"Get out of my way!"
Dean's furious roar made the air tremble. He took a step forward, and the scorched earth beneath his feet caved in. His right fist struck out fiercely from his waist, the peak of the punch condensing the violent flames of Dragon Breath.
With one punch, scorching flames surged out in a fan shape. Wherever they passed, even Puchis with [Fire Resistance] were charred black, while ordinary trees were incinerated without leaving a trace of ash behind.
Little Pig retreated rapidly. At the same time, the wings on her battle armor folded, and the wing surfaces formed from Blood Crystals overlapped in front of her to form a barrier.
The moment the flames struck, countless Blood Crystals shattered, exploding with fine cracks.
Little Pig clenched her teeth, her feet planted firmly on the ground, yet she was still pushed back several meters by the impact, the soles of her boots carving two deep trenches into the scorched earth.
After a single strike, Little Pig's Blood Crystal Armor already looked heavily battered, with large patches of Blood Crystals peeling off, revealing her pale form underneath.
Little Pig wiped away the blood from the corner of her mouth. "Haha, without this armor, I probably would have been burned to death by you in one hit! Even though you're both Dukes, you are much stronger than Eugene, aren't you?"
"What, are you going to surrender?" Dean's arms ignited with Dragon Breath once again as he pressed forward step by step.
"No, I just... Ngh—!"
As the Blood Crystals depleted, the barbs embedded within Little Pig extended, drawing more of her own blood to condense into new Blood Crystals. In the blink of an eye, the shattered parts of the armor were mended.
"I just... whenever I think of trampling a powerhouse like you underfoot, my hands can't stop trembling!"
Saying this, Little Pig actually took the initiative to charge forward with her greatsword, leaving a trail of scarlet afterimages.
"Lunatic!" Dean similarly strode forward to meet her, returning a punch!
The two forces clashed, and a large swath of Puchis caught in the crossfire were obliterated.
Although the blood-red power was suppressed and forced back step by step by the violent Dragon Breath flames, it never completely collapsed.
This scene left Feng Yi and the other Demon-kin clicking their tongues in astonishment.
Because they had a good grasp of their Patriarch's strength, the Demon-kin had chosen to detour and attack from the very beginning, so they weren't caught in the aftershocks of the battle.
And what obstructed them was a surging tide of Puchis.
Those grayish-white, round creatures pounced from all directions, as numerous as weeds springing from the earth.
Looking out, tentacles waved and mushroom caps bobbed, densely covering their entire field of vision.
For every one they slashed down with their swords, three more filled the gap. With every step forward, the soles of their boots crushed the remains of several more.
Tentacle blades flew everywhere, striking from tricky angles. Some were parried, some left gashes, and some pierced straight through armor.
The bombardment of Puchi cannons never ceased for a moment. The mana shields above the Demon-kin shattered continuously in the magical explosions, only to be propped up again.
The most terrifying thing was that these Puchis didn't care at all about friendly fire.
Feng Yi roughly estimated that at least a third of the Puchis died by their own side's hands.
Under such saturated attacks, even though they were all elites among the Demon-kin, their injuries continued to accumulate.
In the distance, that Marshal Puchi remained standing in its original spot.
It neither retreated nor advanced, stepping on a raised mound of fungal mat with its tentacles crossed in front of it, as if admiring their performance.
"Hateful thing, advance another thirty meters!" Feng Yi roared.
Just thirty more meters, and he would be confident in firing an undodgeable arrow, letting that Puchi called "Boss" know the consequences of underestimating the Demon-kin!
The Demon-kin elites responded in unison. Even though they were covered in injuries, they still erupted with formidable power, not only charging past the thirty meters but also forcibly clearing a space among the Puchi swarm to prevent Feng Yi from being interfered with.
And the moment they entered the guaranteed kill range, Feng Yi drew a special white-shafted, blue-feathered arrow from his quiver, drew his bow, and aimed.
The Honor Guard Puchis beside the Marshal Puchi all leaped up, blocking the path.
"Pierce!"
Extreme speed and piercing power.
The sturdy outer shells of the Honor Guard Puchis were easily penetrated. The arrow pierced through twelve Honor Guard Puchis in a row before finally coming to a stop.
One arrow failed, but the final obstacle had also disappeared.
Enduring the severe pain in his arm, Feng Yi nocked a second white-shafted, blue-feathered arrow onto the bowstring.
However, the moment he released the bowstring, the silhouette of the Marshal Puchi suddenly vanished!
It didn't turn invisible, nor did it dodge; it simply vanished, leaving only a small piece of a red cape fluttering slowly to the ground where it had been.
Feng Yi quickly noticed a gradually dissipating magic array at that spot.
A temporarily constructed teleportation magic array? Why would one be built here?
"Damn it! It actually ran away like this!"
Meanwhile, in another corner of the battlefield, several Puchis quickly pieced the disassembled Marshal Puchi back together, then poured mana potions over it to accelerate the speed of [Mycelial Reassembly].
Soon, the Marshal Puchi came back to life. The only regret was that its cape had been cut in half.
Immediately, the Marshal Puchi jumped out, bringing a Voice Puchi with it.
"What are you looking around for? I'm still here!"
The Demon-kin looked over. Following the wave of the Marshal Puchi's tentacles, Puchi after Puchi quickly filled the empty space between the two sides.
"Come on, the battle isn't over yet, is it? Continue your comical and desperate charge!"
Feng Yi gritted his teeth, well aware that they had no path of retreat.
"Clansmen, advance! Advance! Advance!"
The Demon-kin elites, whose numbers were already dwindling, launched another charge at the Marshal Puchi.
On the other side, Dean once again hammered Little Pig into the earth, shattering the Blood Crystals on her armor.
But just like the previous times, as if her blood was inexhaustible, the armor once again drew blood to form Blood Crystals, rapidly filling the gaps.
Accompanied by maniacal laughter, Little Pig engaged him once more.
Dean felt it was troublesome, but Little Pig also profoundly experienced Dean's formidable power.
Inside the Blood Crystal Armor, she had already used up half of the twelve vials of Water of Life the Boss had given her, yet she had only managed to inflict some inconsequential surface wounds on Dean.
Just as the two sides were about to clash again, Little Pig suddenly turned her greatsword sideways, blocking a sudden incoming arrow.
Having sacrificed nearly half the elites to once again break into range, Feng Yi, after drawing his bow, had suddenly changed direction and shot this arrow at Little Pig.
Although Little Pig blocked the attack, the massive impact sent her flying quite a distance.
And Dean did not waste the opportunity his clansmen had so painstakingly created. He didn't press his advantage to pursue Little Pig; instead, he dashed toward the Marshal Puchi.
Moreover, upon taking the first step, he activated a skill.
[Trample LV10]
The earth fractured. The magic array that had just formed beneath the Marshal Puchi's feet dissipated instantly, and Dean leaped over, wielding Dragon Breath flames in his fist.
"Do you all think I'm that easy to kill?"
[Title: Familiar Maker (Quickly create a familiar)]
On the battlefield, both living and dead Puchis were swept into a suddenly appearing mana vortex.
A massive mycelial tentacle reached out from the vortex, colliding with Dean's Dragon Breath.
The raging flames and impact instantly incinerated and shredded the tentacle, but thanks to this brief block, a giant Marshal Puchi had already stood up from the gradually dissipating vortex.
Furthermore, the tentacle that had been blasted apart was rapidly regenerating.
A muffled voice came from the mushroom cap of the Giant Puchi via the Voice Puchi: "As the Boss, it's very reasonable for me to have a transformation phase, right!"
Looking up at the Giant Puchi, Feng Yi revealed the expression of despair that Lin Jun had been wanting to see.
He knew better than anyone how difficult this kind of Giant Puchi was to kill.
But Dean had not given up. Even facing a Giant Marshal Puchi, even though Louisa was already charging at him from behind again, Dean did not give up.
The flames on his body burned fiercer and fiercer, gradually shifting from crimson red to pale blue.
"Patriarch?" Feng Yi watched this scene in disbelief. He had never seen this form of Dean's.
Beneath the pale blue flames, the ground under Dean began to melt, and the flames began to consume his own form as well.
Even if Little Pig merely tried to approach now, the Blood Crystals began to melt. The gap in strength between the two sides was no longer something that armor driven by A-rank magic crystals could compensate for.
Treading on molten rock, Dean walked toward the Marshal Puchi step by step: "Let's put an end to this, Lord of the Mushroom Fortress."
(End of Chapter)
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