Monster Pet Evolution

It blocked all our attacks?! The black-robed men were visibly shaken by this.

Their Lord-tier familiars had unleashed their attacks at their opponent all at the same time. All three of them were considered to be extremely powerful in comparison to other Lord-tier monsters.

How on earth did it block our combined attacks so easily... This isn't good!

Lightning suddenly cascaded upon them from the heavens. Boom, boom, boom!

A series of explosions rocked the forest. After a long while, the explosions died down, leaving most of the trees blown to pieces. The ground was scorched and pitted, with smoke slowly rising up from it.

A barrier composed of red, orange, and green could be seen in the smoke, flickering like a candle in the wind around the black-robed men.

"Taira no Masakado's familiars don't even pack that much firepower," said the leader of the group in the Nihon language.

Though Gao Peng didn't understand what he had just said, he recognized what language the man was speaking in. People from Nihon? Gao Peng's face darkened.

"Are there more of you? If not... then you can all die," said Gao Peng dangerously, his gaze sweeping across the black-robed men on the forest floor. He knew that they understood him perfectly.

All three of them looked at each other. "Charge!" They shouted their battle cry in unison, evidently prepared to fight to the death.

Their familiars charged at Da Zi without any hesitation. As they were clearly outclassed by their opponent in terms of elemental mastery, they had no choice but to resort to close combat.

The White Steel Bladed Beast silently leaped down from Da Zi's back, then shook its wings and vanished on the spot.

The three enemy familiars' advance faltered. The Infernal Incinerator was first to sense that something was wrong. It let out a roar and turned back towards its master. But it was too late.

The White Steel Bladed Beast had appeared in front of the trainers, its front appendages held in a cross shape. Schwing— Blood sprayed out from its victims' headless necks, their heads sent flying into the air.

After taking damage from the White Steel Bladed Beast's attack, two of the black-robed men had disappeared, seemingly teleporting elsewhere.

Different trainers had different failsafe abilities at their disposal. The two trainers who had vanished didn't reappear next to any of the four Lord-tier familiars, which probably meant that they had other familiars stashed somewhere else.

Gao Peng was aware of such abilities. Huang Ya had awakened one himself, which he had named Critical Protection. When a trainer received mortal damage, this ability would be automatically activated, causing him or her to be teleported out of harm's way, like to one of their familiars' side.

However, their familiar had to be within a certain range in order for this to work. The ability wouldn't work if they strayed too far out of range.

The White Steel Bladed Beast sniffed its blade-like appendages, then flitted through the forest, tracking the scent it had picked up. Every part of its body was stretched taut, alert to the slightest disturbance in the air.

Then, its eyes lit up. Found you.

Flowing Light, the White Steel Bladed Beast, vanished once more into thin air.

Bang! The Infernal Incinerator swiped at the air, hitting nothing in particular.

"All right, that's enough. Playtime's over. Da Zi, give them all a clean death," ordered Gao Peng, before leaping down from Da Zi's back with Desolion in his arms.

Da Zi narrowed its eyes and let out a cold hmph. Gao Peng can't carry that lion around in his arms all the time. It's already a big boy, so why's it acting like a cub around him? Does it have no shame?

Da Zi shook its dragon wings. In the next instant, it turned into a ball of harsh electrical light. Pzzzt!

The horns on its head pierced through the Three-Eyed Crow General's chest, setting off an electrical explosion upon impact! A surge of electricity gripped the Three-Eyed Crow General's body, causing it to light up like a Christmas tree. When the surge of electricity finally subsided, the Three-Eyed Crow General fell to the ground, an electrocuted mess of feathers and ash.

Da Zi then swung its tail back, the golden stinger on its tip as sharp as a saw. Judging by the speed at which it was traveling, the centipede's tail could probably cut through solid steel with ease. Its tail struck the Infernal Incinerator, which was trying to creep up on the centipede from behind. The latter held its arms up just in time to cushion the blow, but even still, Da Zi's tail managed to tear a deep gash across the Infernal Incinerator's chest.

Da Zi turned around and coldly gazed at the Radioactive Scorpion. The Radioactive Scorpion had a temper as foul as the Infernal Incinerator's. What the hell are you looking at, punk?

It charged at Da Zi, despite knowing that its chances of victory were slim. A minute later, the Radioactive Scorpion's body lay lifeless on the forest floor.

After seeing the lifeless forms of its fallen comrades around it, the Phytophagous Symbiotic Moss knew that now was the time to flee.

However, as it was a Fungal-type familiar, unless it was latched onto another creature's body, there was absolutely no way it could outrun Da Zi. The Infernal Incinerator was the only enemy Lord-tier familiar still standing in the forest.

"Argh!" The Infernal Incinerator had no intention of running. It rushed towards Da Zi, its eyes filled with hatred and hysteria. At that point, its body had lost all feeling. The look in its eyes burned brighter than its flames.

Show no fear, know no fear. It leaped onto Da Zi, scratching and biting at it.

Da Zi slapped the Infernal Incinerator with a casual flick of one of its claw, then pressed its opponent flat on the ground with another claw. Slowly, it rubbed the Infernal Incinerator against the ground, back and forth, back and forth. The abrasion began peeling away the Infernal Incinerator's already charred skin.

This was the difference in power between two familiars two monster grades apart. Such a confrontation could only end with one being ground to a pulp by the other.

Completely subdued on the ground by Da Zi, the Infernal Incinerator pushed against Da Zi in an attempt to escape the crushing weight of its body.

"Hmph!" Da Zi leaned down on it even more. Next, it tore off the Infernal Incinerator's arm with its jaws.

Frenzied with pain, the latter roared, "My-my name is Anderson! My name is Anderson! Anderson!"

"Have at thee, monster!" the Infernal Incinerator screamed. Its chest suddenly expanded. Cracks began appearing on its surface, releasing thick, black fumes from its body. With one final burst of power, the Infernal Incinerator finally managed to break free from Da Zi, and it landed a swipe on the centipede's chest as it scrambled to its feet. Da Zi roared out in pain. The Infernal Incinerator was now surrounded by flames of fury.

Then—

Bang!

The flames were frozen solid. In the next second, they shattered into a million pieces. The Infernal Incinerator paused for a moment as cracks began spreading across its body. Black smoke was now issuing from the cracks like helium coming out of a punctured balloon.

The Infernal Incinerator stumbled backward. The anger in its eyes had subsided, its gray pupils slowly regaining a human luster. It was now calmly making eye contact with Da Zi. There was a look of serenity in its eyes.

"Where are you, princess? They said they would help me look for you, but I know now that it wasn't you. It was just a statue made in your likeness," muttered Anderson, a teardrop in the corner of his eye. "I couldn't find you when I was burning in hell, and I still couldn't find you when I came back to the world of the living. Perhaps I can find you this time, princess..."

Anderson fell to the ground on his knees, his head bowed deeply over his chest. Black smoke hissed out of his body like the sand in an hourglass.

Ssshhh… Wind blew past, dispersing what was left of the Infernal Incinerator into the air.

In another corner of the forest, Flowing Light dropped two unconscious black-robed men before Gao Peng.

Gao Peng had ordered it to capture at least two of them alive, though interrogating them would be a waste of time and energy. He would simply have the Growing Brain read their memories. When it was done with them, Gao Peng would know every little detail of their lives, down to when they first wet their pants.

He could still feel someone else's eyes boring into him from afar. After a while, they were gone.