The charge of the artificial body team was definitely not as fierce as the "beast team", but their killing efficiency in the forest was not low at all. Ding Meng had only just figured out the benefits of these bone armors.
Almost all the devouring monsters seemed to slow down when they saw the Origin Ability users equipped with bone armors. They waved their claws at the other party, but the special flexible material of the bone armors immediately reflected the attack. The monsters were still in a daze, but the person who was attacked was suddenly served with a flurry of knives and spears.
Xiao Ai said decisively, "These skeletons don't just emit a stench. They also have a strange rhythm. It gives the monsters an illusion that these people are their own kind, so their reactions and movements are slowed down."
Ding Meng nodded. He had already seen that Hong Da's group's killing speed was not slower than the people on the front line. In a few minutes, the forest was full of corpses. Those who only had their heads and other parts of their bodies were artificial bodies did not have any combat ability, so they immediately began to clean up the battlefield.
The large group quickly arrived at the periphery, and the stony terrain finally appeared. Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the night sky, accompanied by a heavy downpour that made it difficult to open one's eyes.
"That's not right!" Jun Ling wondered. "Why are those army-like monsters missing this time?"
Ding Meng could not explain this phenomenon. In his telekinesis vision, there was an empty area in all directions. There was not even half a monster.
Qinqin took the initiative to speak. "Could it be that they know that this is the annual big hunt, so they are afraid and took the initiative to hide?"
"That's possible!" Jun Ling's expression was serious. "But this is not because they are afraid."
Little Arrow also nodded. "We've been fighting with them for 20 years. When have they ever been afraid of us?
When have we ever been afraid of them? "
Jun Ling said coldly, "Everyone, spread out. Don't stand together. Be alert and be vigilant."
Elephant and the others pulled out their weapons and slowly walked forward in a line.
After passing through the periphery, the heavy rain in the night sky lessened slightly. In the instant when the lightning flashed, they could clearly see that the current terrain was a strange canyon. The canyon was slanted upwards, as if it led to the mountain range in the distance.
The strange thing about the canyon was that all the trees and cliffs had been completely petrified. However, they weren't real rocks, but a mixture of metal, stone, and bone.
Ding Meng touched the ground with his hand. "What is this?"
Xiao Ai said in silence, "I can't analyze its composition. I don't have any comparison samples in my database, but one thing is for sure. This material is extremely hard and has a very strong signal blocking effect. If the starships of the Golden Shield Alliance can fly in, both ion and quantum communication will fail."
Ding Meng fiddled with his wristwatch, and as expected, the signal lights for the communication channels had all been turned off. They had lost contact with the Butcher, and when he tried the function again, he realized that there were no communication channels nearby.
The Elephant held the spear and poked at a rock on the ground. With a "chi" sound, the rock emitted a spark, but the tip of the spear was slightly distorted.
The Elephant was dumbfounded. "That can't be, right?"
Ding Meng couldn't help but ask, "Have you been here before?"
Jun Ling said, "We came here once ten years ago, but ten years ago, this place was on the periphery, and it wasn't like this. The deepest place I've ever seen is like this."
Ding Meng understood what she meant. The deepest place she had ever seen did not mean that it was the real deepest place.
Jun Ling said, "We can't follow the main group and take the front. We'll move from the side of the ridge."
Ding Meng did not ask why. He knew that Jun Ling must have her own reasons.
There was a height of more than a hundred meters from the bottom of the valley to the ridge. The road was definitely not easy to walk on because the weeds and shrubs on the ground had turned into stony spikes. If they were not careful, they would get hurt. Therefore, Ding Meng and the rest did not move quickly.
After advancing for another few dozen kilometers, the terrain gradually became higher. The main group below looked like a group of migrating ants.
Suddenly, there was a series of thunderous booms in the sky. The sound of the thunder was terrifying, and it made one's scalp go numb. A few seconds later, dozens of thick purple lightning bolts twisted and fell from the sky, striking the bottom of the valley. The sky and earth were bright as snow.
Junior Leopard exclaimed, "Look!"
The previous situation finally appeared in the valley. Countless Devourer Monsters densely packed the two ends of the valley, and then they surged toward the group like a tide, their momentum like a waterfall.
This time, there were not only small Devourer Monsters and small leaders that were a few meters tall, but there were also many large monsters mixed in. One of the monsters was particularly terrifying. Its shape was like a fiery red lizard that had been magnified dozens of times. Its entire body was covered in barbs, and it whizzed down with the flow of the water. Its long tail swept toward the group, and immediately, six or seven strong men were swept away and hung on trees. Upon closer inspection, these Origin Ability users' arms, legs, and bodies were like persimmons that had been flattened by an iron rod.
The most frightening thing was that the lizard's mouth spat out a purple flame that was dozens of meters long. The ice walls that the Origin Ability users had cast melted in the blink of an eye when they encountered the purple flame. For a moment, the main group in the valley was in chaos.
Jun Ling coldly watched all of this. "This is not the most dangerous."
When she said this, Ding Meng immediately narrowed his telekinesis vision and carefully scanned the valley.
He quickly discovered that there was an extremely unique creature hidden in the army of monsters. It was like a bat that was as thin as a cicada's wings, and its entire body was a deathly gray.
As the army surged forward like a tide, it did not take the initiative to attack the group. Instead, it spread its thin wings and stuck to the mountain walls, tree bark, and some very hidden corners. In the current terrain, they were like transparent sheets of paper. If not for his telekinesis vision, Ding Meng would have a hard time discovering these Bat Monsters, because these things were really hiding too well.
However, Ding Meng had a feeling that these Bat Monsters were the most dangerous.
Sure enough, when some Origin Ability users were injured in the fierce battle and were left alone, the Bat Monsters rushed out with a whoosh. In midair, their bodies shrank into the shape of sharp spikes, and in an instant, they drilled into the injured person's heart. They were so fast that they were like a gray shadow passing through the person's body.
The person who had been attacked had his entire chest burst open, and he screamed and fell to the ground.
It was basically impossible for him to survive after falling to the ground. He would either be eaten by the Devouring Monsters that followed after him, or be trampled to death by the leader of the group …
Of course, the army was not to be trifled with. Ding Meng finally saw the most horrifying scene.
Many Origin Ability users had either broken a leg or an arm after suffering heavy blows, but these strong men did not retreat. Instead, they roared into the sky, and then new arms and legs grew out from the bloody wounds. Of course, these were not human limbs, but the monster's long arms, spikes, claws, and large palms. Some of them were even bigger and more twisted than the monster's limbs, hideous and terrifying. Green mucus dripped from them, and it was definitely not human blood …
After these people mutated, they counterattacked the army of monsters with even more ferocity. The two sides twisted and rolled, biting, and slashing at each other. The scene was extremely tragic.
Xiao Ai sighed. "That's what I guessed. Yang Wei implanted the monster's genes into the human body and directly turned people into monsters. This kind of genetic modification would be considered a crime against humanity in the Holy Grail Federation."
Ding Meng watched all this in silence. Xiao Ai was not talking nonsense. After these genetic warriors mutated, they had completely entered a berserk state. They could not feel pain, and they did not fear death. Even after their mutated claws were cut off, these people still used their bodies as weapons and rammed into the army of monsters like cannonballs. The monsters that were hit were also smashed to pieces. Only when they were completely turned into meat paste by the army of monsters did they truly die.
The battle in the canyon could no longer be called a battle. It was basically a group of monsters destroying each other. The combat strength of the army of 60,000 Origin Ability users was quite strong, but the monsters at both ends of the canyon kept pouring in. The canyon had become a pool of blood. The green mucus of the monsters and the red blood of the humans mixed together, mixed with countless broken limbs. Under the flash of lightning, the scene appeared nauseating, and then mercilessly washed away by the torrent of rain …
"Forget it, let's go!"
Jun Ling probably could not watch any longer. This kind of battle was impossible for the six or seven of them to participate in. The canyon was now a whirlpool. Once they were sucked in, there was no way to get out. The final result would be to die of exhaustion.
Ding Meng nodded. Now that the main force of the monsters was holding back the main force, they could only take advantage of this opportunity to go deeper.
After passing through the canyon, the terrain finally flattened. The rainstorm in the sky lessened, and the temperature rose. It could be seen that the vast terrain in front of them might have been a grassland decades ago, but now the grassland had become a "stone plain". There was no longer an ugly rainforest on the stone plain. Instead, there was a towering tree every few hundred meters. The trees were like lighthouses, pointing the way for Jun Ling.
Xiao Ai said, "Ding Meng, aren't these the Holy Trees you mentioned?"
Ding Meng sighed. "The Holy Trees have become stone trees, and the Holy Spirits inside have disappeared."
Jun Ling explained, "The God's Stones have probably been used up by the monsters."
Ding Meng said, "Is this position considered the core position?"
Jun Ling shook her head and said, "I don't know, but according to the description of the ancestors, we are still very far from the core. The current environment is very much in line with the kind of environment that Elder Xue described as devouring the existence of the royal family. You see, we haven't encountered any monsters along the way. If there really are monsters devouring their own kind, then this grassland is the so-called 'stable environment'."
This analysis was undoubtedly very reasonable. Ding Meng frowned and said, "We have to speed up."
Jun Ling turned her head and said, "Junior Leopard!"
Junior Leopard immediately went forward. "Sister Jun!"
Jun Ling said coldly, "You will scout the way. Move as fast as you can!"