Under the cover of the Armageddon Black Dragon, Zhang Yue moved as though in an uninhabited realm.
Not even the Apex Predator or Cherry had a chance to act. Every Brutal Saber-Toothed Tiger that tried to approach Zhang Yue was blasted to ashes by the Armageddon Black Dragon.
Indeed, this was a brand-new map that had hardly been explored.
Zhang Yue only lightly explored a bit, and already found quite a few treasure chests located deeper within the forested area.
Obviously, only the outer layer of the area had been explored; as for the inner layer, it was practically in a completely neglected state.
At first, Zhang Yue found this a bit strange.
Just relying on these Brutal Saber-Toothed Tigers, even if they swarmed, they were large targets, and when they moved together, sometimes a dozen or even several dozen at once, their overall strength wasn't that high.
A hundred-person team of somewhat capable professionals could still easily handle it. So why was this forest in such a neglected state?
Until Zhang Yue, during his deep-forest journey, encountered it...
Ahead, a saber-toothed tiger smaller than usual, looking like a juvenile, suddenly appeared, blocking Zhang Yue's path.
'Could this be the powerful "strange beast" that Hidden Dragon told me?'
'Hmm, this little fellow doesn't seem very strange. If anything, it looks a bit cute?'
Scout Technique showed the result: the opponent was truly just a level 123 lord-class [Devouring Beast].
It looked a bit stronger than the saber-toothed tigers, but calling it a strange beast seemed exaggerated.
Upon closer inspection, Zhang Yue noticed it didn't actually seem to be a saber-toothed tiger, but just a four-legged beast that looked vaguely tiger-shaped.
ROAR!
The Devouring Beast, which looked like a small thing the Armageddon Black Dragon could stomp to death with one foot, had quite the temper.
With a roar, it aggressively charged toward Zhang Yue.
Even if it was a lord-class creature, it still wasn't worthy of Zhang Yue personally taking action.
Clearly, the spotlight earlier had been entirely taken by the Armageddon Black Dragon.
This time, the Apex Predator acted first.
Whoosh!
Its body flashed like lightning, disappearing from its original spot and instantly reappearing behind the Devouring Beast.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
The sharp dagger in its hand swung rapidly, a combo of lightning-fast attacks struck the Devouring Beast.
-1.04 billion! Critical!
-1.02 billion! Critical!
-1.06 billion! Critical!
Three hits together totaled over 3 billion damage, instantly emptying the Devouring Beast's full health bar.
Instant kill!
Job done.
The Apex Predator had just sheathed its blade and was preparing to return.
Suddenly, that Devouring Beast, which had been killed, climbed back up from the ground.
Whoosh!
All around, dozens of Brutal Saber-Toothed Tigers seemed to be affected by some kind of gravitational force, approached and then sacrificed their lives, each releasing a stream of light from within, converging into the body of the Devouring Beast.
The next moment, the Devouring Beast's empty health bar rapidly refilled at an astonishing speed.
And its body size also suddenly expanded several times, becoming more than twice the size of a typical saber-toothed tiger.
"Devour Evolution?", Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.
It wasn't the first time he had seen something like this.
But usually, the rare ability of Devour Evolution was only possessed by BOSSes at the Immortal level or above, and even among a hundred Immortal-level BOSSes, there might not be even one with such an ability.
This was the first time Zhang Yue had seen such a powerful devouring ability on a lord-class monster.
"Ridiculous..."
Still, Zhang Yue didn't think too much about it, instead, he felt a bit of delight.
After all, the value after evolution was far greater than before.
Just waiting for the Devouring Beast to complete its evolution.
Scout Technique showed its quality had risen from a lord monster to a 20-star BOSS.
A 20-star BOSS nowadays was indeed considered weak.
But at least in terms of combat power, it was more than twice that of an average lord-class monster.
The Apex Predator unleashed a lightning-fast five-strike combo.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Under a barrage of over 1 billion damage criticals, in an instant, the just-evolved BOSS Devouring Beast was shattered into pieces again.
However, what surprised Zhang Yue was: after dying a second time, the Devouring Beast once again devoured the life force of nearby saber-toothed tigers and completed another evolution.
21-star BOSS!
"This kind of thing exists?", This time, Zhang Yue was genuinely shocked.
If a monster with one Devour Evolution ability could be considered a rare species, then one with two Devour Evolutions could simply be called a national treasure.
Yet, while Zhang Yue was sighing with emotion, the Apex Predator once again struck.
Slash!
Another fluid combo, and the Devouring Beast was insta-killed again...
At least give the guy some face.
Even Zhang Yue couldn't bear to watch anymore.
The Apex Predator was just too brutal.
Zhang Yue quietly watched that Devouring Beast.
Sure enough, as expected, in no time, it evolved again.
And this time, after evolving, it directly became a Immortal-class BOSS.
Zhang Yue gradually developed a bit of interest in this fellow.
But it still couldn't resist the brutality of the Apex Predator.
Not long after evolving, the Apex Predator killed it again and again and again and again.
The awareness and control level of a Immortal-class BOSS couldn't even compare to the techniques of the Apex Predator.
["Ding~ You have killed a level 125 Immortal-class BOSS [Devouring Beast], EXP +40 billion, psionic energy +8 trillion!"]
Originally, Zhang Yue had been looking forward to the Devouring Beast continuing into a third evolution. But unfortunately, after this kill, the system's battle reward prompt sounded in his ears, instantly shattering Zhang Yue's expectations.
It seemed the Devouring Beast's evolution ended here.
He had thought there might be a chance to get an Emperor-class or Immortal-class BOSS in the end and reap a huge reward.
Zhang Yue was slightly disappointed. He walked to the Devouring Beast's corpse and picked up the loot it dropped.
A Immortal-class BOSS was still more valuable than a regular BOSS.
From this Devouring Beast, he obtained two pieces of 22-star equipment, considered top-tier in the current stage.
Quite good already.
Moreover, after killing the Devouring Beast, a treasure chest also dropped.
According to the strategy guide: within the Eternal Gate of the Death Domain, each map basically has one core treasure chest, along with a few scattered small chests.
Core treasure chests are usually gold in appearance, while ordinary ones are silver.
At this moment, what appeared before Zhang Yue's eyes was clearly a golden chest.
Zhang Yue stepped forward and opened the chest.
Inside, he saw a skill book quietly lying inside.
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[Rare Skill Evolution Book] (Rare)
[Description: Grants any normal skill the power of evolution, upgrading its quality from normal to rare]
[Note: Ten Rare Skill Evolution Books can be fused into one Unique Skill Evolution Book (which allows any skill to evolve into a unique skill)]
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'This... is good stuff.'
It had a marvelous similarity to the legendary treasure [Dream Gem] obtained from the Nightmare Abyss.
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