Chapter 204: The Blood Worm
Translator: TYZ Editor: Lis
Ai Hui and the rest were caught up in a grueling battle.
When one was down on his luck, his bad luck would just accumulate. A blood worm had emerged from the ground of the courtyard. The hard ground erupted as if it was a body of water. The traps they had set up previously were completely useless and were ripped to smithereens.
At first glance, everyone thought it to be a blood snake. But upon closer inspection, they could not help but gasp in terror.
The blood worm was extremely hideous.
It was the largest worm they had ever seen in their lives. Its body was thicker than the width of a bucket and at least twenty meters long. The blood worm had yet to completely exit the ground, and on sections of its body, thin, black stripes could be seen in even distributions.
Its gigantic body gave it terrifying strength. With one hit, even if it didn’t cause death, there would at least be severe injuries as a result.
Most troublesome of all were its natural attributes. It could move swiftly and nimbly through the ground, allowing it to attack from any angle. Wang Xiaoshan’s ability to manipulate the earth was nothing compared to this. As long as it was in the ground, it was astonishingly active without the slightest incoordination.
When the blood worm suddenly shot out of the ground, a few unlucky students failed to dodge in time and were knocked into the air, incurring severe injuries from the impact. Fortunately, they were bruised but not infected by the blood poison.
Ai Hui and a few others reacted quickly by entangling the blood worm.
Worried about damaging the message tree, Ai Hui lured the blood worm out of the alley. Since the nearby houses were already in ruins, Ai Hui had no worries about thrashing the area further.
On the surface of its body, there was a layer of bloody light, and beneath it, a covering of mucus. The bloody glow was able to withstand most attacks, but even if it were to be broken through, the mucus layer was able to deflect the attack smoothly.
The trio that comprised Ai Hui’s group attacked to no avail.
This blood worm was much stronger than the blood ants; it appeared that the blood fiends were becoming increasingly stronger.
Ai Hui felt uneasy when he saw that their attacks had no effect on the blood worm at all. The blood traces on its body were much more distinct than the blood ant’s, and its strength was clearly more terrifying as well.
If not for his warning beforehand, the number of casualties would have been more devastating....
Ai Hui, Shi Xueman, and Duanmu Huanghun were embroiled in a battle with the blood worm.
Jiang Wei and Sang Zhijun dispersed the students and arranged them strategically on the roofs of the abandoned houses.
"Get ready!" Jiang Wei said with a deep voice.
Every student held their places and prepared to take action.
Suddenly, Ai Hui and the others, who were well-coordinated, dispersed like scattered butterflies.
"Attack!" Jiang Wei roared.
Streaks of colorful lights fell upon the blood worm like raindrops, making for a spectacular scene.
The results of their attacks, however, shocked everyone. The rain of light beams and arrows were either reflected by the blood light or slid off of the mucus. The blood worm remained completely unharmed.
Splash—the chili concoction was poured onto the blood worm’s body, only to be immediately evaporated by the bloody glow.
"Ai Hui, it’s not afraid of chilies!" Lou Lan yelled.
The smell of the chili concoction pervaded the air, but the blood worm did not show the slightest reaction to it.
It seemed bad news followed one after another.
"Ai Hui, my elemental energy can’t penetrate through the ground!" Wang Xiaoshan cried fearfully.
Only now did Ai Hui realize that the ground glowed with a red, bloody color. It made the terrain seem like a scarlet, watery surface that undulated slowly with the blood worm underneath it.
The crimson ground made Ai Hui more restless as he thought of the Garden of Life and the blood forest outside of the city.
He had to stop it!
Ai Hui became more resolved in his intent.
If their attacks continued to prove useless against the blood worm, everyone would become dispirited, thereby making their next round of attacks even less impactful.
Boom!
The blood worm’s body as thick as a bucket suddenly shot out of the ground with a loud bang.
Ai Hui had long sensed the blood worm’s approaching presence and ducked out of the way. With [Misty Strike] prepared ahead of time, he lunged forward ferociously with his Dragonspine Inferno.
Rip!
The Dragonspine Inferno materialized into a shooting star and pierced right through the layer of bloody light. Yet immediately after, an overbearingly slimy and smooth feeling could be felt on the tip of the sword, and Ai Hui’s Dragonspine Inferno involuntarily slid off of the layer of mucus. It was as though he had pierced into a wall that was smeared with oil.
It was the same as before when his attacks had been continuously deflected by this layer of mucus. Until now, nothing seemed to work.
Ruthlessness shined in Ai Hui’s eyes. At the moment his sword tip slid off, Dragonspine Inferno began to vibrate slightly. The seven palaces in his body trembled with the activation of [Big Dipper].
A strand of elemental energy was formed with unprecedented speed.
A cold glint flashed across Ai Hui’s eyes.
[Crescent Moon]!
A brilliant crescent moon swiftly sliced through the blood worm’s body.
Pfff!
A cloud of blood mist spurted out. Luckily, Ai Hui was wearing the Central Pine Armor, stopping the blood from spraying over his body.
Ai Hui immediately retreated.
The students behind him cheered. This was the blood worm’s first sustained injury, and it gave everyone some hope for victory.
At the following scene, however, everyone’s cheers came to a sudden stop.
The blood worm’s mucus rapidly submerged the wound. Following which, the muscle tissues that were slashed regenerated frantically with a visible speed. Its wound, which had previously been a bloody mess, had healed completely.
The recently boosted morale of the students immediately dropped to zero.
Ai Hui’s face darkened. The previous two moves had consumed a tremendous amount of his elemental energy, and yet they dealt negligible damage to the blood worm.
Shi Xueman rushed forward to engage the blood worm, but her attacks similarly failed to deal any significant damage.
Weakness. What was the blood worm’s weakness? It must have a weakness!
Ai Hui stared fixedly at the blood worm as he racked his brains. Any beast had a weakness.
Ai Hui remembered at once the old man’s words—that the blood traces may be the blood fiends’ weakness.
Blood traces....
Ai Hui narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the blood worm’s blood traces.
They were ring-shaped and overlapped the black stripes on its body. The width of each blood trace was about a palm-span, which seemed extremely thin on the blood worm’s enormous body.
Eh?
Ai Hui counted carefully. There were nine blood traces.
Nine?
Was this a coincidence? Ai Hui thought to himself perplexedly. Nine was a special number during the Cultivation Era, and he couldn’t be sure whether this was related to the number of blood marks.
The red glow on the surface of the ground continued to intensify, but Ai Hui noticed that the bloody light on the blood worm’s body was significantly dimmer than before. Could it be that the intensifying red glow of the surface was related to the dimming of the blood worm’s bloody light?
"Jiang Wei, blast open the red ground!" Ai Hui screamed at the top of his lungs.
Raindrop-like light beams enveloped the ground.
Boom!
The dazzling burst of light was accompanied with a burst of sound.
Chunks of red soil flew into the air, revealing an enormous pit in the ground and the body of the blood worm in it.
The blood worm was clearly enraged. It twisted its gigantic body and swept it across the area.
Its terrifying rampage forced everyone to retreat.
Boom boom boom!
The abandoned houses that stood above the ground of rubble were completely demolished. Stones and bricks flew everywhere as explosions resounded through the air. The destructive power of the blood worm was formidable.
Everyone was in a state of confusion, and it caused the formation of the unit to collapse immediately.
"Are there any ways to deal with it?" Shi Xueman appeared beside Ai Hui and asked anxiously.
"There are some developments," Ai Hui said softly. "Enrage it and let it exhaust its energy."
Without asking why, Shi Xueman engaged the blood worm straightaway.
Ai Hui’s brain was turning rapidly. He roughly understood the situation with the blood worm. It was indeed a troublesome opponent with its gargantuan body, strength, defense, and regenerative ability. However, this did not mean it lacked weaknesses. For example, its destructive power was rather limited, which could be seen from the small number of casualties on Ai Hui’s side—not many were severely injured by it.
It must have been crucial for them to alter the terrain, or else they would not have drawn out such an enraged reaction from the blood worm.
Bloody glow, mucus, blood traces.
The bloody glow on the blood worm’s body had dimmed significantly, with only a thin layer left. The main issue was the layer of mucus. It was slippery and thick, an impregnable armor. So long as they could break through this layer of mucus, they would be able to attack the blood traces.
There must be a way!
Ai Hui encouraged himself. In the past, when he was in the Wilderness, he had witnessed many formidable dire beasts slayed at the hands of humans’ meticulous strategies.
His eyes lit up at once, and he yelled, "Who has a freezing ability? Or any ice-freezing drugs?"
The mucus was impregnable, but it was a liquid after all. Once it came into contact with the chilling cold, it would freeze and harden. And with the layer hardened hardened, its viscosity would drop until it could no longer endure the blood worm’s tremendous strength.
"I do!" Duanmu Huanghun replied.
"Alright!" Ai Hui screamed. "The rest of you use ranged attacks!"
At his command, Jiang Wei and Sang Zhijun unleashed a torrential pouring of arrows onto the blood worm as if their arrows cost nothing. They did not care anymore about the unit’s formation; instead, everyone focused on channeling their elemental energy with all their might.
The sky was raining with streaks of light.
At this point, nobody held anything back in their attacks.
"Ingrate, get ready!" Ai Hui snarled.
Duanmu Huanghun almost tripped and fell down. This bastard!
However, he could not be bothered with Ai Hui right now. He channeled all of the elemental energy in his body, revealing cloud-like patterns beneath his feet. Soon after, he flew through the air and appeared above the blood worm.
Duanmu Huanghun was extremely imposing as he hovered in the air with swirling green flowers beneath his feet. That handsome face of his stared ruthlessly at the writhing blood worm, and the clothes on his body fluttered despite the lack of air currents. The glinting of his eyes became brighter, resembling the stars in the night sky.
From the battle’s beginning until now, his [Viridescent Flower] had been unable to pose any threats to the blood worm. Against its gargantuan body, his vines were too feeble.
When Ai Hui asked for someone with a freezing ability, he had responded without any hesitation. [Viridescent Flower] had a freezing move, [Symbol of Ice].
Only, it was as pity that he hadn’t fully mastered this move yet. Given his current base level, it would exhaust him to execute this move.
But he did not think about such things and directly volunteered himself for the task.
There was no time for hesitation.
Suspended in the air, Duanmu Huanghun emanated a powerful aura, the elemental energy in his body channeled to the limits. He raised his arms, his slender fingers spread out like blossomed flowers.
The elemental energy in his body followed an unfamiliar path.
He was concentrated now more than ever before. The usually smooth elemental energy felt abnormally sluggish. He uncaringly continued to channel his elemental energy with great determination and urgency.
Numerous green flowers flew from his fingertips and swirled around his body, resembling leaves that were swept up by the wind. They danced and aggregated until they formed a cascade of green flowers that spun rapidly around him.
His lips curled into a crazed smile. The ruthlessness in his eyes resembled blazing flames.
How can a mere [Symbol of Ice]....
Bright-red blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, lending an ethereal beauty to his pale-white, handsome face. The clothes on his body fluttered loudly as the cascade of green flowers swirled with increasing speed around his body.
…. stop me, Duanmu Huanghun!
In the air, Duanmu Huanghun smiled silently. Traces of blood stains could be seen on his neat and white teeth.
The flower-like blossomed fingers suddenly froze, sending the cascade of green flowers in a deluge towards the blood worm.