Humanoid Monster

"Humanoid?" The Overmind frowned. Most forms taken by Root Vine Monsters were common forest creatures like squirrels, apes, and various birds. Now that a humanoid one had appeared, did that mean...

While thinking, the Overmind sent out the only large Infected beside him—the Leopard.

Without a word, it immediately hobbled forward on one crooked leg, its other two legs twitching as it shuffled toward the Root Vine Monster. The mere dozens of meters made it stumble several times.

Then the Root Vine Monster raised a leg and kicked it more than ten meters away. It landed on the Creep, its body twitching. It was not dead, but its broken bones left it unable to stand...

Boom— A ring of vapor burst before Agatha's head.

Amid the roar,

a large hole appeared in the head of the newly born Root Vine Monster, and acid rapidly corroded away most of its head.

But a bright yellow-green light flared across the Root Vine Monster's body. Stimulated by that unknown power, the Root Vines grew at a rate that matched the acid's corrosion.

The energy and matter the Root Vine Monster used to heal seemed to come from nowhere, but the acid stored in the Acid Spine was ultimately limited.

In just a few seconds, the humanoid Root Vine Monster regrew its head. Its face, formed from tangled roots, had no real features to speak of. Only a pair of yellow-green glowing eyes locked firmly onto Agatha.

The humanoid Root Vine Monster stepped toward the two of them.

The wildly growing Creep immediately spread up from its toes.

It immediately pulled its foot back. The yellow glow of swirling grass blades appeared again, pushing the Creep tissue away from its foot as its body floated into the air on the support of that light.

Whoosh—

A vortex of grass blades surrounded by firefly-like specks split off from its body and flew toward Agatha.

It was not fast, but for the immobile Agatha, there was nowhere to dodge.

Just as the spinning light reached midair, a palm slapped it with a sharp smack.

The grass blades fluttered around the Overmind's hand for several seconds. He felt as if a swarm of something had latched onto his hand and was sucking hard. Yet in the end, it did not even leave a mark on him. He was completely unharmed.

So it really was harmless...

Agatha had said that a level-eight Psionic Energy user could hurt him.

Looking at it another way: if the enemy did not possess level-eight Psionic Energy, he could do whatever the hell he wanted!

"You little bastard!" the Overmind roared and charged at the humanoid Root Vine Monster.

The monster swung its arm. Those interwoven Root Vines carried unbelievable force, producing a whistling rush of air that usually came only from swinging long-handled weapons.

With a thud, the monster drove a claw into the Overmind's forehead—without breaking the skin.

Whoosh—

An Acid Spine lodged in the monster's shoulder. Because Agatha had deliberately adjusted the firing force, the Spine only stuck in its shoulder rather than piercing through its body.

The acid directly corroded away one of the monster's shoulders and nearly half its chest. That arm fell off as well.

Yellow-green energy lit up on the monster's body once more.

But the Overmind keenly noticed that its hovering body had dropped lower.

Was all its energy being used to maintain its regeneration?

The Overmind did not dwell on it. He lunged forward, grabbed one of the monster's legs, twisted, and slammed it toward the ground.

No matter what, making it touch the Creep more could not hurt!

Most of the Overmind's bodily functions were indeed dormant, but his physical abilities still far surpassed those of an ordinary person.

The nearly four-meter-tall monster was caught off guard and actually got swung up before being smashed viciously into the ground.

Creep tissue immediately swarmed over it.

The spinning light wrapped around the monster began to accelerate. As the Root Vines shook violently, the yellow-green vortex suddenly expanded outward, generating a real shockwave that blasted the Creep and the Overmind away like an exploding bomb.

As he flew backward through the air, the Overmind caught sight of a depression in the Creep not far away. That was...

A soft sensation met him. The Creep caught the Overmind like a spring mattress and absorbed most of the impact—sometimes, the Creep was intelligent enough to make one wonder whether it possessed an independent consciousness.

The Overmind quickly climbed to his feet and looked back at the monster.

After that outburst, it could no longer maintain flight. Both feet had landed fully on the ground, yet the yellow-green glow covering its body still resisted the Creep's advance.

Taking a step, the Overmind charged at the monster again.

The monster furiously met his charge, but in the next instant, a Spine lodged in its waist and interrupted its exertion of force.

The Overmind slammed hard into it.

Of course, the Overmind's strength was still insufficient to erase the difference in their mass. His charge only forced the other party back a few steps and did not even knock it down.

But after taking only two steps back, the monster's body suddenly sank.

One of its feet plunged deep into the ground.

This was a pitfall dug by infected rats, using their original rat hole as its core. It was filled with adhesive Creep tissue. The Creep's ability to shift between softness and hardness was far more terrifying than a swamp or quicksand. Once a foot stepped inside, even an elephant could not pull it out.

It still tried to struggle, but the Overmind was right beside it.

He swept out with a kick, knocking down its other foot as well. With only one foot planted in the Creep tissue, it could not maintain its balance. The monster swayed once, then crashed violently to the ground.

The Overmind immediately pounced forward. One hand clamped around its neck, while the other curled into a claw and reached toward the Creep on the ground.

The Creep, originally like a rubber running track, immediately became soft yet incredibly tough. Mycelium climbed up the Overmind's arm and firmly secured it in place.

Exerting force with both hands, the Overmind pinned the monster firmly where it lay.

Agatha fired another Spine, lodging it in the monster's other shoulder and corroding away its remaining arm. For a time, only one of the monster's limbs could still move.

Creep tissue rapidly crawled and coiled over the monster's body.

A blazing yellow-green light shone from the monster again. Large areas of Creep were driven away or even killed. The massive amount of Creep inside the pit thrashed wildly as if boiling, but it still did not let the monster pull out its leg.

The Overmind was also lifted into the air by that force, but relying on the hand bound by the Creep as a point of leverage, he not only did not get thrown away, but continued pressing the monster to the ground.

Agatha fired another Spine. With most of its body damaged, the monster had no choice but to devote more energy to regeneration and no longer had the strength to clear away the Creep tissue on its body.

At the same time, because it kept struggling, the Creep began constructing keratin layers and chitinous shells around key areas to strengthen itself.

Only after the monster was bound so tightly by thick skin and shell that it could no longer move did the Overmind let go.

"Finally dealt with it."

The Creep secreted digestive fluid. Though it was far inferior to Agatha's Acid Spine, it made up for it in quantity. At this moment, Creep tissue had completely filled and wrapped around every Root Vine on the monster's body.

Even if the monster devoted all its power to accelerating regeneration, its body was still being corroded bit by bit. Its death was only a matter of time.

Scattered little monsters were still being born, but none could break through the Creep's blockade.

The Overmind took two steps, leaned back against his Creep sofa, and let out a long breath. He had never fought such an exhilarating battle in either of his lives. Now that it was over, he felt... well, nothing. Neither his body nor mind showed the slightest sign of fatigue...