Chapter 346: This filthy bloodsucker has corrupted you
Damon was the first to recover, and he immediately grabbed Blood Wraith and Phoenix and ran out of the poison zone. "Fuck, I did not think these guys would have mental attacks at their disposal!"
All the men he had seen so far were thick and bulky and muscular and seemed to rely purely on their physical strength and enhancement. He did not think that they would also have the ability to send a mental attack.
Maybe that’s why they had honed such an attack to catch their opponents off guard. Damon made a mental note not to fall for something like this again as he dropped the brother and sister duo a little distance away.
He then once again rushed into the poison madness and took care of the other men who had by now become slow and sluggish and almost paralyzed. Those who had come in direct contact with his blood were already dead, but the rest were still alive, even if barely.
Damon finished the job he started and also absorbed the blood essence from all the dead guys. He received a few more of the same type of skills, but nothing relating to rune buffing or mental attack.
It looked like luck was not on his side. He could only hope that there were more of these guys as he quickly got back to Blood Wraith and Phoenix. Damon looked at the two who still hadn’t recovered. Lugging around the duo was taking time.
"Blood Wraith, can you give me a few minutes? Can you erect a shield or something and hold on?"
The guy weakly nodded. The mental attack was very strong, and these two were affected a lot more than he had been. Phoenix still had her eyes closed and was sweating profusely. It looked like she was affected the most.
Damon summoned Elina just in case and left her with them as a backup. His figure then vanished into a blur as he started combing through the forest. In no time, he ran into three more groups of patrols, and with just a single poison burst, he took care of the big guys.
Damon had never fought with poison before in both his lifetimes. Using such an overpowered, poisonous ability felt like a cheat. Ghost was right. If he relied on this too much, then all his other skills might become lacking. But right now, he was extremely short on time, so he took the shortcut.
He continued tearing through the forest, most parts of which had become a corrupted groove by now. Every patrol that emerged from the trees barely had time to react before [Poison Burst] swallowed them whole. The once-proud rune guardians, so terrifying to Phoenix and Blood Wraith, crumbled in seconds, their bodies collapsing into sludge as their runes blackened and rotted.
The notifications rolled endlessly across Damon’s vision:
[Ding! You have killed a Runebound Guardian.]
[Ding! You have gained experience points.]
[Ding! Blood Extraction Successful. Skill Gained: Minor Vitality Boost (F, Passive).]
[Ding! Your skill Minor Vitality Boost has leveled up]
...
...
Damon continued savagely culling down every Rune Guardian in his path until he spotted the mine in the distance. He then sent the coordinates to Blood Wraith and Phoenix. Phoenix had recovered by now, and the duo quickly managed to get there on their own.
"Bro, you are really op!" Blood Wraith bitterly smiled.
Phoenix did not say anything, but there was an embarrassed expression on her face.
Clearly, both of them had seen all the decay and plague on their way and how Damon had single-handedly dominated the whole tribe.
Damon casually leaned against a half-rotted trunk, crimson eyes scanning the mine’s entrance. "It’s fine. They weren’t that strong. They had a pretty big weakness."
Blood Wraith laughed. "Of course. In front of big bro, everything is indeed weak. The whole tribe was just unlucky to be on your path."
Phoenix opened her mouth to say something, but she simply closed it without any words coming out.
"Alright, that’s enough. Let’s go inside and see what the mine is really worth. There might still be stronger members of the tribe around, so keep your guards up."
Damon walked over to the cave entrance when suddenly another shockwave spread through the area. A low, guttural sound rolled through the forest, a chorus of whispers woven into one terrible voice.
"Blasphemer... thief of blood... your poison feeds me."
The ground quaked under their feet, sending cracks through the already rotted soil. Black ichor bubbled out from the roots of the corrupted trees, spreading like veins across the forest floor toward the mine’s mouth. The guttural voice echoed again, this time closer, reverberating through their very bones.
"Humans, you have come to the wrong place! You have aligned yourself with the wrong being! This filthy bloodsucker has corrupted you, and you no longer deserve to live!"
Roots sprang up like serpents from the ground, thick as tree trunks, writhing with unnatural speed. They lashed out at the trio, tearing through stone and soil with sickening cracks.
One slammed into the half-rotted trunk Damon had been leaning against, shattering it into splinters. Another whipped across the ground, gouging a deep scar in the earth where Blood Wraith had been standing only a breath ago.
Phoenix’s hood flew back as she conjured a blazing barrier, fire roaring into the shape of a dome around her and her brother.
The roots struck it again and again, each impact rattling the shield and dimming the flames. Her face was pale, sweat running down her temples, but her crimson eyes burned as she held her ground.
The voice roared louder, shaking the canopy above. "Bloodsucker... you desecrate the Grove! Your poison is mine now, and through it, your blood shall be mine as well!"
All of a sudden, even more roots sprang up, and these were stronger, emitting a strong, poisonous aura.
Blood Wraith cursed, hacking through one of the roots with a greatsword, ichor spraying across his armor. "Tch. Damn things won’t stop coming!"
Damon had no problem dealing with the roots, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t be the only thing they would have to worry about right now. His instinct was spot on, as immediately he felt a searing pain in his head.
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Mass release sponsored by Syphatrol