Chapter 181 - The Dark Dodder

Chapter 181: The Dark Dodder
Translator: 
Nyoi-Bo Studio 
 Editor: 
Nyoi-Bo Studio
Squeaks from gigantic cockroaches filled the underground pipeline as they were burnt by the fire. The chaotic squeals completely drowned out all other noise, even the sound of their leader…
The fire burned fiercely, accompanied by columns of thick smoke. Gao Peng covered his nose, coughing as he retreated.
The fire was really fierce, and it seemed to have burnt off much of the oxygen in the air, causing him to have difficulty breathing.
Gao Peng saw a cockroach that was double the size of the other gigantic cockroaches ordering the other cockroaches anxiously. He presumed that it was their leader.
Gao Peng’s eyes lit up.
Stripey!
This giant cockroach was only level 18, and its grade was only Excellent.
Stripey was completely capable of implementing its decapitation tactics on cockroaches.
Stripey shook its claws lightly and rampaged straight towards the cockroaches as if it was a tank.
All the gigantic cockroaches along the way were thrown off by Stripey’s hard outer shell. As its claws rose up and swept sideways, several gigantic cockroaches were sent flying. The other few bent their limbs downward and sprang up high as their limbs tightened as much as they could.
Although quite a few were burned by the fire, a large number of them were still in rest mode, so when they suddenly saw Stripey barging in, they were instantly spurred on and rushed forward fiercely.
They moved towards and hit Stripey’s shell like raindrops, making muffled sounds.
The intense and continuous attacks only left insignificant white marks on Stripey’s hard shell. The method of attacking these gigantic cockroaches was monotonous; it was simply tearing with the mouth and attacking with tiny sharp claws. The cockroaches relied on their numbers.
A Perfect Grade Commander tier’s defense completely overwhelmed the group of gigantic cockroaches.
This was not a game, and there was no such thing as a forced armor break that caused a drop in health points.
If one couldn’t break through the defense, then they would never be able to cause any harm.
Breaking a stone through water droplets also required a certain time frame.
Gao Peng frowned, for he sensed that it was gradually becoming more difficult to breathe. Although Shifting Constellations could divert damage, he didn’t want totest if the damage of not being able to breath could be diverted. Although the underground sewers had ventilation facilities, the loss of oxygen for even a short period was not something that could be replaced in a short amount of time.
Retreating backward, he moved some distance away from the battlefield.
Stripey rushed to the front of the gigantic cockroach leader and lifted up its spider claws fiercely, as if it was surrounding the gigantic cockroach with iron rods, forming a cage that trapped the gigantic cockroach in the center.
No matter how hard the gigantic cockroach tried, it just couldn’t escape Stripey’s grip.
With its head lowered, the tip of Stripey’s tail and mouth ejected a large amount of spider silk. There was no way to avoid it at such a short distance.
Finally, Stripey brutally bit off the gigantic cockroach leader’s head.
Even though gigantic cockroaches’ healing ability was abnormally powerful, and their vitality was extremely stubborn, nevertheless, losing their heads meant death.
Without their leader, the morale of the rest of gigantic cockroaches dropped, and they ran for their lives.
It seemed like these gigantic cockroaches were the cause of the factory’s accident. It was just hard to figure out why the gigantic cockroaches had surrounded and blocked the alloy door. Once the water of the flood gates was released, they would flock towards the door, facing the current while moving upstream.
The numbers were there. One to two of them would have coincidentally rushed into the door.
Gao Peng could imagine what had happened after that.
Stripey suddenly squealed loudly with its mouth wide open, sounding as if it was in agony. Then it knocked against the wall continuously.

What’s the matter, Stripey?
Gao Peng enquired quickly.
Full of fear, Stripey replied,
Something is moving in my mouth, it’s moving, it’s moving.

Had that cockroach’s head transcended into a higher being? Gao Peng was shocked.
While comforting Stripey nonstop, Gao Peng was able to clearly see what was in Stripey’s mouth; it was a bunch of earthworms that were wriggling constantly.
[Monster Name]: Dark Dodder (Parasitic Sub-body)
[Monster Level]: Level 19
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Dark
[Monster Hobby]: Eat Metal
[Monster Weakness]: Hates Sunshine
[Parasitic Characteristic]: Suck up blood and fat beneath the skin of host as nutrition. Enable the host to recover their physical strength, repair their inner wounds, and upgrade their outer skin’s defensive power.
Yet another type of parasitic plant.
Gao Peng’s face twitched slightly.
The grade of this parasitic plant was rather good, and its strengthening attributes weren’t bad either.
Recuperating the physical strength of the parasitic host was equivalent to increasing its ability to continue in combat. Enabling internal healing was also considered a healing effect. Upgrading external defensive power meant a direct increase in combat strength.
All in all, these abilities were rather useful.

Come here, Flamy,
What was urgent at that moment was to remove the Dark Dodder from Stripey’s mouth.
Stripey’s defensive power was strong, but only its external shell. If this Dark Dodder made it into its brain, it could be rather troublesome.
Naively, Flamy was tricked into coming over. Gao Peng looked at Flamy and sighed,
Sorry.

Feelings of ominous dread rose from the bottom of Flamy’s heart.
Gao Peng couldn’t help but pat Flamy’s head.
You’re still very young, yet you have so much to bear…

Flamy looked at its master, puzzled, as it wondered why its master’s expressions looked so terrifying.
The next scene caused Da Zi’s eyes to squirm. It turned its head, not bearing to look at it directly, and glanced at it with its small eyes secretly.
Flamy’s trim beak cut inside as if it were a double handled surgical scalpel.
Finally, Flamy’s beak grabbed onto a bunch of black silk threads that kept wriggling and squirming in Stripey’s mouth and pulled them out.
Leaving Stripey’s mouth, Flamy spat the black silk threads on the ground, then it leaned against the wall and vomited until its face was green.
Anyone who saw or heard it would be affected by the misery from its voice and the brutality of the movements.
Cough, Stripey, then we’ll see that you aren’t in the habit of rinsing your mouth regularly,
Gao Peng scolded Stripey.
Stripey squealed woefully.
Gao Peng coughed twice; he had been at his wit’s end just now, since only Flamy had such an ability.
The Dark Dodder that had been thrown on the ground looked like rolls of messy hair, with black-bean-like things scattered unevenly on the black hair strands.
Initially, the Dark Dodder squirmed viciously on the ground, then with great caution, it escaped. Gao Peng pretended not to see it and instructed his familiars to ignore it.
Only when the Dark Dodder had travelled a distance away did Gao Peng signal for them to catch up with it. With Da Zi’s sharp smelling ability, he presumed that the approximated route wouldn’t be too far off the mark.
They met some other monsters along the way, but their levels weren’t high, just of a normal grade. Gao Peng didn’t bother with them. He only depended on the breaths released by Da Zi that were sufficiently making these monsters evade them on their own.
After walking for half an hour, making right and left turns in the sewer, they faintly heard the sound of flowing water.
The sound grew louder and louder. It seemed like the underground water converged in a point somewhere in front of them. Water flowed from several places and merged in this hall, and because of the quick flow, a whirlpool was formed.
Along with this came a strong and terrible stench.