"A Tier Four beastmaster, and a Tier Five beastmaster. Although the quality of their subdued beasts are a little poor, there's a five-star silver-quality beast and a three-star gold-quality beast among them. They should be able to hold on for some time, right?"

Zhang Che, using the Rotten Ent Prowler whip to quickly leave the area, ran all the way outside before stopping, and summoned his competent subdued beasts and pets again.

He stood a short distance away from the cave entrance, his eyes narrowed, calculating how long the two could hold on with their strength.

The two were definitely not weak by any means.

A five-star silver-quality beast's basic strength and speed was actually slightly higher than that of a three-star dark gold-quality beast's. However, their offensive and defensive strengths were weaker. Adding on the fact that it didn't have a skill, it was basically impossible for it to defeat a three-star gold-quality beast.

Of course, there was still a three-star gold-quality beast in the mix. If they combined strengths, it was possible to fend off the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander for a bit.

"Heh, I wonder what the looks on their faces will be like if they see the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander suddenly disappearing before their eyes."

A strange smile appeared on Zhang Che's face. During the battle earlier, he could tell that the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander's "aggro meter" {TL: Gaming reference} was quickly reaching its peak. If it still wasn't able to break past the Purple Jade Condor and Cold Abyss Flood Dragon's defensive blockade, it would surely have activated its skill and attacked him directly.

The intuition of a dark gold-quality beast was rather terrifying. They knew how to look for their enemies' weaknesses, and even when they were fighting the subdued beasts of a beastmaster, they could quickly sense that they only needed to get rid of the beastmaster behind them to end the fight.

------

Inside the cave, countless curses were flas.h.i.+ng through Brother Meng and the punk's minds.

They had originally intended to backstab Zhang Che while he wasn't paying attention and s.n.a.t.c.h that powerful exotic beast away.

In a certain sense, their objective was achieved.

There were indeed only their subdued beasts and the exotic beast left in the cave. All they needed was to have their subdued beasts gang up on the lizard-like exotic beast, and they'd have a very high chance of obtaining a beast card.

As for the escaped Zhang Che, he didn't really bother them much.

As long as they could kill the exotic beast and obtain a high-quality beast card, would they not be able to take care of that kid?

Even so, they had not expected this lizard-like exotic beast to be powerful to this extent.

In just a single exchange of moves, the beastmasters lost two of their relatively weaker subdued beasts. They panicked and wanted to make a run for it.

"Let's go, quick! We can't handle this exotic beast!" Brother Meng's face sank as he turned around to run for the cave's exit.

The punk hurriedly followed him, asking worriedly as he ran, "Brother Meng, what should we do if that kid is still outside?"

This was a problem indeed; they would surely be in for a bad time if Zhang Che was waiting outside the cave to ambush them.

Brother Meng cursed out loud, "G.o.d d.a.m.n it, why are you still thinking so much!? You're going to die if you don't run!"

Seeing the two turning tail to run, the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander's "aggro meter" immediately peaked.

-What do you think this place is, to come and go as you please!? If I don't teach you a lesson, you're really going to think I'm some pushover!-

The enraged Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander immediately activated its Earth Displacement skill. Its huge figure disappeared, sinking into the ground as if it was entering water, leaving the subdued beasts staring wide-eyed, not knowing how to proceed.

Their masters' order was to hold back this exotic beast and buy them time to escape.

However, now that their enemy went missing, what should they do?

Luckily, they wouldn't have to be so troubled very soon.

The punk running at the back suddenly felt something amiss. -Why is it suddenly quiet back there?-

Before a second thought could come to mind, a ma.s.sive black silhouette suddenly popped out from the solid rock under his feet. Its mouth opened wide and directly swallowed half of his body.

"Ah! Save me, Brother Meng…" the punk shrieked in shock, flailing his hands around as if he was drowning, but none of his actions were useful at all.

Snap!

The Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander's mouth closed with a crisp snap. The punk screamed as his lower body was bit off. Blood gushed out madly from his severed waist, pouring all over the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander's head, making it look even more savage and horrifying.

"Brother Meng, save… save m-"

The mournful cries for help suddenly stopped. The remaining half of the punk's body was swallowed by the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander, its mouth closing at his neck. Its sharp teeth effortlessly snapped the punk's cervical vertebra, leaving his uniquely-styled head to roll off.

Following the punk's death, his three remaining subdued beasts let out sorrowful cries one after another at the back of the cave, and turned into streaks of light, dissipating.

Brother Meng was scared soulless. Although he didn't know what exactly had happened, he knew things were turning really bad really fast, hating himself for running so slowly.

He was indeed running very slowly.

The exit was ahead, right before his eyes. The light of hope was right there, but a huge, b.l.o.o.d.y mouth suddenly appeared on the ground beneath his feet.

Brother Meng's reaction time was shockingly fast. At the crucial moment, his jumping ability burst forth, directly leaping off the ground, almost leading the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander to bite at the air.

Even so, it was only "almost".

No matter how fast Brother Meng's reaction speed was, he was not faster than a three-star dark gold-quality exotic beast.

Realizing its prey had suddenly jumped up, the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander followed suit, and bit down hard on Brother Meng's kneecap.

Another crisp snap rang out. Brother Meng's bones were crushed along with the sound, but his legs didn't break off from the wound!

"Ah! My legs!" Even a man of iron will like Brother Meng couldn't help but scream out in pain when his kneecaps were crushed.

Alas, his suffering was far from over.

The Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander grew even more ferocious when it realized that it actually didn't tear its prey's legs apart. It pulled its head back violently, swinging Brother Meng about and slammed him on the uneven ground, a loud thud ringing out.

Brother Meng felt as if half of his bones were broken, his organs s.h.i.+fted positions from the trauma. He let out an extremely miserable howl from the pain.

He really hated himself right now. He wouldn't have worn his gold-quality soft armor if he knew this would happen. It would be better if he just died a quick death; now he was just experiencing living h.e.l.l!

The violent swings were still unable to tear its prey's legs off. The Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander grew very frustrated, and decided to keep swinging its head left and right violently, slamming Brother Meng on the hard ground time and time again, generating a wave of dull thuds.

In the end, when Brother Meng's tight-fitting gold-quality soft armor finally turned into a streak of light and dissipated, his legs finally broke off from a body that was nearly smashed into meat paste. He flew out several meters with a woosh and crashed into the wall, falling off it like a broken cloth sack, no further sounds forthcoming.

At this moment, Brother Meng's subdued beasts finally arrived a short distance away. They turned into streaks of light one after another and slowly dissipated, gone with their master.

At the open s.p.a.ce a few dozen meters away from the cave entrance, Zhang Che couldn't help but drop his head, sighing, "These two guys were really disappointing. I was hoping they could cause some huge troubles for the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander, but who would've thought that they couldn't even last two minutes!?"

Brother Meng and the punk's subdued beasts were really not weak. If it was a frontal battle, they wouldn't have lost so quickly.

Without a doubt, the Dark-Scaled Lizard Commander must have used its Earth Displacement skill and directly killed the two beastmasters, ending the battle in a swift manner.

-Very well; your skill is used now. Let's see if you dare come out and fight!-

Zhang Che stared into the dark cave, quietly antic.i.p.ating the fight to come.