While searching everywhere it could for the white spot, Da Zi suddenly froze. An insect limb flashed right in front of its eyes, narrowly missing its head, and pierced through the soil in front of him, making a loud shaaa sound.
Da Zi almost jumped out of its skin, looking fearfully at the limb in front of its face. It had shot out of nowhere!
Da Zi looked at it carefully, and then cautiously took two steps back. The Dream Stick Insect was now stabbing the ground with its limbs in a frenzy. Da Zi needed to be careful with its own position, or it could very well be impaled.
Da Zi twisted its body and made its way through the stick insect's limbs like a slippery, agile fish. Its two pitch-black eyeballs rolled around in its sockets, trying to find the small white spot.
Where is it? Where is it?
Da Zi was searching for it madly. Its vision was not great to begin with, and the high speed at which the Dream Stick Insect was moving made its body look even blurrier. It was making Da Zi dizzy.
At the same time, Dumby was also in a difficult situation. Because its body had one of the Dream Stick Insect's limbs going through it, Dumby was stuck less than a foot from the Dream Stick Insect's head.
It wasn't possible for Dumby to retreat and shake off that limb, but Dumby wouldn't dare retreat anyway. Doing so would only make it easier for the Dream Stick Insect to attack.
Clang——
One of the insect's spear-like limbs came thrusting from right above Dumby's head, striking Dumby's shoulder with a loud, metallic sound.
Dumby's shoulder drooped slightly, and there was a chip in the area that had been struck.
Da Zi, who was right under the Dream Stick Insect, froze in its tracks. The waving antennae on its head suddenly stopped and its eyes were transfixed on a certain spot on the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen.
Found it! Finally found it!
But in the next moment, Da Zi realized something truly awkward. It could not reach the spot.
Although Da Zi had many legs, they were all short legs. Also, who had ever heard of a jumping centipede? Being able to jump just a foot into the air was the result of Da Zi's full effort. But it had to try.
Da Zi jumped with all its might, going up a foot into the air, and then landed with a flop on the ground.
The Dream Stick Insect was stomping madly on the ground, and as Da Zi landed, one of its limbs pierced Da Zi.
The surface of Da Zi's purple carapace exploded with the shrill, screeching sound of clashing metal. Sparks flew out, and the part that was hit was caved in with the pattern of a swirl.
Puchi!
Da Zi rolled up and screamed in agony. It was as though it had been nailed to the ground.
Gao Peng's chest suddenly tightened up. No matter how many familiars he had, his bond with Da Zi, who had followed him right from the start, was the deepest and the hardest to let go of. Da Zi had been his first familiar, after all.
Seeing that it had managed to step on the little centipede, the Dream Stick Insect held it down with its limb. A savage expression flashed across its eyes, carrying along with it the hint of unimaginable cruelty.
The Dream Stick Insect raised another limb, aiming straight at Da Zi's squirming head.
Dumby's soul flames burst into a frenzy in its eye sockets. An indescribable feeling of anger exploded from its heart.
In these few months of interacting with Da Zi, Stripey, and Silly, Dumby had come to see them as close friends. Even though Da Zi often got jealous of Dumby, even though Stripey was really timid, even though Silly was truly silly… Dumby truly saw them as friends.
Dumby opened its mouth wide, its sharp canines flashing with a cold glint, and chomped down on the Dream Stick Insect's head with all its might!
The Dream Stick Insect's limb had only descended halfway before it stopped in mid-air and jerked up again in pain and fright.
Sssss!
Dumby had bitten right into one of its eyes, crushing it completely, and fluids were dripping everywhere.
The pain was impossible to describe.
The Dream Stick Insect could no longer afford to be concerned by the little centipede beneath it. Jerking in pain, the Dream Stick Insect finally managed to fling Dumby away with its skewered limb.
Green fluids were spurting out of the broken eyeball.
"Da Zi, come back," Gao Peng ordered.
But Da Zi acted as though it didn't hear and kept staring at the white spot on the center of the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen.
Gao Peng could feel Da Zi's strong yearning for vengeance, and this feeling was directed straight at the Dream Stick Insect that had just hurt it.
The Dream Stick Insect, having a broken eyeball with blood flowing everywhere, looked to be in a pitiful state, but in reality, other than its eye, it had not sustained any major injuries. Its combat ability was still at a very high level.
But on Gao Peng's side, both Stripey and Da Zi had sustained major injuries.
Da Zi suddenly opened its mouth wide, and its surface erupted with purple arcs of electricity. The arcs condensed into threads, and then converged into a purple thunderbolt, shooting outward!
Bang!
The air exploded with a crackling sound as the arcs of electricity flew dozens of feet into the air, like a purple, snake-shaped sword stabbing upward.
Gao Peng's eyes widened. He stared transfixed at the thunderbolt, holding his breath.
The thunderbolt struck true. At such a short distance, with such a sudden attack, the Dream Stick Insect had no time to evade.
The moment its brain registered the sound of thunder exploding, it also felt a sharp pain spreading from its abdomen.
The thunderbolt had struck a mere foot from the small white spot, charring the Dream Stick Insect's abdomen and turning it pitch black, just like a tree struck by lightning.
The Dream Stick Insect immediately leapt backward and turned its head around, glaring at Da Zi with its remaining eye.
Tension filled the air of the forest.
Da Zi displayed no signs of weakness. It glared back fiercely at the Dream Stick Insect, arching its body like a large bow, ready to strike.
Life and death are trivial. When it comes down to it, one must fight!
Dumby circled around from the side. Dumby bent its body low, hunching over like an ape. Its hands dug into the soil beneath it, and its Blood Thread Heart beat strongly in its chest cavity.
…..
"If I'm not wrong, those two familiars are both Commander tier," said a member of the Special Ops Unit in surprise.
"To be able to own two Commander tier familiars at this stage is quite rare."
"But hoping to defeat that Dream Stick Insect with those two Commander tier familiars is still too difficult," the captain said, shaking his head.
"Captain, White Rose has almost reached the target location. She is asking if she should kill the Dream Stick Insect right away or standby and observe the situation."
The captain frowned. Based on the initial instructions, they were not allowed to interfere. But now that a participant had died, the higher-ups were getting nervous.
He let out a long sigh.
"Tell White Rose that she is to immediately finish off the Dream Stick Insect."