Dum!
A heavy sound gave out as the ground beneath their feet shook.
Dum!
And it happened once again. This time, a few trees were pushed beyond their threshold, snapping like twigs.
Clap!
Lightning flashed and thunder clapped, creating enough light for everyone to see the cause of the chill they were experiencing.
With the dim light from the clouds, an abomination came to view.
A chunky creature that stood above 7 meters.
It had rough skin that resembled a cracked earth, dyed red and purple with blood.
Several arms were stacked around its body, some even attached crookedly to another.
Its legs were a combination of several human legs, meshed together to form claw-like feet that it could move with.
Around its body were several bloody faces with eerie yellowish glows.
If one looked closely, the faces of the people who had been killed earlier on, had vanished from what was left of their corpses. Even some of their limbs were nowhere to be seen.
The pupils in those faces rolled around aimlessly like googly eyes.
That was until it set its gaze on the living beings around it.
Every single pupil locked on a person in its direction before the mouths on the faces opened, letting out a guttural roar.
"Roar!!"
This time, it was so loud that everyone had to cover their ears, including the other cult members.
"The Faceless one has sent his underling to assist us!" The man who had been fighting with Brown said as he rushed towards the beast.
"Servant of our Faceless lord, please, vanquish these filthy bastards from the surface of this world–" the man had just started when a few dozen human limbs, stretched like rubber, reached for him and squeezed him to death.
A loud pop, as though the man was no different from a wine bottle being uncorked.
Blood splashed everywhere.
The hands then reeled in the corpse and its mouths opened unnaturally to devour the body.
Everything transpired within seconds.
"What the fuck is that!?" Brown exclaimed with shock and a bit of apprehension.
As for the last masked man, the one who had been poisoned, he quickly gathered all his strength and turned around to escape the premises.
Seeing this, Joshua quickly aimed and shot the man down.
Marcus had said not to leave any witnesses.
The beast then turned its attention to Marcus and the rest, looking at them like meals to consume.
A devilish aura radiated from this beast, making everyone around feel as though they were in a river of mercury.
Their minds even began playing tricks on them.
[Lord With A Will (Lv1)]
"Can we take this thing?" Marcus said after his skill was activated. Because of his skill, he was able to resist the pressure.
The beast was about to take a step forward, but Joshua moved faster.
Three arrows coated with his Blood Force struck the beast at different spots.
Three consecutive mini explosions from the arrows stopped the beast from taking a step forward, but that was all it did.
The spots where the arrows struck sank in a bit before those spots healed rapidly.
"They didn't pierce through?" Joshua was surprised.
Those arrows were infused with his Blood Force.
A Tidal Wave's force.
If his arrows didn't pierce it, how were they to hurt this monster?
The beast took a step forward once again, this time, Brown and Caleb moved quickly, rushing in to slice the legs of this beast.
Their blades struck true in seconds, however, it was met with great resistance.
Despite increasing the force behind their slash, their swords were only able to cut through an inch of its skin.
The beast looked down and swung dozens of hands around its feet to catch the pests below it.
Its limbs moved so fast that it was almost impossible for both Brown and Caleb to react properly.
Fortunately for them, they did.
As though these limbs were made of iron, sparks filled the darkness as they collided with the knights' weapons.
The force from these limbs pushed the two of them several feet back.
"Damn it! This thing is strong!" Brown cursed as he held the handle of the sword tightly, trying to stop its vibration.
The same was for Caleb.
The two of them thought of retreating, but they didn't do so yet as Marcus hadn't given the order.
Retreat?
That was highly unlikely. If they left now, who would deal with this creature?
Wouldn't it run rampant in the Agard?
Marcus was busy absorbing more energy from the mana crystals, trying to use [Inspect] on the beast.
More than half of the crystals in the bag had turned to dust and yet, no information had appeared before his eyes.
Marcus gritted his teeth and continued to absorb more.
The sensation of absorbing and simultaneously expending mana was somewhat torturous. It placed his body under burdens.
There's no point in stopping now! Even if the crystals are spent, I have to see its information.
Marcus felt like this creature would be the cause of the redo this time.
So even if he was going to die, he had to return with even more information on how to deal with it.
He wasn't certain if the formation Arrays had been drawn after their arrival or before their arrival.
Perhaps the true plan was to summon that thing here and let it find its way to his mansion, wreaking havoc wherever it went.
This was how Marcus felt.
In his palm, he could feel that he had less than six crystals left.
That was when it finally happened.
[A Devilish Mutant, hive-type species, born from an ancient evil being.
Level: Delirious (Lv33).
Lowest tier mutant.
Has hard exoshells and fast limbs. It can grow stronger fast with more corpses and faces it devours.
Weakness: Though its hands are fast, its overall movement is average. Below average IQ. Light element powers. Fire born from Mana. Lightning and thunder.]
Upon seeing this, Marcus felt a little bit relieved.
It had weaknesses, however, he didn't think that it would be that easy to exploit this creature's weaknesses.
Out of everything there, he was only capable of using fire against it.
Ahead of Marcus, Brown, and Caleb were doing their best to affect this Devilish Mutant, however, their newfound abilities and strength didn't have much impact but blunt force against the beast.
The most they had done was to delay the beast several times, keeping it occupied.
"Assist them, Joshua. Buy me some time." Marcus commanded.
With a nod, Joshua began shooting arrows that carried his Blood Force, striking the Devilish Mutant several times in a second.
With each point of contact, a sound resembling that of a drum echoed out.
At the same time, Marcus began absorbing the rest of the mana crystals in his bag.
The muscles in his arm felt sore and swollen. He had a feeling that if he absorbed too much mana, his arm would explode.
But Marcus wasn't too worried. After a few seconds, he began weaving hand signs while chanting a spell.
With each hand sign, Marcus felt a strain on his finger, almost making him stop. But he pushed through it.
Caleb and Brown had been pushed back several times by the Devilish Mutant, to the point where their palms had cracked open and were bleeding.
Some of their ribs had also broken under the force of its attacks.
The two knights felt weary and tired. They also felt dejected.
The newfound power that they recently acquired wasn't… enough.
They thought they had become stronger, however, they were being utterly overwhelmed by this mutant.
Reality was brutal.
Just then, Marcus's voice reached their ears. "Clear the way!"
Just right after Marcus said this, he inhaled deeply and his cheeks puffed out as though they were filled up.
Suddenly, a bright fiery light coming from his mouth illuminated the forest.
With as much force as he could muster, Marcus exhaled through his mouth, spewing flames that burned fiercely toward the Devilish Mutant.
The flames scorched the ground as they crossed the distance, even burning the trees around.
In a second, it got on the Devilish Mutant.
"Roar!!"
The beast cried out in agony. Like paper set on fire, the parts of its grotesque body that had come in contact with Marcus's flames had caught on fire and started to melt.
It stumbled back in pain, trying to use its limbs to quench the fire.
However, whatever part of its body that came in contact with the flames also began to melt.
Marcus finally stopped spewing fire as he needed to breathe. His chest heaved up and down, bringing fresh pain to his lungs with each movement.
His legs nearly buckled beneath and for a moment, he thought his lungs had burned from the inside.
"Roarrr!!" The Devilish Mutant began trashing around, crashing into everything, subsequently setting the trees around on fire too.
Clap!
Thunder clapped in the sky, muffling the beast's cries.
Four men stood in the distance, watching this creature burn to its death.
After what felt like twenty minutes, the Devilish Mutant had been burnt to ashes.
A drop of water fell from the sky and grazed Marcus's face.
He looked up and another touched his forehead.
Like a symphony, drops of rain began falling, getting heavier by the second…