Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Another Useless Draw!

"Ah, I see. A chain of schemes?"

Lady Xidi sighed softly while observing the battlefield ahead.

The chaos deities were overwhelmed by the "Steel Tide" of Star-Eater Plutonium Dragons, thrown into disarray. Even the formidable martial faction warrior Elioerg suffered grave injuries…

Those terrifying greedy deities, seemingly lured by something, crushed everything blocking their path, inching closer to the "Fantasy Tree of Subspace" and Lady Xidi herself.

All was beyond salvation.

If she didn’t flee now, it’d be too late.

She finally grasped the terrifying tactics of that "Giant God"!

"He killed my hired ‘core councilor of honor.’"

"Not only did he destroy my formation,"

"but he also unleashed his creations to assault the Fantasy Tree of Subspace where I dwell."

"Normally, the Fantasy Tree could withstand such attacks."

"But now, exhausted from producing ‘Crystal Wall Diamonds,’ it’s critically weakened."

"His creations exploited this vulnerability."

"Forcing me to suffer the consequences of my own actions."

"How mocking."

Lady Xidi smiled bitterly.

"Yet this isn’t the end."

"His creations triggered reactions within the Fantasy Tree of Subspace."

"Drawing these monsters here…"

"Fanning the flames."

"He even accounted for this."

"How cunning."

"But—"

Abruptly, the corner of her lips twitched upward.

"Fascinating…"

*Schlick!*

Her crimson tongue flicked across her lips.

"This round, I’m utterly defeated."

"But next time won’t repeat this."

"I anticipate our rematch."

"My eternal rival."

In Xidi’s reptilian eyes, a predatory glint sparkled.

"Oh no! Sister!"

"There’s no time!"

"The Star-Eater Plutonium Dragons and those two Ether Dragons were about to reach us!"

Gimmerly glided in urgently.

Severely injured, Elioerg followed closely behind her.

Aside from Xidi and the few chaos deities still resisting, the chaos forces in the entire area were completely defeated.

If they didn’t leave soon, it would truly be too late.

"I see."

Xidi said lightly.

But instead of retreating undignifiedly, she slowly climbed onto the fallen Fantasy Tree of Subspace.

"Whoosh—whoosh—!"

She shook her body, flinging off the etheric liquid stuck to her feathers.

"Well then, it’s my turn to join the battle!"

Her words left Elioerg and Gimmerly stunned.

"Huh? But sister!?"

"Gimmerly."

Xidi’s tone remained light and calm.

"Did you forget?"

"I am the twelfth seat of the Chaos Council."

"The arrangement of the core councilors’ seats is based on overall strength."

"The twelfth seat…"

"Is not the last seat among the core councilors."

"Buzz—!"

As she spoke, a bright light burst forth from Xidi’s eyes!

"Switching to Divine Body!"

"Battle mode, unlocked!"

Then…

"Umm—lull…!"

A deep, ancient god-like murmur echoed in the swamp, yet it also had a hint of bird-like sounds.

"Boom—!"

"Splash—!"

The water splashed!

It was a massive yet agile Divine Body walking on two legs, narrowing its brutal eyes as it watched the Star-Eater Plutonium Dragons.

—-

“Hmm…”

Trilobite was digging a tunnel.

His main survival strategies were simple—one was to hide, and the other was to be greedy.

“Hiding” meant concealing his movements, ensuring other creatures did not spot him; “being greedy” meant devouring any suitable prey he found!

He would eat as much as he could!

The strategy of “being greedy” was easy to grasp.

Trilobite’s appetite was never satisfied; when he felt hungry, he had to eat—that was essential. Besides, Chaos Energy was vital for his evolution.

Only by steadily building up Chaos Energy and growing stronger could he conquer his fear and sense of weakness to stand as a top predator!

As for why he chose to “hide” instead of boldly venturing out,

“Damn it, I was still a novice.”

“Taking on arthropods and Lake Dragons was fine, but if I met a big shot, I wouldn’t even know how I’d die.”

“Better to take it easy.”

Though the links between his arms and tibia, legs and pelvis remained primitive, he could at least shuffle on his belly.

And, with a length of 1.9 meters, he shouldn’t be seen as small.

But Trilobite knew what that length meant among animals.

“A length of 1.9 meters matched a large Yangtze crocodile or a medium-to-large spectacled caiman.”

“Both held spots in the food chain…”

Everyone knew the Yangtze crocodile, a small crocodile likely the tiniest species worldwide; they only bullied little creatures like rodents and water birds daily.

As for the spectacled caiman…

They often ended up prey for Catamount.

Were beasts of that size tough?

Their power fell short of making them top predators on a small closed island, unlike the Komodo Dragon.

“Ah, the Serpent Tooth Dragon appeared.”

“Though that guy was close to my level, I figured I could handle it at ‘70%’ strength on land or in water.”

“Ah, I was one; he was point seven; staying cautious should keep me safe.”

“But who knew if tougher species lurked?”

“If a Theriodont showed up, I was done for.”

While the Theriodont was also a top predator, predators from the archosaurs didn’t grow big.

Creatures like the saber-toothed Theriodont were about the size of modern tigers.

But the problem was, Trilobite was only the size of a large Yangtze crocodile at that time!

Although tigers would avoid a Zecrocodile, and Marqili would take several hours to kill a dehydrated Zecrocodile, if faced with a Yangtze crocodile…

That would just be a matter of grabbing and munching!

“Hmm…”

“To compete with powerful fellows like the Theriodont, my size must at least reach that of a Zecrocodile.”

“That’s about three meters, nearly four!”

“That means I need to double my body size. With the current efficiency of gathering Chaos Energy…”

“It feels hopelessly far away!”

“Therefore, I need to keep digging this tunnel…”

But as he kept digging…

“Damn it! I quit!”

“I’m exhausted!”

“There must be dozens of kilometers between lakes!”

“Even the closest is over ten kilometers.”

“How long will it take me to dig all that!”

“Sigh…”

“Forget it—I’ll just dig a hole here and rest.”

“I’ll poke around the nearby mud too, see if there’s anything tasty.”

“Things hiding in sludge probably aren’t tough.”

“Ah, except what pythons kill.”

“But there aren’t pythons around now.”

Just as Trilobite felt utterly drained and was about to stop digging for a break,

“Buzz…”

“Whir…”

A huge swarm of “Trilobite Bugs” suddenly poured from the “tunnel” he’d dug—but these weren’t the rigid followers of Ancestors’ Laws.

They carried specialized digging limbs and “web spinnerets” that Trilobite had bought for Symbiotic Creature No. 1, who’d shared them.

Thousands of busy “worker Trilobite Bugs” now swarmed along the tunnel Trilobite had started.

They patted down the muddy walls with their flat digging limbs while secreting silk from their tails to coat the net path, strengthening the whole tunnel.

“Oh?”

Trilobite watched curiously for a moment, then nodded cheerfully.

“Not bad! If I tire of digging, I can ask the young lady of Symbiotic Creature No. 1 to bring these bugs to help.”

“So now, let’s check out the great things Valaharl’s customer service lady gave me.”

“Hmm…”

When he parted ways at Lake Valaharl, the customer service lady had seemingly given him two gifts.

Now, it was time to examine these two gifts properly.

“The first one…”

“Hmm, just as I thought.”

It was a “magnetic field characteristic map” of Lake Valaharl. Trilobite had received a similar one from Miss Themis before.

“So this is like a ‘participation souvenir’?”

“Hmm, seems replicas can be traded for Chaos Energy.”

“Not bad.”

In fact, Trilobite had already reclaimed a fair amount of Chaos Energy—around 10,000 points—by selling Themis’s “magnetic field characteristic map”.

“Time to sell this one too!”

“Though…”

Selling this particular map might prove tricky.

After all, he could only make a sale if someone first submitted a “request” for it.

“Ah well, I’ll wait.”

“While waiting, let’s check Miss Valaharl’s second gift.”

“Hmm…”

【Ding——!】

【Obtained “Death Land Reversal” achievement. Received one item draw opportunity.】

“Why wait!?”

“Dice Goddess, grant me luck!”

【Clatter——!】

After the dice’s rattling faded…

A burst of golden light exploded inside Trilobite’s mind!

From the radiance emerged a book.

“Uh…”

“What in the world is this!?”

Emblazoned on its cover were bold characters: “Thirty-Six Stratagems.”

But what puzzled Trilobite more were three smaller words trailing the title: “For Rent.”

“This thing can be rented out?”

Just as doubt crossed his mind…

【Ding——!】

The system’s chime echoed.