Gao Yang’s arm might as well be melting playdough. His accuracy was compromised significantly.

The little abomination still took serious damage. It quickly jumped out of the fire and soared into the air. All the while, the head it lost flew back to its neck.

It stayed in the air, keeping a safe distance from them. With its arms and legs tucked in, it balled up and reeled in the crimson force field in a defensive stance.

Gao Yang and War Tiger suddenly felt as light as a swallow, recovering their prime condition.

“Ugh...ugh...”

Hovering above the court, the little abomination made quiet sounds that could be groans or sobs.

Gao Yang and War Tiger didn’t approach immediately. The crimson force field around the little abomination was too dense, and War Tiger had experienced what it could do.

...

On the other side of the court, Qing Ling, Lithe Snake, and Nine Frost were fighting the little abomination’s other duplicate.

Now with only one arm, Lithe Snake threw a throwing knife in an attempt to occupy and pin down the little abomination, while Qing Ling did the same with her Black Gold darts. Their efforts weren’t too effective due to the disturbance of the crimson force field, however.

The little abomination took the offensive, transforming its right hand into a two-meter long crimson spear and thrusting it at Qing Ling’s forehead.

Qing Ling dodged it by a hair with a sidestep. At the same time, she swung her two blades upward to cut the crimson spear into three pieces.

That, however, was a feint from the abomination. Its other hand had turned into a crimson whip at some point, and it was just about to grapple Qing Ling’s waist.

Qing Ling was caught off guard, but she didn’t panic at all.