Chapter 208: Swamp

Ahead was a treacherous swamp, the mud as thick as black asphalt, its surface shimmering with a strange oily sheen, and bubbles breaking with a low "gurgling" sound. Rotting plant debris floated on top, emitting a pungent, putrid odor.

The swamp was shrouded in heavy mist, and twisted dead trees reached toward the sky like withered arms, their roots coiled in the mud like giant snakes.

The water surface occasionally rippled, and a few white bones surfaced and sank, as if giant creatures were swimming in the depths.

Nie Yingying gripped her dagger tightly,

She narrowed her eyes, attempting to pierce through the mist to see the opposite bank, but could only see a blur of gray darkness.

"This swamp... it has no end." She glanced at Weisite and said in a low voice, her tone tinged with vigilance.

Aoruilian frowned, his golden armor appearing dull and lusterless in the mist: "The miasma is very thick! It won't be fatal to us, but it certainly isn't a good thing!"

Siwen sneered and hoisted his battle axe: "What are you afraid of? At worst, we'll just hack out a path. Besides, the great 【Royal Guard】 Mr. Weisite is here to lead us forward, isn't he?"

Weisite did not respond, his gaze fixed tightly on the depths of the mist. He knew that apple tree was somewhere in the swamp, but its exact location was hard to determine.

"Of course, of course I will lead you; haven't I already led you here?" Weisite shrugged, not feeling the slightest bit of shame in his words: "But the next part is the time to test you. Whoever can bring back the 'Sleeping God's Eternal Sleep Apple' and hand it to me, I will claim credit for you before Her Majesty the Queen!"

……

"Fuck his mother, once this mission is over, I'm going to kill that damn coward!"

Siwen stepped into the swamp, cursing while carrying his battle axe. The mud swallowed his knees, and every step felt like he was struggling against countless hands.

Nie Yingying followed closely behind, holding her dagger in a reverse grip, her feather throwing knives ready at her fingertips.

The bald Hans spat, his fists wrapped in chains, while Aoruilian's golden armor barely managed to sustain a glimmer of light in the mist.

"There isn't even a path in this hellhole!" Hans kicked away a skeleton floating on the water, but it disturbed a dark shadow beneath the mud.

Three crocodile-like behemoths lunged out of the mud, their scale-covered tails sweeping across. Siwen split the skull of one with his battle axe, and the foul-smelling blood splashed onto Hans's face: "Don't just fucking stand there!"

Nie Yingying's throwing knives precisely pierced the eye socket of another crocodile, while Aoruilian's spear pierced the throat of the third.

But the rot of the swamp had already seeped into their breath, as if the very air were corroding their internal organs.

Passing through the pile of crocodile corpses, the mist suddenly thickened.

Aoruilian stopped abruptly: "Something's wrong... it's the sound of wings."

Nie Yingying's eyes widened: "Mosquitoes, it's mosquitoes! Run!"

The buzzing of the mosquito swarm, initially like the rustling of fine rain, turned into a roaring storm in the blink of an eye. A dense cloud of insects surged from all directions; each mosquito was the size of an infant's fist, their mouthparts gleaming with a metallic cold light.

"Fuck! These things are harder to deal with than the lions in the arena!" Hans roared, swinging his chains and crushing several giant mosquitoes that charged at the front, but the sweeping range of the chains had no advantage against dense, small enemies.

The swarm instantly split into dozens of streams, bypassing the trajectory of the chains and pouncing from tricky angles toward his exposed neck and joints. He tried to retreat, but the mud dragged at his legs, his movements as sluggish as if he were filled with lead.

Nie Yingying's throwing knives fluttered like silver butterflies, precisely piercing the compound eyes of the mosquitoes, but the number of insects was simply too great; the moment a blade was pulled from a wound, it was filled by new mosquitoes surging up.

Her figure dodged like a ghost, but she was still bitten by several mosquitoes, red, swollen welts rapidly rising on her skin.

Siwen's battle axe kicked up a bloody wind, churning the approaching swarm into meat paste, but there were still stragglers biting his arms. He furiously tore off a blood-sucking mosquito, ripping off a piece of skin and flesh along with it: "Damn it!"

Following Siwen's roar, a Blood Qi Storm appeared around him, blocking all the approaching mosquitoes. He then began to clear the way like a road roller, charging toward the depths of the swamp.

Hans's chains swept empty again, and three mosquitoes seized the opportunity to nail into his right shoulder, their mouthparts piercing through muscle straight to the blood vessels. He was in such pain that his veins bulged; he crushed the bodies of the insects with his left hand, only to find the broken mouthparts still stuck in his flesh, sucking blood frantically.

"Aoruilian! Think of something!"

"Hans! Get over here!" Aoruilian roared, slamming his spear into the mud. The sun emblem on his armor erupted with fierce golden light, forming a light barrier with a radius of two meters.

Nie Yingying was dragged into the light barrier by him; the mosquitoes that touched the light screen instantly turned charred and fell. However, the range of the light barrier had reached its limit and could not expand further.

Hans stumbled toward the light barrier, but the swarm had already smelled the blood, and a stream of insects pierced his left leg like a black arrow. Hans fell to his knees in the mud, and the swarm immediately covered his entire body.

Aoruilian's spear suddenly burst with even stronger light, burning through a cloud of insects in front, but it was too late to reach Hans—his skin had visibly withered, his eye sockets sunken, and his final roar stuck in his throat as he turned into a skin-and-bone corpse.

Then he turned into fly ash, dissolving into the swamp beneath him!

Seeing this, Aoruilian and Nie Yingying could only hold up the sun light barrier and follow the footsteps of Siwen as he fled.

In the mud, the mouthparts of a few remaining mosquitoes were still wriggling, as if some strange life were continuing.

On a patch of ground in the swamp that was rarely a bit drier, the travelers sat on the ground, exhausted.

"This damn mission is even more troublesome than I imagined. I didn't expect that bald guy to actually lose his life here and get kicked out of the game!"

Siwen had always looked down on the bald Hans, but that didn't stop him from expressing his opinion on Hans being kicked out.

"It should have been expected. Even in the story, that apple is the most important prop, bar none! That apple is almost tied to the image of Snow White, isn't it?"

Aoruilian's steady voice was still convincing, but the action of him turning sideways and constantly scratching the welt on his butt that had just been bitten made him appear somewhat comical.

"That damn Weisite must have expected this, which is why he didn't follow us into this swamp. I swear I'll chop him up before the plot ends!"

Siwen was still furious and spat fiercely toward the deep pool of water nearby.

"Alright, stop complaining! Let's keep going, south... um, this way. I'm light and fast, so I'll lead the way from here on!"

Nie Yingying knew that when it came to fighting, she could only play a supporting role, and the main combat still relied on Siwen and Aoruilian; she needed to prove her worth.