Chapter Five: The Mysterious Black Panther
Lin Lei frowned.
He had never heard of such a magic beast either. Leopard-type magic beasts were a limited variety, but a beast that was almost entirely black with dense, almost curvilinear black patterns? That was something he'd never encountered before.
Generally, an unheard-of magic beast was not to be underestimated.
The bald, one-eyed man continued, "That monster was right before our eyes, tearing the flesh from the magician's face and thigh... just one bite took a chunk. Seeing that made our whole group furious to the point of madness, and we immediately attacked together."
"But..."
The bald man shook his head. "What we didn't expect was that this monster's strength was too great. We originally thought it fled after a sneak attack because it wasn't strong enough. But... when our entire group attacked it, it easily wounded us."
"Wounded?" Lin Lei asked doubtfully.
"Yes." The bald man said with fearful anger. "That monster absolutely had the power to kill us easily, but it didn't kill us, only wounded us."
"At first, I thought we still had hope of survival. But then I realized that monster had completely fixed its attention on us. It came every day to snatch two of us, sometimes carrying them away, sometimes eating our friends right in front of us not far away."
Lin Lei's heart trembled.
He understood that magic beasts possessed very high intelligence. And the beast this bald man was describing must be an extraordinarily powerful one, so its intelligence would naturally be extremely high. He feared this monster was truly freakish.
"We wanted to flee back, but when we tried to run toward the outer edge of the Magic Beast Mountain Range, that monster came again and wounded us once more."
The bald, one-eyed man said with a bitter smile, "We had absolutely no way to escape the Magic Beast Mountain Range. This monster came every day to snatch two of us. In the blink of an eye, our group of twelve was reduced to just six."
"After my wife saw the monster forcibly eat our friends several times, she finally broke down. She begged me. She begged me to kill her."
The bald, one-eyed man smiled bitterly. "You simply cannot imagine the kind of fear we lived under for three continuous days. Our entire group was on the verge of breakdown. My wife was weaker in strength, not even as strong as me... I made a difficult choice, and in the end, I chose to let my wife die without pain."
"You killed your wife?" Lin Lei's brow furrowed.
"Yes, with my own hands." The bald man said in pain. "But on the very day I killed my wife, we encountered several other people. Among them was a notable figure from our Southwestern Province, a ninth-level powerhouse named 'Putelu'."
"Originally, we were all in despair, broken. I had just killed my wife, but at that moment, a ninth-level powerhouse appeared. What do you think I felt then?"
The bald, one-eyed man's entire body trembled. "I was going mad, truly, I was in such agony I wanted to commit suicide."
Lin Lei could completely imagine it. In a state of total despair and breakdown, in order to save his wife from being eaten bite by bite by the monster, he had killed her with his own hands. But after he killed her, a ninth-level powerhouse appeared.
This kind of contrast would definitely drive someone insane.
"I was in agony, but my other friends were all overjoyed because they thought there was hope. A ninth-level powerhouse is only below a Saint-realm powerhouse. We told him what happened, and Lord Putelu immediately said he would solve this monster problem for us."
"When that monster appeared again, Lord Putelu attacked directly." The bald, one-eyed man had a strange expression on his face. "In just one move, that monster took Lord Putelu's sword strike head-on, and then instantly tore Lord Putelu's head open."
Lin Lei's heart shuddered.
A ninth-level powerhouse's attack could be taken head-on? Its speed and defense were this terrifying. This monster could not be underestimated.
"This time the monster was very excited. Right in front of us, its body swelled from its original two meters tall to nearly five meters tall and ten meters long. It directly swallowed Lord Putelu in one bite." The bald man said with fear.
Lin Lei's expression changed.
"Body expansion?" Lin Lei was genuinely shocked.
Because while all Saint-realm magic beasts could expand their bodies, they could easily grow larger or smaller. Of course, a very small number of ninth-level magic beasts with exceptional natural talents could also do this.
Bei Bei, for instance, could expand his body a bit.
In other words...
That monster was either a Saint-realm magic beast or a ninth-level magic beast with extremely high natural talent.
"Please don't tell me it's a Saint-realm magic beast," Lin Lei felt a chill run through him. Although he was very confident now, he still had absolutely no grasp when it came to Saint-realm magic beasts.
The bald, one-eyed man smiled bitterly. "Just like that, the monster continued to torment us, eating two of us a day. In the end, only my second brother and I remained, fleeing toward the central area. We hoped this monster would get into a fight with some other powerful beasts, and we could escape in the confusion. But obviously, no beast could stop that monster."
Lin Lei nodded.
He understood completely now.
It was just that this bald, one-eyed man also harbored ill intentions toward him, insisting on following along. Clearly, he wanted Lin Lei to protect him. This behavior showed absolutely no regard for Lin Lei's own life or death.
Lin Lei's expression darkened.
"My lord, we... we had no choice!" the bald man understood what Lin Lei was thinking and quickly said, "I have a child, my second brother also has children... We don't want to die!"
"Do you think I want to die?" Lin Lei snorted coldly.
From the bald man's description alone, Lin Lei could at least determine the baseline strength of this monster.
A ninth-level powerhouse's sword strike couldn't harm it, and its speed was even faster than Bei Bei's.
These two points alone were enough to make Lin Lei tense. Moreover, this was only what it had shown so far; what was this monster's true strength?
Could it be a Saint-realm magic beast?
Lin Lei couldn't be sure. If it was a Saint-realm magic beast, even joining forces with Bei Bei, he would have no hope whatsoever.
"You don't want to die, but you're dragging me down with you?" Lin Lei felt somewhat dissatisfied.
"Bei Bei, let's go."
Lin Lei immediately increased his speed and continued forward. The bald, one-eyed man still followed him. Lin Lei couldn't help but frown and turn back, glaring coldly at him.
This bastard was still following him.
That monster was obviously fixated on this bald head.