Chapter 97: Battle Beneath Momona Cunzi (Part 9)

The intense but brief barrage of Magic Arrows released by the Church Hunters dealt irreversible, massive damage to the Alien Evil God's body, which had lost its Divine Power Shield and the Divine Power that sustained its physical form; some massive chunks of its body were blasted into the sky, only to collide with the ceiling of the Underground Karst Cave and fall back down.

Some fell into the Underground River beside the original Altar and drifted along the icy water, but they didn't float far before being blocked by the Duel Magic Arrows, piling up on the surface of the water in the distance. Because so much of the Evil God's flesh was blasted into the river, part of the Underground River's exit was even blocked, causing a large amount of icy river water to overflow.

The plant-like parts of the Evil God's body burned fiercely, and the black smoke emitted had nowhere to go in the Rongdong, only serving to make the surrounding air turbid.

After the group's round of Magic Arrow fire, Jier boldly jumped onto the Evil God's broken body and swung his sword to hack apart the internal organs of the Evil God that still appeared intact and were heavily protected.

As the group fought on, the Evil God, which had previously been able to lash out with vines from various parts of its body to counterattack, gradually fell silent. After Jier threw the 【Water-Crossing Skull】 to blow up the last suspicious-looking organ, that thing uncontrollably emitted some high-heat glowing Magic Power, scorching large areas of the surrounding Evil God body to a crisp.

"Did it work?"

Jier dodged the final explosion and shouted loudly to ask the priests of the Hunting God Church.

But the three priests of the Hunting God Church ignored him; the three of them gathered together, holding hands to form a triangle, and muttered to themselves. Even though Jier had sharp hearing, he still could not hear clearly what the three were chanting.

It seemed to sound like the common tongue, and the movement of their mouths also looked like they were speaking the common tongue, but the content that should have been clear to him was just something chaotic and blurry in his mind.

Jier twitched the corner of his mouth and was about to hack a few more times at the large chunks of the Evil God's body when the surrounding Church Hunters began to move; they quickly circled the now-motionless Evil God body and formed a rough, large triangle.

Since the Stalactite Altar where the Evil God was located was a standard circle, the triangle formed by the Church Hunters further out created a shape of a large triangle with a circle embedded inside.

When the priests of the other churches saw this situation, they immediately retreated, and this time they retreated very far, even far exceeding the distance of the wave that would affect the absorption of Divine Power earlier. As the priests of the Agricultural God Church and the Sun God Church retreated, they also shouted loudly for Jier to retreat with them.

"Hurry, Warrior Jier! Although we don't know what this formation is, it's clearly not right. Let's pull back further," the Agricultural God priest shouted.

"Knight Jier, retreat quickly. This is the ritual formation for the Great Hunting Ritual, if you don't want to be sacrificed to the god along with it." The Sun God Church still had some ability, as they saw through the situation.

The Sun God priest who spoke did not see anything through this loose, ridiculous-looking human formation, but rather guessed the intentions of the Hunting God Church at this very moment based on previous speculations.

You see, it appeared that the Alien Evil God's body had been defeated by this series of attacks, its body turned into fragments, its massive god-level Divine Power drained, and the surrounding space forcibly sealed, making it impossible for the Evil God to urgently mobilize Divine Power from elsewhere—it seemed as if they had already won this battle?

But in fact, this was not the case; flesh and Divine Power were merely the external manifestations of a god, and the core essence of the god itself had not suffered much damage.

The fact that Jier was still unable to leave the range designated by the Duel Magic Arrows was proof of this. As one of the targets of the duel, the Alien Evil God had not perished.

That invisible essence of the god was drifting in the surrounding air.

It was just because it had lost most of its means to influence reality, and because those things were intangible themselves, that almost everyone present did not know what had happened.

Jier pushed against the invisible, untouchable air in front of him; he was still unable to move forward by a meter, even though the priests of the other churches and Bell had already retreated dozens of meters further back.

"Alright, so what is the situation now?"

Jier asked helplessly.

"Protect yourself!" the Sun God Church priest shouted.

Jier turned and looked toward the Hunting God Church.

The Church Hunters, standing in a loose large triangle, knelt on one knee, put down their Hunting Bows, raised their hands high, and faced the Evil God's body they had surrounded.

They shouted loudly: "This is the best prey of this time—powerful, evil, and robust. Today, in this place, we offer it to you! Our Father, our Lord, the greatest hunter in the world! As your hunting bows and arrows, under your glory and guidance, we have hunted such a magnificent prey for you. We offer it to you!"

They shouted, each of them showing fanaticism.

The Church Hunters who could participate in the Great Hunting Ritual were not only the most skilled hunters, but also possessed a fanatical Faith in the Hunting God. They were all guys who loved hunting the most, and being able to organize a hunt for a god this time was thanks to the protection, organization, and cultivation of the Hunting God.

Otherwise, how boring would life be in this world?

Selecting a prey, using various means to hunt it down, and finally winning—this was the lifestyle that every excellent hunter favored, and only in the Hunting God Church did they have this precious opportunity to hunt the strongest prey in the world: a god.

Even if it was just an Alien Evil God with almost no believers and greatly reduced strength.

In fact, when the target of this Great Hunting operation was changed midway from the ancient and weak Bird God to the Alien Evil God behind the parasitic monsters, fierce arguments had broken out among the priests and hunters.

Some feared insufficient strength, especially since they didn't know if the personnel and equipment they had originally prepared could successfully hunt an Evil God that still possessed strength.

Some even vaguely felt that it was one thing to hunt an ancient, outdated, and weak god, but choosing an Evil God active in the present as a hunting target might be disrespectful to the gods.

Others lacked confidence in their own abilities; although they dared not openly state they were quitting the hunt, shrinking into a corner and remaining silent was a form of hidden dissatisfaction and resistance to the change of the hunting target.

It wasn't just among the hunters; in fact, the three priests had also quarreled with each other.

Priest Clark was truly worried about whether he could participate in and command the hunters under him to face such a formidable enemy.

And Priest Fei-Jierkesi had more of a technical dissatisfaction. You must know that the hunters he had specifically brought this time were basically selected to deal with the original target. As a result, having to change targets halfway, he directly stated that the Magic Arrows his men were carrying were not very suitable.

Only the old priest leading the team sat firmly on the fishing platform, confidently stating that these were not big problems.

The three tallied the strength of their subordinates and the Magic Arrows they carried, and in the end, it was the old priest Mardo who made the final decision to change the target for the Great Hunting Ritual.

The Hunting God naturally welcomed this, and even generously gave some advance rewards to encourage the priests under him.

The strength of the three priests increased greatly.

At this time, Momona Cunzi above the Underground Karst Cave.

The numerous parasitic monsters entrenched in the village swarmed like mad toward the fallen tree at the edge of the village that led underground. But all the Humans who had been holding their ground in the open space in the middle of the village had specifically moved here in advance.

Everyone formed a neat formation, leaning tightly against each other, their weapons pointed forward, relying on the various Battle Divine Arts continuously cast by the priests behind them to resist the constantly charging parasitic monsters.

The most heroic Warriors among them had long since exhausted their physical strength and retreated to the side of the big tree, sweating all over, to take a tense rest.

The Agricultural God priest who hadn't gone down kept scattering various plant seeds, trying to cast Divine Arts to restore the physical strength of the formidable Warriors.

Weier leaned against the roots of the big tree, panting; beside him snuggled a young woman from a Knight Family who had stripped down to just a bodice. Nearby, there were also Warriors who were unbearably hot from the continuous fighting; after taking off their armor, they still felt hot, shouting and yelling for someone to pour some clear water on their heads.

"Can't do that, you'll die..." Weier was exhausted, and his voice of persuasion became smaller.

The young woman next to him followed up on Weier's words: "Yes, Weier is right. Please don't do that. Drinking water and sweating is fine, but you can't pour water on your body. Even a cool breeze at this time could cost you your life! Unless you carry a bottle of fine healing potion with you."

But that Warrior was a mid-level member of the Town Guard; although he said yes, yes, yes, he was actually still unbearably hot, and he had the ordinary Town Guards who had retreated to rest bring him two bags of clear water.

This was one of the supplies replenished from the Shanglu this morning. Because the weather was hot, the Warriors needed to drink a lot of water. In addition to the large wooden barrels filled with water temporarily obtained by the Merchant Guild responsible for logistics, they also spent several times the price to purchase many leather Water Bags from the caravan guards in town—the kind the caravan guards would only use when going out—and distributed them together. Now, the Warriors on the front line carried them with them so they could drink water at any time.

This Squad Leader of the Town Guard immediately untied the Water Bag, took a few big gulps, and still unsatisfied, poured the not-very-cold clear water over his head with a splash.

"Haha, refreshing! So comfortable!"

This guy rubbed his hands on the hottest parts of his body, letting the clear water take away his heat, and then, with a joyful face, put back on his Town Guard equipment. Because he was still a Squad Leader, in addition to the basic equipment of the Town Guard, he also had an extra breastplate and a metal Helmet.

This Warrior returned to the front line with light steps, but less than a minute later, his subordinates brought back his corpse, which only had half a body left, crying.

Weier curled his lips when he saw this scene; he knew it.

The young woman, who was a local, went up to ask about it. Although her body, with only one piece of clothing left on her upper body, attracted many gazes, her exceptionally robust shoulders and arms still made most people look away in fear after one glance.

"What's going on? How did A-ke-luo die?" The robust young woman could call out the names of most of the captains and Squad Leaders in the Town Guard, because her father was the main training officer for the Town Guard of Yemei Town, one of the positions held concurrently by a local Knight Lord.

"Captain, the Captain was fine just a moment ago, but while fighting the Monster, he suddenly stood still and was torn apart by the two Monsters he was attacking. We barely managed to retrieve the Captain's severed body."

The young Town Guard who answered was sobbing; the scene at the time had truly been too tragic.

Parasitic Monsters that can survive until now are no weaklings; they are either Blooming Monsters or were themselves Monsters transformed by parasitism. The former are the primary targets for everyone to strike and watch out for at this moment, and many Monsters in the mountain forests, while not looking particularly remarkable, are not weak in strength.

"Sigh—"

The sturdy young woman retreated to the side of the resting Weier, sat down with a thud, and shook her head: "I knew it. A-ke-luo's skills were decent enough; my father had originally planned to let him lead a squad of twenty men alone next year. But now he has nothing left."

Weier nodded, reached out, and brushed away the strands of hair stuck to the young woman's face by sweat, which actually made this sturdy and tall young woman feel a bit shy.

"Since that person was a subordinate your father thought highly of, then let us go avenge him."

Hearing Weier's words, the young woman was somewhat surprised, but the two did not exchange further words. They put on their thick padding and sturdy armor again, picked up their Long Swords—scarred from continuous fighting—asked A-ke-luo's subordinates about the appearance of the Parasitic Monster that killed A-ke-luo, and then charged side-by-side toward the stalemated front line.

"Hmph, in such an intense battlefield, he still has the leisure to flirt with a woman's heart using the same technique as a Bard plucking strings. Is being handsome such a big deal?"

At the top of a slightly tilted tree by the village, Xiao Tusi complained with dissatisfaction.

From his position, he could clearly see every move on the battlefield below, and he had also seen the scene where the Town Guard Squad Leader was killed by the Parasitic Monster. He had intended to help with the few remaining Large Arrows, but who could have expected that the man would just stand motionless during the intense battle, letting the Monster tear his body apart for nothing.

"He must have not wanted to live anymore. Intense combat can make some confused Warriors suddenly blank out, not knowing where they are, who they are, or why they are fighting?"

Zhongtusi speculated. He himself had never seen such a situation, but he had heard old veterans who had served in the army talk about these things that sounded ridiculous back in the tavern.

However, the things that felt ridiculous back then were seen with his own eyes today, and it happened right under his nose.

Zhongtusi had no intention of providing cover for that Town Guard Squad Leader at the time; he would only use his precious Large Arrows to cover the subordinates of Knight Jier, which is to say, their brothers' companions.

"Could there be such a stupid person? I personally think that guy was mostly just sun-dazed by today's sun. That's most likely it." As Xiao Tusi spoke, he wanted to argue a few more words with his second brother, but his second brother—Zhongtusi—did not reply.

"What's wrong? Are you stunned too, because of today's sun? Sun-dazed?"

Xiao Tusi teased his brother, but when he turned his head, he saw his second brother looking toward the distant mountain forest behind everyone, with a look of shock on his face.

"How come you—"

He looked in the direction of Zhongtusi's gaze and became stunned himself.

Because he saw that in the mountain forest north of Momona Cunzi, there was currently an illusory giant emitting a brownish-red glow, striding toward Momona Cunzi.

The giant was so tall, wearing a similarly huge fur coat, with empty hands. Although it was translucent and emitting a brownish-red radiance—the kind that could be seen clearly in broad daylight—that sharp aura made everyone's heart tighten the moment they saw It, with a clear feeling of being watched by a hunter, as if they were the prey.

The tallest trees in the mountain forest only reached its calves, and it moved with agility, easily jumping over hills and broken valleys, approaching rapidly at a speed that seemed slow but was actually fast.

Xiao Tusi was terrified; he didn't even hold the Large Bow in his hand steady, and it slid down from the tilted tree.

?? Welcome everyone to subscribe to this book, follow the updates, add it to your library, and support it with recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and tips. Thank you all.