Manticore

Warning: Guardian Berserker has been destroyed by humans. Berserker has been penalized. Geomantic Power has converged in one location, strengthening the Geomantic Power. The monsters drawn here will also become stronger, and their attack frequency will increase.

Warning: Last guardian, be sure to protect yourself. The Holy Relic will finish condensing in three days.

"..."

Mo Shuying's mouth fell open. He was amazed that Illya and the others had actually worked so efficiently.

Caster Mom's warning had come only recently, yet Berserker had already followed the other five to their demise.

"Now I'm the only one left. Why does it suddenly feel like I'm about to get a chicken dinner? The Holy Relic will condense in three days. I wonder if those girls can find me within that time."

Mo Shuying immediately activated Presence Concealment. He had decided to spend the next few days under its effects. As long as he maintained that state, it would be difficult for anyone outside to detect his existence.

As long as I endure for three days, it'll be fine, Mo Shuying told himself.

But just as he finished speaking—

"Bzzz~"

A pillar of light appeared nearby. Then, a pitch-black male lion stepped out of it, majestic and imposing.

Today's monster-clearing task had originally ended, but after Berserker was eliminated, a new monster appeared once more.

Mo Shuying checked his experience. He was only a little short of level 20. Judging by how powerful this lion looked, it should be worth quite a bit of experience.

Mo Shuying licked his lips as he watched the lion in the distance, then moved quickly toward it.

"Roar!!"

The black lion roared. Its body stood over three meters tall as it walked down the street, and its tail was extremely long—at least seven or eight meters. On closer inspection, the end of that tail even bore a hook like a scorpion's stinger.

It was a manticore!

It swung its tail as it walked, and the utility poles nearby could not withstand even a single hit. Crack, crack, crack—it whipped about like a five-hit lightning lash.

Since Mo Shuying had concealed his presence, the huge creature could not find a target. It could only wander through this vast world, until it soon spotted a large pit.

"Roar?"

The manticore leaned closer and sniffed. It smelled somewhat like an underground lava field. Manticores generally lived in the underground world, close to the earth's core, where lava was everywhere and the entire subterranean realm was scorching hot.

The gases emitted by lava were foul and poisonous, and beside this large pit, the manticore caught a faint, familiar scent of scorching.

Just as it was about to turn and leave—

"Awoo~"

The manticore turned around and saw that two "big dogs" had somehow appeared beside it. The dogs, each carrying several strange canisters on their backs, stared at it excitedly as large amounts of gas poured from the canisters.

"Roar!!"

With a furious roar, the manticore's tail shot out like lightning! It instantly pierced through one Swift Wolf's body, sending blood spraying everywhere.

The blood blackened and purpled from the poison. In just an instant, the deadly toxin spread throughout the Swift Wolf's entire body.

Yet in the manticore's memories, prey struck by its venom had always writhed on the ground in unbearable agony. But this prey was different. An expression of delight actually appeared on its wolfish face!

That's right! Delight!

As it wondered about this, a flaming bottle suddenly flew toward it! The manticore reacted sharply, lashing out with its tail to smash the bottle midair. But the flames spread, and countless fiery droplets poured down in a torrential rain. In that instant—

BOOM!!

A mushroom cloud rose high into the sky. Another day of nuclear peace.

By then, Mo Shuying had already Blinked into the distance. Looking at the rising mushroom cloud, he muttered to himself.

"It seems I'm running low on Gas Canisters. I should find some more later."

Only six cans of gas remained in Mo Shuying's storage space. The lack of firepower made him feel somewhat uneasy.

"Roar!!"

At that moment, the roar of a giant beast drew Mo Shuying's attention.

"It can really take a blast. Does it have some kind of fire resistance?"

Mo Shuying did not act rashly. He could sense that the manticore was still formidable. The previous explosion seemed not to have harmed it much, which left Mo Shuying feeling rather troubled.

Sure enough, his firepower was still too weak. It was making Mo Shuying lose confidence.

The manticore was powerful—the strongest monster he had encountered so far.

Mo Shuying had sensed it from the moment it appeared. It felt different from all the monsters before.

Heavy. Simply standing there, the manticore gave Mo Shuying the impression that it could not be shaken.

Honestly, if he had to choose an opponent, Mo Shuying would rather face Caster Mom outside Ryuudou Temple than this manticore.

"What should I do?"

Self-destruct attacks were useless, and Mo Shuying did not think he could win in close combat either. For a moment, he was at a loss.

"I wonder if there's another way. Hmm?"

Mo Shuying suddenly thought of something. He reached out and took out several cards—the Class Cards.

"If I can Dream Summon too, wouldn't that solve it?"

Dream Summon meant drawing the power of a Heroic Spirit into oneself, turning one's own existence into that of a Heroic Spirit and allowing one to wield its overwhelming strength.

But there was one problem: Mo Shuying was already a Heroic Spirit.

"I have Sword, Lancer, Archer, Rider, and Caster cards. I heard manticore-scorpions have magic-resistant hides—they even withstood fiery explosions. Magecraft probably won't work, so that leaves..."

Eliminating Caster, Mo Shuying looked at the other four cards. In the end, he took out Archer.

"No idea if this will work."

Holding the Archer card, Mo Shuying wore a solemn expression as he let out a low shout!

"Dream Summon!"

"..."

Nothing happened.

He tried channeling mana into it.

"Bzzz~"

A longbow appeared—but there were no arrows!

All he had was a bow without arrows. Mo Shuying's mouth twitched twice.

"If nothing else, you could at least give me two Ganzhiang and Moye..."

With a wave of his hand, he turned the bow back into a card. After hesitating for a moment, Mo Shuying brought the card close to his chest.

He remembered that after Illya's transformation ended, the card had flown out of her body. That meant the card merged with the summoner during Dream Summon.

There was already an Assassin card inside Mo Shuying's body. He wondered whether he could fit another one in.

The instant the card touched his chest, a suction force suddenly emerged! Mo Shuying's mana was rapidly drained, forming a ring of magical light around him at high speed.

"Roar!"

The moment the ring appeared, the manticore-scorpion below spotted Mo Shuying. It turned and charged toward him, fury blazing in its eyes!

Meanwhile!

Mo Shuying clearly felt the Archer card enter his body. After brushing against the Assassin card, the Assassin card shifted over slightly to make room for Archer, and then—

"Bzzz!"

Mo Shuying's body changed. His original tracksuit became a red-and-black coat, while his powerful muscles stretched the fabric taut, making him look especially burly.

"It worked?"

Mo Shuying looked at his transformation, somewhat excited. In this state, he was like a phone with dual SIM standby—he could switch between them at will.

But there was one problem. After switching to Archer, he could no longer use his original skills. Aside from HP and ATK, everything else, including Gathering Storm, stopped functioning.