Chapter 310: Rare Item

Chapter 310: Rare Item

“Huh? What is this…?” Lena watched as the Fireball she had released vanished within the light radiating from that large eye. Immediately, she hugged her head and crouched to the side. Light that could erase magical elements would surely have enough lethal force. Oss and the others quickly assumed evasive stances. However, in the next moment, the light, which had formed a beam, enveloped the entire Mine Cave.

Everyone fell into a dazed state.

“Oh? So it’s not offensive after all.” After Oss and the others fell under the influence of the illusion, Lena, who had been crouching and holding her head, stood up. The Stitched Abomination, which had been poised in mid-air with its huge left fist clenched, ready to strike Oss down with a punch, now stiffly hovered in the air, its body trembling slightly. It had no expression, but from the way its body trembled, it could be seen that it was in a state of fear…

The Stitched Abomination had realized that the woman before it was not just a serious potential threat, but a genuine Boss. It wanted to flee, but for some reason it could not understand, it remained rigidly suspended in the air, allowing the terrifying female Boss to examine it. If it could move now, the fear in its heart would instantly overwhelm its ferocity, and it would turn and run for its life!

“Hmm, about time.” Lena glanced back at Oss, who was starting to recover. Having the power of two Magic Weapon Evil Gods, his recovery speed was faster. By the time he returned to his position, the Stitched Abomination had returned to normal. It wanted to turn and flee, but the force it had exerted earlier was too great. The previous apparent stasis had not dissipated that force; instead, as that power faded, the remaining force spiraled out of its control, carrying it uncontrollably forward.

Yet at this moment, it was desperately trying to pull back. Forcing its body to retreat caused its movements to become unmanageably stiff. From Oss’s perspective, he saw the Stitched Abomination’s eyes emit a brilliant light, which temporarily blinded him and left him paralyzed and out of control. Now, having just recovered, he saw the monster wildly waving (struggling) its massive hand, swinging it toward him, ready to crush his head at any moment.

Without time to think, Oss suppressed the discomfort from the immense exhaustion caused by detonating the Blood Qi Blade earlier and condensed a new Blood Qi Blade. This one was smaller than the previous. He could no longer avoid the Stitched Abomination’s attack and could only desperately counterattack. As for defense, the opponent had clearly used some method to control their movements, building up for a single strike. Simply defending would only lead to being beaten to death.

The smaller Blood Qi Blade pierced the Stitched Abomination’s heavily protected head. The resulting blood explosion shattered its head and even blasted a bloody crater into its body. The massive body of the Stitched Abomination crashed heavily to the ground. The blood gushing from its wounds was drawn toward the blood mist swirling around Oss, replenishing the immense consumption from using so much Blood Essence. His face, which had turned extremely pale from excessive blood loss, quickly regained color.

This Stitched Abomination’s Life Force was quite tenacious. Even as a pieced-together creation, the quality of its blood remained unchanged. As for impurities? Demon Sword Cultists absorbed various external blood daily to restore themselves and had never encountered issues due to such impurities.

“Whoa!?” Gale, who regained consciousness afterward, instinctively flailed the weapon in his hand. After being controlled, he had thought he was doomed. His actions just now were merely an outburst of fear. When he regained control of his body, he found himself alive and well… and still flailing energetically for a while. He wondered if Lena had seen his foolish behavior just now… Looking back, Lena was still holding her head and probably hadn’t noticed him.

“This… Captain, you killed it?” Rick stared, jaw agape, at the Stitched Abomination with its blown-off head. This thing had clearly used a big move to control the battlefield, ready to finish them off in an instant. How had it been resolved in the blink of an eye? What kind of cheat had the Captain used!?

“… I’m not too clear either.” Oss also looked somewhat stunned at his own hands. Feeling his physical condition had mostly recovered, he decisively stopped absorbing the Stitched Abomination’s blood. This thing was a Quest item. If it was too badly damaged and the client wouldn’t accept it, they’d be in big trouble. Wait! Why worry about the client? Right now, reporting it was the priority!

“Ahem, pay some attention to me first…” Wood said with difficulty. The effect of the Fixation Potion had worn off completely, and now he felt his physical condition Deteriorating again. Fortunately, the remaining toxins weren’t lethal, but it was still uncomfortable.

“Old man, maybe you should become a Demon Sword Cultist too.” Rick looked at Oss, who seemed unharmed, and couldn’t help but say. The Demon Sword Cultists’ ability to sustain themselves through combat was truly enviable. If not for their sensitive status as Cultists, probably many people, upon learning of this convenience, would find the temptation hard to resist… Well, actually, many had already succumbed.

Now, just going to the Mercenary Guild, there were some potential Demon Sword Cultists. Even if those people seemed well-behaved, when Oss didn’t reveal his identity, he looked just like a fine young man.

“I’ll do the reporting then.” Lena, whose hair was a bit messy from holding her head earlier, watched the three men fussing over another older man. She took out the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and said, “I’ll make sure they pay through the nose!”

Due to his injuries, Wood had to rest for a day in a nearby village. During that day, the Mercenary Guild sent someone specifically to verify the Stitched Abomination’s corpse, confirming the accuracy of the report. After the report was processed… due to the erroneous information provided by the client—even though it was determined not to be intentional—given the Stitched Abomination’s strength, the client had no choice but to offer additional payment. Not being intentional wasn’t a valid reason to dismiss the issue.

Thus, Oss and the others received triple the reward, and the client also covered their battle losses, which improved their mood. That client was at least sincere.

“Alright, we’ve been delayed for over a day. We need to pick up the pace. Any objections?”

“None.” Wood, who had mostly recovered and whose remaining issues didn’t hinder his mobility, was the first to speak. After the client covered the battle losses, they used part of the extra reward to buy a high-quality Recovery Potion. Once the residual toxins were eliminated, that potion restored most of his condition. He didn’t need to recuperate for at least half a month as the healer had suggested.

On the road, Oss frowned slightly. He was troubled by something. This battle seemed to have ended the Stitched Abomination in a blur. He wasn’t sure what had possessed him at the last moment, allowing him to land some kind of super Critical Strike and instantly kill the Stitched Abomination. But such good luck obviously wouldn’t always happen. Hard strength was still necessary.

Growing Bloodline Power required many battles. Even though his growth was already fast—he was just an ordinary person a few months ago, and now he possessed combat power not weaker than those Professionals—this speed already made Professionals envious. But when it came to increasing power, no one ever thought it was fast enough, especially after this experience. This definitely wouldn’t be the last time. Who knew when they might encounter another case of misinformation, leading to new dangers.

So… he should consider that other power that had appeared in his body at some unknown time… At a temporary rest stop, Oss calmed his mind and, for the first time, focused intently on sensing that newly emerged power within him.

Elsewhere, after casually dismissing Gale, Lena opened the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and browsed the Magic Weapon Forum with a faint smile.

“Whoa, how did it get dismantled so badly…” Zheng Yichen looked at the massive Stitched Abomination corpse lying in the Laboratory. Its right arm and shoulder were missing, and its head was blown to pieces. Zheng Yichen didn’t care much about the missing arm; the missing head was the main issue. The most important part of a Stitched Abomination was the head. Splicing the body was secondary. After all, splicing… Zheng Yichen could manage that with some effort.

The crucial process was making the spliced parts controllable by an additionally integrated brain.

“Well~ There was a little accident.” Dan Marina, who had previously patted her chest (which jiggled easily when she moved) and promised to deliver a complete Stitched Abomination, said from the side, “Just make do with this for now. It’s only missing a head…”

“Yeah, missing the most important part…” Zheng Yichen shook his head. Oh well, having material to research was enough. Besides the head, the Stitched Abomination’s left arm also interested Zheng Yichen. This arm wasn’t something an ordinary person could possess. A Giant? A Giant’s arm wasn’t like this either. This arm must have been created using some splicing technique.

Just as Zheng Yichen was about to start dismantling the thing, Annie walked in. Zheng Yichen glanced at this extremely ancient black-and-white-haired Loli. By chance, he had discovered that Annie seemed to enjoy riding elevators. She had ridden all the elevators in the Underground Base. If Zheng Yichen hadn’t periodically checked some surveillance records, he wouldn’t have noticed this.

“Huh? You’re quite lucky to get a high-quality Stitched Abomination.” As a professional, Annie could immediately see its uniqueness when she saw the Stitched Abomination: “Tsk tsk, the Creator of this Stitched Abomination put in a lot of effort. They definitely wouldn’t let it out easily… Did you cause trouble?”

“Ahaha~ I just needed a Stitched Abomination. Running into this one was purely luck.” Dan Marina chuckled lightly. She only needed a Stitched Abomination. Her abilities did play a part, but she didn’t need to target anything too precisely. Any Stitched Abomination would do; what did the type matter?

“Then its Creator is pretty unlucky.” Annie remarked. Such a Stitched Abomination was nothing special to her, but among ordinary people, it was a rare, hard-to-obtain item. Unless its Creator was an idiot, they wouldn’t let it out. There were only two reasons it could have escaped: either its Creator was truly an idiot, or they mishandled it and lost control, allowing it to escape…

Worse yet, this Stitched Abomination might have killed its Creator before escaping. Otherwise, its Creator wouldn’t have let such a rare creation run amok, let alone be killed. To fellow Creators, this thing was a valuable research subject. To others, it was a hazard that needed elimination.

“So, I made a profit?” Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but say.

“Overall, you lost quite a bit. Its head is gone.” Annie glanced at the blasted head area of the Stitched Abomination. “For research, you can leave the arm for last. Study other parts first, gain some experience.”

Zheng Yichen pursed his lips and placed the huge left arm he had removed from the Stitched Abomination to the side.

“And don’t dismantle it along the stitching marks. You’ll miss a lot that way.”

“Huh? Why not?” Zheng Yichen asked, puzzled. Dismantling from the stitched areas should be easier, right? Annie didn’t elaborate much on Zheng Yichen’s question, simply telling him to try it himself.

He tried it and found that although the stitching marks were obvious, and even looked like the skin hadn’t grown together from the outside, the sutured areas were extremely tough, just like intact skin. After forcibly tearing it apart, it was exactly as Annie had said: many tissues along the stitching were damaged, especially the muscle parts, which were quite important for studying Stitched Abominations.

“Alright, I was wrong.” Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched slightly. He proceeded with the subsequent dismantling step by step… After working on it for a while, he felt something was off. He couldn’t help but look around. Somehow, Loris had also come here, using her true form. But with three women watching him from the side, that weird feeling became hard to shake off: “Aren’t you bothered by the gore?”

“You mean this?” Loris tilted her head slightly and asked.

“… Never mind.” They might have high looks, but which one present hadn’t walked a path of brutality to reach this point? Except for himself, none could truly be called ‘good-natured.’ Even more intense scenes would be child’s play to them. In summary… he was just overthinking it, influenced by an Earthling’s mindset. If he could handle it, why couldn’t they? Even if the youngest Lily came to watch, she probably wouldn’t react strangely either.

Some things truly require firsthand experience to accumulate understanding. After personally researching a Stitched Abomination, Zheng Yichen felt he had really broadened his horizons. He originally thought Stitched Abominations were just limbs and flesh chunks from different creatures pieced together. In reality, far more delicate operations were possible, down to the subdivision and splicing of muscle tissues. That abnormal large hand was made precisely that way.