Chapter 839: Decisive Battle Against the Mutated Parasitic Monster Leader

The monster leader attacked with both blade and sword, the blade's gleam flashing first in a diagonal chop downward, while the sword's gleam struck forward rapidly from a low angle; as it launched the attack, the monster's legs bulged, and it charged forward with heavy, solid footsteps that sank halfway into the ground.

Bell was panting nearby, recovering his strength, yet his eyes remained fixed on the battle without blinking, and he called out a warning in advance: "Careful!"

He had more to say, but Jier's reflexes were no joke; as the blade's gleam struck, the shield had already shifted slightly, and with a quick, small adjustment of his feet, Jier retreated twenty centimeters to avoid the maximum force of the monster's long blade before using the shield to block it.

Squeak—

Sparks flew, and the next moment, the two long swords became entangled.

"Watch out for its strength! Back on the carriage, that guy and I couldn't use our full power!" Bell finished speaking just as he saw the two long swords locked together, so he stopped warning Jier and turned to the Church Priests beside him: "This monster is not easy to deal with; please, everyone, grant me your Prayer Blessing, I beg you."

The priests agreed in unison, no longer holding back their reserves of Divine Power, and unleashed the Prayer Blessing Divine Power upon others.

The Agriculture Priest granted the Baron Heir a Prayer Blessing for short-term stamina recovery, the Church of the God of Wealth priest granted the Baron Heir a Prayer Blessing for willpower concentration, the Sun God Church priest granted the Baron Heir a Prayer Blessing to dispel negative status effects, and the Church of the God of the Dead priest truly prayed, wishing that Bell-Sasi would not come into contact with death in the coming battle.

Back to Jier.

With the long swords locked, Jier twisted his wrist, attempting to have his long sword, made of Magic Material, destroy the blade of the opponent's sword. But the opponent was also a very experienced combatant; the moment it felt something was wrong, it immediately pulled its sword back and retreated.

However, Jier did not let up, his footsteps immediately catching up, and he used the shield to target the weakness of the opponent's dual-wielding, closing the distance directly to deny the opponent the space to swing its weapons freely.

For a time, only the sound of clashing could be heard, as the monster leader simply swung its long sword over its head before chopping down at Jier, but every time it was blocked by the shield. The sharp blade could only leave shallow marks along the edge of the shield.

The monster retreated continuously, attempting to create a suitable combat distance, but Jier pursued relentlessly; possessing a shield and armor, the closer the combat distance, the more advantageous it was for him.

But soon, the monster stopped retreating directly and instead moved sideways in a rotating motion, attempting to circle to Jier's flank; at the same time, as it rotated, the long sword also gathered momentum, and it unleashed a heavy horizontal chop.

Jier also drew an arc with his long sword and countered with a slash, his target not the monster itself, but the very blade currently chopping toward him.

Clang—

A sharp clashing sound rang out, causing everyone nearby to cover their ears, their faces pained.

Upon the collision, Jier's long sword proved superior; although the monster had gathered momentum for the strike and its strength was no less than Jier's own, the weight of the weapon itself affected the outcome of this blow.

A crack appeared on the opponent's long sword, and the flying fragments of the blade's material, accompanied by sparks, struck the two combatants. Jier ignored it as the fine particles hit his shoulder armor, trailing sparks before bouncing off, while another portion of the shattered material embedded itself into the monster leader's body, causing a few drops of pale purple plant sap to flow out as it moved.

After the collision sent the opponent's weapon flying, Jier roared and lifted his sword to strike, but was immediately pressed down by the opponent's long sword against his Hunting Longsword; the two engaged in a test of strength, neither able to overcome the other.

"Quite strong, aren't you?"

Jier asked, then took a deep breath, letting the Life Energy within his body circulate at high speed; the next moment, his strength doubled.

Despite being the one whose sword was pressed down, Jier relied on this method of temporarily exerting greater force to forcibly gain the upper hand in the creaking struggle of the two swords.

The ground where both stood was trampled, the soil sinking to their ankles; Jier kept adjusting his footing to find leverage, while the monster leader was even more underhanded—the human lower legs it was parasitizing sprouted numerous slender vine roots that pierced into the soil at its feet, anchoring its position and providing a more stable point of leverage for its body and weapons.

But Jier still reversed it, his Hunting Longsword rising against the pressure, stepping closer to the monster's chest bit by bit; just as Jier grinned, about to seize the advantage of this round, Bell's warning came from behind: "Careful! That thing is launching a head attack!"

Accompanied by the exclamations of the soldiers and priests.

Jier was startled and instinctively looked up, surprised to find the monster leader's head right in front of him; its neck had extended like a long snake, and its large mouth was opened wide enough to swallow a human head.

Its teeth were ghastly, and the tongue inside was split into seven or eight segments, each like a small snake, raising its head vigilantly within the open maw, preparing to burrow into Jier's facial orifices to parasitize and control him.

With no time to do anything else, Jier directly detonated and released half of the Sun God Divine Power on his Hunting Longsword.

Faster than the monster's head could fly over to bite and swallow, a blinding white light expanded from Jier's long sword in a spherical shape; due to the urgency, Jier didn't care about friend or foe or the direction of the Divine Power release.

Whoosh————

"Giaaa—"

The monster was struck by this, rolling into a ball on the spot, while Jier blinked twice to adapt. Although the Divine Power he released wouldn't hurt him, the excessive glare would still make anyone instinctively close their eyes to protect themselves.

The situation for those around him was not very good.

The soldiers had been watching the battle with full concentration, cheering for Knight Jier while waving their weapons, and as a result, they were all blinded by the sudden white light of the Divine Power.

One by one, their vision was a white blur, their eyes blinking incessantly and shedding tears, all shouting that Knight Jier had hit the wrong person.

This made Jier smile bitterly.

The priests had each used their own Divine Power to block the white light containing the Sun God Divine Power, but while Divine Power could cancel out, the blinding glare could not; they were all closing their eyes and rubbing them, looking with ill intent toward the two Sun God Church priests who were caught between laughter and tears.

The two Sun God Church priests were naturally unaffected; in fact, their own Divine Power had even recovered slightly, as the Sun God Divine Power on the long sword was gathered spontaneously and lacked a personal mark, meaning anyone within the Sun God Church could use it.

At this moment, the two had to apologize while hurriedly treating the soldiers' Divine Power-induced blindness.

It was actually quite simple; a swipe of the palm over the soldiers' eyes to withdraw the mischievous Sun God Divine Power was enough, and the Divine Power-induced blindness would naturally heal. But this had to be done by the Sun God Church priests themselves.

The Baron Heir was fine; when the Divine Power erupted, the armor on his body automatically triggered several Magic Runes, deflecting the incoming harmful Divine Power.

Seeing the change in the battle, the Baron Heir curled his lip and shouted at Jier with dissatisfaction: "Knight Jier, this is a formal, grim battle, please show your true skills. The battlefield is not a place for you to play; face a strong enemy with your full strength!"

Jier smiled upon hearing this and said nothing, looking at the monster leader rolling on the ground clutching its head.

Just as he was about to step forward to knock its weapon away, the monster leader trembled, its vision, previously interfered with by the Divine Power, recovering; with its neck long like a plesiosaur, it immediately flipped up to stand, its head at least three meters high, looking very bizarre.

"Now that's more like it, a monster should look like a monster! Bah, parasitizing a human body and using our human bodies to fight, what kind of look is that!"

Jier shouted loudly, laughing heartily.

But those behind him could not laugh, because as Jier was speaking and laughing, the parasitic monster leader's body underwent a new change.

Its arms and legs trembled and made sounds, then continuously elongated from the joints; skin and muscle were torn, but were immediately replaced by small vine roots from within.

In just five or six seconds, the monster's height increased further; its legs were elongated by a meter from the knees, its arms were extended by a meter from the elbows, its waist twisted and stretched by half a meter, and its lower back burst open, squeezing out two new, long arms made entirely of vine roots that mimicked human arm structure.

Adding the original two, this guy now had four arms, each nearly two meters long.

The monster's total height reached four and a half meters; it was thin and long, looking completely inhuman, more like a mantis that had attained enlightenment.

Unlike the shock of everyone else present, Jier let out a satisfied laugh: "Now that's the way! A monster should look like a monster!"

He sheathed his Hunting Longsword and tucked the shield on his left hand back under his cloak, which made the Baron Heir frown deeply, fearing that this foreign knight would quit in the face of a strong enemy; he stopped watching, stepped forward holding a heavy axe with both hands, and cheered Jier on: "Don't worry, I believe my heavy axe can give this monster a better taste of it in this form!"

Jier glanced at the axe in the other's hand and nodded: "You're right, such a monster is perfect for being chopped into pieces with an axe!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his right hand reached back from under his cloak, from the right side of his back, and pulled out an axe glowing with blue light.

Jier gently stroked the blue axe face with his steel-armored palm, making a creaking sound, and looked at the various patterns on the side of the axe with satisfaction.

"I'm treating you to a big meal today! Everyone, pull yourselves together and fight!"

As soon as he finished, the two knights stood several meters apart, holding their axes, facing the parasitic monster leader that was more than twice their height from the left and right sides.

"How about I go first? Why don't you go to the priests behind and receive a round of Prayer Blessing? I bet it won't use its full power to fight right away. Because it looks like it isn't very comfortable fighting in this form either."

Bell reminded him.

Jier shook his head, swung the excited Yueshui Skull twice, then patted the ribs of his armor with his left hand and shouted loudly, "Grass and Wood Source!"

There was no need to shout it out, but at this point in the battle, it felt like something was missing if he didn't.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished shouting, the first ones to show shocked expressions were actually the Montoka Agricultural God Parish priests among the priests behind him; under their disbelieving gazes, the cyan Divine Power of the Agricultural God on Jier, the foreign Knight, surged violently, with the excess even overflowing from his body surface, outlining his armor in cyan Divine Power.

As the blessing ability from the Montoka Agricultural God Parish took effect on him, for the next period of time, all of Jier's physical consumption would be replaced by the overflowing Agricultural God Divine Power within his body.

Therefore, Jier tried to use all the Life Energy within his body at full power, crouched slightly, and the next moment.

He leaped up instantly, the Blue Axe carrying a flying blue trail of light, carving a straight diagonal line as it charged from the ground directly at the front of the Monster's three-to-four-meter-tall body.

Bell reacted, and although shocked by Jier's hidden strength, he also rushed forward at the same moment, swinging his heavy axe to chop directly at the Monster's left lower leg.

The parasitic Monster leader, which had completely departed from a human form, did not know what power it had been blessed with—perhaps the power of a vengeful deity named 【Flesh Demon】—but although its body had grown taller, its speed and strength had strangely not diminished; on the contrary, it was now far superior to its previous parasitic form.

A Changdao, extended from an arm, whipped over instantly, arriving just in time to block the Blue Axe blade Jier had swung.

But the next instant, in the brief moment before the surrounding soldiers and priests could react, the Changdao that collided with the Blue Axe shattered, and the recoiling fragments of steel smashed half of the Monster leader's face.

Following closely, the Blue Axe took advantage of the momentum to slash diagonally across the Monster leader's face, directly taking away most of its chin.

With this blow, accompanied by the screeching split tongue, the scattered red teeth, and the twisted, severed half-chin, the Monster leader let out a wail. Jier, however, was excited; holding the axe in his right hand and using the momentum of his leap, he grabbed the creature's messy hair with his left hand the moment he flew past the Monster leader's head, tearing off half the scalp along with skin and blood. Jier decelerated and turned in mid-air, and his axe took the opportunity to swing around and deliver a Heavy Cleave down onto the bloody, mangled Monster head.

"Ha! Leg broken!"

Bell rushed excitedly past the Monster's left leg, his axe landing perfectly to sever the opponent's lower leg bone; although he hadn't truly severed the leg in one blow, he felt that if he just turned around and did it again, it would definitely work.

But at the same time, the Monster's entire head exploded from the top down; no matter how the tiny roots crammed inside the cranial cavity tried to repair the shattered head, the Monster's head was completely gone.

But Jier, who had fought this kind of parasitic Monster many times, understood that the head was not the weakness of this kind of Monster; the opponent's only weakness was a small Human Face Core located in the torso, while everything else was just a tool-like parasitic body structure.

Destroying it affected combat power, but not survival.

So, as he fell, Jier indeed received the Monster's counterattack.

One long arm holding a Long Sword ignored Bell on the ground and aimed specifically to stab heavily at Jier as he fell from mid-air, but before the fatal strike could arrive, there were two mimetic plant arms made entirely of vine tentacles, imitating the form of human arms.

These two arms reached out to grab Jier from left and right, fast and forcefully, with plant palms twice the size of a normal human's at the ends of the slender arms. Jier swept his gaze quickly around his surroundings and forcefully threw the axe in his hand at the enemy's Long Sword that was about to stab him.

As soon as the axe left his hand, it whistled and whipped up a whirlwind, unexpectedly catching the Monster leader's entire sword-wielding arm, shredding the flesh arm and the Steel Long Sword into a pile of fragments in mid-air with a crackling sound.

The next moment, Jier was gripped tightly in the palms of the arms attacking from left and right.

But Jier's resistance was also exceptionally fierce; he pried back and forth with both arms, grabbing the Monster's fingers and pulling until they snapped. His legs kicked and stomped continuously against the Monster's torso and the arms that had grabbed him; kicking the mimetic arms didn't do much, but when Jier kicked the Monster's torso heavily, the Monster shuddered as a whole, and all its offensives and reactions paused for a split second.

After going back and forth twice, Jier laughed excitedly and shouted loudly, "Come back! Yueshui Skull! Come back!"

After shouting, he let the rapidly regrowing mimetic arms grab him again, while his own right hand reached out into the air, calling for the Blue Axe that was spinning and shredding nearby.

The axe, which had been spinning continuously, stopped abruptly and then flew into Jier's hand; the Monster tried to wave its palm to swat the axe away, but the axe twisted in the air and dodged the grab.

Once the axe was in his hand, Jier backhanded and chopped off the forearm of the mimetic arm that was gripping his waist; the severed half of the Monster's plant mimetic arm hung from his waist and clung to the Monster's torso, and aiming for the previously estimated location of the Monster's Human Face Core, he slashed down with one hand.

Pfft—

The Monster's elongated torso was crammed inside with vine roots that had not yet been put to use. Jier ignored these, switched hands to grab these writhing roots as a pivot, and slashed with his right hand again, finally finding a white, fist-sized Human Face Core in the Monster's lower back.

This thing was completely retracted inside the torso at this moment; if one looked only from the outside, it was impossible to see where this core was inside the body, and one had to fight and slash it open personally.

The blue light on the axe flared, and the Monster icon representing the Tree Spirit shook its head, causing the vine roots attacking from the surrounding wounds to wither one by one. Jier then reached his right hand forward forcefully, using the axe to suppress the roots that kept blocking him step by step, until it made contact with the Human Face Core bit by bit.

Finally, when the axe's blade cut open more than half of the Human Face Core, the monsters on the axe could no longer hold back and swarmed up, devouring the soul of this Monster.

If it had a soul, that is.

At this moment, the Monster could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground with a boom, and Bell had only just found the opportunity to swing his second axe, severing the Monster's left lower leg.

He thought it was his own achievement that made the Monster fall, but when he came to his senses, he discovered that the Monster leader was already dead, and standing up from the body of the dead parasitic Monster leader was that foreign Knight, most of whose body was stained with the Monster's pale purple sap.

The opponent even had one of the Monster's arms hanging from his waist.