Testing Their Strength
The gleaming Insect Armor Sword hovered in mid-air as Lu Heng lowered his stance and steadily stepped into the blood-soaked clearing.
The struggling, howling Green Demon remained bound by layers of white Mycelium, their bodies trembling incessantly, their crimson eyes filled with undisguised ferocity and bloodlust. They twisted and writhed, desperately tearing at the Mycelium, their hoarse, eerie cries never ceasing. Even trapped in their cage, they exuded a mad, fearless wildness. The soil was violently trampled up, scattering fine particles that clung to their rough, grayish-blue skin. Some of the Green Demon ' fingertips were already bleeding, yet they still refused to stop pulling at the Mycelium.
Previously, long-distance observations only allowed Lu Heng to understand the physical appearance and twisted habits of these otherworldly creatures. Their frenzied hunting behavior and unscrupulous predation methods were merely the surface. Their true combat strength, fighting style, and close-range threat could only be fully understood through personal combat. This data would be an indispensable reference for the subsequent defense of Moonview Valley.
Lu Heng didn't rush to hunt them down. With a slight movement of his fingertips, his consciousness traveled along the underground Mycelium network, quietly removing most of the Mycelium bindings from the four Green Demon. He left only a small amount of fibrous Mycelium gently wrapped around their waists and abdomens, maintaining a weak restraint to prevent them from scattering and escaping. At the same time, he released their limbs, giving them enough space to move around and attack.
The taut white vines suddenly relaxed, and the four Green Demon, which had been imprisoned for so long, trembled violently.
Without any probing or hesitation, as soon as they regained their mobility, they let out low growls, their limbs pounding the gravelly ground as they pounced on Lu Heng.
Unlike the orderly combat of the native Aberrant and the instinctive hunting logic of wild beasts, the fighting style of these Green Demon completely overturned all of Lu Heng's past experiences.
It was completely chaotic and lacked any particular technique.
Within their thin, withered bodies burst forth a ferocious brute force far exceeding what one might expect from their size. Their claws lashed out aimlessly, their bodies savagely rammed, and their heads thrashed wildly. Each attack was a mad, life-or-death struggle, disregarding injuries and consequences. They seemed oblivious to the fear brought on by pain; their only thought was to tear apart any living creature before them.
Lu Heng's eyes narrowed slightly, and he nimbly dodged the first oncoming attack by sliding his feet to the side.
His past opponents, whether wild beasts or native Aberrant, all left predictable traces in their offense and defense, allowing him to dismantle and predict their next move. But these mutants from the Green Demon Plane were completely chaotic and insane, their every move a chaotic brute force, so ferocious that they defied all reason.
In the brief moment of the struggle, the Green Demon missed its target and, instead of retreating to adjust its posture, was propelled by immense inertia to crash heavily into the ground. The sharp edges of the hard gravel ripped open its forehead, tearing its flesh, and dark green blood flowed down its cheeks. Yet, it seemed oblivious to the pain, raising its head and charging at Lu Heng once more.
Extreme madness, even accompanied by a morbid self-harm habit.
As long as they can get close to the target and cause damage, they don't care even if they hurt themselves; the desire to attack overwhelms all survival instincts.
The four Green Demon took turns attacking, their speed swift and their strength immense. The narrow battle area was instantly filled with chaotic attacks. The stench of blood and flesh filled the air. They attacked without holding back, even willing to take damage to themselves, all to close the distance with Lu Heng.
Lu Heng calmed himself down and slashed out with precision with his Insect Armor Sword. The blade grazed the Green Demon's shoulder bone, leaving a distinct gash.
The dark green blood gushing from the wound did not deter these alien species; on the contrary, it completely stimulated their ferocity.
One of the Green Demon ignored the approaching sword and charged forward despite the force of the slash, its withered shoulder slamming into Lu Heng's torso.
The collision came unexpectedly, with a force far exceeding expectations.
A dull thud resounded, and the crimson armor flowing across Lu Heng's body instantly glowed with a faint red halo, steadily deflecting most of the impact. The hard Blood Armor blocked all fatal damage, but the shock from the impact still spread through his flesh, causing a tingling sensation in his ribs.
This was the second time he had been grazed at close range in the brief entanglement.
Lu Heng dodged the oncoming claw strike by sidestepping it, having already made a clear judgment in his mind.
These Green Demon goblins lack sophisticated fighting skills, proactive defensive awareness, and even the ability to avoid damage. However, they are brute force, fast-paced, mad, and fearless of pain, making close-quarters combat extremely unforgiving. Ordinary wilderness survivors, without armor or any trump cards, will be torn to shreds by these reckless madmen if they are not careful.
Another round of chaotic attacks came, their sharp claws scrambling wildly, carrying a foul stench. Their attacks were unpredictable, lashing out left and right, making it difficult to predict their destination.
Lu Heng moved swiftly and nimbly, his movements steady and agile, constantly searching for openings in the chaotic attacks. He deliberately suppressed the speed of his attacks, not rushing to end the battle, but instead maintaining close-quarters combat, probing and pulling the opponent. With each block, dodge, and strike, he was sensing the Green Demon's power generation methods and physical resilience, gathering all the practical combat information.
After several maneuvers and tests, Lu Heng realized that long-range elimination was always the best solution for dealing with these crazed mutants. By using distance to suppress them and preventing them from engaging in close combat, he could minimize risks and reduce unnecessary shocks. Close combat had too little room for error; even with Blood Armor defense and overwhelming combat power, one could easily be hit by chaotic attacks, wasting the Blood Armor's energy reserves.
Of course, despite the risks, he wasn't afraid of large-scale battles. Even if the remaining twenty Green Demon surrounded him, he could rely on his agility, Blood Armor defense, the support of the Inkstone Guard on the perimeter, and the trump card of Blood Taisui to keep the entire battle firmly in his grasp. There was no need to actively engage in close-quarters combat and waste resources unnecessarily.
The initial assessment is complete; there's no need to keep any survivors for further practice.
Lu Heng stopped trying to negotiate, his sharp eyes softened, and he completely abandoned any thoughts of probing.
He raised his fingertips, his consciousness instantly connecting with the Blood Taisui beneath the entire layer of soil. The next second, all the dormant Mycelium on the open ground swelled, tightened, and constricted. The white vines, which had only been restraining and shackled, instantly transformed into dense cages, fiercely locking the bodies of all the remaining Green Demon. The four Green Demon that had just been freed from their restraints and were about to attack hadn't even reacted before their bodies were instantly entangled, their limbs, necks, and torsos firmly bound, unable to move an inch.
More than twenty Green Demon were completely imprisoned. Their frantic roars were compressed into muffled groans by the Mycelium. Even though their bodies could not move, the ferocious light in their eyes never went out, and they continued to turn their eyes to lock onto Lu Heng's location.
Lu Heng remained calm as he gently activated the final power of devouring.
The dense, white Mycelium pierced through the skin, instantly penetrating the flesh of all the Green Demon, frantically draining their blood, essence, and Other Plane energy. Visibly, the bodies of the ferocious and crazed Green Demon rapidly withered, shrank, and collapsed. Their plump flesh quickly dried up, and their hard bones were eroded layer by layer by the Mycelium. In just a few breaths, they were all reduced to a thin, withered shell, ultimately being completely decomposed and devoured by the Mycelium, dissipating into the air.
The stench and violence of the entire open space vanished in an instant. The ground was spotless, with no remaining bones or debris, only a faint, otherworldly stench lingering in the breeze.
The Wristband's screen automatically lit up, displaying a clear line of white text.
[Otherworldly Invaders - Green Demon: 24 kills]
All twenty-four vanguard Green Demon were wiped out.
Lu Heng raised his hand and looked down, his gaze sweeping across the Full-Domain Detection Interface of the Wristband. The Other Plane that had been scattered across the entire wilderness were the remaining traces of the Green Demon. But now, on the screen, all the scattered red dots had been extinguished and disappeared, and the entire detection area was clean, without the slightest fluctuation of the Green Demon ' aura.
There was no trace of escape or concealment.
It's not hard to tell that the Green Demon vanguard squad, which was among the first to infiltrate the local territory through the Plane rift, has been completely wiped out. They were either devoured and killed on the spot, or they sensed the intense energy fluctuations here, became fearful, and retreated to the depths of the Plane rift to hide.
A brief period of calm enveloped the wilderness; the wind still rustled the wild grass, and there was no longer any sound of mad screams or struggles in the forest.
Lu Heng straightened up, sheathed his Insect Armor Sword, and gazed at the deep shadows of the distant Mist Forest. The combat strength of the first batch of otherworldly vanguards had been thoroughly ascertained. They were mad, disorderly, brute-force, ferocious, unafraid of casualties, and skilled in close-quarters combat. Their weaknesses were equally obvious: they lacked strategy, did not know how to defend, were afraid of ranged suppression, and had limited endurance in continuous combat.
This is just the beginning. Plane advancement continues, and the Plane Membrane Rift has never been completely closed. The first wave of vanguards has been wiped out, and an even larger-scale interdimensional invasion is surely brewing behind the rift.
Lu Heng turned around and slowly walked back towards Moonview Valley.