Chapter 76: Mutated Colossal Beast

There was not just one path leading up the mountain. More than twenty students, the special forces for the operation, had split into seven groups and charged upward. Behind them were fully armed soldiers, following closely behind.

When they encountered strong resistance, the students threw several bombs, blowing the remaining rebels into the sky. After clearing out a few small strongholds and exhausting the bombs, the soldiers behind them used rocket launchers and heavy machine guns to suppress the enemies.

If any cultivator attempted to break through and escape, it was the job of the students to intercept them, working together to gradually sweep them up.

Not everyone was like Chen Chu, with a speed comparable to an ordinary Third Heavenly Realm cultivator, the capacity to sense danger in advance, and battle armor that ignored light firepower.

But there were other formidable cultivators among the students. The team composed of Xia Youhui, Li Hao, Liu Feng, and Bai Mu was way ahead of the others.

At the forefront, Xia Youhui carried his heavy shield as he took on most of the firepower, able to ignore grenades and most explosives other than rockets. While Xia Youhui attracted fire, Li Hao and the others rushed from the side under the cover of darkness, clearing out enemies at a rate not much slower than Chen Chu’s.

After all, the remaining rebels were severely injured by the bombardment, with no reinforcements or support.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Outside the valley, under the cover of night, Chen Chu resembled a raging elephant, emitting a terrifying aura as his strikes created piercing howls. His current opponent was a cultivator at the mid-stage of the Third Heavenly Realm, judging by the true power emanating from him.

This rebel leader, however, had long been injured by missiles, and his strength was less than one fifth of his prime. He had just happened to encounter Chen Chu charging up from the foot of the mountain as he had tried to escape.

Pfft!

After eleven direct strikes from Chen Chu, blood spurted from Ku Lu’s mouth, and the true power on his body dimmed. As he sensed his opponent’s aura weakening, Chen Chu's energy surged in an instant, and he ruthlessly unleashed a strike with double the speed and power.

With terrifying force, his blade instantly tore through Ku Lu's true power, cutting off his cleaver, then half of his body...

***

In the valley, the rebel stronghold, composed of brick buildings, had become ruins, with craters measuring several meters in diameter scattered around, while the surrounding soil was still emitting hot air. The place was littered with corpses, densely packed and looking like Hell under the glow of the flickering flames.

Not everyone here had perished. Some rebels had survived in the collapsed buildings and caves, dispersing after the bombardment ended.

In the darkness, a group of more than ten rebels had just fled the valley. Suddenly, a figure appeared in the distance, and the lead rebel shouted sharply, "Freeze! Who goes there?"

But the figure didn't stop. Instead, they rushed forward even faster. The lead rebel's expression turned grim. "It's the enemy, kill him!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out, and countless bullets engulfed Chen Chu, splattering numerous sparks, but failed to damage his reinforced battle armor in the slightest.

Chen Chu passed over twenty meters in a flash. In an instant, he plunged into the crowd, his blade flashing as severed limbs and body parts scattered.

Squelch! Squelch!

In the blink of an eye, every one of these people had been cut down like wheat, including the First Heavenly Realm leader.

Chen Chu's eyes were slightly red, his gaze icy cold, and a terrifying aura exuded from his body, as he swiftly flew past the corpses.

His target was the rebel base camp. By the time he rushed into the valley however, the base was already deserted, with only rubble and corpses left on the ground.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Unwilling to give up, Chen Chu darted between the ruins of the buildings, hoping to find any cultivators who were down but not dead, as killing them would still net him contribution points.

Hmm?

Just as Chen Chu passed by a collapsed cliff, he suddenly halted. As he turned sharply, his gaze fell on the large pile of debris at the base.

From behind the rubble, he could just barely sense a suppressed violent aura.

"We've been spotted, Kura. Go out and kill him." A faint female voice sounded, and that suppressed brutal aura erupted.

Boom!

The collapsed stone pile exploded, shaking the ground. A massive figure burst out in a frenzy, its figure nothing more than a shadow as it crossed tens of meters in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

Just as Chen Chu dodged, a half-collapsed building behind him was directly smashed down by that massive figure, sending rubble and bricks flying, and dust filled the air.

It was only then that Chen Chu saw what it was. A beast shaped like a bull, over four meters tall and eight meters long, with two pairs of sharp horns on its head, bulging muscles all over, and a metallic luster to its skin.

It was a mutated beast, one that exuded a violent and imposing aura similar to a cultivator's. Its blood-red eyes fixed on Chen Chu, filled with hostility, and its mouth was filled with sharp fangs; getting bitten by it would definitely be painful.

After the mutated beast had rushed out, a woman with slightly dark skin, beautiful features, and a hot figure stood at the mouth of the cave.

Beside her stood five soldiers holding modified rifles with thick barrels, each with a serious expression as they guarded her.

The woman shouted again, "Kura, kill him, don't let him escape!"

Moo!

The mutated black bull let out a fierce roar, its massive body rushing towards Chen Chu like a heavy tank as the earth trembled beneath its hooves.

Facing such a huge mutated beast, Chen Chu naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to confront it head-on. His figure just flickered slightly and he dodged to one side.

As the mutated beast passed by, Chen Chu swung his blade horizontally.

Rip!

There was a sharp and piercing noise when the blade intersected with the beast’s belly, as if it had struck steel. With the momentum of the charge, a long two-meter-long wound was dragged out. But at just a centimeter deep, it was barely enough to even break the beast’s skin, let alone reach the muscles underneath.

"What impressive defense, what kind of mutated beast is this!?" Chen Chu exclaimed in surprise as he watched the beast knock down another building.

If his strike just now had been aimed at a car, it would have been cut into two pieces. It was as if the beast’s skin was covered in a thick layer of heavy alloy, several centimeters thick.

Moo!

After failing to hit anyone again, the beast let out an angry growl. With a murderous gaze, its massive body started moving again, bursting out with the terrifying kinetic energy of a sports car that instantly accelerated from 0 to 100 in three seconds.

Chen Chu dodged again with a howling gale as the mutated beast charged past, but just as he was about to swing his blade at the beast's belly, he was hit with a strong sense of danger. Without hesitation, he retreated backward.

Moo!

Accompanied by a roar, the mutated black bull stomped its front hooves on the ground, causing the earth to shake violently and creating a powerful shockwave that swept out over a dozen meters.

Even though Chen Chu had sensed the danger in advance and leaped backward, it was too fast, and he was still stunned by the intense shockwave, his body freezing for a moment. With a quick circulation of true power, however, Chen Chu returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

Whoosh!

Just in time for a sharp wind to blow into his ears. A tail as thick as a human thigh swept through the air towards him, and he attempted to block it with his saber in mid-air.

Bang!

The tail, like a steel cable, bent when it struck the blade, the outer half slamming heavily into Chen Chu's shoulder and arm with a terrifying strength. Chen Chu went flying over ten meters, and after landing, he staggered for several steps before slowly coming to a stop.

Looking at the eight-meter-long beast and its python-like tail, Chen Chu slowly exhaled, his expression solemn. "So strong."

He was grateful for his foresight to prioritize strengthening his defense. Otherwise, that blow just now would have actually injured him, not just made his blood boil with excitement.

Chen Chu slowly warmed up his wrist and looked at the beast, which turned its body, preparing to attack again from a distance. A ferocious and sharp aura erupted as he circulated his true power.

His entire body swelled slightly, and elephant patterns appeared on the skin beneath his battle armor, enhancing his terrifying aura. The muscles in his arms bulged even more, making the battle armor creak.

With just two probing moves, Chen Chu had roughly figured out the creature’s strength. It was a Level Three mutated beast, equivalent to a Third Heavenly Realm cultivator.

These mutated beasts had tremendous strength and possessed terrifying defenses that could ignore light firearms. Killing this one would require heavy artillery shells or anti-material sniper rifles. In addition, mutated beasts that reached the third level all possessed one ability, such as the attack that had sent out the shockwave just now.

Under normal circumstances, a cultivator needed to be in the Third Heavenly Realm, have the support of their true power, and possess powerful weapons to put these beasts down.

But even though he wasn't a Third Heavenly Realm cultivator, Chen Chu was still confident that he could kill it.