Chapter 344 (1/2)
The heavy footsteps and tremors sounded all too familiar. Everyone braced themselves and just as expected, a group of recognisable shadows emerged from the Gnarled Grove—they were the rock monsters!
“Sure enough, we’ve run in to them.” Hao Ren took a deep breath. “God knows what’s happened to the town.”
Big Beardy was stunned when he saw the rock monsters. A pale, golden light radiated from his body as he got into his combat stance and muttered, “What are these things? The rock monsters?”
“That’s right,” Y’zaks said. A glowing, red light lingered around his body as he walked towards the rock monsters. “Be careful, they can resurrect themselves. You must get them off the ground in order to totally kill them.”
*Boom*
Before Y’zaks voice trailed off, a rock monster closed in on him. The great demon raised his leg and struck the rock monster on its knee. The kick smashed its limb into pieces. Likewise, Y’zaks crushed its’ other limbs before grabbing its’ body and lifting it off the ground. In a blink of an eye, it was dead; easy-peasy. Already having prior combat experience, Y’zaks did not find these solid and powerful monsters challenging at all.
Everyone lunged forward and engaged the rock monsters. Unlike their previous encounter, they were better prepared this time. Despite her mediocre skills and inability to kill the rock monsters, Becky the swordswoman did not get hurt. Roars, explosions and rock-crushing sounds filled the air between the Blood Lake and the Gnarled Grove like a rolling thunder!
The four ascetics were meeting the monsters for the first time, and they were a little clueless when it came to fighting them. But as ascetics of the Church, they were not slouches. Big Beardy was covered in a golden light; even his eyes were glowing. He was using a very peculiar fighting technique. With a swing of this fist, he was able to smash through the rock monster! He had learned about the monsters’ regenerative abilities and as he took two steps back, he began to chant something. Gravity in the surrounding field changed as pebble stones on the beach began to tremble and float in the air before descending slowly as if in slow motion. Affected by the strange gravitational magic, the rock monsters began to tumble: although they were equipped with basic fighting instincts, the rock monsters lacked inteligence.
Big Beardy noticed that the monsters could barely hold themselves steady under the influence of his magic, so he lunged forward. With his Rising Dragon Fist, he threw the monster, which weighed several tonnes into the air and blew its’ limbs into pieces. Well, monkey see, monkey do, so the other three ascetics followed suit.
Such were the ascetics trained by the Disciples of Glory. They practiced a type of fist fighting technique, blessed with powerful magic. They were able to remain calm and they were powerful as well as skillful in all types of battle—long ranged or close quarters combat alike. Under the almost weightless gravitational field and continuous thrust of their fists, the rock monster remained suspended in the air for minutes. But Big Beardy had no clue how long he had to keep the monster suspended before it would completely lose its strength. So, he had to keep asking his comrades while he kept the thing afloat. “Can you see if mine’s already done?”
“It’s still moving… Keep whipping!.”
“Is mine done yet? I’ve already battered it with 10 rounds of Rising Dragon Fist.”
“Yours should be done. It’s already turned black. Mine too. But, can you take a look if the colour is right, just to be sure?”
Hao Ren was perplexed when he overheard their conversation. He turned his head and took a look at them: if he had not checked on what the four were up to, he may have actually thought they were in a cooking class…
Ten rock monsters were down. Broken rocks and pits were strewned across the battlefield, but the pressure they faced was only increasing. Hao Ren had to divide his attention to protect Nangong Wuyue, who only had minimal fighting power, and keep an eye on the forest. More rock monsters were coming out from the Gnarled Grove!
Meanwhile, in the distance, the sound of heavy footsteps did not stop. It seemed like there was a large group of monsters—the main course of the battle— coming their way! The rock monsters before them were just the appetisers!
All of a sudden, a blinding flash of lightning filled the sky. A large swarm of bats then expanded outwards from the centre of the lightning and travelled into the forest. Shortly after, the bats regrouped and transformed into Vivian. She flew up into the air and called out to Hao Ren. “There’s another wave coming! Hundreds of them! We’re under siege!”