Chapter 265
If we could "eat" it and obtain some of its energy...
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Ce made up his mind and put the sharp blade into his mouth.
[Skill [Feast] successfully used.]
Click... Click...
The moment the teeth bit down, the seemingly indestructible divine sword Muramana, made a cracking sound.
Click... Click... Bang!
The Muramana... shattered.
Sharp fragments entered through the mouth, then rushed rapidly into the esophagus as if drawn by some powerful force, and then into the stomach...
But the sharp fragments failed to pierce the delicate esophagus.
Chen Ce felt a powerful magical force instantly fill his entire body.
The power of the Muramana... the immense magic contained within the Tear of the Goddess...
[The absorption effect is good; 15% of the magic power of the equipped [Muramana] has been absorbed.]
The moment the notification tone ended, Chen Ce almost couldn't help but shout out in excitement.
But he resisted the urge—he couldn't disturb Sona, whose hands were almost sore from working all morning.
"If one could eat indefinitely and increase their strength indefinitely..."
"Where can there be an endless supply of 'food'...?"
Chen Ce squinted and instantly thought of a good place.
"Now we have no choice but to go to Shurima..."
Chapter 111 Dog, Hungry, Food
The content of this chapter has not been approved.
Chapter 112 Kai'Sa, wow, you're so hot and cute!
The deserts of Shurima are cannibalistic.
A word of advice, a proverb. Those who struggle to survive in this vast desert all know it.
In particular, the Shurima guides—who are responsible for leading caravans or groups of travelers across the desert—most of them are leaving Shurima, while some are venturing into the heart of Shurima from the outside.
For gold coins, just like the guides.
Russell, one of Shurima's many guides, was now tasked with leading a caravan from out of town deep into the Shurima desert.
The leader of this caravan knew what this desert needed and what the people here were most wealthy about... He brought many fine wines and pure water in tightly sealed wooden barrels, filling more than twenty wagons.
Yes, this is exactly Shurima people need most.
In this barren land where even vultures wouldn't linger, water is life, life is money, and water is more valuable than money.
Shurima has many ancient ruins, and although explorers and tomb raiders have been digging and destroying them for thousands of years, countless treasures still remain.
The black market circulates many treasures claimed to have been unearthed from ancient ruins—some genuine, some fake, with most belonging to the latter. However, there are also some genuine artifacts.
The treasures unearthed from the tombs of ancient emperors are priceless, but ordinary people have no idea how to appreciate them... These caravans from afar are after those treasures. They want to exchange Shurima... This is their sole purpose, which sounds both greedy and shameless.
But the Shurima were willing to make trade with them.
Because... there's no other way, is there? You can't break gold coins and drink them, much less feed them to your hungry children at home.
Russell shook his head inwardly, but had no choice but to lead the way for these greedy outsiders.
He is a seasoned guide who has been traversing this desert for over twenty years.
But he dared not be careless at all.
Because of his extensive experience, he dared not be careless at all.
The deserts of Shurima are cannibalistic.
To outsiders, this advice might sound like quicksand or a hurricane that could bury people, but Russell knew... its true meaning referred to those "monsters."
Those terrifying monsters... they lurk beneath the yellow sand... they could appear at any time, in any corner...
They are greedy, bloodthirsty, and brutal; their hunger is insatiable...
Russell had witnessed firsthand how those terrifying monsters devoured an entire caravan—their mouths could swallow a whole camel in a single bite!
Those monsters are far beyond human capabilities... There's only one way to survive their sharp teeth and claws—
Avoid them.
"We need to go around that sand dune," Russell said, pointing to the desert ahead. "It might not be safe there."
"What?" The caravan leader squinted and looked ahead, but saw nothing.
Under the scorching sun, only the silent sand remained.
"Go around? How many more miles would that mean?"
"About... thirty li," Russell said. "If we're lucky, we might be able to shorten it to about twenty li."
"Twenty or thirty li!" the leader exclaimed in displeasure, then quickly shook his head. "We can't go around that. Such a long distance would add several more hours to our journey, and my goods will continue to lose value over time!"
As he spoke, he patted the wooden bucket beside him.
Even if the wooden barrels are tightly sealed, the wine inside cannot be stored in such a high-temperature environment for an extended period of time—that would definitely spoil his goods.
"But we can't..." Russell frowned. "It might be dangerous there."
"What danger? Quicksand? The calm waters don't look like there's any quicksand... You're not trying to take a longer route to make more money off me, are you? Let me tell you, even if you take a hundred more miles, I'll only give you the price we agreed on initially!"
"I know the rules, sir... but you must believe me, there might be danger there—not quicksand, not a sandstorm, but a monster... they might emerge from the ground and attack us!"
"Nonsense!" The leader kicked the guide dismissively, knocking him to the ground. "Keep leading the way! No detours!"
"This... absolutely not..." Russell wanted to insist a little longer.
But those ruthless outsiders had already drawn their knives.
If he doesn't lead the way, then he's of little value.
In this desolate desert, a person could die without being discovered...
Russell nervously swallowed several times, finally choosing to give in—after all, it was only a possibility... less than a one in ten chance... surely he couldn't be that unlucky?
The children at home are waiting for this money to go back and fill their stomachs...
"Alright, I'll lead the way..." Russell meekly got up, "But I have to make it clear beforehand, you'll have to listen to me from now on..."
"Alright, alright, enough nonsense." The caravan leader waved his hand dismissively.
Russell had no choice but to continue leading the way.
The sand dunes ahead appeared calm, but he knew there was definitely something turbulent beneath the surface... He had experience. And the path had no signs or graffiti on the rock walls, indicating it had definitely been the site of some terrible disaster.
The caravan continued onward and soon entered that "dangerous area".
Russell was on high alert, every pore on his body was sweating with tension.
Sudden...
He heard a strange sound...
The sand is flowing... something is about to emerge...!
"It's them!" Russell screamed.
Although the rest of the caravan didn't know what had happened, they were also startled by the scream and immediately drew their weapons.
But... after waiting for quite a while, no monsters appeared.
However, a man dressed in tattered clothes, wrapped in a coat to shield himself from the scorching sun and sandstorm, emerged from behind the sand dunes.
"This is the monster you were talking about?" The caravan leader lashed out with his whip in anger.
Russell clutched his burning back, too ashamed to speak—but the burning sensation on his back was nothing compared to the burning pain on his face.
He looked at the man who had suddenly appeared and said, "Why are you walking alone in a place like this? Are you out of your mind?"
The words were harsh, even somewhat reproachful, but the intention was good.
The man wasn't angry; he just said in a hoarse voice, "You should leave now... There are monsters ahead... If you don't want to die, you'd better take a detour..."
"Where did this madman come from? Get out of here!" Before Russell could speak, the caravan leader lashed out with his whip.
But the man who looked like a beggar easily dodged the whip by simply shifting his body slightly to the side.
The leader raised an eyebrow, sensing that the other party might be a bit troublesome, so he didn't press the matter further and, muttering curses, urged the group to continue forward.
The man was still watching them from behind, muttering to himself:
"I searched for days to find these little bugs... I don't want to eat bugs with human flesh inside..."
As soon as the words were spoken, the sand beneath the feet of the caravan began to shift, like a vortex collapsing in an hourglass.
The crowd began to scream in terror, but the tremors beneath their feet grew increasingly pronounced.
Then, a strange roar drowned out their shouts—
The monster is coming.
The beggar-like man silently reached for his waist.
A sacred longsword was slowly drawn from its sheath...
An eerie glimmer of Shimmer pulsated and seeped into the night sky, and the constructed creatures leaped high into the air under the Shurima night, drooling and howling wildly.
They are greedy, they are bloodthirsty, and they regard all living things as enemies.
They treat humans as food.
Chen Ce also treated them as food.
The longsword, wreathed in sacred flames, danced in the darkness, illuminating not only the wielder's excited expression but also evaporating the corrosive purplish-green blood.
This holy sword, now unified into one, was once the sword of the mother of two Kayle — the Seraph's Blade.
It's sufficient for dealing with low-level Void creatures.
Their hard shells are no match for the scorching blades, like a hot iron ball touching fragile paper; the crackling sound of burning is like an open-air barbecue in this desert.
Unfortunately, the smell of this "barbecued meat" was really unpleasant.
The stench was like a corpse that had been left to rot in the scorching sun for days; even without the disgusting maggots on it, one could still picture that gruesome scene.
Chen Ce fought from day to night, and these frenzied insects were as numerous as ants.
The stench of corpses has littered the desert, and the sands of Shurima have swallowed them back into the earth... Perhaps they will be discovered deep underground by other creatures of the same kind, then devoured, digested, and transformed... possibly becoming nourishment for their kind, or perhaps becoming a new Void creature.
That's why you can't kill them all.
Their "death" is not death in the true sense; their own kind can transform their corpses back into new "living beings".
If you want to completely eliminate them, there are only two methods --
First, starve them to death.
Second...
They ate them.
Puff--!
The Seraph's Blade pierced through a medium-sized Void creature and pinned it firmly to the rock wall behind it.
Okay, this is the last one—well, for now.
Chen Ce shook his aching limbs and then slowly approached.
This Void creature looks a bit like a giant beetle... or maybe a stink bug? It has a pair of thin, almost transparent wings, eight legs, and a mouthpart that is a cylindrical organ covered with sharp teeth... which seems to extend outwards by several tens of centimeters, making it look quite disgusting.
Chen Ce stood there, observing for a long while.
Then...