Chapter 123: Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard
“Truly interesting. I never expected that I, Poison Sting, would have a day where I capsized in a gutter.”
The disturbance coming from the underground karst cave passage made Poison Sting roughly guess what had happened to Thin Tiger and the others.
Especially as the chilling killing intent gradually spread through the air, clinging to his surroundings like maggots on bone, Poison Sting immediately felt amused.
It had been a long time since he had encountered something like this.
Poison Sting did not lose his composure over Thin Tiger and the others’ deaths. Instead, he found it interesting that he had become prey himself, because he had not felt like this in a very long time.
Amid his cold, sinister smile, fluctuations appeared in the space beside Poison Sting, and his Beast slowly emerged.
Its appearance resembled both a snake and a lizard. Its body was five meters long and slender, covered in black scales that could swallow light.
If Zhou Ming were here, he would certainly recognize it as the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard, a low-tier Ferocious Beast rated as a dominator-level existence among its kind.
The scales of this Ferocious Beast allowed optical invisibility. Beyond that, it could also conceal its aura—so much so that even infrared thermal detection had great difficulty discovering it.
Aside from its terrifying concealment abilities, it also possessed a sharp and flexible tail, claws capable of cutting through alloy, and scales that could withstand ordinary firearms, making the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard a horrifying assassin among low-tier Ferocious Beasts.
Perhaps in frontal combat it was inferior to other dominator-level low-tier Ferocious Beasts, but when it came to ambush and assassination, it was unquestionably the number one.
It was precisely because Poison Sting possessed the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard that Blood Tiger was somewhat wary of him.
As the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard appeared, the Ironthread Snake hidden in the darkness immediately felt uneasy—this was the most primitive instinctive fear when facing a hunter.
The emotional change of the Ironthread Snake was immediately noticed by Zhou Ming.
The Radar Sensory Domain had just displayed a red dot representing a Ferocious Beast, when in the next moment it suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only the white dot representing Poison Sting as a human.
“To be able to evade the probing of the Radar Sensory Domain… it seems the opponent’s Beast is not simple at all.”
Facing such an abnormal change, Zhou Ming’s expression also became somewhat solemn.
“Yang Yi, you don’t need to make a move this time. Stay where you are and wait for me.”
“Why?”
At this moment, Yang Yi, whose confidence had greatly increased, still wanted to personally kill the final target.
His current state was like a player in a game being carried by an expert, mistakenly thinking he could take down the final Boss himself.
Hearing Zhou Ming’s order, he was clearly puzzled.
“I don’t want to end up unable to collect the reward.”
“Let me teach you one last lesson. Confidence is good, but don’t be overly confident.”
Leaving an Ironthread Snake on Yang Yi’s arm, Zhou Ming ignored Yang Yi’s reaction and directly rushed toward Poison Sting’s location.
Since the opponent possessed a Beast capable of evading the Radar Sensory Domain, Zhou Ming would definitely not let him live.
Once the situation reversed, he would again become someone else’s prey.
After leaving Yang Yi’s line of sight, dense swarms of Ironthread Snakes were summoned by Zhou Ming, crawling up, down, left, and right along the underground karst cave passages.
No matter how well the opponent’s Beast could conceal itself, it was impossible for its body to completely disappear.
Even if such an ability existed, it was not something an Apprentice Beast Tamer could master.
As Zhou Ming continuously drew closer to Poison Sting, the atmosphere within the underground karst cave passage grew increasingly oppressive.
“Here already?”
Poison Sting did not take the initiative to search for Zhou Ming, because he knew the other party would come looking for him.
When Zhou Ming arrived at a spacious cavern, the slaughter officially began without any exchange of words.
“Bang, bang…”
Muzzle flashes tore through the darkness as the two fired at each other, while each relied on agile movements to evade the other’s bullets.
This simple probing allowed both sides to grasp the opponent’s level of strength.
Hiding behind a rock, Zhou Ming did not immediately command Inkband and Vermilion Jade to attack, because he had yet to find the hiding place of the opponent’s Beast.
Inkband and Vermilion Jade had improved significantly in strength, but they were most likely still inferior to the opponent’s Beast. Zhou Ming was well aware of this.
Zhou Ming then controlled the Ironthread Snake swarm, crawling along the ground and rock walls toward Poison Sting, attempting to force the opponent to use his Beast to counterattack.
If no Beast was used, several hundred Ironthread Snakes would be enough to kill the opponent.
“There are actually this many Ironthread Snakes. Could it be that the Beast in his hand can really control Ironthread Snakes at will?”
Poison Sting did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately threw out a grenade. This environment was sufficient to support his use of grenades.
The moment the grenade appeared, Zhou Ming shot it away with a single bullet.
However, Poison Sting was not simple either. After throwing one grenade to draw Zhou Ming’s attention, he immediately tossed another using a rolling grenade technique along the ground.
His goal was to clear out the Ironthread Snake swarm on the ground.
“Boom, boom…”
Two violent explosions resounded within the cavern. The Ironthread Snake swarm near Poison Sting suffered heavy losses, and a breach instantly appeared directly in front of Zhou Ming.
The invisible Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard, under Poison Sting’s control, immediately seized the opportunity and rapidly closed in on Zhou Ming.
“Boom…”
The thunderous roar echoed once more through the karst cave.
Zhou Ming reacted quickly. Knowing that a gap had appeared in his Ironthread Snake swarm, he immediately fired the Thunder Type-2 Revolver straight ahead.
Poison Sting was well aware of Zhou Ming’s methods and had long been prepared, instantly ordering his Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard to dodge.
“Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard.”
When the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard evaded the Thunder Type-2 Revolver’s shots, Zhou Ming still caught a trace of the opponent’s Beast in that fleeting instant and immediately recognized what kind of Ferocious Beast it was.
Just as Zhou Ming prepared to continue firing, the color of the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard’s scales rapidly changed, and it instantly vanished from his sight.
In the distance, Poison Sting also immediately opened fire at Zhou Ming.
Fortunately, the dust kicked up by the grenade explosions obscured vision. Poison Sting could only rely on blind firing, which was why he did not hit Zhou Ming as he emerged from behind the rock.
In just a few short seconds, both sides used their respective methods, each seeking to kill the other in a single strike.
“This must end quickly.”
After knowing what kind of Ferocious Beast the opponent possessed, Zhou Ming understood that he had to kill the opponent as soon as possible. Once he revealed any flaw, he would be ambushed by the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard.
Moreover, the Ironthread Snake swarm had suffered too many casualties, and he would also face severe consequences from spiritual backlash.
Because of the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard’s presence, Zhou Ming did not use grenades like Poison Sting did—that would only cause friendly fire to his own Ironthread Snake swarm.
Without hesitation, he immediately summoned Vermilion Jade, the fastest-moving one, and launched an attack with the Ironthread Snake swarm cooperating with Vermilion Jade.
At the same time, Zhou Ming used the stealth movement method of the Mad Python Martial Way, hugging the ground as he closed in on the opponent.
As a Beast Tamer, Poison Sting could sense the Ferocious Beast aura radiating from Vermilion Jade through Spiritual Power alone.
This was the opponent’s Beast—Poison Sting made the judgment instantly.
Since the opponent had already used the Thunder Type-2 Revolver once, it would be enough to deal with the snake-type Ferocious Beast in front of him.
In the next moment, the Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard appeared near Vermilion Jade, but was brushed by the surrounding Ironthread Snakes.
The Phantasmal Scale Snake Lizard’s defense was sufficient for it to ignore the surrounding Ironthread Snakes entirely, directly revealing its presence as it lunged toward Vermilion Jade.
Seeing this, Zhou Ming immediately raised the Thunder Type-2 Revolver, preparing to fire.
However, the dust raised by the grenade explosions had already dissipated. Wearing night-vision goggles, Poison Sting immediately noticed that Zhou Ming could still use the Thunder Type-2 Revolver.
Without the slightest hesitation, Poison Sting instantly raised his gun and fired, trying to interrupt Zhou Ming’s intent.