C16 Prawns

With the spirit gone, Xiao Hao decided against solo monster farming—too inefficient. He was ready to tackle a swarm instead. From his previous encounters, Xiao Hao had gotten the lay of the land regarding the monster groups. Three distinct types roamed the area: the low-level prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera, Ribbon sawtail fish, and the Snail Darter—the latter being both the easiest and the toughest to handle.

The Snail Darter was a pushover in terms of attack power; a mantis shrimp could stand its ground against it without a scratch. Yet, it was a nightmare due to its monstrous health and peculiar constitution. Its body, a gel-like substance, translucent with a tinge of color, shrugged off physical attacks. The mantis shrimp could reduce it to pulp, and it would still reform like putty, unscathed. Only the corrosive darkness of the Shadow Hippocampus could harm it, but even that was a time-consuming affair.

Time was precisely what Xiao Hao lacked. That's why he hadn't sought out the boss-level Snail Darters—if it took half a day to whittle one down, the spirit would have overrun the Shellfish House long before. The more one fears death, the closer it creeps. So, Xiao Hao set his sights on the prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera.

Each monster group seemed to number in the hundreds. Xiao Hao dispatched the sea horses first, then commanded the mantis shrimp to draw fire, while he lay low in a corner. The moment the Peacock Mantis Shrimp made its entrance, a two-meter-long sting prawn charged forward, unable to contain its eagerness.

The first strike severed its bizarre, bulbous eyes. The second sliced off its writhing centipede-like antennae. By the third, before it could even flee, its crocodile-like body was cleaved in two. The prawn's flesh was dissected with surgical precision, its blood vessels belatedly spurting crimson as they caught up with the reality of the assault. The Peacock Mantis Shrimp stood still, its massive Emerald Sickles crossed in front, betraying no sign of the violence it had just unleashed.

The blade moved with such speed that its afterimage lingered on the ground, not yet faded, when the Emerald Sickle snapped back to its original position.

Xiao Hao couldn't contain his excitement as he collected ten Spirit Beads.

The Shadow Hippocampi found themselves in an awkward predicament. Though they could collectively cast the Dark Domain, the fleeing sting prawns scattered in all directions, forcing the hippocampi's AOE skills to target only one.

Luckily, the amplified Dark Domain was vast, ensuring that even as the sting prawns darted about, several were still drained of their life force simultaneously.

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp savagely dispatched its first victim, the crimson blood diffusing in the water, inciting the swarm of sting prawns.

The prawns' eyeballs were veined with blood vessels resembling centipede legs, and as the circular orifice beneath their heads split open, blade-like teeth emerged, with residual blood threading through the water like parasitic worms.

The prawns lunged at the mantis shrimp in a frenzy. Despite the flurry of the Emerald Sickle, the mantis shrimp struggled to fend off the onslaught.

Those prawns that evaded attack managed to latch onto the mantis shrimp, their razor-sharp teeth scraping against the impenetrable Emerald Armor.

The armor remained a pristine dark green, unmarred by the relentless gnawing.

As more prawns swarmed the mantis shrimp, it became enshrouded in a spherical mass of flesh.

Yet the mantis shrimp refrained from deploying any special abilities; those strikes were merely its standard attacks.

Xiao Hao had initially held back on using skills, wary of startling the lesser creatures.

But now, with the creatures densely surrounding the mantis shrimp, Xiao Hao signaled for the ultimate move.

The dual mantis scythes whirled with such ferocity, they resembled the blades of a maxed-out electric fan.

The mantis shrimp, akin to a master chef, wielded its scythes with artful precision, slicing the encroaching prawns into slivers, leaving the dark red seabed etched with tidy gashes.

The knife marks left in their wake reduced the earth and stone to mere grains of sand.

In the blink of an eye, everything changed.

The slices of flesh in the water were nearly translucent, allowing Xiao Hao's gaze to pierce through them as they floated. The relentless onslaught of the tiny prehistoric prawns was futile against the mantis shrimp's Emerald Sickle, reminiscent of ants futilely trying to topple a tree. Before long, the sea turned a crimson hue from the spreading blood.

The sheer number of prehistoric prawns was overwhelming, and their gaze seemed to follow Xiao Hao wherever he went, which is why he had been so reluctant to engage with these lesser creatures—it was far too easy to become their main target.

The mantis shrimp's lethal prowess had shattered their resolve, while the Shadow Hippocampus remained elusive as ever. To them, Xiao Hao was the perfect mark.

Predictably, the prawns, unable to challenge the mantis shrimp or locate the elusive hippocampus, directed all their animosity toward Xiao Hao.

Xiao Hao felt like he was dogged by bad luck.

Retreating to the Shellfish House was out of the question. A single Deep Sea Phantom had already endangered it; a few hundred prawns would leave Xiao Hao with nothing to do but resign himself to his fate.

But where could he possibly hide?

Getting too close to the mantis shrimp was dangerous—if they made a mistake, he'd be sliced to ribbons. Even in the Dark Domain, the wild monsters could sense him during Shadow Vanishing.

Each Shadow Vanishing gave Xiao Hao a precious few minutes of respite, which he used to try and draw the wild monsters toward the mantis shrimp. Sadly, these creatures, though not the brightest, knew enough to stay clear of danger and consistently avoided the mantis shrimp's vicinity.

Thus, a chaotic dance ensued...

The mantis shrimp pursued the wild monsters, who in turn pursued Xiao Hao. The hippocampus continued to cast the Dark Domain, but to Xiao Hao, they seemed to be merely going through the motions, contributing little more than ambiance.

He had anticipated this mess!

As the Shadow Vanishing's duration waned, Xiao Hao made a bold move. He clambered onto the back of a mantis shrimp's carapace and commanded it to keep its lethal strikes to the front, sparing its own back—and him along with it.

Behind him, Xiao Hao wielded the Rcss Tentacle to fend off the attacking shrimp. If the tentacles faltered, at least they wouldn't be fatal; he still had the chance to use a blood agent for recovery. The crimson tentacles danced around, either strangling, impaling, or flattening the shrimp with precision that barely grazed Xiao Hao's body, demonstrating a mastery of control that seemed intent on proving its finesse to Xiao Hao. Yet, Xiao Hao watched with a mix of awe and fear.

If the creature's skills were truly exceptional, it wouldn't have been ensnared by his own Rcss Tentacles in the first place!

Perched atop his mount, Xiao Hao was as still as a wax statue, not daring to make a single move. He was petrified that any sudden motion might cause the mantis shrimp's tentacles to accidentally stab him.

The eight Shadow Hippocampi formed a protective circle around Xiao Hao, casting the Dark Domain with him at its epicenter. Their power drained the shrimp's vitality at an accelerated rate, ensuring that just a minute within this darkened sphere would be fatal to the creatures.

Utilizing the Do-over Gloves, Xiao Hao summoned the Emerald Armor. Once armored, he felt a surge of safety envelop him. Despite the overwhelming number of shrimp, occasionally one would slip through the mantis shrimp's tentacle defenses and lunge at Xiao Hao. Thankfully, their teeth were no match for the impenetrable Emerald Armor. Though Xiao Hao remained unscathed, the constant attacks were rapidly depleting his stamina.

The seahorses had no choice but to materialize, lashing out with their black and gold tails, adorned with diamond-shaped bone rings, at the shrimp near Xiao Hao. Their strikes, even more powerful than the shrimp's centipede-like tentacles, shattered the prehistoric crustacean's sturdy exoskeleton, leaving it limp like an overstuffed sea serpent. Soon after, Xiao Hao received the confirmation of its demise.

The eight seahorses stood guard around Xiao Hao like the eight points of the Bagua formation, acting as his personal escorts. Though they were merely half a meter in length, dwarfed by the two-meter shrimp, their level 5 status and rarity made them formidable protectors against the wild monsters.

Even relying solely on their physical prowess, the seahorses were not outmatched by the prawns.

As the death toll of prawns climbed, the scent of blood intensified, further inciting the swarm of prawns.

Their eyes turned a deep, raging scarlet, and rational thought slipped away as they surged forward in a frenzied tide.

While the mantis shrimps' passive skill of an Immortal Body made them less concerned about the increasing escapes, the seahorses found themselves increasingly strained.

Xiao Hao led the seahorses directly beneath the mantis shrimps. As the mantis shrimps unleashed their power, flesh fluttered down like petals in the wind, creating an eerily beautiful tableau.

Bright red dye was flung recklessly, and the bloodied remains resembled blooming white lotuses. The crimson eyes spoke volumes of despair, and the shattered blade-like teeth were a testament to the silence of death.

Time seemed to crawl in this crimson seabed. Dark red sand swirled in the water, and the Emerald Sickle gleamed like a fleeting green shadow. With each flash of light, the blood lotuses erupted in fury.

Regrettably, such a grand display of effects couldn't be sustained for long.

To put it plainly, Xiao Hao was running on fumes, and the mantis shrimps were forced to halt their prized Emerald Sickles.

Xiao Hao collapsed onto the back of the mantis shrimp, his pallor resembling that of someone who had pulled an all-nighter, his expression one of utter despondency.

Having just cleared the area of wild monsters, the mantis shrimp watched as the prehistoric prawns surged forward. Xiao Hao, sprawled across its back, seemed like a sage drained of strength, helplessly observing their approach.

But was Xiao Hao truly a sage resigned to fate?

No, he was not.

He had simply timed everything perfectly.

After all, the Shadow Hippocampus's Dark Domain and Erosion had been at work for quite some time.

The area affected by the eightfold Dark Domain was significantly larger than the mantis shrimp's close-range assault.

And these mindless creatures, how could they detect the gradual rot setting into their flesh?

The tentacle-like eyes of the prehistoric Parapenaeopsis shrimps were so bloodshot they appeared almost black, while the fins of the Shadow Hippocampus had withered to resemble the wrinkled skin of an elderly man. The grayish-white underbelly of these creatures looked like the dust-covered skin of a deceased pig, and even the antennae of the centipedes cracked with the sound of breaking bones, as if on the verge of collapse.

Before these mantis shrimps could launch themselves at Xiao Hao, they had already been reduced to lifeless husks. Their life force completely drained, the heavy bodies plummeted like stones, the thud of their fall creating mounds of carcasses in the vicinity.

The surviving mantis shrimps, now in small, scattered groups, were finally overtaken by fear as the death toll of their kin mounted. In a panic, they fled in all directions; some, in their confusion, blundered into Xiao Hao only to be expertly dispatched by the mantis shrimp's masterful blade work.

Exhausted, Xiao Hao slumped onto the back of the mantis shrimp, and the deep sea once again embraced the quiet. The mantis shrimp, bearing Xiao Hao's limp form, carefully used its Rcss Tentacles to steady him on either side, ensuring he didn't slip off unintentionally.

Amidst the desolation of the ocean floor, the red tentacles of the mantis shrimp dug into the earth, each step taken with remarkable steadiness. Eight seahorses stood vigilant around them, encircling Xiao Hao in a protective, mobile octagon.

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