Chapter 805: The Destruction of the Monsters!

"Charge! Take them down!"

The Armed Squad Captain commanding the melee roared, taking the lead by bracing his Shield and slamming into one of the incoming enemies.

The two young men coordinating with him also raised their Shields and followed behind. While the Captain blocked the enemy head-on in front, the two of them flanked from left and right, pinning the enemy with their Shields. At the same time, they swung their blades and swords hard at the enemy's head.

Because they realized these Monsters were just things wearing human skin, no one slacked off, putting all their strength into striking the upper body of the enemy, which appeared to have no defensive capabilities.

One slash, and half the skull was shattered; one sword strike, and half the enemy's face was sliced off.

The Armed Squad Captain facing this enemy head-on cleverly lifted his leg and kicked directly at one of the enemy's knees. With a crunch, the enemy lowered its body, as the leg supporting it had been kicked until it buckled inward.

However, in the heat of the intense battle, all three of them momentarily forgot Jier's instructions and did not focus their main attacks on the enemy's torso. Instead, they hacked wherever it was convenient. For a moment, the enemy's flesh and blood flew everywhere—a chaotic scene.

Yet, the tattered enemy seemed completely unaffected by the beating. New plant roots squeezed out from the cracks in its head, and twisting its neck, it whipped the plant roots protruding from its crown toward the three Armed Civilians surrounding it.

"Ah~~~"

The civilian on the left let out a strange wail, shrinking his head and neck to avoid the entanglement of the incoming roots, while the Armed Squad Captain lowered his head, using the leather helmet on his crown to block the lashing plant roots.

These roots were like countless tiny hands; once they touched the top of the leather helmet, they wound around it with force. The Squad Captain steeled his heart and slammed his head hard against the upper edge of the Shield in front of him.

After a few crushing sounds, many of these terrifying and eerie plant roots were ground to pieces, splashing some purple, fragrant juice onto the Squad Captain's face.

But the Armed Civilian on the right did not have time to dodge or resist. He bravely swung his Long Sword at the incoming plant roots, severing many, but even more plant roots extended from the enemy's fractured and twisted skull to attack him.

These plant roots quickly wound around and latched onto his right hand. Immediately, a wave of numbness and itching surged through his hand, and as it twitched, the muscles in his palm lost control, causing him to be unable to hold the sword, which fell to the ground.

"What's happening? My hand!!!"

Just as he wanted to ask his companions for help, his wide-open mouth and face were covered and engulfed by the surging plant roots. These tiny, wriggling plant roots were like countless greedy leeches; the moment they touched the young man's face, they extended into his mouth and nostrils. Other, even thinner roots slapped against the young man's cheeks and eyes, constantly searching for an 'entrance' to enter the interior of the Human body.

The attacked young man only managed to cry out for help once before he could no longer make a sound. He could no longer hold the Shield in his left hand, and it fell to the ground as he kept slapping his face with his palm to clear away the increasing number of plant roots.

At this moment, the Monster focused all its energy on the young man it had successfully invaded and controlled, paying less attention to the other two. The two freed men glared at their attacked partner, but just as they wanted to swing their swords to cut the large mass of plant roots attacking him, the companion being invaded unexpectedly swung his hands and counterattacked them instead.

"Hey! What are you doing? We're trying to save you!"

The Armed Squad Captain was quite anxious; it couldn't go on like this. Because in the short time he had hesitated, the Monster's torso emitted a strange, eerie laughter. Then, the enemy's original neck swelled, and something unknown squeezed out from the mouth covered in plant roots, moving along the mass of plant roots connecting the Monster and the controlled civilian until it reached the mouth of the civilian, which had been pried open.

Thick plant roots forcibly pried open the attacked civilian's mouth; the jaw was even opened beyond the limits of the human body, tearing through the constraints of joints and muscles, and something squeezed into the attacked civilian's mouth with a cackling laugh.

By this time, the entire head of the civilian attacked by the Monster was wrapped and entangled by a large number of plant roots, looking quite terrifying. No one knew that the enemy's seemingly thin body actually contained so many entrenched plant roots.

The attacked young man seemed to still be struggling desperately and did not want to die at all. It was as if he had temporarily regained control of his hands, and he reached back to tightly grip his own neck with both hands, using the strength of someone trying to strangle themselves, refusing to let that thing in his mouth pass through his neck and enter his torso.

"Right, right! Attack the Monster's torso!"

Only then did the Armed Squad Captain remember what Jier had shouted. He moved the Shield that had been bracing against the Monster's body, raised his blade, and slashed directly at the Monster's original torso.

With a squelch, the Squad Captain's full-force slash went straight from the Monster's shoulder to its chest; anywhere else, this would have been a fatal blow. The other Armed Civilian did not fall behind; he also held a blade. Instead of slashing from above like the Squad Captain, he used the ruthlessness from previous village brawls, thrusting his blade straight into the Monster's abdomen, then pulling back to slice the Monster's belly open.

But this lethal, insidious slash left the young man deeply disappointed. Because he had previously seen other villagers from the same village fighting over land and water, where someone had used a Dagger to open another person's stomach on the spot; the intestines and stomach contents would all spill out through the wound. Not only was it visually shocking and capable of scaring off many timid people, but such injuries were not something the average young Village Priest could heal.

Those young ones, upon seeing such an injury—if the villager whose stomach was opened in a brawl had a chance to be treated—would simply be scared into fainting.

But the Monster was not a normal Human. Not only did no intestines slide out of the belly opened by the blade, but there were unexpectedly very few plant roots inside where there should have been many.

He missed his strike, so he turned his head and shouted to the Squad Captain: "It's useless!"

"Ah, forget it, again!" The Armed Squad Captain didn't believe it, kicked the Monster's body, not only trying to push the Monster away but also using the momentum to pull out his own blade.

"Ha!" He roared, slashing horizontally, trying not to use full force to avoid injuring nearby companions with a close-range horizontal cut.

This slash landed on the Monster's neck; one cut went more than halfway through, seemingly cutting halfway into the spine as well.

He pulled the blade out and struck again from the opposite direction, directly severing the Monster's head, which was full of eerie plant roots.

But what shocked the two men was that after the Monster's neck was severed, its entire body fell directly to the ground, losing all threat except for slight twitching.

However, the head full of plant roots was pulled and hung onto the head of their attacked companion by a large number of plant roots squeezing out from the severed neck wound.

At this moment, seemingly knowing there was no saving him, with his head full of plant roots searching for holes to enter his body, the young man loosened his right hand from his neck, and his left hand reached out to grab the Armed Squad Captain.

Out of fear, the Squad Captain stepped back half a pace, blocking his front with his own blade held diagonally.

The attacked companion's hand, after grabbing once, firmly seized the blade of the Squad Captain's weapon, gripping it tightly. He didn't care that the blade cut into his fingers and palm; he just held on tight.

Visibly, the attacked civilian's neck bulged out in a large circle as something unknown entered the person's body through the esophagus in the neck.

And the large number of plant roots that had previously covered the head and face all swarmed into the body through the attacked civilian's ear canals, tear ducts, nostrils, and mouth.

It bloated the attacked civilian's entire head to twice its size, and his stomach also swelled up.

The Monster's previous head was also abandoned by the plant roots. The tattered head fell to the ground, and some plant roots remaining inside controlled the mouth to keep opening and closing, as if intending to bite, but it could do nothing more.

The attacked civilian knelt on the ground, then fell to his side, his whole body twitching and shivering.

The two men standing on this small battlefield didn't know what to do for a moment, looking at each other. Neither was a fool; they had been anxious and flustered before, but now both realized that their partner had likely been controlled and occupied by the Monster.

Simply put, their former companion had now become an enemy.

Thinking of this, the Squad Captain forcefully pulled his blade back from his companion's hand and raised the blood-stained blade, which carried the companion's final will, high above his head.

He panted rapidly, but hesitated, unable to bring himself to strike.

"How about we tie Ka'er up first? The Knight and the Priest should have a way, right?" He wasn't sure himself, but that was all he could say.

His fighting partner nodded, took a coil of rope from his waist, and managed to tie the attacked companion up while trying his best not to touch the companion's body.

Only then did they notice the rest of the battlefield and found that the battle had largely ended.

In fact, the three men of the Armed Squad pinning down one incoming Monster enemy was already the best-performing group on the battlefield.

Elsewhere, once the Monsters approached the Armed Civilians, the fighting became a complete mess.

Many Armed Civilians holding Shields had maintained combat squads of three to five people when the Monsters approached, but when the Monster enemies rushed in front of them, everyone forgot what they had discussed earlier. They all swarmed up, using their Shields to surround the fewer enemies, then the people in front crowded together, the people in the back shouted loudly for those in front to move aside, and the archers in the rear had no angle to shoot at all, cursing the companions in front as idiots.

However, the battle did not end so easily. The Monsters, who were at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, did not rush up mindlessly. They not only possessed extreme vitality, but because their fighting style did not rely on hands and feet as their primary means of attack, damage to their limbs did not affect their combat ability much.

Furthermore, their strength was not small; in fact, it exceeded that of any civilian in the Refugee Team, which was their main reliance when previously attacking travelers and merchants on the Shanglu.

Therefore, when the four or five Monsters that rushed up to engage were surrounded by the crowd with Shields, they roared one after another. The Monsters with intact limbs simply lifted their hands and pushed, sending the Shields and the people holding them flying; with a single charge, they pushed aside the crude wooden Shields of the crowded Armed Civilians.

Some were pushed and lost their balance, falling to the ground; others were hit by the Monster's two fists on the front of their Shields, flying backward with their Shields while screaming.

Fortunately, at this moment, the Armed Civilians in front of the Monster were pushed down, which provided an excellent window of attack for the archers who hadn't had a chance to fight.

"Good chance! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Shoot! Shoot! Turn it into a hedgehog for me!"

The captain of the Armed Squad commanding the archers was quite excited, drawing his Long Sword to use as a command flag, repeatedly slashing the air to urge the archers to fire.

Due to the concern of hitting their own people, only four young archers who were confident in their skills took action in this round of shooting; *whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh*, four arrows were fired in succession, first aiming at the Monster displaying great power on the left side of the battlefield, then dealing with the headless Monster knocking people down on the right.

Because they knew they would be shot dead by the Human archers, these two Monsters immediately fled, charging straight toward the Refugee Team behind the Armed Civilians. The Armed Civilians who had climbed back up also roared and rushed forward, using their Shields to block the Monsters once again.

As for the Monsters whose arms had been severed or whose skulls had been split open by a sword strike from Jier earlier, they were even more difficult to deal with in combat.

Their arms were gone, replaced by several thick, intertwined plant roots surging from the severed shoulders, and the surface of these roots was covered in countless tiny, swaying plant rootlets. Come to think of it, these things replacing the parasitized Human arms were actually stronger in terms of power, and whether it was because the plant root arms were intertwined, their attack range when swung was much further than everyone had imagined.

"Everyone, dodge their roots! That thing will parasitize Humans!"

Jier arrived riding his Armored Warhorse, and the words he shouted made the Armed Civilians surrounding the two Monsters take extra care.

A Monster that had lost its arms and had its skull split open was like a Warrior with three plant arms, leaping slightly while swinging the three plant roots in the air, repelling the crowd surrounding it. Then, as everyone retreated in a panic, this guy suddenly whipped its head forward, and the plant arm extending from its split-open head stretched out violently, opening the plant tentacles at the very tip after being whipped out, grabbing a brave young man who was retreating facing the Monster enemy instead of turning his back to it.

This young man held onto his Shield with his left hand for dear life, but the Monster's strength was astonishing; even with his feet on the ground, he was being dragged toward the Monster by the force.

He hurriedly threw the Long Sword in his right hand aside, freeing his hand to grip the Shield tightly, even using his hand to pry at the plant roots tangled around his Shield. But as soon as he made contact with the plant roots, his fingers touched even smaller rootlets on them, and his hand immediately went numb and lost its strength.

"Come help me!" he shrieked, immediately seeking help from his companions.

A group of companions who heard the cry for help immediately rushed back; the steady ones immediately grabbed the young man's belt and dragged him backward together, wrestling with the Monster. The brave guy rushed out from the side and swung his blade at the thick plant root whipped out from the Monster's head.

*Puchi*—unexpectedly, the thick plant root extending from the top of the Monster's head was exceptionally tough; this person's full-force slash failed to even cut through one of the several intertwined plant roots.

"Get out of the way! Let go of the Shield!"

At this moment, Jier's shout came, and he was approaching rapidly. Upon hearing the order, the young man who was reluctant to part with his Shield finally let go, and the next moment he and the companions behind him rolled onto the ground together.

And the Monster, too, had not expected that halfway through the wrestling, just as it was about to swing its arm roots to insert them into the mud to anchor itself, the Human in front would simply let go.

Consequently, it also flipped backward onto the ground with a thud.

At this time, the *thundering* sound of hooves approached rapidly; Jier leaned low over the horse's back, lowering his held Long Spear, shouting for the crowd in front to be careful and dodge, while his gaze remained fixed on the Monster that had fallen to the ground.

Good opportunity!

Taking advantage of the Monster being down and unable to dodge, Jier thrust his Long Spear into the torso of the Monster's Human body, then exerted force with both arms, utilizing the forward speed of the horse to lift the Monster on the ground onto the tip of his spear.

The Monster, whose torso was pierced sideways by the spearhead, was not hit in a vital spot; it actively swung the three plant roots it controlled, actually grabbing the metal shaft of the Long Spear and struggling to crawl toward Jier.

Watching the Monster crawling along the Long Spear, Jier let out an excited "Ha!", held the spear under his arm with his left hand, swept his right hand across the sword hilt at his left waist, drew his sword quickly, and slashed upward.

The thick plant roots that the Armed Civilians' full-force blade could do nothing against were sliced by the upward slash of the Hunting Sword, breaking into two pieces instantly; the three attacking plant root limbs were immediately reduced by one and a half. Jier even pulled the Monster a distance closer toward him by tugging on the spear shaft with his left hand, then swung his right hand again, aiming directly at a bulging part of the opponent's abdomen, and slashed the Monster's body into two pieces at that spot.

And at the severed end of the half-Human corpse that fell to the ground afterward, there was half a Human face on the half-belly that had been cut in two, with purple juice splattering everywhere, emitting a rich, fragrant scent.

With a flick of the Long Spear, he threw the half-corpse that was only twitching aimlessly off the spear shaft, Jier turned his horse around and charged again toward the only remaining tricky Monster among the attacking ones.

That Monster was fighting in tandem with another Monster; having lost its arms, it kept swinging the two plant roots that replaced its arms, and when it whipped them out, it wasn't just to strike the Armed Civilians surrounding them, but to try to pull the Armed Civilians over to use as fighting power on their side.

During the previous engagement, there was a young man who didn't retreat in time and had his Shield grabbed by the plant root tentacles before he could stand steady; he was pulled over just like that, and the next moment, the thick plant roots covered this young man's face.

This young man then lost most of the control over his body, his hands and feet twitching as he let the Monster manipulate him.

This Monster even knew how to hand the captured Human to its partner fighting alongside it, letting it hold the controlled Human in its hands, on one hand to fend off the intermittent arrows shot from afar, and on the other to block the blades and swords of the Humans rushing over.

This companion of its was still mostly maintaining a Human appearance at this time, although of its two legs, one had been pierced through the knee by an unknown arrow, and the other had been kicked into a recurved U-shape by a Knight on horseback earlier, almost losing the ability to move quickly, basically unable to hit anyone or run away.

However, because of this, this late-arriving Monster companion was actually one of the only two remaining parasitized Monsters still fighting on the battlefield at this moment.

"Fight! Fight! Hang them up! Hang all the Humans up! Join us, join us!"

Perhaps knowing their numbers were insufficient and not having anticipated that the Human team's defensive power would be so strong, this Monster knew that they had been reckless this time, thinking these newly appeared Humans were still the weak Humans they had hunted and captured in the Cunzi, on the Shanglu, and in Yemei Town before. Now, they could neither complete the task the Prophet had entrusted to them nor capture new Humans to send to the Prophet.

This Monster, it knew that at this moment it could only fight to the end.

But this was not a bad thing; after all, as combat-parasite species, their innate mission was to persist until the very last moment in battle, and then either parasitize and control the enemy or be hacked to death by the enemy.

"Wuwawawa—"

"Hang them, hang them!"

Both Monsters roared together, preparing for the final battle.

But what greeted them was a young voice.

"Clear a path, watch me crush these Monsters!"

Following Jier's order, the Armed Civilians surrounding the Monsters cleared a path forward and backward, and then the *thundering* hooves kicked up chunks of mud and wild grass; the Armored Warhorse charging at high speed carried the Knight on its back, rushing toward the Monsters.

Jier pointed his spear at the armless Monster, while the warhorse let the Tianxuecao charge straight toward the Monster with the kicked-bent leg.

"Sir Knight! Tis is still in the hands of the Monsters!"

Someone shouted loudly, hoping Jier would not kill both the person and the Monster together.

But the only reply to this person was a short answer from the Knight: "He is beyond saving."

The next moment, the armless Monster was lifted, and the legless Monster, along with the Human it was holding in its hands to block arrows, were trampled over by the Tianxuecao together.