Chapter 713: The Abandone
The Priest paid a certain price to create these Abandone. He must have forcefully connected to the Chaos Demon Realm just now, opening a small rift to let the chaotic energy from that side pour into this world.
But at the same time, he had to endure the corrosive effects of the chaotic energy. This was like nuclear radiation; contact with the body would inevitably lead to mutation.
Pus-filled sores, identical to those on the Abandone, grew on the Priest’s skin. These blood-red sores were densely packed, making one feel disgusted and itchy all over. Yet, he seemed to relish it, completely unconcerned.
When the Priest pointed his staff at us, the villagers who had turned into Abandone seemed to have finally found targets for their pain and madness. They roared and charged at us.
If the many Magical Beasts before had already pushed us to our limits, then the addition of these Abandone to the battlefield was more than just the last straw that broke the camel’s back; it was more like a brick.
Fortunately, the Priest’s control was too weak to make the Magical Beasts and the Abandone fight side by side. In fact, they even treated each other as enemies.
One Abandone clung to the Wild Boar King, frantically clawing at its flesh, only to be thrown off by the enraged Wild Boar King. A charge of its tusks left the Abandone disemboweled.
Another Abandone pounced on a Magic Wolf, tearing it apart with its bare hands, but was soon bitten by several other Magic Wolves and had its throat torn out.
Thanks to their infighting, the Abandone didn’t all join the battlefield immediately, which slightly lessened the pressure on us. But this was only temporary. The Priest was already gesticulating wildly with his staff, focusing the hostility of both sides on us.
“No way? Again!? We already have enough enemies!” Lair shot an arrow, but even a lightning arrow to the head didn’t bring down the Abandone.
“Can we retreat? We don’t have to fight them to the bitter end, right?” Paris also asked. She felt she had never fought so many Magical Beasts in her life, perhaps completing all the assignments from her entire academic career ahead of time.
I also felt it was time to retreat. After all, we had no enmity with the Shrieking Shaman or the dead old charlatan, and even less to do with this village.
We had originally just planned to rest and treat our injuries here. Now, not only had we failed to save anyone, but we were inexplicably caught in the conflict between two fanatical cultists. Even if the village were Slaughtered by the Priest, they probably wouldn’t react much.
If it were just us, retreating directly would be the best option. But now, we also had a cart full of unconscious people and spoils of war. With the cart, we couldn’t possibly escape. What should we do?
Perhaps we should abandon all the spoils of war and give them to the Priest, and then we could take the unconscious Liya and run? I thought that there was still a high probability of escaping.
Just as I was thinking this, an Abandone had already broken through the wolf pack and confronted me. It raised its arm, which had mutated into a giant claw, and swung it down at me.
I could only deploy the Shield of the Twin Eagles to block. Even though the Shield of the Twin Eagles was almost physically immune, I still felt a tremendous force smash down, nearly breaking my arm.
However, at that very moment, I felt something was wrong. Inside this person’s body, it was full of a lot of germs, and they were all different, just like mine!
Cough cough! No, we’re different. The germs in his body were indeed destroying it, but they had reached a balance due to the continuous regeneration from cell mutation. One side was constantly decaying, while the other was constantly regenerating.
As for me, I had a symbiotic relationship with the germs. The germs did not harm my body; they simply existed within me.
A seemingly normal villager wouldn’t be a germ exhibition hall. So, I’ll make a bold assumption: these germs were injected into him by the Shrieking Shaman just now.
Moreover, many of them were definitely not naturally occurring, and I didn’t recognize them. Now, I have some experience with germ mutation, and I dare say I’m somewhat knowledgeable. With my limited experience, I can judge that these germs have definitely undergone artificial mutation.
The main thing is that it was done too excessively and exaggeratedly, with no attempt at concealment. It’s likely that the person who modified these germs was quite proud of them, as if they were about to engrave them with their signature and a “no plagiarism” notice.
Furthermore, besides chaotic energy, their bodies also contained energy that I was very familiar with. That was the pervasive erosion on this land. The Divine Power of Gluttony was actually the strength within my body.
I’m thinking, perhaps the god that the Shrieking Shaman believed in was similar in nature to the Great Fly, which is why he considered this region a place of divine favor. And when he was infusing the villagers with chaotic energy, he also infused some of the corrosive energy from this land.
If that was the case, it was a fortunate coincidence, and I immediately had an idea. I felt that by just manipulating the Divine Power of Gluttony, I could make it go berserk.
As expected, the Abandone in front of me suddenly convulsed in pain. Its body began to mutate again, and a large number of sharp limbs pierced out from its body, spilling blood all over the ground. It looked terrifying.
“Ahhh!” One by one, the Abandone rolled onto the ground, with parts of insects constantly emerging from their bodies, such as bee stings, poison fangs, and mosquito proboscises. Their pained screams made even the fierce Magic Wolves pause in surprise and dare not approach.
“What’s wrong? Can’t they withstand the chaotic energy eroding their bodies?” Milti looked at the Abandone lying all over the ground with doubt. She had initially thought they might be troublesome, but she didn’t expect them all to collapse. She had never seen such a situation before.
“As expected, it’s effective. Miss Lorna, give me that Mad Speech Beast!” I shouted. The Mad Speech Beast was a creature with clear insect characteristics and should be more severely affected by the erosion. Most importantly, it was powerful.
“I don’t mind, but how do you plan to get it?” Lorna said with difficulty. Even with the Hippogriff’s help, she was still struggling and was nearing her limit.
The Mad Speech Beast’s own immense strength was one thing, but crucially, its voice was too unbearable. Even with Steel Will activated, Lorna felt her eardrums were about to be physically ruptured, and her head was throbbing.
“Just leave it to me, you move aside!” I ran over, jumped up, and the Hippogriff smoothly flew over to catch me. It truly understood my intentions.
Since a moment ago, the Hippogriff had inflicted tons of damage on the Mad Speech Beast, while Lorna was merely providing support. The Mad Speech Beast’s aggro was entirely focused on the Hippogriff.
As soon as the Hippogriff caught me, it flew directly towards the Shrieking Shaman. I turned and fired behind us with my small revolver, mainly to attract its pursuit.
“What do you want to do?! Plague Storm!” the Priest shouted at me, swinging his staff.
PS: To level up, I’m adding more chapters these days QAQ
