Backstab

After an unknown amount of time, as the colorful magic particles dissipated into the void, Ivette saw the mangled and scorched corpses of the "Mechanical Tyrant" and the "Night Walker Demon."

After landing from her floating state, she checked her remaining mana and found only about 377 points left. If she set aside 100 points as an untouchable red line, she would have 277 free mana points left to allocate. This might not be enough to fight the nest master "Tide Worm Queen" and the mysterious fog creator.

But fortunately, there was a way to replenish it.

She walked over to the corpse of the "Night Walker Demon," whose head had been blown to smithereens. Drawing her Alloy Combat Blade, she awkwardly operated it, using Wind Control to clear away debris. After some effort, she finally dug out a Mana Core from the charred abdomen of the corpse.

However, after absorbing the mana, she couldn't help but frown, thinking that the Mana Core had too little energy, only a little over 20 points, barely enough to pick her teeth.

It was likely the mana the Night Walker Demon hadn't used during the battle... so it also indirectly proved that its ability to summon bats was a mana-consuming spell. she thought.

From this perspective, every third-stage Aberration should possess at least one special spell, otherwise, this Mana Core would have been wasted.

Then…

What special spell did the Twin-Blade Demon master? Speed enhancement?

Without further thought, she turned and looked for the Mechanical Tyrant's Mana Core. Unfortunately, the Mechanical Tyrant hadn't reached the third stage and didn't have a Mana Core. However, it had exploded into a pile of scrap metal, and among the wreckage, there were many recyclable items, such as certain functional modules of its magic-guided cannon. She decided to return and thoroughly inspect them after the current situation was resolved.

Thus, after finishing her looting, she summoned a pillar of fire to incinerate the corpses of the two Aberrations. After completely finishing the cleanup, she took the magic-guided skateboard off her back, took flight again, and sped towards the depths of the dense fog.

The last leg of the journey took about half an hour of flight.

It was clear that the fog creator was unwilling to let the intruder pinpoint its location and was constantly adjusting its path planning. However, Ivette was a Rune Hacker, and even if she couldn't interfere with the operation of the magic array, she could still find clues through spell analysis and identify the correct route.

Finally, she broke through a patch of fog so thick it was almost tangible, a gray zone, and Ivette's vision suddenly cleared, revealing a bizarre open area.

—The ground was completely covered by a writhing, purplish-red flesh carpet, forming a circular island hundreds of meters in diameter. A ring around it, and overhead, were enveloped by endless dense fog.

Although she couldn't see the mother nest, she could tell from the pulsating flesh on the ground that the mother nest should be nearby.

Besides that, in the very center of this area, resided an even more bizarre existence—a massive, gelatinous, pale fleshy mass for its upper body, while its lower half trailed and swung dozens of thin, intestine-like, writhing red and white tentacles, resembling a terrifying jellyfish that had crawled out of the depths of a nightmare into reality.

Upon Ivette's appearance, a gaping, fanged maw split open in the center of the fleshy mass, causing the surrounding fog to churn and boil, as if sensing some kind of tension.

Is this the "Mist Beast"?

A circle of runes appeared around Ivette, and countless elemental strikes transformed into a dazzling stream of light, bombarding it.

But the Jellyfish Mist Beast was not simple. It used its tentacles as feet, moving rapidly across the ground like a nimble cockroach, dodging Ivette's spell bombardment by a hair's breadth. It also didn't forget to lash out with a few tentacles as a counterattack.

Amidst this dodging and counterattacking, Ivette found this Jellyfish Mist Beast much more troublesome than the "Mechanical Tyrant" and the "Night Walker Demon." It was very good at dodging, causing many of her spells to miss. Unlike the other two nest guardians, it didn't just stand its ground and exchange blows, dying if it couldn't win, without any fear.

Even more troublesome was that at this moment, a large number of low-tier Aberrations, over a hundred of them, surged out of the fog. These Aberrations were not Tide Worms; they each had their own unique appearances, seemingly the final guard force around the mother nest.

The Tide Worm army outside might also be returning, so she couldn't waste any more time… Ivette slightly crouched, then her body was enveloped in a cyan airflow, and she shot towards the Jellyfish Mist Beast like a cannonball.

She wasn't planning to engage in close-quarters combat with a blade like Rosaline; that wasn't her area of expertise. Her only goal in closing the distance was to improve the hit rate of her spells and shove the rune circles into its mouth!

In an instant, without giving the Jellyfish Mist Beast a chance to react, she had summoned a large number of rune circles in close proximity. Blood-red tentacles whipped over from all directions, but they failed to breach the Scarlet Armor's defenses.

The next second, spells roared, as the four major elements of ice, fire, wind, and lightning intertwined, blooming like a rainbow! The Jellyfish Mist Beast, unable to escape the attack range, immediately had a small half of its head blown off, collapsing to the ground and turning into a twitching mass of scorched rotten flesh.

Seeing the Jellyfish Mist Beast almost instantly killed, Ivette's expression remained unchanged. So far, no third-stage Aberration's defense was something she couldn't break through. If she had more mana, the outcome wouldn't be surprising.

Then, while clearing the surrounding low-tier Aberrations, she cast her gaze towards the depths of the fog circle.

At this moment, the dense fog encircling this core area was rapidly dissipating and retreating like a massive curtain being pulled away by an invisible giant hand, disappearing at a visible rate and over a large area.

On a bloody, flesh-covered open space in the distance, as the fog vanished, a massive, mountain-like flesh mother nest was finally exposed in the dazzling sunlight, with nowhere to hide.

However, to her surprise, the Corrosive Beak Demon Vulture, which should have disappeared, was now guarding the mother nest. Half of its body was scorched, and its cloudy eyes held a clearer, yet distinctly fearful, expression. It was most likely forcibly commanded back by the mother nest.

With just a glance, Ivette's gaze passed over it and settled on the mother nest.

Unlike the one in Grayport City, this mother nest in the corrupted forest was more massive and bloated. Its colossal body, far exceeding the proportions of an ordinary nest, resembled a pulsating giant flesh heart exposed on the ground. Beneath its semi-transparent, tough membrane, she saw a creature with an upper body resembling a human female and a lower body covered in a hard shell, a giant insectoid, slumbering within.

This must be the nest master, "Tide Worm Queen."

It had used over 100 mana points to eliminate the Jellyfish Mist Beast, plus some other mana expenditures, leaving her with about 260 mana points…

She calculated in her mind, then saw the Corrosive Beak Demon Vulture suddenly charge at her, shrieking and wildly spewing green acid, like a frenzied, deranged three-headed dragon.

Half a minute later, watching the Corrosive Beak Demon Vulture's corpse slowly fall, Ivette recalculated and found she had just over 200 mana points left.

It should be enough.

At this moment, clearly unwilling to wait for death, within the mother nest, the Tide Worm Queen, which had been in a dormant state, opened all six of its scarlet eyes on its human-like female face.

It tore through the membrane, and its four-story-tall insectoid body struggled free from the incubation cavity, crashing onto the flesh ground.

Simultaneously, Ivette noticed that on the abdomen of its female half, two massive insectoid limbs extended outwards, ending in huge, bone-like scythes. Their thick blades shone with a metallic luster, appearing far more threatening than the fragile blades of the Twin-Blade Demon.

But whether it was due to a failed evolution, she saw many cracks on the Tide Worm Queen's body, especially on the insectoid half, making it look somewhat scarred and weak, panting wearily, completely lacking any oppressive aura.

This seemed like a good thing, but Ivette still felt something was a bit strange.

She had prepared herself for a top-tier Aberration, a Grand Perfection of the third stage, perhaps even on the verge of the fourth stage, even if it had failed evolution. Yet, the opponent came with a weakness debuff… it felt like a waste of her emotional investment.

"Might as well put you out of your misery," she thought, floating up and beginning her full-power bombardment. Large amounts of magical elements splashed across the area, accompanied by the Tide Worm Queen's shrill screams.

But the Queen wasn't without its struggles. It twisted its body, trying to minimize the area covered by the barrage, while releasing a large number of mutated Tide Worms from its abdomen, which surged towards Ivette. Finally, it cast a spell to enhance its self-healing ability. In the green light, its festering flesh began to repair, further increasing the mana required to kill it.

Ivette's brows furrowed even tighter, clearly due to the insufficient mana. The scale of her spell bombardment was visibly shrinking, like switching from a high-pressure water gun to a small pipe.

Fortunately, the Tide Worm Queen couldn't hold on any longer. With a mournful cry, it collapsed onto the ground, lifeless. But just to be safe, Ivette drew the Alloy Combat Blade from her waist, intending to finish off the weakened Tide Worm Queen with close combat and conserve her remaining mana.

But in that exact moment, an unusual whistling sound from behind her alerted her.

She instantly turned, attempting to block with her blade, but her stiff movements and incorrect grip caused the blade to be knocked away by the attacker's fierce force before she could even grasp the hilt properly.

In desperation, she could only use her delicate hands, covered in glowing red runes, to forcefully grip the attacker's blade. Amidst a piercing metallic screech, golden sparks scattered everywhere! The next second, she was knocked from her airborne state to the ground by her opponent, creating a shallow crater.

Then, before she could get up, the attacker swiftly swooped down again, launching a barrage of attacks at the silver-haired girl within the pit, forcing her to fire spells in all directions to temporarily push them back.

Afterward, when the attacker pulled back and ceased their assault, Ivette slowly got up from the crater.

She looked down at the gruesome, bloody wound on her palm, then looked up and said expressionlessly, "You truly didn't disappoint me."

At this moment, the attacker's figure became clear. It was the Twin-Blade Demon... but not entirely.

Its scaled body had expanded by more than double, its rock-like muscles bulging and rippling beneath its skin with explosive power.

From its spine, two pairs of new membranous wings, as thin as cicada wings and with edges gleaming with metallic coldness, tore through flesh and extended outwards. At its shoulders and waist, a pair of giant claws and a pair of humanoid arms with distinct fingers emerged as if grafted onto its body.

At this moment, it was perhaps more fitting to describe it as a Six-armed Demon rather than a Twin-Blade Demon. Its pitch-black scales gleamed like metal under the sun. With twin claws, twin blades, twin hands, six wings on its back, and an even more robust physique, it was in its full, demon-king-like glory.

"Likewise," the Six-armed Demon looked at Ivette. From the position of its mouth, it curved upwards extremely slowly, revealing a triumphant, contemptuous, and malicious slight smile.