Seeing the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle enraged, it had already left the starfall crystal and was rushing towards everyone.
Chen Bugu's eyes were covered in purple light as he used Weakness Detection on the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle.
Unfortunately, in Chen Bugu's vision, the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle had only one weakness on its entire body: the very center of its abdomen, where there was no ice covering, revealing a portion of its shell.
"The weakness of this monster is the exposed shell in the center of its abdomen. If there's an opportunity, you can try attacking that spot."
Xu Lu and Bai Ting frowned after hearing this. Although Chen Bugu had identified the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle's weakness, that spot was impossible to attack unless the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle was flipped over.
Chen Bugu, of course, understood this point, but Xu Lu and the others' task was only to delay the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle, not to kill it. He performed Weakness Detection just in case.
After speaking, Chen Bugu quickly detached himself from the team and circled to the front-side. He wanted to first create distance from the main group and then make a rapid thrust once the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle was 200 meters away from the starfall crystal.
The Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle ran across the stony beach like two military armored vehicles, crushing countless stones.
"Squad One retreat fifty meters, Squads Two and Three provide fire cover, alternate retreating."
Seeing that the two monsters were less than 150 meters away from them, and bullets still couldn't penetrate their defense, only knocking off a pile of ice chips, Li You decisively ordered all soldiers to retreat in alternating cover, squad by squad.
Chen Bugu saw that the time was right. He made a turn from the side, and as he ran, his entire body transformed into an afterimage, swiftly rushing towards the starfall crystal.
One Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle seemed to sense something amiss and was about to turn back, but Bai Ting and Yan Kuan quickly attacked, re-establishing aggro.
When Chen Bugu emerged from "Bullet Time," he had already arrived before the starfall crystal.
On one side of the starfall crystal, on a slightly raised stone pile, lay a mound of withered branches and fallen leaves, and in the midst of the foliage, eight monster eggs were quietly placed.
However, these eight monster eggs were almost all shattered at this moment. One monster egg even developed cracks right before Chen Bugu's eyes, and then shocking red blood and some strange black mist seeped out from the cracks in the eggshells.
"Roar!!"
Before he could figure out what was happening, Chen Bugu heard two roars from behind him.
He knew that the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle had discovered him.
Having no time to ponder what was wrong with the eggs, Chen Bugu quickly pulled out the Wind Gale Dagger from his ring. He had to complete his mission first; at the very least, he had promised Xu Lu to bring back the starfall crystal.
Given the hardness of the starfall crystal, he would need at least five seconds to extract a piece. Within twenty seconds, the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles would likely reach him. He had to act quickly to leave more time for withdrawal.
Silver temporal energy once again enveloped Chen Bugu. His right hand created streaks of blade shadows, striking the surface of the starfall crystal.
However, after seven or eight strikes, Chen Bugu suddenly heard a "hissing" sound. He quickly stopped his movements.
In the state of Bullet Time, he saw a huge crack beginning to appear on the starfall crystal ore in front of him, then rapidly spreading.
Chen Bugu was stunned. In his impression, starfall crystal was exceptionally hard, so how could just a few slashes cause cracks in it?
The cracks in front of him rapidly spread from one or two at the beginning, soon covering all of the starfall crystal, like a piece of glass that would shatter with a mere touch.
Small crystal fragments had already begun to fall from the surface of the starfall crystal ore, and an ominous premonition suddenly surged in Chen Bugu's heart.
He quickly leaped back a step. At that very instant, under the enhanced power of 0.2x speed Bullet Time, Chen Bugu saw a blue halo rapidly spreading outwards from the shattered starfall crystal.
The halo was very fast. Even in "Bullet Time," Chen Bugu only saw a light spreading from the bottom of the pile of cracked starfall crystal, instantly sweeping past him.
Immediately after, wherever the blue light swept, water rapidly turned into ice. Chen Bugu watched with his own eyes as his right foot, which he hadn't had time to pull out of the water, was frozen in place.
He was forced out of "Bullet Time" and fell onto a solid sheet of ice.
"Boom!"
Two seconds after exiting Bullet Time, the massive starfall crystal in front of him suddenly shattered completely, revealing the spring eye it had been burying—a huge deep pit. From this pit, a large amount of water and plumes of black smoke suddenly gushed out.
...
Not far away, in the eyes of Xu Lu and the others, Chen Bugu's single slash caused the entire starfall crystal to collapse. Immediately after, in the next second, the entire stream froze solid.
The soldiers of Squad Three had just been chasing the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtle along the stream, hoping to buy Chen Bugu more time.
But at this moment, these soldiers' feet were completely stuck beneath the ice surface, unable to free themselves.
Wang Bin stared blankly at everything that had suddenly changed in the blink of an eye, his mind momentarily unable to process it, muttering, "Is Chen Bugu that monstrous now?"
After recovering from their brief surprise, Bai Ting and Han Badou immediately noticed Chen Bugu, who was continuously chiseling at the ice beneath his feet.
"No, that wasn't Chen Dage. He's trapped."
Liu Shifu and Lin Ye also realized something was wrong.
Liu Shifu soared into the air, and Lin Ye summoned his "Snow Mystic Antelope." Both reacted immediately and quickly headed towards Chen Bugu's direction.
At the moment of the anomaly, the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles happened not to be in the stream water. They continued to charge towards Chen Bugu.
Chen Bugu activated Bullet Time, placing his left hand on the ice surface, while the Wind Gale Dagger in his right hand became a series of afterimages, continuously chiseling the ice.
The water constantly overflowing from the massive spring eye had already soaked his trousers. Chen Bugu's Fireball could not be used in water; he could only chisel with the Wind Gale Dagger repeatedly.
But this ice seemed very hard; he needed more time.
The strange black mist seeping from the spring eye spread out, and Chen Bugu felt a bit panicked.
"Damn it!"
He looked back and saw that the two Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles were less than 100 meters away from him. Behind the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles were Bai Ting and Yan Kuan, who were continuously attacking, trying to draw aggro.
Above him was Liu Shifu flying towards him, and to his rear right was Lin Ye riding the Snow Mystic Antelope.
He then realized that the entire stream had been frozen solid in an instant.
The Wind Gale Dagger chiseled at the ice again and again. If he couldn't break the ice and pull his right foot out before the Ice Armor Crocodile Turtles returned, he might have to sever his leg to survive.
Chen Bugu didn't know why, at this moment, he suddenly, as if by some strange impulse, thought of those shattered monster eggs. His expression was grim, and the blade in his hand moved even faster...