"Oh, right! Honey, your second-in-command, Tuffman, might be in trouble!"
Spanna finally remembered the important matter.
"He's offended Manson, the Stone Singer, and he might be the target of a conspiracy."
Using magical transmission, Spanna briefly explained the details of the conflict between Manson and Tuffman.
"Manson, huh? Bullying my senior brother, so arrogant!"
Alan's voice was icy.
"Spanna, how's your relationship with this Manson?"
Spanna knew, of course, that Alan was incredibly protective!
He might not get angry if you provoked him personally, but he would never let anyone bully his family or friends!
Spanna was thankful that she could be considered Alan's friend.
As for Manson...Spanna sneered inwardly.
"Manson and I don't have a close relationship, but we do have a serious grudge."
Spanna recounted the story of how Manson, frustrated and angry at her failure to pursue her, resorted to personal revenge.
"Manson, that guy, might be a bad person, but he's quite capable!"
"Having fused the bloodline of the Earth Scorpion, he possesses three unique skills!"
"First, he's adept at manipulating soil, sand, and rocks, allowing him to burrow and sneak through the ground."
"Second, his ancestral scorpion tail embodies a level 6 petrifying toxin!"
"Third, he's a master of sonic mysticism, capable of chanting hypnotic magic sounds and unleashing destructive sonic waves! That's how he got the nickname 'Stone Singer'!"
Spanna revealed Manson's true identity to Allen without reservation, even disregarding the overall situation and acting out of turn...
"My dear! Give Manson a good lesson, help me vent my anger, and write off the debt you owe me for sex."
Alan, making an exception, made his position clear with a firm statement.
"Manson must die today! Not even the Four Gods of Apocalypse can stop him, I say!"
After ending his call with Spanner, Allen immediately sent a message to his second senior brother, warning him to be careful of Manson.
"I've heard of Manson," Master Shiva approached, carrying a bottle of wine. "He's from the Scorpion Clan, fused with the bloodline of the Stone Singer. He's thirty-five years old, and at the early fifth stage of cultivation. Not bad. Do you need my help in dealing with him?"
"You won't have to bother dealing with an enemy of this level," Allen said gravely. "Teacher Shiva, I need to determine Manson's location to see if he's really been stalking my second senior brother with any ill intentions."
"Easy."
Master Shiva pulled a mirror from his storage bag and, using it as a magical tool, cast the fourth-level "Scrying" spell.
Soon, a scene appeared in the mirror.
Somewhere in the mushroom garden, a giant scorpion was crawling.
From head to tail, this monster was no less than fifteen meters long!
It was covered in a sleek, jet-black carapace that looked as if it were polished from obsidian.
Calling it a scorpion wasn't entirely accurate.
Excluding its massive, raised claws, twelve pairs of legs were symmetrically distributed on either side of its body.
Crawling along the ground, it looked more like a giant centipede.
Even more bizarre was its tail.
Overall, it resembled a thick scorpion's tail.
However, the tail's end lacked a protruding, hooked stinger. Instead, it had an open cavity surrounded by a ring of silver teeth!
As the muscles in the cavity contracted and expanded, the ring-shaped teeth moved slightly, secreting a thick, sticky venom.
It looked like a lamprey's mouth grafted onto a scorpion's tail.
It looked both disgusting and terrifying, a sight that made your scalp tingle!
This monster was the legendary Earth Scorpion "Stone Singer," Manson's fourth-order atavistic form!
As Allen suspected, Manson was stalking Taffman.
His goal was nothing less than finding an opportunity to assassinate Taffman and seize his bloodline essence!
A few hundred meters away, a group of Wolf Warlocks, including Taffman, surrounded Beiting and approached the Fungus Master.
Manson seemed reluctant to attack in front of so many people.
He followed closely behind, hoping to find a chance when Taffman was alone before striking.
Alan saw through his thoughts and sneered.
"If there's no opportunity, I'll help you create one."
With a trace of "Forget Worry Spore" clinging to his fingertips, Allen sent a telepathic message to Taffman.
Soon, Taffman followed his instructions, claiming a stomachache and the need to relieve himself, and left the Wolf Clan's main force.
He slipped into the mushroom forest, unbuckled his belt, and pretended to relieve himself.
Manson, secretly following him, was delighted by this scene.
Sneak over quickly!
Tafman hesitated for a moment, then slowly concluded the fight, tied up his belt, and headed out of the forest.
Manson watched clearly from the shadows.
By then, Beiting and the others had already walked no less than half a mile.
Attacking him himself, it would be useless for Tafman to shout at the top of his lungs!
Extracting blood essence is all about freshness.
Killing someone and then extracting blood is less effective.
So, Manson decided to be as gentle as possible...
Suddenly, an eerie singing voice echoed from the forest.
The melody was soothing, and the lyrics were indistinct; it sounded like a casual hum.
A faint singing voice, imbued with the magic of sleep, quietly drifted into Taffman's ears.
Taffman's eyes widened as he slowly turned.
Under the control of the song, like a puppet, he walked towards where the Stone Singer lay.
Manson, transformed into a scorpion, hummed a lullaby.
Watching Taffman approach with lifeless eyes, he felt a secret joy.
If only this big fool came a little closer, he would swing out his scorpion tail and use his sharp, toothy suckers to guzzle blood and extract its essence!
Most magical beasts naturally endowed with the ability to suck blood excel at extracting blood essence, and the Stone Singer was no exception.
He had devoted considerable effort to honing this skill.
If he could drain Taffman's blood and extract a highly concentrated blood essence from it, it would be equivalent to a high-quality blood awakening potion.
After the injection, the probability of awakening is approximately 30%.
A top-tier alchemist's skill level is no more than this!
The most remarkable thing about this unique bloodline refining process is... the cost is practically zero!
The cost is merely the sacrifice of one Tuffman, a trivial matter.
At this moment, a swarm of ferocious bats suddenly flew in from the sky, disrupting Manson's plans.
Snap!
Tuffman's face was slapped by a bat's wings.
It felt like a slap in the face, and he jolted awake to find three massive bats circling overhead.
Tuffman, frantically clutching his head, ran, scurrying out of the mushroom forest.
"What the hell!"
Furious and anxious, Manson began to chase after him.
Ahead, the ground suddenly erupted in mud and sand, like a fountain!
Two diggers dug a hole and poked their heads out.
Spraying acid wildly at Manson!
The three ferocious bats in the air didn't chase Taffman, but instead pounced on Manson.
These monsters weren't strong enough to harm the powerful Stonesinger.
But if they kept entangled with him, they would ruin his plans!
At this moment, Manson was barely able to maintain his composure.
He hummed softly, trying to hypnotize the monsters that had appeared out of nowhere.
The success rate of hypnosis depended on the mental power of both parties.
Manson, a fifth-level warlock, possessed such formidable mental power that how could a group of monsters stand a chance against him?!
Normally, the ferocious bats and burrowing worms would be instantly hypnotized upon hearing his chant, becoming completely obedient.
However, the development of the situation was far beyond his expectations.
Manson hadn't yet realized that the ferocious bats and burrowing worms that had harassed him were already dead.
The corpse, infested by spores, transformed into a fungus beast.
Fungal spores are immune to hypnosis.
Corpses, even more so, cannot be hypnotized.
Manson's lullaby was like singing to a deaf person.
Hypnosis failed, and he was even spat upon by the burrowing worms. Manson finally lost control of his emotions, utterly enraged!
The enraged Stone Singer abandoned his gentle humming.
He suddenly raised his voice and screamed at the ferocious bats!
Magic power, carried by sound waves, exploded into the air with a long roar!
The Stone Singer's "Crushing Scream" was equivalent to a fifth-level sonic spell.
In terms of damage alone, it was five times that of "Thunder Wave"!
In addition, it also had the special effects of "deafening" and "stunning."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three ferocious bats in the air were blasted by the sonic boom, shattered instantly and transformed into a bloody rain!
After dispatching the ferocious bats, Manson shifted his attention to the two diggers blocking his path.
Not wanting to waste any more time, he channeled his divine power, activating the divine grace bestowed by the Worm Queen Rhea.
He summoned a swarm of giant scorpions over five meters long from the ground and ordered them to siege the diggers.
He cast the fourth-level magic "Anywhere Door" and teleported a thousand feet away to intercept and kill Taffman!
Taffman strode at full speed in the night.
He had already reached the edge of the woodland.
The ground beneath his feet transformed from mossy mud to solid stone.
Diggers usually don't bother digging through hard rock.
The stone beneath his feet gave him peace of mind.
But in the next second, his false sense of security was shattered.
Puff!
The hard stone ground beneath his feet suddenly turned to mud!
Tafman, over two meters tall, was certainly heavy!
His feet hit the soft mud and he sank rapidly!
Tafman frantically struggled, trying to escape.
But the harder he struggled, the faster he sank!
In a blink of an eye, he was submerged in the mud from the waist down!
Even more terrifying, there was no sense of solidity beneath his feet!
The quagmire, which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, seemed bottomless.
He was caught between the ground and the sky, and he felt powerless.
Tafman could only sink deeper and deeper into the mire in despair.
"Haha... Big idiot, we meet again."
"Stone Singer" Manson maintained his scorpion form and spoke in human language.
"Surprised? Unexpected?"
The pitch-black giant scorpion slowly crawled toward the edge of the mire.
A gleam of pride shone in his emerald green eyes.
When Manson ascended to the fifth-level sorcerer, he awakened the fifth-level earth magic "Fossil to Mud" and "Mud to Stone."
The former can transform rock into mud, while the latter does the opposite.
Using "Fossil to Mud," he created a mire on the flat ground, trapping Tuffman.
Manson's hunting efforts were finally showing some signs of improvement.
"Big idiot, be good and don't move."
"Soon, you'll be free of pain."
A sinister grin crossed Manson's scorpion face.
He swung his two massive claws and cast a spell on the mire.
"Ondo!"
The spell symbolizing "rock" was pronounced with force.
The mire that trapped Taffman glowed with an earthy-yellow halo.
From the edges toward the center, the mud gradually transformed back into solid rock.
The entire transformation would last approximately six seconds.
After that, the mire would transform into a solid rock layer.
Taffman, from the waist down, would be trapped within the rock layer.
Like being cast in cement!
At that point, he would be truly unable to move, and could only allow Manson to do whatever he pleased with him...
Swish!
A silver light suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping Taffman!
"Huh?!"
Manson's face suddenly changed!
"Want to run? No way!"
He immediately rushed forward, swung out a pair of massive claws, and clamped down on Taffman fiercely!
It happened suddenly, and in a quick glance, Manson could only see that Taffman was teleporting.
What kind of teleportation spell was it?
He didn't have time to carefully identify it.
Bang!
The claws clamped down on the target.
However, Taffman in the mire had been replaced by a two-meter-tall wooden barrel.
Is this... Teleport?!
Manson's heart trembled.
Level 2 "Teleport," the lowest level of teleportation magic, should not be underestimated!
The oak barrel that replaced Taffman had been pierced by the claws.
The sticky, gelatinous substance that flowed from the barrel had a very pungent smell.
It looked suspicious!
Manson retracted his claws and tried to move away from the barrel.
But it was too late.
The barrel, struck by the powerful impact, exploded with a roar!
A huge fireball engulfed Manson.
The newly solidified mud was instantly transformed into a crater.
Broken rocks and mud splattered all over the sky!
Black smoke billowed up like a mushroom cloud.
A hundred steps from the center of the explosion.
Two tall young men stood side by side.
The heat wave blew towards them, carrying a large amount of mud and sand, making them feel suffocated.
"Goodness!" Taffman exclaimed. "Brother, what did you put in that barrel? It's terrifying!"
"Fire glue, thunderstones, and explosives I invented myself," Allen said calmly.
When Pamela led the retreat, she left behind military supplies, including a large amount of alchemical gunpowder.
Alan stuffed the gunpowder into the largest oak barrel and added more himself.
The energy released at the moment of the explosion was enough to blow up a building.
However, the aura Allen exuded detected that Manson, at the center of the explosion, was still alive!
"A fifth-level sorcerer is indeed not so easy to kill."
Alan patted Taffman on the shoulder.
"Second Brother, we can't stay here for long. Return to Beiting quickly to avoid arousing the suspicion of the Lang family."
"As for the mess here, I'll clean it up."
"Junior Brother, be careful!"
Taffman also realized that Manson had survived such a fierce bombardment and was still alive!
With his own strength, staying would only be a burden to his junior brother.
He shook Allen's hand firmly, then turned and dashed off.
Allen gently stroked the fire-resistant ring on his ring finger, activating his ancestral form.
The leopard-headed giant strode toward the raging flames.
In the center of the explosion zone, a massive scorpion lay crouched in the pit.
Its chitinous carapace, once smooth as obsidian, was now riddled with cracks.
The bluish-gray plasma oozing from the wounds, seared by the intense flames, transformed into a foul-smelling vapor.
Worst of all were the massive claws that had directly detonated the explosive barrel.
They were shattered to the very roots, their broken ends charred black.
The burns and cracks on its body could be healed thanks to its "rapid self-healing" ability.
However, severed limbs would be permanently damaged.
Without his claws, the atavistic Manson, transformed back into a human, was a crippled, armless man!
Shock, anger, and pain filled Manson's heart.
It was obvious he had been tricked!
Who was so sinister, so despicable?!
Manson had no idea.
He couldn't believe that that big, foolish Taffman could have devised such a vicious trap.
Taffman was, at best, just bait.
There must be someone behind this!
Now he just wanted to escape the fire as quickly as possible, capture Taffman, and interrogate the mastermind behind his deception!
Hearing heavy footsteps behind him, Manson became alert.
Has the mastermind finally been forced to take action?
Manson decisively suppressed the "quick self-healing" function, endured the pain of burning fire, and lay in the pit pretending to be dead.
The man behind him stopped more than ten meters away.
A faint sound of moving rocks could be heard...
Could it be...?
Manson suddenly had a foreboding premonition.
He turned his head and, through the flames and thick smoke, saw the blurry figure of a giant.
With both hands, he raised a huge rock high in the air and was about to hurl it!
Stop, stop it!!
You brat! You have no moral composure!!
Shocked and enraged, Manson couldn't even feign death. He dove into the pit and activated his innate skill, "Earth Dive"!
The moment he penetrated the ground, the rock roared down.
Boom!
The crater created by the gunpowder barrel was almost completely filled with the rock.
Manson, already submerged beneath the surface, was also affected by the shockwaves from the rock's impact.
The already tattered exoskeleton was cracked with countless more cracks.
"You... dare you to try to trick me? Just wait!"
Manson, gnashing his teeth and enduring the pain all over his body, crept underground.
He determined the enemy's position by the vibrations coming from the ground.
He circled behind the man and suddenly broke out of the ground.
"Die, little bastard!"
Manson raised his scorpion tail and bit Allen's back fiercely!
Snap!
Alan turned calmly and raised his hand to grasp the scorpion's tail.
However, the scorpion's tail was more flexible than he had imagined.
The tail tip twisted, wrapped around the cavity of the sharp teeth, and bit his arm fiercely!
Alan had activated his "soft bone and flesh armor", and with the addition of his "beast armor", his muscles were as hard as fine steel! Manson's scorpion tail is equivalent to a Level 3 enchanted weapon.
The sharp teeth embedded in the scorpion tail, enhanced by "Armed Dou Qi," gain the additional "Silver Refining" effect!
A Level 3 Silver Refining weapon, theoretically, can penetrate Allen's damage-reducing armor!
Manson's scorpion tail bit with all its might!
However, Allen, in his Level 4 Atavism state, possessed a staggering 56 Physical Attributes, making him incredibly strong!
Manson's scorpion tail's fangs barely managed to penetrate the armor, their strength already at its limit. They were powerless, unable to truly damage this wielder of steel!
However, Allen, experiencing the power of armor-piercing for the first time, couldn't help but feel overly nervous.
His brow furrowed, his expression solemn!
What a powerful scorpion tail!
Not only did it scratch my hair, it even bit through my skin!
If he bites me like this again, won't I bleed?!
How terrifying!!
Instantly, Allen tensed his arms!
His thick muscles twisted and squirmed like a giant snake!
The scorpion's sharp teeth, crushed by the pressure, broke each one.
Manson bit Allen's arm, intending to suck blood.
However, after only a mouthful of sweat, his teeth were broken.
Forced to do nothing, he gave up sucking blood and instead released a toxin!
The Stone Singer's toxin was of the same level as the Bull's.
The two toxins had slightly different ingredients, but both produced a "petrification" effect.
"Well done, Manson!"
Alan's expression shifted from solemn to comfortable.
"That's it, more!"
"You, you kid... damn it!"
Manson finally couldn't hold it in any longer.
He had already injected enough toxin to petrify a hundred men, yet the leopard-headed giant showed no sign of petrification.
Just as he tried to pull back the scorpion's tail, it was firmly grasped.
"What did you say before?"
The leopard-headed giant grinned.
"Want to run? No way!"
He exerted force from his palm, and the bones exploded!!
Bang!!
The scorpion's tail shattered in the explosion, blood gushing out.
The pain of the severed tail nearly made Manson faint.
Barely maintaining a glimmer of consciousness, he turned to face the reverted Allen, and opened his mouth to unleash his "Shattering Scream"!
This was his last chance for a comeback, his last trump card! Swish!
A silver dagger suddenly appeared in Allen's hand.
He pressed the sapphire inlaid on the handle.
The dagger immediately cast a "silence barrier"!
Manson, like a rooster strangled by the neck, choked back his scream before it could even escape his lips.
The only difference between Spenza's silver dagger and Spanna's was the gemstones inlaid.
The elder sister's dagger was inlaid with sapphires.
The younger sister's dagger was inlaid with rubies.
This gemstone activated the enchantment effect.
Alan had already learned Manson's strengths from Spanna and had taken precautions.
The dagger he borrowed from his sister-in-law, Spenza, was perfectly resistant to sonic attacks, including "Crushing Scream."
This wave, shouldn't I say "Thank you, sister-in-law"?
Desperate, Manson tried to escape underground.
But Allen didn't give him a chance.
Swish!
A pale cold current suddenly swept over...
Manson's body and mind were instantly frozen by the "Ice Soul Freezing Wave."
Alan walked towards the frozen, icy-sculpted Atavistic Manson and swung his dagger.
Crackling, like a gardener pruning a bush.
Instantly, all twelve pairs of Atavistic Manson's legs were chopped off.
Trimmed into a smooth scorpion stick.
The next step was the same old routine.
Injection of inducer, forced possession.
After slaughtering, obtain the petrifying toxin, blood essence, and most importantly... special ingredients!
Ding Ding—
"Consume special ingredient: Stone Singer's Vocal Cords!"
"Potential +3!"
"Spirit +1!"
Current Attributes: Constitution 46, Agility 31, Spirit 53
Potential Reserve: 19 points