Chapter 466: Deformed Alien

The change in the surrounding environment came extremely suddenly, one could even say without any warning.

Just a second ago, the group was still traveling through increasingly dense architectural fragments, but after rounding a corner, those gorgeous domes looming in the tree canopy, the broken eaves embedded in the stone walls, the intermittent exquisite stone bricks on the ground... everything dissipated.

Replacing it was an exceptionally open clearing, about the size of two basketball courts, located at the deepest part of the Twin Canyons.

The ground was a brownish-gray mixture of soil and gravel; stepping on it, one could feel the subtle granular texture coming from beneath their feet; the towering, cramped cliff walls on both sides expanded slightly, allowing more sunlight to shine in while also making the entire scene look increasingly empty and spacious.

In reality, there was no need for Xia Nan to remind everyone to be vigilant.

As the group of six rounded the corner, the sudden gust of wind surging through the canyon, and the extremely rich stench of corpses in the air, had already allowed these veteran professionals with extremely rich adventure experience to prepare for battle in an instant.

The formation tightened abruptly, firmly protecting the core spellcaster, Haian, inside.

Every pair of eyes looked seriously and nervously at the clearing that came into view ahead.

First, the most conspicuous thing was the large number of Sahuagin corpses scattered across the entire field.

Fluorescent blue blood soaked large swaths of the land, and the field scattered with greenish scales was comparable to the ground after a fishmonger closed up shop.

None were spared.

Shredded flesh, severed limbs, along with twisted armor and broken harpoon weapons...

It was as if a storm made of blades had swept through; the tragic and bloody scene on the field was enough to scare an ordinary person into fainting.

Even the battle-hardened *Blade of Vengeance* squad, seeing this scene, had members subconsciously frown and feel uncomfortable.

"Here... what happened?"

Haian held her staff tightly with both hands, her gaze sweeping over the teammates protecting her, looking at the tragic state on the field.

The experiences on Rabbit Island on the way here and at the pier just now had already made her subconsciously lock the main enemy of this mission as the Sahuagin who were suspected of planning some conspiracy.

But the corpses appearing before her eyes now seemed to silently show that the specific situation differed from what she had expected.

"Some of them are mutual slaughter."

Luo Lin led the group to slow down their pace, carefully stepping onto the field.

Her gaze swept over the corpses scattered at her feet; she could see wounds left by harpoons on some of the relatively intact Sahuagin bodies.

"But the vast majority of them should have been attacked by some powerful monster."

The reason the scene on the field was so tragic was precisely because of the exaggerated wounds on the surface of the corpses that far exceeded the range that the Sahuagin's own claws and teeth could cause.

Some chest cavities were flattened entirely, bones broken and shattered; some were bitten in half at the waist, the cross-section jagged, revealing hideous tooth marks that pierced through the body; others simply had their entire heads and a small part of their upper bodies disappear, revealing jagged white bones and tender white flesh.

Large swaths of sprayed blood remained on the ground; clearly, there was no habit of cleaning up the battlefield, and along the bloodstains, one could see several broken Sahuagin corpses that had fallen nearby.

The wounds seemed different, but anyone with a little combat experience could discover that these Sahuagin were injured at the same time; a huge claw mark swept across their upper bodies diagonally like a lawnmower, disemboweling them.

"The thing that attacked the Sahuagin definitely had extremely powerful physical strength. Judging from the wound marks, these Sahuagin didn't even have time to resist before being torn into pieces."

Haian analyzed with a focused expression.

"Hmm... perhaps it possesses some kind of mental control effect, and that is precisely why it made the Sahuagin slaughter each other."

Xia Nan stood at the end of the team, looking at these Sahuagin corpses, but felt a sense of déjà vu for no reason.

This scene, which was just as tragic as the one left by his own battle but with a completely different style, was something he had seen before.

That was on the island of Qiaoyan, on the way to the cavity at the bottom of the cliff, the Sahuagin corpses left by that Shashou.

And now, the number of Sahuagin killed on the field was clearly greater, and the wound marks left on the corpses were also larger and more exaggerated.

What did this mean?

A monster of the same kind that was far more powerful than the Shashou he had encountered before?

Without any intention of hiding it, he immediately explained his speculation to his teammates.

Xia Nan's reminder was instantly taken seriously, making the members of the team even more vigilant.

And as the group moved further forward, they also discovered more points worthy of attention.

"No wonder the Sahuagin that attacked us at the pier just now were all small fry; it turns out the elites all died here."

Aken no longer carried his anchor-shaped giant axe on his shoulder, but held it firmly in front of his chest with both hands, saying with a grave expression.

Just as the group had guessed before, such a number of ordinary Sahuagin could not possibly lack more powerful individuals to command and lead them.

The reason they couldn't find a single one while cleaning up the battlefield at the pier earlier was because those elite individuals among the Sahuagin had all died here.

Even the number was far greater than they had imagined.

The number of four-armed elite Sahuagin that died in this clearing reached nearly thirty by a conservative estimate, and it even included two Sahuagin priests!

Such a scale could almost be described as an "army," and even if their *Blade of Vengeance* squad were fully assembled, they might not necessarily be able to deal with it safely.

But now, they had all become bloody, cold corpses.

And the culprit... had already disappeared.

Xia Nan turned abruptly, his gaze looking toward the northernmost part of the clearing.

There, clinging to the bottom of the cliff, was a small pool of water.

Its area could definitely not be called large, occupying only one-sixth of the total area of the clearing, but it was exceptionally calm.

Unlike the violently colliding, strangely colored seawater in the surrounding area, the pool was in an extremely calm state; viewed from afar, it looked like a piece of black glass, and its own deep color also indicated the depth inside.

Once bitten, twice shy.

He remembered that the Shashou he encountered last time jumped out of a pool in a cavity, and even took the opportunity to ambush one of his half-elf teammates at the time, causing the other's death.

Now encountering a similar situation, Xia Nan naturally could not ignore it.

He immediately reminded everyone to be careful, while listing the area near the pool as a high-risk zone, carefully staying away.

Then, walking past the large number of fragmented Sahuagin corpses, the group discovered those missing islanders.

Or rather, the corpses of the islanders.

Just like the situation in the fishing village on Rabbit Island, those fishermen who had lived in the Twin Canyons for generations were all killed, and their corpses were thrown into a huge pit temporarily dug as a sacrifice.

Now, they were already rotting and stinking. ===== CHAPTER 467 =====