Dark Blood Path

Seconds and minutes passed by, and eventually, the surrounding forest fell silent. Deeper into the night, the exhausted people finally began to fall asleep slowly due to the piled-up fatigue.

Holding a huge round shield, Jin Shi was lying on his side behind a big tree trunk that fell sideways. It was already midnight, which was supposed to be Xiao Yu’s time to keep watch, but he didn’t go wake him just yet, and in fact, he didn’t want to. Jin Shi knew very well that Xiao Yu was definitely the most injured and the most tired one amongst them. He needed to rest now since no one else could lead this bunch of people out of the wilderness but him.

Beside him, five other people were responsible for the night watch, and four of them already fell asleep as they couldn’t keep up, but Jin Shi didn’t blame them, and he just let them rest. He was still holding into the big shield, and he tried harder to perk up, listening to the movement around him with bated breath, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

The forest shrouded in darkness felt a bit cold. The full moon hung high in the dark sky, casting a dim frigid glow and bringing a thin coating of light with it. The trees and leaves slowly swayed with the wind while the ground got mottled with a light shade. Watching all of that, Jin Shi’s consciousness began to wobble slightly before he realized it, and then he instantly pinched his legs hard to keep himself awake.

At this time, the second-night watchman who was seated next to him gently rose up from his kneeling position, habitually stuck his head out, and took a few glances outside to see if anything was amiss, but this time just as he pushed his head out, he was greeted with a weird scene.

And without warning!

Puchi!

A thorny pink rope-like object shot straight through his eye socket, blood burst out, and with a huge penetrating force, the attack made a small hole in the back of his head. The unlucky man couldn’t even scream; he convulsed a few times and then fell silent. Jin Shi, who was half lying on the bottom, just happened to see the scene where his teammate’s head got pierced, as red and white matter flew all over the surroundings. The thick blood even splashed over his face, and the warm liquid full of bloody smell instantly dispelled his drowsiness. His eyes widened, and he let out a loud roar.

“monsters—!”

A horde of hideous monsters appeared upon them; they were a swarm of grey lizards the size of wolves. One of the lizards spit out a two-meter-long pink tongue laced with thorns, piercing the man’s eye socket and immediately breaking his skull.

Choochoo!

At the exact moment when Jin shi alarmed everyone with his roar, the monster’s tongue suddenly contracted and brought the lifeless corpse over to its side. The massive reptile opened its jaws wide, showing a mouth full of teeth, as it smashed the whole skull with a single bite. Several lizards around also quickly surrounded the copse, desperately grabbing for its organs. Jin shi’s thundering shout had already exploded within the woods, and everyone awoke and stood promptly upon hearing his voice. They then hurriedly picked up their weapons, taking a defensive stance.

Jin Shi slid over, leaped, and stepped with both feet on the fallen tree trunk. At that moment, he merely saw a blur in front of his eyes when two long shadows flashed toward him like lightning. Jinshi reacted in time, doubled his goblin shield in size, and blocked the two spurting tongues; then, he roared and jumped toward the lizards. When they saw him, those monsters panicked and attempted to flee. However, his rocky right arm landed firmly on one grey lizard, pushing it down and causing the earth to quake. A depression was formed in the muddy ground, and the monster’s internal organs were all squeezed out.

“They’re not that powerful!”

Jin Shi was relieved, but when the following sight came before his eyes, the glimmer of hope that flashed in his heart instantly vanished. Countless red orbs emerged slowly in front of him in this pitch-black forest; he tried to count them but couldn’t, one pair, two pairs, ten pairs, one hundred pairs… and in the blink of an eye, thousands of pairs of red eyes lit up in batches, covering the whole space around them. Just looking at such a scene made him break out in cold sweat.

The rest all armed themselves with short spears and wooden shields and were prepared for battle, but when they also saw the surrounding situation clearly, they were all stunned; some gasped and gulped as they felt a sense of despair.

With such a large number, how do we even fight?

“Fatty, stone, help me build obstacles.” Xiao Yu picked up a huge tree trunk more than twenty meters long that could only be carried by two people and swept it around, sending several lizards flying.

Han Kexin’s voice sounded beside him, “We shouldn’t defend; let’s kill them!”

“There are too many, and there is no way for us to break through, so we have to hold them in place.” Xiao Yu waved the huge tree trunk and retreated quickly, “Don’t panic, these lizards are just large in number, they are not difficult to deal with, just block them, don’t let them approach!”

Wang Chao and Jin Shi swiftly retreated. They each grabbed up a large log over twenty meters long, swung it several times, and smacked the lizard, trying to approach them. Then, the three of them spread out in a triangle shape before placing the large trees as obstacles; the others stood in the middle of the triangle back to back.

Xiao Yu scrutinized the lizards coming from all directions like a tide and ordered loudly: “make two circles, the inner circle kneel down and hold your spears, the outer circle, Hold on to your shields!”

Han Kexin quickly gave out instructions: “they will come soon! Everyone do as Xiao Yu said, hurry up! Wang Chao, Jin Shi, you two come back, Xiaowen, you stand inside.”

Under the organization of Han Kexin, the crowd quickly divided into two groups. The first group formed a circle and stood behind the broken logs holding wooden shields, while the second group of people stood inside the circle, squatting down with their spears, and the triangle-shaped broken logs surrounded everyone there. More than twenty people with wooden shields and spears formed an iron-like defense. Xiao Yu, Wang Chao, and Jin Shi each stood in a corner.

Hundreds of lizards emerged from all directions, surrounding the crowd, but they did not choose to attack directly. Instead, they circled around the triangular-shaped small army as if looking for the best breakpoint; however, the defense of the bunch of people in front of them was very tight, as everyone huddled behind their wooden shields.

“Hiss!”

More than a dozen lizards couldn’t take it any longer and charged up first, spewing out their long tongues with a mighty piercing power in midair. A few muffled sounds were heard, but the attacks were successfully repelled, and sharp short spears blasted out from the gaps in the barrier, quickly piercing through those creatures.

These gray lizards were considered powerful monsters. Their individual strength was several times stronger than that of goblin slaves. Though they were not elementary-level creatures, they were numerous, cunning, organized, and much more difficult to deal with. One lizard let out a furious roar and came to a halt. Hundreds of grey lizards that did not retreat despite the difficulties also came to a standstill.

It was the calm before the storm… The immediate still atmosphere felt suffocating.

Hundreds of lizards lined up neatly, their crimson eyes fixated on the twenty human beings in front of them, while their long tails twisting and slapping the ground frequently, “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang! “The crisp and dull bangs shook off a huge batch of dead leaves, and the noise sounded terrible, like the beating of a war drum.

Jin Shi asked, “Fuck, what does this mean? What are they doing?”

Xiao Yu said calmly: “They want to overwhelm us in terms of momentum, intending to make us collapse before the fight or have a loophole in our defense so that they can take advantage of it.”

Wang Chao yelled, “These motherfuckers, they’re actually using tactics!”

Hundreds of grey lizards the size of wolves flicked their tails and slapped the ground, producing repetitive and dull noises, yet the group of more than twenty humans stood still. Finally, the lizard leader grew agitated, and the sound of its tail smacking the ground shifted from slow and rhythmic to rapid and chaotic.

Holding the bone blade in one hand, Xiao Yu informed everyone: “Get ready; they are preparing to attack!”

“hiss–!”

The grey lizards that had stopped moving forward rushed in like a wave, and the enormous charge engulfed the wooden barrier, producing a harsh, loud noise upon impact. Still, none of the individuals present were ordinary, and their power was greater than that of ordinary people. Moreover, they were several times stronger than before, so they could barely withstand the onslaught.

Then once again, several short spears stabbed from the gaps in the shield barrier, puncturing and killing a dozen gray lizards at once.

All the gray lizards that were stabbed to death were immediately dragged back by their companions as they started eating them, and then seven or eight of the same kind surrounded them, gnawing the corpses to pieces in the blink of an eye.

When she saw this scene, Jiang Xiaowen was taken aback, “They’re actually eating their own kind!”

Xiao Yu replied loudly: “It’s normal. This kind of reptile has a very strong reproductive ability. Dozens of lizards can multiply to thousands in just a few years. This strong reproductive ability leads to cruel competitiveness within their species. Weak, seriously injured, or even dead lizards will be devoured by stronger ones with no remorse. They won’t stop hunting until they’re all full, so we must continue to defend. When the majority of them are full, they will naturally retreat; only then will we be safe!”

Han Kexin: “What a terrifying race!”

Xiao Yu said lightly: “No, everything is done for survival!”

A dozen or so others submerged in the turbulent lizard swarm in a blink of an eye, and even the dregs were gone. The lizard swarm relaunched a fierce attack, and dozens of hundreds of lizards rushed forward bravely. The wooden barrier shook violently as a result of the huge impact. While bolt-like tongues, which were as fast as bullets, struck the shields repeatedly, some of them breached the gaps between the wooden shields to strike the people within.

Han Kexin pierced a lizard with her short goblin spear and immediately drained it dry with ‘blood sacrifice’. A mysterious bloody mist covered the surroundings, allowing the wounds of several people to heal quickly.

The lizards that were stabbed after failing their attacks were immediately dragged and captured by their own kind. Some of them were still wailing in agony, but their companions didn’t care; they viciously gnawed on the injured weaklings as a “click” sound resounded in everybody’s ears, which was the sound of bones being crushed.