Chapter 23 – Dough?

Volume 3

The earth shook. Dust billowed into the air. In the distance, trees kept toppling one after another as waves of low, guttural roars slowly rolled closer.

Staring at the swaying, collapsing trees ahead, One-Eye opened his jaws wide and unleashed a violent blast of Tyrannical Flame toward the target.

Then it was blocked by a stream of orange-red fire!

The Flame Flow was a notch weaker than the Tyrannical Flame. In the clash between the two, One-Eye's black fire still gained the upper hand. After the black flames scattered the Flame Flow, a massive figure sprang lightly aside, dodging the remaining Tyrannical Flame, and appeared before One-Eye.

Its body stood ten meters tall. Its yellow-brown hide gleamed with a metallic sheen, and the muscles beneath its skin surged like waves. A brown mane streamed in the wind, the strands clashing against one another with crisp, ringing sounds like metal striking metal.

One-Eye stared at the lion before him and let out a crazed roar. Perhaps he had remembered the injury and humiliation Simba had once dealt him, because the killing intent in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

Then he lunged straight at Simba.

And Simba, seeing that this wild dog he had once toyed with at will actually dared to attack first, also roared in fury.

The two monsters, each nearly three stories tall, immediately launched into a bloody melee!

In an instant, the ground split open and trees came crashing down!

The aftershocks from a Level 4 Mutant Creature battle were like a small-scale natural disaster. The dust and sand kicked up from the ground could even be seen from Central City.

The Black-Robed Man watched the battle unfold before him, the corner of his mouth curling slightly as he carefully assessed the situation like an outsider.

As an early Level 4 Mutant Beast, Simba was not much different from One-Eye in terms of Physical Attribute.

Unfortunately, Simba's aptitude was indeed a notch below One-Eye's!

Although he possessed the agility unique to felines, with the two of them being of similar size, Simba did not hold an advantage in strength over One-Eye.

Add to that the Life-And-Death Combat1 Skill and Flesh Tome Skill that One-Eye possessed.

In pure close-quarters combat, Simba was far from One-Eye's match.

One-Eye's berserk physical strength slammed directly into Simba, knocking him into a stagger. Then a red glow suddenly flared on One-Eye's claws!

Before Simba could regain his balance, One-Eye's paw had already struck him across the face!

A violent scraping sound rang out.

Simba's Steel Armor could not block One-Eye's Ferocious Strike. Amid scattering blood and chunks of flesh, a deep gash appeared across Simba's face.

But Simba did not retreat a single step!

"Roar!"

With a thunderous roar, Simba opened his jaws wide and bit down on One-Eye's neck. At the same time, the mane around his neck began to change.

Like snakes, the strands of Simba's mane stood upright one by one, then rapidly burrowed into One-Eye's body.

Explosive Serpent Hair (A-Rank, Active Ability): Allows the user to perform Manipulation on hair, making it move like snakes. When the hair under Manipulation touches an enemy's body, it burrows inside and then explodes!

"Thud, thud, thud, thud…"

A series of muffled impacts came from inside One-Eye's body. Simba's ability was extremely vicious. If it were used against an ordinary creature of flesh and blood, once the serpent hair burrowed into a vital point, the following explosions would very likely kill it outright!

Unfortunately, One-Eye's Flesh Tome ability did not fear such things at all. On the contrary, his injuries only made his strength grow greater and greater!

Ignoring Simba, who was still biting him, One-Eye directly activated Tyrannical Flame.

After One-Eye reached Level 4, the terrifying power of the Tyrannical Flame had slowly begun to reveal its fangs.

Demonic flames rose from One-Eye's body, then poured straight through Simba's mouth and into his body!

The demonic flames that could destroy everything inflicted tremendous agony on Simba. He opened his massive jaws, Flame Flow spraying wildly in every direction, barely forcing One-Eye back. Then Simba's enormous figure retreated at high speed. Only when the pain inside his body had eased considerably did he raise his head and look at One-Eye.

As for One-Eye, he simply waited in silence for Simba to purge the Tyrannical Flame. He did not take the chance to attack.

This was not courtesy. It was contempt. It was mockery.

Back then, weren't you the one who toyed with me in the palm of your hand?

Back then, weren't you the one standing high above, arrogant and untouchable?

Back then, didn't you even look down on my submission?

Today, I will crush every last shred of your glory!

…

Seeing One-Eye's stance, a nameless fury instantly surged in Simba's heart.

That posture of looking down on an enemy-before now, only he had been able to do it. Only he had been worthy of doing it!

But now, he had become the one being looked down upon.

Simba's body slowly tensed. Clearly, he wanted to continue attacking One-Eye.

Unfortunately, he was interrupted.

A Black-Robed Man standing in the distance used Teleportation and appeared directly beside Simba. He slowly said, "Don't rush. You can't beat him on your own."

Simba's huge eyes glanced back at the Black-Robed Man, then turned to look at One-Eye, who still stood where he was without attacking. Simba said nothing.

Because it was true!

The intelligence of a Level 4 Mutant Beast was more than enough to judge the current situation, as well as the difference in strength.

"But I have a way."

The Black-Robed Man spoke slowly, whispering in a volume One-Eye could not hear.

Seeing that Simba gave no response, the Black-Robed Man added, "Don't tell me you're thinking of taking him down in a one-on-one fight. What era do you think this is? Even after gaining intelligence, your kind, the Mutant Beast, is still just as stupid."

Hearing the Black-Robed Man's mockery, Simba abruptly turned his head and sprayed a stream of Flame Flow straight at the Black-Robed Man's position.

Unfortunately, in the blink of an eye, the Black-Robed Man had already appeared on Simba's other side.

"Open your mouth. I need to take some flesh and blood from that Big Dog."

Just now, Simba had bitten One-Eye and torn off a large chunk of hide and flesh in the process. There was definitely still some of One-Eye's body tissue left between Simba's teeth.

Simba hesitated for a long while. First he looked at the Black-Robed Man beside him, then at One-Eye in the distance, who was still watching him with a mocking gaze. After a long moment, he slowly opened his mouth.

For a beast, wild instinct outweighed reason.

But for an intelligent beast, the ratio between instinct and reason was truly difficult to judge.

Right now, Simba's desire to kill One-Eye was extremely strong. And when he was powerless to do it himself, borrowing outside help was absolutely his only choice!

"That's more like it. Brute courage is something only low-intelligence creatures rely on. Allies exist to be used!"

After the Black-Robed Man finished speaking, he took out the grayish-white fragments of One-Eye's flesh from Simba's mouth, examined them, then took out the dough-like object he had just retrieved from the scout.

"Tsk, tsk. What a powerful creature. And now, it's ours!"

Then, the shredded flesh and the dough slowly fused together!