Piercing beams of white light touched the ground as twenty individuals interlaced their fingers, only to naturally release each other's hands moments later. Benjamin led the group, who scrutinized the map of the area and recalculated the scale. Turning to his companions, he decreed, "Divide yourselves into groups of four and disperse immediately to document the prominent features of this vicinity. Reconvene here in ten minutes!"
"Agreed!"
The group of twenty, divided into teams of four, dispersed in four different directions. Benjamin and three others remained at the original spot, prepared to handle any unforeseen circumstances.
There weren't many mutated creature threats indicated on the area map; what they needed to be wary of were humans—those with inscrutable intentions.
Standing by the river, Benjamin glanced at the nearby water, remarking, "The river is rather polluted."
"Do you think we can complete the merger of our two zones within three days?"
"With enough money to purchase random map, nothing is impossible."
"How much will it cost?"
"Without the merger, our difficulties will only increase. Our zone used to have over 1,500 people; how many are left now?"
Benjamin turned his head as he spoke, his expression grave, "Only 800 remain. How long do you think we can hold on?"
"I'm just worried that once we reach Zone 109, they'll suppress us since they've had three consecutive first kills of shared monsters."
"Don't worry. Our leader has known David from Zone 109 for a long time. There shouldn't be any problems."
Having said that, Benjamin continued staring at the river's surface. Just then, someone returned from not far away, "Benjamin, there's a wild fishing chair over there. Judging by the traces, it was placed there not long ago."
"Did you see anyone?"
"No."
"Be cautious; we don't want to fall into an ambush!"
"Yes, sir."
The four of them immediately faced different directions, gripping their weapons and warily scanning their surroundings.
...
In the water, Ming felt rather uncomfortable. He initially thought he could fish leisurely, but he was unexpectedly dragged into the murky water. With limited visibility in the water compared to land, he could only see a few meters ahead.
He tightly held onto his fishing rod, unwilling to let go—it had stacking attributes! However, reason told him that the thing that had dragged him into the water must undoubtedly be a mutated creature.
Hence, recklessness was inadvisable.
"Situation unclear, retreat!"
"Trouble!"
Ming abruptly spun around, witnessing a vast, flat maw snap open in an instant.
"Damn!" Ming struggled to maneuver his body away from the gaping mouth, only to find himself and the surrounding water being sucked in like a vortex. With the limited distance and being in the water, his agility was constrained!
No chance to dodge! In a mere instant, Ming was drawn toward the monstrous creature.
"Pay up!" Ming offered the remedy, of course only mentally whispering 'pay up.' Speaking aloud in the water could cause him to choke. He had no hope that the mutated creature could actually pay, only wishing for a brief moment of pause.
[Skill activated, collect 3,000 gold coins from the opponent]
[The opponent has no money, nor anything to cover the debt]
"Damn!" Although Ming held no hope, the creature gave him utter despair!
Reason to kill +1.
"Needle strike!" During the creature's brief pause, Ming extended the syringe and stabbed it into the tender flesh inside the monster's wide-open mouth, piercing...injecting the solution...withdrawing the needle—exceedingly proficient.
[Skill activated, opponent enters a hallucinatory state] Once the hallucination took effect, the creature remained motionless in the water, its eyes tightly shut...
"Amazing!" Ming was exhilarated. In just two seconds, he had set the stage for his killing strike. Employing his eagle eye, he had already discerned the creature's details:
[Name: Ferocious Giant European Catfish]
[Rank: Three-Star King-level BOSS]
[Defense: 3,000]
[Endurance: 400]
[Strength: 500]
[Agility: 300]
[Intelligence: 100]
[Exclusive Skill: Catfish Suction]
[Exclusive Skill: Catfish Swallow]
[Exclusive Talent: Catfish Stomach]
[Exclusive Talent: Colossus]
[Exclusive Talent: Armor-Breaking Lethal Strike]
[Weakness Detection: Drag it onto land, and you can easily kill it...]
"..."
Ming had no time to contemplate the creature's detected weaknesses; he immediately took out a stack of spiked trap cards and shoved them all into the hallucinating catfish's mouth. Subsequently, he swam upstream to reach the top of the catfish's head and forcefully closed its jaw with a right-hand punch.
At that moment, the giant catfish snapped out of its hallucination. As its mouth clamped shut, the spiked trap cards within exploded. Dozens of cards and hundreds of sharp spikes shattered and chaotically pierced the catfish's oral cavity, propping its mouth open like a disheveled fence.
The catfish writhed in pain, rolling in the water.
"Need air!" After all the struggling, Ming's breath-holding had reached its limit underwater, and he urgently needed to breathe.
Just then, the rolling giant catfish charged toward him, effectively blocking his path to the water's surface.
"..."
Ming hastily dodged, but his agility in the water paled in comparison to the catfish's. His earlier composure was solely due to two compulsory exclusive skills.
"Exclusive?" Ming suddenly recalled that he possessed a "Breath Holding Underwater" skill. It was a treasure acquired by Da Vinci in the pool at Fruit Mountain, which allowed him to hold his breath underwater for twenty minutes.
Activate! The moment the skill was activated, Ming, who had been on the verge of choking, suddenly felt at ease, as if he no longer needed to breathe so desperately.
It indeed worked.
Boom! At the same time, the catfish rammed into Ming's back with a powerful force, causing him to wince in pain.
Clothing durability -10.
It hurt!
His heart ached!
His heart ached for his clothes.
Ming's anger flared, and before he could steady himself in the water, he saw the catfish charge at him again.
"!!" Ming realized that with its spike-filled mouth, the catfish could neither swallow nor bite; it could only ram into him. Therefore, Ming knew that defending and evading underwater would be futile. Instead, he chose to attack head-on, determined to see who would succumb first.
As the catfish barreled toward him, Ming didn't dodge. He rushed forward to meet it, shoving another stack of spiked trap cards into the catfish's nostrils just as it collided with him.
Spikes erupted, and the pained catfish surged upward, propelling Ming's abdomen out of the water before falling back down.
Ming plunged back into the water as well, brandishing his lotus blade—the "Wendy's Fish Knife." This weapon was particularly effective against fish, penetrating their armor and increasing damage by 100%.
On the shore, the regrouped members of Benjamin's party gaped at the spectacle that had unfolded on the river's surface.
"That fish must have been at least 10 meters long, right?"
"More like 15 meters, I'd say!"
"Did you see that person get spit out by the fish? he just grabbed a knife and went back in!"
"That fish is a three-star king!"
Benjamin squinted, his expression tense as he focused on the water's surface. "Battling an aquatic three-star king in the water... This person is quite audacious!"
At that moment, four beams of white light descended on Benjamin and his group. From the light emerged four people, their fingers interlocked. The skinny young man leading the group looked at the red string on Benjamin's left arm and smiled, "Hello, I'm Alan from Sector 109, here to pick you up!"
"So, you're Alan? The one who can control ten puppets simultaneously?"
"Ah, yes. I'll be controlling ten of you soon enough."
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