The Mantis People were undoubtedly the most powerful enemy this team had encountered in the dungeon, and possibly in their entire adventuring career.
In the past few days, the overly smooth dungeon exploration had made the team members unconsciously grow somewhat complacent and careless. Even Lawrence, despite reminding them verbally, felt under the inertia of thinking that this dungeon trip wouldn’t bring much of a surprise.
Until the appearance of the Mantis People hit them like a bolt from the blue.
Fortunately, although the team was intimidated by the presence of the Mantis People, they were not green novices and quickly adjusted their mindset.
The stronger the enemy, the more they must not lose their composure.
Priest Apprentice Adrian supported the injured Liam to the back of the team, using the Life Maintenance Technique to stabilize his internal injuries. Meanwhile, he took a small red bottle from his pouch.
This was a basic healing potion, capable of providing life energy to injured adventurers in a short period, and was one of the significant spoils from their previous dungeon explorations.
Each small bottle was priced at no less than 30 Silver Coins.
Adrian poured the healing potion into Liam’s mouth, and soon, a faint flush appeared on Liam’s previously pale cheeks.
Seeing this, Adrian breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded to give him a further check-up.
With the combined effects of the Life Maintenance Technique and the healing potion, Liam should be out of life-threatening danger.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield ahead.
The Mantis People, realizing the threat posed by Gauss, flashed red in their compound eyes, their gaze locked on Gauss from afar, incessantly emitting a high-pitched, harsh hiss from their mouthparts.
They ignored the others.
Suddenly squatting low, gathering strength, their powerful hind legs burst with terrifying power, and then they lunged towards Gauss, standing at the rear of the team, like a cannonball!
Some of the members at the front realized the target straight away.
"Gauss! Watch out!"
The Half-Beastman Sok, who had been cautiously prepared at the forefront, turned abruptly as the Mantis People swept past him at high speed, roaring towards Gauss at the end of the Mantis People’s attack path.
And as he roared, he tried to pounce forward to intercept the Mantis People.
But the speed gap between the two was simply too great!
He could only watch helplessly as the Mantis People’s figure moved too fast for him to react, getting farther and farther away.
Ranger Bianca took a deep breath and shot an arrow, attempting to disrupt the Mantis People’s advancing trajectory.
But the Mantis People, moving at high speed, simply sidestepped, and the arrow passed by their carapace, leaving only a faint, barely noticeable white mark.
As for the others, all were originally on guard for the Mantis People’s ambush, so caught off guard, in the brief few blinks of an eye, they did not have the ability to intervene in the Mantis People’s advance in time.
It was really too fast!
By the time the Mantis People reached Gauss, their speed was astonishingly fast.
Gauss’s pupils contracted sharply, but fortunately, he instinctively sidestepped away before the Mantis People’s arrival.
"Slash!!"
The Mantis People’s raised scythe-like forelimb viciously struck the spot where Gauss had been standing.
Gauss scrambled up from the ground in a sorry state.
Thankfully, he anticipated the opponent’s attack in advance.
Even though he had the protection of Mage Armor, under such a high-speed assault, he should avoid enduring a more powerful claw strike if possible.
The protection of Mage Armor also has its limits.
The Mantis People’s massive destructive power, with its accompanying super-fast impact force, sheer size, and exaggerated talons, was nothing like the goblins they had bullied before. Those green-skinned little devils’ attacks wouldn’t hold a candle to this one attack, even ten times over.
Gauss quickly got back up from the ground and took a few steps back.
At the same time, he drew his weapon and looked up at the Mantis People.
The Mantis People, missing a hit on Gauss, their compound eyes flickered as if surprised, but they immediately adjusted their posture.
With four sharp scythe-like claws crossed in front, the next moment, the hind legs slightly gathered strength.
This was a sign of short-range jumping. Compared to long-range jumping, this downward sinking was smaller, took less time, but the impact also wasn’t as terrifying as the latter.
The Mantis People made a small leap, arriving in front of Gauss, and swung their claws once more.
"Bang!!"
The Mantis People’s claw struck against Gauss’s rapier, which was blocked in advance.
Following this, Gauss felt a tremendous impact force transmitted through the weapon tightly held in his hand, and in their brief confrontation, he immediately realized he was at a disadvantage strength-wise.
Fortunately, with an Intelligence of 7 points, he could quickly catch on to some details in battle.
In a world seemingly slowed, with briefly accelerated perception, he caught the insidious secondary limb of the Mantis People slicing towards his stomach from another direction.
"Bang!"
The secondary limb struck the lower abdomen, and the Mage Armor released a strong protective field, dispersing like ripples across the Mage Armor’s surface.
How heavy!!
He used the force transmitted through his hand, riding the momentum to fly out, managing to stabilize his stance mid-air, rolling twice, and then standing up from the ground.
Following along with the Mantis People’s direction, he didn’t fully endure the next hidden attack behind them.
Such a cunning Mantis People!
No sooner did the Mantis People attempt to initiate further attacks on Gauss.
From behind them, Sok charged over, eyes red with rage, the pair of bestial fangs in his mouth becoming more robust.
The enemy bypassing him, the Warrior, to recklessly attack his teammates in the rear was a humiliation!
At this moment, his already muscular arms swelled further as if awakened to the bloodline power hidden within his body.