16: Transformation, advent, promotion

Roar!

Watching the battlefield continuously crumble upon Li An's arrival, Mother Nest Will uneasily shook its head. The scene before it was somewhat beyond its expectations; the imagined scenario of Li An being overwhelmed by Infected did not occur.

Instead, the dangerous aura around Li An grew stronger, causing it to feel an inexplicable palpitation.

At this moment, a human-like expression once again appeared on the faces of the two Hunter Leaders, revealing a hint of urgency and a deeper, hidden trace of fear.

Crack!

However, just a few seconds later, Mother Nest Will controlled one of the Hunter Leaders to suddenly attack the other. The former's sharp teeth bit off the other Hunter Leader's head almost instantly, then began to feast.

This scene happened too quickly. Even Li An, who was constantly monitoring the situation, couldn't react in time. By the time he did, only one Hunter Leader remained on the field.

Watching one Hunter Leader being devoured alive by another, Li An suddenly felt a strong sense of unease, which made him subconsciously accelerate his clearing and devouring of the Infected in front of him.

With his current attribute values, he could naturally achieve an all-encompassing, crushing clear-out when facing this group of Infected. However, Li An had previously wanted to spend more time improving his combat experience, which was why he hadn't ended the battle too quickly.

But now, with this sudden development on the field, he couldn't afford to delay any longer, so he had to end the battle as quickly as possible.

Recalling his thoughts.

Li An's gaze instantly turned cold. He extended his left hand, directly grabbing the neck of the closest Infected. Then, with a slight exertion of force, a 'bang' sound was heard, and the Infected's neck was crushed by Li An.

Without stopping, the moment Li An crushed the Infected's neck, he grabbed its corpse and hurled it forward, clearing a path by knocking down a large number of Infected.

However, Li An did not choose to leave the battlefield at this moment. The sense of unease in his heart was growing stronger. He had to quickly eliminate these Infected to further enhance his own strength.

The next second, biological tendrils erupted from Li An's body, then covered his entire body, forming a biological armor. At the same time, his arms also transformed, with two cold, gleaming blades temporarily replacing his forearms.

Puff, puff, puff!

Li An then transformed into a cold killing machine, constantly swinging his blades to slash and cleave. With each raise and fall of his arms, large splashes of filthy blood and falling Infected accompanied his movements.

At the same time!

Energy!

Invisible streams of energy began to pour into Li An's body, then surged throughout his entire being.

Whenever an Infected died, Li An's devour ability would activate, consuming the Infected and converting it into a pure energy ball absorbed by Li An.

In other words, at this moment, Li An was constantly growing stronger!

Roar!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield!

As the number of Infected on the field dwindled, the Hunter Leader, controlled by Mother Nest Will, finally reached the critical point of transformation after devouring the other Hunter Leader. The Hunter Leader's body temperature continuously rose until its skin surface became scorching hot.

[Ding! Pseudo-Mutant · Hunter Leader has met evolution conditions, transforming...]

Previously, the information Li An saw through the Death Space's function indicated that this Hunter had temporarily reached the Hunter Leader level due to Mother Nest Will's blessing. However, after Mother Nest Will controlled the Hunter Leader to devour another existence of the same level, it was clearly about to truly reach this level.

Within the chaotic Mother Nest space, tangible dark-black gas began to emanate from the Hunter Leader's body as its temperature increased, then spread outwards.

This was a leap in life-level, an evolution of species, a necessary process for an Infected to advance to a Mutant!

Pfft!

The Hunter Leader's evolution was naturally noticed by Li An, who was slaughtering Infected nearby. After casually plunging his blade into the heart of the last Hunter and devouring its energy, Li An withdrew his blade and charged towards the Hunter Leader.

All the Infected on the battlefield had been killed by him; within a hundred meters, there was no Infected left.

He did not fear the Pseudo-Mutant Hunter Leader, but now the opponent was about to advance, becoming a true Hunter Leader, and also had the blessing of Mother Nest Will, which made him have to treat it with caution.

One must know that people are always filled with fear and unease when facing the unknown, and now Li An wanted to nip it in the bud. Although he did not fear the Hunter Leader's transformation, he was not foolish. He did not want a battle that could originally be resolved in one minute to end up taking half an hour.

Moreover, there were two other monsters outside. If he didn't deal with this guy quickly, it would undoubtedly increase the difficulty for himself!

Wind.

A fierce wind blew past Li An's ears, making his hair stand on end. As he moved, the blades on his arms transformed again, becoming gauntlets more suitable for agile combat, completely enveloping most of his forearms.

As Li An moved quickly, getting closer and closer to the Hunter Leader, he even extended his right hand, about to interrupt the Hunter Leader's advancement, when an accident... occurred!

Rumble!

The structure above the Mother Nest suddenly cracked open. Before Li An could react, two dark figures crashed down consecutively, causing an invisible wave of air to spread upon impact, directly interrupting Li An's movements.

This sudden scene instantly froze Li An in place. He subconsciously put his hands in front of him, blocking the surging air current.

“So you're here, food.”

“…”

As the air current dissipated, the newcomers appeared before Li An. It was Supreme Hunter and Alex Mercer. Supreme Hunter was looking at Li An with a sinister grin. He had been fighting fiercely with Alex Mercer, but in the blink of an eye, the food they were fighting over had disappeared, which made him somewhat annoyed, but fortunately, he had found it now.

As for Alex Mercer, he looked at Li An with surprise. At this moment, he clearly felt the increase in energy within Li An, a powerful force not weaker than his own.

“This Asian, not weaker than me?”

Alex Mercer instinctively realized this question. At this time, Alex Mercer still retained his humanity, completely unaware that he was actually an aggregate of the blacklight virus.

“It's you two.”

“Food?”

“Perhaps you are the food.”

At this moment, Li An also lowered his hands, then looked at Supreme Hunter and sneered.

Upon hearing this.

Supreme Hunter was about to explode in rage, but the next second, as if sensing something, it suddenly turned its head to look at a certain spot. There, a mutant different from other Hunters was continuously emitting black gas.

However, as time passed, the Hunter Leader's advancement, interfered with by the arrival of the two, had already been completely finished. Therefore, the amount of black gas was continuously decreasing until it finally disappeared completely.

And at this moment, the Hunter Leader, blessed by Mother Nest Will, finally completed its ultimate advancement!