Chapter 31 Poison Spike Turtle

The Heavy Armor Beast yanked its foot out and stomped down viciously on the Steel Thorn Turtle once more.

Still, it was as before, the foot of the Heavy Armor Beast was pierced again by the strikingly hard spikes on the back of the Steel Thorn Turtle.

Despite its painful howls, the Heavy Armor Beast was reluctant to give up and tried to step down with its other foot; Lin Shen quickly commanded it to back away.

That Steel Thorn Turtle looked quite ordinary, but it was definitely not an average Steel Thorn Turtle.

Although the Heavy Armor Beast was rather unwilling, it had no choice but to follow Lin Shen's order, turning around and charging at the other Steel Thorn Turtles.

One by one, the Heavy Armor Beast resumed its previously invincible stance, crushing several Steel Thorn Turtles in a matter of moments.

The seemingly ordinary, yet extraordinary, Steel Thorn Turtle chased after the Heavy Armor Beast, wanting to battle it, but Lin Shen forcibly controlled the Heavy Armor Beast to evade.

In terms of speed, the Heavy Armor Beast was quite slow among Alloy Level creatures, but it was still a bit faster than the Steel Thorn Turtle, so no matter how frantically it pursued, it could not catch up to the Heavy Armor Beast, which continued crushing one Steel Thorn Turtle after another.

Suddenly, Lin Shen noticed that the Heavy Armor Beast's speed had slowed down, and even its running movements were somewhat off, as if it were limping.

"Was it hurt that badly just now?" Lin Shen found it strange—if the injury to that foot was affecting its mobility, why did the symptoms only show up now?

Glancing down at the injured foot of the Heavy Armor Beast, Lin Shen immediately felt that it might not be just a simple injury.

There was no Base Mutation Fluid seeping from the wound on the Heavy Armor Beast's foot, and it didn't look severe, but its whole leg seemed to be unable to bend, walking with a heavy thud on each step, as if that was not its leg, but a crutch.

"Not good, the spikes on that Steel Thorn Turtle seem to carry something like a toxin," Lin Shen realized the problem.

The toxin-like substance was still spreading in the Heavy Armor Beast's body, increasingly restricting its movements.

The Steel Thorn Turtle caught up and the Heavy Armor Beast tried to kick it furiously, but it got its neck caught in the turtle's mouth and couldn't shake it off no matter how hard it tried.

Attempting to kick with its other leg was futile as that leg was now as unresponsive as wood.

"A stitch in time saves nine," Lin Shen steeled himself and summoned the Meteoric Iron Swallow.

As the Steel Thorn Turtle stubbornly clung to the neck of the Heavy Armor Beast's foot, the Meteoric Iron Swallow transformed into a black blade and slashed towards its neck with incredible speed.

Who would have thought that the Steel Thorn Turtle was not quick in movement, but astonishingly fast in withdrawing its neck; it loosened its grip and retracted its neck, evading the strike of the Meteoric Iron Swallow.

The Steel Thorn Turtle, having dodged the attack from the Meteoric Iron Swallow, extended its neck lightning-fast, attempting to bite the Heavy Armor Beast's leg again.

However, it never anticipated that the Meteoric Iron Swallow, which seemed to fly forward ferociously, would make a bizarre turn and return even faster than before, striking the Steel Thorn Turtle's neck once again.

Firstly, the Steel Thorn Turtle did not expect such a move, and secondly, the distance was too close, and the Meteoric Iron Swallow's speed was so surprisingly fast that it gave no opportunity for the turtle to retract its neck again.

A black lightning streaked by, and with a crisp snap, the Steel Thorn Turtle's neck was severed by the Meteoric Iron Swallow, sharp as a blade.

Its neck was not as hard as its shell and spikes, and fell victim to a single deadly blow from the Meteoric Iron Swallow, enhanced by both Swift Slash and Swallow Return.

"Killed the Mutant Steel creature, Poison Spike Turtle…"

After the death of the Steel Thorn Turtle, Lin Shen had no great joy on his face. Instead, he ordered the Heavy Armor Beast and the Meteoric Iron Swallow to clear out the remaining Steel Thorn Turtles even faster.

The Steel Thorn Turtles that swore to defend the Base Mutation Egg to the death still recklessly charged at the Heavy Armor Beast, fearless of life and death.

If there were a choice, Lin Shen would not want to exterminate them completely, after all, steel materials were not very valuable, and it probably wouldn't be possible to transport so many items back.

The reason he commanded the Heavy Armor Beast and the Meteoric Iron Swallow to hasten the killing of the Steel Thorn Turtles was due to his worries.

Not long after, Lin Shen's concerns developed towards the worst possible scenario.

The two injured legs of the Heavy Armor Beast could no longer move; even its body had begun to stiffen up, making walking increasingly difficult.

What was more painful was that the wings of the Meteoric Iron Swallow also started to stiffen, its flight path became highly unstable, and its speed also slowed down considerably, nearly falling from the sky several times.

Luckily, they were both Alloy Creatures, a level higher in strength than the Steel Thorn Turtles; otherwise, they might have already been killed by the swarming turtles by now.

Lin Shen had previously refrained from going down to hit the Mutated Poison Thorn Turtle's acupoint himself, fearing that he too would become infected by the substance, whether it was a toxin or something else, which was why he let the Meteoric Iron Swallow try.

The result was very bad; even the unharmed Meteoric Iron Swallow had been affected, and Lin Shen didn't know how to save them. He could only watch helplessly as their bodies gradually stiffened until they completely immobilized, like metallic statues.

About a dozen Steel Thorn Turtles remained, but fortunately, Lin Shen still had the Supersonic Gunman, who connected shots to the head and killed the remaining turtles.

"I must leave here quickly," Lin Shen did not dare to stay, fearing the corpses of the Steel Thorn Turtles and the Base Mutation Fluid flowing out of their bodies would attract other Base Variant Creatures.

Even the Base Mutation Eggs in the sand pits had been mostly given up by Lin Shen, who only intended to pack a few in his backpack for backup.

"I wonder if that Mutated Poison Thorn Turtle laid eggs here..." As Lin Shen pondered, the Death Powder coiled around his arm suddenly moved on its own, wriggling out of his sleeve like a snake towards a sand pit.

"Death Powder, come out, don't touch my mutant Base Mutation Egg," Lin Shen thought, moving step by step towards the sand pit, unable to straighten his waist and walking with great difficulty.

Unfortunately, Death Powder didn't heed his command; it burrowed into the sand pit. Before Lin Shen reached the pit, Death Powder came out on its own and then pounced on another sand pit.

Lin Shen had given up on chasing it and helplessly watched as Death Powder rapidly shuttled among the sand pits, visiting hundreds of them in turn.

After exiting the last sand pit, Death Powder pounced on the corpse of the Mutated Poison Thorn Turtle. Its body and mouthparts expanded to an extreme degree, and it swallowed the corpse of the Mutated Poison Thorn Turtle in one gulp.

"I haven't collected the Base Mutation Fluid yet... That's the rare Base Mutation Fluid of a mutant creature..." Lin Shen was very frustrated, as he watched the good stuff being ruined; these were materials from a mutant creature.

Although it was a lower level, the presence of the word "mutant" made it valuable enough.

It was even more disappointing because the Mutated Poison Thorn Turtle likely laid eggs, which were probably Mutant Eggs that Death Powder had privately consumed.

If Lin Shen had acquired them, he could've used the Mutant Eggs to complete Base Mutation, which would surely have made him stronger than the other Steel Mutators.

As Lin Shen was considering ways to fully control Death Powder, it surprisingly crawled back on its own, climbing onto Lin Shen's arm, and while crawling, its body shrank until it turned into a capsule in the palm of his hand.

"Base Mutation evolving..." Lin Shen saw such a message displayed on the capsule.

"Come on... evolving now... are you playing with me..." Lin Shen tried to unlock and summon Death Powder, but the key wouldn't work after several attempts, completely unable to summon it.

In this place teeming with dangers, this damn thing went off to evolve after stuffing itself, and Lin Shen had no idea how long the evolution would take. He had the heart to curse its eighteen generations of ancestors.