Giant Beast

In the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp.

A red light screen illuminated everything.

"Amazing," Old Tie chuckled, though there was no mirth in his laughter.

Big Iron turned, staring blankly at Old Tie for a moment before gently nudging him.

"When she first arrived, she was just a little thing..." Old Tie said with a strange, mocking tone. "But this woman, who's now trying to seduce our little rookie... do you get it? The transformation from a maiden to a matron?"

Big Iron remained suspended in the air, motionless. The blood-red light in his eyes was stiff.

"It's impossible to have a conversation with someone like you, who hasn't developed sentience," Old Tie boomed with laughter. "So, a conspiracy... and an egg."

"What a perfect hit!" Old Tie burst into laughter again, the blood-red light in his eyes suddenly becoming incredibly intense, almost illuminating half the metal hall. "I mean, that egg hit its mark perfectly... what a bunch of good pups, truly good pups... Little rookie, you need a little lesson!"

Wu Tie awkwardly wiped a thick layer of egg yolk from his face.

The egg yolk was foul-smelling, thick, and astonishingly hot, burning his skin red and nearly blistering it.

"Bastards, what are you doing?" Wu Tie roared. The dark figure that had thrown the egg at him had already fled over a hundred meters away, escaping at full speed without looking back.

The ground shook violently, and a high-pitched, furious roar echoed. A dozen ferns as thick as a man's embrace were shattered, and a monstrous, gigantic head burst forth from the fragments of crushed ferns.

At first glance, this massive head bore a striking resemblance to a Gray Rock Lizard, but it was easily two to three meters in size, several times larger than a Giant Hippopotamus's head.

Its head was covered in seven or eight sharp horns. As it opened its mouth to roar, a crimson, umbrella-like fin unfurled from the back of its neck. The semi-circular fin was at least five meters in diameter, densely covered in countless purple spots, giving it a ferocious and imposing appearance.

The behemoth charged forward. Behind its massive head was a colossal body, over ten meters tall. It resembled a Gray Rock Lizard, but its size was several times greater than that of an adult Gray Rock Lizard. On its thick body, a pair of vestigial, two to three-meter-long wings flapped vigorously.

The beast's small, blood-red eyes, gleaming with ferocity, locked onto Wu Tie.

Broken eggshells lay at Wu Tie's feet, and his head and face were covered in thick egg yolk.

A warrior from the Ox Tribe beside Shi Lingqing grabbed her and fled with her in a panicked retreat.

Shi Lingqing, with a worried expression, shouted to Wu Tie, "Young Master, be careful... that beast is mad!"

In the span of a single sentence, Shi Lingqing had been carried over a hundred meters away by her subordinate. Wu Tie hadn't even recovered from the sudden turn of events when the beast's neck suddenly swelled, and fire began to flicker beneath its scaled skin.

Wu Tie instinctively rolled to the side, an invisible force field enveloping his body. He slid, almost skimming the ground, and quickly propelled himself over ten meters away.

A pillar of crimson fire, as thick as a water vat, viscous like lava, narrowly missed his scalp.

Wu Tie's hair instantly ignited with a hiss, billowing black smoke. He smelled a pungent, burnt odor, and his scalp had already developed a palm-sized transparent blister from the intense heat.

The pillar of fire struck heavily behind Wu Tie. With a deafening roar, the ground was scorched, forming a crater several meters in diameter. A shallow pool of lava bubbled within the pit, constantly emitting large and small bubbles.

Wu Tie let out a strange cry. He slapped a diamond-shaped protrusion on his chest armor, and his hands and head were rapidly covered by the armor. He leaped up and fled at full speed towards the rear.

The monster's eyes were blood-red. It let out a mad roar to the sky and lunged forward on its four thick legs, creating a gust of wind as it pursued Wu Tie. The monster's running speed was astonishing, a few points faster than Wu Tie's, and it was right behind him in almost an instant.

The monster suddenly raised its upper body and slammed its massive forelimbs down.

Wu Tie had no time to dodge and was struck by the monster. An immense force hit him, and Wu Tie cried out as he was sent flying, tumbling over a hundred meters before crashing into a protruding stalagmite. The stalagmite, as thick as a man's embrace, was snapped in half, sending large chunks of rock flying far away.

Even with the armor's protection, Wu Tie's internal organs churned violently from the blow, and he nearly vomited.

He gasped for air, no longer daring to glide, and instead fled at full speed on the ground.

When gliding, his ability to change direction in the air was not as agile as on the ground. The monster's paw was too large, easily able to cover all his potential evasion routes and strike him.

Only on the ground, amidst the rubble, mushroom patches, and fern thickets, and using various terrain features to his advantage, could he leverage his smaller size to slow the monster's pursuit.

Wu Tie scrambled through patches of mushrooms and ferns like a panicked mouse. The monster roared furiously, occasionally spitting out pillars of fire as it relentlessly hunted him.

As he fled, Wu Tie recalled the knowledge Old Tie had imparted to him.

Soon, he understood – he had been tricked by Luolin and his group.

Luolin had intervened, realizing that Wu Tie was alone here, isolated, without companions, kin, or any powerful backing. Therefore, Luolin and his associates had sent someone to provoke this giant beast to deal with Wu Tie.

That egg, was it the beast's offspring?

According to the knowledge Old Tie had taught him, creatures in their reproductive or nurturing stages were frenzied. Any action that harmed their offspring would enrage them. Even the weakest animal would fight a powerful enemy to the death to protect its young.

The small ground moles were like that, let alone such a powerful behemoth?

"Luolin!" Wu Tie roared as he fled. "I remember you... you damned bastards, I won't let you go!"

The only response to Wu Tie was the monster's frenzied roar. With a boom, a boulder several meters square was swatted into the air by the monster's paw and spun towards Wu Tie's back.

Wu Tie cried out and was sent flying dozens of meters by the impact of the boulder, tumbling repeatedly on the ground. Before he could get up and continue running, the monster unleashed a pillar of fire directly at him.

The surface of the pale white armor rapidly increased in temperature, emitting a terrifying flame capable of instantly melting rock.

Wu Tie felt as if his entire body was immersed in boiling water. He yelped and jumped, hopping and skipping towards the great river dozens of miles away.

Since this monster could breathe fire, he would use the river water to deal with it.

Wu Tie panted, running at full speed for a long distance. Suddenly, he paused and then ran back at full speed towards the location of Shi Lingqing's wooden shed.

The giant beast was still chasing him. Wu Tie ran at full speed. As he neared Shi Lingqing's wooden shed, he shouted with all his might, "Shi Lingqing, be careful! They've used a giant beast to trap me, they want to kill you!"

In the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp, Old Tie cackled.

"This little rookie, should I praise him for being kind and righteous? Or should I say... he's truly stupid?" Old Tie sneered. "It seems he's stupid... what do you think?"

Big Iron's eyes flickered with a dim light, and he gently rotated his massive head.

Wu Tie sprinted, leaping over a pile of jagged stalagmites and looking towards Shi Lingqing's wooden shed.

Boom! A behemoth thundered past, smashing the stalagmites to pieces. Countless fist-sized fragments rained down on Wu Tie, emitting ear-piercing impacts. His pale white armor flared with light, the debris shattering and leaving no trace.

The wooden shed had collapsed, and large bloodstains marred the ground.

A youth in black, a straight sword sheathed on his back, holding a straight sword in his right hand and three small throwing knives in his left, lay stiffly on the ground, covered in blood. It flowed from his body, forming a small pool in a mud pit over two meters away.

One dead.

In such a short time, barely fifteen minutes for Wu Tie's round trip, one of Luolin's companions was already dead.

Wu Tie wanted to investigate the youth's cause of death, but the behemoth was already charging. Wu Tie roared, spinning around and thrusting his spear at the beast's head.

The behemoth swiped a massive paw. Wu Tie's spear vibrated violently, almost flying from his grasp. He was sent spinning through the air, crashing heavily to the ground and bouncing two or three times.

Scrambling to his feet, Wu Tie gasped, enduring the agonizing jolt in his internal organs as he desperately fled.

The behemoth pursued madly, stepping on the corpse of the slain youth. Flesh and blood flew as the youth was crushed beyond recognition.

Wu Tie fled, gasping, at full speed.

He was utterly helpless against this brute. He could only run at top speed, choosing a direction at random.

Originally, he had intended to retreat to the Ancient Divine Weapon camp. But he inexplicably thought of Shi Lingqing and Luolin, and instinctively ran in the opposite direction of the camp.

Even though he felt an inexplicable fondness for Shi Lingqing, he didn't want her to know about the Ancient Divine Weapon camp.

The behemoth roared ferociously, bounding and leaping as it chased Wu Tie. Each landing of its massive body sent violent tremors through the ground, scattering countless rocks.

It occasionally spewed a terrifying pillar of fire at Wu Tie. Each time he was hit, he yelped in pain, flailing his limbs as he accelerated his escape.

The chase continued for an unknown duration, when suddenly, distant roars grew louder and more terrifying.

The behemoth, which had been pursuing for a long time and was already struggling to breathe, abruptly raised its upper body and let out a sharp, piercing roar.

Wu Tie shivered in fear. He quickly looked in the direction of the distant roars, his scalp tingling—there, a beast one-third larger than the one chasing him, at least twenty meters long from head to tail, was charging like a hurricane.

"We're doomed!" Wu Tie yelled, instinctively increasing his speed.

He scrambled through mushroom patches and fern thickets, tumbling and crawling through clusters of stalagmites, the behemoth hot on his heels. Soon, one beast became two, and the newcomer was larger and faster.

Worse still, its fire breath was more potent.

The first behemoth's fire was merely crimson. The second beast's fire now had a hint of blue, undoubtedly indicating greater power. Pillars of flame, as thick as two water vats, landed on the ground, spreading intensely and stickily, melting the earth into lava within a ten-meter radius.

The high-temperature flames raged, drying out vast mushroom groves and fern patches, which then burst into conflagration.

Fire blazed in Wu Tie's wake, illuminating the surroundings brightly.

Gradually, Wu Tie's stamina began to wane. Even after completing the first stage of Foundation Establishment, his blood had generated powerful Origin Power, but his stamina still had limits.

After running for several hundred miles, Wu Tie was drenched in sweat. His internal organs felt like they were burning, especially his lungs, which ached as if filled with fine needles, threatening to burst.

His Origin Power was depleted. His legs felt heavy as lead, his footsteps growing sluggish.

The smaller behemoth also slowed considerably. Its immense size meant that running hundreds of miles had consumed tens of times more stamina than Wu Tie's. It was already impressive that it could still keep up.

However, the larger beast was at the peak of its strength. It roared madly, pursuing Wu Tie with frenzied determination. Several times, it nearly caught him, its jaws snapping shut just inches from his body.

Fortunately, the terrain was complex, filled with stalagmites and stone pillars hundreds of meters high...

Wu Tie suddenly glanced around, his heart lurching.

Unknowingly, he had strayed beyond the safe zone Old Tie had mentioned, venturing into the half-basin near the lava fissure—an area with more treacherous terrain, denser vegetation, and a richer, more dangerous ecosystem.

Giant stalagmites and pillars densely packed the area, leaving narrow gaps. Wu Tie scrambled through them, and the pursuing behemoth, caught off guard, slammed its head into a massive stone pillar with a thud, causing the two-meter-thick, hundred-meter-tall pillar to tilt precariously.

The pillar made a terrifying cracking sound before rapidly toppling over.

It struck an adjacent pillar, and with a deafening crash, the stone structures began to fall like dominoes.

Wu Tie let out a sharp cry as he leaped into the air. Stalagmites collapsed, and countless massive rocks rained down chaotically.

Wu Tie used the falling rocks to propel himself upward, an invisible force field enveloping him, lifting him like a bird towards the sky.

A piercing shriek echoed from the tops of the stone pillars, and gusts of foul-smelling wind swept down from above.

Dozens of pale green lights appeared at the pillar tops, accompanied by incessant sharp cries.

The behemoth, unwilling to yield, raised its head and spewed pillars of fire towards the sky.

Wu Tie dodged rapidly. From the tops of the stone pillars, several impossibly large, monstrous spiders roared, descending like meteors, their long, sharp limbs reaching out towards the behemoth.