Chapter 113 - 96: A-Level Ability, Body Petrification
’It wasn’t quite the near-death feeling of facing an Extraordinary Creature, but this sensation was incredibly familiar. It was exactly the same as the plant-type Extraordinary Creature I encountered in the cave back then!’
’These vines growing inside the Unihorn Catfish’s body... they came from *it*?’
’Wasn’t it supposed to be in the cave? How did it get onto the Unihorn Catfish?’
’Could it be a different one, just similar-looking? No... the feeling from my beastly intuition is the same, just with a difference in strength.’
’So this is the work of the fourth plant-type Extraordinary Creature. How the hell does this thing do it?’
’Can it split and parasitize hosts?’
’Is the reason it’s about to evolve to S-Class because it’s been parasitizing other Extraordinary Creatures and absorbing their power?’
’The intel mentioned the Stone Claw Eagle was in bigger trouble. Could it be referring to this thing too?’
’Then the Stone Claw Eagle, which was with it in the same place...’
The more Chen Chong thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.
’Damn it. I really underestimated this freaky thing when I first saw it outside the cave.’
Even though the fourth Extraordinary Creature was a plant, it was a thing that survived by feeding on the flesh and blood of other creatures, and its abilities were so bizarre...
"Brother Chong?"
Xu Jun’s voice pulled Chen Chong back from his thoughts.
"Don’t tell me there are vines in its mouth, too? I’ll go take a look."
"Don’t. You won’t want to see it."
Seeing the look on Chen Chong’s face, Xu Jun thought for a moment and gave up on the idea.
Gazing at the enormous Unihorn Catfish, Chen Chong realized he had to burn it, vines and all.
The most important things from the Unihorn Catfish were the Card it dropped and its horn.
As long as he got those two things, the meat was just a bonus. If it got destroyed, so be it.
"We can’t keep the meat from this Unihorn Catfish. President Zhong, please take some people and gather dry wood, dead grass, and anything else flammable from the surrounding area. The more, the better!"
Zhong Fang wasn’t a fool; he immediately understood what Chen Chong was thinking.
Although he still didn’t know what the vines inside were, they were definitely nothing good.
Burning them along with the Unihorn Catfish’s corpse was the best option!
"Alright, I’ll get on it right away..."
Zhong Fang quickly led over fifty members of the Fishing Club to spread out and collect branches and dry grass from the surroundings.
Zhang Meng, Huang Mao, and Jia Wen didn’t stay idle either; they went to help...
"Brother Chong, are those really the same vines we saw outside the cave in the hills? Are they related to that plant-type Extraordinary Creature?"
Xu Jun hesitated for a long time before finally voicing the question on his mind.
Chen Chong nodded. "Yes!"
"Then how did it get onto the Unihorn Catfish? Wasn’t that thing in the cave? The Unihorn Catfish lives in the water!"
Chen Chong shook his head. He wanted to know the reason even more than Xu Jun did.
He knew far too little about this plant-type Extraordinary Creature.
However, the one thing he could confirm for now was that it could split off vines to parasitize other creatures, sucking the power from their flesh and blood like a parasite.
The vines on the Unihorn Catfish were definitely not its main body. In fact, Chen Chong still didn’t even know if the thing in the cave was the main body...
’And after absorbing all that power, how does it, an immobile plant, transport that power back to its main body?’
’Or does it not need to be brought back? The stronger the detached vines become, the stronger the main body gets?’
’Or once a vine splits off, it’s gone for good? Can any vine grow independently and become its own main body?’
There were too many questions and doubts about this Extraordinary Creature. It was giving Chen Chong a headache just thinking about it.
But he knew that leaving the Unihorn Catfish’s corpse and the vines inside it alone would probably not end well.
’Whether it can grow independently after splitting off or has to bring the absorbed power back to its main body, if I just burn it to a crisp, all the nutrients and power it sucked from the Unihorn Catfish will be for nothing...’
As the dozens of people from the Fishing Club made trip after trip, the pile of dry wood and dead grass next to the Unihorn Catfish’s corpse grew larger and larger, gradually covering more than half of its body.
But this wasn’t enough. To kill all the parasitic vines inside, the entire body of the Unihorn Catfish had to be burned to charcoal, roasted to ash!
While the others were still gathering firewood, Chen Chong jumped into the water to search for the horn that had fallen in.
As a vital raw material for Extraordinary Artifacts, he couldn’t leave it behind...
Relying on his Water Mastery, Chen Chong was like a fish in water and successfully found his target.
After returning to the shore, Chen Chong set down the horn, which was half a man’s height, and then took out three arrows.
"Here. I only found these few. Couldn’t find the rest."
Wang Biao looked surprised as he slowly took the arrows.
Earlier, after seeing Chen Chong swallowed by the Unihorn Catfish, he had chased it while firing, shooting all twenty of the Refined Iron arrows that went with his war bow.
Of those, thirteen had hit the Giant Catfish and were stuck in its body, while the remaining seven had all fallen into the water.
He hadn’t expected Chen Chong to make a special effort to look for them when he went into the water...
Wang Biao was deeply moved. He quickly clasped his fist in his hand. "Thank you, Sir!"
Chen Chong waved his hand dismissively and glanced at the quiver. "There are about ten left. Is that enough?"
Wang Biao nodded. "It’s enough."
While the Giant Catfish was thrashing about, two of the thirteen arrows had fallen out. Another four were snapped in two, so only seven were recovered from its body.
Adding the three Chen Chong retrieved, he now had ten arrows left.
Even though ten arrows were lost, Wang Biao didn’t feel the sting at all. In his heart, it wasn’t just ten or twenty arrows—even a hundred couldn’t compare to his Sir’s well-being.
After an hour of effort, the fifty or sixty people stopped gathering.
The Unihorn Catfish was now surrounded by countless bundles of dry wood and dead grass. Beside it, dozens of chopped logs were also piled up.
Once it was lit, a raging fire quickly engulfed everything.
All the tinder and logs were burning, encasing the Unihorn Catfish and the vines within its body.
The flames soared into the sky, and waves of heat washed over them, forcing everyone to retreat several hundred meters before it became more bearable.
Time ticked by, and the sky gradually darkened...
The dry wood and logs had long since burned away, and the Unihorn Catfish’s body itself became fuel for the flames.
Chen Chong, Zhong Fang, and everyone else waited right where they were.
First, they were watching the fire to prevent it from spreading.
Second, they had to make sure the Unihorn Catfish and the vines inside it were burned completely to ash before they could rest easy.
The Unihorn Catfish’s body was so massive that it took nearly the entire afternoon just to burn...
Seeing the flames gradually die down, the crowd walked over.
What remained could no longer be called a Unihorn Catfish; it was just a massive, blackened lump of charcoal.
If they didn’t already know it was the Unihorn Catfish’s corpse, probably no one would have been able to recognize it.
"It should all be burned up, right?"
"I think so. Half this Giant Catfish is gone, and the rest is charcoal. Never mind the vines."
"Exactly. Plants like vines are naturally afraid of fire. After burning all afternoon, they’ve probably long since turned to ash."
Chen Chong said nothing, simply poking around with a stick.
’Seeing how the Unihorn Catfish was burned to this state, unless the vines are fireproof, there’s no way any could have survived.’
’Barring any surprises, it really has been turned to ash in this fire.’
Not long after the group left, a finger-sized vine, covered in scorch marks, drilled its way out of the soil.
Despite the intensity of the fire, a small part of it had managed to survive.
But the next moment, a large mouth suddenly snapped down.
The Tiger Striped Dog held the vine in its mouth, sniffed the surroundings again, and after confirming nothing else was amiss, it limped after its master, who was already far ahead...
...
Back at the school, Chen Chong and Zhong Fang agreed to check the Giant Catfish’s remains again the next day before parting ways.
Upon returning to the apartment building, Xu Jun collapsed onto the sofa.
Jia Wen and Wang Biao did the same. The day of non-stop, high-intensity activity had left them thoroughly exhausted.
Zhang Meng and Huang Mao couldn’t take it either. They didn’t even stay for dinner and went straight back to their dorm, not following the others.
Only Chen Chong didn’t feel that tired; he actually felt fine.
’It’s probably because my physique and stamina are far beyond ordinary after the comprehensive enhancement...’
Taking out the five Cards he obtained from hunting the Unihorn Catfish, a smile touched the corners of Chen Chong’s lips.
Today had been dangerous, but the rewards were directly proportional.
Five Cards, and every single one was useful.
Especially this A-Level Ability Card... it was definitely the most useful life-saving ability he had right now!
[Card Type: Ability Card · Body Petrification]
[Rating: A-Level]
[Description: In its passive state, it makes the user’s skin much tougher. When actively used, the body can rapidly harden like rock, greatly increasing defensive power. The ability’s duration and degree of hardening are determined by the user’s strength.]
[Note: The effects of an Ability Card are permanent. If a superior Card of the same ability type is fused, it will directly overwrite the inferior Card’s ability and provide a minor enhancement.]
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