Chapter 169 - 122: Recruiting the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect: A Natural-Born Combat Creature
[Note: The recruited entity will not harm its master, but if its Loyalty drops below 20, it may flee.]
As the Card vanished, the creature on it, resembling an ink-black spider, slowly materialized before his eyes.
The Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect had a very strange appearance.
It resembled a spider, yet was completely different.
Its body, black as ink, was encased in a hard, angular, matte-finished carapace.
Eight limbs grew from its sides, each composed of three segments.
They were short, tapering from a thick base to a needle-sharp tip.
The outer edges of the limbs were thick and fan-shaped. When folded together, they could cover its entire body like a shield.
The inner edges, however, were as sharp as blades, glinting with a deadly cold light...
It wasn’t very large. Despite its eight blade-like legs making up two-thirds of its mass, its body was only about half the size of a basketball.
For an A-Level Extraordinary Creature, compared to the likes of the Stone Claw Eagle, Blood-tooth Python, and Unihorn Catfish—which were often several or even ten-plus meters in size—it was practically an ant.
The difference in size was simply staggering.
Seeing the list of abilities, Chen Chong used his Identification Skill.
Heavy Slash and Stealth were both C-Class abilities. The former increased the damage of its slashes, while the latter improved its speed and efficiency when moving stealthily in darkness.
The most important part was that the Stealth skill was surprisingly not an active ability, but a passive one.
Once learned, its effect was permanent.
Shell Breaker was a B-Level ability that allowed it to concentrate all its power into a single point, shattering otherwise unbreakable objects.
Against a target with strong defenses, it could significantly weaken them before penetrating to inflict damage.
As for the final ability, Perception Shield, it reached A-Level.
It could completely erase its life signature and all traces of its movement for a short period. Unless you saw it with your own eyes, you wouldn’t be able to detect its presence even if it crept up right behind you.
Chen Chong froze. ’Thank goodness this Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect isn’t a wild Extraordinary Creature,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, that ability would be my perfect counter.’
He also made a mental note not to rely too heavily on his Perception Ring in the future. ’Perhaps in other ecosystems, there are creatures like the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect with abilities that can block Perception.’
’If I rely completely on the Perception Ring and run into an enemy like that, I won’t even know what killed me...’
"With a skillset like that, you really are a natural-born assassin..."
Chen Chong was delighted.
The crucial part was that, based on the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect’s stats and abilities, even if an assassination attempt failed, its eight sharp legs and tough carapace gave it terrifying melee capabilities.
It was a combat machine through and through. Every ability, its entire body, had evolved for the sake of killing...
[Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect: Loyalty Value - 90]
Looking at the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect’s Loyalty Value, Chen Chong was quite satisfied. It was only slightly lower than the initial Loyalty of his Tiger Striped Dog.
’It seems non-human recruits, despite their lower intelligence, naturally have higher Loyalty than humans.’
SCRITCH SCRITCH—
As the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect moved, its eight limbs scraped against the rock with a clacking sound, carving a small pit with every step.
Chen Chong raised an eyebrow. ’Are they that sharp?’ he thought.
’If just walking around can score the stone, wouldn’t a full-force attack grind it to dust?’
Just then, the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect scurried quickly toward Chen Chong.
Just like the Tiger Striped Dog and Lion-headed Goose when they were first summoned, it wanted to show affection to its new master.
This should have been a happy occasion, but Chen Chong’s heart leaped into his throat.
’Holy crap,’ he thought. ’Its legs are so sharp they can poke holes in solid rock. If it climbs on me, isn’t it going to leave me full of bloody holes?’
Chen Chong instinctively prepared to activate his Rock Body Transformation.
As if it knew its master’s body couldn’t withstand its limbs, the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect retracted the sharp tips, making the parts touching him rounded and harmless.
It walked on its middle leg segments, climbed onto his body, and lay flat...
"It’s that smart?"
Xu Jun witnessed the scene.
Not far away, Ning Yu and Qi Zhen were also watching.
They were all very curious about this species they had never seen before.
KLAK KLAK KLAK—
Lying on Chen Chong’s body, the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect made no other movements, except for its hornet-like mandibles, which continuously clicked against each other.
At first, Chen Chong thought it was hungry and tentatively stroked it.
He found, however, that the clacking only grew louder.
An unknowing bystander would have thought someone was grinding two rocks together.
"Why is it making that sound?"
"Could it be... the sound it makes when it’s happy?"
"Possibly. It’s the same principle as a cat purring when you pet it."
"Uh, it’s just that the sound is pretty grating. It’s hard to hear it as anything other than noise..."
HONK HONK HONK—
Just then, the Lion-headed Goose waddled over, as if competing with the Blade-Limbed Assassin Insect for attention. It repeatedly nuzzled Chen Chong, honking all the while.
The cavern was wide and open, causing sounds to echo continuously, making them much louder than they would be outside.
And so, inside the spacious cavern, the alternating sounds of clacking and honking echoed endlessly.
Listening to it, Chen Chong felt mentally drained, as if his will to live were slowly slipping away...
"Alright, let’s get out of here for now," Chen Chong said, exasperated. "We can’t just stay underground forever. As for the other two Secret Cards, we can check them out after we get back. Sound good?"
Xu Jun naturally had no objections, and Ning Yu agreed as well.
The four of them got up and began to survey the cavern...
Although Chen Chong remembered how the Blood-tooth Python had entered the Underground Cave from the deep pool and could probably find the path, returning the way they came was clearly not an option.