Why are you rewarding me?
Gloria sat cross-legged atop the massive stone, patting her slightly swollen stomach as she retracted her feline ears and tail. Sipping her liquor, she glanced this way and that, but sensed no sign of any star beast nearby.
Aili piloted the Leonine, standing vigilant a kilometer behind Gloria. Between them, Lu Chen maneuvered his armor, entirely cloaked in invisibility.
“The enemy is a star beast similar to an electric ray—it may discharge electricity, so be wary of shocks!” The tilt of Gloria’s head betrayed her skepticism. “What kind of radar are you using? I haven’t even glimpsed the beast’s shadow, and you already know its species?”
She had barely finished speaking when a thunderous explosion unfurled in the night sky, lightning blossoming like a celestial flower. In an instant, a colossal, unbranched bolt was synthesized, crashing directly into the Leonine behind Lu Chen!
The Leonine's defensive array was designed primarily against high-energy laser and particle weapons, rendering it weak against pure electricity. Fortunately, Aili, heeding Lu Chen’s warning, manually piloted the ship and deployed a lightning-deflection array, barely withstanding the initial assault.
Yet the bolt did not dissipate; it lashed the ship’s hull like a whip, a continuous barrage. Lu Chen turned to see a dark figure unfurling its wings, blotting out the sky, materializing behind the Leonine. Its flattened, elliptical body, including a long tail, stretched over a hundred meters. Lightning coiled about its form, with twin antennae atop its head discharging thunder.
“It’s gone around back… This creature has intelligence—it knows destroying the ship will trap us here!”
“Aili, hold the line. Gloria, go.”
Lu Chen stealthily approached the Thunder Ray Star Beast.
Gloria sprang up like a sleek black cat, leaping skyward and racing atop sword energy.
Swoosh—
She hadn’t arrived yet, but a slash of sword energy shot forth! Yet the blow failed to breach its defenses. Instead, the Thunder Ray instantly locked onto her, tracing the sword’s path and retaliating with a bolt that struck Gloria squarely in the forehead!
Stunned, her hair bristled, she plummeted headfirst downwards.
At that moment, her sword activated once more, springing from its sheath cloaked in a faint aura of magical flame, charging straight at the star ray.
Sensing something amiss, the creature instantly withdrew its assault from the Leonine, focusing its thunder on the magical sword. But it was merely a conductive blade; ordinary lightning could not melt it, nor could the electric field hinder its flight.
As the sword neared, the star ray suddenly rolled, converting its electric field to a magnetic one, flinging the sword away at a distance!
Lu Chen was dumbfounded—how was this possible? The star beast understood electromagnetic transformation! Maxwell must be resting peacefully in his grave.
Gloria recovered, raising her feline ears and tail. With a flick of her tail, magical flames erupted, her form growing much more agile. She flipped, reclaimed her sword, and slashed at the star ray!
The creature steadied itself, unleashing more thunder. This time, Gloria acted wisely, tossing her sword toward the beast in advance. Her blade, wrapped in magical fire, accelerated toward it.
The star ray was forced to roll.
“Aili, fire the laser cannons—target its antennae!”
Aili promptly activated the lasers, bombarding the two thunder-emitting antennae. Engrossed in generating a magnetic field to deflect the sword, the star ray could not spare attention for the lasers. Though the low-grade cannons failed to penetrate its defense, the antennae were scorched and damaged.
As it rolled, it exposed its belly, where the thunder’s coverage was relatively sparse.
Gloria launched a flying kick at the exposed stomach!
Her kick connected, but after all, it was a foot, not a sword, and couldn’t breach its defenses. Her foot landed on the enormous belly, dozens of meters across—the creature’s level was even higher than hers.
The blow was painful, but only that—Gloria was instead numbed by an electric shock, then flung aside by the beast’s long tail.
Lu Chen quickly toggled the Leonine and Gloria’s wrist communicator, projecting a light screen to remind her:
“Hold onto its tail, don’t let go!”
“You trying to electrocute me?”
“If you cloak yourself entirely in magical flame, you should be able to withstand it. Once you reclaim your sword, slash its tail—without balance, it’ll be vulnerable!”
“Fine, wait till I lose control in full demonization and slaughter you too.”
Gloria enveloped herself in magical flames, and as the tail whipped by, she wrapped her arms around its thick tip!
Luckily, the tail’s electricity was much weaker than the head and back.
Gloria endured, clinging to it like a black cat hugging a power pole.
The star ray raged, thrashing its tail, ascending and rolling in the air, but no matter how it twisted, it could not shake her off.
She tried to retrieve her sword, but the surrounding magnetic field was too chaotic; the blade couldn’t get close.
Lu Chen immediately asked Aili, “Aili, can you use your beastmaster abilities to disrupt its thoughts? I feel this thing is much too clever.”
Aili replied, distressed, “I tried—it’s impossible, as if there’s a stronger beastmaster controlling it from behind!”
“Alright, then keep burning its antennae with the lasers—it must weaken eventually!”
Lu Chen’s present dilemma was that the star ray, being a high-level star beast, was tough and resilient—none could break its defenses, not even by ambush.
He swore that, once this mission was over, he’d upgrade his armor—its engine shouldn’t be lower than his own level.
For now, Gloria’s sword was the only potential tool to breach its defenses. But the sword was affected by thunder and magnetism, making it impossible for her to wield it.
Lu Chen had only one plan, but it required Gloria’s cooperation.
“Gloria, your sword’s been countered by electromagnetism—no blame today, but if we want to win, it’s still up to you. I have a way to break its defense, but I worry…”
Gloria, suffering as she clung to the tail, had no patience for Lu Chen’s rambling.
“Spit it out—stop wasting time!”
Lu Chen hesitated, embarrassed. “Could you bite through its tail…?”
Gloria exploded in fury.
“Which of us is stupid—you or me? Its tail is as thick as a person—how am I supposed to bite through it? I’d sooner bite yours off!”
Lu Chen shivered. Succubus indeed—she could banter even in battle.
“Oh, my mistake—not bite it off, but bite through the skin and inject magical energy into its blood.”
Gloria was speechless.
“You’re still an idiot—magical energy only affects highly intelligent humans or humanoids, not star beasts!”
Lu Chen hurriedly explained, “I suspect this star beast is sentient, or perhaps controlled by an intelligent mind.”
“Fine, I’ll try—if it works, mark me down for the main credit.”
“If not, you still get credit.”
“I don’t trust you!”
The two conspired loudly, but the star ray could not hear them.
Unwilling but out of options, Gloria followed Lu Chen’s tactic, ramping up her magical energy, nearing the brink of loss of control…
She bit down on the hard tail scales!
Her teeth struck resistance.
“Ow…”
“You idiot, lift the scales before biting!”
“Oh.”
Gloria forcibly pried up a tail scale and bit again…
This time, she finally broke the star ray’s defense!
She poured magical energy into it.
The star ray trembled violently, wings outstretched, rolling and soaring out of the atmosphere.
It coiled its long tail, suddenly turning it snakelike and incredibly flexible, binding Gloria tightly.
Then, it bent swiftly, curling head and tail, attempting to send Gloria toward its mouth!
It meant to swallow her whole!
She struggled, but could not break free.
Panic overtook her.
“Damn it, where’s my sword? Bring me my sword…”
Lu Chen followed in his armor and glanced at the scene.
Her sword, caught up in the turbulent magnetic field, was flying erratically around the star ray, completely uncontrollable.
“Who’d have thought you’d ever be scared?”
Gloria, gritting her teeth, retorted,
“Scared? My magical flames only work if they enter the bloodstream—once I’m in its stomach, they’re useless!”
Lu Chen laughed, “Don’t you still have sword energy? How do you know it won’t work unless you try?”
Gloria shouted, “Heartless man—you want me dead? Listen, I can’t die—if my body’s digested, my consciousness will be taken over by the demon, and I’ll slaughter indiscriminately. You and Aili will die too!”
By now, the star ray had opened its massive maw.
Lu Chen continued teasing,
“See, the star ray doesn’t believe you—it's going to eat you anyway.”
The enormous mouth loomed, consuming Gloria.
She was stunned, surrendering to fate.
“It’s over, you’re all done…”
But Lu Chen’s invisible armor now blocked her path, less than a yard away.
The star ray swallowed the armor whole.
The armor kicked Gloria aside, then charged straight into the beast’s stomach.
Engines at full throttle, it plunged deep into the gut.
Gloria was dumbfounded, bearing Lu Chen’s footprint across her face like a tire mark.
“What are you doing?”
“We’ll attack from inside and out—this is the end for the star ray!”
Lu Chen had waited so long for an opportunity to breach the star ray’s defenses—he wouldn’t hesitate now.
The problem was simple:
Would the ray’s stomach acid digest the armor’s shell faster, or would Lu Chen’s laser cannon and energy sword wreak more havoc first?
The star ray’s hunting method was to electrocute prey unconscious before swallowing, not to eat live prey.
Beasts that swallow prey whole often have stomach linings that are nearly impenetrable, and their gastric acid is extremely corrosive.
But the star ray’s stomach lining and acid, for its level, were merely average.
Lu Chen couldn’t break its defenses from outside—surely he could inside?
Left hand wielding a chainsaw, he cut open the stomach lining, then locked himself in place with a hook.
No matter how the star ray retched, it couldn’t expel him.
Then—
Cannon fire, laser blasts, energy sword—
He unleashed every weapon at his disposal.
No tactics, just relentless slaughter!
Kill, kill, kill!
Lu Chen, invisible for so long, finally unleashed his fury, reveling in the carnage.
The star ray rolled and retched, blood spewing and wailing in agony!
Outside, Gloria finally found a gap and reclaimed her sword.
The star ray, no fool, immediately flung her away.
It carried Lu Chen off, flying into the depths of space.
It refused to fight anymore!
Luckily, Aili had piloted the Leonine beyond the atmosphere, catching Gloria and pursuing the star ray.
“Captain, hold on—we’re coming!”
Lu Chen continued his rampage in the stomach, confident,
“Relax, my armor’s shell can withstand stomach acid for over ten minutes. The star ray can’t last ten minutes against lasers.”
Aili, however, said,
“I’m worried about an even stronger beastmaster.”
“Alright, hurry then.”
But in reality, Lu Chen received no further danger warnings.
The only warning was to hurry and cut, before the stomach acid digested him.
Soon, the stomach acid was nearly gone, replaced by blood and tissue debris.
Lu Chen pressed on, preparing to break through the stomach wall and attack the internal organs.
Suddenly, the laser drive’s energy was exhausted.
The armor’s energy pool was nearly depleted.
Fortunately, Lu Chen, now a level thirty-three powerhouse, had spirit energy far exceeding his armor’s engine.
He switched to manual control, abandoning lasers.
He grabbed the chainsaw, powering it with his dantian’s energy, coating the teeth with resonance energy…
He sawed the star ray numb, its body wracked with pleasure and electricity, losing all sense of pain, until he cut through the stomach wall and slashed away its organs.
By the time the Leonine caught up, the star ray was near death, completely unconscious.
Only when Lu Chen severed its beast core did the star ray finally perish.
Lu Chen piloted the armor, bearing the beast core over a meter in diameter, crawling out through the creature’s mouth.
The armor’s shell was badly corroded, but still far from being fully breached.
Aili was startled by the frightening state of the armor.
“Captain, are you alright?”
Lu Chen replied,
“I’m fine. Apparently, there’s no beastmaster, but I found spirit runes engraved on the star ray’s spine and ribs…”
Aili paused, growing curious,
“Could it be intended for conversion into a star beast ship?”
“That’s possible, but more likely, the star beasts of Giant Beast Park are originally remotely controlled by caretakers—something must have triggered the upheaval.”
Lu Chen then returned to the ship.
He secured the star ray’s head with rope and dragged it back to the planet they started from.
Back on the planetary surface, the ship remained parked atop the massive stone.
The star ray’s corpse lay among giant grass nearby.
Standing atop the stone and looking down, the enormity of the star ray was clear.
Even without its tail, it was as long as two adult blue whales, and just as wide—nearly as big as half a football field.
Even as a corpse, it exuded an oppressive aura, invoking a primal fear of facing a leviathan.
Lu Chen stepped out of his armor.
He climbed the stone, nearly exhausted, needing a wall for support.
Aili caught him just in time, kindly offering him a healing pill.
After swallowing it, Lu Chen felt much better.
“Thank you, Aili!”
Though it was their first joint kill of a high-level star beast and all three were exhilarated, Aili and Gloria each harbored their own emotions.
Aili, downcast and self-critical, lamented,
“As a beastmaster, I couldn’t help—I let the captain and Sister Gloria fall into danger.”
Lu Chen patted Aili’s slender shoulder.
“No, if not for your continuous laser barrage disrupting the star ray’s discharge, Gloria would have been electrocuted long ago.”
He then turned to Gloria.
She wore a face once beautiful as a painting, now marred with Lu Chen’s armor footprint, glaring at him.
Arms crossed, magical feline ears bristled, her eyes burning with sword energy that could kill.
Lu Chen suppressed his laughter and said seriously,
“You earned the main credit this time!”
Gloria’s face was cold as she enunciated,
“You’d better not sleep too deeply tonight. I own over a hundred pairs of shoes, and every one will leave a mark on your face. At the end, I’ll take them off, stuff my socks in your mouth, and jam my toes in your nose!”
Lu Chen was stunned, for some reason reminded of a certain pervert from his previous life who licked women’s shoe soles but not the insides.
“How will you reward me?”
“Hmm?”
Gloria suddenly frowned, tensing all over.
She looked up at the starry sky, her expression changing dramatically.
“This is bad… We only roasted a bug, but even they’ve been drawn here!”
Tomorrow I’ll be traveling long-distance back home, so tonight’s update will be a triple or quadruple chapter!
(End of chapter)