"ROAR..."
A Porcupine Beast—three and a half meters long, with a thick-set, brown-furred body and a back covered in hollow spines—let out a roar at the Investigator team blocking its path.
It then shook its body, and the hollow spines on its back instantly shot out, covering a large area like a dense shower of rain, completely blanketing the Investigators who stood in its way.
The combat team, composed of five Second Rank Initial Stage Investigators, showed no sign of panic on their faces as they watched the Second Order Middle Stage Porcupine Beast launch its attack.
The team’s captain raised his hands over his head, palms facing out, and shouted.
"Shield."
The moment the word left his lips, a faint golden Spiritual Light bloomed from his palms.
The surrounding air rapidly condensed, forming a massive circular shield that floated above the five Investigators’ heads.
"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG..."
If the hollow spines launched by the Porcupine Beast were to pierce a person’s body, they would drain the blood directly from within.
But now, protected by the air shield, the descending spines couldn’t harm a single hair on the Investigators’ heads. After a series of impacts, the ground was littered with hollow spines.
After firing all the hollow spines from its back, a faint golden Spiritual Light appeared on the Porcupine Beast’s now-bare hide. Then, new hollow spines began to grow.
Seeing this, the members of the Investigator combat team immediately charged forward to surround it, intending to interrupt the Mutant Beast’s attempt to use its Superpower to replenish its ’ammunition’.
Spiritual Longswords infused with Spiritual Energy hacked into the Porcupine Beast’s body, leaving behind a series of wounds.
Blood seeped from the injuries, staining the Porcupine Beast’s brown fur red.
Though it looked miserable, these were all superficial wounds and hadn’t caused any serious damage.
"ROAR..."
Although it wasn’t seriously injured, the numerous small wounds still hurt. The Porcupine Beast roared in pain, then suddenly bucked forward, sending an Investigator who couldn’t dodge in time flying.
"Xiaowu!" the other Investigators cried out in worry, seeing their teammate sent flying by the Mutant Beast.
"SPIT..." After crashing to the ground, Investigator Xiaowu, his ribs broken, spat out a mouthful of blood. Hearing his teammates’ calls, he gritted his teeth against the pain and replied, "Don’t worry about me. I’m not gonna die. You guys be careful."
With that, he immediately pulled an emergency pill from his pocket, tore open the packaging, and swallowed the red capsule in one gulp.
Investigator Xiaowu, who had been suffering from some internal bleeding after being struck by the Porcupine Beast, found that after taking the special emergency medicine, the bleeding in his injured internal organs began to stop rapidly.
Although this special emergency medicine couldn’t restore the injured to perfect condition, its effectiveness at treating damaged organs and eliminating the risk of death was truly exceptional.
The red capsule Investigator Xiaowu took was an emergency medicine recently developed by the Spiritual Energy Research Institute. Because the materials needed to produce it were rare and it couldn’t be mass-produced, it wasn’t available on the market.
Even the Superpower Administration Bureau had a limited quota; only personnel participating in important operations were able to receive this special emergency medicine.
Seeing that their teammate Xiaowu’s life was no longer in danger, the four Investigators refocused their full attention on dealing with the ferocious Porcupine Beast before them.
Despite the difference in strength, the four experienced Investigators coordinated with flawless teamwork, managing to pin down the stronger Porcupine Beast and slowly wear down its stamina and Spiritual Energy, like cutting flesh with a dull knife.
The Second Order Middle Stage Porcupine Beast felt utterly humiliated. It was being hopelessly entangled by these insignificant humans, who were only at the Second Rank Initial Stage, and it couldn’t manage to kill them all.
"ROAR..."
Its eyes turning crimson, the Porcupine Beast stirred the Spiritual Energy within its body.
A faint golden Spiritual Light surfaced on its body. With another roar, it launched a rapid charge at the relentlessly harassing Investigators.
"Watch out! This thing’s going all out!" the combat team’s captain shouted to his teammates when he saw the change in the Porcupine Beast’s body.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Porcupine Beast, its power erupting, locked onto him and launched a ferocious attack.
Its speed and power massively increased, the charging Porcupine Beast closed the distance to the squad captain in the blink of an eye.
The squad captain hadn’t expected the Mutant Beast’s speed to increase so much when it went all out.
Seeing that he couldn’t dodge, he immediately used his awakened Superpower, condensing the air to create a thick, circular shield in front of him to block the Porcupine Beast’s attack.
"BANG!"
The air shield, which had previously blocked the spines fired by the Porcupine Beast, was like paper in the face of its direct charge, shattering to pieces in an instant.
Just like Investigator Xiaowu who had been sent flying earlier, the squad captain took the full brunt of the Porcupine Beast’s charge.
The force behind the Porcupine Beast’s attack this time was far greater than before. The squad captain was sent flying backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily onto the ground and rolling several times before coming to a stop, unconscious.
"Old Wang!" Seeing their captain sent flying and lying motionless on the ground, his teammates cried out in unison, their voices filled with worry.