Ch. 258 - As If It Found the Joy of Dog Life [1]

"I didn't fucking summon you to take a walk..."

Chen Shu looked up at the sky and sank into deep contemplation.

Was this thing really his contract spirit?

Right now, he had a feeling like waking from a dream — everything felt a little unreal.

"Squeak squeak!!"

The moment the husky vanished, the three Drill Beasts immediately bared their fangs again, their razor-sharp front claws scraping against the ground.

This was the prelude to an imminent attack!

BOOM!

Then, the very next second, a forty-meter-wide yellow sphere slammed into the ground.

The three Level 9 fierce beasts were instantly turned into pixelated paste!

"So rude! Can't you see I'm feeling a little melancholy here?"

Chen Shu pursed his lips. Some beasts just had a death wish.

Summoning the husky was on cooldown, but the Slime wasn't — each contract spirit had its own separate Beast Taming Space.

"How the hell do you score this?"

Examiner Du Ming shook his head. He had never seen a Black Iron-rank personally take the exam. This was a complete steamroll, plain and simple.

"Forget it, leave the headache to the grading teachers."

Chen Shu clapped his hands and prepared to head deeper into the space to hunt powerful fierce beasts.

Just then, the ground began to tremble.

BOOM!

BOOM-BOOM!

"Hm? Something's up?"

Chen Shu raised an eyebrow. The trio immediately mounted the Mutant Thunderbird, taking no chances — they were fully prepared to bolt at any moment.

In an instant, the soft grassland erupted into vibration, dust and dirt flying everywhere.

One after another, ferociously savage Drill Beasts appeared!

"Holy crap, a beast horde?!"

Chen Shu's brow twitched as he realized what was going on.

The three juvenile Variant Drill Beasts were most likely the offspring of a Lord-rank fierce beast.

Watching the chaos unfolding across several hundred meters ahead, Du Ming fell silent...

Had this fucker really triggered a Beast Tide right at the start?!

"What's going on?!"

Nearby exam teams cried out in alarm, their faces full of panic.

They had to be cursed — running into a Beast Tide the moment they stepped out the door?!

"God-fucking-dammit! We should've never gone the same direction as the Nanjiang Bandit!"

They had figured that with Chen Shu being so powerful, it might actually be safer.

But now it looked like the exact opposite was true!

"Squeak squeak!"

Hundreds of Drill Beasts appeared across the grassland, their grating, ferocious shrieks echoing all around — enough to make anyone's heart tremble with fear.

Xu Xingxing spoke up: "Chen Pi, which way do we run?"

Du Ming's mouth twitched. Three goddamn troublemakers, and their first instinct was to run?

Chen Shu declared with righteous conviction: "Run my ass! We caused this mess, so we take responsibility for fixing it. If we run, what happens to the other students?"

"???"

Both of them turned to stare at him. No matter how you listened to it, something felt profoundly wrong. Had the guy picked up the wrong script?

"Did the husky infect you?"

"..."

Chen Shu added: "...We can always run if we can't beat 'em."

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The Drill Beast horde's gazes all locked onto the giant yellow sphere in front of them, and for a moment, they were thoroughly baffled.

Da hell is dis thing?

One Drill Beast stood upright on its hind legs, sizing up the golden Slime from every angle.

"SQUEAK!"

It let out a shriek — the signal to attack.

Hundreds of Drill Beasts' front claws lit up with the glow of a skill — their talent ability: [Rend].

The reason they could tunnel through earth so effortlessly was precisely those razor-sharp front claws.

"Huff huff huff!"

The Slime immediately activated Sleep-Kill, its defense surging explosively.

BANG BANG BANG!

In an instant, sparks flew everywhere — the sound of metal striking metal rang out!

The Slime was simply too damn hard!

Fierce beasts below Black Iron couldn't even scratch its defense, even with skills.

[Rebound Force] kicked in instantly.

Countless Drill Beasts immediately collapsed to the ground, wailing in agony.

Xie Sunan surveyed the scene below and remarked: "Holy crap, are the Drill Beasts pulling insurance fraud now?"[2]

The Slime hadn't even launched an active attack, yet a whole pack of Drill Beasts were the ones crying out — it really did look like a staged accident scam.

"Goo-gii..."

Just then, blood began flowing from beneath the Slime's body, a bizarre and unsettling sight.

"Shit! They stabbed him in the butt!!"

Chen Shu's expression froze. He understood it instantly.

The Slime's body launched into the air, immediately deploying [Violent Sit-Kill].

There, in that very spot, a Drill Beast had its head halfway poking out of the ground.

Its front claws gleamed with a golden light, looking terrifyingly sharp.

It was obviously the Black Iron One-Star Drill Beast Lord!

"I SIT!"

The Slime's butt came crashing down, winds howling from the sheer force — the power was absolutely terrifying.

The Drill Beast Lord seemed to sense the impending crisis. Its front claws swung, digging through the soil in an instant, and it vanished back underground.

BOOM!

The Slime sat down on empty air!

"It's getting countered!"

Chen Shu raised an eyebrow as he immediately grasped the situation.

They were in the Drill Beasts' territory — it could burrow underground at any time!

"Let's crush your little minions first!"

With a ruthless look in his eyes, Chen Shu ordered the Slime to use [Charge].

BOOM-BOOM!

The Slime's expression was resolute. It gave its butt a shake.

Then its terrifying body began to roll!

The other Drill Beasts could also burrow underground, but compared to the Lord, their speed was far too slow.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak!"

One shrill scream after another rang out. Before the Drill Beasts could even make it back underground, they were crushed straight into meat paste.

The Drill Beast Lord was instantly enraged and immediately ordered the remaining minions to scatter in all directions.

"Run!!"

The other examinees had been watching Chen Shu unleash his might — and now they were caught right in the crossfire.

One Drill Beast after another came tearing at them, throwing the crowd of students into chaos. Some even straight-up abandoned their teammates and fled.

"Sigh... this year's students are no good..."

The proctors recorded everything.

The remaining Drill Beasts were at most Level 8, and their formation was extremely scattered.

If the examinees had fought seriously, they could have easily defended themselves — they could even have counter-killed.

But their mental fortitude was just too poor.

In truth, most of the students were ordinary students with no special training. Some of them had never even set foot in an Alternate Dimension.

Of course they were going to be scared the first time they saw fierce beasts.

Meanwhile, the Special Training Class students from each school remained completely calm and unruffled.

That was the difference between ordinary students and geniuses.

A moment later.

The area around the Slime was littered with corpses — not a single living Drill Beast remained.

The Mutant Thunderbird carried the trio, circling continuously overhead.

The Drill Beast Lord definitely hadn't retreated. In fact, it was highly likely to launch another strike against the Slime.

The hatred between the two sides was beyond reconciliation!

"Time to bait it out!"

Chen Shu's eyes darted around as he ordered the Slime to lie flat on the ground, its round, plump butt exposed...

A sight so temptingly inviting — what Drill Beast could possibly refuse?

Sure enough, in that very instant, the dust beside the Slime exploded upward.

The Drill Beast Lord reappeared!

A flash of golden light spread as its sharp front claw swept across, inflicting yet another wound.

"Squeak squeak!"

Its eyes burned with savage ferocity as it prepared to return underground and wear its opponent down through attrition.

Unfortunately for it, Chen Shu had already been prepared.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

In a single instant, five consecutive fireballs blasted straight at its butt.

The Drill Beast Lord let out a howl of agony, blood gushing freely — there was even the smell of roasted meat.

Not far away, a handsome-looking husky was bouncing back and forth.

Its wise, discerning eyes stayed locked onto the Drill Beast's butt the entire time, as if it had found the joy of dog life.[1]

[1] 狗生 (gǒu shēng): "Dog life" — a pun on 人生 (rénshēng, "human life"). The husky has discovered its life's purpose: targeting butts with fireballs. The joy here is specifically in being an absolute menace.

[2] 碰瓷 (pèng cí): Insurance fraud / staged accident. Originally refers to scammers who deliberately throw themselves in front of vehicles to extort compensation. Xie Sunan uses it when the Drill Beasts hurt themselves on the Slime's Rebound Force and collapse dramatically, making it look like they're faking injuries for a payout.