Chapter 66 - 25: [Rotting Soil Roarers]

Chapter 66: Chapter 25: [Rotting Soil Roarers]

WHOOSH! A glass bottle was thrown high into the air and shattered. A massive, incandescent sphere of light illuminated the area below as brightly as day, revealing a figure striking with a broken iron Longsword!

"The appraisal result is... an Undead! An Advanced Undead! It has five combat skills!" the Little Mage raised the Rune Stone in her left hand and exclaimed in excitement. "[Footwork Focus], [Blade Counter Stance], [Charged Strike], [Precision Combo], [Razor Formation]—it’s an Undead Swordsman. How fun!"

"...Just a High-level Undead Swordsman?" Norman looked disappointed and confused. "Not the Demon Race... There are too many giant boulders in the White Stone Wasteland, and the terrain is complex. Julian, report the coordinates."

"Thirty degrees southwest, about two hundred meters away!" the Little Mage shouted. Looking down from high above at the maze formed by the giant white stones, she glanced at the compass on her collar and quickly determined the direction.

Norman glanced down at the compass pendant around his neck. He swiftly dodged the white boulder in front of him, leaped forward, and drew his sword, pointing it at the figure ahead.

It was a strange Skeleton Swordsman wearing a Rusted Copper Bell-shaped Helmet. It was using the Iron Sword in its hand to strike its own helmet heavily, emitting a CLANG CLANG CLANG sound that made it look rather comical.

[Connecting signal...]

[Spiritual Implant functioning properly.]

[High-precision control engaged. Auxiliary scanner ready.]

[Nether Copper Resonating Signal Repeater paused.]

Upon seeing Norman, the Skeleton Swordsman wearing the Rusted Copper Bell-shaped Helmet stopped the strange act of striking its own head. It raised its rusted iron military sword, holding it in a half-guard before its body, and assumed a standard "Blade Counter Stance."

The Assassin in the team excitedly raised his two Double-Headed Short Blades, instinctively preparing to charge and slash.

The Skeleton Swordsman remained silent, standing quietly in place without moving an inch.

"Stop!" Norman shouted. "Watch your feet!"

The Assassin stopped in his tracks warily, spun around, and leaped back. He drew a rough beast-bone throwing blade and hurled it at the soil just an inch in front of where his feet had been!

Accompanied by a piercing screech, the brownish-yellow soil suddenly churned. The seemingly flat ground instantly turned into a large crater, from which a giant, fat, slimy yellowish-green slug crawled out, covered in loose dirt. The Assassin’s throwing blade was lodged in its head.

WAAAH! It wriggled its round, fleshy body. More than half of its head split open, revealing a massive maw lined with barbed teeth, and it let out a loud, toad-like roar!

Along with the roar, seven or eight blobs of dark green slime were regurgitated from its huge throat, splattering everywhere like bursting coals!

The Assassin kicked off a nearby white stone to launch himself off the ground. With two agile backflips, he dodged the splattering blobs of dark green slime.

Some of the slime blobs hit the ground and immediately began bubbling with a BLUB BLUB sound upon contact with the soil. Others clung firmly to the adjacent white stones like snot. Pulled by gravity, they slowly slid down the surfaces, leaving sticky, dark green trails akin to those left by a crawling snail.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Three more patches of soil around the Copper Helmet Undead Knight exploded in quick succession, and three identical giant slugs burrowed out.

"Rotting Soil Roarers," the Assassin scoffed in disgust. "They’re among the more troublesome and repulsive Magical Beasts... Poisonous slugs."

"Fall back, Dorian. Don’t make any sudden moves, let me handle this." Norman cautiously inched toward the Undead Swordsman. "This is highly unusual..."

"What’s wrong, boss?" The Assassin twirled a throwing blade between his fingertips, trying to locate the central nervous system in the heads of the Rotting Soil Roarers. "Even though they’re gross, they aren’t too difficult to deal with. We have antidotes."

Locating the central nervous system to deliver a fatal blow was somewhat difficult because the heads of the Rotting Soil Roarers were typically encased in a thick layer of opaque gelatinous matter. It was tough and elastic, acting almost like a skull. Usually, one could only pierce their mouths while they opened them to roar and regurgitate, destroying the nervous system from within.

These particular Rotting Soil Roarers were exceptionally peculiar. Large patches of dead twigs and leaves from Bloodthorns were stuck to their heads, severely obstructing any line of sight. Furthermore, a layer of dead leaves was deliberately stuck inside their mouths, interfering with the angle of observation required for a quick-kill technique.

The Rotting Soil Roarers tightly encircled the Copper Helmet Undead Knight, like a Personal Guard protecting a General.

If Norman and his team got any closer, they would trigger the regurgitation spray of the Rotting Soil Roarers. The dark green slime blobs would cause minor explosions upon impact. While the damage was minimal, they would leave behind toxic, watery slime trails. Unless they used a wide-range, high-level lethal combat skill, it would be difficult to approach for the time being.

However, high-level lethal combat skills consumed a tremendous amount of stamina and Spiritual Power. As adventurers who primarily engaged in solo combat, stamina and Spiritual Power were precious resources that had to be carefully rationed.

"No, something is wrong... High-Level Undead can indeed manipulate low-level Undead through certain means." Norman hesitantly raised his sword. "But how could an Undead cooperate with a Magical Beast? This is highly unusual. They should instinctively attack all living creatures... Don’t make any rash moves.

"Furthermore, Undead typically possess no intellect. It’s impossible for them to execute complex behaviors like forming arrays and coordinating in combat... Perhaps this is a special Undead with intelligence?" He narrowed his eyes slightly, slowly circling around the Rotting Soil Roarers to size up the Rusted Copper Bell-shaped Skull Knight before him.

DING! A sudden, sharp sound of clashing metal rang out!

Past the protective circle of the Rotting Soil Roarers, the severed Rusted Iron Swordhead of the Copper Helmet Undead Knight fell to the ground with a CLANG. Norman stepped back with piqued interest, the tip of his fine steel Longsword quivering lightly like a bee’s stinger.

[Spiritual Implant - Auxiliary Scanner activated.]