Chapter 829: The Melee Before the Flesh Mansion

The long convoy quickly drove into the lumber yard west of the town. Jier explained the situation from the last visit to the Baron Heir, so as soon as the convoy lined up and stopped beside the piles of logs stacked like small hills, Bell-Sasi took half of his men and headed toward the mansion of the lumber yard.

The convoy and the lumberjacks felling the logs were left entirely to Jier to manage; in any case, Jier had been responsible for this yesterday as well, and had done a decent job.

Jier called out to the lumberjacks under his command, telling everyone to get off the wagons, quickly stretch their bodies, and then begin the firewood processing work. The drivers of the various wagons were arranged by Jier to climb to the top of the nearby log piles and take responsibility for keeping watch.

In any case, these drivers were just sitting idle on the wagons, so they might as well do some guard work.

Jier himself, acting as the mobile force of the team, did not dismount, ready at any moment to drive away or kill any monsters that approached.

Bell-Sasi, who had led his men away, saw that the foreign Knight was doing a good job, so he stopped worrying about that side and directly led his men to surround the mansion of the lumber yard. Looking at this evil building, whose outer walls had been smeared with deep red flesh by the monsters, he and his men were filled with disgust.

The four Church Priests in the team were even more so, frowning as they examined the "new toy" concocted by the Flesh Demon. As educated Church Priests, most of them had heard of things like Flesh Demons, but the ten Priests present had never before personally encountered this kind of alien divine disaster that harmed human society and civilization.

"What an evil thing! This house must be destroyed!" Several Priests of the God of Agriculture gathered together and whispered; two of the younger Priests of the God of Agriculture could not help but look away, their faces turning pale, feeling nauseated and wanting to vomit.

The Flesh Demon had smeared the house with the flesh of living beings, bringing not only a visual impact and pollution that normal people could hardly accept, but also a thick, rotting corpse stench that one could smell upon approaching.

Strangely, the weather was warm today, and logically, in a semi-wild environment like a lumber yard, small animals that liked rotting flesh, such as mosquitoes and flies, should have been crawling all over the house. However, when the Priests approached and looked, they discovered that, let alone carrion-eating insects, there wasn't even a single fly buzzing outside the mansion covered in flesh.

"Be careful, this thing looks wrong!"

The two Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead, who had just been in the spotlight, cautiously issued a warning.

Following this Priest's warning, several sounds of tables and chairs overturning and heavy objects falling suddenly rang out from inside the Flesh Mansion. Along with a segment of indistinct shouting and chanting.

Bell-Sasi cautiously had his Soldiers surround the mansion in pairs. He himself stood before the main entrance of the mansion, listening to the movement inside, and moved his hand from the noble ceremonial Long Sword he had originally placed it on, back to the handle of a heavy axe he had specially prepared behind his back.

The noises from inside the flesh-smeared mansion increased. At the same time, following a sound of flesh tearing and bursting, the shouting and chanting that had previously come from the house disappeared, replaced by several gasps that gradually grew heavier.

Like large, hungry beasts.

"Waiting around won't work, blast open the door of the house!" Bell-Sasi immediately ordered.

Just as his words fell, a Priest of the Church of the God of Wealth flicked a special coin of the Church of the God of Wealth that emitted a golden light with his thumb. This coin shot out in an almost straight line, trailing a golden light, and like a metal hammer thrown by a strongman, it directly blasted the thick wooden door of the lumber yard house to pieces.

With a loud crash, the Church's special coin and the entire wooden door exploded into the house. Following closely behind was a Priest of the Sun God Church who had not yet made a move. This Priest reached out a finger, and accompanied by a short Church Faith slogan, a point of light composed of Sun God Divine Power flew out from his finger, following the path of the previous special coin of the Church of the God of Wealth, and plunged into the Flesh Mansion with its unknown environment, emitting a bright white light.

The situation inside the house, which had previously been obscured and unclear, was now seen clearly by everyone not far outside the door.

"Damn it! Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!" Bell-Sasi had the best eyesight present, and he was the first to see the situation inside the Flesh Mansion following the point of light.

For some reason, many human corpses were hanging inside the mansion. That was not the key; the key was that in the center of the hall, a human body with only the lower half was kneeling in the middle, and five or six moving figures were kneeling and crouching around it, busy with their heads down.

The Baron Heir saw at a glance that these busy figures were currently each holding pieces of flesh that had burst open and were devouring them. The flesh being devoured by these figures was not ordinary flesh; on the broken muscle fibers, many tiny plant roots like parasites were wriggling.

Subconsciously, Bell-Sasi understood what had happened inside the house earlier.

Some parasitic monster that had been hiding in the house had self-destructed, and the scattered body fragments had become "rations" for the other parasitic monsters around it. Needless to say, this wave was definitely one of the means by which the evil Flesh Demon monster strengthened the other parasitic monsters.

It was a pity that he hadn't been able to lead his men to break directly into this disgusting and terrifying Flesh Mansion just now to interrupt the self-destructor's self-destruction strengthening method in advance.

Following the Baron Heir's shout, the other elite Soldiers surrounding the Flesh Mansion quickly converged. However, before the Humans could attack, the five or six parasitic monsters inside the house that had finished devouring the remains of the self-destructor immediately opened their mouths and roared.

Halfway through the roar, the roaring sound cut off, replaced by thick vine roots as thick as a wrist and half a meter long emerging from their mouths. Not only that, the eyes and ears of these monsters burst open, and many plant roots of varying lengths and thinner sizes squeezed out from within. What was even more disgusting was that these guys, who were neither human nor monster, had many plant roots squeezed out from their navels, groins, and buttocks.

This made these monsters, who were walking with a stagger, seem to have grown several extra hands and feet all of a sudden.

Immediately, these monsters covered in roots, having adapted to the changes in their bodies, rushed out from the hall of the house in a strange way of moving.

The other human corpses hanging in the Flesh Mansion were considered an obstruction by these monsters, so they were directly pulled off the ropes hanging by their necks and thrown out of the house ahead of them. The Soldiers in the front row holding Shields immediately leaned Shield against Shield and shoulder against shoulder, only then managing to block the stiff, thrown human corpses.

But they were still knocked back several steps by the human bodies weighing tens of kilograms.

Following closely behind the thrown corpses, several bizarre-looking parasitic monsters rushed out.

The appearance of these monsters was simply too horrifying; even these elite Soldiers, each of whom had killed Bandits, were seeing such terrifying monsters for the first time in their lives. It wasn't that these elite Soldiers hadn't fought the parasitic monsters that broke into Yemei Town a few days ago, but to be honest, those parasitic monsters that broke into the town that night were simply much more human-like compared to these true monsters that were neither human nor beast.

The thick vine roots extending from the mouths of the human bodies were swung by the monsters like clubs to strike out.

Whoosh—Bang!

With great force, two Soldiers took the initiative to step forward with their Shields to block the thing that was being swung and struck. Immediately, the Soldiers on the left and right roared and swung their axes to kill; one person held an axe and slashed directly at the face of a monster in front, while another lowered his body and attacked the root of the monster's left leg from the side.

The axe swung toward the monster's face was blocked on the way by the plant vines extending from the monster's mouth, reducing its force, and then it was entangled and blocked by the plant roots bursting from the monster's eyes. Although one axe smashed the monster's nose, to be honest, whether a monster of this appearance still needed to breathe was a hard thing to say.

No extra plant roots grew out of the nose; perhaps it was because the other roots had all grown out from the mouth connected to the nose?

Or perhaps the ears?

This axe was blocked, and the other axe slashing toward the monster's left leg was also blocked. The two plant roots emerging from the monster's groin and buttocks, both in front and behind, were like two extra legs and two extra arms for the monster, taking the initiative to move forward and, at the cost of being slashed open themselves, blocking the axe aimed at the leg.

Immediately, the monster's original human hands swung back and forth, and its huge, inhuman strength repelled the elite Soldiers beside it. Then, this monster jumped to the side, clearing the main entrance of the Flesh Mansion, and another completely transformed parasitic monster surged out from behind.

This second parasitic monster that rushed out was more cunning; it did not stand upright to charge head-on. It chose to lower its body, using the multiple plant roots extending from its whole body as feet, and crawled out close to the ground.

This guy crawled along the ground at a fast speed, and its force was not small. When it rushed out, it went straight for the Soldiers' legs and feet. Its left and right hands each grabbed a Soldier's leg, and after gripping them tightly, it dragged and pulled, pulling the fighting Soldiers down and knocking them onto the ground in a mess, disrupting the formation of the Soldiers outside the door of the large wooden house.

The third monster also rushed out afterward. This guy was holding a hanged human corpse in each of its left and right hands, using them as weapons to swing and kill as it rushed out. The human bodies weighing tens of kilograms were simply heavy weapons; although their lethality was insufficient, they looked very scary, and the Soldiers holding Shields were also knocked back.

"Don't think you can be rampant!" The Priests scolded in unison, one group of Priests from each Church, directly chasing after the monsters that rushed out of the house to kill them.

The Soldiers' formation was scattered; some were still fighting, some were chasing after the fleeing monsters, and some had fallen to the ground, being stepped on several times by who knew if it was their own people or the monsters, struggling to climb back up.

Watching all this, as well as the last two bizarre-looking parasitic monsters squeezing out from the house, Bell-Sasi took a deep breath and took out the metal heavy axe he had prepared from behind his back.

This axe was something he had the family blacksmith in the mansion forge after confirming the intelligence on the Flesh Demon parasitic monsters these past few days. The noble Sword Technique and Knight Long Spear skills he was good at were useful against people, but not useful against parasitic monsters that looked human on the surface but actually had plant vines as their core.

Therefore, while he ordered the family's elite Soldiers to change into Shields and sharp axes, he also got himself such a metal heavy axe that was convenient for hacking.

"Soldiers, retreat, form up in groups of four to fight!"

As soon as he finished shouting, the Baron Heir rushed forward, his combat boots stepping on the ground, kicking up stones, and his whole body was like a huge stone projectile fired from a catapult. With a boom, he held the axe and slashed down heavily.

The parasitic monster targeted by Bell had just rushed out last from the house, and the figure of the other monster in front had just dodged away, when it was met head-on by the heavy metal axe slashing down in an instant.

The monster tried its best to raise the various plant vine roots growing from its head, but the next moment, these vine roots and the human body the monster was parasitizing were splashed with flesh and blood, and the whole thing was slashed—no, it was smashed into left and right halves by the heavy axe!

The metal heavy axe weighing tens of kilograms smashed the parasitic monster into left and right halves as if it were splitting dry firewood, and then it smashed into the ground. With a boom, most of the axe head smashed into the ground, kicking up dust and gravel.

"Ha! How about that!"

Bell shouted excitedly, then stood firm with both feet, exerted force with both arms, and pulled the entire axe head of the heavy axe that was embedded in the ground out.

The monster split into two halves had not yet died for a moment. The half of the body where the Core Human Face was located twitched and whipped out several thin and long vine roots, wrapping around Bell's right leg, but it was then kicked away by Bell, who kicked the still-active half of the monster to a group of elite Soldiers who were re-forming their formation to fight.

These Soldiers, who had caught their breath, very unceremoniously raised their respective sharp axes and viciously slashed their weapons down as if venting their anger. Even though the half-bodied parasitic monster had been strengthened, facing the desperate situation of axes slashing down, it had no way out. After the axes swung one after another, the half of the monster's body on the ground was left with only a pile of scattered flesh and broken plant vine roots entangled with each other.

The parasitic human face, which served as the core, did not know under which axe it had been smashed, and it died completely.

Outside the main gate, at another spot where a formation of soldiers was engaged in battle with a parasitic monster, four Refining Qi soldiers used their shields to block the vine strikes swung by the monster, while cautiously ensuring their shields were not snatched away by the monster.

One person would block in front, taking a wave of attacks, while soldiers on the left and right would dash out in turns, swinging sharp axes to sever a section of the plant roots in the monster's mouth. When the soldier in the front row gritted their teeth and risked blocking a round of attacks, another soldier behind would take over the front-line defense, allowing that soldier to retreat a few steps, panting heavily to recover their stamina.

Especially during the battle, when the shield in the hands of the soldier defending in the front was grabbed by the monster, the soldier resting in the back row would reach out and grab the waist of the former, using their combined weight to prevent the soldier who was desperately holding onto the shield from having the shield snatched away, or even being dragged away entirely.

The parasitic monster looked very strong, but after all, its body weight was only that of one person; no matter how great its strength, if its own body weight was insufficient, it did not have much of an advantage in a tug-of-war. It would even be dragged along by two soldiers retreating while pulling on the vine roots in its mouth.

At this time, the other two soldiers skirmishing on the left and right would seize the opportunity, dash out from the sides, and deliver a Heavy Cleave with their axes.

By the time Bell finished off the last parasitic monster rushing out of the Flesh Mansion, the group of four Refining Qi soldiers nearby had also finished off the parasitic monster they were fighting in just the few rounds mentioned above.

"Gather up! Let us go support the Priests!"

The Baron Heir shouted, immediately reforming the squad and leading the seven soldiers to support the place where the Priests were fighting. Of course, he did not forget to leave one agile soldier at the entrance of the Flesh Mansion to keep watch.

To guard against any further developments in the battle.

Four Agriculture Priests chased a reinforced parasitic monster to the outskirts of the Lumber Yard, where there were piles of logs as high as small hills on both sides. The monster used its hands and feet, and even other newly emerged 'limbs' on its body to help it move, quickly climbing to the top of a pile of logs.

It raised its body and held its head high. The half-meter-long vine roots extending from its mouth pointed straight to the sky, the tips twitching for a moment, and then the tops of the vines burst open from within, abruptly growing several blood-red flower buds.

These flower buds dripped with fragrant plant sap, shook violently, and then rapidly opened their tightly closed buds in the direction of the wind.

After the flowers opened, they looked like small blood-red eyes, and the stamens, trembling like small snakes, emitted a large amount of pheromones that Humans could not distinguish and a rich floral scent that Humans could smell.

Seeing this scene, the four Agriculture Priests felt a slight sense of unease and one after another took their respective one-handed logging axes from their waists.

Then, the Priests used their strong bodies, which ordinary Farmers did not possess, to throw the one-handed logging axes in their hands. Although the Priests had not practiced much and had almost no accuracy, the distance was not far, and the parasitic monster serving as the target was easy to hit.

Of the four thrown axes, two still hit the monster at the high point.

Even though the parasitic monster tried its best to use the vine roots on its body to grip the logs under its feet, the same principle applied: the monster's own body weight was only that of one person, and after being hit by two axes in succession, it immediately fell from the high point.

By the time this monster recovered from the dizziness of rolling down from the high log pile, the four Agriculture Priests holding Jiao Shi Chang Zhang had already arrived at its side, muttering words of praise to the God of Agriculture, their thick and powerful arms gripping the Jiao Shi Chang Zhang, aiming at the monster's torso, and beating it down heavily.

Crackle, crackle, a good beating.

Fearing they would not kill this strange-looking parasitic monster, the four Agriculture Priests used all their strength to swing their clubs—no, their Jiao Shi Chang Zhang—continuously beating this monster.

Before long, the monster had the vine roots emerging from its body broken. As the Agriculture Priests panted, the oldest Priest stepped back and knelt on the ground to begin a Prayer. Soon, after the short Prayer ended, this Priest scattered wheat seeds and Beans toward his companions in front, as well as himself.

The Divine Power of the God of Agriculture flashed over the four Priests; their originally heavy breathing quickly became steady, and their stamina rapidly returned to their bodies with their breaths.

Thus, the four Priests, as if wielding four iron hoes used by Farmers, continuously beat the inhuman parasitic monster with their Jiao Shi Chang Zhang.

Until the monster was beaten into a puddle of minced meat.

The two Priests of the God of the Dead returned to the Flesh Mansion shortly after resolving one parasitic monster.

They saw the two dead parasitic monsters outside the mansion and the one Soldier left there to keep watch. They greeted the Soldier in a friendly manner, then frowned and, under the Soldier's gaze, cautiously walked into the Flesh Mansion, which was filled with the corpses of Humans who had been hanged alive.

The doors and windows inside the house had been destroyed early on by the parasitic monsters and blocked with the original household items of the Humans, so apart from the light shining in from the main entrance, the entire house only had the white light emitted by the little bit of Divine Power light point shot in by the Sun God Church Priest earlier.

The two Priests first came to the main hall of the house to examine the remains of the monster that had self-destructed to reinforce the other parasitic monsters.

Unfortunately, there was only a corpse remnant with two legs and half a pelvis left, with no discoveries worth mentioning. Anything of value had been eaten by the other parasitic monsters present at the time.

Therefore, after the two Priests whispered to each other for a while—it was unknown why they spoke in low voices, as if they were afraid of disturbing something nearby—they decided to give the dead in the vicinity a decent handling right there.

They did not know where they found a Dagger in the house, perhaps from one of the corpses. Working together, the two gently lowered the corpses of the Humans who had been hanged one by one. While untying the Rope from the necks of the corpses, the two whispered prayers, half-threatening and half-blessing, letting some invisible things in the house go to where they should go.

The two Priests of the God of Wealth encountered a bitter battle; the parasitic monster they were dealing with was quite troublesome.

The Lumber Yard was full of scattered log fragments and leafless branches. It was unknown if that monster had some martial arts skills while alive; at this moment in the battle, not only did it pick up a branch of suitable length in each of its two hands to fight, but the other vine roots in its mouth and crotch also picked up things from the ground to assist in the battle like arms.

The two Priests not only had to hold axes and staffs to hack and block the branches the opponent was waving wildly, but also had to guard against a Shitou or a piece of wood that the guy would suddenly throw.

The parasitic monster was very strong, so the volume of the so-called 'branches' it waved around was naturally not small, and the Shitou it picked up was at least the size of a fist; getting hit by one would be absolutely fatal!

But fortunately, Bell-Sasi, leading his seven Refining Qi soldiers, followed the shouts of the battle and found the two Priests of the God of Wealth who were trapped in a bitter battle among the piles of towering logs.

"Young Master Sasi, you know, wealth always needs a place to reside before it can exert its power."

The two Priests were making excuses for their bitter battle, while the Baron Heir just nodded, said nothing more, and dared not say anything more. With a wave of his hand, the soldiers behind him swarmed up, and under the blessing of the Prayer Divine Art cast by the two Priests, they hacked the somewhat capable parasitic monster into pieces with their axes.

The two Priests of the Sun God Church followed the wailing cries of the two soldiers who had been grabbed by the parasitic monster by their calves and dragged away, chasing all the way.

The two of them tried to send out small, glowing light orbs to strike the parasitic monster, but apart from making the two grabbed soldiers unable to see and their wailing sounds becoming louder, it had no other effect.

It could not be said that it had no effect; under the continuous bombardment of white light orbs by the two Priests of the Sun God Church, leaves and even buds abruptly emerged on the plant vine roots extending from the parasitic monster's body.

This made the two Priests look at each other.

"Perhaps it's actually enjoying it?" one Priest remarked.

The other tightened his grip on his staff and said with a frown, "If that doesn't work, we'll use the staff to break its vines!"

The Priest who made the remark glanced at the sky and suddenly said, "There are no clouds in the sky, and we can look directly at our God, how about..."

The words were immediately interrupted by his companion: "It is not the time, it is not yet the time. Everything is still brewing, the dawn has not yet risen, we still need to wait, wait for the newborn sun, the newborn God of ours."

After the two finished discussing, they gripped their staffs and chased after it, but the direction they were looking while they spoke did not seem to be the real sun above everyone's heads.

It was a bright spot on the horizon.

That was not a star, yet it was a star.

The astrologers of the Empire called it 【The Reckless Newborn Star - The World-Ending Throne of the Sun God】, also known as 【The Divine Kingdom of the Human Sun God】.