Chapter 141: Skin Shedding

The white albatross dove down from the sky as if it had received an order.

It riled up a storm that shook the trees as it descended on the Dream Stick Insect, its dark, elongated shadow stretching before it.

Gao Peng raised his head and saw its white-colored afterimage fall from the sky, leaving phantom traces in the sky.

The Dream Stick Insect cowered on the ground and shrieked in surprise, several of its spear-like limbs rising into the air.

The wind whistled as it formed a white barrier that covered the surface of the albatross’s wings like a shield. The pressure from the wind forced the Dream Stick Insect to retreat several steps.

The Dream Stick Insect shot its spear-like limbs at the albatross, but the giant bird somersaulted in midair, skillfully dodging the spear-like limbs before instantly landing behind the Dream Stick Insect.

Dark claws as hard as steel caught hold of the Dream Stick Insect, splinters bursting from the surface of its body as the claws dug in.

With a powerful flap of its wings, the white albatross dashed quickly into the air, pulling the Dream Stick Insect up with it. The Dream Stick Insect struggled in the giant albatross’s grasp, but it was no use.

The bird soared higher and higher, and in the blink of an eye, it disappeared from view with the Dream Stick Insect still in its grasp.

It flew away just like that?

Gao Peng was left speechless.

Da Zi and Dumby, still in their offensive stances, were also dumbfounded. As they relaxed, they looked at each other and winked awkwardly. That had been a tough fight.

The Dream Stick Insect, which they had treated seriously as a life or death battle, was taken away by a Level 38 Light Albatross just like that.

Gao Peng was still in shock. Had he seen the shadow of a person seated on the back of that Light Albatross?

Gao Peng snapped out of it and gathered his familiars to check on them.

He touched the wound on Da Zi’s back with a pain in his heart. The wound had started to heal, and the blood had stopped flowing, but he could still vaguely see the white-colored tender flesh through the wound. It looked like the meat of a fish.

One of Stripey’s legs was torn apart, and the spider had remained in the same place throughout the battle, the poor thing. The savagery and viciousness it had displayed in the face of certain death was now nowhere to be seen.

Although Stripey had gone from being an eight-legged spider to a seven-legged spider, the problem was not serious. To a spider, losing a leg was not a permanent disability. By the time it shed its skin the next time, its severed leg would have regenerated, though it would be slightly smaller than the rest of the legs. After another two skin-sheddings, the regenerated limb would be no different from its other legs.

This was true of a normal spider even before the Cataclysm. Striper’s regenerative ability would be even more effective. Perhaps it would only need to shed its skin once to completely regrow its new spider leg.

But until Stripey shed its skin, its movement would be slightly affected.

Stripey suddenly hobbled over and picked up its severed leg from the ground. It lifted it up and stared at it without moving a muscle, as if reminiscing.

Da Zi crawled over and circled Stripey.

Stripey lifted its limbs and scratched its head in confusion. It didn’t know what Da Zi wanted.

Finally, Da Zi stopped in front of Stripey and stared directly at the severed leg Stripey held in its hands, drooling.

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All eight of Stripey’s eyes widened at the same time. I treat you as my big brother. How could you harbor such thoughts?!

Stripey squeaked in anger.

Da Zi shook its head and raised its claws clumsily in an attempt to point at the wound on its back. But Da Zi’s limbs were so short that it couldn’t point at its back, and the awkward motion made Da Zi stumble and fall on the ground.

It got back up in a daze and shook its head. Da Zi crept over to Dumby and said something to the skeleton. Dumby seemed confused at first, but then it understood the message. It extended its right hand and pointed towards the injury on Da Zi’s back.

Da Zi nodded happily and continued shaking its head to Stripey in an attempt to claim credit.

Stripey saw the wound on its big brother’s back and fell silent. Big bro had risked its life to avenge it and even got injured, so was it totally unreasonable to award big brother with its severed limb?

Da Zi glanced toward Gao Peng guiltily. To prevent its master from comprehending what it had said, it had used a complicated beast language to communicate.

Gao Peng thought it was quite funny. Although he did not understand beast language, he still understood sign language.

Ever since these familiars had begun watching the TV show “Square Babies” every day, they were becoming more humanized by the day. They even knew how to use sign language now!

As for Stripey’s decision about whether to give the severed limb to Da Zi, Gao Peng was not interested in becoming involved. He was only thinking about how they should proceed from there. Should they continue exploring further, or should they strategically move outward?

They had already encountered a Level 35 Dream Stick Insect this far into the forest. Although Gao Peng knew that it was a low-probability event, it still made him a little scared.

Now that Da Zi and Stripey were both injured, if they encountered some other monsters what would he do?

For things like points, Gao Peng, would only try his best within the range of his abilities.

“Let’s go. We should first find some food for Stripey. We’ll decide what to do next once it’s shed its skin and regenerated its leg,” Gao Peng said decisively.

The familiars had no objections.

…

That night, through the shining moonlight, a bonfire lit up in the forest. Beside the bonfire lay the corpse of a Roaring Wind Mountain Beast. It was the original master of the forest, but now it had become the food for one man and four beasts.

Stripey inserted its mouthparts into the beast’s body and then crouched beside the corpse and watched it dissolve into a thick liquid in silence. Stripey then moved forward in excitement and devoured the food. The Commander tier Roaring Wind Mountain Beast had two attributes, wind and earth, and its body was filled with vibrant energy.

Stripey sprawled on the ground beside the bonfire after devouring its food and closed its eyes. Its skin began to harden.

Gao Peng saw it clearly. After this skin-shedding process, Stripey would increase its level to 20.

Initially, Gao Peng had wanted to develop Stripey into a meat shield. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had enough time to train it. Its level was only 19 at the moment. At that level, while still good, Stripey’s defense wasn’t strong enough to defend against a Commander tier monster.

The skin on Stripey’s body continued to harden. It was like it had developed a layer of scab. Although the color deepened, it lost its shine.

Da Zi had long ago fallen asleep on the side, while Dumby stood in place and remained vigilant as a sentry. Dumby did not need to fall into deep sleep to rest. As the beating of its Blood-Thread Heart slowed down, it could maintain a pseudo sleep state while remaining vigilant to the slightest fluctuation of the surrounding air. If a monster with a heartbeat appeared in the vicinity, it would attract Dumby’s attention.

The night went by without a single word spoken.

The following day, Stripey had already become a dark grey scab shell. Suddenly, a crack appeared on the surface of the shell, and a shiny, black limb poked through the crack. An all-new, eight-legged Stripey emerged from within the shell!

Its level also leapt directly to 20. It was now only one step away from Commander tier!