Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Having calmed themselves down, the army of the Church launched a continuous wave of attacks, unleashing a powerful offensive. The Wall of Fire and fireballs cast by the Spellcasters tortured the Man-eating Vines, making them unable to close in on the group. The sharp arrows of the archers pierced the Man-eating Vines as they approached. The Man-eating Vines were rendered immobile, like a boneless venomous snake, when the blood sacs were pierced open.

Facing Kayseri, the red-robed cardinal, who had a monstrous amount of Magical Energy, the situation became extremely unfavorable to the Man-eating Vines. They were unable to completely destroy the Holy Barrier even after barraging it with attacks from all angles. Even though the barrier looked shaky, it refused to fall no matter where the vines concentrated their attacks.

“Knights, attack! Scatter your formation and retrieve all of the blood sacs!”

Seeing that the time was right having pushed back the attacks of the Man-eating Vines time and time again, the red-robed cardinal cast Holy Shield on the knights. He then ordered them to attack, prepared to completely defeat the detestable Man-eating Vines and retrieve their blood sacs.

According to the historical records, even though the Man-eating Vines were terrifying, their entire bodies were precious treasures. Their blood sacs could be used to make blood-red fine wine that was a rarity in the continent, able to boost the speed of a person’s cultivation of power after they consumed it.

The Holy Shield was a simplified version of the Holy Barrier, enveloping the knights and horses under it with a veil of light. It could absorb a large portion of physical damage, and was the key the Church’s team of guardian knights’ formidableness. But there was a time limit to the ability, usually only lasting about a hundred steps for an average knight.

Furthermore, similar to casting Holy Barrier, casting the Holy Shield required a substantial amount of Magical Energy. Even a red-robed cardinal could only cast Holy Shield on a hundred knights in a day. Thus, the red-robed cardinal leading the army would not use such a technique unless the situation was absolutely critical.

A hundred steps might seem useless, but this time was of paramount importance on a battlefield.

Under the cover of the many Spellcasters and archers, the knights charged forward on their horses, straight toward the area with the highest concentration of Man-eating Vines, their sharp lances aimed straight for their coconut-sized blood sacs.

With the defensive capability of Holy Shield and the strong support of the Spellcasters and archers, the knights had no fear. As expected, the Man-eating Vines were unable to pierce through their defenses, and their blood sacs were soon pierced by the sharp, long lances.

Chitter…

Just as the knights were taking in a deep breath and prepared to kill off every Man-eating Vine in one fell swoop, all of the Man-eating Vines came together into a ball and rolled away like a tumbleweed, belting out an ear-piercing roar. They disappeared into the lush forest of shrubs in the blink of an eye.

Seeing the Man-eating Vines pick up such speed after forming a defensive cluster, disappearing without a trace, Yang Ling, who had been observing from the side, was incredibly surprised. He would have never expected the strange Man-eating Vines to have such an ability!

Yang Ling was perplexed, while the army of the Church was even more dumbfounded. They could only watch as their prey quickly disappeared!

“Quick, collect all of the blood sacs, quick!” After stuffing a few of the blood sacs into his Space Ring, Kayseri was the first to react, issuing a loud order.

He could still find ways to repair the blood sacs that had been pierced open. Blood sacs that were exposed to the air for too long before being processed would soon lose their intended effects and their value would decrease greatly.

Even though they had they had lost several dozen members of their group, they were not worth mentioning compared to the rare blood sacs they had acquired! Kayseri believed that he would receive the appreciation of the Pope if he handed the blood sacs over, even if he could not find the relics of the giant dragon. It was now almost guaranteed that he would get promoted to a red-robed Archbishop if he worked a few connections!

After clearing away the scene of the battle, the army of the Church moved once again, delving deeper into the Shauna Valley, prepared to completely scout out this notorious piece of forbidden land.

“Evensk, are you alright?” Jordan asked taking off his mask for a breath of fresh air as he lightly patted the pale triangle-face beside him on the back.

The shifty-eyed Evensk had borne the brunt of the Man-eating Vines’ first wave of surprise attacks, getting caught by a few thumb-sized Man-eating Vines. Even though the Man-eating Vines had not been able to penetrate the defenses of his heavy armor, he had been strangled until his eyes glazed over, almost suffocating. If not for Jordan’s timely assistance, he might have been choked to death.

“Hehe, I’m fine, I’ll still be able to have a good time with Aguli when I return to the camp!” Pressing on his hurting chest, Evensk let out a forced smile, laboriously taking in a few gulps of fresh air after removing his tight mask.

“Cough…”

Feeling a wave of pain in the parts of his chest where he had been strangled by the Man-eating Vines, Evensk unconsciously let out a few coughs. Unexpectedly, he coughed up a giant pool of blood. It seemed like he sustained heavy injuries despite having seemingly averted the crisis.

“Oh, what’s that?”

Originally, Evensk wanted to get a priest to help treat his injuries, but he suddenly noticed a green plant poking out from the pile of pebbles nearby, flailing around like a snake’s tail. He did not have time to alert the group before a Man-eating Vine pounced toward his exposed face, fast as lightning.

“Evensk, quick, dodge quickly!”

At the critical moment, just when Evensk knew that he did not have enough time to dodge and had closed his eyes to await his death, the agile Jordan beside him reacted quickly. He pushed Evensk aside and raised his sharp lance, piercing the vine straight through its exposed blood sac. Unexpectedly, the Man-eating Vine suddenly flailed its body, the end of its vine twirling around in the air before striking his exposed right eye, fast as the wind.

“Ah…”

Caught off guard, Jordan was unable to react in time to avoid the strike. Even though he had successfully pierced through the blood sac of the Man-eating Vine with his lance, he had also become the victim of the Man-eating Vine’s surprise attack. The Man-eating Vine pierced through his right eye and emerged through the back of his skull. In that instant, Jordan was in so much pain that he could not breathe, his body soon turning limp and helpless!

“Lila, Lila…”

Jordan could not hear Evensk’s shouts of grief and anger, the furious roars of the knights around him, or the howling winds around him when he fell to the ground… In his hazy consciousness, he felt as though he had returned to the small town by the side of the Mississippi River and could his lover, Lila, whom he had grown up with. He saw that sweet smile of hers!

“Jordan, Jordan…”

Witnessing his only good friend die to save him, Evensk manically bit through the blood sac of the Man-eating Vine that had killed Jordan, consuming the putrid brain matter… He wanted to tear the entire blood sac into shreds. But as he was consuming a large mouthful of blood, another Man-eating Vine whipped through the air and pierced through his head, right between his brows, emerging through the back of Evensk’s head!

Just as the army of the Church had heaved a sigh of relief at the thought that the Man-eating Vines would not appear again, the demonic vines had returned, once again launching a speedy surprise attack. This time, there were even more Man-eating Vines charging toward of the army, their attacks even more fierce and precise than before. In just a short instant, more than fifty people were inflicted with severe injuries, some even dying on the spot.

“Quick, get into formation, quick!”

“Wall of Fire, quick, use the Wall of Fire to block them off!”

…

In their alarm, the group nervously took action. However, just as the red-robed cardinal clenched his teeth, prepared to once again cast the Holy Barrier at the expense of a large amount of Magical Energy, the enormous horde Man-eating Vines once again clustered together and left, disappearing into the shrubs in the blink of an eye.

“Guerilla warfare? Interesting, it’s getting more and more interesting!”

Yang Ling had followed the army of the Church further into the valley under the protection of a team of Horned Bee Beasts. He could not help but feel in awe of their strategy when he saw the many Man-eating Vines suddenly appear and successfully kill off a dozen more people before leaving once again. It looked like these Man-eating Vines had a certain level of intelligence, or were receiving orders from a champion like the Evil Eye Tyrant. They were definitely not ordinary plants!

After recovering from their shock, several people from the group felt worried about the unpredictable movements of the Man-eating Vines, wishing that they could leave the area as soon as possible. Amongst them was the experienced leader of the knights. He realized the gravity of this unprecedented threat and suggested multiple times to the red-robed cardinal that the army should retreat. However, his suggestions were shot down time and again by the cardinal.

Even though he had suffered heavy casualties to the surprise attacks of the Man-eating Vines, Kayseri was unwilling to give up halfway. To him, it was worth his entire army being exterminated if he could successfully find the relics inside which the Holy Dragon had sealed the Divine Weapons. The loss of a few men was trivial to him.

Furthermore, since the Man-eating Plants had retreated quickly, they had left behind a few hundred blood sacs. The rare blood sacs would definitely be worth a fortune in the large human-populated cities like Montson and Bavaria. Every blood sac they got was akin to finding a pot of gold. He naturally refused to miss out on such a great opportunity.

Even though the surprise attacks of the Man-eating Vines seemed indefensible, Kayseri was extremely confident in his abilities. At the critical moment, even if he was unable to obtain victory, he could at the very least retreat to safety alone using the Teleportation Scroll within his robes!

Under Kayseri’s insistence and orders, the group continued forward. They moved in tight formation for safety’s sake. The heavily armored knights took the outer ring, the archers behind them, and the Spellcasters at the very center. They walked cautiously forward, one step at a time.

This way, even though they were a little slower, their defensive capabilities were greatly enhanced. They successfully defended against additional surprise attacks of the Man-eating Vines multiple times.

Having walked for over two hours and paid the price of over a hundred men’s lives, the army of the Church finally made it to the deepest region of the valley. Soon, they discovered a large, obscure cave.

Chitter…

Just as Kayseri prepared to lead his men down into the cave, a shrill cry erupted suddenly from within the cave’s depths. A large Man-eating Vine appeared in front of the group in a ghost-like fashion. Its body was fully red, the blood sac at its roots about the size of a small boulder. Its body was covered in a mass of tentacle-like appendages.

“A Thousand-handed Blood Vine?”

Looking at the many appendages of the giant Man-eating Vine, seeing its blood red color, even Yang Ling, who had tailed the army of the Church into the valley and observed the situation at a safe distance, was shocked, his skin crawling. He could only imagine the terror that the army of the Church was feeling!