Only I Am A Reader

As things currently were, the Devouring Centaur knew that it was no different from a simple entertainment tool. The zookeeping pillars and the four visitors would be the end of the Centaur sooner or later.

Neigh!

However, just as it showed itself to have completely run out of options, accepting the kneeling position that was being forced on it, the monster's dark red feathers turned even darker as they puffed out all of the sudden.

<Everyone, watch out!>

Seeing that, Leo directly pulled away from the Centaur as he alerted Yeon and the others, the one last obstacle they had to overcome before they could butcher the monster and loot its material had finally revealed itself!

After giving away its visual alarm, feathers flew out of the monster's upper body in a random manner, the air distorting around them as they melted away into orbs of black fire. This was none other than the specialty of the Devouring Centaur, ability combination!

Although a Devouring Centaur would lose the physique of the creature it absorbed as long as it devoured another target, it didn't completely lose its unique ability. Its use was still limited, but by combining it with the dominant new ability, it could wield one of the characteristics of its last victim's ability.

'This needs to be avoided at all costs.'

The black fire orbs shot out even faster than the Devouring Centaur's fire breath, targeting the four who moved away in a hurry. Despite feeling tempted to take it head-on with the help of Ice Protection, Yeon and the others trusted Leo's judgment as the one who suggested getting Bing Baek's help in the first place.

In order to erase the Devouring Centaur's last trump card, the four had to outlast the black fire. Unfortunately, things didn't always go as smoothly as one desired.

Since systematic targeting didn't seem effective against its dexterous hunters, the Devouring Centaur just randomly flung the black orbs throughout the battlefield like a game of clashing spheres

Without any pattern to look out for, the presence-less black fire orbs weren't completely unavoidable. Even as the one who acted the most vigilantly, Leo still failed to react as a part of the orb brushed by his arm!

Tss!

"Ugh…"

However, what he received was nothing more than a very light burn wound. A part of the area was covered by his inner scale armor, but that wasn't enough to explain how the fearsome black fire orb did so little damage. In reality, it was only Leo himself that could truly feel the pain…

Just like the island guard who was found dead with little to no wounds, Leo was currently suffering from the effect of the fire's secondary characteristic, infiltration!

'This is pretty bad…'

In order to make the fight more exciting for Geochin, the author had made it so the Devouring Centaur's prior form was that of a Burrowing Hedgehog! A monster whose spikes could burrow into the body of any creature it got in contact with. It almost felt like nothing when going through, but it would turn the body into a mess once it got inside!

Despite the very small amount that got to infiltrate Leo's body, his arm was scorchingly heating up from the inside out! Only a moment had passed before he completely isolated it with his Scarlet Sky Internal Energy, but the damage was even worse than the pain…

Tss!

Tss!

Tss!

Under the flickering storm of black fire, the Four Heavenly Beast successively suffered from slight friction with the orbs, experiencing the pain that they had been running from for themselves!

"Focus on flushing it out using your Internal Energy!"

As the one who knew all about it as well as the one who got to experience it first, Leo imparted his wisdom to his fellow sufferers. The situation was no longer fun and games, but there was no easy way to grasp a true victory.

'We just have to tough it out.'

On the bright side, the Devouring Centaur's ability combination was a consumable ability in itself. If it weren't for quickly silencing the guards who would bring more trouble or now that it had to bet on its last chance to survive, the monster wouldn't have dared to waste away what was left of the Burrowing Hedgehog's essence…

Neighhh!

In its head, it was strongly complaining about the turns of fate. After coming over to this world, the Devouring Centaur just happened to find the perfect weakened target. The new body it obtained was simply perfect and even had the potential to grow! In order to not waste this opportunity, it didn't follow its duty as a monster by causing as much destruction as possible, wishing to lay dormant till it reached its optimum stage of evolution!

As one of the few monsters possessing initiate intelligence, the Devouring Centaur didn't have a minion's mindset, valuing its own life more. However, these rude visitors not only came to ruin its grand plan, but they were even forcing it to squander its second reserve. Since it had no plans to change its body any further, this wasn't something that it could replace…

However, as if to make matters worse, strange shining snow dropped down from the sky, extinguishing the dark flame orbs as soon as they came into contact with the hyper creations! The last card that it was already afraid of losing with time was spat on just like that!

"Isn't dealing with fire my duty in this battle?"

As Bing Baek's refreshing voice reached the four's ears, the Devouring Centaur's face lost all color. At this exact moment, it had truly turned into nothing but a lamb waiting to be slaughtered…

"Thanks!"

The shocking assist brought surprise to everyone including Leo. As he could only refer to Geochin's method of relying on his extreme speed to outlast the dark flame, he truly had no idea that their supporter possessed an ability like that. Undeniably, the Ice Phoenix Constitution was truly the nemesis of all fire!