Chapter 557 [Horn-Blade Golden Beetle]

As the map's borders gradually shrank, the adventurers scattered across the area began converging on the center of the secret realm.

In this stretch of forested mountains alone, over a dozen adventurers had spotted the dazzling orb of azure light currently descending from the sky.

Among them, those who possessed combat experience like Xia Nan—having absorbed life energy from other participants and completed an evolution—were still in the minority. There were two or three at most.

The vast majority had only recently adapted to the secret realm's environment and were just beginning to explore outward.

Therefore, these adventurers could not yet link the descending blue light to life evolution.

The azure light orb itself held little attraction for them.

On the other hand, the vast majority of the adventurers pulled into the secret realm had witnessed the massive beam of light shooting into the sky from the center of Stodd Island before being swept into the ritual.

Both shared the same azure hue. Given their current predicament, it was hard not to draw a connection.

Thus, it was highly unlikely they would just ignore it. Instead, maintaining their vigilance, they slowly approached the orb's landing point.

And Flynn intended to use this exact opportunity.

The ritual originally planned for the day of the Lunar Tide Banquet had been pushed forward due to the sahuagins' unusual movements. Even as one of its primary planners, he had been caught completely off guard.

Fortunately, he was still an insider.

Although he lacked the conveniences available to Algae Scale Dodd, he held an absolute information advantage over the other adventurers pulled into the secret realm. He knew the general mechanisms of the ritual.

Under these circumstances, even though the animal he possessed upon descent was only a giant beetle, he used his flight advantage and a stroke of luck to locate an adventurer who had possessed a jungle python.

Leveraging his inside knowledge, Flynn presented himself as a fellow adventurer suffering the same fate. Combining this with the persuasive skills he had honed over many years—communicated through writing, of course—he quickly gained the python's trust.

Then, during a dangerous maneuver he deliberately orchestrated, he betrayed his newfound ally, sending the python adventurer straight into the claws of an Owlbear.

After the monster ate its fill and left, he returned to the scene, absorbed the life energy hovering above the adventurer's corpse, and completed a First Evolution.

Unfortunately, even though his evolution speed placed him in the top tier among all the adventurers in the secret realm, and his evolutionary direction was quite good...

He still could not sense the locations of the other adventurers.

This caused Flynn to go entirely without encountering another adventurer for a long time after completing his First Evolution, leaving him in a state of complete stagnation.

He naturally knew that the Ritual Secret Realm itself was created for Algae Scale Dodd. Having followed the man for so many years, he had never harbored any thoughts of rebellion or betrayal.

In fact, Flynn's aggressive and somewhat impatient strategy was exactly what Dodd had previously ordered.

To some extent, it served as an added layer of insurance for the smooth progression of the ritual.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if Algae Scale's preparations failed, Dodd could ultimately overtake everyone else by devouring the life energy Flynn gathered from multiple evolutions.

Right now, that mass of life energy descending from the sky presented an opportunity to Flynn, who had been stressing over his inability to find other targets.

On one hand, as an acceleration mechanism of the Ritual Secret Realm itself, fully absorbing this mass of life energy would likely allow him to jump one or two species tiers directly, making up for lost time.

On the other hand, the orb of light acted like bait, drawing adventurers from the surrounding areas like a moth flying into the flame.

All he needed to do was guard the vicinity. By waiting for the orb to drop and ambushing the adventurers lured to it, he could harvest a massive amount of life energy all at once.

'Mr. Dodd's progress should be much faster than mine. Given the time, he might have even completed his Third Evolution by now.'

Flynn concealed his body as deeply as possible within the tree canopy, his thoughts drifting.

Truth be told, under normal circumstances, if the beast possessed upon descent had a low life level, even completing a First Evolution wouldn't guarantee catching up to the combat power of luckier adventurers.

Having landed in a giant beetle upon first arriving in the secret realm, Flynn's luck couldn't be considered good by any metric.

Fortunately, during his First Evolution, he seemed to have randomly rolled into an optimal direction.

This gave him the confidence to lie in wait beneath the slowly descending orb of light and hunt the other adventurers.

"Buzz—"

Sunlight filtered faintly through the branches and leaves, illuminating a massive, blurry silhouette.

It was an enormous beetle, comparable in size to the wild beasts of the forest.

Its elytra were folded over its back, and its nearly two-meter-long body was covered in a heavy carapace that faintly gleamed with a metallic luster.

Its oval compound eyes provided a near 360-degree wide-angle view, while six thick, barbed legs allowed it to cling firmly to the top of the tree trunk at a nearly ninety-degree angle.

Its most striking feature, however, was the sharp, sword-like horn sprouting from its head, which was even longer than its entire body.

The horn was entirely pitch-black, sharing the metallic sheen of the back carapace. With a piercing tip and bladed edges on both sides, it was suited for both charging thrusts and diagonal slashes—much like a longsword in the hands of a knight.

[Horn-Blade Golden Beetle], a dangerous monster possessing a Challenge Rating of Lv1.

It boasted defensive capabilities comparable to the heavy metal armor worn by adventurers, the ability to fly short distances despite its exaggerated weight, and a sharp horn that could easily pierce through fur and flesh—

If not for its lack of supernatural powers and its relatively docile nature toward adventurers in its daily state, raising its Challenge Rating by another level would not be an exaggeration.

Born and raised in the Southern Archipelagos, Flynn didn't recognize this dangerous monster native to inland rainforests.

However, that didn't stop him from gradually realizing his current combat capabilities as he familiarized himself with the body.

The carapace covering his body could withstand slashes from sharp weapons, the horn on his head was an absolute killer among wild animals, and he even possessed the ability to fly.

To some extent, Flynn felt that this was already the best possible outcome he could have achieved for his First Evolution.

While searching for adventurers over the past few days, he had also tested his combat strength against ordinary beasts and even monsters with a Challenge Rating.

And the results—

He could only say that the superior performance of this [Horn-Blade Golden Beetle] body in those recent battles had solidified his confidence to harvest the life energy of the nearby adventurers.

"Rustle—"

An inexplicable shaking from a nearby bush below interrupted his thoughts.

He saw a small-to-medium black bear, about a meter and a half long, slowly squeezing out from the shrubs. It kept its body low with cautious movements that looked incredibly bizarre for a wild animal.

Its dark head glanced left and right, vigilant against any potential danger in the surroundings.

A glint of intelligence, distinct from a wild beast, flashed in its round eyes.

'Here comes one!'

Joy swelled in Flynn's heart.

This was the second adventurer he had seen since descending into this secret realm.

Knowing his plan of waiting near the light orb for other adventurers to walk into his trap was working, he didn't rush to drop down and attack.

Instead, he remained clinging to the tree canopy, waiting patiently.

'A little closer—just a little closer—'

Now!

Buzz-boom!

The elytra folded on his back abruptly snapped open, and the translucent insect wings vibrated at high speed, emitting an anxious, rattling hum.

The heavy, pitch-black body dropped from the tree like a cannonball, focusing all its strength into the very tip of the sword horn on its head.

There was no doubt that this supreme weapon atop the [Horn-Blade Golden Beetle]'s head, which never failed against ordinary creatures, would effortlessly pierce the thick flesh of the black bear below, pinning it to the ground.

However, the black bear's exceptional caution—while instantly exposing its identity as an adventurer—also allowed it to detect the impending danger faster than usual and mount a timely response.

It didn't even have time to look up and see what exactly was attacking it.

Driven by survival instincts, the bear's low-slung body acted like a spring. Its bent limbs suddenly exerted force, launching it diagonally to the side.

That light and agile posture, completely incongruous with its bearish physique, instantly gave off an intensely jarring and bizarre feeling.

It looked as though the creature using a side-leaping roll to dodge the overhead strike wasn't a bulky, muscular mountain black bear, but a large feline living among the treetops.

"Thud!"

Descending from the canopy, the long, sharp horn plunged into the muddy soil without the slightest resistance.

Its original target, the black bear, had already hopped and rolled to the side in a posture that was both graceful and frantic.

Roar—

A muffled bear roar instinctively tore from its throat.

Faced with an ambush that had nearly killed it, the black bear naturally wouldn't let the matter rest.

The adventurer's soul within also warned him that if he fled from a flying enemy, he would only be exposing a defenseless back.

Its thick, stubby limbs dashed rapidly across the grassy meadow, gathering power for a forward lunge.

Unlike the clumsy bulk of ordinary bears, the way it merged explosive power and speed while unfurling mid-air was a trait unique to felines.

Still caught in the stiff aftermath of his attack, having only just pulled his horn free from the soil, Flynn couldn't dodge the black bear adventurer's pounce in time. He was tackled solidly to the ground.

However, one side was a powerful monster with a Challenge Rating, while the other was merely a small-to-medium black bear whose size and combat strength were completely below average for its kind.

No matter how the black bear swiped its claws or tore with its teeth, it only managed to leave scratches on the surface of the heavy, metal-like carapace. It was impossible to injure the flesh beneath.

"Buzz-boom!"

The powerful elytra acted like an iron gate being shoved open from the inside, violently throwing off the black bear pouncing on its back.

Struck directly in the face by the elytra, the black bear was nearly knocked unconscious on the spot.

Rolling onto the adjacent grass, it flailed its limbs in a struggle to get up but couldn't find its footing.

Naturally unwilling to miss this chance, Flynn immediately buzzed his insect wings and took to the air, taking aim from a distance as he pointed his head horn at the black bear adventurer.

Then, he charged forward in a fierce flying ram!

It was foreseeable that, barring any outside interference, this single strike would completely impale the black bear the adventurer possessed, killing him and turning him into nutrients for Flynn's evolution.

But right at this hair's-breadth moment—

"Awooo!!!"

A long, high-pitched wolf howl suddenly erupted from deep within the nearby shrubs.

Grass clippings, shredded leaves, dirt, and splintered twigs were swept up by a pitch-black gale, taking the form of a ferocious, roaring Wolf Head.

Shooting out from the side at a speed far exceeding Flynn's, it slammed into the beetle's flank in an intercepting crash.

Taking such a blow, the heavy, steel-like body had its downward momentum instantly halted.

Utterly unable to counterattack in mid-air, the majestic force transmitting from his flank nearly sent his entire body flying.

Flapping his translucent insect wings, he tumbled into the neighboring bushes.

"Tap."

Slender paws touched down on the ground, the snowy, fluffy fur refracting a chilling, icy glint under the sunlight.

Ice mist wafted from his Wolf's Maw. Xia Nan turned his head to glance at the black bear struggling to stand up a short distance away and asked, "Sasha?"

Just as he had expected, the moment the bear heard that name, its eyes—previously filled with wariness—suddenly cleared, and its entire body stiffened for a split second.

Recalling the familiar wolf howl and the phantom Wolf Head from a moment ago, the look in its eyes as it stared at Xia Nan changed entirely.

"Roar—"

The black bear first let out an instinctive low growl before realizing that its current beast body couldn't speak.

Instead, it raised its paw and, in a very hasty yet legible manner, sketched out the outline of the "Blade of Vengeance" emblem, quickly scrawling a shorthand of "Xia Nan" next to it.

In just a few short seconds, they had confirmed each other's identities.

Sweeping his gaze over the writing in the dirt, Xia Nan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Good thing he had intervened in time; otherwise, he'd be down one ally.

Guided by Sarissa's Perception ability, he had discovered the giant beetle adventurer hiding in the canopy much earlier.

However, because he hadn't yet figured out the opponent's strength, he refrained from acting rashly, merely hiding deep in the adjacent shrubs to observe.

He didn't expect that shortly after he started waiting, another adventurer would be drawn here by the descending life energy.

In truth, at the very beginning, Xia Nan didn't want to make a move.

Or rather, he had planned to let these two adventurers fight until they were both heavily wounded, after which he could swoop in and reap the benefits.

Since they were all direct competitors in the ritual, there was nothing wrong with such a strategy.

But just now, the black bear adventurer's fluid, feline-like movements during the fight had unconsciously reminded him of the tabaxi Sasha from the "Blade of Vengeance" fleet.

And then—the more he watched, the more identical it seemed.

Only then did he decide to intervene and offer support.

Fortunately, Xia Nan hadn't misjudged; the other party's prompt response confirmed his identity.

The two had no time to communicate further.

Accompanied by the powerful beating of wings, the enormous beetle with the sharp horn on its head flew back out of the tall grass.

Buzz—