Chapter 168 - 118: The Deteriorating Dragon Corpse
「Glacier World, Ice and Snow Jungle, in the cavern beneath the central crater.」
After a full day, Lin Kong and Yuan Xiaobo successfully escaped from inside the Frost Giant Dragon’s corpse.
Lin Kong was covered in wounds when he emerged. If not for the narrowness of the tunnel behind them, which allowed Yuan Xiaobo to single-handedly block the attacks from the mutated monsters inside the corpse, he would have lost his first life right then and there.
The moment he got out, Lin Kong urgently shouted, "Deputy Captain Luo, quick, come help! It’s your time to shine again!"
Behind him, Yuan Xiaobo emerged, walking backward as he swung his Purple Copper Black Gold Rod, fighting as he retreated.
A constant stream of strange-looking insects poured out of the tunnel. These insects also possessed tough Scale Armor and high Defense Power. Yuan Xiaobo had to use a full-power attack (a normal attack) to kill one in a single blow.
Seeing this, Dong Lin also joined the battle, helping Yuan Xiaobo stop the insects from pouring out.
For some unknown reason, after they had placed the Frost Giant Dragon’s core into their storage space, the return journey was filled with many more of these insects. They would attack Lin Kong and Yuan Xiaobo on sight.
Caught off guard at first, Lin Kong had suffered considerable injuries. It was only thanks to his own now-decent strength that he managed to hold on until Yuan Xiaobo came to his rescue.
Afterward, the number of insects grew. It was only under Yuan Xiaobo’s protection that Lin Kong managed to survive the swarm’s onslaught, though he was left in a sorry state.
Rose heard Lin Kong’s shout and ran over. A single glance at the insects was all it took for him to understand why Lin Kong had called for him.
These were Corpse Insects, which fed on the death energy and flesh of corpses. Due to the unique nature of the dragon’s body, these particular Corpse Insects had grown exceptionally large and were much stronger than others of their kind.
Corpse Insects were savage by nature. They would attack any living being on sight and fight to the death.
These Corpse Insects had another trait: they belonged to the Undead Race and were immune to status effects like bleeding.
As Undead Creatures, death energy was essential for their survival. Without it, they could not maintain their existence.
With Rose around, eliminating these Corpse Insects should have been as easy as taking something out of a bag—a matter of minutes.
Upon seeing the Corpse Insects, Rose activated his skill, "Devour Death."
However, the Corpse Insects didn’t all die as expected. Their Scale Armor and the Ice Energy on their bodies protected them. Although Rose’s skill sent the death energy inside them into chaos, it didn’t burst out of their bodies. It only made their movements erratic.
But for the Corpse Insects whose Scale Armor was broken and whose defenses were breached, the death energy within them was instantly extracted, and they died on the spot.
"Captain Yuan, Dong Lin, just break through their defenses!"
Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin adjusted their attack patterns. Instead of using their full power to kill the Corpse Insects directly, they focused on breaking their defenses. The insects would then naturally die as Rose extracted their death energy.
Lin Yan, Mirus, and Niu Armor, who were standing by, also joined the attack on the Corpse Insects. While their normal attacks couldn’t kill the creatures outright, injuring them wasn’t difficult.
As for Lin Kong, his attacks were still too weak to break the Corpse Insects’ defenses or even injure them. He could only stand to the side shouting, "Go, team!" while tending to his own wounds.
The endless stream of Corpse Insects gradually dwindled under everyone’s attacks until no more appeared.
The dead Corpse Insects turned directly into black ash, leaving a thick layer of dust and a dense aura of death at the cave entrance.
After they finished off the Corpse Insects, Dong Lin casually made a cut on the corpse near the entrance and, holding a large bowl, began to collect Dragon Blood.
By the time the wound healed over, Dong Lin had collected more than half a bowl of Dragon Blood.
He was surprised to find that the amount of Dragon Blood was much less than before. Yesterday, a single collection had nearly filled the bowl.
Then, he downed the Dragon Blood in one gulp.
’Awesome!!’ A blissful sensation spread through Dong Lin’s body as he felt the energy surge and his physical constitution strengthen, leaving him deeply satisfied.
This blissful feeling spread throughout his body, leaving Dong Lin deeply satisfied.
But then, the Dragon Blood he had drunk stopped releasing energy, and the blissful feeling came to an abrupt halt.
’What’s going on?’
Dong Lin felt uncomfortably stuck in limbo, like being on the verge of a climax only to have his partner run away.
Frustrated, he extended his senses, wanting to see what exactly had gone wrong.
Through his senses, he perceived that the immense energy within the Frost Giant Dragon’s corpse was rapidly dissipating, and the rate of dissipation was gradually accelerating. This was also why the energy in the Dragon Blood had diminished.
In disbelief, Dong Lin took out his machete and swung it with all his might at the dragon’s Scale Armor nearby.
"CLANG~~"
With a sharp sound, the immense recoil sent Dong Lin flying.
After scrambling up from the ground, Dong Lin ran to the side of the corpse and saw a single scale lying on the floor.
His expression changed in an instant. Something like this would have been absolutely impossible yesterday.
"Rose, absorb all the death energy! We need to leave, now!!"
Dong Lin urgently called to Rose while telling everyone else to pack up and prepare to leave.
"What’s wrong?" Yuan Xiaobo asked, completely bewildered as Dong Lin pulled him into the U-shaped cave.
Dong Lin explained his discovery to everyone on the team.
A few minutes later, everyone understood the gravity of the situation.
If that sub-dragon were to discover the changes to this corpse, it would definitely fly into a rage.
They were the only newcomers at the scene, their auras clearly distinct from those of the dragonized creatures. When the time came, the sub-dragon would surely take its anger out on them. If it discovered they were the cause, it would hunt them to the death.