Life Game In Other World
Chapter 197: Shh, Follow Me. (Long Chapter, Please Subscribe, Add to Favorites, Request Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Shh, Follow Me. (Long Chapter, Please Subscribe, Add to Favorites, Request Monthly Tickets)

At this moment, He Ao had no time to mind the intense, pungent smell.

The Giant Lizard’s cleaved body collided with the oncoming tentacles, momentarily hindering their attack. He Ao took the opportunity to roll backwards, dodging the assault from the tentacles.

He Ao glanced at the short sword in his hand, still sticky with the half-coagulated biological tissue of the Giant Lizard—the blade hadn’t been notched at all.

The sword was still effective in breaking through the defenses of an E-level exotic beast like the Giant Lizard; its quality was not as bad as he thought.

Perhaps the Research Institute’s initial design had been intended to counter E-level exotic beasts.

He Ao flourished his sword, both hands on the hilt, and looked up at the Octopus Monster.

The Octopus Monster’s tentacles pierced through the Giant Lizard’s body, creating a through-and-through hole before carelessly tossing it aside, and once more launched an attack toward He Ao.

He Ao did his best to dodge these tentacles, as countless pieces of data streamed through his mind, forming a combat model for this Octopus Monster.

The so-called life-and-death combat was actually a matter of a split second.

It was like two people clashing with weapons; the contest was about strength and the technique of wielding that strength. When two swords crossed, the one with greater power and skill would deflect the other’s blade, and with a single thrust into the opponent’s chest, the fight would end with the opponent’s death.

Of course, real combat was slightly more complicated, but the principle was the same.

during a deadlock, one must observe carefully, identify the opponent’s weakness, then break through that balance point with a rapid strike to deliver a fatal blow.

The abilities that the Octopus Monster had displayed so far included:

First, its control over the dead Lizards.

Second, its hard skull, eyelids, and the bones inside its tentacles.

Third, the attack from its tentacles, which could easily penetrate the defense of the black Giant Lizard.

Fourth, its mental attacks.

Among these abilities, the mental attack could briefly delay He Ao’s actions, but it wasn’t lethal. The dead Lizards could pose a direct threat to He Ao, but as long as he could kill the Octopus Monster before those Lizards gathered around, this ability could be considered non-existent.

Thus, the only real threat to He Ao’s life now was the tentacle attack.

In combination with mental attacks, these tentacles had the potential to kill He Ao.

As for He Ao, the greatest obstacle in killing the Octopus Monster was its robust bones—whether its skull, eyelids, or the bones inside the tentacles.

These bones constituted a solid defense.

Amidst the fleeting battle, He Ao’s mental model of the Octopus Monster became increasingly comprehensive.

Through the movement of those tentacles and some brief collisions, he gradually discerned the structural composition of the bones within the Octopus’s tentacles.

The bones were shaped somewhat like a ’∧,’ nested within each other, with relatively large gaps between them to ensure the flexibility of the tentacles.

These tentacles were more akin to limbs extending from the massive ’Octopus’ rather than actual tentacles.

However, the use of bones meant that the flexibility of these Octopus’s tentacles was not as good as real ones.

Now that he had grasped the structure and the monster’s abilities, He Ao could attempt a counterattack.

He had been suppressed all this while, not even making any effective counter moves.

But there was one more thing he needed to do before retaliating.

The tentacles were pitch black, able to blend almost perfectly with the night, whereas the Octopus’s crimson eyes were strikingly conspicuous in the darkness.

While those eyes drew away some of He Ao’s attention, they also provided a level of cover for those pitch-black tentacles.

He Ao’s vision in the dark was not that great, and under these circumstances, he had nearly been sneakily attacked by the tentacles several times.

Fighting in an environment where others excel is never a good thing.

He Ao held the sword in a reverse grip, emptying his index finger and thumb, and pulled out a black stick the length of a finger from his chest, securing it on his shoulder.

There must be light.

The moment He Ao’s fingers loosened, switching the short sword from a reverse to a standard grip, a dazzling brilliance shot out from his shoulder.

This was a mini high-intensity flashlight issued with the combat suit.

Up until now, He Ao hadn’t taken out this flashlight because he was waiting for the right moment—an opportunity to counterattack after gradually becoming familiar with the Octopus Monster’s way of attack.

Most creatures accustomed to living in darkness, no matter how strong they are or whether they can withstand light, tend to be sensitive to it.

When the bright light shone, most of the Octopus Monster’s eyes closed in an instant; its dancing tentacles also fell into a brief stillness.

This was due to a momentary brain freeze caused by the intense stimulation.

And this was the opportunity He Ao had been waiting for.

The Qi resting in his Dantian was mobilized, quickly traveling up his arm and onto the two short swords.

A flash of silver sword light passed by, slicing through the gaps between the bones in the tentacles from the sky, the sharp blade cutting through the dark muscles, leaving a deep gash.

With a slight twist of his wrist, He Ao ensured the momentum of the sword continued while the blade slightly deviated, severing two tentacles directly.

But what he aimed to slice was not only these two tentacles; as the blade flashed, several more were cut off.

By the time the Octopus Monster reacted, He Ao had carved a path through the dense tentacles, heading straight for the huge forehead of the Octopus Monster.

In the perspective of Super Memory, the densest shadow of the Octopus Monster’s soul was on this head, which meant its weakness should also be there.

He Ao leapt up, stepping on a tentacle to the side for leverage, and directly jumped over the top of the Octopus Monster’s head, the stainless steel short swords coated with ’Qi’ shone with a faint luster under the illumination of the strong flashlight on his shoulder.

In this moment, the Octopus Monster seemed to realize He Ao’s plan.

Woo—

A wailing groan sounded, and a powerful Mental Disturbance rushed towards He Ao, attempting to slow down his movements.

Countless intact tentacles began to return from the darkness, rushing towards him quickly.

Right now, He Ao was right in front of the Octopus Monster—if those tentacles returned, He Ao would undoubtedly die.

Even the dead Giant Lizards far away began to charge frantically toward He Ao.

It was in this instant that He Ao glanced at the eyes on those heads.

Mental Disturbance!

It was as if a thunderous explosion sounded inside the Octopus Monster’s mind, causing all its actions to pause momentarily.

At the same time, He Ao’s movements also slowed for a moment because of the mental attack.

Both sides were petrified, which meant neither was at a disadvantage.

But He Ao’s movements had inertia, and during the time both were immobilized, he got even closer to the Octopus Monster’s head.

As his consciousness returned, He Ao was already near the Octopus Monster’s head, his feet landed on top of its head, and he thrust the two short swords down fiercely.

The hard bone that could withstand bullets was punctured as easily as paper by the Qi-enhanced short swords.

He Ao chose this spot for a reason.

With the enhancement of ’Qi,’ he could roughly see the pathways of energy flow inside the Octopus Monster.

The spot he stood on was a key energy convergence point for the Octopus Monster; even if it wasn’t its mental hub, it was at least a vital organ.

The moment the dagger pierced in, He Ao fiercely grasped the hilt, slashing sideways, and each crimson eye was cleaved into two by the sharp blade, with purple blood splattering onto He Ao’s grayish combat suit.

A shorter tentacle returned the fastest, violently flying towards He Ao, aiming to stab at the center of his back.

He Ao twisted his body aside, dodging this tentacle, sparing his heart from being pierced through, yet his left shoulder was still stripped of a large chunk of flesh, with fresh blood emitting a faint purple-gray glow trickling down the wound.

He Ao gritted his teeth and violently slashed around with the dagger, cutting open the octopus’s head like petals.

Under this assault, the gigantic octopus struggled frenziedly, its numerous tentacles lashing out towards He Ao, and its body continuously shuddering, trying to shake He Ao off.

But all its efforts were in vain, as He Ao let those tentacles leave numerous wounds on his body, his hands never once ceasing their movement.

Finally, accompanied by a light snap, when He Ao’s dagger struck against a certain tough bone, the octopus’s body stiffened for a moment before slowly falling from the sky.

"Wuuu—"

This time, the octopus’s mournful cry seemed different from before, the sound gradually fading until it completely disappeared after the octopus died.

The pitch-black lizard, running at the forefront and diving with its gaping jaws towards He Ao, lost all its motion mid-air, flying past He Ao and crashing onto the ground.

"Haah—" He Ao gasped heavily, collapsing onto the corpse of the octopus, his body smeared with blood, purple and red.

Some of this blood belonged to the octopus, and some to himself.

The strong flashlight on his shoulder had long been knocked off, fallen aside.

At this moment, He Ao hadn’t turned off "Super Memory." He gripped the sword in his hand, peeled open the octopus’s shell, and saw the thing that had blocked his blade.

It was a bone that served as a bridge between the octopus’s skull and the rear tentacles, shaping like a cross, longer on the top and bottom, shorter on the sides.

This bone was exceptionally tough and had even blocked the dagger enveloped in "Qi."

He Ao gathered more "Qi" on the blade and forcefully slashed, cutting the bone from the two ends.

The severed bone was naturally shaped like a short sword, short on the top and long on the bottom.

Unfortunately, this ’sword’ had an elliptical cross-section, with no edge.

But no matter, there could be a way around it.

And the moment He Ao took this ’bone sword’ off, the internal structure of the octopus’s head, which He Ao had torn to pieces, appeared before his eyes.

This octopus seemed to have more than one brain, with several human-head-sized brains scattered within the head, and at the spot under He Ao’s feet, where he observed the energy to be converging, was a purple crystal, roughly the shape of a regular octahedron.

This crystal was about the size of a thumb, entwined with nerves and flesh.

A faint attraction emanated from the crystal.

He Ao hesitated for a moment, then bent down, reaching to touch the crystal.

With his touch, a faint purple glow gathered within the crystal, and in that instant, He Ao felt his spirit dissipate, connecting with all the deceased around him, and countless cries from souls filled his mind, almost completely crowding his brain.

He Ao shook his head, forcibly retracting his spirit, took the crystal from the tangled flesh and placed it into his clothing pocket.

There seemed to be nothing special left of the octopus, and it had truly died, with no false death.

He Ao sighed in relief, canceled "Super Memory," and also stopped infusing "Qi" into the dagger.

In that instant, a wave of intense exhaustion surged towards his brain.

The cost-free time of "Super Memory" had long been used up, and nearly from the start of the latter half of the fight, He Ao had entered "Life Consuming" mode.

He pulled out two vials of Corpse Flower Solution from his waist, gulped them down one after the other, and his mental state somewhat improved.

Meanwhile, the two daggers in his hand suddenly were covered in weblike cracks and, followed by a "bang," shattered into countless metal fragments.

They couldn’t withstand the enhancement of "Qi," the high-intensity battle just now had put them on the verge of breaking. When He Ao discontinued the bolstering of "Qi," they could no longer maintain their form and instantly shattered.

He Ao glanced at the bone sword he had just picked up, then lowered his head to look at the corpse of the octopus.

Then he pulled out a stainless steel dagger and cut off all the good-looking, seemingly edible meat from the octopus.

He didn’t know if this meat was edible or not, but in fighting this octopus monster, not only had he used up the strand of "Qi" he cultivated today, but also half of the original strand he had with him. If he couldn’t replenish it, that would be a huge loss.

Afterward, He Ao found the lizard meat wrapper that had been tossed aside during the fight. The meat inside had leaked out, but fortunately, it wasn’t dirty.

He Ao pulled a hemostatic spray and gauze from his combat suit and quickly bandaged his wounds, then he packed up the lizard and octopus meat and slung it over his shoulder.

He picked up the powerful flashlight that had fallen to the side.

The flashlight was fine everywhere except that it was power-hungry; it couldn’t last long and couldn’t be used to light the way.

As He Ao picked up the flashlight and was about to turn it off, his gaze suddenly froze.

In front of him lay an expansive field of humus-rich black soil.

There was nothing peculiar about that in itself.

What truly made He Ao pause was the scenery surrounding the Black Soil Plaza.

At this moment, the unease that had been surfacing in his mind finally found an answer.

The Black Soil Plaza before him was not the same one he had seen in the afternoon.

He had not circled back to the original Black Soil Plaza and gotten lost, but instead, he had come to a new area.

Only this new place had a Black Soil Plaza exactly like the one he saw in the afternoon.

A terrifying speculation suddenly emerged in his mind.

This Black Soil Plaza seemed to be a habitat for such octopus monsters.

It was possible for one octopus monster to have many habitats.

But there was also a possibility that one octopus monster only had one habitat.

Different habitats corresponded to different octopus monsters.

If that were the case, then this octopus monster would not be a solitary creature but a social one!

"Woo—"

"Woo—"

As this thought appeared, mournful wails suddenly rose from all directions, as if lamenting the death of a companion.

These laments were almost everywhere around He Ao.

"Woo—"

Before He Ao could even be surprised, an even louder wail suddenly filled the sky.

A terrifying pressure swept over him with this wail.

Grade B! A true Grade B!

He Ao frowned.

And in that instant, a small white hand reached out from the night, seizing He Ao’s wrist,

"Shh, follow me."