Chapter 180. Demons and Monsters (4) Mossy Diamond Stone Monster

     The deep pit made the air freeze for two seconds.

     The foxes and humans present were somewhat excited because the strength displayed by the half-demon before them meant she very likely had formed her inner core. And an inner core formed by a half-demon possessing all five elements – metal, wood, water, fire, and earth – was a powerful supplement for any living creature!

     The X-tailed foxes were the first to take action. They have two innate talents, including mental power and wind attributes. One-tailed foxes only have wind-based talents, two-tailed foxes begin to awaken their mental talents, and three-tailed foxes develop an inner core, causing their innate abilities to surge.

     Their spiritual talents encompass three types: spiritual detection, spiritual suppression, and spiritual piercing. However, when the strongest among the foxes, the four-tailed fox, attempted to probe the swamp spiritually, the result remained zero. Unwilling to accept this, the foxes let out furious shrieks.  

     “Screech!”  

     Their voices were high-pitched and piercing, carrying a penetrating force so intense that it could cause internal injuries to those who got too close.  

     Apart from the foxes, a giant leaped forward, landing precisely in the deep pit with a thunderous boom. The impact caused the pit to sink another hundred meters, sending splatters of decayed muck flying in all directions.  

     Yet, at the bottom of the pit, there was still no trace of the vanished half-demon—most likely, it had escaped using earth escape.  

     At this time, m a furry fox tail suddenly lashed out at the giant in the swamp.  

     Due to the excessive accumulation of dark-attribute spiritual energy in the mass grave’s marsh, the giant’s movements were hindered for two seconds. The tail’s strike landed squarely on the side of its face, leaving behind numerous needle-thin wounds and bleeding gashes.  

     The others finally realized—the foxes and humans were not allies. The battle between them was far from over.  

     The two sides clashed once again.  

     Deep in the forest, Wang Xue, overwhelmed with worry for Ye Mo, instinctively rushed toward the swamp. She encountered a human blockade and tried to force her way through, only to find that her strength was no match for these clansmen. Instead, a man a full head taller than her grabbed her like a sack, lifting her half a meter off the ground.  

     The man muttered a few words in disdain, which translated into Chinese, and the meaning was very simple: “Weak chicken, what are you doing?”

     Wang Xue, with her feet hanging in the air: “…”

     According to the memories input by the system, in Wang Xue’s tribe, both men and women began cultivating at the age of three, learned hunting at ten, ventured out for hunts at fifteen, and by twenty, they either joined a hunter team or hunted independently.  

     The term “hunting” here was Wang Xue’s translation, though not entirely accurate—because their prey was never ordinary animals, but rather spiritual energy resources or other supernatural beings.  

     Not everyone in the tribe was suited for cultivation, but among the younger generation who were, Wang Xue’s strength ranked in the lower-middle tier, making her a frequent target of her clansmen’s disdain.  

     At least she wasn’t at the very bottom—those ranked lowest weren’t even qualified to participate in large-scale battles like this.  

     Wang Xue is turning 20 soon, and this battle between the tribe’s warriors and the X-tailed foxes is her last opportunity to learn. After this, she will have to learn to hunt on her own, and weaker individuals might not even be able to form a team.

     Hunting alone and encountering a non-human race that has formed an inner core means a 99.9999% chance of death. Even encountering those without an inner core, she would likely be unable to defeat them.

     Wang Xue’s first 100-day survival mission is already visibly difficult, let alone rescuing 80 of her kin. She currently needs to grow under the protection of her tribe, and meeting Ye Mo has to be postponed.

     …

     This was a battle of humans besieging the foxes—the foxes were the prey being hunted down.  

     The number of powerful humans clearly outnumbered the X-tailed foxes. The strongest human warrior was evenly matched with the four-tailed fox, but the tide of victory was gradually tipping to one side.  

     “Screech!”  

      The one-tailed and two-tailed foxes were the first to be injured.  

      While the human warriors continued to engage the four-tailed and three-tailed foxes, the rest of the humans—led by several nearly four-meter-tall individuals—charged toward the X-tailed fox.  

     Wang Xue blended into the ranks.  

     When they were less than 100 meters from the foxes, the spiritual attacks from the wounded one-tailed and two-tailed foxes made her head spin and her vision blur. Her speed instinctively slowed, and blood trickled from both nostrils—and this was just a non-targeted area attack!  

     The tribesmen in front of Wang Xue were obviously much more resistant to damage. They had already fought fiercely with the single-tailed and two-tailed foxes.

     Wang Xue wiped the blood from her nose, retrieved a club-like weapon from her storage bracelet, casually tossed it on the ground amidst the chaos, picked it up again, and joined the fight.

     Against absolute brute force, techniques are useless; against opponents of similar strength, refined martial arts can increase combat effectiveness by more than just a point or two.

     Wang Xue’s strength had increased. With her footwork, supporting from the periphery was temporarily not a problem. She even managed to save a severely injured tribesman who had been stunned by a mental attack and was on the verge of dying under a fox’s tail.

   【Main Quest 2: Rescue Fellow Tribesmen (1/80)】

     Wang Xue: ……Is the quest this simple?

     Of course, the quest wouldn’t be this simple.

     Because she didn’t dare take medicine out from her spatial storage, this severely injured tribesman still died from the mental attack.

   【Main Quest 2: Rescue Fellow Tribesmen (0/80)】

     “!!!”

     Wang Xue cursed the system a few more times in her heart. Her first reaction was not her own 80, but Ye Mo’s saving 10,000 fellow tribesmen. The difficulty of this mission was simply a joke.

     Are all E-level dungeons so fierce?

     Wang Xue and Watson were likely the only two survivors who had heard Ye Mo explain the E-rank dungeon in detail. Thor, Loki, Hawkeye, Frost Giants, Elves, Dwarves… just hearing the names, one might have thought it was American mythology.

     But hearing about the process revealed just how difficult it was, filling them with admiration.

     Which was harder, “Demons and Monsters” or “World Tree”? Either way, the chief survivor’s experience was the hardest! Wang Xue shed a tear of sympathy for Ye Mo, Watson, and herself.

     Especially for Ye Mo.

     …

    The battle entered its final stages.

    Several whirlwinds spun out from above, resembling tornadoes on Earth, except the edges of the wind were no less sharp than high-level, honed blades.

     The tornado-like whirlwinds attacked the humans in the forest, carrying mental piercing attacks aimed at the creatures’ brains within them.

     The four-tailed fox’s desperate final blow caused countless casualties among the ordinary animals near the forest and severely injured several more humans, killing two. However, Wang Xue was largely unharmed by this attack for two reasons:

     First, she dodged the wind,

     Second, she was able to focus entirely on evading the wind because her companion was secretly using mental power to protect her from the mental piercing —it was also their way of exchanging covert signals.  

   【Detected survivor Ye Mo breaking through the mental power critical threshold, Mental Attribute +1.】

     Her companion not only protected Wang Xue but also snatched a four-tailed fox, a three-tailed fox, and a two-tailed fox from the humans’ grasp, taking these two prey as compensation for her serious injuries and mental exertion.

     Wang Xue: “……Whoa.”

     “!!!”

     The humans in the forest watched helplessly as their hard-earned prey vanished. They immediately flew into a rage, digging three feet into the ground but unable to find a single hair of the thief.

     Originally, obtaining at least five inner cores and multiple two-tailed and one-tailed fox prey would have been a joyous occasion, but now that joy was suddenly reduced by 90%.

     Three hours later, Wang Xue secretly glanced at the swamp and then chose to leave with her fellow tribesmen, naturally leaving a trail of secret markers along the way.

     …

     Twenty minutes passed.

     With a “plop,” a half-demon with multicolored animal ears emerged from the swamp. She was covered head to toe in filthy mud, the blood indistinguishable in color, and so were her multicolored animal ears.

     Ye Mo’s current condition could only be described as “alive.” If she hadn’t already completed 90% of the spatial array and the water-repelling pearl, lacking either one would have meant certain death.

     This dungeon reminded her of her insignificance and also taught her that mental power is by no means omnipotent.

     “Cough cough cough.”

     Ye Mo spat out two more mouthfuls of blood.

     According to the original owner’s memories, a four-tailed fox might not have been much 10,000 years ago, but in the present day, it was a mid-to-upper tier powerhouse. This swamp still held the residual pressure of such a being, making it temporarily safe.

     Ye Mo limped towards the southern side of the swamp, the area where Wang Xue and the others had fought. She stopped at the edge of the messy tree stumps and used her mental power to first move aside the tree trunks and vines.

     Then, a rectangular bronze bathing vessel suddenly appeared on the ground, precisely covering several irregular, moss-covered stones.

     This bronze artifact was a replica of the one from Lord Yangcheng’s residence in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period dungeon. The array device was an upgraded version, capable of protecting spiritual energy and also gathering it.

     Swish——

     Water fell from the sky.

     Then, she sprinkled several packets of high-grade, excellent-quality wound powder.

     Sprinkle a few more packets of high-grade fine gold wound powder.

     Ye Mo first rinsed off the mud from her body and then entered the bronze bathing vessel. The moment the water soaked in, it felt like pouring medicine on her wounds – a truly agonizing yet refreshing pain.

     The bronze bathing vessel was beneficial for spiritual energy recovery. The spiritual energy concentration in this world was quite high, and protecting and gathering spiritual energy indeed had a significant effect on wound healing.

     The self-healing ability of Ye Mo’s physique was improving, and soaking in the wound powder and taking mental recovery potions, hemostatic potions, and healing pills further enhanced this process.

     In less than 20 minutes, her injuries were mostly healed.

     Ye Mo changed into a clean animal hide dress. After thinking for a moment, she wrapped up the multicolored deer ears on her head and then stored the bronze bathing vessel.

     She didn’t leave immediately but instead looked at the several motionless, seemingly ordinary stones on the ground. Finally, her gaze settled on a diamond-shaped stone smaller than her palm, and she asked, “Still playing dead?”

     “……”

     The diamond-shaped stone remained still, as if it were truly just a rock.

     “I just saved you, so your life now belongs to me.”

     If it hadn’t been for the system suddenly prompting in her ear 【Main Quest 2: Rescue Tribesmen (1/10000)】 while she was helping Wang Xue, Ye Mo might have really overlooked this little stone monster that had unlucky been caught up in the battlefield, just like the other humans and demons.

     If it hadn’t been for the four-tailed fox’s final mental and wind-based attack, it really would have successfully saved itself. Unfortunately, its defense was a bit lacking.

     It had to be said, this monster’s innate talent was truly peculiar.

     “……”

     The diamond-shaped stone remained motionless.

     “Silence means consent.”

     Just as Ye Mo extended her foot, the moment her toe touched the diamond-shaped stone, the stone suddenly rolled over. Some of the moss on its surface fell off, revealing two round, shiny eyes and a trapezoidal mouth in the center.

     The trapezoidal mouth moved a few times, emitting a crisp and pleasant young female voice:

     “No no no——”