Flora Bloom understood.
The "monsters" the five injured superpower users had spoken of had to be these two.
These two zombie-like monsters possessed human bodies and scorpion forms. They were pitch-black all over, as if coated in toxic paint, and even from within her pocket dimension, Flora Bloom found their cold, foul stench unforgettable.
Could the zombies created by the black scorpions’ mixed venom turn into this? ’I wonder what their attack and defensive power is like!’
Just as Flora Bloom was speculating inside her dimension, The Crown Prince and Tanuki suddenly appeared, each slashing and stabbing at one of the two monsters with a dagger.
CLANG!
CLINK!
Two piercing screeches of metal on metal rang out. The monsters’ human limbs were as hard as steel; neither The Crown Prince’s nor Tanuki’s daggers could penetrate their defense.
’This is just like the black scorpions’ tough carapaces. Ordinary weapons can’t even scratch their defense!’
Lex Cross’s team also had a Gold Ability User, one who had reached Level 3 long ago. The daggers in the hands of The Crown Prince and Tanuki were clearly no ordinary weapons. Yet, daggers enhanced by a Level 3 Gold Ability User couldn’t even break through these two monsters’ defenses.
’In that case, my dagger will probably have a tough time breaking their defense, too.’
’It seems I’ll have to resort to some special tactics to deal with these two.’
Flora Bloom suddenly reappeared on the other side of the two monsters, thrusting her dagger hard toward the upturned abdomen of one.
She had never encountered a monster like this in her two lifetimes, so she didn’t know its weak point. She might not know this monster’s weakness, but the weakness of most insects was common knowledge.
The abdomen.
For most insects, whether beneficial or pests, the abdomen is very likely their fatal weak point.
’These two monsters inherited the hard-jointed limbs and black hide of the scorpions, so their skin must be unusually toxic, too.’
Flora Bloom’s dagger shot forward, just about to plunge into the monster’s abdomen. But as it was about to connect, the creature seemed to sense the danger. It sprang into the air, flipping over to land on the ceiling, where it clung, hanging upside down.
But that wasn’t all. As if spurred by Flora Bloom’s attack, the creature reacted. With a GRINDING sound of stretching bone, a scorpion-like tail began to grow rapidly from its tailbone. An appendage identical to a real scorpion’s tail sprouted forth, complete with a barbed, venomous stinger at its tip.
After their attacks failed, The Crown Prince and Tanuki regrouped with Flora Bloom. The three of them stood back-to-back.
"Their weak point is the abdomen. Be careful, they’re covered in poison. Don’t touch them."
The Crown Prince and Tanuki nodded before vanishing once more. Flora Bloom, too, blinked back into her pocket dimension.
The next second, a puddle of black liquid appeared where the three of them had been standing. From her dimension, Flora Bloom looked up at the second-floor ceiling.
"Holy crap, this thing can shoot black liquid from the stinger on its tail. It has a ranged attack!"
Now over five months pregnant, Flora Bloom was certainly not as nimble as she used to be. She carefully watched The Crown Prince and Tanuki battle the two monsters, trying once more to find their weaknesses.
To no avail.
Not only did she fail to find any weaknesses, but Flora Bloom also realized that the mutated monsters weren’t just fast—their skin was also tough and impenetrable.
The Crown Prince and Tanuki moved like phantoms, yet the moment they attacked, the monsters seemed to sense it in advance. They would either ignore the blows or, if they detected an attack aimed at their abdomens, they would dodge it perfectly every time.
"Flora, they’re afraid of fire!" Neal Wallace’s voice called out from a nearby examination room. Flora Bloom heard it, and of course, so did The Crown Prince and Tanuki.
Flora Bloom decided to test the theory. Appearing suddenly behind the two unsuspecting monsters, she shot dark red flames from her hands, hitting them squarely.
Flora Bloom’s flames were no ordinary fire. Her soul and spirit were linked to the Golden Crow; when she first made her pact with it, she had swallowed more than half of its vital essence. As a result, her fire had inherited a portion of the True Sun Fire that flowed within the Golden Crow’s blood.
The flames didn’t look like much, but their intense, destructive aura sent the two monsters into a wild frenzy of shrieks.
SCREECH! SCREECH! The sounds filled the entire temporary hospital. One of the ignited monsters collapsed to the ground, motionless, after burning for a few dozen seconds.
The other thrashed about for a while before suddenly lunging toward a half-open window on the second floor in an attempt to break through and escape.
Flora Bloom wasn’t worried about the monster escaping—after all, the True Sun Fire was inextinguishable. Her concern was what would happen after it fled through the window: anything or anyone that came into contact with the flames would be set ablaze.
The monster’s hide was tough, allowing it to survive being burned for so long. But an ordinary person, or even a superpower user, would likely be incinerated in an instant upon contact.