Devourer

"Swish swish swish~~~"

Amidst the sound of breaking wind, figures rushed out from the bushes, coming into our sight.

It was the Devourers, another type of Rank 1 Aberration from the legends!

They were unlike the Lickers. Their bodies were covered in deep red mucus, and they crawled on the ground, neither human nor beast. Spikes grew all over their ears, and their abdomens were extremely swollen, looking as if they were pregnant.

"Roar~~~"

One of the Devourers let out a fierce roar. Its slightly protruding mouth split open, forming a grotesque three-lobed maw. The maw was filled with sharp teeth, and three tongues like snake's flickered within.

"Holy crap!"

Xiao Bai's face instantly lost all color, and she even blurted out an expletive.

My heart also skipped a beat. The design of these Devourers was too realistic, or perhaps these Aberrations were actually real.

At this moment, my gaze lingered for a moment, and the stats of the leading Devourer finally appeared.

[Devourer (Devourer)](Elite)

Level: 20

Attack: 85-120

Defense: 25

Blood Essence: 2500

Skills: [Bite Lv4] [Devour Lv4]

Details: Devourers are mutants from nuclear radiation, extremely ferocious, feeding on the flesh and blood of humans and beasts. They are skilled at devouring. Once a target is devoured, it is difficult to escape the Devourer's mucous-filled intestines and stomach.

In front of us, five Devourers appeared instantly. This was beyond my expectations. If there were only three, the three of us could have managed them separately, drawing aggro and holding them back, and there might have been a chance to kill them without taking damage. But now, five appeared at once. With conventional tactics, there would definitely be casualties.

I was fine; my thick skin and tough flesh could definitely handle this situation. Ruolin and Xiao Bai would be in danger.

"You two..."

I stared at the Devourers with fierce eyes, making them hesitant to move. At the same time, I asked in the team chat: "What are your defense and HP levels? Tell me honestly."

"I'm almost in my base gear, with 25 defense and an average HP bar, less than 3000 HP," Ruolin replied truthfully.

"My defense is similar, but Psionicists have low HP growth, so my HP bar is less than 2000."

Xiao Bai sounded a bit anxious: "Ding Han, what do we do? It's probably too late to retreat now, right?"

"Of course."

I looked at the group of Devourers with determination: "So far, there are no Town Portal Scrolls in Star Abyss, nor is there anything like an invincibility hearthstone. Aberrations move much faster than players. Since we've encountered them, it's either you die or I die. So, we fight with all our might. Don't even consider the possibility of retreating."

Ahead, three Devourers had already lowered their front claws slightly, assuming a pouncing stance.

"I'll make the first move later to draw their fire."

In the team chat, I said in a deep voice: "You two, don't hold back on your bullets. Focus your fire on the Devourer on the left. Then the second one from the left, and so on. I'll try my best to buy you time to shoot."

"Be careful yourself!"

Zhang Ruolin gritted her teeth: "If you really can't make it, just run. Little White and I will accept our fate!"

"Stop the nonsense and let's do this!"

Before I finished speaking, I had already charged forward. The Roarer in my arms unleashed a "tut-tut-tut" sweeping barrage, causing all five Devourers to roar and charge ferociously, waving their three-lobed maws!

"Swish!"

In the wind, the first Devourer suddenly opened its mouth and unleashed its Devour skill!

Step Slash!

I instantly moved sideways, switching to the Vanguard Bee Sting in my hand. With a "poof," I slashed at its maw, then activated Ground Spike Slash. A surge of Essence was driven into the ground, transforming into sharp sword energy that erupted from the earth, hitting several Devourers with "pfft pfft pfft" sounds.

At the same time, the claws of two Devourers landed on me. However, the moment the claws scraped against the protective aura generated by Step Slash, sparks flew. It only wore down the toughness of the aura armor, without harming my HP bar at all.

My feet crossed as I retreated, my body swaying like a pendulum to confuse their vision.

At a certain moment, the five Devourers were lined up visually. Now's the time!

Explosive Charge!

"Bang!"

My body turned into an afterimage and charged out again, controlling the charge distance to 21 yards, just enough to pierce through the five Devourers. I spun around abruptly and unleashed a series of normal attacks + Dragon Blade + normal attacks on the leftmost Devourer.

"Roar~~"

Coupled with Ruolin and Xiao Bai's output, this Devourer let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground, dead.

But I didn't dare to be careless. I quickly switched to the Roarer in my hand. The moment a Devourer lunged to devour me, I instantly activated Step Slash to the front right, moving five yards sideways in an instant!

"Pfft!"

The Devourer missed its bite again, and they all became extremely agitated, wisps of blood-red light appearing all over their bodies.

"Roar~~~"

One of the Devourers let out a cry, and the other three understood. In an instant, they split into four groups, attacking from all directions.

My heart sank into despair. As expected of a 100% real game, these Aberrations were definitely not unintelligent.

"Forget about me, focus all your firepower!"

My gaze was stern as I continuously shot at the pursuing Devourers, coordinating with Xiao Bai and Ruolin's concentrated attacks.

Thus, in just a few seconds, three more Devourers fell. However, the last Devourer was too fast, charging at me almost instantly. Its three-lobed mouthparts split open, blocking out the sky and sun as it descended!

"Holy crap!"

My heart tightened. Both my Step Slash and Explosive Charge movement skills were on cooldown. It was practically impossible to evade using my own speed at this point.

"Ding Han!"

Amidst Ruolin and Xiao Bai's screams, I lost sight.

"Chomp!"

The Devourer swallowed me whole. The words "Devoured" flashed before my eyes, and at the same time, an excruciating pain spread through my body!

"1024!"

A four-digit damage number was truly eye-opening!

Next, my body was engulfed by indescribable stomach acid, and my health bar plummeted. In the blink of an eye, I had lost over 2500 Blood Essence from continuous damage, bringing my total loss to over 3600 points. If it were Ruolin or Xiao Bai, they would have been killed by this Devourer by now!

"You like to eat that much?"

Inside the Devourer's stomach, I didn't give up struggling. Instead, I swung my sword, stabbing wildly in its stomach.

If you can't digest me quickly, you'll die!

"Thwack!"

Finally, Vanguard Bee Sting pierced the creature's stomach wall, then its abdomen. Light appeared ahead!

Without a word, I directly slashed a large "Z" shape inside the Devourer with my sword, then kicked open its inflamed duodenum and rolled out of its belly!

"Roar~~~"

The Devourer let out a mournful cry and fell straight down, dying from an autopsy.

"Ding Han, are you okay?"

Ruolin and Xiao Bai rushed over but didn't dare to get too close. I was covered in the Devourer's mucus, and the smell was quite potent.

Then, looking at my health bar, which was less than 50% but still above the 30% injury line, I felt relieved.

"I'm fine."

I frowned and said, "But... do you two have any healing potions? In this state, I really don't dare to fight anymore."

"I have some."

Xiao Bai generously took out some healing items from her Dimensional Storage Space and traded them. There were four Hemostatic Pills, each restoring 10% health, and six Bandages, each restoring 5% health. However, there was a cooldown for using these recovery items, making continuous use impossible.

"Let's rest for a bit."

I grabbed a handful of grass and haphazardly wiped off the mucus on my body, not caring about anything else. I immediately used a healing potion, and my health bar recovered to about 60%.

"Mhm."

The two girls squatted beside me, watching me.

"What are you looking at? Do I have flowers on my face?"

"No."

Zhang Ruolin said, "Ding Han, you were so brave just now... like Master Ip, I felt like your aura was that of someone fighting ten Devourers."

"If ten Devourers appeared at once, we'd all be wiped out."

I wasn't in the mood for jokes. "I almost thought I was done for just now. You guys can't possibly understand."

"We can understand."

Xiao Bai said, "A few days ago, when I was fighting, my health dropped to 23%, triggering a minor injury warning. I almost thought I was saying goodbye to this world. That feeling is awful."

"Mhm."

I nodded. "I hope our luck is better next time, and fewer Devourers and Crawlers appear."

"Indeed."

Xiao Bai suggested, "Let's go to an open plain. We can use your Wind Whisperer's long-range sniping to lure monsters, allowing us to control the number of monsters we pull."

"Good idea, let's do that!"

And so, wandering the wilderness with the two girls, luring monsters with the Wind Whisperer proved much more convenient. The Wind Whisperer had an effective range of 2500 meters, and my Level 10 Basic Shooting could guarantee 100% accuracy within a thousand meters. Fortunately, the hit rate within 2500 meters was still around 30%, so a couple more shots were enough to lure monsters.

Each time, I controlled the number of monsters pulled to within three, which was the safest. The only cost was ammunition.

Furthermore, players' health slowly regenerated over time after a loss. So, I only used two Hemostatic Pills from the medicine Xiao Bai gave me. Once my health recovered to over 80%, it was quite safe, and there was no need to waste more.

We continued grinding like this from morning until evening. With the substantial experience points gained, Ruolin and Xiao Bai each leveled up twice, while I only leveled up once, reaching Level 19. As usual, all three free attribute points were allocated to Strength.

As night fell, the quest to kill monsters had long been completed, but the supplies stolen by the Aberrations were nowhere to be found, causing some annoyance.

"Beep!"

At this moment, a WeChat message arrived from Milo, who was far away in Stream City: "Ding Han, why aren't you off work yet? Hurry back, I bought beer and cooked a few dishes. Let's have a drink, and later you can help me go over some lyrics. I want to replicate the lyrics of Jay Chou's 'Sunny Day' and use it as my debut hit song."

"Help you with lyrics my ass, I'm killing monsters!"

"Oh, alright, then you do your thing! Sorry to bother you, goodbye!"

Ahem, several author friends have found me and told me that my update speed is too fast. The new book ranking mechanism on Qidian removes books once they reach 200,000 characters. At my current update speed, I'll be removed from the rankings very soon, but I can't miss out on the recommendation opportunities from the new book rankings, so...

I plan to make a deal with everyone. Starting tomorrow morning, I will change to two updates per day (canceling the 8 PM chapter). This way, I'll be removed from the rankings in 18 days. I'll owe you all 18 chapters, and I'll make up for them all with extra updates at midnight on the first day I'm off the rankings!

Thank you all for your understanding!