Chapter 65: Desert Iguana
During the latter part of the journey, Xiao Lin restricted what was left of the water among everyone there. The dozen or so people had some trust in him and they all followed suit.
The billowing heatwaves swept back and forth in the canyon. It was really uncomfortable to be rushing on in the blaring heat. However, no one dared slow down, because if Xiao Lin had guessed correctly, the enemy’s garrison would have found their tracks early on. It was highly probable that there were already soldiers chasing after them.
Everyone’s physical strength was gradually exhausted. Xiao Lin’s Basic Fitness and Basic Physique had improved slightly during the entire month’s training, but by afternoon his physical strength had waned and was unable to keep up.
The few girls with even lower Basic Fitness levels found it even more unbearable. The lack of water, coupled with the heatstroke, caused them to walk unsteadily, like a small sapling that was bound to fall at any time after swaying in the strong wind.
Xiao Lin looked worriedly at Gu Xiaoyue. He remembered that her other attributes were very poor despite her super high intelligence. Her face was extremely pale and her lips were tightly pursed together. The strong girl never once complained, but Xiao Lin knew full well that Gu Xiaoyue’s physical strength was already going into overdrive.
Just as everyone was on the verge of physical and mental collapse, an accident happened at that exact moment. Their team had spread out in a serpentine manner, and a thin, tall boy was walking in front. His physical exhaustion made him listless and caused his gaze to be shaky. All of a sudden, a black shadow leapt out from a small mound two or three meters away from him.
“Be careful!”
“Get away!”
Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue warned the guy at the exact same time. Since the two of them were the only ones in the team who had learnt Basic Perception, they—despite their comparatively low perception level—became aware of its presence much quicker than the others.
The boy was stupefied for less than a second and he instinctively leaned to the right. Unfortunately, the black shadow had already struck him at about the same time, and everyone saw a spray of blood spurt out. The boy’s left arm was thrown high into the air and it landed on the sand not far away.
The boy fell to the ground, screaming and howling in pain.
The black shadow landed nearby and everyone managed to get a close look at the attacker. It was a lizard-like creature covered with yellowish-green horny scales, but unlike lizards, the creature was not a reptile[1]. It stood on its powerful hind limbs and its forelimbs were a pair of black half-meter-long blades. Traces of flesh and blood were still on the blades too.
Everyone immediately drew their weapons and pulled away a little later. The injured boy lay in the middle and convulsed uncontrollably, but the strange creature stared at him and made a low grunting cry. For a moment, no one dared to move forward.
“This is a Desert Iguana. It appears in the dry and high-temperature deserts or severely weathered environments. Because it eats high-metal content ores all the year-round, its forelimbs gradually evolved into a blade-like shape, and its instantaneous explosive power is very high!” Gu Xiaoyue’s calm voice stunned Xiao Lin slightly as it reverberated through the gorge, but that was not the time for him to ask her how she knew that.
Although there was a reminder in the information about the small number of creatures in the canyon, it did not give a proper introduction to those creatures.
Xiao Lin pulled out his novice dagger and novice staff, then moved slowly to the left and said in a low voice, “I’ll distract the iguana[2][2]. You guys save him first and bandage him immediately!”
“Gu Xiaoyue, you and Lu Renyi will cooperate with me by my side! Then, we’ll have a couple of other people join forces to subdue this guy!” To Xiao Lin’s dismay, he glanced across at his team and saw that only Lu Renyi and Gu Xiaoyue had long-range attacks.
“Its hind limbs are very developed, so be very careful of its jumping power!” Lu Renyi reminded. He immediately took an arrow from the quiver on his back and shot it with his bow. The howling arrow shot through the air and landed on the sand beside the iguana.
The others cast disdainful looks at him. The distance was no more than a few meters, but the arrow failed to even hit its target. Lu Renyi coughed, “Guys, that was... I was adjusting my aim!”
The arrow seemed to have alarmed the desert iguana. It roared and inched toward the wounded person still lying on the ground and bleeding. As soon as it moved, those who were tasked to rescue the person did not dare to move forward.
“Energy Bomb!”
“Ice Bullet!”
Gu Xiaoyue and Xiao Lin shot one after another. The light blue energy bomb crossed the air in an arc and hit the iguana’s back. A couple of its yellowish-green horny scales exploded after being hit by the energy bullets. It was severely wounded, and the spell’s lethality was rather effective. Next, a roundish ice bullet came right after and struck the iguana’s tail.
The iguana uttered a painful roar. A shallow layer of frost enveloped its tail and its powerful feet, severely restricting its movement. That was the slowing-down effect of the Ice Bullet spell.
“Good job!” the others cheered.
“Hurry up and save him!” Xiao Lin yelled and touched his nose angrily. He was clearly aiming at the iguana’s eyes earlier, and his accuracy was rather terrible. Fortunately, the attack managed to strike the tail.
After recovering from the initial shock, everyone else took the opportunity to advance forward and dragged the broken-armed boy back. Two girls hurriedly took out the emergency bandages from their backpacks and bandaged him, while others stepped forward to help Xiao Lin deal with the iguana.
All of them were students who had passed the admission test. They faced the battle at hand with increased calmness compared to their very first time. They quickly surrounded the iguana but were wary of rushing up immediately, as they were still uncertain of whether the creature was of novice or Black Iron rank.
When the desert iguana found itself surrounded, it raised its blade-like arms and extended its scarlet red tongue. Its eyes wore a look of savagery.
Whoosh!
Another light-blue energy bomb whizzed past, but the iguana was well prepared that time. In other words, it was actually waiting for such an opportunity, as it kicked its feet and leapt toward the boy nearest to it, who was holding a dagger. Gu Xiaoyue’s energy bomb had practically chafed its abdomen and left a layer of scars, but it did not seem to affect the iguana’s speed.
As Gu Xiaoyue mentioned earlier, the instantaneous explosive power of the desert iguana was quite formidable. It was brave enough to attack actively despite being surrounded and at a disadvantage. Its was also incredibly fast, down to seconds or even less than a second. As freshmen who had only started training for less than a month, it was very difficult for them to react.
Snap! There was a crisp crackling sound, accompanied by an explosion of crystal ice chips.
The desert iguana’s half-leaping body was once again covered in a shallow layer of frost, reducing its speed drastically. Although it only took a few tenths of a second, it was long enough for the person who had been targeted by the iguana to react and hurry away.
“Monitor Xiao, thank you!” The man was still trying to collect himself when he cast Xiao Lin a grateful look.
“Seriously?” Xiao Lin muttered. His face turned red and he shook his wand somewhat annoyedly. In fact, he and Gu Xiaoyue executed their spells at the same time and aimed at the immobile iguana. Unfortunately, his spell once again deviated from the predetermined trajectory and flew into the air.
Luckily for Xiao Lin, the desert iguana jumped up at exactly that moment. Although it avoided Gu Xiaoyue’s energy bomb, it was hit again by the ice bullet that followed.
[1] We believe the author was trying to say that this is not a reptile in the traditional sense of the word.
[2] 挖掘者 – in this and a few other instances throughout this chapter, the author used this term, which means ‘digger’. However, since we are quite certain that the author was actually referring to the iguana, we choose to translate all occasions of 挖掘者 into iguana.