"Hiss!"
The Nugel Worm King roared at Xu Fan again and again.
It had no eyes, but that did nothing to hinder its ability to sense Xu Fan.
The remaining Nugel Worms had also grown to nearly the same size as the Insect King, though they were a little smaller.
There seemed to be seventeen or eighteen of them.
However...
They moved much faster than ordinary Nugel Worms.
They could also burrow underground.
In the span of just two or three breaths, the evolved Nugel Worms launched a feint.
Together with their king, they closed in on Xu Fan.
In an instant, they were right in front of him. They all opened their cavernous jaws and lunged to swallow him whole.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Fan stood his ground and raised his long saber above his head with one hand. He turned his wrist and swung the blade with all his might.
A flash of cold light streaked past.
The razor-sharp slash cut through every Nugel Worm's body.
The Insect King included!
In that instant, every Nugel Worm froze in midair, jaws gaping, yet none of them fell.
Only when their upper halves shifted and separated from their bodies did they tumble to the ground.
Thud!
Even the last few had all been cut in half at the waist by Xu Fan.
Every wound was perfectly smooth.
It was enough to show just how swift and powerful Xu Fan's movements had been.
Then...
Blood gushed out in streams.
Not a single Nugel Worm survived.
Xu Fan had slaughtered every last one of them with his extraordinary swordsmanship!
The Female Snow Wolf, who had witnessed it all, stood rooted to the spot, her mind completely blank.
She simply couldn't understand.
Why was Xu Fan's strength so terrifying?
The last one to appear had been especially fearsome. It far surpassed the others in both size and ferocity.
Its open jaws were even more enormous than its own body.
Even the Snow Wolf King wouldn't stand a chance against it one-on-one.
And yet...
Such a terrifying beast had been effortlessly slain by Xu Fan.
It hadn't even lasted a single round!
It hadn't even put up a fight!
This could hardly be called a battle.
It had been a complete rout from start to finish.
Xu Fan had barely even broken a sweat.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, the Female Snow Wolf would never have believed that such a terrifying creature could exist in this world.
It was too frightening!
At the same time...
The Mysterious Voice rang in Xu Fan's ears once more.
[Major Announcement: Congratulations to Yan Kingdom's contestant Xu Fan for killing the Nugel Worm swarm and the Nugel Worm King, and successfully claiming the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse!]
[The Wolf Ancestor's Corpse will be manifested in the real world!]
[Congratulations to contestant Xu Fan for obtaining one C-grade Treasure Chest!]
After hearing the Mysterious Voice, Xu Fan couldn't help but freeze.
His guess that killing a lord would earn him a treasure chest had been confirmed.
He wasn't surprised that killing the Insect King had earned him a resource.
But Xu Fan had never expected...
The resource reward this time would be the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse!
"Can this thing really count as a resource?"
Xu Fan couldn't help grumbling to himself.
He truly couldn't think of any use for it.
Besides, it was enormous.
He couldn't see the end of it.
Once manifested in the real world, it might give the country a headache as they tried to figure out what to do with it.
"Maybe there's something special about it after all."
But Xu Fan quickly changed his perspective.
His instinctive assumption that the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse was useless came from applying the common sense of the real world.
But then again...
Could the things in the Forbidden Land really be judged by the rules of the real world?
No!
What Xu Fan had experienced over the past two days was proof enough.
Hadn't every single thing gone beyond the bounds of common sense?
Besides, the Mysterious Voice had deemed it a resource.
That meant it was definitely valuable.
The only thing he didn't know was...
Whether the corpse of every large beast counted as a precious resource.
Or whether only the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse was valuable?
With that thought, Xu Fan took a few quick steps over and examined the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse.
Its surface...
Was pitted all over, covered in marks left by the Nugel Worms that had fed on it.
Curious, Xu Fan gripped his long saber and swung it at the Wolf Ancestor's skull.
Clang!
A dull thud rang out.
The long saber bounced straight back.
It had left only the faintest mark on the surface.
Even without using the power of the Whitebeard Template, Xu Fan's wrist strength had been enhanced.
That blow had been at least five or six times as powerful as an ordinary person's.
That was enough to show how hard the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse was.
"Never mind."
He'd leave it to the experts in Yan Kingdom to figure out how to use the Wolf Ancestor's Corpse.
At the same time...
The Female Snow Wolf trotted after him.
If Xu Fan hadn't stepped in just now, she would have died in the swarm's attack.
And she had never sensed any hostility from Xu Fan.
Now that she had seen just how terrifyingly powerful he was, she was even less willing to leave him and fend for herself.
Delicious food.
Sweet fresh water.
And...
A strong sense of security.
Any one of those would have been enough to draw her in.
Much less all of them together.
The Female Snow Wolf now acted more like a kitten. She cautiously approached Xu Fan, lowered her head, and gently nudged his leg with her forehead before rubbing her chin against it.
It was clearly an attempt to curry favor.
"Looks like you've accepted me as your master, little one."
Xu Fan smiled faintly at the sight.
Just moments ago, when he'd been surrounded by the swarm,
he'd thought the Female Snow Wolf might use him as a distraction and flee.
But who would have thought...
The Female Snow Wolf hadn't abandoned him.
Instead, she'd bravely charged into the swarm and fought the Nugel Worms to protect him.
With his strength, he hadn't needed to worry about the Nugel Worms hurting him in the first place.
But the Female Snow Wolf had no way of knowing that.
She had chosen to stay by his side without the slightest assurance that she'd make it out alive!
That kind of devotion through hardship was rare even among humans.
"You must be exhausted too, little one."
Xu Fan spoke gently, then took out some fresh water from his expedition pack and poured it into the Treasure Chest.
He let the Female Snow Wolf drink her fill.
As for the roasted meat...
He looked around.
Corpses were strewn everywhere.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and rotting flesh.
Even the Female Snow Wolf could barely stomach anything now.
In truth...
If she hadn't been so thirsty, she wouldn't have even wanted a drink.
When the Female Snow Wolf began drinking, Xu Fan found a relatively clean spot and laid out a piece of wolf hide.
Then he used clean water and the hide to wipe down the blade of his broad saber.
No matter what...
The Nugel Worms' blood had some corrosive properties.
If he didn't clean it off quickly,
the blade would soon rust.
As for the C-grade Treasure Chest he'd obtained, Xu Fan wasn't in any hurry to open it.
He was taking things very cautiously now.
He seemed almost used to scenes like this.
Meanwhile, a storm was brewing across Blue Star.
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