Ashen God
Chapter 605 - 604: Malignant Deformation

Chapter 605: Chapter 604: Malignant Deformation

"Looking at the current situation, even if we include the monsters remaining in the thirteen square kilometers of the Southern Forest, there would be, at most, only five or six thousand monsters in the entire forest. That is indeed much lower than the Goblin Plain, and even lower than Raccoon City, which has the least monster density.

But fortunately, the quality of the monsters here is higher, so the gains are definitely going to blow Raccoon City and the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu out of the water. As for whether it can surpass the Goblin Plain, that can only be determined after I open the treasure boxes and check the specific gains."

Overall, Zhang Yanhang had high expectations for the Demonized Swamps.

"Next, I should hurry up and clear the last thirteen square kilometers of the Southern Forest. Once that part of the area is cleaned up, I can go and play the slot machines. Moreover, I need to clear up the Lucky Slot Machines in Raccoon City and the Goblin Plain as well."

Zhang Yanhang immediately began to move quickly towards the eastern part of the Southern Forest. According to his estimate, there should still be roughly a thousand Demonized Dogtooth Giant Apes needing to be cleared there.

......

October 25, Sunday, Double Ninth Festival, also Zhang Yanhang’s first day of hopping back and forth between the Main World and the Ashen World—10:35 PM, Demonized Swamps, Southern Forest, Central Zone.

Zhang Yanhang, who had just finished clearing another three square kilometers, suddenly remembered something as he watched the Demonized Dogtooth Giant Ape rushing swiftly towards him: he had never actually seen what it looked like after a monster activated its Half-demonized Skill.

He was mainly to blame for this; his hunting speed was just too fast. Often, the monsters hadn’t even had the chance to respond before he blasted them to pieces, so they had no time to activate their Half-demonized Skill.

Furthermore, another reason was the uselessness of the Demonized Dogtooth Giant Apes themselves. When facing an enemy like him, instead of thinking about activating their Half-demonized Skill right away, they would think about launching a normal attack first, and then, there was no ’then’—they often couldn’t even survive for the next second.

Well, this was perhaps also normal, after all. Half-demonization is considered a powerful move, and it’s indeed a habit for only a few to start with their ultimates on seeing their opponent. Only the Dragon Vein Goblins of the Goblin Plain would do such a thing.

But that was mainly because they communicated with each other, and they had the example of other Dragon Vein Goblins ’honoring’ their predecessors by dying first. If they couldn’t even manage to unleash their powers upon meeting after seeing such miserable deaths, it would only prove that they were fools.

It was different for the Demonized Dogtooth Giant Apes; they seemed to lack the ability to communicate normally and could only convey simple messages through various roars and body language. Moreover, not all of them were gathered together.

This resulted in some of the gathered Demonized Dogtooth Giant Apes being able to react immediately after a companion died, but they often didn’t have time to transform before Zhang Yanhang killed them as well.

So far, the most advanced transformation Zhang Yanhang had seen was that of a demonized canine giant ape, which had been caught mid-transformation by a cannon bullet from Zhang Yanhang, forcing it to revert immediately back. Of course, Zhang Yanhang didn’t do it on purpose, it was just where his muzzle happened to sweep across.

Therefore, as he watched the demonized canine giant apes, only ten square kilometers from being completely wiped out, still cluelessly charging at him with bravery, Zhang Yanhang suddenly had an idea. He wanted to witness this so-called half-demonized skill before they were all dead.

After all, according to the introduction, this half-demonized skill was actually quite strong. For an ordinary monster like the demonized canine giant ape, a first tier three-star ordinary monster, using it would immediately elevate its strength, agility, and constitution attributes to the level of a first tier three-star elite.

Truth be told, without this skill, these demonized prehistoric creatures would be among the weakest batch of first tier three-star monsters that Zhang Yanhang had ever killed, especially since the crimson iron breeding ants from the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu could completely dominate these demonized maned tooth beasts and demonized canine giant apes with aerial output.

Zhang Yanhang even thought that the hunters from Raccoon City could probably easily take down the demonized maned tooth beasts and demonized canine giant apes, as the beta-type hunters were particularly fond of using their Death Claw Skill. It was likely that they could instantly kill the demonized maned tooth beasts and demonized canine giant apes with a single swipe of their claw.

Therefore, judging from this aspect, Zhang Yanhang believed that this half-demonized skill, as the most important ability of demonized creatures, must be quite strong after being used, at least strong enough for them to contend with other first tier three-star monsters that possessed all sorts of special skills.

In front of Zhang Yanhang, there were a total of eight demonized canine giant apes attacking him together. After making up his mind, Zhang Yanhang immediately aimed the muzzle of the Six Roots Pure Soul Passage Spear in his hand at the demonized canine giant apes before him and pulled the trigger.

Da-da-da—

The loud gunshots rang out, and the muzzle of the Six Roots Pure Soul Passage Spear flickered with the light of death as cannon bullets, each as thick as a child’s arm and several centimeters long and weighing over a pound, whistled through the air, instantly hitting the bodies of the demonized canine giant apes that were now only a dozen meters away from Zhang Yanhang.

As the black-head bullets hit the demonized canine giant apes, they immediately created an extremely exaggerated indentation on their bodies. The super high speed of five mach combined with their own weight and the massive attack power bonus from Zhang Yanhang caused a tremendous impact.

This immense impact force was quickly spreading outwards from the point where the cannon bullets hit. After the cannon bullets penetrated the chest of a demonized canine giant ape, the impact force carried by them also dispersed around.

Under this huge impact, large swaths of muscle tissue were torn apart, blood vessels were severed, bones were shattered, and organs were destroyed. The cumulative effect was that after a single bullet from Zhang Yanhang, the upper chest cavity of the demonized canine giant ape immediately exploded into irregular pieces of flesh.

But probably due to their larger size, the demonized canine giant apes were far better at resisting such an attack compared to the crimson iron ants and dragon vein goblins. The reason being that dragon vein goblins, due to their comparatively slender build, would have their entire upper bodies, neck, and head blown off by a single cannon bullet.

However, due to the demonized canine giant ape’s height of three and a half meters, only the chest cavity exploded, leaving the abdomen, waist, and lower body relatively intact. The shoulders, as well as the neck and head areas, were not as shattered either; they were just blown away by the impact force following the explosion of the chest cavity.

Of course, "not shattered" refers only to during the flight, but what they might collide with when landing and how they would shatter could only be described as wildly variable.

"[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Canine Giant Ape (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +10.]"

"[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Canine Giant Ape (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +10.]"

"[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Canine Giant Ape (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +10.]"

...

Wanting to observe the half-demonized skill of the Demonized Canine Giant Ape, Zhang Yanhang merely killed seven of them, leaving one that was the farthest from him.

However, this Demonized Canine Giant Ape had its arm blown off by a cannon bullet that had just penetrated the chest of another ape in front of it, due to its poor position.

"I wonder if it can still use the half-demonized skill after its arm has been cut off. If it can’t, then I might have to look for other Demonized Canine Giant Apes. Fortunately, although the Demonized Canine Giant Apes are nearly wiped out, there’s still an area of ten square kilometers left. Observing the half-demonized skill shouldn’t be difficult."

While Zhang Yanhang was thinking, he suddenly noticed the Demonized Canine Giant Ape roughly twenty meters away from him started to emit black gas, and its body was rapidly changing in all aspects.

Beneath its black fur, scale armor was inexplicably growing, and its height was climbing from the original three and a half meters to four. In addition to this, the previously severed right arm was also...

Well, that wasn’t really working, as it hadn’t regrown after all. After all, it was just a First Tier Three Star Monster—at the end of the day, expecting limb regeneration from a simple skill activation was somewhat unrealistic. If it were a Second Tier, then it might be possible. He resolved to observe stronger monsters for this phenomenon in the future.

Just as Zhang Yanhang was contemplating further observation, the half-demonized Demonized Canine Giant Ape opened its mouth and spat out a black energy beam as thick as an adult’s arm at him.

The black energy beam hit Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Shield without causing even a ripple before dissipating quickly, turning into a faint black mist that clung stubbornly to the outside of the shield, desperately trying to penetrate inside.

Regarding this black mist, Zhang Yanhang was considering observing it more when the Supreme Will, which had been silent for a while, suddenly reacted. It seemed to judge the black mist as some kind of negative status, lighting up with a glimmer of white light. Under this white light, the black mist that had clung to the Energy Shield instantly dispersed into nothingness.

"Ah, this? Could that black fog be the ’Demonization Infection’ mentioned in the Attribute list? But I don’t know what specific negative status the Demonization Infection was judged as. It feels like, considering the malignant deformations, it might be more similar to a negative status like curse, weakening, transformation, pollution."

Honestly, the most frequent use of Zhang Yanhang’s Supreme Will lately hadn’t been in fighting enemies, but in resisting the Little Fox’s Dream Creation Technique. Thus, after a long time, its proper activation was truly moving for him.

As Zhang Yanhang was moved by the proper functioning of the Supreme Will, the armless Demonized Canine Giant Ape, which was only twenty meters away from him, had already started a Wild Charge and was rushing over with its fists raised.

Its thick paws and large body size kicked up a swath of fallen leaves, which were then caught up in the airflow formed by its rapid movement.

It seemed to want to deliver an Ape Man’s Iron Fist using inertia, but Zhang Yanhang had no intention of indulging it. He simply pulled the trigger, firing a bullet and sending it off. After all, after observing the half-demonized skill, there was no longer any value in keeping it alive.

Although it had activated the half-demonized skill, enhancing its Strength, Agility, and Constitution Attributes to the level of a First Tier Three Star Elite, and thereby also increasing its defensive power, honestly, a piece of paper, no matter ten times thicker, is still a piece of paper.

To Zhang Yanhang, there wasn’t much difference; not to mention that the enhancement from the half-demonized skill was far from tenfold—it would be a lot to even have a 0.1-fold increase.

As for the specific data, Zhang Yanhang couldn’t differentiate it, but then again, why should he care about the thickness of a piece of paper? After all, no matter how thick, it couldn’t stop the Six Roots Pure Soul Gun Cannon Bullets.

Of course, the main reason was indeed that the difference wasn’t significant. Compared to before half-demonization, the body resistance of the half-demonized Demonized Canine Giant Ape to cannon bullets had only increased a tiny bit.

So, even though this armless Demonized Canine Giant Ape had indeed successfully activated the half-demonized skill, it still, like the other ordinary Demonized Canine Giant Apes, had its upper body blown apart by a cannon bullet in an instant.

"[Successfully killed a First Tier Three Star Monster ’Demonized Canine Giant Ape (Ordinary)’ ×1, Soul points +10.]"

"This half-demonized skill seems quite interesting, it’s just that I wonder what it would be like on a Second Tier Demonized Creature."

But such a thing, Zhang Yanhang would naturally need to observe later. For now, his primary task was to clear the remaining ten square kilometers of the Southern Forest.

Although he was set on clearing the remaining area of the Southern Forest, due to just having killed eight Demonized Canine Giant Apes, he stood still for a moment first. Regrettably, neither the seven he had initially killed nor the one that entered the half-demonized state dropped a treasure box.

So, with no treasure boxes awaited, Zhang Yanhang could only continue to the next gathering place of Demonized Canine Giant Apes to hunt monsters.

Since only the last ten square kilometers of the Southern Forest remained, although Zhang Yanhang was gradually feeling a bit tired, he still needed to push on and clear the remaining area.

After all, while he did feel a bit tired, he wasn’t really that tired. Even if he had to hold on for another two to three hours, it wouldn’t be a big problem, considering he had worked for just under nine hours so far.