Chapter 617: Chapter 252: Another Skill! Lifesteal Bonus

Not only could they help Lin Ye form a new legion adapted to the local environment, but more importantly, they would become his eyes and ears, spread across the entire world.

Lin Ye could even use [Castling] to swap places with any of his minions at will, achieving true long-distance, cross-spatial maneuvering.

He was standing on the edge of a towering sea cliff.

Below him, viscous, blood-colored waves beat tirelessly against the dark red reefs, sending up sprays of bloody foam. The air was thick with the scent of rust and sulfur, like a scene straight out of hell.

Just then, Lin Ye’s movements suddenly froze.

Black scales silently materialized on his skin, distorting the light around him. In an instant, he melted into the surrounding shadows, his aura completely concealed.

Because, at the edge of his vision, amidst a cluster of jagged reefs, he had spotted a human figure once again.

Lin Ye approached soundlessly.

When he was within a hundred meters, he was stunned to discover that it... wasn’t a living person.

It was a statue with a rather bizarre posture.

The statue was of a human male, posed as if he were running forward while looking back in terror.

The muscle definition, the folds of the clothing, and even the facial features twisted in fear were all carved with lifelike detail.

’If this were just an ordinary statue, it’s a little too... realistic.’

Lin Ye’s gaze finally fell upon the statue’s eyes.

They were a pair of perfectly replicated eyes, their pupils filled with absolute terror and desperate pleading.

The next moment, Lin Ye’s pupils contracted sharply.

He saw that the eyeballs, which appeared to be made of rock, seemed to... turn ever so slightly!

Almost at the same instant, a powerful, irresistible drowsiness washed over his mind like a tidal wave.

’This isn’t a statue!’

’It’s a real person!’

Lin Ye instantly knew something was wrong. He found his body growing rigid at a speed visible to the naked eye.

A deathly, rock-like bluish-gray color was spreading rapidly up from the soles of his feet.

’This is... petrification!’

Lin Ye’s Spiritual Power surged out in an instant. Like a sturdy dam, it desperately guarded the clarity of his mind, resisting the intense drowsiness. At the same time, it formed invisible tendrils that frantically scanned the surroundings, trying to find the source of it all.

However, he found nothing. The surrounding energy field was calm and placid, with no sign of an attacker.

But Lin Ye felt not a shred of panic.

He saw the fleeting despair in the "statue’s" eyes and had already come to a conclusion.

’This petrification ability has a weak hypnotic effect and primarily affects physical functions.’

’As long as your Spiritual Power is strong enough, or if you possess a Primordial Spirit, you won’t have your consciousness completely erased and turned into a real stone statue.’

’Lying in wait for prey... Interesting.’

With a thought, Lin Ye decided to simply stop resisting the petrifying force within his body.

He even actively dispersed his protective Gang Sha, allowing the bluish-gray stone to rapidly consume his body.

In just a few seconds, Lin Ye had also become a statue standing silently on the cliff’s edge. Aside from his eyes, which remained clear and lucid, he was indistinguishable from the person before him.

His consciousness was perfectly clear; only his body was immobilized.

Time passed, second by second.

「About five minutes later.」

Not far away, from a hidden cave concealed by reefs, came the sound of grinding stone.

Immediately after, a massive monster slowly crawled out.

The monster was nearly four meters tall. It had a rough humanoid silhouette, but its body was exceptionally stout.

Its body was covered in a thick, irregular carapace with a texture somewhere between granite and dragon scales. In the cracks of the carapace, a dark red, lava-like light flowed slowly.

Its head resembled a lizard’s, but its eyes were two murky Crystal Stones that flickered with an eerie light. Behind it, a thick, rocky dragon’s tail swept impatiently across the ground.

The system then provided an identification.

[Rock Armor Dragon Puppet]

[Level: LV.58]

[Evolutionary Level: 2.25]

The Rock Armor Dragon Puppet sluggishly lumbered over to the first "statue." It extended a long, forked, crimson tongue, and with a sudden flick, pulled the petrified human body, which weighed well over a hundred pounds, directly into its mouth.

A foul, sickening stench hit him.

Large amounts of corrosive saliva dripped from its mouth. The moment the saliva touched the hard statue, its stony surface rapidly dissolved, reverting to flesh and blood.

But the next moment, just as the Rock Armor Dragon Puppet was about to clamp its massive jaws shut...

A flash of white light appeared.

The candidate’s figure vanished into thin air.

A bronze fragment, shimmering with a faint luster, was spat out by the Rock Armor Dragon Puppet with a "PTOO!" and fell to the ground.

A look of clear confusion appeared in the Rock Armor Dragon Puppet’s jewel-like eyes.

This was followed by overwhelming rage and Frenzy.

The prey it had lain in wait for all this time had escaped from right under its nose.

ROAR!

It let out a muffled roar and turned to look at the other "statue."

This time, it seemed to have no intention of swallowing its prey alive.

Its thick right arm, like a great hammer, shot up. Muscles knotted as it brought the arm smashing down toward Lin Ye’s head, raising a vicious wind that tore through the air!

It was going to smash these humans who could escape into a pulp before eating them!

However, in the split second before the massive arm was about to land...

The Rock Armor Dragon Puppet’s Crystal Stone-like eyes shot wide open.

It saw the statue before it, which should have been motionless, suddenly... move!

Lin Ye’s figure moved like a phantom, taking a single step to the side and avoiding the thunderous blow by a razor’s edge.

BOOM—!

The massive arm slammed into the ground, making the entire sea cliff tremble violently and leaving a terrifyingly deep crater.

As for Lin Ye, the bluish-gray petrified layer on his body cracked and crumbled like a shattered eggshell, dissipating into nothing.

The Rock Armor Dragon Puppet froze completely.

If its prey escaping was baffling, this scene was something else entirely, far exceeding its meager comprehension.

It couldn’t understand. And it would never have to.

Because in the next instant, a jet-black shadow broke the sound barrier, appearing before its chest with a piercing shriek.

SHUNK!

A completely black long spear had, without the slightest resistance, precisely pierced through its thick carapace and into the core that glowed with a molten light.

The rage and confusion in the Rock Armor Dragon Puppet’s eyes instantly froze.

The instant its core was pierced, it shattered.

Immediately after, a petrifying force far faster and more thorough than the one it inflicted on others erupted from within its own body.

CRACK... CRACKLE...

Within a single second, its massive body completely transformed into a true gray stone statue. Then, in a light breeze, it crumbled violently, shattering into countless stone fragments that scattered across the ground.

Mechanism: [Unstoppable]!

Any control effects are instantly negated the moment Lin Ye uses a skill.

An ability like petrification was certainly strange, but against him, who possessed this mechanism, it was rendered completely useless.

Add to that the core weak point instantly analyzed by [Intelligent Mechanization Transformation], and the result was this clean, one-hit kill.

[You have slain the Rock Armor Dragon Puppet!]

[You have gained 8,800 Experience Points!]

[The Devouring Heaven and Earth mechanism has been triggered!]

[You have gained 50 Life Energy.]

Lin Ye retracted the Dark Night Long Spear.

He bent down and picked up the bronze fragment belonging to the other candidate from the pile of rubble.

At the same time, the prompt from Lin Ye’s Path of Chivalry finally sounded in his mind—

[Ding! You have seized the special skill: Petrifying Gaze]

[Petrifying Gaze (Active): You can lock onto a target with your gaze. After staring continuously for 3 seconds, you will slowly begin to petrify the target.]

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