Chapter 646: [Spore Toss], Smoke That Stirred the Heartstrings

A tide of Blood Beasts surged toward the lone city.

Far behind the city, inside a large row of cages, gaunt Bronze-tier creatures were being awakened one by one.

Each of them wore a device on their chests that pulsed with a red glow.

These were the Spiritual Creatures Moon Shadow's Breath had captured from her own world to brew Blood Brew.

Their potential had already been drained dry, their lifeforce flickering on the verge of extinction.

Yet in Moon Shadow's Breath's hands, these Spiritual Creatures still served a crucial purpose.

It was also why she rose above so many vampires to gain a seat on the Council.

"Inject the Tarafen enhancer!"

At the command.

Thick needles plunged into the bodies of those Spiritual Creatures.

Claws sank, locks engaged, safety catches secured.

Eerie syringes filled with a crimson-and-blue liquid were fixed to the Spiritual Creatures. Long-term blood extraction had already numbed them, robbing them of pain perception.

As the suspicious liquid in the syringes slowly flowed in,

under the enhancer's effect, the Spiritual Creatures' remaining life and souls were rapidly consumed.

At first the flames were small, then they quickly swelled.

Roar—

The long-lost strength returning made the Spiritual Creatures emit fierce, hollow roars.

But before they could vent.

All of the Spiritual Creatures' eyes filled with red, and after a command that only they could understand,

they all began to sprint.

Their target was the tide of Blood Beasts outside the city.

Roar—

These Spiritual Creatures ran with reckless abandon, their spirits frenzied.

Their only thought in their minds was simple.

Kill.

Kill the creatures that dared invade.

Under the enhancer's effect, the creatures' power skyrocketed to terrifying levels.

Some even broke through their previous bottlenecks, reaching the peak of Bronze-tier, even approaching quasi-Silver-tier strength.

A single creature at that power would not have any decisive advantage against the Blood Beast tide.

But when their numbers swelled to the hundreds, the situation changed completely.

Hundreds of peak Bronze-tier creatures burst through the city walls and poured into the Blood Beast tide, turning it into a one-sided massacre.

In an instant, the Blood Beast tide seemed to receive a new command; they all turned and charged toward those peak Bronze-tier creatures.

Like moths to a flame, layer upon layer of beasts piled in.

Also charging forward were the Bronze-tier Blood Beasts hidden within the tide and two Silver-tier Blood Beasts.

One could even say they were the main strike force; the ordinary Blood Beasts were merely cover.

It became a clash of bodies.

The Spiritual Creatures injected with enhancer were besieged by the Blood Beast tide until, at last, the red devices on their chests began to flash wildly.

Boom—

A violent explosion tore out.

All the surrounding Blood Beasts were blown to pieces by the blast.

That was their final value.

After only a few minutes, the ground was carpeted with thick layers of corpses.

Blood flowed like a river.

"Haha, good, pile everything on them with full force. This is Moon Shadow's Breath's last struggle. If we survive this wave, victory will be ours."

Black Ice shouted excitedly as he watched the battlefield feeds.

Behind the Black Ice Express, Blood Beasts were spewing out like dumplings.

The instant these Blood Beasts hit the ground, they sprinted madly along the corridors toward the battlefield.

Reinforcements for the fight.

The battle between the two civilizations had, at this moment, entered its most critical phase.

"Good!" Yu Yuan looked at the Virtual Light Screen where the Parasytic Blood Vine's evolution bar was skyrocketing, and he, too, showed an excited expression.

A battlefield defined by flesh and blood was an ideal evolution ground for the Parasytic Blood Vine.

Yu Yuan felt immense relief that he had not missed this opportunity.

"Looks like I'll have to find more players from the Bloodlands in the future."

While Yu Yuan pondered,

the Parasytic Blood Vine's evolution bar reached full again.

[Ping, 'Parasitic Blood Vine' meets evolution conditions, gains new trait—Spore Toss]

Spore Toss: The Parasitic Blood Vine can eject spore pods into the air; upon bursting they release a large volume of smoke-like, semi-transparent spore dust that parasitizes enemies within the affected area.

On the Virtual Light Screen, the Parasitic Blood Vine's model changed once more.

Bulging nodules grew along its body; Yu Yuan understood these to be spore pods containing the parasitic spore dust.

Previously, although the Parasitic Blood Vine could parasitize, it had to physically contact an enemy and injure them before planting a Blood Vine Spore inside the target.

That method had obvious limitations.

Now with the Spore Toss trait, the Parasitic Blood Vine gained another combat option.

Underground.

Propelled by surging evolutionary energy,

the Parasitic Blood Vine doubled its number of roots, and the newly formed nodules rapidly matured under the energy stimulus.

The spore dust inside each pod reached the required parasitic potency one after another.

Thus…

After devouring another massive amount of corpse energy, the Parasitic Blood Vine did not continue feeding on the bodies above ground but instead burrowed beneath the surface.

It tunneled toward the fiercest area of the battlefield.

Then, weaving through the carpet of corpses and blending into the Blood Beast tide, its spore pods began to pop off one after another.

Bang bang bang—

Spore pods burst in succession, releasing semi-transparent, smoky spore dust that detonated and spread through the air.

The moment the spore dust touched a living creature, it clung fast.

Then, following breath, mouth, or wound, it entered the host, began siphoning blood, flesh, and energy, and took root to reproduce.

Thus began the most primitive form of parasitism.

Having completed this, the Parasitic Blood Vine submerged again into the corpses and resumed voracious absorption of corpse energy.

Pods that had been exhausted regrew.

Driven by energy, they matured.

Then came another slick little combo.

The Parasitic Blood Vine slithered across the battlefield like a grease-coated eel,

appearing and disappearing repeatedly.

It left behind nothing but spore pods bursting in midair and plumes of smoky spore dust.

Soon the battlefield was shrouded in semi-transparent spore dust.

This development was naturally noticed by both Moon Shadow's Breath and Black Ice, who had been monitoring the battle.

The two frowned in unison.

"Hmm? What is he—she trying to do?"

At this moment, the same question rose in both their minds.

Although they couldn't clearly identify that semi-transparent mist,

both felt a rising sense of danger.

For a time, they were trapped in a dilemma.

Each assumed the tactic was the other's handiwork; a method used effectively on this battlefield would almost certainly decide the war's outcome.

Should they retreat for the moment or press the attack and finish the job?

That became a point for both, and especially Black Ice, to consider.

He glanced at the train's energy reserves and at the Bronze-tier peak creatures already half killed on the battlefield.

A flash of resolution crossed his eyes.

No matter what Moon Shadow's Breath's method was, her reliance was definitely on this batch of peak Bronze-tier combatants.

If he could pile-kill these peak Bronze-tier creatures and force Moon Shadow's Breath to retreat again, he could recover Blood Energy and launch a final encirclement and suppression against her with renewed strength.

"Continue, press the attack…"