Chapter 32

31. Serpent of the Earth

【Serpent of the Earth, Anastasia】

【A Star Soul nurtured by absorbing the power of the earth, better than an incarnation of the earth. Due to its immortal nature, it was reborn after many years. Its consciousness has not yet revived, and its power is greatly weakened, but it is growing rapidly and craves to absorb the power of the Star Soul greenhouse.】

【Species: Star Soul】

【Combat Intelligence: Rank 1 【Newborn】】

【Servant: Divine Rock Song Shiwei, Rank 4 (-1)】

【Energy Source: Creation Equation, Rank 4 【Newborn】】

【Body Strength: Jin Gang Scales, Rank 6 【Newborn】. Energy-Conducting Scale Crown, Rank 4 【Newborn】. Starlight Snake Eyes, Rank 4 【Newborn】. Transcendent Earth Elemental Body, Rank 6 【Newborn】.】

【Special Attack: Gem Ray 【Weakened】, Magnitude Climb 【Weakened】】

【Skill: Earth's Favor 【Grafted】, Ancient Memory 【Weakened】, Gem Power 【Weakened】, Star Soul Light 【Weakened】, Humanoid Incarnation 【Locked】, Creator Link 【Locked】】

【Combat Power Boost: 27%】

Whoa, it really is extraordinary.

Those unfamiliar but clearly not simple terms made Li Ang feel a bit more solemn.

Creation Equation, Ancient Memory... neither this energy source nor that string of skills were ordinary things.

The items marked 【Newborn】 should be because it had only recently revived and hadn't grown to its full state, while the latter—

【Skill: Ancient Memory 【Weakened】】

【Activation Method: Passive】

【Entangled ancient fate, glimpsing a corner of the Age of Gods from memory, some methods of using ancient power will revive as a result. Due to its ignorant consciousness, it is basically unable to function.】

This item should be why it could summon the Divine Rock Song Shiwei.

This was Li Ang's first time facing a so-called "Star Soul."

It seems that the existence of a Star Soul has an extraordinary origin, involving ancient fate, and its strength... even if it was written with a series of weakened information, he wouldn't underestimate the opponent, or rather, it was precisely because of this that he wouldn't underestimate it.

Even if weakened, its own various attributes were well-matched, and its combat power boost was a full 27%.

Fortunately, its combat intelligence was only Rank 1, which made him slightly relieved.

Li Ang felt that the spiritual aura of this thing was two parts stronger than what he had felt the day before, and he was also convinced that coming down as early as possible was the right choice.

He recited the command silently, and the elemental beast summoned by him received clear instructions, opened its four sharp claws, jumped after a run-up, and pounced on this Serpent of the Earth.

The giant snake didn't dodge or avoid it, and even showed no fear, letting the elemental beast crash into its body directly. The latter's impact only made its body sway slightly, and both their gem-like surfaces produced high-pitched crisp sounds upon collision.

Starlight flashed in the giant snake's eyes, a cloud of dust rotated beside it, and the Divine Rock Song Shiwei they had fought before appeared again.

The scimitar held by the guard slashed at the elemental beast in unison, the blade edge blocked by the gem armor and shattering on the spot.

It flipped its wrist, summoned the blade again, danced a sword flower, and slashed at the elemental beast continuously at high speed.

Having fought before, Li Ang knew it would keep regenerating, but its attacks couldn't break the elemental beast's defense. Although both had the same combat power, the latter had superior basic defense, while the guard was only relying on Star Soul energy to repair itself. As long as it couldn't break the defense, their side had the advantage in the confrontation.

The battle between these two servants couldn't be decided for a while.

Using a summoned beast to entangle the opponent's summoned beast was a simple tactic; some warriors would cooperate with their own summoned beasts, which was equivalent to splitting combat power.

The Holy Snake bypassed their battlefield and slid its body directly toward Zoe.

The giant snake's speed couldn't be called extremely fast, but because its body was huge, a distance of more than ten meters was covered in an instant. Its moving body reflected brilliant light, pulling out a bright curved color band.

The iridescent light at the front of the color band was the gem scale crown on its head; when it aimed straight ahead, it became a sharp ram, foreshadowing superior frontal lethality.

Li Ang saw Zoe facing the attack without dodging or avoiding, instead raising her palm toward the giant snake, divine light appearing deep in her pupils.

"Watch out!"

Zoe didn't seem to be doing it on purpose; she stared with her eyes wide, her lips trembling, as if she were enduring something. Li Ang's warning couldn't be heard by her at all.

Li Ang threw a diamond at the girl at maximum speed, magic power circulating, and a series of spiritual manipulations were released one after another.

The hard spirituality within the diamond was extracted and then enhanced to explode, forming a transparent defensive wall covering the armor on the girl's body the moment it was hit.

Crackle.

Amidst the sound of the surface defensive wall shattering, the girl was directly knocked flying and fell off the rocky mountain.

She landed on a soft cushion, which was the thick dust accumulated at the edge of the storm scar.

Li Ang ran and jumped to her side; the strong physique given by the system when practicing warrior experience played a role, and he quickly pulled her into a blind spot.

The divine light in Zoe's eyes had dissipated, but her eyes were filled with tears, and she couldn't speak at all.

After more than ten seconds, she said with a sobbing voice:

"I saw it again, I saw many children who were devoured from their bodies until only a skin remained, they, they... I don't recognize the monsters that devoured them, but I know they are Star Souls...

"Li Ang, will I become like that too? Eaten by the Star Soul?"

"No, I will kill it, just like your mom and dad did."

Li Ang held her hand.

"You rest first, hide here; as long as it doesn't find you, I can seize the opportunity to attack it."

Li Ang raised his head; the giant snake was sliding its body, searching for Zoe at the high point, flicking its amethyst-like snake tongue.

This thing was very savage.

The Rank 1 combat intelligence made its attack mode basically close to that of a beast, but its strongest point now was its body; the Rank 6 strength was definitely not something Zoe's Rank 2 water-flow array iron armor could withstand.

However, it was precisely because of this armor that it could, together with the defensive wall Li Ang temporarily constructed with diamond spirituality, just offset the impact of the Holy Snake's body.

Otherwise, a Rank 2 defense against an attack from a body entering the Exalted Realm of Rank 7-9 would result in being smashed to pieces if hit squarely, and broken bones and tendons if grazed.

Li Ang let out a breath.

He basically knew the opponent's advantages and attack modes; next, he would probe further.

Because there was no energy source, his magic power was limited now, and recovery was slow—in short, he lacked mana, so he couldn't cast spells on a large scale to confront it head-on; he had to find the opponent's weakness.

Gathering Rank 5 magic power again, Li Ang pointed to the high point of the snake-body rocky mountain. The rock mixed with various gems split and peeled off, and a new elemental summon took shape; it was a mud-rock colossus more than two meters tall.

This time he didn't use the Shaman's elemental summon, but the Occultist's spiritual manipulation.

The colossus grabbed the gems nearby and patted them onto its own body, and soon it also patted its whole body full of gem armor.

Usually, a temporary summoned beast could only exist as one. Because it required the summoner to split their mental control.

But if it was a summon performed by another professional technique, it was allowed to exist simultaneously.

It was just that for ordinary people, it was almost impossible to cultivate multiple professions to a rank where they could release summoning spells.

Li Ang relied on the Shaman given by the system and the Occultist he had painstakingly cultivated, and at this moment, he could control a second summoned beast.

【Gem Mud-Rock Colossus】

【A colossus shaped by the response of the Earth Spirit to the call, with precious gems mixed in during formation, and its ability improved.】

【Species: Elemental】

【Combat Intelligence: Rank 5】

【Servant: None】

【Energy Source: None】

【Body Strength: Gem Body, Rank 4. Gem Armor, Rank 6.】

【Special Attack: Body Reshaping】

【Skill: Elemental Body】

【Combat Power Boost: 8%】

Because it was his own profession, the gem colossus wasn't limited by form like the Shaman skill; its body was also mixed with hard gems during formation, making its body strength exceed that of the elemental beast.

The colossus took heavy steps, opened its solid arms, and hugged the giant snake tightly, instantly dragging its body that was searching for Zoe's location.

The giant snake ignored the gem colossus's restraint, sliding with the brute force of its body, dragging the colossus forward bit by bit.

Li Ang cast a spell into a cat's-eye stone on the giant's body surface.

【Cat's-Eye Stone】

【A gem formed when the earth is active and the essence of the wind element condenses cloud-pattern light strips in chrysoberyl, also known as Wave-Light Jade.】

【Rank: 4】

【Spirituality: Accumulates transcendent earth and wind elements】

【Usage: Equipment manufacturing, spellcasting material】

Spiritual Manipulation—Explosion!

The wind element within the cat's-eye stone instantly broke through the gem body itself, and a bright milky-white light strip spanned between the gem colossus and the Holy Snake. The two ends of the light strip diffused cloud-like ripples, and then a violent wind was generated on the spot.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

The spirituality of the Rank 4 transcendent spellcasting material was far from what it was when Li Ang was dealing with the naughty girl at the beginning; they almost immediately shaped a violent storm.

When the storm raged, the violent rotation of the air itself was releasing countless wind blades, which slashed at the giant snake's body, producing continuous crisp sounds.

Then, in the storm, the giant snake, which had only cared about Zoe, began to react.