Sometime unnoticed, the Dragon Nest Beastman team within the dense forest had been encircled by enemies, countless humanoid shadows appearing amid the forest shadows.
It would be fine if they were merely enemies; during this expedition, there were times they accidentally wandered into other Beastman Tribe territories and were besieged, but they easily broke through such encirclements thanks to their formidable skills.
Even when facing enemies several times their number, the Dragon Nest Beastman team led by Rodney, selected from the elite of the entire Dragon Nest Tribe, would not feel much fear, as they are battle-hardened and powerful warriors.
But the scene before them clearly defied common sense.
The enemies encircling them were gray ape creatures, covered head to toe in fur, with long hands, hanging from the trees holding wooden spears.
Gray apes, living among various Beastman tribes in Kawa Great Forest, rank in the upper-middle tier. Born with strong limbs, they can confront ordinary middle-tier tribes undisadvantaged on flat ground. With superb climbing skills, they are extremely agile in forest leaps, even able to compete with higher-tier species like gray bears without inferiority.
Even Dragon Nest Tribe has gray apes, though typically they live on trees or in mountainous areas, collecting food easily thanks to their prowess. Thus, gray ape tribes are relatively stable, rarely disbanding into rogue Beastmen due to some reason.
The gray apes gathered by the Dragon Nest Tribe were only some old, weak, sick abandoned by their tribe, joining Dragon Nest Tribe by strokes of luck.
Rodney had naturally seen gray apes before and understood their strength as a species, but regardless of their might, gray apes are ordinary Beastmen; meanwhile, Rodney had been transformed by the grace of His Highness Austin and learned the "Beastman Three Techniques," surpassing common Beastmen in power. In addition, being elite himself, with other elite Dragon Vein Guard companions in the team, even doubling their number of gray apes posed no fear.
The true cause for awe among Lizardman Rodney and his team was the current condition of the gray apes!
Those eyes! Desiccated, deathly green like lifeless puppets, yet filled with madness and greedy desire. Pointed teeth pierced through decayed lips, staring fixedly at them as if they were giant walking meat.
More horrifying was their current state; gray furred bodies developed large patches of blue fungi, where it spread, fur dried and fell off, skin rotted exposing a stench, some parts even ate away muscles revealing skeleton beneath, flies buzzing around...
"What are these things!"
All Dragon Nest Beastmen present stood with bristling hair, gasping cold breaths.
The gray apes here, their faces stiff with no change, were unlike living beings, more like corpses rising from the earth, their skins rotting and molding as a result.
"Seems we're getting close to the truth..."
Rodney tightly gripped his Copper Greatsword; even the most dull should now suspect prior Beast migrations likely relate to these.
Being merely watched by these strange gray apes brought forth a chilling terror sensation.
That feeling, as if corpses climbed from Hell, stared lustfully at your flesh, chilling the spine.
In the cold tense atmosphere, Rodney tested speaking, though the odd creatures like dead bodies, he wanted to see if interaction was possible.
Among the odd gray apes, a leader larger and robust than usual, half its head decayed and most fur fallen, skin covered with blue fungi, roared.
The sound distinctly differed from normal gray apes, more like a broken wooden bellows forcing out a final wretched cry, chilling to the bone.
With its roar, eerie gray apes charged at the Dragon Nest Beastman team.
Rodney's pupils shrank; with his order, prepared Dragon Nest Beastmen swiftly closed into a circle, raising copper spears two, three meters high, ensemble of spears surrounding like a hedgehog.
Yet faced with sharp spears, gray apes from the dense forest shadows charged without care, stiffly leaping directly onto them.
In resounding flesh impacts, spears easily pierced the charging gray apes,
More horrifying still, the blood flowing from these strange gray apes was green!
But before Dragon Nest Beastmen could be alarmed, more gray apes continued charging, shadows leaping like waves nearly drowning them.
Rodney took a deep breath, swinging arcs with his giant copper sword, any gray ape that approached was easily sliced in half by the Fighting Qi-imbued great sword.
Tightly packed Long Spear Array increased the number of gray apes on the ground, ordinary without piercing the long spear formations strictly trained to counter the Beastmen of Kawa Great Forest.
As time passed, under the assault of so many eerie gray apes, the entire Long Spear Array began to waver.
"Damn it, what exactly are these things!"
With one swing splitting two leaping gray apes, Rodney's face turned extremely grim.
These gray apes were too strange, fearing nothing, unfeeling pain, throwing themselves in despite severe damage, like undead coveting live flesh.
"This cannot continue; a breakthrough must be found, or it's troublesome!"
If facing other Beastman tribes, with the bravest few warriors slashed by the Dragon Nest Legion Long Spear Array, ninety percent of teams would collapse. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet
But these odd gray apes? Despite half lost and ground covered in companion corpses, they remain indifferent, charging like puppets without selves.