NOVEL NEXT Chapter 333: Night Demon Hatching_2
Of course, the Iron Beetle's strength comes with a cost, and that cost is the Crystal Core. After all, as a fourth-order weapon, whether it's for nourishment or daily consumption, the use of Crystal Cores is considerable. Without a fair amount of funds on hand, it's truly unaffordable.
Moreover, one must always keep an eye on the Iron Beetle's HP. It's not a big deal if it's damaged; it can be healed using Crystal Cores, which just means consuming more of them. But if you let it die carelessly... Wang Tao has not yet encountered a weapon that has perished, but if a weapon's HP bar hits zero, there's a high chance it can't be saved.
So, during regular use, one must be cautious and maintain it well. Even if you can't see the HP bar, as soon as you notice that the weapon is covered in damage and its status seems off, you must quickly recall it...
After everyone finished their tests, they all felt somewhat unsatisfied. After all, they had transformed into giants after being armored by the Iron Beetle, a sensation they had never experienced before, and it was exhilarating.
"Testing like this is boring; when the opportunity comes, I'll let you try it out in real combat!"
Wang Tao said with a smile.
The Iron Beetle would naturally stay with Wang Tao, but he wouldn't use it alone; he would let others experience it more often because personally, he wasn't quite used to the Armored Beetle.
That said, the Iron Beetle's armor has its limits. If the Iron Beetle's maximum potential is 12 marks and Wang Tao could explode with a force of 13 marks, then the Iron Beetle would be somewhat restrictive for him... Moreover, the Iron Beetle's agility and the like are inferior to Wang Tao's.
Comparatively, Wang Tao was more accustomed to using weapons like Entangling Roots, similar to armor. Although his size would increase slightly, his agility didn't disappear. On the contrary, it felt like an extension of his own body, very comfortable to use.
Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire
Unfortunately, the current strength of Entangling Roots was too weak and, unless in some specific situations, it couldn't help Wang Tao much anymore.
However, speaking of it, the Iron Tree Vines weapon was now a great help to Wang Tao. Although it's also at level 3 and easily broken against powerful enemies, Wang Tao didn't use it for combat. Most of the time, he used it as a grappling hook, which was essentially like having an extra leg...
"Real combat? Can I participate too?"
Lan Yulian said with eager anticipation.
She had just tried it for a while and only felt exhilarating, especially the sensation of smashing everything with one punch, something she had never felt since becoming a Healing-Type Ability User.
"Of course, you can—"
Wang Tao began to respond with a smile, but before he could finish, he suddenly turned his head to look at a cave not far away.
Jiang Shixue almost simultaneously turned to the cave, whispering,
"It seems there's some movement inside the cave..."
"Indeed, a Night Demon has successfully hatched!"
Wang Tao's perception range wasn't that large, but his Plant Affinity Ability clearly sensed something moving chaotically inside the cave, tied up with iron chains, allowing them to move only within a certain range. Judging by their range of movement and their speed, they were obviously not ordinary zombies. Not to mention, those ordinary zombies had been disabled, unable to move.
"Yulian, your chance for real combat has come!"
Wang Tao directly tossed the Iron Beetle to Lan Yulian.
Aside from armoring, the Iron Beetle also had the capability to fight independently. However, Wang Tao and Gu Yun had also roughly tested it together, and their Iron Beetle, nurtured to 100,000 HP, had an independent combat power that didn't surpass a Level 3 Night Demon Type 1. So, unless under special circumstances, it was more cost-effective to use the Beetle Armor on oneself.
Lan Yulian caught the Iron Beetle and quickly completed the armoring process. In the blink of an eye, she transformed into a two-story-tall creature with a shell on its back.
The cave was quite spacious, and Lan Yulian, at five to six meters tall, could enter, but she sometimes bumped her head and had to keep it tucked in, which looked rather comical.
"Eh?"
Yet, Lan Yulian discovered that she seemed to have some night vision capability.
Wang Tao was also surprised; he hadn't tested it at night before and had no idea the Iron Beetle possessed night vision ability. However, Lan Yulian mentioned that her vision wasn't very clear, resembling that of black-and-white night vision devices... Obviously, this couldn't compare with the night vision of Wang Tao and Jiang Shixue, but having some ability was better than none.
Not long after entering the cave, a dark figure suddenly appeared before them. Because it was rather dark and some were using flashlights, they hadn't made out what it was before they saw Lan Yulian swing out a hand.
Splat!
[-23843]
The dark figure was hurled away, crashing into the wall.
Only then did everyone clearly see that this was a Night Demon clad in white bone armor.
[HP: 76157/100000]
[Mana: 100000/100000]
[Grade: Level 4 - Elite]
This was a fourth order elite Night Demon.
At first, when fourth-level organisms appeared, they were all at the Lord rank, and Lords had undergone an awakening, so Wang Tao thought that anything above fourth order had to be awakened.
But later on his way to Changhe Base, intercepted by Duan Xuchang, some fourth-order elites and even ordinary level zombies showed up, and that's when Wang Tao realized that these ordinary and elite zombies hadn't awakened...
So one couldn't equate the fourth order with awakening completely.
Just like the fourth-order Night Demon before him, though it was at the fourth order, it hadn't awakened, so its strength was much weaker than that of a fourth order, Lord Night Demon. Still, it was stronger than a level 3 Lord Night Demon.
Lan Yulian had slapped it with a light palm, dealing over twenty thousand HP damage, and left the Night Demon a bit dazed.
Especially when the Night Demon clearly saw Lan Yulian's terrifying appearance, it immediately ran backwards!
"Hm?"
Seeing this, Wang Tao was somewhat surprised.
The fourth-order elite Night Demon just ran away?
Wang Tao had previously thought that, armored with the Beetle Armor, he was probably comparable to a fourth-order Lord. It seemed his guess was not wrong, as the fourth-order elite Night Demon apparently felt the lordly aura of the Armored Beetle and just fled.
Otherwise, Night Demons wouldn't flee so readily, especially upon seeing humans... Wang Tao had encountered fleeing Night Demons before, but they ran only after their HP was crippled, and this one still had plenty left.
"Chase!"
Wang Tao's group continued deeper.
With his Plant Affinity Perception, he clearly sensed that there were two Night Demons this time, with another one in the depths of the cave, seemingly seeking out the other Night Demon.
Soon, the group saw the other Night Demon.
The cave's end was blocked off; the two Night Demons had no way out.
Apart from the white-boned armored Night Demon that Lan Yulian had just slapped, there was another Night Demon clad in black bone armor.
[HP: 120000/120000]
[Mana: 100000/100000]
[Grade: Level 4 - Lord]
[Awakening: Robust]
One fourth-order elite, and one fourth-order Lord!
"Throw!"
With a wave of Wang Tao's hand, the group immediately threw out several ultraviolet illumination flares. After all, there was a fourth-order, Lord Night Demon, and most of Wang Tao's team were at level 3, so it was only right to respect the opponent's strength.
As soon as the ultraviolet illumination flares were used, the two Night Demons started to roar ferociously.
To the fourth-order Night Demons, these didn't deal much damage but made them extremely uncomfortable, hesitant.
Wang Tao had his people throw flares in a semicircle, effectively encircling both Night Demons, then he waved his hand once more, signaling everyone to advance with weapons in hand.
For his people, Night Demons were also a good sparring partner, as fighting other fourth-level creatures might be dangerous not knowing their abilities. But everyone clearly understood the abilities of Night Demons, after all, they had destroyed countless Night Demon's lairs alongside Wang Tao...
The battle was without surprise; after being tormented for a while, the two Night Demons were effortlessly beheaded by Wang Tao. A bounty of loot exploded from them.
Of course, the "tormenting" was mainly instigated by Lan Yulian. After all, with her armored Beetle form, she could truly crush Night Demons in her grasp...
Wang Tao checked the zombies, two of them were gone, leaving behind only two broken chains; the remaining eight were intact.
"I hope you guys step it up and incubate a few more. This isn't even enough to kill..."