Chapter 206: Valley Ambush
The Centaur race, standing two meters tall and half-human, half-horse, was not only proficient in archery but was also among the outstanding knights of the foreign races.
When the Centaur battle formation meant to restrain Zhou Ming and the others was broken, a large number of ordinary Centaur warriors suffered poison outbreaks. The Centaur Warrior’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot as he put down the bow in his hands, drew the long blade from his back, and launched a charge.
Seeing the ferocious momentum of the incoming enemy, Zhou Ming immediately pulled out the Thunder Type-3 Revolver and fired.
The dull booming sound seemed to resonate with one’s heartbeat, making people feel an intense and unbearable palpitation.
As a Centaur Warrior comparable to a professional Beast Tamer, although his strength was somewhat inferior to Beast Tamers of the same rank, he was still not someone who could be dealt with using a Thunder Type-3 Revolver alone.
The opponent stomped all four hooves against the ground, dodging at extremely high speed, while wielding the two-handed long blade to slash, forcibly evading the first four Thunder Type-3 Revolver bullets.
Unfortunately, the final customized bullet in the cylinder still struck the Centaur Warrior’s left shoulder at a tricky angle.
Compared to high-tier Ferocious Beasts, only giants could be mentioned in the same breath. Even with the rage boost unique to foreign races, the Centaur Warrior still had his flesh torn apart by the bullet.
Rage was a form of life force obtained by foreign races who specialized in bodily cultivation, tempering their flesh with energy particles—similar to the qi and blood power described in martial arts.
Humanity of Blue Star had naturally researched this cultivation system before.
Unfortunately, it required both a powerful physique and affinity with energy particles.
These two qualities were precisely talents that ordinary Blue Star humans did not possess. Only Beast Knights, relying on the talent and bodily enhancement brought by feedback from their Beast Tamers, could walk a similar path.
When Zhou Ming saw that all the Thunder Type-3 Revolver bullets had been expended and the opponent had already rushed up to him, his abdomen bulged as he immediately sprayed out purple poisonous mist.
This time, the snake venom used was not the diluted toxin previously used to ambush Centaur warriors, but venom second only to fully fused snake venom.
The poisonous mist was thick and viscous. Even when the Centaur Warrior swung his long blade, it was difficult to disperse it immediately. Instead, the wound on his left shoulder torn open by the bullet became the best entry point for the snake venom.
Using the cover of the purple poisonous mist, Zhou Ming caused the Phantasmal Spirit Sword to appear in his right hand and directly charged into the mist, engaging the opponent in close combat.
With the sword blade reinforced by snake venom and bloodline power, a simple diagonal slash made the Centaur Warrior sense an intense aura of danger.
Ignoring the poisonous mist around them, rage erupted as he immediately engaged Zhou Ming in a fierce battle.
When blade and sword collided, Zhou Ming instantly felt an immense force surge through the sword body, far surpassing the recoil produced by the Thunder Type-3 Revolver.
With a thought, transparent yet densely packed snake scales surfaced beneath Zhou Ming’s skin.
His body moved like a giant python writhing, borrowing the opponent’s force to pull away while conveniently dissipating that tremendous power.
From the footprints nearly an inch deep beneath Zhou Ming’s feet, one could tell the strength contained within the Centaur Warrior’s long blade.
After a brief exchange, Zhou Ming immediately sensed that the Centaur Warrior was slightly stronger than Werejackal Warriors of the same rank.
The advantages brought by racial talent also differed among foreign races of the same tier.
However, this was not the time to collect data. Zhou Ming immediately activated the Dark-gold Serpent Pupils.
Snake Devour.
In the instant the Centaur Warrior prepared to attack, the scene before his eyes abruptly changed. Countless black snakes radiating ferocious aura surged toward him like a tide.
When the Centaur Warrior swung his long blade to block, he realized that he could not stop them at all, as if all those black snakes were mere illusions.
But in the next moment, he felt excruciating pain explode in his mind, his spiritual consciousness being torn apart by countless black snakes.
Seeing that the opponent had lost all resistance, Zhou Ming moved like a giant python slithering along the ground, thrusting the Phantasmal Spirit Sword upward from below into the Centaur Warrior’s heart.
The Centaur Warrior, who was still relying on willpower to resist Snake Devour, was immediately slain by Zhou Ming.
The corpse was stored into a spatial ring. The snake scales retreated back beneath the skin, and pores all over Zhou Ming’s body opened as the poisonous mist was drawn back in.
Only then did Zhou Ming have the leisure to observe the battles of the others.
The other two Centaur Warriors had already been killed. Now only the flying Harpies, relying on their innate ability of flight, were still struggling desperately.
As for the remaining ordinary foreign races, most had already died from Zhou Ming’s snake venom. Only a small portion were resisting under the support of a Harpy Apprentice Priest.
Seeing this, Zhou Ming held the Phantasmal Spirit Sword and prepared to join Yan Hong and the others in cleaning up the final resistance of the foreign races when his expression suddenly changed.
The hidden Ironthread Snakes in the wilderness were sending him intense warnings.
“Move quickly, foreign race powerhouses are coming to reinforce them.”
As soon as the words fell, Zhou Ming directly summoned Silver Scale and fled. In any case, he had already warned everyone.
Upon hearing this, Yan Hong and the others did not hesitate and immediately chose to retreat.
Although Zhou Ming had not displayed overwhelmingly powerful killing ability, they had long since noticed that he possessed a special form of perception.
“Li—”
A shrill cry resembling an eagle’s screech rang out. Two high-tier Harpies also sensed the arrival of reinforcements, and their piercing screams spread throughout the surroundings.
Mental Spike, a form of mental attack similar to that unleashed by Griffins.
Harpies did not possess physiques as powerful as Centaurs or Werejackals, but they had unique mental attacks.
Even low-tier Harpies generally mastered special sonic attacks, though these were difficult to have much effect on Zhou Ming and the others.
However, this kind of attack was extremely effective against ordinary soldiers on the battlefield.
The Wind Eagle, which had been responsible for restraining the Harpies, had its retreat interrupted and instead became entangled by them.
Illusory feathers appeared, shooting toward the Wind Eagle like arrows from powerful bows. Wrapped in green Phantasmal Beast armor, the Wind Eagle could only envelop itself in a tornado.
Although the battle occurred in midair, the commotion it produced was no less intense than that on the ground.
Just as Zhou Ming was considering whether to intervene, a bolt of lightning shot toward the Harpies.
The one who made the move was Yan Hong.
“The fourth high-tier Ferocious Beast, Purple Lightning Eagle.”
Above Yan Hong’s head, a Purple Lightning Eagle appeared, its entire body covered in purple feathers, electric arcs flickering across its surface, and a wingspan exceeding ten meters.
Judging from the aura it displayed, it was already comparable to a mid-tier professional Beast Tamer.
“This should be Yan Hong’s main bonded beast.”
Shepherds used the spiritual seed of their primary beast to grow and divide within the beast’s spiritual consciousness, forming subsidiary spiritual seeds that were implanted into low-tier Ferocious Beasts, thereby controlling a greater number of beasts.
Because once the primary beast died, it would not only cause mental backlash to the Beast Tamer but also lead to the death of all other beasts, the primary beast was generally not deployed.
As for the death of subsidiary beasts, it would not affect either the primary beast or the Beast Tamer, so combat was usually conducted with subsidiary beasts.
With Yan Hong’s assistance, the Wind Eagle quickly broke free from the Harpies’ entanglement, and the group immediately fled toward the outside of the Panlong Mountain Range.
More than ten seconds later, several giants arrived, leading elite foreign race forces. Upon seeing the losses inflicted by Zhou Ming and the others, their fury instantly surged.
For a time, roars of rage echoed through the vegetation-rich wilderness.
Although Zhou Ming and the others successfully escaped, their squad was clearly m