Chapter 804: The Troublesome Parasitic Enemy!

Not long ago, Jier was still wondering why the enemies who might block them hadn't appeared, but not long after he muttered about it, the faint sounds of human roars and shouts drifted out from the Shulin to the front left of the team.

Still in the middle of the team, Jier immediately drew the Long Sword at his waist and shouted to signal the Armed Civilian at the front of the team to be alert.

"Something has rushed out of the Shulin! Watch your defense! Form up into battle formation! Quickly!"

Following Jier's warning command, the two Armed Squads walking at the very front of the Refugee Team immediately fell into a panic. Although Jier had given them simple training during their nightly camps and they had looked quite decent at the time, when it came to actual use, these Armed Squads composed of civilians were still a mess.

The archers, who should have been at the very back, had a rush of blood to their heads and ran to the very front of the line. Meanwhile, the Warriors holding Shield and Long Sword couldn't find their combat partners in the chaos and hurriedly shouted familiar names at the top of their lungs. The Captain of the squad, who should have been in the center directing, relied on the old Leather Armor he had looted from a Bandit leader and called out for the people around him to go forward and fight with him.

How should one put it? Everyone certainly had plenty of Yongqi. But the sight of them in such a chaotic mess made Jier furious.

He cursed under his breath, then muttered words to put himself at ease, comforting himself: these civilians, after all, were not like the Kendall Militia, who had enough time during the off-season to be trained by experienced military Knight (Kela Knight and Lumi Knight).

These civilians had to trek and travel during the day, and could only conduct small-scale, temporary training during their free time at night.

And although Jier had great prestige among the civilian team, he lacked the sufficient experience and organizational power to transform these civilians into professional Militia or Soldier.

"Forget it, I have to do it myself." After this grumble, Jier ordered the Armed Squad protecting the middle of the team: "Keep an eye on your surroundings; your main task is to protect the civilians in the middle of the team. If the front or rear of the team encounters danger, don't rush over to support them; wait for my orders before acting! Do you understand?"

The Captain of the nearby Armed Squad immediately shouted: "Understood, Knight! My squad will be responsible for protecting the people in the middle."

Seeing that he understood, Jier kicked the belly of Tianxuecao hard, urging it to run.

As he rode toward the front of the team, he shouted to the two Armed Squads ahead: "The two squads in front, listen up! Those with Shield in front, those with bows in the back, and the Captain in the center! Don't run around; form the three-person teams we talked about before for combat."

With Jier's command, and with those holding Shield finally finding their combat partners in the chaos, the front of the team finally had a forward-and-backward battle formation, and the two Captains responsible for close-range command also retreated from the front to behind the civilians with Shield, their faces flushed red.

Fortunately, they were all wearing leather Helmet, so the others couldn't see their embarrassed, rough faces.

The roaring sounds in the Shulin became more and more distinct, audible even to the civilians who were still on the move. They subconsciously slowed their pace, even wanting to stop and huddle together, but the Knight's order came again.

"The civilians at the very front, do not stop! Walk at a slow pace! Do not crowd together! Please trust the Armed Civilian protecting you on both sides; their Shield and blades will give any incoming enemy a taste of their power!"

"Also, please trust me!"

It was unclear whether the civilians trusted the two Armed Squads closer to them or Jier, but in any case, when Jier rode over, they gave up on huddling together for self-protection, hesitated for a moment, and continued to step forward.

Jier rode on horseback, looking far into the direction where the movement came from, and soon, he frowned, having made a discovery.

At a distance that ordinary people would likely not see clearly, and hidden by the bushes on the outer edge of the Shulin, two archers wearing mottled Cloak rushed out. The two had intended to rush out of the cover of the Shulin and reach the wild land beside the relatively open Shanglu.

But clearly, the two also saw the alerted Armed Squad, so they immediately stopped their steps and crouched down, hiding in the waist-high, dense bushes.

"Hmm?"

That agile movement in the Shulin, along with the mottled Cloak and the bows in their hands, immediately reminded Jier of his experience fighting two powerful Church Hunter a few months ago (Jier's real elapsed time, while in reality, it was only a few days ago in the outside world).

"No way, again?"

Subconsciously, Jier shrank back a little—not because he was afraid of the opponent, but because the experience of being trapped in the Dreamy Forest last time was truly fresh in Jier's memory. After all, anyone who ate Mushroom for dozens of days in a row would be a bit hesitant.

However, he soon realized that the roaring sounds coming from the Shulin were not made by a mere two people, but by other 'crowds' following behind those two.

The bushes on the outermost edge of the Shulin swayed, and amidst the bursts of roaring, ten people with stumbling steps rushed out all at once.

These people shook their heads, their hands stretched forward to push aside the bushes blocking their way, and on their legs, one knee of every single person had been shot through by an Arrow. There was no sense of pain in the bursts of roaring; it seemed the injury to their knees was not painful, just a great hindrance to their mobility.

Rushing out of the Shulin, these civilians in tattered clothes searched around empty-handed, and soon discovered the large Refugee Team on the Shanglu.

Immediately, excited shouts erupted from these people in unison: "People! So many people! Hang! Hang! Offer to the Prophet! Develop and join us!"

Perhaps due to being overly excited, these guys immediately forgot the task their Prophet had previously entrusted to them and instead gathered together to charge toward the Shanglu.

Jier immediately spurred his horse and charged out, killing toward these parasite-ridden beings who were neither human nor monster.

"These count as Monster, right? It's up to you, Moon-Water Skull!"

Reaching back to the Weapon Rack behind him, he drew the blue Two-handed Axe. Jier held the axe with his right hand and the Hunting Sword with his left, letting Tianxuecao charge toward the ten people who were also rushing over.

The two sides approached each other, the distance closing rapidly.

At a distance of about forty or fifty meters, Jier threw the axe with his right arm with great force, heading straight for the two enemies in front.

The axe flew over with a whistling spin, but just as it was about to spin into the upper bodies of the enemies, the axe's flight trajectory twisted upward, actively dodging the enemies rushing over.

"You piece of shit!!!"

Jier cursed out loud, but before he could say more, the ten enemies immediately dodged the front of the warhorse and leaped from Jier's left and right sides to pounce on him.

Their hands were stretched straight out in front toward Jier, and in their wide-open mouths, beside the central tongue, other slender, swaying root tentacles extended, looking quite terrifying for a moment.

Jier ignored everything else, swinging his right fist out while his left hand used the horse's speed to slash diagonally.

With a *swish*, the sword directly sliced off the skull of the enemy pouncing from his left.

The right fist he threw out hit the neck of the enemy closest to him, knocking the originally straight neck into a bizarre, horizontal U-shape. But the next moment, other enemies pounced up.

Jier's left and right legs were each grabbed by an enemy, and three enemies also climbed onto the back of Tianxuecao.

These people had considerable strength in their hands; even while the warhorse was running, they were not shaken off. Once they grabbed something, they climbed straight up. The two enemies on Jier's legs opened their mouths full of roots and bit down directly, followed by the intense collision between the teeth in their mouths and the Metal Armor Plate on Jier's boot Greaves.

Amidst the crunching sounds, teeth were chipped, and roots were bitten off by their own biting.

"Damn it!"

Jier leaned down and used the pommel of the Hunting Sword in his left hand to smash directly into the skull of the enemy on his left leg. His right hand reached over to grab the opponent's neck, lifted it violently, tore off the pair of arms that were tightly gripping his right boot, and then used force to smash them horizontally toward the three enemies behind him.

"Hiss-ha—"

The three enemies who had climbed onto the Weapon Rack on the warhorse's back performed a Possession, dodging the swing of their companion's body being used as a weapon, and then kicked off with their legs, all pouncing toward Jier's back.

With a *pop*, like a fist smashing a ripe apple, the skull of the enemy on Jier's left leg had its crown directly shattered by the Moonlight Iron counterweight ball at the end of the sword hilt.

However, this person was different from the parasite-ridden one Jier had interrogated before; there wasn't much human brain inside the skull, mostly plant roots tangled together. Being smashed open like this, it instead provided a new exit for the roots in these heads.

"What kind of ghost thing is this!"

While shouting, Jier kicked the belly of the warhorse hard with his right leg. Tianxuecao, protected by Horse Armor, would of course not be injured, but it could turn according to the strength of such instructions.

At this moment, Jier kicked hard, and only on the right side, so Tianxuecao immediately understood its master's intention.

It immediately accelerated and turned to run toward the right.

Consequently, the centrifugal force caused two of the three enemies on the horse's back to miss and be thrown off the horse, and the enemy on the left leg was also kicked off by Jier after he pulled his boot out of the Stirrup.

But Jier's trouble was not over; of the three enemies pouncing on his body, two missed and were thrown off, but one was still tightly clutching Jier's neck with both arms, while the hands on its neck were also wide open, covering toward Jier's face.

At such a close distance, Jier could see the plant roots extending from the gaps in the opponent's fingernails with a downward glance, currently swaying like fish tails, trying to drill into Jier's face.

Jier was also startled; he threw away the enemy in his right hand and immediately used his backhand to grab the wrist that was about to cover his face.

But there was still the left hand!

Unable to care about anything else, Jier reversed the Long Sword in his left hand, extended and pried it between the enemy's left arm and his own Neck Armor, forcibly using the principle of leverage to slightly pry the enemy's arm away.

During the brief stalemate, Jier could even feel the back of his head being gnawed on by the enemy's mouth at the same time; he naturally knew that a human mouth could not bite through a Helmet made of steel, especially with the Neck Armor made of Metal Armor Plate protecting the gap between the Helmet and the chest armor.

But these enemies had neither knives nor swords in their hands, and their intention in battle was not to attack the enemy with fists, feet, or teeth, but to disgustingly use the plant roots extending from their mouths and fingers to touch the target's body, parasitizing, infecting, and controlling the target.

The stalemate was quickly broken; Jier had just been anxious for a moment, which was why he hadn't activated the Life Energy in his body. At this extremely critical moment, he held his breath and exerted force, slightly adjusting the blade of the Long Sword in his left hand, changing from a horizontal pry to a vertical contact with the enemy's arm.

Then, with a burst of force, the enemy's left arm was severed entirely.

The right hand gripping the wrist that was reaching for his Faceplate also suddenly exerted force; with a crunch, Jier directly crushed the enemy's right wrist, and flesh and blood, along with a small amount of purple blood oozing from the center of the bones, splashed all over Jier.

With a forceful throw from his right hand, Jier discarded the enemy's right palm, and then, with a backhand claw, his open right hand accurately grabbed the scalp of the enemy who was still biting the back of his head.

As his fingers squeezed hard, the enemy's skull emitted a faint cracking sound. Jier then used a backhand grab to fling the enemy behind him to his front.

"Haaah——————"

This enemy's mouth was wide open, its tongue extended quite long, and many plant roots like tiny tentacles extended from the tongue, desperately reaching toward Jier's face, which was only thirty centimeters away.

The right hand gripping the enemy's skull exerted sudden force, directly crushing the enemy's head as if crushing an egg with one hand. At the same time, the Long Sword in his left hand slashed quickly, severing the enemy's head from the neck.

His right hand swung again, knocking the enemy's headless body off the horse.

"Phew... that was close."

Only then did Jier dare to let out a breath, and amidst the whirring rotation above his head, the Spirit of the axe finally flew back, looking embarrassed.

He reached his right hand toward the sky, and the handle of the axe immediately dropped into his palm.

"Look clearly!! You better %% look clearly! These things used to be humans, but they are ￥%￥ not humans anymore! Don't think that just because they have a human shape, they count as humans!"

Jier roared at the axe, but the Spirit of the axe shook; although it seemed a bit embarrassed about what had just happened, it still didn't think it was wrong.

Even the images of several sealed Monsters and the spider-type Magic Beast on the side of the axe face were making faces and booing, though it was unclear whether they were jeering at the Spirit of the axe or felt that Jier's series of battles just now lacked style.

Jier was furious and threw the axe toward the Weapon Rack behind him; although he didn't aim, the axe obediently landed and locked onto the Weapon Rack itself.

He flicked the Long Sword in his left hand, shaking off some of the flesh and purple fluid stained on the blade, then sheathed it back into the Sword Sheath on his left belt.

The next moment, Jier took the all-steel Double-edged Spear from behind him, turned his horse around, and charged toward the enemy he had just thrown off the horse.

He hadn't noticed before, but as Jier charged back, he discovered that those humans parasitized by the 'Flesh Demon' were not only difficult to deal with in a fight, but their vitality was also formidable. The enemy with the severed arm opened its mouth wide and stumbled toward the Refugee Team more like a beast than a human.

And the enemy whose head had been half-crushed acted as if nothing had happened, killing forward without its movements being affected at all; in fact, these guys having a 'skylight' opened in their skulls actually gave the plant roots entrenched in the brain area a more convenient attack position than the mouth.

What's more, the last enemy Jier had decapitated just now was now extending even thicker plant roots from its severed neck, replacing the original head, and swaying as it continued to attack the Refugee Team. This guy didn't seem to want to give up, even though it had no head and no human arms.

"No! Must destroy their parasite core!"

Jier realized it only after taking a look; the head, arms, and legs were all tools for the enemy's attack, and the true core was that extra human face on the torso.

"Everyone pay attention, don't get tackled by the enemies! Use your Shield to block attacks, cut off their legs! Then smash their torsos! Be careful not to get tackled! Use your Shield to block the attack first, then knock them over, cut off their legs, and then smash their torsos! Archers! Shoot the place on their torsos where there is a face! That is their weak point!"

Jier shouted loudly, and as he rode his horse through the group of enemies, he inserted and flicked the shaft of his Long Spear, tossing the headless enemy into the air, then swung with force, the flashing gun-blade severing the enemy's torso.

In this way, even if this enemy was lucky enough not to have its parasite core damaged, a headless upper body with only a pair of legs or missing arms could do nothing.

Jier pulled the Jiansheng of the Tianxuecao with his left hand, turning left and right, riding his horse to trample and crush the three slowest enemies; as long as the warhorse's massive hooves stepped on the torso even once or twice, the enemy would surely die.

Even so, the fastest of these guys still engaged in battle with the Armed Squad.

"Fire arrows! Shoot their bodies! Just like the Knight told us!"

The two captains of the Armed Squad roared these words.

Jier's initial engagement had startled these Armed Civilians; after all, these enemies looked like ragged, down-and-out village farmers or desperate Bandits, but no one expected that such enemies could actually tangle with Jier the Knight on his warhorse and even climb onto the horse's back to fight the Knight at close quarters.

Because Jier's battle was some distance away from the civilians, they did not know that these guys' means of attack were not fists and feet, but the parasitic plant roots on their heads and hands.

After Jier issued a warning following his chaotic fight with those enemies, the Armed Civilians realized that these people were not ordinary humans, but Monsters that looked like humans but were not.

After all, a normal person having their skull severed by a sword, and then having a large number of root tentacles extending from where the brain used to be, could in no way be said to have a human appearance.

And when the headless enemy still stumbled toward them, although it startled many people, the Armed Civilians also put away their recklessness.

Amidst the swishing sounds, the young archers standing in the back row of the team were the first to shoot the Arrow in their hands. Thanks to the arrows already shot into the enemies' legs by someone beforehand, these enemies were not moving fast and walked with a swaying motion.

Pfft, pfft, pfft, most of the arrows hit the Monsters' chests. The two Armed Squads each had four archers; regardless of their individual shooting levels (certainly not as good as the professional Hunters under Lanisha the Knight), at least eight arrows could be shot in a single volley aimed at one enemy, and the density of the arrows was sufficient.

Even if half missed their targets due to nervousness, the remaining half could still cause damage to the enemies.

"Shoot again! Fire the arrows!"

The two captains of the Armed Squad, one temporarily commanding the archers, and the other going to command the melee Armed Civilians.

In the second volley of arrows, they finally achieved success; the enemy that was running the fastest, its whole body stuck like a hedgehog, was finally killed when one of the arrows struck the face parasite somewhere on its torso, finally taking the enemy's life.

The enemy collapsed into the grass, immediately boosting everyone's confidence in the battle.

However, the remaining four or five enemies that rushed over still engaged in battle with the melee Armed Civilians.