Chapter 217: Acquisition of New Hunter Skills, First Expedition Against Taboos!

The dancing flames on the campfire dispelled some of the chill from the extremely cold ice cave and also illuminated this dim area.

Ryan carefully read the contents recorded on the animal skin scroll in front of him.

——

[Summer May 1: ...The disaster is coming. Under the guidance of the prophecy, we finally arrived at this permafrost continent covered with ice and snow after paying a heavy price in the hottest season of the year...that is, to the final destination. ]

[...The ecology here is too strange. It is obviously a land of ice and desolate land, but it has bred a vast and immeasurable snow forest. Not only that, the monsters living here are also extremely difficult to defeat...Their skin and meat are extremely hard, and the effect of directly chopping with weapons is greatly reduced...]

[We stayed on the edge of the permafrost continent for a long time. With the research of the accompanying researchers day and night, we finally found a way to deal with the "hard skin"! ]

[That is a special technique - the hardness of the skin of the permafrost monsters comes from their long-term residence in extremely cold climates. In this case, if a certain part of them is heated up rapidly in a short period of time, the collision of cold and heat can destroy this defense. We call this technique "softening", and the relevant methods are recorded as follows: ...]

[Of course, the softening technique also has its flaws. First, because the monster is very large, softening can only soften one part at a time, so it is necessary to soften the vital parts of the monster as much as possible. Second, based on the principle of softening, cold and heat collision, under the influence of the monster's energy and the external environment, the softening can only last for three minutes at most, and then it will fail and need to be repeated. ]

[Later, if you can see this record, I hope the softening technique can help you. ]

[Our team's goal is the depths of the permafrost continent, which is said to be the source of all disasters...]

[We don't know what it is specifically. It is said that a hundred years ago, Canglanxing went to a mysterious place to explore, but unfortunately, no news was sent back. ]

[That's about it. Next, our team will continue to go deeper. May the blue light guide you and me. ]

[Oh, by the way, there is something I almost forgot to say. ]

[According to the information left by the reconnaissance team that came to investigate in the past, the areas that have been set foot on from the edge of the Everfrozen Continent to the inside can be divided into: Snow Forest Area and Glacier Area. As for the deeper areas, there is no information yet. Among them, in the Snow Forest Area, the reconnaissance team encountered a variant of the Stegosaurus, which was extremely terrifying. As for the Glacier Area, there is little known information, but it is certain that the monsters living there are far more threatening than the Snow Forest Area. ]

[Hunters who come later, please be extremely careful. ]

[The Ninth Reconnaissance Hunting Group, the captain of the first team, Rodney Hillar, stays. ]

——

[The learning method of [Special Skill-Softening] has been checked. Do you want to learn it? ]

Looking at the prompt that popped up on the panel in front of him, Ryan raised his eyebrows.

This is the first time he has seen such a prompt.

The previous skills were either acquired when he was promoted, or he learned them on his own, or learned them through special items.

This was the first time he had acquired a skill through reading.

Ryan did not hesitate and chose to learn directly.

——

[Special Skill - Softening]: By compressing his own blood and qi, forming a high-temperature flow and temporarily storing it in the weapon, attacking the monster's body, it can "soften" the attack area and greatly weaken its "hard skin". Please note that if the "hard skin" is too strong, it will take multiple softenings to completely break the hard skin (the skill effect depends on the user's blood and qi, and the strength of the blood and qi is based on [physique]).

——

In just a moment, a lot of memories appeared in Ryan's mind. At the same time, he seemed to have practiced the "softening" technique for a long time and knew the key points.

"I see..."

Ryan slowly opened his eyes.

The softening technique played an extremely important role in his next attack on the forbidden monster.

Unlike [Grand Position], [Taboo], as an existence that transcends a large level, its "hard skin" must be thicker.

In the same level battle, if he cannot break the opponent's defense, it will cause great trouble to his crusade.

In addition to this softening technique, this animal skin scroll also records other useful information.

For example.

The hunters who landed on the Everfrozen Continent were from the Ninth Scouting Hunting Group, which was also a different hunting group from the Seventh Scouting Hunting Group of Deputy Leader Loic.

According to Ryan's guess, the so-called Seventh and Ninth may not refer to the ranking of the hunting groups, but more like the time of creation.

At the end of the animal skin scroll, the existence of Deputy Leader Loic was also mentioned, but hundreds of years later, even if the hunters of later generations knew of Loic's existence, it was difficult to know his name.

After all, this world is too dangerous, and it is normal for information to be broken.

There is one more thing.

From the newness of the animal skin scroll, Ryan judged that it had not been preserved for a very long time, at most, only a few years.

In this way, he continued to explore deeper into the permafrost continent, and maybe he would have a chance to meet the hunting group.

After returning the animal skin scroll to its original place, if there were any later comers, they would be able to get a lot of useful information from it, Ryan turned around and walked out of the ice cave.

After this period of warming up, the coldness accumulated in his body had completely disappeared, and his vitality had returned to its peak. It was time to explore more deeply.

Outside the ice cave, the wind and snow continued, as if this continent only had snow all year round, the only difference was the size of the snow.

With the special skill [Adapt to Deep Snow], Ryan's speed of traveling increased significantly.

The tall trees standing in the wind and snow, hundreds of meters high, held up a natural snow umbrella, making the snowflakes deposited below very shallow, and some slopes even exposed black permafrost.

Ryan stepped hard and tried, and found that these permafrosts "tempered" by ice and snow all year round were extremely solid.

This is a good thing.

Because of the cover of the snow forest, Ryan was not directly facing the erosion of wind and snow, and the decline of Ryan's vitality slowed down a lot, greatly increasing the time available for exploration.

After walking for about half an hour, Ryan stopped and looked at a plant growing in the corner.

It was only as high as a person's knee, and there were several red things shaped like peppers hanging on it.

Seeing these little things, Ryan's eyes lit up immediately.

——

[Frozen Pepper (10 pieces)]: A strange fruit that grows in extremely cold areas. It is rare. After taking the fruit, you can get rid of your frozen state in a very short time, and in the next fifteen minutes, greatly improve your body's resistance to cold (this resistance is different from resistance, which can only resist natural cold, and the resistance to cold current energy particle attacks is extremely limited).

If you know how to mix it, you can mix it into a "hot drink" to greatly extend the time when cold resistance takes effect.

——

The prompt on the panel made Ryan smile.

He had seen this kind of special plant on the mysterious island, especially the [Elimination Fruit], which can be said to be a universal antidote.

If the number is not too rare, it is not impossible to use the [Elimination Fruit] to withstand the severe cold.

Of course, it would be better to have a professional [Frozen Pepper].

According to Ryan's estimate, even if he is in the snow forest, he can only move outdoors for a maximum of one hour, and then his vitality will be reduced to 60%. If he continues to explore at that time, the risk is too high.

Each [Frozen Pepper] can relieve the chill and extend his exploration time by an extra 15 minutes. Ten [Frozen Peppers] means two and a half hours, which is quite impressive.

Moreover, Ryan didn't believe that there was only one [Frozen Pepper] in such a large snow forest. If he collected more points, he could explore the entire tour time.

Thinking of this, Ryan was in high spirits. While moving forward, he carefully observed the surrounding corners.

He was not disappointed.

In the next ten minutes, he found several more peppers, and the number of fruits on each plant was different. In total, he got 40 [Frozen Peppers].

"Enough."

Swallowing a [Frozen Pepper], the hot feeling swept through his mouth, tongue and throat, and then, the heat surged all over his body. Ryan nodded with satisfaction.

At this point, the surrounding snow trees became thicker and taller, and even reached about 150 meters. Ryan, who was less than two meters tall, walked in here, like a little man who had strayed into the land of giants.

After walking for another ten minutes, Ryan's eyes suddenly opened up and a large snowy area appeared.

And behind the snowy area was a larger snowy forest.

This blank snowy area looked more like something had been dug out in a large snowy forest.

Or, had this area suffered some terrible bombardment, causing a large area of ​​snowy forest to disappear?

Looking at the slightly concave snowy terrain, this thought flashed through Ryan's mind.

"Huh..."

Exhaling a breath of rising hot air, Ryan stopped thinking and stepped into the snowy area.

But after a few steps forward, he stopped and his eyes fell on the branches of a giant tree lying across the snow in the distance.

The front and rear ends of the giant tree were torn. This gap showed that the giant tree was not cut down by human teeth, but was more like a direct collision and tearing caused by some brutal and terrifying force.

Moreover, there was not much snow on the surface of the giant tree, which meant that it had not been knocked down for a long time, and the "culprit" who caused it to fall was probably nearby.

Ryan took a deep breath.

He could feel the faint agitation in the air around him.

It was a residual breath that the [Grand] could not reach.

This piece of snow is likely to be the habitat of a [Forbidden] monster!

Ryan stood there and did not leave.

The long-lost sense of danger and excitement made his eyes slightly bright.

The [Grand] cold fish dragon he encountered before was just an appetizer, and it couldn't even warm him up.

Only a real [Forbidden] monster could bring enough excitement to Ryan and make his level progress bar climb rapidly.

As time passed, the agitation in the air became stronger and stronger. At the same time, Ryan felt the tremor of the ground.

"Buzz...Buzz..."

The amplitude of the tremor of the snow became stronger and stronger.

Until a violent "boom" sounded, and in Ryan's sight, the snow forest was torn and thrown away by a giant tree on the edge under the impact of huge force. In the rolling snow waves, a huge and sturdy body slowly walked out.

The first thing that appeared in Ryan's eyes was a pair of extremely exaggerated giant horns, followed by the monster's huge body that stood upright and reached nearly 30 meters.

The heavy and oppressive aura came in an instant, causing the snowflakes falling from the sky to lag for a short time.

——

[Flamehorn]: [Taboo] beast dragon species, its body size is the largest among beast dragon species, with an average body length of more than 30 meters, and this [Taboo] level of the Monshorn is extremely huge, reaching a terrifying 60 meters.

The body of the Magnus Magnus is sturdy, covered with hard shells and white fur. These surface structures can help the Magnus Magnus resist the cold, and can also provide some defense against extreme climates such as sand, dust, high temperature, and miasma. Therefore, the Magnus Magnus has a strong adaptability to the environment. The shell on its back will also expand upwards in anger to intimidate the enemy.

The Magnus Magnus has a relatively small face, and a pair of huge dragon horns like deer horns grow on its head. The top of the dragon horns is a shovel-shaped structure. In addition, there is a smaller horn on the tip of the nose, which will only stand up when angry; although the forelimbs are degenerated to the point of being almost useless like most beast dragon species, the hind limbs of the Magnus Magnus are extremely strong, especially the middle toe is very developed, which can provide strong support and movement ability for the Magnus Magnus.

The tail of the horned dragon is thick and flat, and it is also covered with dense fur. Unlike most large herbivores with bad tempers, the horned dragon is a relatively gentle monster. It generally does not actively attack small creatures that approach it, but it has a strong sense of territory. After sensing the cross-border behavior of humans or monsters, the horned dragon will also enter a very aggressive and crazy state.

——[Taboo] Special Species, the strongest existence above countless special species, the "Taboo" beast, buried countless hunters, and thus became a taboo! 】

——

A large number of hints were quickly captured by Ryan.

Looking at the [Taboo] horned dragon with red eyes in front of the snow, Ryan's fighting spirit was also high.

Raising his hand and holding the hilt of the greatsword behind him, he took a step forward and took the initiative to attack the [Taboo] horned dragon.

The aura of the forbidden monster was as heavy as a mountain, and the wind was whistling. With the blessing of [Walking Wind Slash], Ryan's figure flashed and appeared beside the [Forbidden] Horned Dragon, then jumped high and slashed its side face with a sword.

"Bang——"

The greatsword collided with the side face of the [Forbidden] Horned Dragon, and the terrifying recoil caused Ryan's body to fly backwards and land on a boulder in the snow.

Ryan narrowed his eyes and looked at the part he had just attacked. He saw that there was only a faint white mark there. This degree of "hard skin" was simply a world apart from that of the [Grand] Cold Fish Dragon.

"The defense of the monster promoted from [Grand] to [Forbidden] is a bit too much, right?"

Ryan grinned, a little bit sour.

If he didn't have the "softening" technique, he could only watch the real damage of the skill grind hard bit by bit if he wanted to defeat the forbidden monster.

But that would be too dangerous.

Taboo monsters are not targets. They stand there for Ryan to hit. Every counterattack from them, if not handled properly, will be fatal.

A "big slap" on the face suddenly made the [taboo] horned dragon turn its head slightly. It did not seem to faint or suffer any injuries.

Its huge red blood eyes stared at Ryan and let out a thunderous roar.

"Roar--"

The sound waves swept, snowflakes danced, and formed a layer of snow waves that spread out in a ring.

After the initial test, Ryan, who had a rough idea of ​​the strength of the [taboo] horned dragon, did not hold back.

A bright blue energy giant hand appeared out of thin air and grabbed the huge dragon horn on the head of the [taboo] horned dragon.

The fall of [Greedy Grip] reduced the energy and strength in the [taboo] horned dragon.

Although [Greedy Grip] introduces the reduction of [spirituality] and [physique], for creatures like monsters that do not master spirituality, the energy in the body is also attributed to the category of spirituality.

The sudden abnormality made the [Taboo] Horned Dragon, whose territory was invaded, further accumulate anger, and the red eyes of the beast turned completely red.

Its extremely strong legs exerted force and charged towards Ryan's position.

Although it was huge, the speed of the [Taboo] Horned Dragon's charge was amazingly fast.

The sharp and solid dragon horns cut through the air, like a small mountain flying, and its might was so fierce that it was enough to make the person facing it feel insignificant.

Not only that, the violent airflow even bound Ryan's body to some extent, hindering his movement.

Ryan squinted his eyes slightly, and the blood mist on the surface of the sword in his hand surged, and soon, the sword turned red.

Officially, [Special Skill-Softening]!

It was not until the huge dragon horns of the [Taboo] Horned Dragon were about to approach him that two blood cores appeared on Ryan's shoulders.

Unlike the blood cores summoned in the past, after fully awakening the [Relic: Embrace of Blood], the spikes on the surface of the blood core became more and more dense, and the core at the center even showed a faint strange pattern.

A thick blood barrier spread out and blocked the dragon horn.

The moment the two collided.

"Bang!"

Ripples spread across the surface of the blood barrier, and at the same time, the color of one of the blood cores became dim, with no sign of being unable to withstand the impact and breaking.

From the current situation, the blood barrier can even block one more collision attack.

The ripples of the blood barrier formed a strong recoil, forcing the [Taboo] Horned Dragon's head to lift back all of a sudden, and its steps staggered.

Taking this opportunity, Ryan rushed to the feet of the [taboo] horned dragon, and slashed the ankle with the red sword in his hand.

"Ka..."

Different from the previous collision between hard objects, this time, the sword used the softening technique, and the scorching sword body was like a hot knife into oil, easily cutting through the hard skin on the surface of the [taboo] horned dragon and embedding into the flesh and blood.

Ryan did not stop, raised his foot, and stepped hard on the sword body. With the explosive power of this single foot, the sword broke through the hard skin over a large area, revealing the much softer inner skin and some flesh and blood.

The severe pain made the [taboo] horned dragon even more crazy.

It suddenly raised its injured right foot, and then trampled down heavily.

Pulling back the sword, Ryan was too late to retreat in a hurry.

The next moment, unprecedented vibrations and shock waves raged and roared.

The hard snow cracked in a large area, and the whistling shock wave caused the blood barrier to fly away with only half of its blood energy, and then shattered into light spots all over the sky.

Compared with the previous collision, the power of this heavy stomping was much more violent.

This was just the aftermath. If it was stepped on head-on, Ryan couldn't imagine how tragic the scene would be.

The blood-colored light was released on Ryan's body and then retracted, returning to his body.

[Special Sword Skill·Defense Collision (Blade Heart)]!

With the help of the "Hegemonic Blood Film", Ryan's body did not retreat a step, and he also completed two stages of charging.

The effect of force is mutual. The power of the heavy stomping is indeed fierce, but the recoil force also caused the [Taboo] Horned Dragon to fall into a brief stiffness.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ryan further accumulated power. Seeing that the [Taboo] Horned Dragon was about to wake up, there was no time to accumulate power to "Splitting God", Ryan simply slashed out "True Power", and the landing point was surprisingly his softened ankle area.

"Ka--!"

The sound of bone cracking was clearly heard, accompanied by the furious roar of the [Taboo] Horned Dragon.

The rich red light emerged from the ankle injury of the [Taboo] Horned Dragon, and the shock wave pushed Ryan's body back and flew hundreds of meters away.

When he landed, he saw a giant beast with red patterns all over its fur.

"Is it entering the red rage now?"

"The monsters on the Everfrozen Continent have too explosive tempers, right?"

Ryan's eyes showed astonishment.

When on the mysterious island, those monsters that entered the red rage would enter the red rage only after their state fell to the bottom, and then they would fight to the death.

The [Taboo] Ferocious Horned Dragon in front of him entered the Red Flame Rage so casually, which shows that the monsters in the two places have different attitudes towards the Red Flame Rage.

The former is a desperate means, while the latter is more like actively accepting the Red Flame and treating it as a tool for daily use.

The different attitudes mean a huge difference in the degree to which the monsters in the two places are eroded by the Red Flame.

He didn't have time to think too much, because the [Taboo] Ferocious Horned Dragon in the distance inserted its giant horns into the snow, and a giant tree trunk with a length of hundreds of meters and a skin as solid as iron emerged from it. Then, it rushed towards Ryan with the wind and snow.

The length of the giant tree suddenly increased the cross-section of the [Taboo] Ferocious Horned Dragon's attack, and the difficulty of dodging increased significantly.

Ryan took a deep breath, and the blue flames jumped on his body.

With the greatsword on his shoulder, facing the terrifying collision, he actually stood in place and accumulated power directly.

The wind and snow were roaring. When the distance between the two sides was only the last meter, a flash of dark green passed through Ryan's eyes.

In the invisible world, countless threads of laziness composed of spirituality were entangled with the body of the [forbidden] horned dragon.

Because of the difference in rank between the two sides, it was impossible to turn it into a "lazy puppet", but the short-term dizziness was enough to greatly reduce the momentum of the [forbidden] horned dragon's forward charge.

A dark green energy humanoid body appeared beside Ryan, and the [Power Servant] appeared. The energy giant sword in his hand was full of "softening" red light, and hit the forehead of the [forbidden] horned dragon.

With the sound of "tearing", the hard skin on the forehead of the [forbidden] horned dragon was cut rudely.

This heavy blow brought the [forbidden] horned dragon's forward charge to an abrupt halt. At this time, the invisible ripples spread and the falling snowflakes became sluggish.

Ryan shouted, and slashed out with all his might with the "Splitting God" sword in his hand.

——

(Seeking monthly votes at the beginning of the month~)