One-Eyed Monster

CRACK! BOOM—

The ground suddenly split open with a fissure. This sound instantly took center stage, while the whistling of explosive blades became mere background noise, naturally subdued by the sound of the earth parting.

From within that fissure, a pale hand stretched out. It resembled a skeleton, yet not quite. Bits of tattered flesh still clung to the arm, as if its flesh had been gnawed off…

This incomplete hand clawed at the earth, and gradually, half a body emerged. The torso was even more repulsive. Starkly contrasting pieces were barely stitched together: a patch of tiger’s fur here, a jackal’s ear there, one eye gleaming with a leopard’s ferocity, the other as red as a flame. The entire form was a patchwork, barely assembled into a humanoid shape—at least, the arms were human.

The entirely misshapen, humanoid monster swayed. Pus-yellow liquid continually dripped from its stitched-together body, causing green smoke to rise where it hit the ground.

Lethal poison! The liquid dripping from the monster was lethally poisonous, capable of corroding the very earth!

”Urgh-wuah, wuah…” The monster emitted a nauseating cry, a sound that made one feel as if it were chewing on something disgusting.

THUD. THUD— The monster’s movements were heavy, its clumsy, swaying steps causing several loud thuds.

Witnessing this scene through his ant, Milo felt a sense of resignation. He even slowed his explosive assault. Such monstrosities are nothing new, just products of desperate Dark Alchemists seeking shortcuts. He was now sure he was facing a Dark Alchemist. This should simplify things.

Milo’s confidence wasn’t unwarranted; he excelled at using Exchange Beasts in subtle ways. After all his strategic efforts, his enemy had merely produced a beast filled with failed Alchemy Potions. He could easily dismantle such a creature without expending much energy.

Kevin’s thought process was even simpler: whatever came his way, he’d cut it down; whatever he encountered, he’d strike it.

Wizard Reed had no clue what his adversaries were thinking. He kept his Snowman Clone engaged with the others. The creature he had summoned was not a cobbled-together Freak; this monster was a nameless entity from an Alternate World. It had traversed various Alternate Dimensions, eventually forming this grotesque appearance.

This monster’s specialties were Devouring and corroding. It would either devour its prey or corrode it, ensuring no potential meal went to waste on this land.

Reed didn’t know the creature’s name, only that when it became frenzied, it was far more formidable than a Freak.

Freaks were merely creatures stitched together from various corpses. Clumsy regardless of their eyes or noses, they could only ambush prey. This monster, however, possessed its own consciousness and could unexpectedly lead the unsuspecting to their doom.

They will either be devoured by it or corroded by it!

Despite its current clumsy appearance, it can be very agile when it truly acts...

Reed didn’t expect this monster to defeat the two; he knew their strength. He had summoned this creature merely to break the current battle rhythm, which was unfavorable to him.

The traps and illusions he’d set had already ensnared several powerful individuals. If the battle continued at this pace, those individuals would break free and join the fight. At that point, he wouldn’t be able to respond as flexibly as he could now.

Extracting the Power of Death required time. He had to disrupt his opponents’ rhythm to buy himself that time. He needed to keep his true body hidden while stealthily acquiring the key—the ancient fossil. Only then could he take the scroll away completely intact.

What made him more uneasy was that the decoy was still motionless. This puzzled him.

But he couldn’t dwell on that now; he had to deal with the immediate situation.

Since he had summoned this monster, he could naturally control it. This wasn’t like the Summoned Beasts of Dark Alchemists, which had time limits. The power that allowed Wizards to tear open space-time was a force that was both Natural Force and yet not. It was difficult to define, but regardless, this power belonged to the Darkness Type, because only dark arts could breach the fabric of space-time in such a way.

At Reed’s mental command, the monster slowly began to move—clumsy, slow, aimless…

Milo now understood the nature of his main opponent. The opponent is surely hidden in some corner, using Alchemy Equations to summon these monsters. To think they’d turn perfectly good Exchange Beasts into such a state! I can’t tolerate this! He resolved to blast this Freak to smithereens!

He uncorked a porcelain vial in his hand and released another batch of explosive ants. And this time, the Explosive Talismans carried by these ants were upgraded.

The ants were agile and light, swarming onto the monster in no time.

The Art of Explosion! Milo muttered his usual incantation for triggering explosions.

Yet, disappointingly, no explosion occurred…

Huh? Milo was puzzled. He immediately switched to the Ant’s Perspective. I need to see what this monster is doing! How could such a clumsy monster evade the explosions, especially the upgraded ones? There’s only one possibility: the monster has disappeared.

However, reality was not as Milo imagined. There were no ants on the clumsy monster at all!

Milo couldn’t believe it. He released his ants again, but to be safe, he only sent out a probing number. His confidence was waning, replaced by caution.

Only then did Milo see it: before his ants could even climb onto the monster, they were corroded by the liquid constantly dripping from its body. They vanished completely, leaving nothing behind.

Milo was incredulous. What kind of Alchemy Potion could corrode even my Exchange Beasts? He refused to accept it and sent out more ants, this time coated with a testing agent.

The result, however, was still disappointing. Before the liquid dripping from the Freak had even fully touched this ant, the ant vanished without a trace, as if it had evaporated!

The intensity of this corrosion was beyond Milo’s imagination. Even the current workshops can’t produce such a corrosive liquid! What in the world is this monster?

Milo had no choice but to recall his remaining ants. These ants were, after all, his meticulously crafted Exchange Beasts; he couldn’t afford to squander them like this.

The monster moved slowly, not appearing to be preparing for an attack…