"Damn it, let's do this!" Liu Ziming roared with forced bravado, though his body trembled uncontrollably.
"However..." Feng Jue added, "Mist creatures have strong regenerative abilities. After damaging their gill organs, you must kill them immediately. Aim for the head—that's most effective."
Su Zhan couldn't help but look at him with newfound respect. His familiarity with Mist creatures suggested extensive private research.
"Alright team, let's plan our tactics." Xu Hao finally spoke up, drawing two black daggers from his coat. "I'm a speed-type Awakened. Feng Jue and Liu Ziming, you two are offense-types. Su Zhan, what's your ability?"
"Crowd control." Su Zhan's gaze lingered on the daggers. "I can slow time around targets, effectively reducing their speed. The stronger their attacks, the harder they are to restrain."
"What the hell? An SSS-ranked Life Soul just for that?" Liu Ziming blurted out.
"I haven't reached the Dew Realm yet—this is my only skill," Su Zhan explained. Wang Mingyuan had told him his Life Soul was growth-type. Unlike ordinary Awakened whose abilities remain static, his would gain new skills with each realm breakthrough.
"Don't underestimate him, Young Master Liu." Xu Hao spun his daggers deftly. "Su Zhan's control far surpasses standard crowd-control types."
Within thirty seconds, the entire food street had transformed into hell on earth.
Goddamn capitalist trap.
The stench of blood saturated the air. Liu Ziming's stomach churned violently, bile rising in his throat. He glanced at his companions—their expressions were grim but nowhere near his level of distress.
Like hell he'd lose face here.
Clenching his jaw, he suppressed the nausea through sheer willpower.
"Engage!" Xu Hao's figure blurred as he teleported behind the foremost beast, both daggers plunging into its gill organs. The monster shrieked piercingly, but before it could retaliate, Xu Hao had already returned to his original position—flawless execution. His Teleportation Life Soul left the beast no time to react.
"Nice!" Liu Ziming forced down his revulsion, forming hand seals. Purple lightning condensed into a sphere between his palms before smashing into the wounded creature. Blinded by its injuries, the beast couldn't evade even this sluggish attack.
BOOM!
The explosion cracked the chitinous plating on its head.
Feng Jue seized the opening. His Startling Swan Sword materialized mid-swing, stabbing through the fissure as violent spiritual energy erupted inside the skull.
CRACK!
The beast's head exploded.
"Good coordination." Su Zhan raised his hand, the Time Abyss Eye hovering before his chest. As the second beast charged, the golden pupil rotated—the creature's movements suddenly slowed as if trapped in quicksand.
"This control... it's insane!" Liu Ziming's eyes bulged.
"Stop gawking!" Xu Hao teleported again, carving an X-shaped wound across the monster's gills. "Now!"
Liu Ziming hurled another lightning sphere while Feng Jue's sword energy followed in tandem. The slowed beast was torn apart instantly.
Su Zhan stared at the mutilated corpse, his throat moving involuntarily.
An alien hunger surged through him—a craving a hundred times fiercer than any starvation he'd known. The mutation factors in his blood raged wildly.
Eat it... and grow stronger...
The intrusive thought startled him so badly he shuddered. Biting his tongue hard enough to draw blood, Su Zhan fought for clarity. He'd heard countless tales of Aberrants feeding on humans, yet he'd never experienced such impulses—until now, facing inhuman carcasses that made his very cells scream for consumption.
So... this is what I crave?
Cold sweat drenched his back. His peripheral vision caught Feng Jue cleaning his blade, Liu Ziming nervously scanning their surroundings, and Xu Hao massaging his overused teleportation legs. No one noticed his abnormal silence.
Exhaling slowly, Su Zhan wrenched his gaze away. This wasn't the time—and he absolutely couldn't reveal this weakness to his team. Yet when he looked back toward the Mist's depths, a dangerous idea had taken root.
If... I operated alone...
Their counterattack drew the swarm's attention. Sensing the threat, the remaining Snake-Tailed Beasts advanced collectively.
"Hold formation!" Su Zhan commanded. "Xu Hao targets weak points. Liu Ziming and Feng Jue, main assault. I'll handle control."
Dozens of beasts crawled through the Mist, gills vibrating at high frequency. Eyeless, they nonetheless pinpointed the quartet's location with terrifying accuracy.
The first beast lunged.
"Same plan!" Xu Hao blurred leftward, daggers sinking into gill organs before teleporting back. "Now!"
"On it!" Liu Ziming's lightning sphere blasted the wounded creature.
BOOM!
Feng Jue's sword finished it.
One down.
But the battle had just begun.
The remaining beasts seemed to recognize the danger. Their gill vibrations accelerated dramatically—some form of communication. Then—
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Six beasts attacked simultaneously, clawed fingers interlocking while venomous tails cut off retreat paths—a perfectly coordinated assault.
"Shit, they're strategizing!" Liu Ziming's lightning sphere missed as the beasts dodged in unison.
"Su Zhan!" Feng Jue barked.
"Got it!" The Time Abyss Eye's golden pupil spun violently.
All six charging beasts slowed abruptly.
Xu Hao teleported through their ranks, daggers flashing to cripple every gill organ. Feng Jue's sword energy followed—six skulls split open simultaneously.
Liu Ziming unleashed everything, lightning serpents ravaging the paralyzed beasts until Feng Jue's coup de grâce finished them.
Six more—annihilated.
The same strategy, yet infallibly effective.