"This weather is so damn annoying!" a mysterious man hollered out.
He was engulfed in blazing flames! Realizing the giant rat king charging at him, he dashed at it like a speeding bullet and managed to dodge its attack. Due to the licks of fire on his body and in the blur of the rain, none of them took a good look at the person. All they could figure out was the letter 'F' over the man's chest. Clearly, he was an ability user that was stronger than all of them.
BAM!
The ground shook violently as the giant rat king moved forward. Out of the blue, thousands of long spikes popped out from the earth and penetrated its belly. Naturally, the giant rat king attempted to avoid them. Nevertheless, despite its best efforts, it was left severely injured after the prickly ordeal.
Squeak!
Squeak!
Squeak!
The giant rat king howled in agony and rage, its squeals intensifying as it limped.
All the other giant rats around it were getting angry as well. They then started to work together to break the defensive line. Upon seeing that, Qin Feng cranked up his inner strength to the max and attempted to stop them.
On the other hand, the F-tier flame and earth ability users were working together to defeat the giant rat king. Having said that, some would have carelessly assumed that by having such firepower, the rat king would eventually be defeated without much effort. Only Qin Feng understood the gravity of the situation that even F-tier ability users could not afford to make a single mistake during the fight. One small mistake could cost them both their lives.
Thankfully, the two had impeccable teamwork. As they were very close to defeating the giant rat king, it dug the ground at lightning speed and attempted to flee the place!
"Shit! It's trying to escape!"
Immediately, the earth ability user placed both his palms on the ground.
"Harden!"
Immediately, the ground became as hard as a rock. Unfortunately, the giant rat king had already dug in the ground. The soil around it got firmer and tighter, but the hardening process was slower than the giant rodent's persistent speed.
Soon, the giant rat king completely disappeared underground. It was now impossible for the ability users to go after it. Having lost their pied-piper, all the other giant rats started to flee the colony.
"We managed to guard the place!"
"The alarm is now cancelled!"
"Unfortunately, we didn't get to kill the giant rat king!"
Everyone around tried their best to clean up the mess. There were other ideas in Qin Feng's head, though. A golden opportunity had presented itself.
"Xiaobai, do you think you can locate the giant rat king?"
En!
En!
En!
Xiaobai vocalized, indicating to Qin Feng that it was able to locate the beast king.
"Let's go then!"
Qin Feng had no intention to let the giant rat king stay alive. With its current strength, it would have definitely retreated to its nest, plotting its next attack to avenge its allies. If he was not mistaken, this Giant Rat Tsunami should not have even happened this year. He suspected that this phenomenon was in part due to him overhunting the threadsnakes.
In the days of its inception, threadsnakes were one of the creatures that had threatened the safety of the early Chengbei Plantation. The reason it was so dangerous was its ability to get close to ability users without them realizing it. On the other hand, the herbivorous giant rat was only interested in the food that was being stored at the plantation.
Like its regular counterparts, the threadsnakes primarily feasted on baby rats. If a vast amount of threadsnakes disappeared in the wild, the balance would be tipped, meaning most of the rats would get to see another day. In other words, they would have a hard time having enough food with their sudden influx of numbers.
The temptation of the stored food was overweening and overpowering to them. They had the best of intentions to take over this place since the very beginning. Under the shroud of rain, Qin Feng used his fastest and left the plantation speeding. He needed to run. Run to wherever the base could not track him down.
After all the killing and devouring that just ensued, Qin Feng's body was now at tier G4. Unlike the others, Qin Feng was not tired at all. He was still at an optimum state. Soon, the rain eased up. Qin Feng ran for at least half an hour. He was now in the wild zone. Ordinary humans usually avoided this place, having heard tales of hidden horrors and threats.
Squeak!
Squeak!
Squeak!
The unmistakable sounds of the rat suddenly appeared, promoting Xiaobai to shout!
Qin Feng channeled his mind into activating a dark rune and transformed himself into a shadow.
Swoosh!
The soil on the ground started to shift. The ground caved in, revealing what must have been a large hole, obviously bored by some creature. Then, an injured giant rat king slowly emerged from it. One of its legs had broken, half its fur had been singed off, and its skin had large, bloody lesions. The skill that flame ability user applied on him had severely burnt its flesh; it's most severe being its stomach that had been slashed open by the spikes.
The giant rat king was trying to climb up the mountain. When the rain had slowed down, Qin Feng could see that there were long, lush vines crawling on the mountain's wall. There were even small fruits growing on them.
"Talent Fruits!" shouted Qin Feng in excitement.
Talent Fruits were considered low-tier Spirit Fruits. It could only be consumed by ability users that were below F-tier. However, partaking of the fruit bore astounding effects. It could be used to activate one's ability and Ancient Warrior's constitution. Only a limited amount of Talent Fruits were produced every year. People would literally give up everything they had just for the chance of purchasing one.
Talent Fruits were costly, to say the least, and could cost up to five million yuan on the black market! Even talentless sod could become an ability user after consuming the fruit. For instance, one could acquire a gunner's disposition at will. This became the reason why the rich loved to get their hands on the Talent Fruit. They would purchase it and give them to their children – hoping that they would acquire a higher disposition in the future—a cheat of sorts.
Qin Feng did not expect that he would find three Talent Fruits here. Seeing the giant rat king trying to get close to the Talent Fruits, he figured out that it was trying to consume these in the hopes of healing its injuries.
There was no way that Qin Feng would let go of this rare opportunity. Slowly and silently, he snuck up the rat from behind.
"Open up!" he yelled.
With inner force filling up both his hands, Qin Feng grabbed the giant rat king by its tail with every ounce of his strength. The sudden attack caused it to lose its balance, enabling Qin Feng to swing the giant rat king and flip it over.
"Asteroid Assimilation!"
The powerful pulling force from the skill managed to restrict its movements. However, the giant rat king kept on struggling with its humungous body, preventing it from getting any closer to Qin Feng.
Suddenly, Qin Feng directed his inner force outwards!
Blarggh!
With a paralyzing shudder, blood gushed out of the open wounds on the giant rat king's chest.
"Shatter!"
Putting his life on the line, Qin Feng charged toward the giant rat king to land a massive punch on its wound.
Klak!
Klak!
Its ribcage shattered at the impact, revealing a beating heart. Pulling his arm away, he stood up and dashed and as far away as possible. The giant rat king then mustered all his strength to stand up. It somehow managed to regain its balance. With its mouth wide open and bloodshot eyes glaring at Qin Feng, it paused for a second. then, with a sniff, it started pouncing on him
Then, before it even crossed 10 meters, it collapsed on the ground, an ever-increasing pool of blood oozing out from its insides.
The giant rat king was officially dead. Subsequently, Qin Feng absorbed all the rat king's energy. It made his muscles bulge a little more. His bones became more robust, and his heartbeat, more vibrant. He could barely contain the excess energy bursting out from the constraints of his limbs!
G5-tier!
Qin Feng breathed deeply with his eyes closed, relishing his newly acquired subhuman fortitude. He knew that he was now powerful enough to shatter a rock with his fist.
His speed and strength had been boosted tremendously.
"Not bad!"
In the end? It was worth the chase.