A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Inside the dome, the Verdant Elder began devouring the two corpses.

His large jaws tore through flesh and bone like it was nothing. Blood soaked the ground beneath him once again.

This mutated beast seemed to enjoy devouring the flesh of his fallen enemies. He was very different from the typical image one might have in mind when they heard of turtle or tortoise-type beasts.

Aksai watched in silent awe. He couldn't have imagined that the same trick would work twice on the bear family. Perhaps, it worked not because the bears were stupid, but because the Verdant Elder was too cunning.

It seemed that he got beaten by the bears on purpose and chose to get hit by their attacks. All so that he could get close to the dead bear bodies by creating an opening.

This smartness and cunning… it was on the level of human Spirit cultivators. Or perhaps, even better than some densehead human Spirit cultivators.

The deep wound on the Verdant Elder's neck started to close. The damaged voice box healed slowly. His limbs looked firmer. His body swelled, growing back to its original size—and then even larger.

More runes appeared on his dark green shell. The glowing inscriptions pulsed like a heartbeat. These were Essence Equation runes—the kind of patterns that showed a beast's evolution in Spirit essence, control, and overall power.

The longer he fed, the stronger he became. No wonder he liked to hunt his prey right after waking from hibernation. It seemed that the beast had reached a certain evolutionary milestone during his slumber, and now needed to feed on as many beasts as he could to complete his evolution and possibly break into the next Spirit realm.

By the time the bears realized what was happening and charged toward him again, the Verdant Elder's shell lit up with energy. He had turned their plan into his own advantage.

Roar!

The battlefield trembled as the seven remaining bears roared together, their voices filled with grief and rage.

Seeing two more of their own devoured by the Verdant Elder pushed them over the edge. Their eyes turned bloodshot, and thick waves of Spirit essence burst out from their massive bodies like a raging tide.

One by one, the bears entered a berserk state.

Their muscles swelled, bones cracked and stretched, and their already large bodies grew even more terrifying. Veins pulsed under their skin as wild Spirit energy wrapped around their forms.

Their roars were full of sorrow and wrath. One didn't need a translator to understand what they were saying to their enemy. They charged at the Verdant Elder with no fear, no hesitation.

The Verdant Elder raised his head slowly, his eyes narrowing. For the first time, a look of worry crossed his usually calm face.

His shell glowed as he called upon multiple Spirit spells to form layers of defense—thick walls of earth, rotating wooden spikes, and a flowing water shield. But it wasn't enough.

The berserk bears crashed into his defenses like a tsunami. One bear shattered the wooden spikes with a single punch.

Another leaped into the air and slammed down with a glowing Spirit-infused fist, breaking the earth wall. The water shield was torn apart as if it wasn't even there.

The Verdant Elder fought back, summoning fiery snakes from his snake-tail and hurling sharp stone shards at the incoming bears. He managed to wound a few of them—one took a fire strike to the shoulder, and another had its side pierced by stone.

But they didn't stop. The pain only made them angrier. Their berserker forms seemed to get fueled by the fury in their hearts.

Then came the decisive attack.

One bear tackled the Verdant Elder from the side, cracking part of his shell. Another spun around and used both arms to hammer down on his back.

Greeeeeh!

A sharp, echoing crack rang through the dome. The Verdant Elder let out a high-pitched shriek, the first real cry of unbearable pain he had made in the battle.

A massive paw slashed at his hind leg, and blood spurted as the limb was nearly torn in two. The leg dangled loosely, muscles shredded.

His snake tail tried to bite back, but another bear grabbed it in its jaws and ripped it violently, tearing chunks of flesh and scales. The once proud and towering Verdant Elder was now bleeding, stumbling, and under siege.

But still, he didn't fall. His body, though battered, tried to stand firm. His glowing runes dimmed slightly, but his eyes remained fierce. Unfortunately for him, the bears didn't like the idea of giving their enemy a breather.

The ground shook as the seven berserk bears charged again. Their eyes were wild and filled with rage. But now, something had changed.

A deep red light surrounded their bodies, wrapping around them like mist. Their wounds oozed blood, but the blood didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it rose up, swirling around their limbs and chests like armor.

Aksai's guess was right. Their pain had become power in their berserker forms. Aksai didn't know for how long these bears would be able to sustain this peculiar form. But as long they were in this form, the Verdant Elder was unable to find an opening in their formation that he could exploit.

The red aura hardened, coating their thick fur in a ghostly sheen. When they struck, the air vibrated as if some heavy object had been thrown from one side to another.

One bear slammed into the Verdant Elder's side, sending cracks crawling across his shell like spiderwebs. Another smashed down from above, and the giant tortoise groaned as his knees buckled from the force.

But the Verdant Elder managed to hold onto his position.

He pulled his limbs inward slightly and used every bit of his strength and Spirit essence to reinforce his shell. Thick lines of light ran through the ancient runes etched into his back. Dust exploded around him as the earth beneath cracked under the pressure.

The shell held—but just barely.

The bears didn't stop. They struck again and again, their blood-armor glowing brighter each time. It was like watching a hammer trying to break through a mountain.

And then, something stirred behind the Verdant Elder.

His snake-tail, bloodied and torn from before, twitched violently. Its scales shimmered. The tail began to grow.

From the stump of the damaged snake-tail, the serpent extended, thickening and lengthening until it towered like a tree. It hissed, its long tongue flickering in the air.

The snaketail's transformation was completed within a few moments, catching the bears by surprise.

The eyes of the snake blazed with the same deep red light the bears wore. With a deafening serpentine cry, the snake lunged.

One of the bears turned just in time—but not fast enough.

The snake's jaws clamped down on his head. The crunch echoed through the dome as the bear's body jerked once, then went still. The massive snake lifted the bear's corpse high into the air. Then, with one great movement, it opened its jaws wide.

Wider. Even wider.

The entire body of the blood-covered bear slid inside, vanishing into the darkness of the snake's throat. There was a loud gulp, and then silence. The snake's body pulsed, its belly bulging slightly from the swallowed beast.

The glow of Spirit essence returned to the Verdant Elder's shell. Cracks sealed one by one as green light flowed through the ancient runes carved deep into his back.

His hind leg, which had nearly been torn in two, began to knit together. The torn flesh rejoined. The bleeding slowed, then stopped.

'This…. This damn turtle is like a tank. Every time his enemies fall in a battle, he makes use of their bodies to heal and power up himself. Should I really go ahead and turn this wretched beast into my Aether Beast?

Ugh… I don't want to eat my enemies to power myself mid battle. Especially if they are male enemies. It's a different thing if they are female enemies though. I can eat them. Ugh… that came out wrong,' Aksai thought to himself before focusing on the battle.

The mutated beast lifted his head slowly. His breath was deep, calm, and heavy. His wounds were vanishing, replaced by tougher, darker skin. His snaketail—though still bloodied—twitched and hissed again, regrowing partially. He looked like a mountain reforging itself in real time.

But the bears were not done. If anything, they grew wilder.

Their eyes, glowing red, locked onto his most vulnerable spots—his eyes and the tail.

One of the berserker bears roared and leapt forward, claws glowing with sharp Spirit energy. It reached out, not for the body, but for the writhing snake-tail that had swallowed its kin.

By this time, the verdant Elder had digested the bear's body he had fed on a few moments ago. And his tail had returned to its normal size. However, an opening was evidently created.

Would the remaining bears let go of this chance? There was no way.