Deep in the forest, it was as if an animal convention had begun, instantly boiling over with chaos!
"Awooo!"
"Oink! Oink oink—!"
"Hiss... hiss!"
"Caw! Caw ah—!"
Various noisy sounds mixed together, piercing through the already oppressive thick mist, surging out from the forest's interior like a tidal wave.
What made everyone even more stunned was that these wild beasts and magical creatures seemed more like they were being chased by some existence within the forest, fleeing outward in panic.
The ferocious grins on the corrupted lizardfolk's faces instantly froze, replaced by panic and fear.
"What is that?!"
"No! It's a beast stampede! They've gone mad!"
"Ahhh—!"
Terrified shouts were abruptly cut off as the thick mist was violently smashed open by a violent force. The first to charge out was a swamp wild boar with a body size comparable to a small calf.
Its eyes were panicked, nostrils blowing white steam, charging headlong without regard like an out-of-control battering ram, smashing away all corrupted lizardfolk blocking its charge path.
Immediately following were wolves, venomous snakes, swamp birds with disheveled feathers, hard-shelled water lizards fleeing blindly, disciplined poison-stinger wasps... the entire swamp descended into complete chaos.
The carefully laid encirclement by the corrupted lizardfolk instantly collapsed under the beast stampede's impact.
"It's the Boss, the Boss is here!"
"This timing is absolutely perfect!"
Yano's heart pounded wildly, filled with immense joy. He suddenly raised his blood-stained knight sword toward the sky, his voice sharp like an unsheathed blade, instantly cutting through the chaotic beast roars and screams.
"Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived! Now's our chance—"
"Everyone, follow me and slaughter these gnolls! Tear open a breach!"
His roar snapped the adventurers out of their daze, flames rekindling in their eyes, their desire for gold coins transforming into pure killing intent at this moment.
"Fight our way out!"
"Follow the captain! Kill those gnoll bastards!"
"Charge! Don't let these beasts block our path to riches!"
The corrupted lizardfolk's defeat seemed irreversible. The chaotic beast stampede, combined with the adventurers and moss-scale lizardfolk's fierce counterattack, pushed them into steady retreat.
Just then, a hunched figure leaning on a bone staff slowly stepped out from the thick mist.
His aged scales showed a sickly gray pallor, his dark red vertical pupils turbid and unclear. It was the corrupted lizardfolk priest—Zulok!
"Worthless trash!" Zulok's voice was hoarse and dry, like dry branches rubbing together, yet carrying an eerie penetrating power.
"Merely some wild beasts make you so incompetent? Have you forgotten the power you've embraced?"
This voice acted like a stimulant. Those corrupted lizardfolk who had been panicking under the beast stampede's impact suddenly shuddered, gradually calming down.
However, when this voice fell upon Semiaya's ears, it was like lighting the fuse of a powder keg.
"Zu—lo—k—!"
A scream filled with bone-deep hatred tore through the air. Semiaya's dark golden vertical pupils instantly contracted, all her killing intent, all her rage, locking onto that hunched figure like a physical force!
The vengeance for her father's death, the hatred for her tribe, erupted completely at this moment!
Her powerful hind limbs exploded with terrifying force, blasting a shallow crater in the mud beneath her feet. Her entire body transformed into a phantom green shadow, carrying a bloody aura, charging straight at Zulok!
"Overestimating your abilities, little whelp."
Zulok watched her coldly, his withered finger pressing down hard on the top of his bone staff!
"Hum!"
A wave of mana carrying a strong rotting aura spread out, accurately sweeping over several of the strongest corrupted lizardfolk warriors nearby.
"Urgh ahhh—!"
One of the lizardfolk warriors let out an inhuman scream. His body, under the mana's influence, swelled up madly like an inflating balloon.
Scales fell off in large patches, revealing rapidly rotting flesh underneath. His eyes were completely covered by turbid yellow pus. One claw became enormous, covered with festering flesh membranes and jagged bone spikes.
The rotting lizardfolk let out a meaningless roar, its giant rotting claw smashing down hard toward Semiaya's bone blade!
"Boom!!!"
A metallic crash rang out!
Semiaya only felt an irresistible tremendous force transmit through her bone blade, then her entire body was violently swatted away by this brutal force.
"Holy crap, there's an elite monster too."
"Gulu gulu!"
Within the dense forest, a slime riding on a little crocodile bounced in surprise.
But Chen Yu wasn't in a hurry to act. He kept feeling like someone else was watching the battlefield from the surroundings.
This was what his still-developing "Danger Perception" was telling him.
[Accelerate Wood and Shape Form]
So he quietly stood up a shy crocodile that had been tightly bound, leaving a clear shadow in the mist.
Those corrupted believers should be able to guess there was a mastermind hiding in the forest.
But now he had a decoy.
He'd let this crocodile borrow the Swamp Overlord experience card for now.
If anything happened later, they could just come at it.
"Semiaya!"
Everyone was shocked by the rotting lizardfolk's terror, crying out in alarm, wanting to rescue her but being tightly entangled by more corrupted believers.
Yano was also unable to split his attention, but soon an idea struck him. He quietly took out two leaf-shaped "blessed objects" from inside his light armor lining and handed them to Sekashi, who was providing spell support.
On the boss battle battlefield.
Semiaya's dark golden vertical pupils showed no trace of fear, only icy combat intent burning at its peak.
She took a deep breath, suppressing her churning blood and energy, tightly gripping her bone blade, assuming the purest hunting stance.
"Roar!"
The rotting lizardfolk attacked first, its giant rotting claw smashing down with foul wind.
Facing this terrifying monster far surpassing her, Semiaya didn't choose to confront it head-on. Her slender yet explosively powerful body displayed astonishing flexibility and speed.
[Dodge]
Her waist twisted at an impossible angle as the rotting giant claw grazed past her scales and smashed into the muddy ground, splattering filth everywhere.
[Precision Thrust]
While still in mid-air, her bone blade transformed into a deadly cold light, striking with pinpoint accuracy at the rotting lizardfolk's vulnerable armpit exposed by its attack!
"Thud!"
The bone blade pierced into the rotten flesh, getting stuck fast by the swollen, festering tissue. The rotting lizardfolk seemed to feel no pain as its other intact claw swept toward her with a foul stench!
Semiaya decisively abandoned her blade, her body flipping backward in mid-air. The moment she landed, she performed a ground-hugging roll, dodging the sweeping attack.
She stood firm again, now holding a scattered wooden spear from the ground.
Bone blade flashing, wooden spear thrusting!
Her movements flowed smoothly without hesitation, displaying thoroughly honed killing techniques.
Her figure dodged and weaved through the bloody winds stirred up by the rotting giant claws. Each precise thrust deeply penetrated the rotting flesh at the lizardfolk's joints, causing pus and blood to spray.
But killing this terrifyingly tenacious monster remained extremely difficult even for her.
Unless she was willing to pay the price of serious injury, or even death.
Was it really worth it?
She thought it was.
As long as she could kill Zulok!
Just as she made this resolution, Sekashi's anxious shout pierced through the battlefield:
"Sister! The Envoy's blessing!"
Three leaf-wrapped stones were thrown with effort toward Semiaya.
While dodging the rotting lizardfolk's smash, Semiaya caught the stones. Her heart stirred as she instantly remembered she still had one blessed object from the Putu Envoy hidden beneath the scales on her chest.
But would that natural envoy truly be willing to bless a executioner like her, whose eyes held only killing and death?