This villain is too popular.

Chapter 441 Reunion [4000 words]

[Early morning of the sixth day, the core jungle of Changsheng Island]

Liu Ma's muscles bulged, and the radiance of the Star Core Golden Bull Demon spread along his blood vessels, turning his upper body completely 'golden,' making him look like he was wearing a heavy golden armor from a distance.

boom!
The dull thud echoed through the forest, making the surrounding fallen leaves tremble.

Without any fancy techniques, Liu Ma's fist landed squarely on the mutated gorilla's chest.

The punch was so powerful that it caused the mutated gorilla to let out a painful roar. Its large, fan-shaped feet plowed two deep furrows in the ground, and the thick, tough vines wrapped around its chest snapped instantly like ropes.

The next second, a large amount of dark green liquid mixed with some rotten bits of flesh gushed out from the broken wound, splashing all over Liu Ma's face.

Liu Ma wiped the sticky liquid from his face, smelling the pungent odor, and felt a churning in his stomach.

This smell is even worse than the stinky water in the sewers of Martial Arts City!

Despite the complaints, Liu Ma dared not relax for a moment.

Because the mutated gorilla's chest, which had been dented by his punch, was now bulging up at a visible speed.

Tiny new shoots sprouted from the broken ends of the vines, growing wildly like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

In just three seconds, the vines had re-woven into a dense 'armor' on its chest, and even the previously shattered joints had been reset.

If you ignore the blood left on the ground, anyone who sees it will think that Liu Ma's punch was just an illusion and that nothing happened.

"Damn, it's that trick again."

Liu Ma spat out the juice from the corner of his mouth, his tone full of dissatisfaction.

The creatures on this island seem to have all activated a 'health cheat'.

Not only are all of them incredibly resilient, but their physical attributes far surpass those of other star beasts of the same level.

It's as if their physical structure was altered by some special force, causing them to convert all the stellar energy within them into 'life force,' which is extreme and pure.

Although this situation caused them to lose various magical star core abilities, what they gained in return was this terrifying vitality that is exaggerated to the point of being unreasonable.

'This is such a hassle.'

Looking at the gorilla not far away, which had completely recovered and was staring at him fiercely, Liu Ma secretly groaned inwardly.

However, he dares not be too distracted right now.

Because at this point they were not yet completely out of danger.

"Isabel, how are things on your end?"

While keeping a close watch on the gorilla's potential attack, Liu Ma caught a glimpse of Isabel surrounded by monkeys in the distance and asked her with concern.

In the scene, Isabel's light blue hair is covered with grass blades, and the cold air of Star Source Absolute Zero condenses into ice blades at her fingertips, freezing a string of vine monkeys with each swing.

But these seemingly weak little monsters, only about a meter tall, are like cockroaches that can never be killed, constantly swarming out from between the branches of the ancient tree.

His small red eyes were filled with madness, and the pale green toxins on his claws gleamed eerily in the moonlight.

"It's alright, but their vines can absorb my cold energy, which makes them a bit troublesome to deal with."

Isabel took a moment to respond to Liu Ma, and then a blade of ice precisely pierced the body of a small monkey in front of her.

But before she could draw her sword, the mutated monkey grabbed the ice blade with its remaining claws, and vines grew rapidly along the blade, trying to 'devour' it.

Seeing this, Isabel decisively abandoned the ice blade she had conjured and caused it to explode instantly.

The shattered ice blades transformed into sharp, fine shreds, instantly slicing the mutated monkey into pieces, leaving it utterly dead.

Before Isabel could catch her breath, even more monkeys swarmed down from the trees, launching a human wave attack on her.

Moreover, their claws and teeth are covered with a pale green toxin, and their vines can quickly sprout new shoots even when frozen, demonstrating incredible resilience.

"These guys are like cockroaches that just won't die!"

Looking at this group of mutated little monkeys that seemed to cling to her like leeches, Isabel's expression turned extremely ugly.

Without any hesitation, she conjured another ice blade and swung it repeatedly.

In an instant, she cleaved the three mutated monkeys in two.

However, their broken bodies did not die immediately. Instead, after wriggling for a while, they seemed to be trying to piece themselves back together.

With no other option, Isabel had to devote some of her energy to completely freezing the corpses, thus preventing them from 'resurrecting a second time' and increasing the pressure on her in the battle.

However, while this method can completely kill these monsters, it will put a considerable burden on Isabel.

The reason for this is that these mutated monkeys only have a low-level second-tier star energy.

However, their regenerative abilities are even more outrageous than those of ordinary level two or even level three star beasts.

Severed limbs can regenerate within ten seconds, and even if severed in half, they can quickly regrow as long as the core vines are not damaged. More
What's more troublesome is that their attacks also carry paralyzing toxins.

The anime briefly focuses on Isabel's right arm.

Two obvious scratches appeared on her once fair arms, and the wounds were noticeably blackened.

A wave of numbness washed over Isabel from the wound.

Without a doubt, if she cannot end the battle quickly...

Once the paralyzing toxins accumulate to a certain level, she will be completely overwhelmed by these mutated little monkeys.

No, we can't delay any longer.

Sensing her deteriorating condition, Isabelle decisively changed her strategy.

She placed her hands on the ground, releasing her stellar energy without reservation.

Click!

The pale blue ice layer spread rapidly outwards from the ground.

In just a moment, Isabel's ice layer froze more than a dozen mutated monkeys.

As a result, a vacuum zone briefly appeared within a ten-meter radius around her.

But before she could be happy for long, a nauseating stench suddenly came from behind her, catching her completely off guard.

Isabel turned her head quickly, her pupils dilating abruptly.

The mutated gorilla that should have been entangled by Liu Ma had somehow circled behind her, its huge claws dripping with dark green liquid, and it fiercely attacked her.

"careful!"

Liu Ma shouted and then charged at Isabel.

But just as he rushed out, three vine monkeys suddenly sprang up from both sides, wrapped their bodies around his ankles, and bit his golden thighs with their sharp teeth.

Although these attacks could not cause him any real harm, this fearless and suicidal behavior still slowed down Liu Ma's progress to some extent.

So much so that even if he saw Isabel in danger, he couldn't provide immediate assistance and could only watch helplessly.

In the critical moment, Isabel, relying on her fighting instincts, immediately conjured an ice shield half a meter thick in front of her.

They were trying to use this to thwart the sneak attack by the mutated gorilla.

However, she overestimated the defensive power of her ice shield and underestimated the strength of the mutated gorilla.

Crack! The collision between the fist and the ice shield shattered the ice shield like glass on the spot. Countless ice shards, wrapped in cold air, scattered on the surrounding plants, covering them with a special layer of ice crystals.

Fortunately, although the ice shield couldn't completely block the mutated gorilla's attack, it did help Isabelle absorb most of the damage.

But the astonishing power contained in that fist still sent Isabel flying, crashing heavily into a tall, ancient tree.

puff!
Isabel's back was pressed against the ancient tree, and she spat out a stinging spurt of blood.

Blood fell onto her chest, instantly staining her black tactical uniform crimson.

Severely injured, Isabel felt everything go black before her eyes, her body became incredibly heavy, and even a simple movement like raising her hand became extremely difficult.

Isabel struggled to lift her head, and through her blurred vision, she could only see the mutated gorilla's gaping maw snapping at her, and its 'tongue' filled with vine tentacles.

The situation was so critical that Isabel could even smell the rotten stench from the gorilla's mouth and feel the sticky sensation from the vine tentacles.

Done
Looking at the mutated gorilla so close to her, Isabel felt a deep sense of despair.

Because at that moment, she was truly at her wit's end.

boom!
At the critical moment, a green light shield suddenly appeared out of thin air and blocked Isabel's way.

The gorilla's head slammed into the light shield with a dull thud.

Although the pixels on the light shield only lasted for a moment, they were smashed to pieces by the mutated gorilla.

However, the appearance of this light shield still helped Isabel withstand the fatal blow, allowing her to grit her teeth and escape immediately, creating distance between herself and the mutated gorilla, and temporarily saving her life.

After the initial joy of surviving the ordeal, Isabel suddenly looked in a certain direction.

It turned out that three familiar figures were rushing toward where she and Liu Ma were at an astonishing speed from the dense jungle not far away.

Chen Kong, who was walking at the front, held up a star energy pistol. His tactical boots made a 'rustling' sound as they stepped on the thick layer of fallen leaves.

Mi Yao, who was in the middle, was looking down at the game console. It was clear that the light shield that had suddenly appeared earlier was his doing.

Vivian ran at the back, her intelligent eyes flashing with quantum data, clearly calculating something.

A look of joy flashed in Isabel's eyes upon seeing the three of them appear.

After persisting for so long, I've finally met other people.

Perhaps it was due to a change in mindset, or perhaps she had become somewhat accustomed to the numbing toxins in her body.

So much so that she felt her body, which had been somewhat heavy, had become much lighter.

To Isabel's delighted surprise, Chen Kong came to her side and took her place to deal with the mutated monkeys around them.

Vivian and Mi Yao charged toward the mutated gorilla, joining Liu Ma in dealing with this troublesome creature.

"Chen Kong, help me guard the flank!"

In the woods, Liu Ma's roar, mixed with the force of his punch, slammed into the mutated gorilla.

The golden fist collided with the monster's vine armor, and the sparks that flew off splashed onto the dew-dampened fallen leaves, instantly evaporating into white mist.

As soon as Chen Kong helped the limp Isabel up, he caught sight of three mutated monkeys darting out from behind the ancient tree, the poison on their claws gleaming eerily green in the morning light.

He immediately pushed Isabel behind the tree, and the Void Weaver switched to rapid-fire mode, the star energy bullets precisely piercing the purple flower on the little monkey's forehead.

As soon as the pale purple flower buds burst, the mutated monkey froze instantly, its body limply collapsing to the ground, while the vines on its body quickly lost moisture and curled into a clump of withered threads.

After dealing with the mutated monkeys, Chen Kong took a moment to turn around.

"Isabel, are you alright?"

Isabel's pale face was stained with blood, and the black marks on her right arm had spread to her elbow.

She pulled a blue syringe from her tactical pouch and, gritting her teeth, plunged it into her arm.

"It's not a big problem."

The moment the injection was administered, her pale blue hair shimmered, and the dark marks on her arm finally stopped spreading, but her complexion remained grim.

Isabel whispered, "That gorilla's strength is outrageous; ordinary attacks can't break its regeneration at all."

"Yes."

Chen Kong nodded, his expression equally solemn.

On the other side, while fending off the attacks of the mutated gorilla, Mi Yao asked Vivian beside him, "Vivian, have you finished analyzing the data? What is the regeneration interval of this monster's vines?"

Vivian's android pupils flashed with a pale blue light, and the second hand spun a rapier at her fingertips, precisely deflecting the gorilla's sweeping tail.

"The core energy circulation cycle is 3.7 seconds, and each regeneration consumes the nutrients stored in the chest vines."

"The wounds it sustained from Liu Ma's attack are being prioritized for repair; this is our breakthrough point."

As soon as she finished speaking, Vivian suddenly sped up, her slender sword flashing like a shooting star as it swiftly pierced the vines on the gorilla's chest that hadn't fully healed.

"Liu Ma, attack its old wound with all your might."

"Roger that!"

Liu Ma stomped his foot on the ground, his golden muscles bursting with astonishing speed. He dodged the gorilla's claws and used the momentum to shove his fist into the gap in the vines on the monster's chest.

The tender buds there had not yet fully woven into armor, and dark green sap gushed wildly from between his fingers.

"Ow!"

The gorilla let out a deafening roar, its massive body twisting violently as it tried to throw Liu Ma off.

Mi Yao seized the fleeting opportunity, and his warhammer, wreathed in pixelated flames, slammed into the monster's forehead.

With a crisp 'crack', a crack appeared in the purple flower core on the gorilla's forehead, and green juice mixed with a brain-like viscous fluid spurted out.

Its movements suddenly became sluggish, and the regeneration rate of the vines on its chest slowed down significantly.

efficient!

Chen Kong's eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his gun and aimed at the core crack, firing a series of star energy bullets, each one hitting the same spot precisely.

Isabel also forced herself to stand up, and tiny ice spikes condensed at her fingertips.

Although lacking in power, the chilling aura of the ice spikes can temporarily freeze the vines' activity, creating an opening for others to attack.

Just as the core was about to shatter completely, the gorilla suddenly unleashed astonishing brute force, sweeping Mi Yao away with its tail and grabbing Liu Ma's shoulder with its claws, slamming him hard into the ground.

The golden body collided with the rock, producing a piercing metallic creak. Liu Ma groaned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

His star energy consumption was too great, and his golden skin had begun to fade.

"Liu Ma!"

Chen Kong tried to rescue them, but was surrounded by even more vine-covered monkeys.

These little guys seemed to sense the gorilla's danger and became even more frenzied. Even when their limbs were severed by star energy bullets, they still tried to wrap the remaining vines around his ankles.

Vivian's rapier got tangled in the gorilla's vines, and the android arm made a 'clicking' sound as it overloaded.

"Oh no! It's burning its core energy to gain power, and its regeneration speed is twice as fast as before!"

The crack between the gorilla's eyebrows was healing rapidly, and the purple flower bloomed again. It looked down at Liu Ma, who was lying paralyzed on the ground, and slowly opened its blood-red mouth. Its tongue, full of vine tentacles, hung down, smelling of blood.

(End of this chapter)