Chapter 29: The Devourer

"Swish, swish, swish~~~"

Amidst the sound of rushing wind, figures burst forth from the bushes and entered our field of vision.

They were Devourers, another type of Tier 1 alien species from the legends!

Unlike Crawlers, their bodies were covered in deep red slime. They crawled on the ground, neither quite human nor beast, with ears overgrown with sharp spikes and abdomens so bloated they looked pregnant.

"Roar~~~"

One of the Devourers let out a sudden, furious roar. Its slightly protruding mouth actually split open, forming a hideous, three-lobed, outward-turning maw. Inside the maw were dense, sharp teeth, and three tongues, resembling snake flickers, danced within.

"Holy sh*t!"

Xiao Bai's face instantly paled, and she even let out a curse.

I felt a slight "sh*t" in my own heart as well. The design of these Devourers was far too realistic—or perhaps it was that these alien species were actually real, existing entities.

At this moment, as my gaze lingered, the stats of the lead Devourer finally surfaced.

[Devourer] (Elite)
Level: 20
Attack: 85-120
Defense: 25
HP: 2500
Skills: [Bite Lv4], [Devour Lv4]
Details: Devourers are mutants caused by nuclear radiation. Extremely ferocious, they feed on the flesh and blood of humans and beasts. They are skilled at devouring; once a target is swallowed, it is nearly impossible to escape the Devourer's mucus-filled stomach.

...

Before us stood five Devourers. This exceeded my expectations. If it had only been three, the three of us could have each taken one and kited them, giving us a chance to kill them without taking damage. But with five appearing all at once, standard tactics would definitely result in casualties.

I would be fine—my thick skin and tough flesh could handle such a situation—but Ruolin and Xiao Bai were likely in danger.

"You two..."

I stared at the Devourers with a fierce glare, preventing them from making any rash moves, while asking in the party channel: "What are your defense and HP levels? Tell me the truth."

"I'm basically naked, 25 defense, and my HP bar is average, just under 3000," Ruolin replied truthfully.

"My defense is about the same, but Psionicists have low HP growth, so my HP bar is less than 2000," Xiao Bai added, sounding anxious. "Ding Han, what should we do? It's probably too late to retreat now, right?"

"Of course."

I looked at the group of Devourers with a firm gaze. "So far, there are no items like 'Town Portal Scrolls' in 'Star Abyss,' and no such thing as an 'invincible hearthstone.' The movement speed of these alien species far exceeds that of players. Since we've encountered them, it's either them or us. We fight with everything we've got; don't even consider the possibility of running."

Ahead, three Devourers slightly lowered their front claws, assuming a pouncing posture.

"I'll make the first move to draw their aggro," I said in the party channel in a deep voice. "Don't be stingy with your ammo. Focus fire on the Devourer on the far left, then the second from the left, and so on. I will try my best to buy you time to take them down."

"Take care of yourself!" Zhang Ruolin gritted her teeth. "If it really comes to it, you run first. Xiao Bai and I will just accept our bad luck!"

"Cut the crap, let's do this!"

Before the words had even faded, I had already charged out. I swept the area with my Roarer, and all five Devourers roared in unison, waving their three-lobed maws as they lunged at us with terrifying ferocity!

"Swish!"

In the wind, the first Devourer suddenly opened its mouth to activate the Devour skill!

***

Step-Slash!

I instantly shifted sideways, switched my weapon to the Vanguard Stinger, and "squelched" a sword strike into its maw. I immediately followed up with Earth-Spike Slash, channeling surging energy into the ground, which then erupted as threads of sharp sword qi that "thudded" into the bodies of the Devourers.

Simultaneously, the claws of two Devourers landed on me. But the moment the claws brushed against the aura generated by my Step-Slash, sparks flew. It only eroded the durability of my aura armor without damaging my HP bar in the slightest.

I crossed my feet, retreated, and swayed my body like a pendulum to confuse their vision.

At a certain moment, all five Devourers lined up in my field of view. Now!

Burst-Energy Charge!

"Boom!"

My figure transformed into an afterimage, and I controlled the charge distance to 21 yards, stopping just after piercing through the five Devourers. I spun around, raised my sword, and landed a combo—Basic Attack + Dragon Blade + Basic Attack—on the Devourer on the far left.

"Roar~~"

With the added output from Ruolin and Xiao Bai, the Devourer let out a mournful cry and collapsed, dead.

I didn't dare to be careless. I quickly switched back to the Roarer. The moment another Devourer lunged with Devour, I immediately activated Step-Slash toward the front right, shifting five yards in an instant!

"Squelch!"

The Devourer bit into empty air and grew extremely irritable, its body suffused with wisps of blood-red light.

"Roar~~~"

One of the Devourers let out a loud cry, and the other three understood. They instantly split into four groups and surrounded us from all directions.

My heart sank into despair. As expected of a 100% realistic game, the intelligence of these alien species was definitely not low.

"Don't worry about me, full output!"

I stared coldly, continuously firing at the pursuing Devourers, coordinating with the concentrated fire from Xiao Bai and Ruolin.

Within a few seconds, three more Devourers fell, but the last one was too fast. It reached me in an instant, its three-lobed maw splitting open, blotting out the sky as it descended!

"Damn it!"

My heart tightened. Both my movement skills, Step-Slash and Burst-Energy Charge, were on cooldown. It was nearly impossible to dodge using my own speed at this point.

"Ding Han!"

Amidst the screams of Ruolin and Xiao Bai, I lost my vision.

"Squelch!"

The Devourer swallowed me whole. The word "Devour" flashed before my eyes, and at the same time, I felt intense pain throughout my body!

"1024!"

A four-digit damage number—an eye-opener!

I was immediately enveloped in indescribable stomach acid, and my HP bar plummeted. In the blink of an eye, I had lost over 2500 HP; my total loss already exceeded 3600. If it had been either Ruolin or Xiao Bai, they would have already been killed by this Devourer!

"You love to eat so much?"

Inside the Devourer's belly, I didn't give up. Instead, I swung my sword, stabbing randomly inside its stomach pouch.

If you can't digest me in a short time, you're going to die!

"Squelch!"

Finally, the Vanguard Stinger pierced through its stomach wall, then pierced through its abdomen. Light shone in from ahead!

Without a word, I swung my sword inside it, carving a large "Z" shape, then kicked through its inflamed duodenum and tumbled out of its belly!

"Roar~~~"

The Devourer let out a pained cry, fell straight over, and died from being disemboweled.

***

"Ding Han, are you okay?"

Ruolin and Xiao Bai rushed over but didn't dare to get too close. I was covered in the Devourer's slime, and the stench was unbearable.

Looking at my HP bar—less than 50% but above the 30% injury threshold—I felt a wave of relief.

"I'm fine."

I frowned and asked, "But... do you two have any healing potions? In this state, I really don't dare to keep fighting."

"I have some."

Xiao Bai didn't hesitate to take out some healing items from her interdimensional storage space and traded them to me: four hemostatic potions, each restoring 10% of HP, and six bandages, each restoring 5%. However, using these recovery items had a cooldown; they couldn't be used continuously.

"Let's rest for a moment."

I grabbed a handful of weeds to wipe off the slime as best I could. Not caring about much else, I immediately used a potion, and my HP bar recovered to about 60%.

"Yeah."

The two girls squatted nearby, watching me.

"What are you looking at? Is there a flower on my face?"

"No."

Zhang Ruolin said, "Ding Han, you were so brave just now... just like Master Ip. I felt like your momentum was enough to take on ten Devourers."

"If ten Devourers actually appeared at once, we'd be wiped out."

I wasn't in the mood to joke. "I almost thought I was a goner just now. You wouldn't understand."

"I can understand," Xiao Bai said. "A few days ago, when I was fighting, my HP dropped to 23%, triggering the minor injury warning. I almost thought I was really going to say goodbye to this world. It's a terrible feeling."

"Yeah."

I nodded. "I hope our luck is better from here on out, and that fewer of these Devourers and Crawlers show up."

"Indeed," Xiao Bai suggested. "Let's go to the open plains and use your Wind-Talker for long-range sniping to lure the monsters. That way, we can control the number of enemies we pull."

"Good suggestion, let's do it!"

...

So, I wandered through the wilderness with the two girls. Relying on the Wind-Talker to lure monsters was indeed much more convenient. The effective range of the Wind-Talker was up to 2500 meters, and my Lv10 Basic Shooting guaranteed 100% accuracy within a thousand meters. Fortunately, the accuracy at 2500 meters was still around 30%; a few extra shots were enough to lure them.

Each time, I kept the number of monsters pulled to under three—the safest approach. The only cost was ammunition.

Furthermore, after a player's HP drops, it slowly recovers over time, so I only used two of the hemostatic potions Xiao Bai gave me. Once my HP was back above 80%, it was safe enough that I didn't need to waste any more.

We farmed from morning until evening. With the massive influx of experience, Ruolin and Xiao Bai both leveled up twice, while I only leveled up once, reaching Level 19. As usual, I allocated all three free attribute points into Strength.

When night fell, the monster-killing requirement for the quest had long been completed, but the supplies stolen by the alien species were still nowhere to be seen, which was quite frustrating.

"Beep!"

I received a WeChat message from Milo, who was far away in Xicheng: "Ding Han, why aren't you off work yet? Get back here! I bought beer and stir-fried a few dishes. Let's have a drink, and help me check the lyrics later. I want to replicate the lyrics of Jay Chou's 'Sunny Day' to use as my debut single."

"Check my *ss, I'm busy killing monsters!"

"Oh, f*ck. Carry on then! Sorry to bother you, goodbye!"