Chapter 144: The Trump Card Always Held in Reserve

However, he was celebrating too soon.

Just as the three helicopters crested the mountain, a massive compressed energy blast erupted from the dense forest on the summit, hurtling straight toward them. The pilots let out cries of alarm, frantically maneuvering to evade the strike.

At that moment, everyone finally caught sight of the saltwater crocodile beast again. It had not fled into the valley to hide as the humans had expected. Instead, it had seized the opportunity to scale the peak, using its height advantage to unleash energy blasts.

Boom!

The desk-sized sphere of energy exploded, creating a visible vortex of air pressure in the sky. The nearest helicopter, unable to pull up in time, disintegrated as if it were made of paper. The two other helicopters, slightly further away, were dragged into the explosive vortex. Their frames swayed violently as they struggled to fly toward safety.

Before they could escape, two more compressed energy blasts were fired.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The three helicopters crashed to the ground one after another, erupting into brilliant, dazzling blossoms of fire.

"Damned reptile!" Sanchez roared in fury.

*Oh? These guys didn't die?*

Seeing several human figures scramble from the wreckage of the helicopters, Lu Chen’s beastly eyes flickered with surprise. He watched as the leader quickly plunged a syringe into his own body. Immediately, his aura underwent a violent transformation. In the blink of an eye, his physique surged to over three meters in height, and his head morphed into a hideous, terrifying wolf's head. Pointed ears, razor-sharp fangs, and savage eyes—even his arms transformed into lupine claws, though his lower body remained human. It was grotesque.

*A werewolf?*

Before Lu Chen could fully process this, the other survivors began their own transformations. One was covered in brown fur and wielded an alloy broadsword, while another sprouted wings from his back, his face twisting into a monster-like visage, somewhat resembling a legendary vampire.

*Werewolves, vampires... what kind of bizarre freaks are these?*

Lu Chen vaguely sensed that they must be the latest product of human scientific research. However, he had no interest in investigating further; he needed to eliminate them completely in the shortest time possible. If he waited for the remaining helicopters to close in, the battle would become far more troublesome.

Of course, for Lu Chen, it would only be a minor inconvenience. Despite their strength, these misshapen humans were nothing to him; at most, they were equivalent to early-stage Tier 4 beasts.

He unleashed several more compressed energy blasts while simultaneously lunging forward.

Boom, boom...

Explosions erupted, sending dust and debris flying. Before the mutated humans could turn to dodge, Lu Chen was already upon the werewolf, his massive claws lashing out in quick succession.

Splat!

The target had no power to resist; before he could even make a move, his body exploded.

Splat, splat, splat!

It was like swatting flies; each swing of his claws left behind nothing but unrecognizable mounds of gore. The only thing that surprised Lu Chen was the human who resembled a jaguar, whose speed was surprisingly fast, yet even he was easily slaughtered under the pressure of the energy blasts.

The entire process took barely ten seconds. By the time Sanchez and the others arrived in their helicopters, Lu Chen had already slipped back into the dense valley forest and vanished.

"Quick, deploy the micro-drones!"

After the previous failure, Sanchez dared not let the helicopters fly at a low altitude again, intending to use drones to track the creature's movements first. As the drones took flight, the situation in the canyon was displayed on the large screen.

"What... is that?" the drone operator suddenly exclaimed.

"Captain, look!" another team member stammered.

"I found it, where is it?" Captain Sanchez demanded urgently.

"In the sky..."

"In the sky? What do you mean?" Sanchez asked, his tone filled with confusion. He even suspected his team members had been terrified out of their wits by the beast.

"It’s in the sky! The saltwater crocodile beast can fly!" the mercenary operating the drone shouted.

At that moment, Lu Chen had already rounded the mountain peak and was soaring a hundred meters above the ground. Sanchez and his team finally saw the silhouette of the crocodile once again...

In Xia Country, the members of the Crisis Management Group also had their mouths agape in shock.

"This... how is this possible? How is it doing that?"

"A flight artifact?"

"Am I seeing things, or is this a hallucination? The Dragon King can actually fly?"

A massive body weighing over ten tons, without the aid of any modern apparatus, was actually flying in the sky. They had considered many possibilities for countering the Dragon King, but they had never anticipated that it possessed the ability to fly. This miraculous phenomenon once again overturned humanity's understanding of beasts.

On the battlefield, Lu Chen did not give the enemy much time to react. Watching the fleet of helicopters enter the trap zone, his beastly eyes radiated cruel killing intent as he channeled energy laws into the surrounding air.

Boom... A spectacular dust explosion finally unfolded before the eyes of humanity on Blue Star.

When he had attacked the first three helicopters, Lu Chen had quietly transformed the black mud of the swamp into fine dust, dispersing it into the void. It was only when the helicopters rushed into the zone that he triggered the detonation.

At that moment, the entire sky was covered in thick, choking smoke.

"My God!!"

"What is happening..."

"What the hell! How is this possible?"

Seeing the dozen brilliant and magnificent fireworks on the large screen, a group of humans at a military base in Madura stood frozen, mouths hanging open. The expressions on their faces were as if they had seen a ghost!

Total annihilation—not a single soul survived! The orc mercenaries they had pinned their hopes on had proven completely ineffective. They were wiped out before they could even launch an attack.

Looking at the saltwater crocodile beast hovering in mid-air, its hideous jaws agape, its two eyes glowing with ferocious killing intent—even through the screen, they felt a chill in their hearts, as if their souls had been frozen.

It was absolutely terrifying!

Everyone had completely underestimated the beast's strength. It was no different from the beast kings in the alien dimensions; conventional weapons could no longer destroy it. Unless... they deployed humanity's ultimate power.

After Lu Chen revealed his true strength, not only were the Americans shocked, but the Crisis Management Group, including Dong Mingjun, fell into a heavy silence. Despite the assessment team having made very bold predictions about the Dragon King's combat power, they had still severely underestimated it.

That unique energy law was truly astonishing in its power. A single blast could ignite thousands of square meters of sky, easily wiping out over ten helicopters. Even among the weapons humanity possessed, only a rare few could achieve such a feat.

After a long time, Dong Mingjun spoke with difficulty.

"This guy... it has grown stronger again. Perhaps this still isn't its true power."

Since its discovery, the saltwater crocodile beast had been shrouded in too many mysteries. Every time it appeared, it brought great shock and disbelief to humanity. And the Dragon King seemed to always hold its trump cards in reserve, leaving one unable to grasp the true extent of its strength.