Griffith, who was fighting at the front, heard screams like slaughtering pigs erupting in the woods. It was possible that Brunave, who had retreated to the rear for treatment, was attacked, but the battle in front of him left him too distracted to think about anything else.
The monster that suddenly attacks has the texture and shape of a fungus, but moves like an animal. Humanoid-like limbs sprouted from its torso, its legs were short and swift, and its upper limbs were tightly clenched into hammer-like fists. There are two large white spots on the green cap, like eyes. However, it does not seem to rely on sight to track the enemy's whereabouts.
It is funny and ferocious, accompanied by an illusory sound of tinkling, tinkling, dong-dong, as if the echo from the inside of the plant's trunk is directly imprinted in the depths of the soul.
The moment he saw it, the faint ticking sound like water drops that Griffith had always felt became more urgent.
After knocking away Brunave, the mushroom monster immediately targeted Griffith and charged towards him like a bison.
Galadia raised her hand and pointed, and the black thorns on the ground grew wildly, forming a cage to bind the mushroom monster's feet. Griffith took the opportunity to spin around the monster, waving the light at the back of its human-like neck, where it was connected to the cap. With the sharpness of the holy sword, Griffith felt strangely awkward and hindered by this sword strike. The blade of the sword split the caps and stems of the mushrooms, releasing a cloud of gray smoke.
This haze attached to Griffith's streamer shield and began to corrode and destroy it at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Avoid those spores!" Miss Elf shouted in the distance.
Although he didn't know what was abnormal about these spores, Griffith was also shrouded in extremely strong uneasiness, and immediately mobilized the Order of the Riding Eagle to form a second layer of shield to resist.
"Griffith, don't fight it in close combat!"
Galadia's words were followed by silver arrows. The sharp arrows penetrated what appeared to be the head, arms and torso of the mushroom monster, blowing away large chunks of surface tissue. However, the mushroom monster lightly caught this round of intensive shooting, and instead spread more spores.
The area covered by this cloud of spores immediately took on a gray, withered and dead silence. The shrubs and plants that grew tenaciously in the corrupted forest withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even the thorns summoned by Galadia crumbled and cracked like rotten wood that had been left for decades.
The monster raised his hand and punched, and the wind of the punch hit him like a mountain falling apart. Griffith hurriedly dodged and relied on his shield to resist. He was brushed by the wind pressure from his fist, and he didn't expect to fly up like the orc.
Huge strange strength, a harmless body and highly corrosive spores. Griffith realized that this was not an enemy that could be dealt with in close combat. After landing, he immediately gave up the plan of close combat and opened a distance to shoot with an ice gun.
But the explosive power of the mushroom monster was astonishing, and it turned around and approached the elf with a fierce attack. Galadia hurriedly mobilized her "Wind Walk" ability to dodge monster attacks and move at high speed.
She ran and jumped, turning around and shooting back as she jumped, as light as if she was flying. Although the monster's speed and momentum were astonishing, it could only chase after it, being blasted with craters by a series of arrow clusters.
Galadia is so awesome! Griffith praised, but also realized that the crisis was not resolved. Once an elf's extraordinary ability exceeds the usage time limit, it is inevitable that she will be caught up.
We must find a way to cooperate with her. Griffith concentrated his energy and poured extraordinary power into the corrupted ground. In the dark, he sensed that there were many bones under the swamp and rotten soil.
Rats, snakes, giant mutated toads, humans, wargs...
His spiritual energy swept through these rotten or semi-rotten corpses in turn, looking for strength that could be used. Finally, he found a mutated warg that had died not long ago under the soil not far away.
You are the one! The power of the Necromantic Curse drives the wargs underground to resurrect. The huge claws broke free from the soil, and the tattered fur and rotten muscles wrapped around the pale and thick arm bones, and they were held toward the void, as if they wanted to grasp the breath of life again.
The skeletal warg rises from the dead and awaits Griffith's command. It is larger than a bear, and even though its strong limbs have rotted away, people can still tell that it once had amazing explosive power. Green fire burned in its chest, igniting its empty eyes.
Griffith took off a belt and put it around the neck of the skeletal warg that had emerged from the ground. He turned over and jumped up, galloping away in the direction of Galadia.
…
Brunave wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at his still broken right arm. After treatment, the arm that was originally only fractured developed lacerations and internal injuries.
"Treatment is risky," Miss Shadow Priest turned her head, twirled her fingers on her long silver hair, and murmured in the smallest voice, "Yes, no, get up~"
As soon as she finished speaking, a monster she had never seen before galloped past them.
It looked like a mutated warg, but there was no intact flesh on its body. Thick gray-white bones supported its body, and its skull was dripping with black rot. It swept across the black forest like a flash of green light, rushing toward the elves flying up and down like the wind in the distance.
Brunave and Aslante stared at this undead creature that only appeared in nightmares, their brains dizzy. They then noticed Griffith riding the monster, and their horror increased.
"As expected of a death knight!" Brunave was stunned for a while, then clapped his thigh and shouted, "I can't do this kind of thing."
Galadia had begun to feel weak from the extremely fast battle. Not only did she have to maintain psychic output to strengthen her attack, she also had to maneuver at high speed while spreading her perception to the extreme to prevent herself from hitting rocks and sharp branches while flying like the wind.
She was getting more and more tired, and her consciousness began to become a little blurry. Finally, she felt a familiar breath approaching.
The huge skeletal warg cut between her and the mushroom monster. Griffith took out Judgment, raised his gun and shot at the attacking monster. This gun was not preloaded with adamantine bullets, but was fired with ordinary lead bullets. The hot projectiles hit the cap of the mushroom, knocking away a piece of the thick plant tissue.
Griffith did not expect his shooting to achieve any results due to high-speed maneuvers and emergency stops. He turned around and reached out to Galadia to pick her up.
The elf lady dodged back with a "whoosh", dodging the big hand that was reaching for her slender waist. She raised her hand to grab it, held down his arm, and jumped directly onto the warg's back with a light step.
She didn't sit down either. She bent her bow and nocked an arrow with both hands, stepped on the wolf's back with one foot, and stepped on Griffith's head with the other: "Move quickly, you won't stop until I tell you to stop!"
The skeletal warg ran wildly in the forest, as fast as a black whirlwind. Due to limited space, it can only circle in open spaces and places with few trees. The pursuing mushroom monster didn't rest for a moment and pursued it closely.
Griffith listened to the howling wind in his ears, and the surrounding trees and rocks were dragging shadows past at high speed. The running warg bumped up and down, almost making him vomit out the mushrooms he had just eaten.
Amidst the roar of the "woo woo woo" wind, the skeletal warg did not charge or attack, but ran around the mushroom monster, keeping a distance of more than ten steps.
Galadia seemed to be completely unaffected amidst such wild running and bumps. She stepped on the warg's back and Griffith's shoulders, swaying lightly to maintain balance, and continuously shot silver arrows.
Each of her arrows is wrapped in psychic energy. When it hits the mushroom monster, it will tear its body apart and explode a large cloud of spore mist. Whenever she wanted to turn, she stepped hard on Griffith's shoulder, and the warg immediately turned to that side.
In this case, Griffith only needs to concentrate on riding the warg. Although the mushroom monster chasing behind him was powerful, he couldn't catch up even if he tried his best.
This mutated plant has no face and no expression. If it were conscious, it would definitely feel deep despair. Its melee power is extraordinary, its speed is very fast, and it can spread spore clouds with powerful corrosive effects when it is injured. It is extremely dangerous when facing melee extraordinary people or wizards.
However, Griffith and Galadia formed the combination it was most afraid of - the ranger's shooting skills were superb, and the warg's mobility was also extremely high.
No matter how powerful this mutated creature is, no matter how tenacious its vitality is, it has been firmly suppressed. In less than a minute, Galadia shot ten arrows at it, and the psychic energy contained in each arrow caused the wound to explode. Even though it has strong vitality and no vital points, the accumulated damage has left it full of holes.
If the mushroom monster could shout, it would definitely use the most vicious language to curse the shamelessness of this man and woman. Faced with such a long-range shooting that cannot be caught up and touched, any intelligent creature would vomit blood and die in frustration.
Finally, its injuries reached the point where it was almost unbearable, and its thick stem was about to break due to gaps.
A wild howling hurricane swirled around the mushroom monster, accompanied by the increasingly clear and strange sound of flutes and bells, and bursts of murmuring swirled in Griffith's ears. Seeing that he had nothing to do with the running wargs and archers, the mushroom monster activated some special ability, which greatly increased the scope of its ability to damage sanity.
Galadia suddenly stepped on Griffith's head repeatedly. The would-be knight thought for a moment, this should mean stopping. He immediately stopped the warg, and silver arrows wrapped in strong wind flew through the air and headed straight for the monster.
The arrow obliterated the tail feathers and arrow shaft during flight, and the arrow trailed a trail of light through the mushroom's trunk. The dazzling light suddenly went out, and the extreme darkness almost swallowed up the green moonlight and the air.
The mushroom monster was stunned for a moment as if it was petrified, and suddenly its whole body became silvery. A ball of lightning suddenly appeared at the breach, and then set off an earth-shattering explosion with a "boom".
A fresh wind blew through the damp and stagnant forest, and the storm-like whispers that filled the ears disappeared immediately, and a sense of clarity and rationality returned to the brain.
Griffith took a deep breath and jumped off the warg. Brunave and Aslante were watching them not far away.
These two guys were no help at all. He criticized in his mind and prepared to search for the fragments and loot of the mushroom monster.
At this moment, Galadia pulled his hand and came over:
"Watch out for that orc."
"Well, what should I say?"
"Although he looks simple and honest, he might have some conspiracy," Miss Elf said while waving to the orcs and trolls nonchalantly, "His physique and strength are very strong, but his magic resistance is far worse than yours. For Something strange for a warrior.
"Secondly, as a powerful warrior and extraordinary person, his move towards the mushroom was too reckless. Will the chief give the important task of competing for the position of clan leader to a reckless man?"
That makes sense... Griffith nodded secretly.
Miss Elf then pointed to the fragments on the ground: "This is the first time I have seen this mushroom monster, and I don't know much about it. However, I always feel that it looks like a large green mushroom. Could it be because We have eaten many of our own kind to seek revenge on us? The orc knows that green mushrooms are edible, and I am worried that he deliberately attracted this monster to fight with us."
"What's the purpose?" Griffith whispered to himself, "It shouldn't be that he hopes to kill us with this monster, otherwise he should take advantage of it. So, I suspect he is testing our ability?"
"It's possible," Galadia nodded deeply, picked up a magnificent crystal from the remains of the mushroom and put it away, "I have a guess, but there is no evidence. We can't confirm it until we get to the Firestone Tribe."
…
After the mushroom monster was eliminated, the aura that had been watching from a distance all left one after another. The four of them walked for a while and climbed over a low mountain. The damp and gray atmosphere disappeared, and an orc town appeared in the valley below them.
This is the town of the Firestone Tribe, which has been under martial law for some unknown reason. Large groups of wolf cavalry rode wargs galloping up and down the avenue, and Orc soldiers were deployed in arrow towers and observation decks.
"Something's not right," Brunave asked his three companions to hide in a hidden place and walked out first.
Griffith observed the surroundings vigilantly and secretly prepared the extraordinary characteristics. If the orcs use their brains, he will resurrect the corpses underground here and destroy this tribe.
The Firestone Tribe is similar to a large human town. It is located in a dry and hot valley. The city walls are cleverly integrated with the valley and ridges to form a solid barrier. The red and yellow buildings are built on the yellow land, which gives people a rough and warm enthusiasm.
The wide avenue was built directly on the flat land of the river valley, with dense dens and shops scattered on both sides, messy but clean and tidy.
Some human caravans actually appeared in this place openly, carrying large groups of mules and goods to trade with the orcs. There was some irritation and anxiety on their faces, but the two sides only talked and did not make any moves.
According to the known intelligence, Griffith knew that the orcs were engaged in a border conflict with the Odessa region, and the girls of Anjou were leading the border soldiers and civilians to fight against them. But these humans are still doing business in the orc territory, as if the humans at war are not of their own race.
The walled area of the town is not large, but the terrain is difficult. This is Griffith's first time here. He observed for a while and found that the Firestone Tribe occupies the east-west river valley and surrounding areas. To the north it can lead to the core territory of the orcs, and to the west it can reach Arran and some elven territories, or the Odessa region. northeast.
This is a transportation hub between orcs, elves and humans.
Griffith began to be vaguely aware of the intention of the orc chief to send Brunave, and at the same time he also had some guesses about the position and attitude of the current leader of the Firestone clan.
