Chapter 303: Insidious Parasites

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Buildings crumbled to the ground as a large area in front of Selene was flattened by the hail of ice swords.

They looked fragile, but each one was sharp and could cut through almost anything.

Watching the destruction before her, Selene’s expression paled slightly. However, she stood firm and didn’t waver.

’At least that should kill more than half of them.’

She felt exhaustion gnawing at her, but she casually ignored it. The battle wasn’t over yet.

Taking advantage of the brief calm, she turned her head and looked behind her. All she could see was darkness—thick darkness blanketing the world.

’That skill again? I still don’t understand it.’

Shaking her head, she turned back to face her own opponents. The dust and rubble had finally cleared off, and she could see the surviving parasites.

Most of them were parasites with hosts possessing defensive abilities and skills. The others were either lucky or had tough shells and hides to avoid being killed.

Some were skewered, but not dead. They had managed to protect their heads, after all.

Selene unsheathed her sword again, then dashed at them. Abandoning her advantage as a mage, she dove into melee. This wasn’t an irrational decision, but something she had decided to do for a reason.

After all, her mana reserve was already below half. If she kept spamming magic attacks, it would only reduce further.

It was better to wait and recover with the help of her necklace.

She soon reached the first one, a monkey-like parasitized beast. It snarled and lunged at her, but she casually split its head apart.

It wasn’t even a Tier One creature yet. Feeling disgusted, she avoided the corpse and flashed to another one that was struggling to get up.

She stabbed her sword into its head, pinning it to the ground and killing it.

The moment it stopped moving, she turned around and slashed.

Clang!

The creature attacking her was forced back, staggering a few steps backwards. Seeing that it was a Vaelari, her annoyance spiked.

She coldly cut his head, then turned to block the attack of a bull rushing at her. She blocked the pitch black horns with her blade, forcing the head down to the ground.

Before she could stab into the back of its head, the beast opened its mouth and spat flames.

She quickly jumped back, avoiding a burn on her legs. The bull raised its head and glared at her defiantly.

Unfazed, Selene rolled her shoulders and flicked her wrist.

An ice bullet materialized right before her and shot straight into the bull’s left eye. It moaned in pain, staggering several steps backwards.

Before it could stabilize itself a second bullet tore into its other eye and reached its brain.

It died blind.

Selene pulled her attention away from it immediately, as two hawks were swooping towards her from above. She slashed at them, and they easily dodged the ice blade.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared above them, and a figure fell between the two creatures.

Leon stabbed his spear and dagger into their heads and pushed them to the ground.

Boom!

He landed in a roll, springing back up right beside Selene.

She stared at him in surprise. "You’re done?"

He shook his head. "Not exactly. I think we need to fight together on this one."

Ignoring the parasites rushing at them for a moment, she took a look behind her. The world was no longer dark, and she could see the mayhem behind her.

Corpses stretched into the far end of the streets, but she barely had time to be awed by that. Instead, she was shocked to realize that more parasites were still flooding in from the other end.

Turning back to him, she asked, "What do you suggest?"

Strapping the dagger to his thigh, Leon twirled the spear in his hand. "I just need you to restrict their movements—on both sides. That way, I can clear them out more efficiently."

She thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

Using half of her remaining mana, she used one technique from her Ice Manipulation ability.

"Blizzard."

Leon immediately distanced himself from her, jumping onto an old roof and watching as thick white mist rolled over to the approaching parasites.

The first ones to enter froze quickly, regardless of their strength. Only the Tier Two ones were able to take a few more steps before they froze too.

Leon immediately made a move against them. Shadow spears shot out from the ground, specifically aimed at their heads.

Unable to move and resist, they all died like chickens. Leon gave Selene a thumbs-up, then continued using shadow spears to kill the zombies that got into range and were frozen by her ability.

The two of them relaxed slightly, seeing that things were working perfectly.

’Wait, what?’

Noticing an anomaly, Leon snapped out from using Shadow Sense and turned to look with his own eyes. The parasites were no longer entering the cold mist Selene had created around her. Instead, they were pulling back, staying at the edge and watching the woman ominously.

Selene also noticed and narrowed her eyes. "What’s wrong with them?"

Leon had no answer. However, he didn’t need to answer anyway. They did that for themselves.

Under Selene’s surprised gaze, several fireballs, ice boulders, meteors, and other ranged attacks shot into the sky and fell towards her.

Her expression changed, and she moved to activate a defensive skill. Before she could, someone appeared from her shadow, grabbed her and pulled her into it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The whole place shook as several attacks landed on the same spot, digging a huge crater on the ground.

Appearing inside the room where she had kept the little cat, Selene breathed a sigh of relief.

Glancing at the cat that had run up to them, she said to Leon. "Could there be a Parasite King?"

His expression darkened as he thought about her words. If that was true, then it would be worrisome.

After all, intelligent opponents were far deadlier than strong but dumb ones.

Shaking his head, he was about to reply again when his expression changed. He grabbed Selene by the waist and pulled her into the shadows again, dragging the cat along with them.

Meow!

As soon as they vanished, the house was demolished under a bombardment of magical attacks.