Chapter 64
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 64: Descent
Outside Hope City, fifty kilometers away.
A thin mist enveloped the endless forest.
The trees here were tall and sturdy, their folded bark displaying an eerie dark hue, while their branches and leaves shimmered a deep blue, reminiscent of alien creatures from science fiction.
A gentle breeze swept through, as if carrying a command, bringing an unusual silence to the forest.
Then, accompanied by rustling sounds, clusters of trees began to move unnaturally, like cocoons shedding their protective layers.
Beneath the unseen ground, countless plant roots writhed, transporting the nutrients that had solidified over the past months.
These nutrients flowed deeper into the forest, some entering the towering tree, while others were directed to several depressions nearby.
This tree stood nearly a hundred meters tall, its wrinkled surface dotted with pulsating fleshy lumps.
Blue and purple fluorescence flickered with the lumps’ expansion and contraction, as if something inside was on the verge of breaking free.
High above, the tree’s crown seemed to inhale and exhale the thickening mist, feasting upon it.
As the mist was absorbed and the roots supplied nutrients, the fleshy lumps on the tree gradually swelled.
Finally, when a light green glowing lump reached its limit, a sharp claw pierced through the semi-transparent membrane.
The claw slid downward smoothly, slicing through the membrane like butter meeting a hot knife, without a sound.
Soon, a one-meter-long tear appeared in the membrane; the claw withdrew, and two watermelon-sized heads emerged.
The extraordinary beast with two heads was gray all over, resembling a blend of feline and canine traits.
Once it forced its heads out, its entire body followed, plummeting toward the ground.
However, the expected impact did not occur; the newborn beast quickly regained balance mid-air, landing its seven uneven legs firmly on the ground.
Yet, being newly born, it was top-heavy, and one of its heads collided with an exposed root, letting out a cry of pain.
The other head looked around, carefully surveying this strange world.
The cries of the young extraordinary beast seemed to awaken the giant tree nearby; its branches trembled slightly, and a gentle light radiated from its roots, guiding the young beast forward.
With both heads nudging the glowing dots on the ground, it moved toward a clear little puddle.
Instinctively, it lowered its head and extended its tongue.
The moment it touched the liquid, a craving for its sweetness was forever imprinted within it.
No one told it that it was merely a First Level juvenile extraordinary beast, a pawn meant to test humans, a runner for a higher extraordinary beast.
This creature, only half the size of a human, drank the sweet juice, and its body visibly began to grow.
But this stroke of luck did not last long; within minutes, more green "cocoons" on the giant tree began to rupture, and one extraordinary beast after another fell from the tree.
They bore between one and four heads, and their bodies varied greatly.
Scholars among humans would note one common trait: all of them had characteristics of mammals.
While most extraordinary beasts agilely grasped the tree’s folds or used their multiple legs to land steadily, a few crashed to the ground and died beneath the towering tree.
In unseen corners, deep brown roots slowly emerged from the soil, wrapping around and digesting the bodies.
The two-headed juvenile beast did not monopolize the nutrient pool for long; soon, more beast heads squeezed in from the sides.
At this moment, the advantages of having multiple heads and more legs became apparent.
Each head had a mouth, allowing those with three or four heads to drink the nutrient-rich liquid much faster than others.
More legs helped the extraordinary beasts prevail in the competition for nutrients.
The differences among them became clear from that moment on.
As the first offspring born from this batch of trees, the two-headed juvenile beast enjoyed nearly five extra minutes of exclusive growth.
Seeing the nutrient pool now swarmed with extraordinary beasts, it could only try to delay being pushed out as long as possible.
As for those born later, with only one head, they were either squished into thin slices or could only stand aside and watch.
But those extraordinary beasts with multiple heads did not maintain their dominance for long.
Less than an hour later, as the giant tree trembled, higher up, blue cocoons began to burst one after another. This time, the limbs that pierced through the cocoon membrane transformed from claws to thick, hard segmented limbs.
These limbs, bearing obvious insect characteristics, were covered in dark shells and were far stronger than the tender bodies of the juvenile extraordinary beasts below.
They crawled out of their cocoons, firmly gripping the tree trunk with at least six limbs, gradually moving downward.
These juveniles, reaching the Second Level, were also drawn to the nutrient pool formed by the roots and began to approach slowly, the sounds of their shells and limbs colliding adding a hint of terror to the forest.
A three-headed extraordinary beast lifted its head from the nutrient pool, its six ears twitching before cautiously turning its body.
Noticing an insect-like extraordinary beast about the same size as itself, this beast slightly arched its body, taking on an aggressive posture.
“Roar!”
Its three heads let out a low growl.
“Hsiao~”
The insect-like extraordinary beast, despite lacking anything resembling a face, also issued a threatening sound, its massive open jaws snapping together, creating a loud thud.
The two creatures faced off for less than ten seconds before the extraordinary beast that had hatched from the green cocoon chose to retreat.
It arched its body, staring at the other beast, and slowly backed away, instinctively knowing it was not a challenger it could defeat.
Seeing the strongest Green Cocoon Extraordinary Beast retreat, the others also stopped feeding, mimicking the trend and yielding the nutrient pool.
The insect-like extraordinary beast, unhurried and collected, stepped forward, extending a tubular mouthpart into the nutrient pool’s depths, beginning to feast greedily.
More and more Blue Cocoon extraordinary beasts with insect characteristics gathered, ultimately occupying all the nutrient pools, while the poor Green Cocoon Extraordinary Beasts could only stand by and watch them indulge.
Amid the many extraordinary beasts watching the scene, one with two cat heads yet a body resembling a wolf silently observed everything before it.
