Monster Paradise - Chapter 1289
Chapter 1289: Retreat!
The Braintipede’s real body was a centipede as large as a giant, with a blood-red shell and sharp poisonous spikes lining its back.
The species was called the Braintipedes because their eggs had to be hatched in the brains of other creatures. Once they hatched, they would quickly devour the hosts’ brain matter, receiving the hosts’ memories and life experiences at the same time.
After they matured, the Braintipedes could also release tiny centipede clones that would crawl into the brains of other creatures and live there, turning these creatures into their puppets.
A Braintipede’s path to maturity was quite treacherous, so it was practically a miracle for one to reach the heavenly god-level.
The tens of thousands of years he had spent growing under harsh circumstances was also the reason why this one was especially careful and cautious.
When the Queen Mother informed him that an unknown Heavenly God had appeared on this battlefield, the Braintipede immediately abandoned his battle with two human Heavenly Gods and made a beeline for Heavenly Spirit Planet.
As soon as he teleported here, the Braintipede swept the entire planet with his Telekinesis several times, before frowning slightly.
“I don’t sense any god sequence-level (heavenly god-level) auras!”
He was cautious by nature, so he turned his head to look at the Ant King Yi Li and the others. “How was the Titan killed? Tell me again in detail.”
Yi Li repeated the information he had reported to the Queen Mother, but in even more detail this time.
Upon hearing that, the Braintipede looked at Tough City in the distance and thought it over for a moment. He did not attack immediately; instead, he turned to look at one of the other Titan Bugs, giving it a command.
“You! Go and break down this city’s defense formation!”
The Titan Bug did not know how dangerous that would be, so it accepted the order without any objections. It stepped forth boldly and headed right for Tough City.
All the other Bug Tribes looked toward the direction the Titan Bug was heading, staring that way without blinking. They wanted to see if the enemy Heavenly God would attack again.
When the Titan Bug reached within a hundred meters of the city, Tough City began to ring the alarms.
“Titan Bug attack!”
“Titan Bug attack!”
“Titan Bug attack!”
The contents of the alarm made Lin Huang frown slightly despite himself.
A second attack by a Titan Bug meant that the other four cities had already fallen. Even if they were yet to be completely taken over, the cities’ defenses must have been broken, at the very least. That was by no means good news.
“Are they testing us by only sending one Titan Bug?”
After he sealed the Titan Bug earlier, the Bug Tribe retreated without hesitation because they suspected that the humans had a Heavenly God who secretly killed it. The fact that they dared to test the waters now gave Lin Huang a good idea about the source of the Bug Tribe’s confidence.
“They’re probably doing this because the Bug Tribe has a Heavenly God on their side now.
“If there really is a Bug Tribe Heavenly God on the scene now, the only thing I can do is scare him into staying his hand! He probably sent the Titan Bug to test the waters because he’s wary. As long as we muddy the waters, he won’t dare to attach so easily.”
Lin Huang turned around to look at the direction of the dimensional portal. The retreat was in its third wave, and about half of the mid-level Virtual Gods had been sent away. He probably had another dozen or so minutes left to wait until it was his turn.
When the people heard the alarm saying that another Titan Bug was attacking, they began to panic.
Thankfully, Nangong Wei appeared in an instant and unleashed his aura, steadying the entire area.
“Don’t panic, everyone. The more you panic, the slower the teleportation will become. The defense formation is at full power right now, and it will take the Titan Bug at least another half an hour to break this formation. That means we have another half an hour, at least…”
Nangong Wei did not tell them the truth.
The truth that the Bug Tribe might have a Heavenly God on the battlefield now…
The truth that the enemy still had four Titan Bugs, and if the four of them worked together, the defense formation would fall apart within seven or eight minutes at the most…
Nevertheless, his lies put most of the people at ease. As for those smart enough to see through his ruse, they also wisely kept their mouths shut.
Saying the truth now would only cause even more panic, and anyone who tried would likely be killed on the spot by Nangong Wei to set an example for the others.
Lin Huang did not say anything either. He just quietly exchanged his cards for a Grade-2 Seal Card. After he mixed into the crowd, he applied a tiny bit of force in his fingers and shattered the card.
The next instant, a flash of golden light lit up in the sky, flying from Tough City and traversing the huge distance almost in an instant. The light enveloped the Titan Bug that had just gotten within a hundred kilometers of Tough City.
The next instant, the Titan Bug wrapped in golden light rapidly shrank, disappearing completely within two to three seconds.
Another Titan Bug had vanished?!
The few remaining sentries in Tough City’s watchtowers felt their jaws fall open again at the sight. After a second, they recovered and instantly spread the news back into town.
When the people inside the city heard this news, they could not help a cheer of delight.
They were even starting to believe that a Heavenly God was secretly protecting Tough City.
The line to the dimensional portal had been a little chaotic earlier, but now it was going perfectly smoothly again.
On the other hand, the Bug Tribe reacted completely differently to this development.
Every member of the Bug Tribe who witnessed that scene felt unspeakably shocked, and many of them looked toward the Braintipede.
When most of them looked at the Braintipede, their hearts settled. After all, they had a Heavenly God here too. However, a few of them were wondering if their Heavenly God was any match for the unknown Heavenly God on the humans’ side.
The Braintipede’s Telekinesis had been locked onto the Titan Bug from the start, and at first, the Braintipede looked rather confused. After a while, however, his expression turned somewhat ugly.
The instant when the golden light enveloped the Titan Bug earlier, he had felt a power repelling his Telekinesis away. After that, it seemed like the Titan Bug’s enormous body was shrunk to its absolute limit, until finally it simply disappeared. The Braintipede witnessed the entire process clearly, but he still could not understand how the opponent was doing it.
That eerie process even made him somewhat scared.
The creepier part was he never once felt any hint of energy coming from that power.
“It can’t be a high-level Heavenly God, can it?!”
The Braintipede was feeling a little uneasy now.
However, he was not quite willing to give up after just one attempt, especially since there were so many Bug Tribe juniors watching.
After a moment of consideration, he issued a new command after all.
“Send in another one!”
This time, the Braintipede did not only lock his Telekinesis onto the Titan Bug, he even snuck some of his Divine Power into its body.
The Bug Tribe sent out its second Titan Bug, attracting even more attention from within their ranks. Almost everyone was waiting with bated breath to see if the opponent’s Heavenly God would make another move.
In Tough City, the alarm rang again, notifying the town about this second Titan Bug attack.
When Lin Huang heard the alarm, he raised a brow.
“Again?! Do they know I’m after Titan Bugs or something?”
He exchanged another ten draws for a Grade-2 Seal Card, shattering it stealthily once more.
There was another flash of golden light from Tough City, and as soon as the light left the constraints of the defense formation, it once more sliced through space and fell over the second Titan Bug. Within an instant, it had enveloped the entire Titan Bug.
Almost at the same time, the Braintipede’s targeted Telekinesis and the Divine Power hidden inside the Titan’s Body were both repelled right out.
After that, the same process repeated itself.
The Titan Bug, as large as a mountain, shrank into nothing within two to three seconds.
The Braintipede looked even more troubled now. He was almost certain that the attacker was stronger than him, and by a considerable margin too.
After all, he had tested the opponent twice, but he still had no idea how the other side was doing it.
That made him extremely wary.
After a moment of hesitation, he secretly contacted his two heavenly god-level friends and explained what had happened with his scouting.
When they heard his description, the two Bug Tribe Heavenly Gods gave him different responses.
“According to your description, there’s a high chance the opponent is a high-level sequence god. Just retreat, and stop provoking them. When you bump into someone like that, just avoid them.
“The fact that you can’t sense their energy feels weird to me. If they’re really that much stronger than you are, why would they hide their energy waves? I think they might be acting mysterious on purpose, hiding their energy waves using some special means to try and scare you off. I’d suggest you lure them out. If you really can’t beat them, you can still run away later.
Those were two completely different suggestions, but the Braintipede gave it some thought and decided that the second one made more sense.
However, he did not intend to throw caution to the winds and lure his opponent out just like that. Instead, he wanted one last test.
The Braintipede turned his head to look at the Titan Bugs again.
Of the two Titan Bugs, he placed one of his centipede clones into one Titan Bug’s brain and inserted a portion of his god sequence chain into the other.
Once those arrangements were done, the Braintipede ordered them once more,
“This time, both of you will attack at once!”
Although the two Titan Bugs were not very smart, they saw what had happened to their two ‘seniors’, so they knew that this was dangerous. However, the Braintipede’s orders were absolute, so they had no choice but to jump into it.
The alarms in Tough City rang again soon.
“The Titan Bugs are attacking! This time, there are two of them!”
When he heard that, Lin Huang glanced at the dimensional portal. The mid-level Virtual Gods were still being sent away.
“I thought they would send the bugs one at a time, so I’d be able to buy more time. But now they’re sending two at the same time! This should also be the last test. I wonder how the Bug Tribe’s Heavenly God will respond.”
Lin Huang knew that there were only two Titan Bugs left, but he could not be sure what that Bug Tribe Heavenly God would do after he sealed away these two.
“If he chooses to fight in the end, I’ll have to run away with an Escape Card. I just don’t know where I’ll be randomly sent off too…”
Lin Huang had already planned out his escape route. He did not want to use an Escape Card because its effects were random. If it sent him to the Bug Tribe’s home base, he would be in trouble.
Many ideas flashed through his mind, but Lin Huang did not hesitate for long. He exchanged two more Seal Cards anyway.
Glancing at the two golden cards in his hand, he applied a little force with his fingers and shattered these cards as well.
The next second, two flashes of golden light shot out of Tough City and instantly enveloped the two Titan Bugs.
This time, the centipede clone in one Titan Bug’s body immediately exploded, and even the Braintipede’s god sequence chain in the other one was destroyed without putting up any resistance.
Far away in the Bug Tribe’s camp, the Braintipede took both blows at almost the same time, and he spewed two consecutive mouthfuls of blood.
The purple-black blood that he spewed rain down on swathes of Bug Tribe members, and those who had blood on them instantly turned into a puddle of liquid.
The Braintipede raised his head and looked at the direction of Tough City in alarm, issuing his command without hesitation.
“Retreat!”