The modification to Su Chen's shotgun exceeded all his expectations.
After investing eight energy units into the transformation, Su Chen held the shotgun in his hands, loaded it with bullets, and took aim at a pot of cacti tucked away in the corner of the store, his temporary sanctuary.
With a powerful hum, the shotgun unleashed a dazzling beam of light that engulfed the small flowerpot and its prickly occupants. Su Chen adjusted his aim, and to his amazement, the pot started to tremble and sway, seemingly defying gravity.
"This... it turned into a tractor beam shotgun?" Su Chen marveled, struggling to comprehend the weapon's newfound power. While it wasn't exactly what he had envisioned, it held immense potential. He could now "retrieve objects from a distance," as he liked to call it. Testing its range, he discovered that the tractor beam could reach up to 70 meters, albeit for a limited duration of 13 seconds. The weight and size of the objects it could lift decreased with distance, but at the optimal range, it could handle up to 30 kilograms.
The implications of this ability were not lost on Su Chen. He could use it to manipulate his surroundings and even launch projectiles at his enemies. However, he couldn't be sure how effective it would be against living creatures that fought back.
Before he could explore further, the ground beneath him began to quake, jolting him from his thoughts. Peering outside, his face drained of color.
In the distance, a horde of black-scaled monsters surged forward, obliterating abandoned vehicles in their path. Their destination was clear—the ongoing battle. The sounds of gunfire and explosions echoed, a testament to the chaos that lay ahead.
"These monsters... they're aware of the army's presence," Su Chen muttered, his mind reeling with the implications of their unexpected knowledge.
Aware of the urgency, Su Chen prepared to make his escape. But as he stepped out of the shadows, his heart skipped a beat. Through the glass window of the storeroom, he locked eyes with a fierce black-scaled monster.
This lone creature, separated from the main horde, had discovered Su Chen hiding in the corner.
A bone-chilling howl shattered the double-sided glass window, and the massive black-scaled monster charged into the room.
This was Su Chen's first direct encounter with a black-scaled monster—a creature whose terrifying power he had witnessed before. Even a scratch from its razor-sharp claws could prove fatal.
Without a moment's hesitation, Su Chen hurled his gravity warhammer at the approaching monster.
However...
A deafening explosion reverberated through the air.
The force of the warhammer's impact brought the black-scaled monster to a sudden halt. Its jaws shattered, sending a shower of fangs flying through the air as its head crashed heavily onto the ground. A pitiful howl escaped its twisted mouth, mingling with its cruel and desperate thrashing. Its forelimbs, encased in obsidian scales, effortlessly tore through the floor's bricks and stones. Seizing the opportunity, Su Chen aimed his gun at the monster's head and fired a shot, followed by a swift retrieval of the gravity warhammer from its gaping maw. The room was bathed in a grotesque mixture of black and crimson blood.
Usually, a single shot from Su Chen's magically enhanced pistol was enough to obliterate the head of a slender specter. But this time, it merely caused the black-scaled monster's scalp to twitch.
And then it began to recover.
Recognizing the urgency, Su Chen's instincts kicked in. His countless battles against elongated apparitions had honed his decision-making skills. He swiftly sidestepped, unsheathing his energy-charged seedling knife with its dark blade engulfed in laser-like flames. With a forceful swing, he struck the claw that the monster had thrust toward him. In one fluid motion, he guided the monster past him, causing it to collide with a nearby showcase. With lightning reflexes, the monster swung its tail, its sharp edge narrowly missing Su Chen's neck.
Retreating hastily, Su Chen once again raised his magically enhanced pistol, his eyes narrowed as he took aim.
"Wow..."
The monster's mangled mouth failed to close properly as it emitted a muffled howl. Standing tall, it turned its head toward Su Chen, fixing him with a chilling gaze. Its face, devoid of eyes and a nose, exuded an air of malevolence.
In the brief span of less than two seconds, Su Chen steadied his aim and fired a close-range shot.
The monstrous roar instantly transformed into a frantic howl as the shot struck the shattered mouth of the creature. Blood splattered, and its twisted jaws contorted further in agonizing pain.
Seizing the moment, Su Chen surged forward, treading upon the wreckage of the shattered counter. He leaped into the air, assuming a dominant position to deliver a crushing blow.
The scarlet laser blade traced a shocking arc in the dim storeroom as it descended upon the monster's head.
With a resounding crash, the blade encountered an unprecedented resistance, slicing inches deep.
Simultaneously, the dying black-scaled monster launched a desperate counterattack, its razor-sharp claws slashing directly at the close-range Su Chen.
Trapped and with no room to retreat, Su Chen pressed on, his bloodshot eyes fixed on his goal—to sever the monster's head before its lethal strike found its mark.
Another thunderous crash reverberated through the air.
Breaking through the impenetrable black scales, the laser blade of the pitch-black Miaodao sliced through the monster's flesh and blood without resistance. The creature was torn apart, showering Su Chen in its grisly remains. The raised claws, stripped of their momentum, fell limply on his shoulder.
"Huh..." Su Chen exhaled a long breath, his realization of how narrowly he had escaped death settling in. A single mistake, a mere graze from the monster's claws, would have spelled his end.
Without wasting a moment, he swiftly raised his arm and extracted an energy unit from the fallen black-scaled monster's body.
To his surprise, this time, Su Chen retrieved a total of five energy units!
However, before he could savor his triumph, his sharp eyes caught sight of two more black-scaled monsters approaching the store from outside.
At that moment, an icy shiver coursed through Su Chen's veins, sending a wave of chilling unease down his spine.
The gravity warhammer hung suspended in mid-air, its power formidable, but breaking through the defenses of the black scale monsters with a single shot from his magical pistol seemed an arduous task. Su Chen knew that he would need to strike the same spot multiple times to pierce their thick scales, and time was not on his side.
A surge of cold determination surged within him.
Taking a step back, Su Chen swiftly assessed the perilous situation. He had meticulously scouted the storeroom during his modifications to the shotgun, and he knew there was an exit at the rear. His plan was to employ the shotgun to create obstacles, buying himself precious moments to escape from the encroaching monsters.
Su Chen harbored no shame in retreat. Survival took precedence above all else. Even with his formidable combat skills, confronting two black-scale monsters simultaneously would be nothing short of a death sentence.
However, to his astonishment, after a tense standoff, the two black scale monsters refrained from launching an attack. It was as if they had heeded an unseen call, their heads turning in unison toward the direction of Shengtian. Their focus abruptly shifted, and they swiftly departed without sparing another glance at Su Chen.
Surprised and relieved, Su Chen couldn't shake off the lingering sense of unease that clung to him.
These organized, legion-like creatures posed a far greater danger than solitary beasts that roamed and hunted in isolation. Yet, their intelligence seemed limited.
What force guided their actions?
As Su Chen mulled over this question, a memory resurfaced—the dying black scale monster's cryptic words as it relentlessly pursued and slaughtered the elongated ghost in the confines of the Skyview Hotel:
"My god... descends... Your... demise is assured..."