Chapter 90 - 60 Basalt Body

Chapter 90: Chapter 60 Basalt BodyJi Xinghuo’s gaze was calm. An arrow was already nocked on the Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow, but he did not change the direction of the bow and instead killed the designated elite Stone Scythe Demon. The deep gorge beneath his feet was a hundred meters wide, and it was even higher than the opposite rock peak, so even if the Stone Scythe Giant Demon was not injured, it could not possibly jump across. Moreover, it was already severely wounded. Ji Xinghuo calmly drew an explosive flame arrow, pulled the bowstring, and just as the Stone Scythe Giant Demon jumped into mid-air, leveling with him, but still far away. A streak of red light sped through the night sky. Like a tracer, it hit the Stone Scythe Giant Demon precisely. Bang! A burst of high-temperature flames exploded, carrying metal fragments, smothering the Stone Scythe Giant Demon with a ferocious impact, igniting its fur, and the flames instantly spread across its entire body as if plunged into a sea of fire. The shockwave from the explosion halted the Stone Scythe Giant Demon’s leap, causing it to plummet into the deep gorge immediately. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon let out a grievous cry. The explosive flame arrows are made of a special material, the arrowhead coated with a combustible metal similar to magnesium from the Star Realm, which heats up due to friction with the air at high speeds and explodes on impact. The force of the blast is not very strong—slightly less than explosives on Earth. However, the flames released by the explosive flame arrows are quite formidable, able to reach temperatures exceeding 400 degrees Celsius, difficult to extinguish, and burning over a broad area. Nearly all monsters that catch even a small flame would burn until their skin splits open. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon was no ordinary monster. Its entire body was as hard as rock, not just covered with rock skin like the typical Stone Scythe Demons, but from the outside to the inside, the entire body appeared to be sculpted from rock. Transcendent Ability "Basalt Body"! Although not quite as powerful as the Transcendent Ability Earth Pulse, the defense power of Basalt Body is stronger, nearly impervious to cutting and stabbing, leaving no weaknesses once triggered. The flames from the explosive flame arrow burned off the fur, but couldn’t affect the Basalt Body, and soon extinguished. But the Stone Scythe Giant Demon had already fallen into the deep gorge. Boom, boom, boom... Like a massive boulder falling into the gorge, the impact echoed between the cliffs. Ji Xinghuo glanced down. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon had rolled down to the bottom, immediately leapt up, all four stony claws of its arms spread open, forcefully digging into the mountain, using all six limbs, it climbed the cliffs like a madman, heading towards his position on the rock ledge. "Stupid thing." Ji Xinghuo chuckled softly, ignoring it, he continued shooting at the group of Stone Scythe Demons on the opposite side. Over a hundred Stone Scythe Demons were stirred into a frenzy; they could not see their enemy and blindly followed their leader, leaping into the deep gorge, tumbling downwards. Whiz! Whiz! Whiz... Ji Xinghuo rapidly fired five arrows. Like calling roll, those hit were all Stone Scythe Demons that had evolved once. At this time, the Stone Scythe Demons were less than two hundred meters from him, well within his most confident shooting range. In a high position even during Star Night, they were running, yet he could still hit his mark with every arrow, each one piercing the eyes and instantly killing the target. With each arrow shot, the contour of invisibility formed by the Stealth Ring flickered. Some Stone Scythe Demons with keen eyesight finally spotted their enemy. But it was of no use. Ji Xinghuo drew a capacitor arrow, aimed downwards. Now, the Stone Scythe Giant Demon had climbed several hundred meters, leaving holes in the cliff, causing the platform at his feet to tremble. Myriad Phenomena initiated! The next second, Ji Xinghuo shot the capacitor arrow. Crack! Like a bolt of lightning descending from the sky, it struck the fervently climbing Stone Scythe Giant Demon. The capacitor arrow avoided its wildly flailing arms, passed through the gaps between its arms, and precisely hit the wound on its groin. Despite the bleeding having stopped and the Basalt Body making the tissue around the wound tougher, this was still the most vulnerable spot on its body. The capacitor arrow penetrated the rock, embedded in it, and discharged a high-voltage current. "Awooooo..." The Stone Scythe Giant Demon was in both pain and numbness, losing control of its body. Having climbed so laboriously to this height, it then twitched and plummeted down, crashing heavily back into the gorge. Boom! The bottom of the gorge quaked, with stones flying haphazardly, and several Stone Scythe Demons that had climbed up there were crushed to death. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon was also terribly smashed, with cracks appearing on its skin. However, it immediately got up again, jumped onto the cliff, and continued climbing, having completely lost its mind. Ji Xinghuo still ignored it, continuing to kill other monster-level Stone Scythe Demons. In the interface of Wanxiang Star Pupil, his Spiritual Origin Ability continuously increased: +1, +1, +1... There were fifteen evolved Stone Scythe Demons in this group, and after two rounds of shooting, all were dead. Only the leader and ordinary Stone Scythe Demons remained. They did not retreat; their fierceness erupted, madly climbing up the rock cliff. Ji Xinghuo’s hands barely stopped, the Third Level Thousand Spirit Skillful Hand allowed his Archery Skill to reach an extremely high level—fast, stable, and precise—at nearly a once per second rate, he drew the arrows planted at his feet and rapidly shot them out. The Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow flapped again and again. With each arrow shot, a Stone Scythe Demon in the middle of climbing would fall down, already a corpse before hitting the ground. He maintained the rhythm, his expression cold. Not a single Stone Scythe Demon could climb within thirty meters of the rock cliff. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon finally climbed up once more, its speed very fast, surpassing other Stone Scythe Demons and heading straight for Ji Xinghuo. Yet, what met it was another capacitor arrow. The same arrow, the same spot, the same result. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon fell for the third time. All of this was within Ji Xinghuo’s calculations. After he shot a few more titanium aluminum alloy arrows, there were not many Stone Scythe Demons left on the cliff beneath his feet. In the deep ravine, the bodies of Stone Scythe Demons littered the ground, their blood dyeing the stream red. A few dozen Stone Scythe Demons were still alive, their instinct to survive making them feel fearful, overwhelming their loyalty to their leader, and they turned and fled in all directions. Ji Xinghuo didn’t chase them and waste arrows, since he couldn’t obtain Spiritual Origin Ability from them anyway. He peered into the depths of the ravine. After the Stone Scythe Giant Demon had fallen, it had remained motionless, but since he hadn’t received the Spiritual Origin Ability, it meant it wasn’t dead yet. It had landed on a huge rock, its body covered in cracks, oozing fresh blood. "Playing dead?" Ji Xinghuo didn’t rashly descend, but he was also unsure if the Stone Scythe Giant Demon still had the strength to counterattack. The madness of a superior monster before death, even a Super Mutant couldn’t withstand it. He drew an explosive flame arrow and shot it down. Boom! The flames enveloped the Stone Scythe Giant Demon. It let out a pitiful scream and jumped out of the fire. "So it really was playing dead..." Ji Xinghuo chuckled, knowing too well that a superior monster wouldn’t die so easily. Their vitality was beyond ordinary people’s imagination. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon didn’t climb up the cliffs again but instead jumped into a deeper part of the ravine, rolling and crawling, swiftly leaping between the mountain walls and rocks, fleeing without looking back. Ji Xinghuo looked back at the small green snake in the tree and made a gesture with his hand. "Let’s go." The little green snake had seen the entire fight. With its intelligence, it could understand things the monsters couldn’t, its eyes filled with shock and curiosity, and it understood what Ji Xinghuo meant. It hesitated for a moment. Ultimately, it quickly slithered over and climbed onto Ji Xinghuo’s shoulder, hiding in the gaps of his ceramic steel armor. It wanted to see how Ji Xinghuo would kill the Stone Scythe Giant Demon. Ji Xinghuo leaped down from the stone cliff. The cliff below wasn’t a vertical ninety degrees; in fact, it had a slope, and with his Gale Battle Boots, it was like stepping on flat ground. In a few seconds, he rushed into the depths of the ravine, chasing in the direction the Stone Scythe Giant Demon had fled. By now, the Stone Scythe Giant Demon had already escaped several hundred meters. But the magnetic field sensing had already locked onto it, and Ji Xinghuo activated Gale Step, following the Stone Scythe Giant Demon at the same speed. Neither closing in nor falling behind. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon was already severely injured, there was no need for a direct confrontation. Merely by exhausting its physical strength, he could easily kill it. On his shoulder, the little green snake would occasionally peek out to observe. It didn’t understand how Ji Xinghuo was tracking his enemy. That dreadful monster had already escaped beyond its sense of smell, changing direction and hiding several times, but Ji Xinghuo could always find the right direction immediately without any confusion, and then shoot an arrow from afar, startling the prey to continue running. The chase continued for over an hour. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon had already covered over thirty kilometers yet still couldn’t shake off its pursuer but was nearly at its limits. Several times, it turned around intending to fight to the death with its pursuer. Yet Ji Xinghuo did not give it the opportunity, immediately increasing the distance; each time it fled in another direction, he quickly caught up again. S~eaʀᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Almost there." "Another twenty minutes and it will be completely exhausted." Ji Xinghuo rapidly moved through the dense forest and deep valleys, driving the desperate Stone Scythe Giant Demon to continue its wild run. Its speed had already dropped to less than a third of its former, bleeding more and more seriously, leaving behind droplets of blood wherever it passed. The Basalt Body could harden its body and greatly increase its defense, momentarily stopping the worsening of injuries, but it consumed a great deal of physical and Star Power and had no self-healing effect. The Stone Scythe Giant Demon had persisted for so long was already quite remarkable. As soon as the Basalt Body was disengaged, its injuries would immediately burst forth, life hanging by a thread, almost dead even without any attacks. So he was not in a hurry at all. "Hmm?" While running, Ji Xinghuo suddenly frowned as the magnetic field sensing detected others. It was a Hunting Team, a total of five people; they seemed to have been drawn by the noise of the Stone Scythe Giant Demon’s escape and were hurrying over from the front. "Stone Scythe Giant Demon!" "It seems injured, quick! Let’s kill it..." These people spoke in West Alliance language. Although Ji Xinghuo had graduated from Fengming Language University, his major was Star Realm Language. On Earth, there was a translator, and learning West Alliance language had no job market, so he could only understand part of what they were saying. First, there was an exclamation, followed by the sounds of battle, and after the Stone Scythe Giant Demon let out a mournful wail, there was no more movement. When Ji Xinghuo sensed something was wrong, he immediately hurried over at his fastest speed. Spiritual Origin Ability +27 The interface of the Wanxiang Star Pupil popped up a notification. Ji Xinghuo’s expression darkened, anticipating trouble ahead, so he covered his face and continued to approach, deliberately making loud footsteps. "Who’s there?" "Come out!" Ji Xinghuo showed himself in the forest, a hundred meters away from the other group. The five Mutants surrounded the body of the Stone Scythe Giant Demon, already in a defensive formation, watching intently as Ji Xinghuo emerged from the starlit night. The expression on each person’s face varied—surprise, excitement, wariness, caution... different reactions. But their eyes all held one thing in common—that was greed.