Chapter 166: Island Royale 35
The Plesiosaur’s rampage continued.
Through the "Item Monitor," Perry Yates even caught sight of several other Dealer Players.
Including the three of them, there were now a total of eight Dealer Players left on the field.
Through the monitor, Perry Yates saw the remaining five frantically dodging the Plesiosaur’s attacks in the forest.
The two remaining from the "Red Light, Green Light" game weren’t fast enough to dodge. Or perhaps it was because their clothes were too brightly colored, attracting the Plesiosaur’s attention. A single blast of its white ray and they were instantly vaporized, not even given a chance to struggle.
Of the remaining three, Justin Shaw used an item to hide himself, and Ronan Dunn did the same.
They didn’t know why the Plesiosaur had suddenly gone berserk, but they understood one thing: the closer they got to the end of the game, the greater the danger.
Evidently, they attributed the Plesiosaur’s sudden frenzy to the game itself.
Having witnessed the Plesiosaur’s might, they didn’t dare to confront it head-on. But there was one exception.
That person was Veronica Beckett.
However, Veronica Beckett wasn’t going after the Plesiosaur. She was going after the two Dealer Players who had just been killed.
Although the two Dealer Players were dead, their items hadn’t disappeared. Instead, they were scattered all over the ground.
Among them, a golden card was particularly conspicuous.
It was a five-star card.
Perry Yates saw it. Clearly, Veronica Beckett saw it too.
A flicker of greed crossed her eyes. She glanced at the Plesiosaur’s position—it was still some distance from the card. So, ignoring Ronan Dunn’s attempts to stop her, she headed straight for the five-star card.
Veronica Beckett was, by nature, fiercely competitive. It was a trait her parents had cultivated in her, teaching her to always fight for the top.
She had always lived by the motto "fortune favors the bold." This code of conduct had brought her immense success in the game, making her a one-in-ten-thousand Dealer Player. But it had also made her fearless—or, to put it bluntly, she’d gotten cocky.
So, when she saw that five-star card, her heart wasn’t the only thing that moved; her body followed suit.
She reached the five-star card without incident and smoothly pocketed it.
If she had turned and left right then, perhaps nothing would have happened. However, she then noticed other cards scattered nearby, including several four-star cards.
’I’m already picking one up,’ she thought, ’so what’s the harm in grabbing a couple more?’
With that thought, she reached for the other four-star cards.
Just as she finished gathering all the four-star cards and was reaching for the three-star ones, the Plesiosaur, which had been rampaging on the other side, suddenly turned its head.
By now, the poison had seeped into its very bones. Not only was it bleeding from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, but its skin had begun to turn purple, with black beads of blood constantly seeping out.
But even so, it still hadn’t fallen.
Upon spotting Veronica Beckett, it didn’t hesitate for a moment, opening its mouth to fire a white ray.
Like the two before her, Veronica Beckett didn’t even have time to react before she was completely vaporized.
Perry Yates, who had witnessed the entire scene, sighed with a hint of pity.
Veronica Beckett had a chance to get away. Her fate was no one’s fault but her own. She was just too greedy. She didn’t know when to quit while she was ahead. A five-star card and several four-star cards weren’t enough; she just had to keep grabbing for more.
"Fortune is found in peril, and in peril, it is lost."
People always hear the first half of that saying, but they never know about the second.
Before Perry Yates could finish her lament, the Plesiosaur’s attack came for them.
The Plesiosaur spat a white ray near their location. Although it wasn’t aimed directly at them, Perry Yates still used the Any Door to move the three of them to a new spot.
"How long will it keep struggling like this?" Evan Fuller asked.
Hearing this, Perry Yates pressed the side of the item in her hand twice, and a line of semi-transparent text appeared on it.
[Anywhere from twelve to twenty-four hours.]
"Why so long?" Amber Sheridan wailed.
[Because the Plesiosaur’s body is immense, its internal systems are complex, and its Life Force is formidable. Twelve to twenty-four hours is the best-case scenario.]
Seeing that the item could actually answer questions, Amber Sheridan was suddenly intrigued. "Best-case scenario? Then what’s the worst-case scenario?" she asked.
[The Plesiosaur feeds on venomous snakes. Although no venom resistance was detected, the stimulus of a powerful poison might trigger the development of antibodies.
Therefore, the worst-case scenario is that the Plesiosaur not only survives the poisoning but, thanks to you, becomes immune to toxins from now on.]
That really would be the worst-case scenario.
They watched the Plesiosaur on the screen, which was still swaying and firing off white rays. They could only look on, hoping it would die sooner. Much, much sooner.
They waited for a full day.
The Plesiosaur was still struggling, but its violent thrashing gradually became weaker, more strained. More and more blood covered its body as its skin began to rot. Large chunks of flesh sloughed off, some deep enough to reveal the bone underneath.
The once-white bones had turned a bluish-black from the poison.
During this time, Perry Yates constantly changed their hiding spot to avoid being caught in the crazed Plesiosaur’s path.
Fortunately, they had the foresight to dig several such shelters before taking action.
Amber Sheridan watched the teetering Plesiosaur—unsteady on its feet but refusing to fall—and nudged Perry Yates’s shoulder. "In this state, we can’t eat its meat, can we?"
"That’s right, we can’t."
Perry Yates’s voice was filled with regret.
A prey this large, under normal circumstances, would have yielded an incredible amount of meat. Enough to feed her for years without a single worry.
But now, the Plesiosaur’s body was saturated with toxins. Even cooking it at high temperatures probably wouldn’t make it safe.
She was lamenting this loss when suddenly, an idea struck her. ’I can’t eat it, but maybe I can use it for something else...’
As she thought this, a blue light flashed in her eyes. A moment later, from an inconspicuous wound on the Plesiosaur, a Seed of Life quietly began to sprout.
The pain wracking its body was so intense that the Plesiosaur didn’t notice this small change at all.
Soon, more and more Seeds of Life began to grow. Along with them, a steady stream of Life Essence matured and fell away.
And this falling Life Essence was teleported via the Any Door directly into Perry Yates’s Space Backpack.
’The whole process is completely silent. Not only am I harvesting Life Essence, but I’m also hastening the Plesiosaur’s death. It’s a perfect win-win situation.’