Chapter 157: The Poly-Horned Beast

The sudden movement startled Su Yi. He immediately drove strength into his feet, and his body instantly sprang backward. Following closely, he quickly dashed behind a relatively large rock not far away, crouching to conceal himself. Having done all this, Su Yi held his breath and cautiously peered toward the pool.

He saw the ripples on the water surface growing larger and larger, somewhat resembling boiling water, as if something was about to burst forth from within. Sure enough, before Su Yi could make any further guesses, a massive figure broke the surface of the water and then slowly moved forward, looking as though it intended to come ashore.

"What... kind of magical beast is this?" Su Yi secretly watched its every move, feeling a trace of doubt in his heart. Although he had never seen such a magical beast before, a feeling of danger instinctively welled up from the bottom of his heart. Right now, he was very likely not this creature's match! Viewed this way, this magical beast must be a Tier 2 magical beast?!

For a moment, Su Yi did not know whether to feel excited or nervous. This was a very strange and somewhat contradictory feeling. Upon seeing a powerful and dangerous magical beast, one ought to feel nervous and afraid, but at the same time, there was a sense of novelty and excitement. This was probably related to the fact that Su Yi had rarely, if almost never, encountered Tier 2 magical beasts before...

Composing his emotions, Su Yi continued to observe and peer. The magical beast, whose name Su Yi did not know, dragged its massive body and finally reached the shore. It shook its head, seemingly surveying its surroundings, and then opened its huge, blood-red maw, spitting out a rock.

Frowning slightly and watching the magical beast, which seemed to be messing around with the rock for reasons unknown, Su Yi's heart sank a little. According to his original plan, the obstacles to entering the pool should not have been very great, because normally in the outer regions of the Luojia Mountain Range, there should not be any powerful magical beasts, and this small pool should hardly be inhabited by any magical beasts either.

Moreover, even if there were any, they should only be around Tier 1. If that were the case, Su Yi reckoned he would have the ability to handle it. However, the current situation completely exceeded his expectations! There was actually a Tier 2 magical beast here! Come to think of it, this was truly unreasonable, yet it was an undeniable fact!

"To think it's willing to live in such a small space... Aren't you afraid of feeling cramped?" Su Yi cursed inwardly. The creature undoubtedly became the biggest obstacle to his plan, but rushing forward to fight it head-on was hardly a good method, as the odds of winning were far too low. As for the Dark Dragon Tendew—if he had Dou Qi, there would still be some hope of success through a sneak attack, but right now he could not use it.

Yet if the creature did not leave, Su Yi had no way to enter the pool to investigate. After all, the pool was not large, and the moment he entered, he would be discovered by it.

"Under the current circumstances, I'm afraid my only option is to find a 'helper'..." Su Yi looked around, his brow still not relaxing. "However, clearly because of this magical beast, there are no traces of other magical beasts around this pool. It seems they were all scared away..."

In this outer region where Tier 1 magical beasts were everywhere, a Tier 2 magical beast could indeed reign supreme. Su Yi pondered for a moment and finally made his decision. He gave a low chuckle at the magical beast, and then quietly slipped away while it was not paying much attention.

Moving a short distance away from the pool, Su Yi put on a slightly guarded expression, and then slowly walked deeper into the mountain range. To deal with the magical beast in the pool, he needed to lure over another magical beast of comparable strength. Magical beasts were inherently bloodthirsty and constantly engaged in mutual slaughter; as long as two tigers fought, one would inevitably be injured, and by then he could reap the fisherman's profit!

However, while this plan sounded wonderful, implementing it presented no small degree of difficulty. The first problem was how to find such a magical beast, and the second was how to lure it to the pool. One had to remember that the other party was also a Tier 2 magical beast, and if things went wrong, he would be the first to suffer.

In order to find such a magical beast, Su Yi had no choice but to venture deeper. Originally, he had no desire to do so; venturing deeper with his current strength was practically an act of courting death. But now, the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released...

The crisp sound of withered leaves and twigs snapping came from beneath his feet. Su Yi reached out to push aside a cluster of wild grass taller than a man, then abruptly stopped his body, half-closing his eyes to listen intently. After a long moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, turned his head toward a certain direction, and muttered to himself, "There seem to be the sounds of magical beasts fighting over there..."

With a shift in his gaze, Su Yi immediately set off and quietly followed. Following the source of the sound, after walking for only a short while, he could already make out the silhouettes of magical beasts. Su Yi slowed his pace, suppressed his aura, crept forward cautiously, and finally hid behind a thick tree to observe.

Ahead in his field of vision was a group of magical beasts, the vast majority of which looked quite similar, appearing to belong to the same species. However, to Su Yi's surprise, these magical beasts were actually Serpent-Tailed Wolves that he had encountered before!

"As expected of one of the most common types of magical beasts..." Su Yi could not help but smile bitterly and silently. But then, after observing carefully for a moment, his expression suddenly turned somewhat solemn. The Serpent-Tailed Wolves he had encountered previously were not particularly strong, and very few of them could rival a tenth-rank Dou Zhe. Yet the weakest among this batch of Serpent-Tailed Wolves could actually rival a tenth-rank Dou Zhe!

Although that previous pack of Serpent-Tailed Wolves had been numerous, Su Yi had not believed they could kill him, since even if they bit him, they could not pierce his skin. But if they were all replaced by Serpent-Tailed Wolves with the combat power of a tenth-rank Dou Zhe, the pressure would instantly skyrocket, and they would likely prove extremely difficult to handle.

What made Su Yi's heart chill even more was that, judging from their fierce auras, two of the wolves in this pack were Tier 2 magical beasts! Among them, the leader possessed the fiercest aura, appearing to be far from an ordinary newly-advanced Tier 2 magical beast. At that moment, it was staring fixedly at its prey with a fierce and bloodthirsty gaze!

Just what kind of magical beast were they trying to deal with? Su Yi felt a bit curious and shifted his gaze to the other side. Launching such a massive group assault, their target should not be any simple opponent, right?

"Uh... Is this... a Multi-Horned Beast?" Seeing the creature's appearance, Su Yi was stunned for a moment, then muttered uncertainly. Although the name of this Multi-Horned Beast sounded very similar to the legendary Unicorn, the two were not the same; one could only say their appearances bore some resemblance, but they were entirely distinct species.

Although Su Yi had never seen a Multi-Horned Beast before, many related books, when introducing Unicorns, would contrast and describe Multi-Horned Beasts alongside them for the sake of differentiation. It could be said that the Multi-Horned Beast was known to many largely thanks to the fame of the Unicorn.

"Indeed it is a Multi-Horned Beast... Hm, it looks like this is going to be a fierce battle indeed..." Looking closer and confirming his suspicion, Su Yi's eyes flickered. Although this Multi-Horned Beast did not bare its fangs fiercely like the Serpent-Tailed Wolves, a latent, subtle ferocity was still faintly emanating from it. According to descriptions, the Multi-Horned Beast was a magical beast with a gentle exterior but a tyrannical heart!

After a prolonged standoff, the balance was finally broken. The battle—or rather, the slaughter—began!

With a wolf howl, the Serpent-Tailed Wolves, accustomed to group attacks, unhesitatingly swarmed forward without a shred of fairness, opening their jaws to bite fiercely at the Multi-Horned Beast! In tit-for-tat fashion, the Multi-Horned Beast shook its head and launched its body, charging fiercely into the pack of Serpent-Tailed Wolves with multiple sharp, intimidating horns upon its head!

"Howl! Awoo—!"

Right at the start, two Serpent-Tailed Wolves had their chests pierced right through and died on the spot. The remaining Serpent-Tailed Wolves turned red-eyed and lunged forward like mad, biting onto the Multi-Horned Beast and refusing to let go. However, the Multi-Horned Beast possessed such thick hide and flesh that it completely disregarded them. Dragging several wolves upon its body, it continued to gallop and charge back and forth, as if these Serpent-Tailed Wolves were merely ticks clinging to its skin.

"A magical beast's hide is truly thick!..." Su Yi unconsciously compared it to himself. He reckoned he could endure attacks like that, but definitely not for long. While feeling shocked and amazed, a strange sense of excitement and thrill also stirred within his heart. "Sigh, they are fighting fiercely over there, and I'm watching excitedly from the side... Heh heh, no wonder quite a few people love going to beast arenas to watch beasts fight... This feeling..."

While Su Yi was lost in his solitary musings, the greater part of this battle had already passed. Many corpses of Serpent-Tailed Wolves lay scattered on the ground, and the remaining ones were so heavily injured they seemed to have only a breath left. As for those few Serpent-Tailed Wolves that had desperately bitten onto the Multi-Horned Beast, after holding on for so long, they were completely exhausted and were suddenly flung off, crashing heavily onto the ground with loud thuds.

However, the attacks of these Serpent-Tailed Wolves were not entirely without effect. The Multi-Horned Beast had already sustained injuries. Furthermore, during the earlier fight, the other Tier 2 Serpent-Tailed Beast—aside from the leader—had delivered a desperate final attack, biting into the Multi-Horned Beast's elbow. The deep wound exposed bone, its flesh was rolled back, and blood flowed endlessly, restricting the Multi-Horned Beast's mobility to a certain extent. Of course, as the price for this, that Serpent-Tailed Beast had several transparent holes left in its head.

With an angry roar, the injured Multi-Horned Beast seemed to feel both humiliation and fury, stamping its hooves and charging frantically toward the lead Serpent-Tailed Beast! Utilizing its agile and nimble movements, the Serpent-Tailed Beast flipped over, dodged the attack, and landed squarely on the creature's back. Having also sustained injuries in the earlier combat, it wore a savage expression as it clamped its jaws directly onto the Multi-Horned Beast's neck!

"Howl—!"

Unable to shake the Serpent-Tailed Beast off despite violently thrashing its body in pain, the Multi-Horned Beast suddenly saw its sharp horns flash with a chilling frost, and immediately two sharp ice cones slowly materialized!

"Oh, to be able to do that... Could this Multi-Horned Beast be on the verge of stepping into the peak Tier 2 realm?!..."