Poison Thorn Turtle

The Heavy Armor Demonic Beast pulled its foot free and stomped down hard on the Steel Thorn Turtle again.

The result was the same as before. The Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's foot was pierced through again; that Steel Thorn Turtle's back spines were unimaginably hard.

Though it let out a pained roar, the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast refused to accept defeat and wanted to stomp with its other foot. Lin Shen hurriedly ordered it to retreat.

That Steel Thorn Turtle looked ordinary, but it was anything but ordinary.

Though the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast was unwilling, it had no choice but to obey Lin Shen's command and turn to charge at the other Steel Thorn Turtles.

One stomp apiece, the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast resumed its former invincible bearing. In mere moments, it crushed several more Steel Thorn Turtles.

That seemingly ordinary yet utterly extraordinary Steel Thorn Turtle chased after the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast, seeking a battle, but Lin Shen forcefully controlled the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast to evade it.

The Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's speed was considered quite slow among Alloy Grade creatures, yet it was still a little faster than that Steel Thorn Turtle. No matter how frantically it pursued, it could not catch the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast and could only watch helplessly as it stomped one Steel Thorn Turtle after another to death.

Lin Shen suddenly noticed that the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast had slowed down. Even its running movements seemed wrong, as though it were limping.

"Was it injured that badly just now?" Lin Shen found it strange. If its wounded foot had affected its mobility, why were the symptoms only appearing now?

Lowering his head to look at the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's injured foot, Lin Shen immediately sensed that this was probably more than a simple wound.

No Gene Mutation Fluid seeped from the wound on the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's foot, and it did not look particularly serious. Yet its entire leg seemed unable to bend, making it hobble along as though the leg did not belong to it at all, but was instead a walking stick.

"Not good. Those Steel Thorn Turtle spines seem to carry something like a toxin." Lin Shen saw the problem.

That toxin-like substance was still spreading through the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's body, increasingly restricting its movements.

The Steel Thorn Turtle caught up. The Heavy Armor Demonic Beast viciously kicked at it, only for it to bite down on its ankle. No matter how it shook, it could not throw it off.

It wanted to kick it with its other leg, but that leg had already become as unresponsive as wood.

"When the knife must fall, hesitation breeds disaster." Gritting his teeth, Lin Shen summoned the Meteor Iron Swallow.

Taking advantage of the Steel Thorn Turtle's death grip on the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's ankle, the Meteor Iron Swallow transformed into a black flying blade and slashed at its neck with astonishing speed.

Who would have thought that although the Steel Thorn Turtle moved slowly, it could retract its neck with incredible speed? It released its bite and pulled its neck in, dodging the Meteor Iron Swallow's strike.

Having evaded the Meteor Iron Swallow's attack, the Steel Thorn Turtle shot its neck out like lightning again, intending to bite the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's leg once more.

But it never could have imagined that the Meteor Iron Swallow, which had clearly been flying swiftly forward, would make an eerie turn and fly back at an even faster speed, slashing at the Steel Thorn Turtle's neck again.

First, the Steel Thorn Turtle had never expected such a move. Second, the distance was too close, and the Meteor Iron Swallow was unbelievably fast. It was given no chance to retract its neck again.

A streak of black lightning flashed past. With a sharp crack, the Steel Thorn Turtle's neck was severed by the Meteor Iron Swallow, sharp as a flying blade.

Its neck was not as hard as its shell and back spines. Enhanced by both Speed Slash and Swallow Reversal, the Meteor Iron Swallow killed it in one strike.

Killed Mutated Steel Creature Poison Thorn Turtle...

After the Steel Thorn Turtle died, Lin Shen showed little joy. Instead, he ordered the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast and Meteor Iron Swallow to clear out the remaining Steel Thorn Turtles even faster.

The Steel Thorn Turtles, sworn to defend the Gene Mutation Eggs to the death, still charged fearlessly at the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast in a deathly assault.

If he had a choice, Lin Shen did not want to wipe them all out. After all, steel materials were not worth much, and he likely could not teleport back carrying so much stuff.

The reason he ordered the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast and Meteor Iron Swallow to speed up their slaughter of the Steel Thorn Turtles was because he was worried.

Before long, what Lin Shen feared developed in the worst possible direction.

Both of the Heavy Armor Demonic Beast's injured legs could no longer move, and its body was beginning to stiffen as well. Even walking had become difficult.

Worse still, the Meteor Iron Swallow's wings were beginning to stiffen too. Its flight path became extremely unstable, its speed steadily decreasing, and several times it nearly fell from the air.

Fortunately, they were both Alloy Creatures, a full grade above the Steel Thorn Turtles. Otherwise, they would likely have already been killed by the swarm of Steel Thorn Turtles.

Lin Shen had not dared go down himself to tap the mutant Poison Thorn Turtle's acupoint earlier because he feared that he too would be infected by whatever that toxin-like substance was. That was why he had sent the Meteor Iron Swallow to try.

The result was terrible. Even the uninjured Meteor Iron Swallow had been affected. Lin Shen did not know how to save them and could only watch as their bodies gradually stiffened, until they were completely unable to move, like metal statues.

More than a dozen Steel Thorn Turtles remained, but fortunately Lin Shen still had the Superspeed Gunslinger. It fired continuously, blowing their heads apart and shooting all the remaining Steel Thorn Turtles dead.

"We have to leave this place quickly." Lin Shen did not dare remain here any longer, afraid that the Steel Thorn Turtle corpses and the Gene Mutation Fluid flowing from their bodies would attract other Gene Mutation Creatures.

He even planned to abandon most of the Gene Mutation Eggs in the sand pits, taking only a few with him in his backpack for later use.

"I wonder whether that mutant Poison Thorn Turtle laid eggs here..." As Lin Shen pondered this, Dead Powder, which had been coiled around his arm, suddenly began moving on its own. It crawled out from his sleeve and slithered like a snake toward a sand pit.

"Dead Powder, get back here. Don't touch my mutant Gene Mutation Eggs." Lin Shen's heart stirred as he inched toward the sand pit, unable even to straighten his waist. Every step was incomparably difficult.

Unfortunately, Dead Powder ignored his command and plunged headfirst into the sand pit. Before Lin Shen could reach it, Dead Powder crawled out again and lunged toward another sand pit.

Lin Shen had already given up chasing it. He could only watch as Dead Powder swiftly darted through one sand pit after another, visiting every one of the hundreds of pits.

After Dead Powder crawled out of the last sand pit, it actually pounced on the mutant Poison Thorn Turtle's corpse. Its body and mouthparts swelled to an enormous size, and it swallowed the mutant Poison Thorn Turtle's corpse in a single gulp.

"I haven't even collected its Gene Mutation Fluid yet... That was Gene Mutation Fluid from a rare mutated creature..." Lin Shen was utterly depressed. It had ruined all the good stuff. This was mutated creature material.

Although its grade was a little low, the word "mutated" alone made it valuable enough.

Even more regrettably, the mutant Poison Thorn Turtle should have laid eggs, and they were very likely Mutation Eggs. Dead Powder had surely pocketed those for itself too.

If Lin Shen had obtained them, he could have completed a gene mutation using Mutation Eggs. He would definitely have been stronger than other Steel Gene Mutators.

Just as Lin Shen was considering how he could completely control Dead Powder, it crawled back on its own and climbed onto his arm. As it crawled, its body shrank, until it finally turned into a capsule in Lin Shen's palm.

Gene Mutation Evolution in Progress...

"Damn it... evolving at a time like this... Are you screwing with me?" Lin Shen tried to unlock and summon Dead Powder, but no matter how many times he inserted the key, it did not work. He simply could not summon it.

In this place fraught with danger at every step, the damned thing had actually gone off to evolve after stuffing itself full. Lin Shen had no idea how long the evolution would take, and he felt like cursing its ancestors for eighteen generations.