Chapter 89: Challenging the Dead Leaf Locust
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Da Zi crawled into the large metal cage.
The Dead Leaf Locust that was resting quietly on the metal cage started to move its body with unease.
It moved a few steps to the left. The eye of the Dead Leaf Locust kept moving as it followed Da Zi’s movement. The claws latched on the steel wire increased its hold slightly, and its wings quivered in agitation.
“Da Zi, provoke it,” Gao Peng told Da Zi as a reminder in his mind through the contract.
Da Zi nodded cautiously and stood up.
Numerous claws moved in and out as its body moved about in a wave-like manner. It looked like kelp at the bottom of the ocean, swaying back and forth along the wave.
The others outside the cage who saw the amazing feat happening within the cage dropped their jaws in astonishment.
“Holy sh*t, a bloody genius!” a fat kid uttered as he stared in awe.
“F*ck, what the hell is this?” another youngster pinched his arm.
Instructor Zhang, whose face was always tight, twitched a little before he quietly turned around.
The Dead Leaf Locust on the metal wire paused briefly and stared at the centipede with the weird behavior, puzzled. After it hesitated a moment, both of its wings on its back expanded outwards violently, and a greyish afterimage slammed downwards quickly.
Its pointed foot slashed outwards like a sickle with sawteeth. The high-speed movement combined with the sawtooth made for a terrifying weapon.
Just like a saw, once something or someone was hooked, the skin and flesh would be torn open, the injuries would be horrendous.
Almost at the same time, the standing Da Zi hurled itself forward. The Dead Leaf Locust moved up rapidly. It avoided the attack by half a body, and its claw caught on a gap between Da Zi’s back shells. One would be correct to call it a coincidence. However, ultimately, one’s strength was still an important factor in this.
If the offensive strength of the Dead Leaf Locust were just a bit stronger, then it would have been able to slice Da Zi into two halves.
After all, the gap was a key joint on Da Zi’s body.
The charging force of the Dead Leaf Locus caused Da Zi to stagger, almost flipping it on its back.
The Dead Leaf Locust was almost as long as Da Zi. They were close to 10 feet in length. However, it was at least one size bigger than Da Zi when it came to body size.
In terms of pure strength, Da Zi did not have the advantage. Suddenly, in a trance, Da Zi let out a deafening shriek, flipped its body, and hooked forward as it flipped in midair. It made a 180-degree turn.
Then with a twist of the body, it landed on the back of the Dead Leaf Locust. The Dead Leaf Locust was only barely able to fly. Now with a Da Zi now on its back, it fell immediately and dropped to the ground.
The two monsters tangled and twisted together, rolling left and right on the ground.
Although the posture was a little unsightly, it was indeed how centipedes hunted for food. Its entire body would wrap around the enemy’s body like a snake and it would inject poison.
Of course, due to the size of Da Zi, the mouth plier the size of a large scissor would also have pretty decent lethality.
Poison was injected. The Dead Leaf Locust seemed to grow weaker. Gao Peng had no choice but to retrieve Da Zi.
If it continued to inject poison, then this Dead Leaf Locust would definitely die. The other students would no longer have a practice target.
This was not what the training was supposed to be. However, Da Zi’s poison was indeed amazing. Normally, flying type monsters did not have great defensive capabilities.
Normally.
That was because for one to be able to fly, one could not have an overly bloated and thick body. It needed to be light and flexible.
Da Zi left the metal cage and the body of the Dead Leaf Locust looked a little bit purple. It lay on the ground stiffly.
[Monster Name]: Dead Leaf Locust
[Monster Condition]: Moderate Injury (Poisoned)
As Da Zi got out, the others were volunteering to go next. The chance to beat up a weakened enemy had finally come!
Training usually went like this. Da Zi would take the lead and waste the monsters first, then they would take turns and bully the half-dead monster.
The Dragon Chicken walked into the cage with an air of arrogance and bossiness. It advanced one step forward with its long leg, and then another before halting. It put up an air and looked left and right.
It then stared at the injured Dead Leaf Locust that did not want to move. A glint appeared in the eyes of the Dragon Chicken. Wasn’t that its favorite food, the locust?
Although it was slightly bigger, its pathetic appearance ignited the chicken’s desire to bully it. The Dragon Chicken rushed forward as it clucked. It pecked continuously at the Dead Leaf Locust until it was covered in injuries.
As afternoon training ended, Instructor Zhang called everyone over. “Among the five of you, who is in senior year?”
The owner of the Dragon Chicken raised his hand.
“Alright, seniors will stay back. Sophomore year students can go back first,” Instructor Zhang said.
The rest of the sophomore year students left consecutively.
“Is there something you need?” Instructor Zhang looked distractedly at Gao Peng who stayed back.
Gao Peng smiled politely and asked, “Instructor Zhang, are they staying back for matters about the Entrance Examination for College?”
Instructor Zhang blanked out and said, “Yes.” He fixed his gaze at Gao Peng and Da Zi and then nodded. “Then you stay back too.”
The monster trainer cadets in their senior year totaled to over 600 people. All of them formed a large square and arranged themselves into many rows.
Everyone had their familiars standing beside them, so the spaces between each person were rather large.
“Among all of you, some are in your senior years and some are in your sophomore years,” Chief Instructor Chen said while standing on the rock platform with both his hands behind his back, peering down at the group of students.
“It will be time for the Entrance Examination for College in two months! Time waits for no man. The result of the last two months of training will significantly affect and even determine your final results!” Chief Instructor Chen said loudly. “Don’t think that a good result is useless. All the big groups, the military, and the government will throw a baton to all the monster trainer cadets with excellent grades. Although saying it like this may seem a little sordid, it is a reality. After all, even if you are not interested in joining any groups or clans, there is nothing wrong with making yourself stronger.”
Money, position, and power. Those were the things people pursued since ancient times. Of course, one could not deny the existence of zealots who only believed in strength, but these people were only a minority.
Chief Instructor Chen seemed a little resigned. In truth, he did not want to use such utilitarian reasons to motivate these students, but he had no other choice. Feeding them chicken soup for the soul would have been counterproductive.
Gao Peng suddenly remembered his grandfather’s Southern Sky Group. Grandfather was always very stubborn, and his mother had also inherited his grandfather’s temperament and personality. So the relationship between father and daughter was very stiff.
Mother never accepted anything from grandfather. She would only occasionally bring the family over to visit grandfather during the festive new year season.
There was also no way for Gao Peng to get into contact with the higher ups in the Southern Sky Group with his identity. But thinking about it seriously, the group had probably already changed owners.
Gao Peng didn’t really feel any emotion like sadness, regret, or sympathy because those things never really belonged to him in the first place. This was also related to the teachings from his parents when he was younger.
If there was any emotion involved, it would be the melancholic feeling he had for his grandfather, whose life or death status was unknown to him when he was alone.
Gao Peng suddenly had an interesting thought. Perhaps in the future, he would join the government. Joining the World Allied Government might be better than joining those private groups. At least he wouldn’t have the illusion of serving for a certain someone.
Those were all things in the future. Even if he wanted to join the government, it would have to wait until he was strong enough so that he would not just become someone else’s pawn.