1965 A Sneaky Beast

While Lin Mu's proficiency with swords was better due to his Sword Intent, the speed and reach of Wonder Seeker was still better. Plus, Lin Mu could prepare an attack beforehand and keep it charged to deal a lethal blow.

Normally he wouldn't take this much effort, but the unknown beast was a bit concerning to him. 

'I can't sense it through immortal sense, and even Little Shrubby could only smell it for a moment… How is it hiding?' Lin Mu wondered and activated his Spatial Perception.

~shua~

As soon as he did, the entire scenery in front of him changed and the fabric of space became visible to him. 

"Strange… no signs of anything." Lin Mu didn't see anyone hiding there. 

Even if they were using some Qi skill to hide, there should have been minute fluctuation that affected the space. 

~CLICK~

But just as Lin Mu had thought that there was no one hiding, he suddenly felt a presence behind him!

"WHO?!" Lin Mu barely reacted in time, but saw a long spike coming towards him.

It was just an inch from him and was about to hit him.

Flicker!

He reacted instantly and used the first skill of the ring to negate the damage.

The Spike pierced through the place where he was standing but didn't hurt him. 

Blink!

Lin Mu instantly increased the distance between him and the foe, realizing this was no normal beast.

~TWANG~

At the same time, he released the arrow he had kept charged. The Stone arrow tore through the air ignited with a searing hot flame, rushing towards the spot where the attack had come from. 

~CHINK~

A dark blur was seen hitting the arrow, and the attack was deflected!

~boom~

The flames exploded next to the foe, illuminating its form.

Lin Mu finally got to see just what had attacked him.

It was a scorpion that was three meters tall and equally as long. Its entire body was black while its six eyes were a deep violet in color. 

It had two pairs of pincers on the front, each of which looked incredibly sharp and pointy while also having a metallic texture different from the rest of its body. And from its back rose five tails, each tipped with a spear-like stinger.

The stingers looked to be metallic as well, as the glint of flames was seen reflecting from them, though barely. 

The middle tail of the Scorpion though, was the longest and seemed to reach a height of seven meters when extended straight. This also happened to be the same spike that had attacked Lin Mu, as well as deflected his attack.

Seeing that the Scorpion beast had managed to resist an attack from Wonder Seeker and even deflect it, Lin Mu fully confirmed that it would not be an easy target.

Still, he hadn't been able to fully identify what the beast was. 

His mind was rapidly going through the various beast compendiums he had read, but none of them were matching this beast.

It was important for him to do this, as without that, he wouldn't be able to predict the moves of the beast. He needed to know what it was and what abilities it had.

'Senior Xukong, what is this beast?' Lin Mu decided to ask him directly since it was a sensitive time.

~CLANG~

Of course, the Scorpion beast wasn't going to give him time to think this much, and attacked again.

Three of its tails shot towards Lin Mu, who defended with the Longgui Bulwark Armor this time.

Lin Mu raised his arms and stopped top of the tails with them, while the third middle tail was held in place by Afternoon Pine.

"High Speed, hard to detect, and quick reaction time…" Lin Mu muttered, matching the characteristics with the scorpion beasts that he knew off. 'Black Assassin Scorpion? No… while they are fast, and hard to detect, they don't have five tails. Even if it were a mutant variant, its tails are too short to be that of a Black Assassin Scorpion. Then… a Dark Iron Scorpion? No, the eyes are of a different color.' He continued to think while holding the beast in place.

~ROAR~

Of course, he had only been holding the beast in place so that Little Shrubby could attack!

Searing hot claws that could melt through metal slashed at the beast, threatening to crush it.

~DENG~

But the Scorpion Beast still had two of its shorter tails free, which it used to strike back at Little Shrubby.

~HISS~

Even if it managed to stop the attack, the heat from the claws still started to hurt it.

~WHOOSH~

And now that Little Shrubby was so close to the beast, he breathed out orange flames that covered the entire body of the scorpion.

~SCREECH~

The Scorpion beast let out a screech of pain, and recoiled from the flames. Even if its carapace was tough, it didn't mean it was heat resistant. If it didn't stop the flames, it would end up getting cooked from the insides!

Lin Mu took this chance to grip the two tails of the Scorpion. The rocky gauntlets formed by the Longgui Bulwark Armor were perfect for it, and Lin Mu yanked the beast towards him.

At the same time, he raised his leg, which swelled up as red aura filled up within it.

"TYRANT STOMP!"

~SQUELCH~

~TREMBLE~

Lin Mu's leg struck the middle of the scorpion's head smashing it into the ground mercilessly and detaching its four pincers in the process. As not only was the head crushed, but the force of the impact was great enough to affect the rest of the body too.

~huu~

Lin Mu let out a breath and took a step back from the beast, while his leg reduced to the normal size.

"It should be dead now." Lin Mu checked using his immortal sense.

While there was still some lingering vitality within the flesh of the beast, its brain had been utterly destroyed, so there was no chance for it to be alive. 

~shua~

Of course, that didn't mean that its soul was dead too.