25: Chapter 25 Bronze-level Ferocious Beasts

But just at this moment——

"Hiss——!!!"

A sharp, piercing hiss came from beneath the ground!

The ground shook violently, the soil cracked open, and a massive black shadow broke through!

It was a giant Wolf Spider King, more than three times the size of an ordinary wolf spider, as big as a two-story small building! Its carapace was dark gold, its eight sickle legs shimmered with a metallic luster, its compound eyes were crimson as blood, and corrosive venom dripped from its mouth.

Most terrifying was the aura it emitted—violent, bloodthirsty, and filled with a sense of oppression!

Qin Ce's pupils constricted, and he immediately activated Identification:

[Ferocious Beast]: Sickle Wolf Spider King (Mutant)

[Level]: bronze low-grade

[Potential]: Upper Bronze Rank

[Attributes]: Dark, Poison, Metal

[Talent]: Spider Silk Bone Tendon, Metalized Skeleton

[Skills]: Sickle Slash, Witch Poison Contamination, Web Trap, Screech, Multiple Damage Mitigation (Passive)

[Status]: Enraged, Greedy, Locked onto food

[Weakness]: The connection between thorax and abdomen is relatively fragile, weak sense of smell, contaminated by Metal attribute

[Evolution Opportunity]: Devour high-order energy of Dark, Metal, and Poison attributes.

...

This was actually a mutant lord!

A lord is fifty percent stronger than beasts of the same rank.

Qin Ce's heart sank. He was currently Black Iron Mid-grade. Although he was only one step away from Black Iron High-grade, even if he reached Black Iron High-grade, the gap with the Bronze Rank was still like a chasm.

Bronze Rank was a completely different level of combat power. Defense, strength, speed, energy reserves—all completely crushed the black iron rank.

This was also why Qin Ce could rely on the Azure Bird's "Nine-fold Azure Sky · Breath Condensation" to form Bronze Rank lethality and do whatever he wanted in the training ground—because Bronze beating Black Iron was a dimensional strike.

But now, the opponent was also Bronze Rank!

And looking at that dark golden carapace, its defense was probably even stronger than an ordinary Bronze Rank!

"Qin Ce..." Wang Xuan's voice trembled, "You... you run quickly! Go call the instructor!"

She looked at Qin Ce, her eyes full of complexity.

She knew Qin Ce could fly and could actually escape. But she knew even better that once Qin Ce left, the remaining people—including herself—had almost no chance of surviving.

The Wolf Spider King's pair of crimson compound eyes had already locked onto Qin Ce, clearly regarding him as the greatest threat.

The surrounding classmates were also silent. Some lips moved, wanting to say something, but ultimately didn't speak.

Persuade Qin Ce to stay and die? They didn't have that qualification.

Persuade Qin Ce to run? That was equivalent to giving up their own lives.

The atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive.

Qin Ce stared at the Wolf Spider King, calculating rapidly in his mind.

Run? He could indeed run. If the Azure Bird flew him away, the Wolf Spider King couldn't catch up.

But—

He looked at the classmates around him. There was fear and despair on their faces, but when they looked at him, there was no resentment in their eyes, only a kind of resigned calm.

The boy with blood all over his face opened his mouth, and finally just said in a low voice: "Classmate Qin Ce... I'm sorry about what happened at the start of school."

Others also spoke up one after another:

"Me too... I followed Wang Yu in heckling before, sorry."

"Thank you for saving us just now."

"You go quickly, don't worry about us."

Qin Ce stared at the rushing Wolf Spider King, then glanced at the classmates around him who, despite their despair, didn't blame him and even tacitly allowed him to leave.

A place in his heart was touched.

Escaping alone was indeed the most rational choice. But... he didn't want to.

His pride wouldn't allow it, and the heartfelt admiration and recognition he had just seen in these classmates' eyes wouldn't allow it either.

More importantly—the reactions of these people were worth him staying.

Almost simultaneously, a system prompt sounded in his mind:

[Emergency Mission: Kill the Sickle Wolf Spider King (Mutant)]

Mission Content: Kill the bronze low-grade mutant Wolf Spider King

Mission Reward: Experience Points × 2000, Mutant Origin Extraction Opportunity × 1

Failure Penalty: None

Accept?

The system's prompt sounded like the final catalyst.

Qin Ce's eyes lit up.

This was simply sending a pillow when sleepy? He couldn't leave even more now. Winning this round, the Azure Bird could directly upgrade to Black Iron High-grade!

"Accept!"

Then, he turned back and said to everyone: "I want to try to take it down."

Everyone was stunned.

"Qin Ce, are you crazy?!" Zhou Min screamed, "That's Bronze Rank! You'll die!"

"I know." Qin Ce flexed his wrists, fighting spirit rising in his eyes, "You guys run first! I'll hold it off! If it really doesn't work, I'll fly away! Go!"

"But—" Wang Xuan still wanted to persuade him.

"Go!" Qin Ce shouted, "Don't stay here and drag me down!"

This sentence was hurtful, but very effective. The students gritted their teeth and turned to run.

The Wolf Spider King seemed to perceive the "prey's" intention to escape, and also sensed the threat coming from the "roadblock" Qin Ce. It no longer hesitated, emitted a sharp mental screech, used force with its eight legs, and its massive body turned into a dark gold afterimage, bringing a bloody wind as it lunged at Qin Ce first!

Its sickle-like forelimbs, flashing with purple light, tore through the air, emitting a shrill screech!

The battle had begun.

"Azure Bird!"

Qin Ce shouted sharply, while his figure retreated rapidly.

The Azure Bird turned into a green light and met the Wolf Spider King, its wings flapping, shooting out three compressed-to-the-limit Wind Blades in a "pin" shape!

The Wind Blades slashed onto the Wolf Spider King's dark golden carapace, making a crisp sound like metal clashing, splashing a series of sparks, but only leaving three shallow white marks on the carapace.

"Such strong defense!" Qin Ce felt a chill in his heart.

The defense of the Bronze Rank was indeed not comparable to Black Iron. The Azure Bird's Wind Blades were enough to insta-kill a Black Iron High-grade, yet they couldn't even break the defense.

The Wolf Spider King was hit by the Wind Blades; although it wasn't injured, its forward momentum was blocked for an instant. Its crimson compound eyes locked onto the Azure Bird, and it suddenly spat out a mass of ink-green venom from its mouth!

Venom Bomb!

The venom exploded in the air, turning into a cloud of toxic mist that covered the area. The Azure Bird nimbly dodged to the side, and the toxic mist landed on the ground, instantly corroding a scorched black pit.

"Hit and run! Don't let it get close!" Qin Ce commanded through their mental link.

The Azure Bird understood the tactic and used its aerial advantage to start circling with the Wolf Spider King. It continuously released Wind Blades to harass it, while maneuvering at high speed, causing the Wolf Spider King's attacks to miss repeatedly.

The Wolf Spider King lunged several times to no avail and became increasingly irritable. It suddenly stopped, its eight sickle legs inserted deep into the ground, and its abdomen contracted violently—

"Puff, puff, puff, puff!"

Dozens of sticky spider silks sprayed from its abdomen, weaving into a huge spider web in the air, covering the Azure Bird!

Web Trap!

This move had a huge range, almost sealing off all of the Azure Bird's evasion space.

"Up!" Qin Ce shouted urgently.

The Azure Bird flapped its wings violently, narrowly brushing past the edge of the spider web, but was still stuck by a strand of spider silk on its tail feathers.

"Chirp!" The Azure Bird let out a painful cry and struggled to break free, but pulled off a few green feathers.

The Wolf Spider King seized the opportunity, moved all eight legs, and rushed toward Qin Ce at a terrifying speed!

It saw it—the Azure Bird was troublesome, but the Beast Tamer was the key. As long as Qin Ce was killed, the Azure Bird would be defeated without a fight.

"Terrible!" Qin Ce's expression changed.

The Wolf Spider King's speed was too fast! With the speed boost of the Bronze Rank, it even brought out afterimages when charging!

Qin Ce pushed his wind attribute energy to the limit, having already reached the limit of the black iron rank in agility and speed, but compared to the Bronze Rank Wolf Spider King, it was still a cut short.

"Azure Bird!"

The Azure Bird dived frantically, using Wind Blades, wind pressure, and even its own body to collide, trying to block the Wolf Spider King.

But the Wolf Spider King was determined to kill Qin Ce first. It even withstood a few of the Azure Bird's Wind Blades, sparks splashing on its carapace, but only leaving deeper marks without truly breaking the defense.

Qin Ce could only dodge desperately, using the terrain and trees as obstacles. But the Wolf Spider King's strength was too great; small trees as thick as a bowl were knocked down directly, and rocks were easily smashed open.

Thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters...

For a time, Qin Ce was in constant danger, and only relied on prediction and extreme reaction several times to barely dodge the sickle's slashing and the venom's splashing.

The Wolf Spider King was getting closer and closer, and Qin Ce could even smell the fishy stench emanating from its mouth.

Five meters!

The sickle-like front leg was raised high, aimed at Qin Ce's neck, and slashed down fiercely!

If this slash landed, Qin Ce would surely die!