Chapter 261: There Is Another Method

Feng Ling pulled her cone spikes free.

Blood spurted out, leaving six deep, bloody holes.

The Smiling Buddha’s head shifted its position within the flesh, retracting and extending like a snail’s tentacle. It moved directly in front of her, continuing to watch her with a smile.

The expression on its face hadn’t changed at all, yet Feng Ling felt deeply mocked.

She looked at the six bloody holes.

The damage wasn’t significant, but it was effective. It was like a math problem—if she could just deal damage fast enough, she could carve the Black Flood Dragon out from inside before the creature healed.

‘No wonder Ye Zheng was fighting so frantically just now. Was she just racing against time?’

Feng Ling drew her Bone Blade and slashed into the bloody holes! Then, she retracted the blade, switching to her Teeth and Claws to bite down on a chunk of flesh at the wound’s edge and tear at it with all her might!

She ripped off a huge, bloody chunk of flesh!

Feng Ling continued.

Chunk after chunk of flesh was torn away. Blood gushed like a fountain as skin and meat flew everywhere. The wound grew larger and larger, a tangle of red and white sinew and muscle being torn apart and chewed to bits, quickly forming a huge, gory pit!

The snail-like creature couldn’t dodge, its massive body swaying unsteadily.

Just when Feng Ling thought she could press her advantage, she began to feel an overwhelming and unnatural fatigue.

It was like having a piece of meat right at her lips; she knew she should take a big bite, but her gums were sore and weak, and she couldn’t muster the strength.

Then, Feng Ling found she could no longer control her limbs freely. She felt tired, hungry, and a profound weakness in every part of her body.

‘This Pseudo-God’s ability is truly sinister.’

She frowned and retreated cautiously, watching helplessly as the bloody pit she had just carved into the monster slowly healed over.

And she found she didn’t dare to attack again.

Frustration and rage surged through her. She stared at the monster with an icy expression, trying to devise a strategy.

A figure suddenly charged over!

Ye Zheng, fresh from praying to the deity, charged the monster like a furious lioness, filled with rage!

Her Tiger Claw tore off huge chunks of flesh, the sharp claws leaving deep gashes and widening the bloody pit even further!

“If you’re out of energy, go pray to the deity! Then come back and relieve me!” Ye Zheng roared.

‘Taking turns?’

‘That’s one way to do it, I guess. It has the inspirational feel of the old fable about moving a mountain one stone at a time.’

Feng Ling turned and left without hesitation.

Less than thirty seconds later, she heard Ye Zheng shouting from behind, “Feng Ling!!!”

‘What now? Is she out of juice already?’

Feng Ling looked back and saw that the snail-like creature was ignoring Ye Zheng’s attacks and had started chasing her instead!

Its pace was incredibly slow, but it was undeniably chasing her.

Feng Ling’s mind raced, and she came up with two possibilities:

Either the white-bearded old man had placed some kind of mark on her when he’d pointed her out, or this Smiling Buddha had taken an interest in her serpentine form and wanted to absorb it.

Ye Zheng ran over. “What’s going on?! Why is it chasing you?”

“I’m not sure. Let it chase,” Feng Ling said, dragging her weary serpentine body forward. “A little more exercise might help it lose some weight.”

“This is no time for jokes!” Ye Zheng said, exasperated.

BANG!—

A sudden gunshot rang out!

Feng Ling and Ye Zheng whipped around. A bullet had exploded in the monster’s wound, leaving a scorch mark that was clearly hindering its regeneration! It also slowed the creature’s advance!

Feng Ling’s eyes lit up. ‘Incredible marksmanship!’

BANG, BANG, BANG BANG BANG!

Another volley of shots followed. Some hit the monster, some hit the concrete, and one bullet struck her serpentine tail directly.

Feng Ling was speechless.

‘I didn’t expect Xu Yiming’s aim to be so random.’

“What the hell is Xu Yiming doing! Don’t Hunters have marksmanship classes?! His aim is absolute shit!” Ye Zheng cursed.

Feng Ling scanned the area for Xu Yiming and spotted a figure on the rooftop of a streetside building, waving at her.

“The ammunition is far more effective than our attacks,” Feng Ling said. “If we could get our hands on some explosives, we could definitely finish it off for good.”

“But we’re out of explosives. We’d have to go outside the Maze to get more.” Ye Zheng looked at the giant, slowly creeping snail in the distance, her anxiety palpable. “It’s only been a minute or two, and its wound has already shrunk. If we stop our attack to go outside the Maze, by the time we get back, it might have completely regenerated!”

Ye Zheng was incredibly frustrated. “No wonder there are so many ‘Immortals’ to pray to in the Maze…”

If players had to fight a war of attrition, it would be impossible to defeat the Maze Master without the Divine Statues and the buffs they provide.

By now, Feng Ling had reached the shop with the red sign. She ducked inside and bowed reverently before the Divine Statue.

Her energy rapidly returned, the hunger vanished instantly, and she once again felt power coursing through her body.

“This monster has been absorbing the flesh of every living thing in the Maze. The Mouse Monsters are so numerous because they can gain energy by praying to the deities, and that so-called Divine Power actually comes from the system. So… this monster is indirectly exploiting a system loophole. That’s why it keeps absorbing, keep fusing, growing almost without end, until it turns itself into an immobile mountain of flesh.”

After finishing her prayer, Feng Ling left the shop and looked at the giant snail gradually approaching her.

She thought for a moment, then added, “No living creature grows indefinitely. All genes evolve for survival. For example, a Cat Owl needs to fly, so it has to stay light. It can’t store much food, so its frequency of eating and excreting is much higher than a Cat Spider’s.”

Ye Zheng frowned. “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying… there’s something wrong with the Maze Master’s genes,” Feng Ling told Ye Zheng. “Genes aren’t supposed to evolve in a way that’s detrimental to survival. The energy the Maze Master absorbs is just making it more clumsy and slow. That’s highly abnormal.”

“Is there anything in this Maze that isn’t abnormal?” Ye Zheng glanced around in disgust. “Rats with human faces, a Divine Travel Team pretending to be Immortals, and that mountain of meat paste—it’s all disgusting as hell!”

“Feng Ling!” Huangfu Miaomiao came running from the distance, reporting breathlessly, “Xu Yiming and I tried to intercept the rats, but they’re too fast! Our shots kept missing, and the grenades didn’t get many, so we came to see if we could help!”

Feng Ling immediately held out her hand. “Give me all the remaining grenades.”

‘If the blasts from the grenades were concentrated, the effect would be significant.’

Huangfu Miaomiao’s expression stiffened. She mumbled awkwardly, “I… I already used them all…”

Ye Zheng looked up at the sky, utterly dejected. “I guess we have to leave the Maze and come up with another plan.”

“Huh?!” Huangfu Miaomiao was stunned. “Leave the Maze? But… was all that for nothing, then? What if it just heals completely after we leave?!”

Ye Zheng snapped, “We have no choice! As soon as we touch that flesh, it starts absorbing my energy and Feng Ling’s! Explosives are the fastest, most effective way to attack!”

Feng Ling was lost in thought, then suddenly said, “Actually, there’s one more thing we can try.”

Ye Zheng paused. “What is it?”

Feng Ling didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked at Huangfu Miaomiao. “Do you have any rope?”