Those things hadn't retreated far.
They lay on the mud a dozen or so meters away, their vines half-curled, like a swarm of leeches ready to pounce again at any moment.
They didn't dare approach, but they hadn't left either. They were waiting for the fire to go out.
Deep in Black Water Marsh, water began to splash. Something larger was pushing its way over.
"Master..."
Long Ya jumped out of the truck and leveled her sniper rifle, aiming into the depths of the marsh.
"There's something in the fog."
Yang Yong had already seen it.
Deep in the Gray Mist, an enormous black outline was slowly rising from the marsh.
It was more than a hundred times larger than the vine monsters from before.
The part exposed above the water alone stood over three meters tall, like a black wall.
The wall was densely embedded with human bones, and countless vines pulsed between them like blood vessels.
Zhao Hu and the others' legs went weak at the sight.
"We're finished... it's that thing... that's the thing!"
Zhao Hu's face was white as paper. He couldn't even keep hold of his knife.
Yang Yong, however, smiled.
"Now that's more like it."
He stepped toward the thing, planting a foot in the mud, the muddy water covering his ankle.
He walked at an unhurried pace, as though strolling through his own backyard.
The Ten-Thousand-Forged Primordial Furnace floated at his side, its flames roaring and lighting half his face a pale blue-white.
"Master, don't go too deep!"
Long Ya shouted from behind him, following for two steps with her rifle before stopping.
Sensing Yang Yong approach, the wall-like thing let out a low rumble, like countless snakes rubbing against one another in a sewer.
The human bones on the wall began rattling