Chapter 145 Centipede-mouthed Blood Toad
Guo Du and his two companions had successfully obtained the injection. They intended to thank Su Han in person, but to their surprise, they didn't even get to see him and were sent away by Ye Kailing.
They had a chance to meet Su Han because they arrived unexpectedly; however, next time, in line with Su Han's way of handling things, their trades would not go through him.
They would directly deal with Yan Meiyu, Bai Qilan and the duty manager; only important clues would be escalated to Su Han.
Not long after Guo Du's group left, Su Han arrived at the location of the Mother Nest Ancient Tree.
The third Tree Womb was pulsating rhythmically at this point, harboring a creature using the One-eyed Toad Leader and Bloodblade Centipede Leader as fetal bodies, which was now ready to hatch.
Standing under the tree, Su Han watched the movements of the creature within the dozens of meters high Tree Womb, as it suddenly breached the confines of the womb and fell from the sky.
"Boom"
The huge red figure landed heavily, producing a dull thud; Su Han fixed his gaze on it.
Before his eyes appeared a monstrous creature nearly ten meters in length, a terrifying One-eyed Giant Toad.
The monster resembled a toad, with a crimson horizontal eye on its forehead that, at a glance, looked like an enlarged human eye, extremely eerie. Its entire body was covered in carapaces like that of a centipede, fiery red as if ablaze, with a bulging red underbelly.
"Hiss"
The Giant Toad opened its wide mouth full of sharp teeth, its crimson tongue lashed out instantly, but around this tongue, there was a circle of pitch-black centipedes similar to tongues themselves.
These tentacle-like appendages, bizarre as centipedes, were part of it, with sharp mandibles glistening black, able to shoot out even from within its gaping maw, slicing into the ground like sharp knives, clanging deeply into the soil.
"Centipede-mouthed Blood Toad, defense and toxicity, huh?"
Su Han sensed the Centipede-mouthed Blood Toad's condition, but by appearance, it wasn't any more impressive than the One-eyed Toad Leader.
However, its might depended on its power.
With a Vital Energy Blessing, he casually unleashed an attack. Although it was not as strong as a blade aura, it was still infused with considerable force.
"Boom"
The powerful Blood Qi Energy struck the carapace, eliciting a muffled sound like a drumbeat.
The Centipede-mouthed Blood Toad's form swayed slightly, but there was not the slightest sign of injury; not even the carapace showed any cracks.
'The defense is good.'
His eyes flickered as he thought, 'Next should be the toxic attack.'
He mentally commanded the Centipede-mouthed Blood Toad to attack a nearby lamppost, opening its jaws wide and spraying green mist from within.
"Sizzle"
The moment the mist touched the lamppost, it emitted a hissing sound, and then, with a clang, the lamppost snapped in half and the lamp head fell to the ground.
After a faint sound, corrosive noises soon followed, as the toxic fog continued to eat away at the lamp head.
Seconds later, all that was left was an unrecognizable pool of liquid.
The corrosiveness of the toxin was beyond Su Han's expectation, but such an attack already qualified for a specialized role.
For instance, in conjunction with the Bonestead Rat Demon; one as a tank, the other for area attacks.
After testing the Centipede-mouthed Blood Toad, Su Han gained a better understanding of it. It boasted Lower Grade Second Order strength, almost on par with the Bonestead Rat Demon, possessing formidable combat abilities, although with different focuses.
In the days following the hatching of the creatures, the construction of the settlement and the cultivation of Yunling Mountain became the focal points within the camp.
Zhu Xiong continuously gathered discarded cars, and with Su Han's Metal Control, these were used to fortify the checkpoint gates, increasing their height and thickness considerably.
The patrol team also identified several points of ingress and egress during their sweeps, closing each one in turn.
The people who had moved in organized under Bai Xiao'e's leadership, working alongside Zhang Dahai and his team to clean up the perimeter belt.
Useless garbage was piled up to be cleared away by the Tree-born Worms or Vine Giant Rats.
Bare ground was planted with cultivable crops, primarily with fruit tree saplings transplanted from the Shanhu Villa District.
A portion of the enclosed area was designated as a future breeding ground.
Although currently, the only pig species among the evolved kinds are Giant Bristle Boars and Fang Boars, there will certainly be more in the future.
Everything was developing in an orderly manner. Su Han's Bat-winged Alligator Dragon also hit a minor bottleneck.
Several days passed, and the Bat-winged Alligator Dragon merely completed another integration with the lake water, reaching LV3 water and obtaining the Skill Advancement LV2 Black Water Shield.
The water level of the lake dropped by another meter. The Bat-winged Alligator Dragon's need for water was growing larger and larger.
Of course, this was not a problem, as the lake water could be accumulated—though it would require more time.
At LV1, a few hours of integration completed 100%, at LV2 it already took a day or two, now at LV3 it almost took four to five days, and the time needed would only increase from there.
Experience tales at empire
By the shores of Nanwang Lake, the towering Bat-winged Alligator Dragon climbed out of the much shallower lake, its lofty stature standing around Su Han.
Its aura had grown much stronger, especially the Black Water Shield skill. It had evolved from merely covering a small area to now being able to envelop an area the size of a head, offering multi-directional protection.
Although it had not broken through the Lower Tier of the Third Order due to insufficient strength accumulation, its combat power had certainly increased significantly.
"We should divert the water there and also capture the evolved kinds."
Su Han looked at the surface of Nanwang Lake, where Old Zhu and the others were already waiting nearby.
Nanwang Lake was a good location, but it was a bit distant from the ring belt, which was inconvenient.
"Old Zhu, has the artificial lake over at Old Zhang's place been excavated yet?"
"It's done. The length and width are roughly over three hundred meters, almost the same size as Yunling Lake."
In just a few days, while Zhang Dahai was organizing the cleanup of the ring belt, he also mobilized the Tree-born Worms to start excavating the pit. Not just the Tree-born Worms, but also excavators, Vine Giant Rats, and many Contractors.
In a short time, a deep pit the size of an artificial lake appeared on the site of some old buildings.
Su Han nodded, then with a thought, a large number of Tree-born Worms began to excavate underground. The vines of the Mother Nest Ancient Tree followed closely, twining around each other and compacting the soil where they dug.
The excavation was carried out underground, reaching a depth of about ten meters.
One was excavating, another was continuously fortifying, and at this time, Su Han and the Scorpion Spider Demon both acted, deploying Metal Control.
A massive amount of metal was controlled into mid-air, then began to melt and reshape. First, it formed into an enormous iron spike, which with a thrusting sound, pierced ten meters underground.
Then, separated by a thick layer of earth, the Scorpion Spider Demon continued to manipulate the metal, quickly forming segments of metal pipes within the underground tunnel.
Half an hour passed, and the pipeline had already extended from Nanwang Lake into the artificial lake.
The Bat-winged Alligator Dragon controlled the water on the Nanwang Lake side, the currents surged, but there was still a thin layer of soil that had not been breached.
With the underground water channel formed, Su Han finally issued the final command. The Bat-winged Alligator Dragon no longer kept the water still but actively surged towards the water channel.
The lake surface instantly roiled with currents. Under the control of the Bat-winged Alligator Dragon, the water quickly flowed through the channel's inlet and then propelled the current rapidly into the artificial lake.
The water level was dropping rapidly, on par with the integration achieved by the Bat-winged Alligator Dragon.
"Roar"
The Giant Crocodile Monsters and Armored Crocodiles that were hidden in the lake's waters could no longer conceal themselves and let out furious roars.
While the lake was not going to dry up, they no longer had as good a place to hide as before.
"Old Zhu, get ready to fish."
"Leave it to me."
Zhu Xiong rubbed his hands eagerly, looking at the Giant Crocodile Monsters and Armored Crocodiles already showing their backs in the lake. He carefully counted, and the number was not small—there were one to two hundred of them.
"Hmm, wait, what's that?"
Exposed along with the Giant Crocodile Monsters was a patch of pitch-black carapace, buried in the mud, a massive expanse over ten meters in size.