41: Chapter 41 The Mutant Iron-Armored Steel Beard

The dark red mist rolled outside the Purification Shield, emitting a faint "hissing" sound.

Lin Qinghan's team maintained a tight tactical formation, advancing step by step. The ground beneath their feet gradually became muddy and soft; the dry, hard rubble of the ruins had disappeared, replaced by black sludge emitting a foul, rotting odor and pools of stagnant water.

"Captain, we have entered the swamp area."

Captain Zhang Meng, the S-Grade Talent main tank positioned at the very front, stopped and looked back, saying: "The terrain ahead makes it easy for heavy shields to get stuck, which will affect our movement speed."

Lin Qinghan looked at the red dot on the holographic map, her voice remaining calm: "The target is less than a kilometer ahead. Maintain shield output, slow down, and watch your step."

The team continued forward.

Suddenly.

"Thump."

An extremely dull, strange sound came from deep within the thick mist directly ahead.

The sound was not loud, but it felt like a heavy hammer striking directly against everyone's chest.

Captain Zhang Meng's footsteps faltered, and his hand gripping the alloy heavy shield tightened instinctively: "Did you hear that?"

"Thump."

Another sound.

This time, the sound was clearly much closer than before.

As this dull sound rang out, the muddy swamp beneath everyone's feet seemed to experience a small earthquake. Ripples violently spread across the surface of the pools of black stagnant water.

"Alert!"

Lin Qinghan did not hesitate at all, giving a cold shout while simultaneously drawing the longsword wrapped in white cloth from her hand.

"Swish!" The five-person team instantly tightened their formation. Captain Zhang Meng slammed his alloy heavy shield hard into the mud pit in front, while Lei Yu and Wang Hao stopped advancing, their hands simultaneously lighting up with blinding spiritual energy.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The footsteps became increasingly dense and heavy, as if a heavy cavalry company was charging at full speed through the thick mist.

"Over there!"

The agility-type assassin, Chen Fei, pointed straight ahead.

"Boom—!!!"

Just as Chen Fei finished speaking, a dozen mutated ancient trees blocking the path ahead—each thick enough to require three people to embrace—emitted a teeth-grinding sound of snapping.

Immediately after, a force of extreme brutality directly uprooted this small grove of trees and smashed them to pieces!

Amidst the flying wood chips and black mud, a massive dark shadow, carrying a nauseating, pungent, fishy wind, crashed through the mist and entered the team's field of vision.

"What... is that?!"

Captain Zhang Meng looked up at the monster before him, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

Appearing before them was a giant wild boar over five meters long, its shoulder height comparable to a heavy main battle tank.

But it was completely different from the "Iron-Armored Steel-Bristled Beast" recorded in the textbook illustrations.

The Iron-Armored Steel-Bristled Beast in the illustrations was just a second-order exotic beast with thick skin and flesh, and black bristles on its back.

Yet, on the back of the monster before them, where bristles should have grown, there were now dense rows of dark red steel spikes, each half a meter long and resembling a spear, standing erect!

Not only that, it had no fur on its entire body, but was instead completely covered by a layer of dark red scale armor that felt substantial and shimmered with a cold metallic luster. At the edges of each scale, eerie abyssal runes flowed.

Its limbs were thick as pillars, and two tusks, each two meters long, curled upwards, with fragments of flesh from an unknown creature hanging from them.

"Gulp."

Lei Yu swallowed hard, his originally arrogant expression turning somewhat ugly: "Captain, are you sure this is an Iron-Armored Steel-Bristled Beast? This is a freaking dinosaur in armor!"

The mutated giant beast lowered its head.

A pair of inverted triangular eyes, resembling blood-colored lanterns, locked firmly onto the five-person team in front.

The moment its gaze swept over them.

"Pfft!"

Captain Zhang Meng, positioned at the very front, let out a muffled grunt, his face instantly turning deathly pale. He felt an Aura of tyranny, bloodthirst, and extreme oppression crash into him like a landslide.

Not only Captain Zhang Meng, but Lei Yu and Wang Hao in the center of the team also shuddered simultaneously.

"My... vitality... it won't flow." Wang Hao's voice trembled, and the Purification Shield maintained by his hands even flickered.

Under this terrifying Aura, the spiritual energy that had been surging within them felt like it had encountered freezing cold water, and its circulation speed dropped by more than half in an instant!

Vitality stagnation!

"Damn it! The intelligence is wrong!"

Lin Qinghan's eternally frozen iceberg face finally showed a trace of gravity. Her hand gripping the sword hilt tightened abruptly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

"Captain, what's going on? Isn't it a second-order Advanced beast?" Chen Fei asked while gripping his dagger and retreating.

"Its Aura is definitely not second-order!"

Lin Qinghan stared fixedly at the flowing abyssal runes on the giant beast, gritting her teeth as she said: "It has completely digested that abyssal artifact with extreme Yang attributes! Its Realm has already stepped half a foot into the third order!"

Once these words were spoken, the entire scene fell into dead silence.

"Half-Step... Martial Master Realm?!" Captain Zhang Meng's voice cracked.

In this high-martial world, the hierarchy of Realms was strict.

These five people, although they bore the halo of being top prodigies of the Great Xia, and although they had awakened A-Grade, or even S-Grade and SSS-Grade talents.

But their current real cultivation level was still only High-level Martial Apprentice!

If they were dealing with an ordinary second-order Advanced exotic beast, they could indeed manage to easily kill it above their level by relying on the suppression of their talents and tacit cooperation.

But a great demon at the Half-Step Martial Master Realm represented a leap in the level of life! Coupled with that perverted dark red mutated metal armor on this monster, this was absolutely not an existence that a few high school students could contend with!

"Retreat! Retreat from the mist immediately!"

Lin Qinghan decisively issued the order: "Abandon the hunt! Captain Zhang Meng, provide cover; Lei Yu, cover the rear. We will return along the original path immediately!"

Although she desperately needed the heart blood of this exotic beast to suppress the backlash of her Physique, as the captain, she could not sacrifice the lives of the entire team to fill this impossible pit.

Hearing the order to retreat, Captain Zhang Meng and Chen Fei immediately began to retreat in turns.

"Roar—!"

The Mutated Wild Boar seemed to have sensed the prey's intention to escape. It let out a deafening roar, its front hooves slammed into the mud, its massive body sank slightly, and it assumed a charging posture.

"Retreat? Where are we retreating to!"

Just then, Lei Yu, in the center of the team, suddenly roared.

He did not execute Lin Qinghan's order to retreat, but instead took a step out from the center of the shield, standing at the very front of the team.

"Lei Yu! You're crazy! Get back here!" Lin Qinghan scolded sharply.

"What are you panicking about!"

Lei Yu's eyes were bloodshot, filled with arrogance and unwillingness.

He was a dignified S-Grade lightning-type Genius from the Kyoto First Military Academy, and at the supply station, he had boasted that the exotic beasts in Jiangnan City were all trash. Now, encountering one wild boar, he was going to run away with his tail between his legs without even engaging?

If he retreated today, he would never be able to hold his head up in front of Lin Qinghan again!

"So what if it's a Half-Step Martial Master! It's just a brainless beast!"

Lei Yu stared fixedly at the giant beast poised to attack, his hands suddenly clasped together: "I don't believe its broken iron shell can withstand my S-Grade lightning!"

"Lei Yu!"

Captain Zhang Meng wanted to reach out and pull him, but it was already too late.

In order to prove himself in front of Lin Qinghan, Lei Yu directly bit his right thumb until it bled.

Fresh blood spilled out.

He pressed his blood-stained thumb firmly against his glabella, frantically squeezing out all the vitality and spiritual energy in his body, pushing his S-Grade Talent to the limit of overload.

"Zzzzz—!"

Violent lightning elements gathered frantically around Lei Yu. The dazzling blue electric light instantly tore through the surrounding dark red toxic miasma, illuminating the entire swamp as if it were broad daylight.

"Go to hell! You beast!"

Lei Yu raised his arms high, letting out a hysterical roar at the Mutated Wild Boar.

"S-Grade Combat Skill: Thunder Python Wild Dance!!!"

The moment his voice fell.

The clouds in the sky seemed to be torn apart by this violent spiritual energy. A giant lightning python, as thick as a water bucket and flashing with blinding blue-white light, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap, crashed down from the sky!

The thunder python opened its huge mouth, carrying a destructive Aura capable of splitting a building into dust, and smashed heavily onto the back of the Mutated Wild Boar!

This strike drained ninety percent of the spiritual energy in Lei Yu's body.

He panted heavily, staring fixedly at the center of the lightning explosion, a crazy smile on his face.

"Smash it!"

"Rumble—!!!"

The lightning struck the giant beast hard. The blinding light made everyone instinctively close their eyes.

Captain Zhang Meng gripped his shield tightly.

Chen Fei held his breath.

Even Lin Qinghan slightly narrowed her eyes, waiting for the final result.

In their understanding, a full-power strike from an S-Grade lightning-type talent, even against a Half-Step Martial Master Realm exotic beast, if it took the hit head-on without dodging, would at least be split open and severely injured, collapsing to the ground.

However.

When the lightning dissipated and everyone opened their eyes again.

A scene that made everyone feel suffocated and despairing occurred.

In the center of the swamp.

That five-meter-long Mutated Armored Bristle-Beast was still standing steadily in place.

It had not fallen, had not screamed, and had not even retreated half a step.

Lei Yu's strike, which was enough to destroy the world, hit its layer of dark red metal scales without even a spark appearing!

Even more bizarrely.

The moment the lightning made contact with the scales, those abyssal runes carved into the scale armor suddenly lit up. An invisible energy circuit formed on the surface of the giant beast's entire body.

It was like a flawless Faraday cage.

The violent power of the thunder instantly flowed along the texture of its scales, passing silently through its body, and was finally all conducted into the mud beneath its feet.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The mud beneath the giant beast exploded with a few splashes of mud in succession, emitting a burnt odor.

Apart from that, there was no other movement.

Unharmed.

The Mutated Wild Boar shook the mud off its body and raised its hideous head. It snorted, two streams of white smoke spraying from its nostrils, and in those scarlet eyes, a kind of extremely human-like mockery was revealed.

Lei Yu stood blankly in place. He maintained his casting posture with both hands raised high, looking at the unharmed wild boar, his mind completely blank.

"How is it possible..."

Lei Yu's voice was trembling, his teeth chattering, "Completely... immune?"

S-Grade combat skill, hit head-on, zero damage.

This cruel reality directly shattered all of Lei Yu's pride and perception.

"Retreat!"

Lin Qinghan did not bother with the dazed Lei Yu; she grabbed Lei Yu's shoulder and violently pulled him backward.

"It's been enraged! Run!"

"Roar—!!!"

As if to confirm Lin Qinghan's words.

The Mutated Wild Boar let out a deafening roar. The dark red steel bristles on its back stood erect one by one, and its four hooves slammed into the mud.

Its massive body transformed into an out-of-control heavy metal chariot, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it crashed towards the despairing five-person team!