Chapter 147: The Steel Bear King
Without the slightest hesitation, he drank the healing liquid squeezed from the body of the steel-toothed beast.
A surge of vitality instantly enveloped his entire body, causing his injuries to heal rapidly.
The moment he regained control of his body, Lu Sheng used spatial teleportation to escape from within the mountain.
The Corpse King's strength was entirely on an overwhelmingly superior level to his. From the current perspective, Lu Sheng held not even a shred of hope of defeating the Corpse King.
To defeat an enemy, you first need attacks capable of inflicting injuries upon them.
However, just managing not to be beaten to death by the Corpse King could be considered quite fortunate for Lu Sheng at present.
Since he couldn't even manage a frontal confrontation, he naturally had no way to launch a counterattack.
The moment he emerged from the mountain, the Corpse King flickered and reappeared directly in front of Lu Sheng, attempting to finish him off with a single blow.
Yet Lu Sheng had made preparations well before stepping out.
He directly teleported away from the spot, causing the Corpse King's attack to miss and strike the mountain where he had just stood.
"Boom!"
Following a deafening explosion, the mountain peak shattered where the Corpse King struck, leaving a massive fissure in its place.
Lu Sheng's figure materialized behind a tier-six corpse-human, shattering its head with a single strike of his spear.
The Corpse King followed closely behind, lashing out with another claw aimed at Lu Sheng's torso.
The Corpse King's entire body was shrouded in death energy, which similarly coated its sharp claws. Any living creature struck by them would be instantly ensnared by the death energy; without the resistance of powerful energy, they would be reduced to mere skeletons in a matter of moments.
Lu Sheng's target was no longer the Corpse King, nor did he intend to continue tangling with it.
The Corpse King's present strength was simply too formidable and beyond his ability to handle.
Therefore, Lu Sheng's current targets were the Corpse King's subordinates.
He would first wipe out the remaining tier-six and tier-seven followers, and then see if an opportunity arose to take down the Corpse King. If no such opportunity presented itself, he would simply leave and return once his own strength had increased.
As for his own subordinates on the battlefield, he had already recalled and stored all of them.
This level of combat was no longer something his tier-six subordinates could participate in.
Continuing to keep them here might only result in needless casualties.
He had gone to great lengths to acquire so many subordinates; he had no desire to lose them here for no reason.
Utilizing the supreme mobility granted by spatial teleportation, Lu Sheng continuously evaded the Corpse King's assaults while persistently attacking the corpse-humans.
The Corpse King recognized Lu Sheng's intentions, but for the moment, there was nothing it could do to stop him.
The extraordinary mobility provided by Lu Sheng's spatial teleportation was simply beyond its ability to counter.
Although its speed was also extremely high, allowing it to close the distance instantly the moment Lu Sheng appeared, it could not react immediately without being able to predict where Lu Sheng would manifest next.
Unable to apprehend him instantly, Lu Sheng could freely slaughter its followers and easily escape afterward.
This realization filled the Corpse King with intense fury and deep frustration.
Possessing overwhelming brute strength yet failing to land a single hit on his target left the Corpse King profoundly distressed.
The Corpse King let out a furious roar: "Fall back!"
At the Corpse King's command, the massive horde of corpse-humans began to retreat.
This was the only solution the Corpse King could think of at the moment.
Since the opponent was hell-bent on slaughtering its subordinates, it would simply order its subordinates to withdraw.
In this way, the opponent would no longer be able to kill them.
It had to be admitted that this tactic was rather effective.
Upon seeing all the corpse-humans begin their retreat, Lu Sheng found himself momentarily without a viable counter.
These corpse-humans had already dispersed; if he pursued in a specific direction, the Corpse King would no longer need to adjust its positioning and might actually manage to trap him.
Frowning, Lu Sheng weighed his options and ultimately decided to withdraw.
He was currently no match for the Corpse King, but that would not necessarily be the case after some time had passed.
Once his main body broke through to tier-seven and he used energy infusion to directly elevate it to peak tier-seven,
Lu Sheng refused to believe that he would still be entirely defenseless against the Corpse King at peak tier-seven.
As long as he could inflict damage upon the Corpse King, Lu Sheng was confident he could beat the creature to death.
Thus, Lu Sheng felt no particular urgency.
Employing spatial teleportation, he continuously shifted upward into the sky. Once he cleared the Corpse King's attack range, Lu Sheng summoned the White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird.
Regardless of how furiously the Corpse King bellowed and roared below, Lu Sheng mounted the White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird and departed.
Leaving only the Corpse King behind, raging impotently.
The corpse-humans across the entire Grave Mountain trembled in terror, not daring to make any unusual movements.
They could sense that their King appeared to have been thoroughly infuriated by that human just now.
If they provoked their King at this juncture, they might very well be beaten to death by it.
......
Riding away on the White-Flame Blue-Scaled Bird, although this trip had not resulted in the conquest of the entire Grave Mountain, he had still harvested certain gains.
Among them, he had taken down forty tier-six corpse-humans, which also yielded forty attribute-less Law Stones.
Furthermore, during the period of his battle, he discovered that the monster squads he had dispatched had also begun continuously bringing in rewards.
Already, twenty tier-six monsters had been hunted down by his own monster squads.
And only an hour had passed.
Moreover, the primary portion of that time had been wasted simply on traveling.
One had to remember that there were no longer any tier-six monsters remaining in the vicinity of the camp.
He had thoroughly cleared them out; to hunt more monsters, he had to venture much farther afield.
Consequently, the majority of the initial time had been spent on the road.
Even so, the number of tier-six monsters in his possession had now broken the hundred mark, reaching a total of 110.
This could be considered a fairly substantial force of tier-six monsters.
Since this place could not be conquered for now, Lu Sheng had no intention of remaining idle and immediately selected his next destination.
The Steel Bear Forest!
Over a hundred steel bears inhabited this region, among which more than ten were at tier-six, alongside a single tier-seven Steel Bear King.
Previously, no one dared to covet this place simply because the strength of the people in District 13 was generally lacking.
To conquer this location, the price to be paid would be far too exorbitant; over a dozen tier-six steel bears, coupled with a tier-seven Steel Bear King, were simply not something any single faction in District 13 could handle alone.
Arriving above the Steel Bear Forest, he saw that the trees below were entirely silvery-white, each one growing with the appearance of solid metal.
In truth, the hardness of these trees was scarcely different from iron, and their density was equally astonishing.
The diet of the steel bears consisted precisely of these trees.
Feeding on ironwood, the physical defense of the steel bears went without saying—it was exceedingly formidable.
This was also one of the reasons why no one dared to harbor designs on the steel bears.
With such robust defenses and immense strength, encountering this type of monster meant that anyone of the same tier would consider themselves lucky just to avoid being beaten to death.
Lu Sheng observed the activity range of the steel bears from the sky, noting which areas had a higher concentration of them.
Having pinpointed the locations of the steel bears, Lu Sheng summoned all of his subordinates.
Over a hundred tier-six monsters launched a frontal assault.
Going all out right from the start, without any probing maneuvers.
The steel bears, which had been leisurely gnawing on the iron-like trees, were caught completely off guard.
The weaker steel bears were instantly beaten to death on the spot by Lu Sheng's tier-six monster subordinates.
However, the tier-six steel bears were not so easily dealt with.
After being bombarded by a concentrated barrage from over a dozen tier-six monsters, they still managed to charge forward valiantly.
The enraged steel bears sprinted on all fours, each heavy step sending tremors through the ground.
This was not due to some formidable power skill; the ground vibrations were entirely caused by the sheer momentum of their heavy bodies during the frantic charge.
The silvery-white bodies of the steel bears looked like solid blocks of silver, and blocks of extremely high density at that.
The concentrated ranged barrage from more than ten tier-six monsters had merely left a few minor wounds on this particular steel bear, alongside scorching its hide a faint black.
Those minor wounds were completely invisible unless one looked very closely.
Yet, the mere fact that it could be injured meant that this steel bear had already lost.
Facing a hundred-odd tier-six monsters, did it still hold any room for resistance?
Before this steel bear charged over, it had let out an angry roar.
At that moment, roars echoed throughout the entire Steel Bear Forest, with the bellowing of steel bears resounding everywhere.
From the sky, Lu Sheng could clearly observe that all the steel bears within the forest had raised their heads upon hearing that roar, and then sprinted wildly toward his position.
In other words, a massive horde of steel bears was currently rushing toward the battle zone to slaughter him.
Lu Sheng smiled faintly; this development actually worked to his advantage, saving him from running around everywhere.
Since they were all coming over, he could simply wipe them out in one fell swoop.
Lu Sheng had carefully observed the situation.
The current Steel Bear Forest did not differ significantly from the descriptions recorded in the intelligence reports.
It had not undergone drastic changes and surges in power like Grave Mountain.
As long as the strength of the steel bears here had not increased, Lu Sheng possessed absolute confidence in conquering this location.
At the same time, Lu Sheng spotted the location of the Steel Bear King.
This Steel Bear King was a size larger than normal steel bears, and the aura emanating from its body was far more ferocious.
It was exceedingly easy to identify.
Judging from the aura radiating from the creature,
it was undeniably a tier-seven monster.
Clarifying the aura of the Bear King actually allowed Lu Sheng to breathe a sigh of relief.
Had he encountered a scenario similar to the Corpse King once more, he would have had no choice but to shift his target.
If this Steel Bear King had been at tier-eight, Lu Sheng believed that a single slap from it would have caused him to drop dead on the spot.
He ordered his subordinates to attack with full force and hold nothing back.
Under the ferocious assault of numerous tier-six combatants, the charging tier-six steel bear was instantly blasted apart.
Its entire body, renowned for its extreme hardness, was blown to pieces, scattering across the ground in fragments.
Not even a complete corpse was left behind.
Following the death of this steel bear, the remaining steel bears active within the forest arrived one after another.
Upon witnessing the massive pile of their companions' corpses on the ground, they let out furious roars.
Without a moment's hesitation, they charged toward the monster troops.
To Lu Sheng, this seemed somewhat puzzling; monsters attained sentience after reaching tier-three, and by tier-six, their intelligence was roughly comparable to that of normal humans.
Yet these steel bears seemed completely devoid of reason, blindly rushing in to fight his subordinates without even assessing the disparity in strength—indeed, no sign of intelligence could be discerned in them at all.
After pondering for a moment, Lu Sheng stopped dwelling on it; this was normal after all, seeing as even among humans, there were individuals lacking in intelligence.
Let alone bears, which were traditionally symbols of simple-mindedness.
He simply instructed his subordinates to attack with all their might and annihilate every single charging steel bear.
Additionally, his six tier-seven subordinates had not yet made their move, all standing ready for the appearance of the Steel Bear King.
The Steel Bear King was their designated opponent, while these tier-six and sub-tier-six ones attempting to ambush them could be handled by the hundred-odd tier-six monsters.
The battle steadily escalated, with numerous steel bears meeting tragic ends under the energy bombardment of the multiple tier-six monsters.
Thick hides and tough flesh could not withstand a sustained firepower saturation coverage.
The steel bears that charged forward met gruesome fates, blasted into pieces by the tier-six monsters without a single intact corpse remaining.
Accompanied by a roar of fury, the Steel Bear King made its appearance on the battlefield.
Witnessing the devastation of the battlefield, it let out an even more shrill and piercing howl.
Scanning the area, its vision was filled with the corpses of its fellow steel bears; at that moment, it was consumed by absolute rage.
However, unlike the previous steel bears, the Steel Bear King did not blindly charge into the monster horde.
Instead, it cautiously observed the adversaries, fixing its gaze upon the numerous tier-six monsters without immediately rushing forward.
Only after confirming the strength level of its opponents did it unleash a roar and charge out.
Because Lu Sheng had not yet permitted his tier-seven subordinates to take action,
the Steel Bear King failed to sense any tier-seven auras. From the Bear King's perspective, these monsters were merely a collection of tier-six entities relying on sheer numbers to bully its kin.
Even if a tier-seven existed among them, the Steel Bear King felt no fear; according to their past battle records, their steel bear clan was invincible even among peers of the same tier.
Unless they encountered top-tier monster lineages, which posed an insurmountable barrier due to bloodline constraints.
Yet, judging from the current situation, these chaotic tier-six monsters showed no signs of possessing top-tier bloodlines.
Thus, the Steel Bear King launched its attack with absolute confidence.
As the Steel Bear King moved into action, the ground shook with even more violent tremors, reflecting the might of its tier-seven strength.
Had it been allowed to charge directly into the tier-six monster ranks, this single impact alone would have severely injured the majority of them, while any tier-six monsters taking the brunt of the collision head-on would undoubtedly have died instantly.
Without even the possibility of resurrection.
Based on Lu Sheng's current observations, this outcome was entirely plausible.
Yet how could Lu Sheng allow the Steel Bear King to complete its charge unhindered? With a snap of his fingers, his six tier-seven monsters entered the fray.
Among them, the massive serpent was the most astonishing sight.
A trace of unease flickered in the Steel Bear King's eyes.
Against a single tier-seven opponent, it had the confidence to crush them; against two, it still possessed the confidence to win; against three, it was confident it would be the one standing at the end.
But against six, its only confidence was that it wouldn't be beaten to death.
Glancing back at its enraged kin, the Steel Bear King let out a low roar.
It could not run!
If it fled, all of its kin behind it would die here.
It knew the temperament of its kin well enough to realize that attempting to lead them in a retreat was an absolute impossibility.
So what if there were six tier-seven opponents!
It, the Steel Bear King, knew no fear!
The timidity in its eyes vanished instantly as the primal nature of the steel bear clan reawakened.
In an instant, the Steel Bear King clashed with the six tier-seven monsters.
The three wild-boar men made the first move, thrusting three black spears toward the fatal spots on the Steel Bear King's body.
The Steel Bear King shifted its position, causing the three attacks to deviate. Though they still struck its body, the three blows completely failed to pierce its defense.
They inflicted zero damage upon the Steel Bear King.
The spear tips landed against the Steel Bear King without penetrating at all, blocked entirely by the layer of fur on its body.
With an angry roar, the Steel Bear King unleashed the Law of Strength, imbuing its offensive strikes as it blasted the three wild-boar men flying with a single move.
Still, since they were all at tier-seven, the Steel Bear King—despite holding a slight racial advantage—could not completely suppress the wild-boar men.
The three tier-seven wild-boar men were merely sent flying back and sustained no severe injuries.
Following closely behind were the attacks of the other three tier-seven monsters.
The Frost Werewolf unleashed its ice-law in an attempt to freeze the Steel Bear King in place.
Reacting with extreme swiftness, the Steel Bear King shattered the frost the moment it formed on its paws. Facing the continuous onslaught of icy energy, it showed no trace of fear, clapping its paws together in mid-air to generate a shockwave of spatial power.
This shattered the incoming ice-law and effortlessly neutralized the Frost Werewolf's attack.
Relying on its massive serpentine body, the giant python attempted to crush the Steel Bear King.
Charging straight toward the target, a powerful impact surged forward.
The Steel Bear King thrust its paws directly outward.
"Boom!"
The charging giant python was halted dead in its tracks. The moment it stopped the python, the muscles on the Steel Bear King's body could be seen visibly expanding by several degrees, with thick blood vessels clearly protruding across its furless areas.
The giant python let out a painful hiss; being forced to a sudden halt inflicted severe injuries upon its own body.
Two extremely distinct bear-paw prints appeared on the spot where the Steel Bear King met the python, sinking deep into its flesh.
Taking advantage of the moment the Steel Bear King was holding back the python, the jackal-man slashed down with a blade aimed at the Bear King's head.
Even with the jackal-man exerting every ounce of strength, the blade only sank in slightly before becoming wedged in the Steel Bear King's skull.
Feeling the blow to its crown, the Steel Bear King's anger spiked instantly.
Pushing the giant python away, it counter-attacked with a backhanded swipe, batting the jackal-man away.
Failing to evade in time, the jackal-man was directly sent flying, spraying a large amount of blood into the air.
The airborne jackal-man did not stop until it crashed heavily into a silvery ironwood tree.
At that moment, the jackal-man felt as though every bone in its body had been shattered, rendering it incapable of even struggling to its feet.
Frowning, Lu Sheng gazed at the battlefield: could six tier-seven entities still fail to defeat one?
Was this Steel Bear King truly this ferocious?
He ordered the jackal-man to commit suicide to restore itself to its prime state, after which it was to immediately rejoin the fray and attack the Steel Bear King anew.
Simultaneously, Lu Sheng issued a command to all six tier-seven monsters: disregard your own lives and attack with full force; if you feel your injuries are too severe, simply commit suicide and reset.
Through this suicidal assault tactic, Lu Sheng refused to believe he couldn't take down this Steel Bear King.
The fiercer this Steel Bear King was, the more Lu Sheng found himself liking it.
In Lu Sheng's eyes, this creature was already his subordinate.
It was fish in a barrel; could it possibly manage to escape?
Fixating his attention on the battle, Lu Sheng did not leave his tier-six subordinates idle either, urging them to quickly slaughter all the remaining steel bears.
As Lu Sheng's subordinates adopted a suicide-squad style of offense, the wounds on the Steel Bear King's body gradually multiplied.
The Steel Bear King was currently filled with shock.
These opponents before it launched attacks with a complete disregard for their own lives.
Even when it could send them flying with a heavy blow resulting in severe injuries, the opponents refused to evade, stubbornly leaving a wound on its body in return.
Initially, it had felt a surge of triumph, believing the ultimate victor of this battle would undoubtedly be itself.
Yet, when it witnessed a wild-boar man that it had previously beaten into a state of severe injury reappear moments later in peak condition to fight it once more, it became utterly bewildered.
It clearly remembered heavily injuring that opponent just moments prior.
Could its memory have failed it?
Amidst the heat of battle, it had no time to ponder such questions; every single move from the six tier-seven opponents targeted its vital points, forcing it to dodge continuously.
It simply assumed the opponent had managed to block its attacks and avoided severe injury.
However, the sight of a growing pile of wild-boar man corpses on the ground left the Steel Bear King silenced.
The reckless, suicidal tactics of its foes caused the wounds on its body to proliferate endlessly.
Yet every single opponent it battered into heavy injury would reappear on the battlefield, completely unblemished.
While the corpses of those very same opponents remained piled upon the ground.
Faced with this bizarre phenomenon, a chill crept into the heart of the Steel Bear King.
It did not fear ferocious opponents, nor did it fear those willing to trade their lives.
But opponents who threw their lives away yet refused to stay dead were genuinely terrifying.
As the number of enemy corpses on the ground increased, the Steel Bear King felt the wounds on its own body multiplying as well.
Its vision grew increasingly blurred—a physiological reaction to excessive blood loss.
At this point, not a single intact patch of skin remained on the Steel Bear King. Even though it had managed to evade lethal strikes and protect its most critical areas,
the sheer accumulation of numerous minor wounds constituted a fatal injury in aggregate.
Every single wound was bleeding; the Steel Bear King's silvery-white body had been dyed a crimson red, and the ground itself was stained with blood.
Such high-intensity combat naturally accelerated blood circulation, and faster circulation meant blood gushed from its wounds in greater volumes.
The Steel Bear King might have been able to stem the bleeding for one or two wounds, but with its entire body covered in them, control was utterly impossible.
Unless it ceased moving, stopped fighting, and refrained from utilizing powerful energy—only then might it have succeeded.
Yet the current situation gave it no leeway for such measures.
Ultimately, the Steel Bear King met a tragic end, falling under the joint siege of the six tier-seven monsters.
Collapsing into a pool of blood, the Steel Bear King did not possess a single uninjured inch upon its body.
Vulnerable areas, such as its rear, had naturally become the primary targets of the wild-boar men's relentless attacks.
The blood continually dripping from that particular region was enough to make anyone clench their muscles involuntarily.
Until the moment of its death, the Steel Bear King could not fathom why these enemies refused to stay dead.
Though perhaps it understood now that it was dead.
Having resolved the Steel Bear King, Lu Sheng let out a breath of relief.
The strength of this Steel Bear King had somewhat exceeded his expectations.
Leaving aside the fact that it fought six opponents simultaneously as a fellow tier-seven, even with a suicidal trading strategy, it had taken nearly ten full minutes of grinding to wear the creature down to death.
In those ten minutes, the wild-boar men had died twenty times, the jackal-man 10 times, the Frost Werewolf 5 times, and the giant python 1 time.
Though this rapid turnover was largely due to the suicidal attack pattern, it nonetheless amply demonstrated the formidable nature of the Steel Bear King.
Securing such a powerful subordinate filled Lu Sheng with a sense of excitement.
This Steel Bear King was currently at the late stage of tier-seven, making it somewhat stronger than the other six tier-seven entities. Once elevated to peak tier-seven, Lu Sheng believed it should be capable of exchanging blows with a tier-eight Corpse King.
And once advanced to tier-eight, even a tier-eight Corpse King would not be unbeatable.
An exceptional frontline tank possessing formidable defense and immense strength—these were precisely the traits required of a frontline tank.
Indeed, its performance could be described as exceptionally stellar.
After reviewing the attributes of the Steel Bear King, Lu Sheng stored it away with satisfaction.
Regrettably, its quality was blue rather than the purple quality Lu Sheng had anticipated.
The remaining steel bears had long since perished under the devastation of the hundred-plus tier-six monsters.
His harvest included twenty tier-six steel bears—slightly more than the dozen or so recorded in the intelligence.
Leading this retinue of subordinates, Lu Sheng advanced toward his next destination.
As for the Frosty Pool, Lu Sheng held no great ambitions regarding it.
Primarily because he lacked any formidable aquatic monsters in his collection; if the monsters within the Frosty Pool chose to hide deep underwater and refused to emerge, Lu Sheng would have no effective counter for them.