Chapter 00062: The Shape Shifting Monster
# The Shape-Shifting Monster
Chapter 62
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 62: The Shape-Shifting Monster
"Gods? I'd like to see that!" The Black Flood Dragon laughed heartily.
"It's been a long time since I've had a good fight!"
Before the words even finished, hundreds of massive fireballs suddenly rained down from the sky, crashing onto the ground where the two stood.
These fireballs, glowing with a mix of gold and red, were so hot that they emitted a white light, indicating their terrifying temperature.
Inside each fireball was a black obsidian meteorite, each over ten feet in diameter.
The force of their impact was so immense, and the sound so deafening, that it felt as though the ground itself might be shattered.
Every meteorite that struck caused a massive explosion, creating deep craters in the ground.
The surface of the soil was melted into a glass-like state by the intense heat.
All of this destruction was concentrated within a radius of a hundred feet.
Even the golden-armored soldiers were reduced to molten metal.
Could those two still be alive? Not far away, He Lingchuan tightly covered his ears, afraid that his eardrums might burst from the deafening noise.
The more powerful a divine ability, the longer it takes to prepare.
This Black Flood Dragon could summon meteorites with a mere flick of its tail, making it look effortless.
Besides the fact that this world was its domain, it was likely that the earlier chit-chat with the two was just a cover to secretly prepare this devastating attack.
More troublesome than a divine artifact's spirit is when that spirit is as cunning as a human.
The Black Flood Dragon seemed to have a clear understanding of the situation below.
With a low growl, figures began to emerge from the thick black smoke that covered the ground.
The demon apes rose again, and thanks to the replenishment from the heavenly fire, they appeared larger, stronger, and faster.
Molten lava even dripped from their bodies, sizzling as it hit the ground.
As soon as they took form, they charged in another direction.
That direction was a pile of ruins, where the fallen debris from the southern city wall provided the best cover.
Unfortunately, this tactic was useless against the Black Flood Dragon.
Even without using its eyes, it could accurately pinpoint the location of its two enemies.
They weren't in the area where the meteorites had struck.
Sun Fuping had likely used some kind of escape technique to drag the two of them to safety, just moments before the impact.
But as soon as they reappeared, the ten military weapons on the city wall suddenly turned in mid-air, aiming directly at them.
The Black Flood Dragon leisurely remarked, "You had fun blowing up my house earlier, didn't you?"
Arrows, firestones, and nail bullets all fired at once, all aimed at the two.
Nian Songyu, who had been so delighted with the nail bullets earlier, was now in a sorry state.
His turtle shield was riddled with tiny nail fragments, and he even had two lodged in his leg.
His body emitted a faint blue light, having already withstood two rounds of arrows and one round of firestones.
Unfortunately, as Sun Fuping had pointed out, not only was the effectiveness of the Imperial Edict greatly reduced here, but the energy he consumed in battle was also doubled.
Still, he managed to buy Sun Fuping a little more time.
The earth escape technique was used again, and the two of them shifted another hundred feet away.
The Black Flood Dragon rubbed its head against the city gate tower.
"Don't rush, this is just the warm-up. There's more fun to come."
As soon as it finished speaking, bats began to fly out of the air vents in the city wall.
After circling above the southern wall, their numbers were so vast that they blotted out the sky.
There must have been tens of thousands of them.
Half of the bats then swooped down to the ground, transforming into five agile sand leopards.
The remaining bats split into groups in the air, turning into strange birds with sharp beaks and bat-like wings.
The demon apes were strong but slow, giving Nian Songyu some room to maneuver.
The Black Flood Dragon noticed this and summoned the swift sand leopards to make up for the lack of speed in its attack.
With the addition of the monstrous birds launching aerial assaults, it wanted to see if these two could still turn the tide.
However, it was clear that Nian Songyu was no pushover.
Once the sand leopards joined the battle, holding a shield in one hand became inconvenient, so he put it away and drew a long sword instead.
From a distance, He Lingchuan could see two streaks of blue light darting around, as agile as swimming dragons, combining speed, precision, and ferocity.
Neither the sand leopards nor the demon apes could get close.
But in the Black Flood Dragon's world, how could he not pay a price? In just this short time, Nian Songyu had suffered over a dozen wounds, big and small.
His clothes were soaked with blood, and the most serious injury was caused by a diving monstrous bird.
Although he managed to slice the bird in half, its sharp beak had left a deep gash from his temple to his chin, nearly taking out his eye.
Seeing this, He Lingchuan muttered, "This is ridiculous. Can monsters really transform like that?"
Although he hadn't read much, he knew there was an ironclad rule in this world: whether human or monster, no one could completely transform into another creature unless they had the innate ability to mimic or change forms.
Simply put, humans couldn't become monsters, and monsters couldn't become humans.
Bats were bats; they couldn't turn into leopards or birds.
However, a toad demon could grow from a tadpole because that was its natural life cycle.
Humans could use certain divine abilities or methods to partially transform, but it wasn't permanent, and the toll and side effects were significant.
This ironclad rule was universally accepted.
So, how could these bats transform so freely? Wasn't that just too unfair?
Mao Tao forced a bitter smile.
"In this place, nothing strange is really strange, is it?"
He Lingchuan suddenly heard a whistling sound from above and quickly gestured for Mao Tao to be quiet, but it was too late.
A monstrous bird landed on the ruins, less than ten feet away from them.
The two sides stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Only when it landed did they realize how massive it was.
Standing upright, it was almost as tall as He Lingchuan.
The creature had bat-like wings, thin and membranous, with a protruding breastbone shaped like a dragon's.
When its wings were folded, the front ends had claw-like hooks, with black talons longer than a human's fingers.
Its beak was sickle-shaped, long and sharp, capable of piercing through a prey's skull with a single peck.
Mao Tao, terrified, drew his waist knife.
He Lingchuan subtly waved his hand, whispering, "Don't move!"
Being stared at by those yellowish-brown eyes, He Lingchuan felt his scalp tingle.
This thing was a conglomerate of monsters.
Besides the sand leopards and monstrous birds, who knew what else it could transform into?
Moreover, these things couldn't be killed.
No matter how hard he tried, it would be useless.
As He Lingchuan pondered his next move, the monstrous bird tilted its head, as if it too was thinking.
Neither of them dared to move a muscle.
After a few moments, the monstrous bird lost interest in them, turned its back, and flapped its wings, flying away.
Mao Tao was drenched in sweat and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
"If we can get out of here, I'll burn a few more sticks of incense and have my wife prepare more meat dishes. Damn, our ancestors must be watching over us!"
Even the Imperial Preceptor and Commander Nian couldn't handle these monsters.
"It's not your ancestors. It has no hostility toward us. Why?" He Lingchuan looked toward the Black Flood Dragon on the city gate.
These monsters were all summoned by the Black Flood Dragon, serving as both its eyes and hands, controlled by its will.
The fact that the monstrous bird saw He Lingchuan but didn't react could only mean that the Black Flood Dragon had no intention of attacking them.
They, like Nian Songyu, had been setting fires all over the illusion.
So why was the Black Flood Dragon willing to spare them?
(End of Chapter)