Chapter Forty-Two: Battle with the Mutated Bull (Second Update) Please vote and add to favorites

Bang!—

Moo—!

“Ah, my leg!”

“This is bad! Xiao Fei, don’t die!”

“Run!”

“Boss Li, hurry, the monsters are too strong, the brothers can’t hold out!”

…

Faced with two colossal bull monsters weighing two or three tons each, these ordinary people stood no chance; with just a single encounter, they were pierced and routed, tossed aside by the bulls’ heads and horns, sent flying, their bones shattered, some even skewered through like tofu, others struck by hooves and left with broken legs sprawled on the ground. Instantly, over a dozen people were either wounded and screaming in agony, mourning for loved ones, seizing the moment to escape, or foolishly shouting at the grim man to shoot—not realizing he was already fleeing, nearly out of the crowd behind.

Those at the back watched the panicked flight of the two ‘guards’ and felt terror welling in their hearts, seeing the dozen men ahead kicked aside like straw by the giant bulls, horror overwhelming them. In a moment, they abandoned all their belongings and joined the rush to escape; the crowd descended into chaos. With so many elderly, women, and children, calamity was inevitable—people fell, others were trampled, and what had been a calm group erupted into cries and wails, misery and helplessness, despair and panic.

“Old Jia, the spear!” Liang Jing, watching the scene unfold, felt a surge of anxiety. Seeing so many people slaughtered by the two bull monsters, he couldn’t help but intervene. Though ruthless to his enemies, he was no saint, yet if he could help within his means, he would. At first, he’d seen they had guns—not just pistols—and thought they could handle the mutated bulls. But he hadn’t expected the bulls’ hides to be so tough that even a Type 56 rifle could barely harm them. He remembered seeing specs online for the semi-automatic Type 56: 7.62 caliber, muzzle velocity 300–500, energy roughly 1,000–3,000 joules; the Type 54 pistol had about 100 meters per second, only around 100 joules. Comparing the two, the difference was obvious—yet neither could deal with these mutated, thick-skinned bulls.

More importantly, the distance to the bulls was at least 300 meters. Even after upgrading his [Violent Throw] to intermediate—like an infrared dot—his effective range was only about 200 meters. He could throw farther, but Liang Jing had no confidence he’d hit his target.

Jia Yujin, slower than Liang Jing, heard his words and the steel strapped to his back began to wriggle under his control. He quickened his pace, and soon forged in his hands a fine steel spear about one and a half meters long, its tip thickened and grooved with three blood channels.

“Here!”

Jia Yujin’s evolved talent was metal manipulation, akin to Yang Yuyuan’s previous fire ability, though Yang could use Fireball, while Jia could not only morph metal into various forms but also had the skill of Diamondization—making his body extremely hard and strong, a fine melee ability. Who was stronger between fire and metal control depended on the context, but for now, Jia’s metal manipulation was far more practical. He could reshape metal into all sorts of items—like the javelin now handed to Liang Jing, an excellent throwing weapon.

Woo—

Seeing the chaos below, Liang Jing took the spear, weighing at least thirty pounds, without hesitation. Now within his infrared-like range, he extended his right arm and unleashed [Violent Throw] in earnest.

With a burst of force, the spear whistled through the air, pierced it, and shot like lightning toward a rampaging mutated bull. Propelled by immense strength and acceleration—

Squelch!

Moo—

The one-and-a-half-meter spear shot clean through the bull’s head. The mutated bull staggered a few steps before collapsing like a toppled mountain, the spear’s power dragging the beast over and nearly pinning it to the ground. But under its massive weight, it soon wrenched itself free; blood and white fluid poured rapidly from the three blood grooves. The bull writhed and screamed, its strength draining swiftly, and soon it could struggle no more, its limbs twitching spasmodically…

Moo—

The other mutated bull, witnessing its companion’s death, let out a furious roar and turned, charging at Liang Jing with thundering hooves. It barrelled toward him, closing half the distance in an instant. Its demonic, dark red eyes glared, horns sharp as drills, and a massive hump rose behind its neck—this was a bull two or three times larger than any fighting breed.

Whoosh—

The bull’s ragged breathing echoed from its nostrils, reaching the ears of Liang Jing and Jia Yujin. Jia’s body flashed with metallic light, swelling and thickening, and the metal in his hands morphed into a spear over two meters long. Gripping it, he rushed toward the mutated bull.

Liang Jing used [Basic Insight]:

“Mutated Bull: Level 11. After crossing into a foreign dimension, environmental influence caused mutation. Bloodthirsty and fierce, thick-skinned and muscular, powerful and dangerous—horns and hooves lethal.”

Seeing it was just an ordinary monster, Liang Jing relaxed. Compared to elite monsters, these were weaker. Though this bull looked formidable, it was no match for the elite Steel-Spine Beast he’d faced before. Liang Jing could tell its strength lay in charging headlong, but it had plenty of weaknesses—its slow turning alone could be exploited to defeat it.

Moo—

Seeing the small human rushing toward it, the mutated bull bellowed, its hooves thundered, head lowered, horns aimed at Jia Yujin.

Woo!

A steel ball shot from Liang Jing’s hand, striking the bull’s foreleg at the knee with a crack; the sound of bone shattering rang out. The bull’s enormous momentum made it stumble, its hind legs flying up, forelegs collapsing, its body tumbling in midair and stirring up a cloud of dust—yet just as it fell...

Squelch!

Jia Yujin, already poised with his spear, angled it forward and braced it against the bull’s neck. The bull’s massive force bent the shaft, but it soon pierced through thick fur and hide, burying deep.

Within the bull’s neck, the spearhead began to morph, twisting toward the brain, extending ever deeper. All this happened as Jia Yujin rolled aside, clutching the spear’s tail while narrowly evading the charging beast.

Moo—

The bull, after tumbling, tried to rise and attack again. But in an instant, the spear transformed, shrinking and extending into its brain, morphing into a spiked steel needle that stabbed and retracted repeatedly. The mutated bull managed only a brief struggle before crashing down, raising a cloud of dust, its limbs twitching in death throes.

Whoosh—

Jia Yujin, gripping the spear’s tail, finally breathed out in relief. Had he been struck, he’d have been in dire straits. Not everyone could heal like Liang Jing, and even with Diamondization for protection, he had no desire to face such a wild colossus head-on. The impact force of its massive body was overwhelming. But this method worked: pierce the beast’s weakly defended interior, then use metal control to transform the weapon inside its brain and quickly kill it.

To everyone watching, it seemed the bull was easily slain: Jia Yujin just braced his spear against the ground and let the bull’s own speed and momentum impale itself, dying instantly.

“Well done!” Liang Jing, watching Jia Yujin so deftly dispatch the mutated bull, couldn’t help but praise him. It was even faster than his own javelin kill just moments before.