C5 Prehistoric Parapenaeopsis Stylifera

Xiao Hao stifled his fear and bellowed, "Shadow Vanishing!"

The prehistoric shrimp barreled into the Exploring Bubble, yet even the expansive two-meter diameter of the bubble could only envelop a portion of its massive form.

Its razor-sharp teeth sliced through the air, knocking the phone to the ground. Illuminated from below, Xiao Hao, shrouded in darkness, saw its underbelly stark white against the shadows.

The shrimp's thrust was swift, and propelled by its own momentum, it burst out of the Exploring Bubble once more. It gnawed momentarily, only to realize it had bitten into emptiness.

The shadow reformed into a human silhouette. Beyond the surge of terror came a wave of fury!

So close!

Just a hair's breadth away!

A mere second before executing Shadow Vanishing, he had even caught a whiff of the shrimp's foul breath!

Xiao Hao spun around, his eyes a fierce crimson, locked onto the shrimp.

"Hippocampi, take it down!"

The game panel materialized in the void like a 3D hologram, radiating a blood-red glow. Shadow Hippocampi emerged one by one from the guardian information page on the display.

Eight Shadow Hippocampi, like beams of auroral darkness, showcased a Shadow Vanishing skill that was worlds apart from Xiao Hao's own.

"Roar!"

The eight shadows transformed into taut ligaments, ensnaring the shrimp as the Dark Domain was unleashed!

By the light of the fallen phone, Xiao Hao saw the shrimp's pale underbelly stained with a layer of ashen dye, its flesh beginning to decay.

The prehistoric shrimp's antennae lashed out at the shadows, snapping the dark tendrils instantly. Xiao Hao frantically checked the game panel to find one hippocampus had lost half its health from a single strike!

Just one hit!

Half its health gone!

"Don't entangle it! Use the Dark Domain to bleed it dry!"

The marine creatures' attacks were erratic, prompting Xiao Hao to seize control.

The hippocampi abandoned the Dark Tendrils formed by Shadow Vanishing and instead conjured a dark circle around the shrimp.

Stack it!

Blood drained eightfold!

Despite this, Xiao Hao noticed the decay of the shrimp's body was slowing.

Xiao Hao wasn't taken aback.

The recent entanglement had been a single-target blood drain, whereas the Dark Domain was an AOE skill, naturally resulting in a weaker blood-draining aura than its single-target counterpart.

AOE skills outclassed single-target blood drains significantly. Within the Dark Domain, the sea horses became indistinguishable shadows, rendering the enemy incapable of discerning their true forms.

This combination of the domain, Shadow Vanishing, and erosion skills allowed the Shadow Hippocampus to whittle away at their foes' vitality unscathed.

Once the prawns lost sight of their target, their tentacle-like eyes shifted towards Xiao Hao.

It was a classic case of a staring contest.

Xiao Hao needed to buy the sea horses more time.

He was eager to join them in their blood-draining efforts, but his body was not up to the task.

He was no match for the Guardians in terms of physical prowess.

The prawns lunged at Xiao Hao once more. He threw himself to the side, yet the paddle-like fins still struck his back, causing him to wince in agony.

The prawns' sprint had slowed considerably, giving him just enough time to react and evade!

Xiao Hao felt a flicker of joy, but as he turned, a bone-chilling terror gripped him.

The prawn's eyeball was nearly pressed against his face!

That meant it had been lurking right behind him all along!

The centipede's tentacles, reminiscent of the Grim Reaper's scythe, swooped down over Xiao Hao's head.

The ground bore two stark gashes, with a dark shadow nestled between them.

The Shadow Hippocampus, now one with the Dark Domain, had become imperceptible to the creature. Xiao Hao readied himself to blend into the darkness as well.

This time, he even assimilated his phone into the shadow.

As the phone's light extinguished, darkness swallowed the world whole.

The shadow merged seamlessly, like a fish into the ocean. But just as Xiao Hao began to relax, the prawn's tentacles thrust towards him once more.

What was happening?

Xiao Hao hastily utilized Shadow Vanishing's speed boost to sidestep the tentacles.

How was it tracking him?

The tentacles came at him again, and Xiao Hao's evasion was desperately clumsy. He doubted his ability to dodge every incoming strike.

He couldn't hold on any longer!

From the darkness, Xiao Hao's voice commanded, "Drain its blood, entangle it!"

As the Dark Domain began to dissipate, tendrils of shadow lashed out, binding the prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera.

Seizing the moment, Xiao Hao's gaze hardened, and a long spear materialized beneath the prawn's pale underbelly, thrusting viciously upward!

It was Xiao Hao's own creation, a coral spear!

"Go! Die! Ahhh!"

Blood sprayed everywhere as the prawn thrashed wildly, snapping the shadowy tendrils.

"If we can't contain it, keep eroding it with the Dark Domain!"

Upon hearing this, the Shadow Ribbons floating in the ocean unfurled like a black shroud, weaving into a dark halo of light.

The stench of blood was overwhelming, turning the surrounding sea a deep crimson.

Yet the prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera was not yet dead, disoriented and flailing.

Its erratic movements only drove the coral spear deeper into its flesh.

The water churned around it, kicking up a murky cloud of dark red silt from the ocean floor.

Xiao Hao took the opportunity to duck behind a dense clump of aquatic plants, hoping the Shadow Hippocampus would wear the prawn down.

But his hiding spot was futile; the prehistoric creature could still sense him with ease.

It charged at him with a frenzy. Xiao Hao fought to stay calm, but with death looming, he couldn't suppress the terror rising within him.

The recent Shadow Vanishing had nearly sapped all of his strength.

Now, facing the prawn's reckless onslaught, Xiao Hao felt utterly drained and helpless.

He realized he was not going to escape this time.

So this was a survival game?

Brutally unforgiving.

Xiao Hao's expression fell, and just when he thought his end was near, the Shadow Hippocampus within the Dark Domain emerged in full force.

One by one, they lunged at the prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera, their conical snouts piercing the creature's body with deadly precision.

Eight seahorses encircled the prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera, their hook-shaped tails piercing into the bloody cavities left by a lost coral spear, burrowing in fiercely.

The prehistoric shrimp let out a pained shriek, the coral spear that had impaled it nowhere to be found. The bodies of the Shadow Hippocampuses were wedged into the shrimp's fin-like oars, their tails relentlessly stabbing into its underbelly, churning without pause.

The shrimp attempted to lash out at the seahorses with its antennae, but the seahorses were nestled within its fins, a blind spot it couldn't see or strike.

Determined, the shrimp thrashed its antennae toward the seahorses, missing them entirely and instead mutilating its own oar-like fins into a bloody pulp.

Its own hooked antennae ended up tearing through its flesh.

With a thunderous crash, the shrimp plummeted to the ocean floor, its body spasming intermittently as blood gushed forth.

Yet the seahorses showed no sign of ceasing their assault, their sharp tails continuing to agitate the shrimp's innards.

After a short wait, a prompt finally appeared in the game:

"Prehistoric Parapenaeopsis stylifera has died.

Spirit Bead +400

Would you like to bind the prehistoric shrimp?

Bind?

Could it be that binding it would allow me to acquire the shrimp as a guardian?

Xiao Hao recalled, however, that there was supposed to be a limit to the number of monsters one could bind.

He shifted his attention from the game's crimson script, focusing instead on the chat feed.

The prehistoric shrimp was fairly standard fare.

The streamer would probably bind it, as most players tend to bind the first monster they encounter.

It was a matter of survival.

And yet, this often led to regret when they later came across superior wild monsters.

The game stingily allotted one binding slot per ten levels—far too few.

But binding the shrimp would still leave it too weak to combat the Deep Sea Phantom.

The shrimp found in Beginner Village surely hadn't surpassed level 10, while the Deep Sea Phantom was at least several levels higher...

With such feeble defenses, the shrimp would be easily torn apart by the phantom with a mere flick of its wrist.

Wow, what a piece of work.

This monster is beyond ridiculous. Not only is it under level 10, but it's also so weak that other wild monsters can take it out in a flash.

Binding it would just be a slot down the drain.

Xiao Hao curled his lip in disdain and refused to bind, offering a quick explanation to his Alien Land viewers tuning into the live stream, "It's just too hideous. I'm not about to bind that thing."

The chat was suddenly flooded with a barrage of question marks.

Dude, are you for real?

Most monsters aren't exactly easy on the eyes...

Even though my bound guardians are all sorts of weird-looking, they're the reason I've made it this far...

The comments were a mix of confusion and teasing, but Xiao Hao didn't spot anything particularly helpful.

In these gaming streams, viewers typically engage in debates about which monster makes the best bind.

It's like in-game strategy talk, where players argue over which hero is more likely to clinch a win.

Xiao Hao had hoped to glean some advice from his viewers, but no such luck – they weren't giving anything away.

Staring down at the carcass of the prehistoric shrimp, an audacious thought struck Xiao Hao.

He'd level up first, then head back to the Shellfish House for another boost.

But first, he needed to retrieve his coral spear.

The real MVP was the little hippocampus, with the spear a close second.

Once he had the spear, he'd carve off some meat.

Whether or not the meat was edible, he'd leave up to the wisdom of the chat.

Sure enough, with a little nudge, Xiao Hao concluded he was in for a feast.

He stashed the sliced meat into his spatial grid, eager to level up.

It was only after he got back to the Shellfish House that he remembered something crucial.

Crap!

The Shellfish House didn't come with a kitchen!

He was left with the chicken meat dilemma!

Who knew if the meat was crawling with parasites – there was no way he'd risk eating it raw!

He decided to shelve his culinary concerns for the moment; upgrading the Shellfish House was the priority.

On his personal info page, a new level row had appeared, complete with a plus sign in brackets.

Level: 0 (+)

Xiao Hao hit the plus, upping his level to 1, and noticed the Shadow Hippocampus on the Guardian interface now had brackets too.

Before, the Guardian section was free of pluses and brackets.

It looked like the Guardian's level couldn't exceed that of the Shellfish House.

Xiao Hao's eyes sparkled as he checked the number of Spirit Beads; he had only used 10. Upgrading a hippocampus required 80 Spirit Beads. By the river, the cost multiplied by eight for eight of them. He hadn't forgotten the mana bar. Glancing at the room's mana bar, it was fully charged. He wondered if leveling up would refill it.

Xiao Hao decided to level up again, spending 20 Spirit Beads. The Shellfish House advanced to level two, and the mana bar's reading changed:

Mana Power: 2000L

With 30 Spirit Beads, he reached level 3.

Mana Power: 3000L

Now, he no longer had to worry about the room's mana supply.

Xiao Hao used the remaining Spirit Beads to upgrade the hippocampus to level 2, as a level 3 upgrade demanded 240 beads. After a flurry of upgrades, he had 100 Spirit Beads left. They could be used for the Shellfish House, but Xiao Hao had other plans. Enhancing his combat capabilities was his priority. It was better to save the Spirit Beads for upgrading the Guardians. He had wanted to upgrade each hippocampus individually, but as a troop type, they couldn't be upgraded one at a time.

The Shellfish House's security rating remained at one star even after the upgrades. However, the space had significantly expanded, now including a bathroom, which moved Xiao Hao. He just hoped his privacy would be respected and not broadcasted.

Upon entering the bathroom, Xiao Hao promptly accessed the game panel.