Dark Blood Path - Chapter 69: The Swampland

Jinshi’s new innate skill, “Complete rock formation,” was undoubtedly an evolution of “Partial rock formation,” but it could never completely replace the latter since Xiao Yu uncovered a flaw in the ability. Jinshi’s legs and feet would become stiff and rigid once his whole body had been rockified, and his flexibility would then be reduced by at least 30 to 40%. Although his defensive power would substantially improve, that state was relatively unfavorable in combat.

After Xiao Yu discovered this, he immediately instructed: “Although complete rock formation is your new best defensive skill, you must not rely too much on defense. Combat skill development is also extremely important. No matter how powerful your defense is, it cannot be employed to take down your opponent. After all, the best defense is a good offense.”

“Yes, I understand!”

Jinshi lifted off the rockified state and returned to normal. His body, however, was bigger than before, his skin tone looked darker and more glossy, and his head was still shining, as he had practically no hair remaining. With a height of around 2.3 meters, standing in front of Xiao Yu, who was only 1.8 meters tall, it was like an adult and a child were confronting each other. But from the expressions of the two, Xiao Yu looked more like an adult, while Jin Shi looked like a child being taught.

Xiao Yu rummaged through the kobold chieftain’s corpse for a while, discovering an intermediate soul gem and two other items, including a piece of white-grade equipment, which was the kobold chieftains’ chain hammer, called “Kobold Hammer.” The chain was roughly five feet long, with an iron ball full of iron spikes dangling from the end, which resembled a meteor hammer. This white-grade item was very ordinary in every aspect, and not many people could use this kind of weapon, so he put it away first.

The other one was “Explosion Blessing Spell”, a white-grade magic scroll that buffs weapons with a first-rank explosion magic attack; its effect lasts for one minute.

Using this scroll to bless his weapon should cause an explosive effect with every one of his attacks, similar to when the kobold chieftain hit a target with its chain hammer. Although the duration was limited to one minute, you should be aware that this is a first-rank explosion blessing, which is tantamount to applying a bombardment effect to each of his attacks for a whole minute straight. The increase in power was not insignificant.

When Xiao Yu battles against an opponent, he can fight with all his might, and within a minute, he can attack hundreds of times with his high-paced combat speed. If every attack held an explosive effect, how many people could block it at this stage? How many people could survive his onslaught? It was plausible how strong that power could be.

This scroll was undoubtedly heaven-defying!

I didn’t expect a mere kobold to drop such a rare blessing scroll!

Wang Chao and Jin Shi eagerly led their squad members to the kobold lair. But not long after, they both reappeared with disappointed expressions.

Wang Chao yelled, “Damn it, these dog-headed monsters are too weak; we haven’t found anything good after searching for a long time.”

Xiao Yu probably also guessed this, “It’s fine if you didn’t find anything; don’t delay the journey; let’s go! There is a swamp land ahead of us; it is a dangerous area, and we must go through it before nighttime.”

Han Kexin had seen this area marked by Xiao Yu on the map. There were many similarly marked areas on it. These places either had a unique geographical environment or were home to some troubling monsters. They would undoubtedly incur more significant losses if they did not pay attention.

After everyone left the Karst cave, they felt they were in a completely new world. They had faced various creatures and fought several battles, each time fighting valiantly. Everyone’s confidence grew higher than before, which was a good sign. Still, Han Kexin was a little worried, for fear that everyone was too confident for their own good.

It was a terrifying world they lived in!

After all, what filled the woods were not the trees, but monsters!

…………

After annihilating the kobold camp, Xiao Yu and his companions resumed their journey. They strolled through the lush forest for almost an hour before arriving at a swampy woodland. This part of the forest’s overall geography was low-lying, and the water storage capacity was adequate, resulting in high moisture in the soil, which generated a swamp.

The trees here were relatively sparse, each one rising from the ground with a huge crown that resembled a large umbrella that covered the sky as several people stood encircling them.

The ground in the woods was full of rotten soil, and the exposed roots of decayed trees were covered with moss and fungi. As a result, there were various small puddles everywhere. The small ones were only the size of a washbasin, while the big ones were comparable to a pond. This was stagnant water; therefore, it was filthy and unclean, yet they could clearly see several small insects, both red and yellow, rolling and swimming inside it, as well as a significant number of yellow or green algae floating on the surface.

There was a gray mist in the air, as well as a foul smell that many people found repulsive.

Xiao Yu snorted, stepped into the muddy swamp, and a swarm of bubbles surrounded him. His entire thigh was submerged in the water. He walked forward two meters slowly in the mud before turning his head to face the others and nodding his head, “No problem; everyone should be able to cross.”

When he stepped back, most of his lower body was covered in rotten and foul-smelling mud, and some worms could still be vaguely seen wriggling on his clothes.

Everyone’s countenance changed, especially the girls. After walking all the way, their bodies were already covered in mud, and the stench was unbearable. Unexpectedly, there was a swamp that had to be crossed, and the entirety of their lower half would be submerged in it. Their expressions changed at once, but it was absolutely necessary to go since this was the shallowest spot in the whole area and some deep swamps were just bottomless pits into which people would definitely perish if they fell.

Everyone cast envious glances at Jiang Xiaowen. She was floating around effortlessly in the air, flapping her two transparent purple butterfly wings while they had to slog through the marsh. Among the group, only she remained clean from the mud and dirt.

Many boys offered to carry the girls over the swamp, and there were even a few couples among them, but even if they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, they didn’t seem to mind the arrangement. Everyone searched for partners; even Wang Chao and Jin Shi found a girl they liked as everyone assisted one another in crossing the swamp. Even though the boys carried the girls on their backs and walked through waist-high mud, it was still arduous, and the girls weren’t completely unscathed from the foul mud.

Especially since there were far more girls than boys on this team, and many young ladies who couldn’t find a partner had no choice but to secretly complain about their bad luck; after all, the plan couldn’t be delayed, so they had no choice but to cross on their own.

“Xiao Yu, this river is too dirty; do you think you can carry me across…”

When Xiao Yu was about to depart, a voice suddenly came from behind him. Looking back, it was Han Kexin.

Everyone immediately glanced at the two with envy. Of course, as long as it was a man in this environment, he would most likely envy Xiao Yu. As for the girls, Xiao Yu’s strength has already been deeply rooted in their hearts. So it came as no surprise that the majority of the ladies in the underground cave had previously harbored secret feelings for him. After all, most would dream of relying on a strong man like Xiao Yu.

Of course, everyone was just envious, and none of them had any malicious thoughts.

After all, Han Kexin was the person with the second-highest level of power or authority in the group, and with her high prestige, no one dared to carry her on his back. Needless to say, for Xiao Yu, the only females in the team who dared to ask him for his help were probably Han Kexin and Jiang Xiaowen, who had known him for the longest amount of time.

Jiang Xiaowen was originally proud of her wings, but when she saw Xiao Yu carrying Han Kexin on his back, she felt that they were really getting in the way!

Han Kexin lay on Xiao Yu’s shoulders; her legs hooked on his abdomen, and her warm body was tightly pressed against his. Even with a layer of black scales standing between them, Xiao Yu could still feel the other party’s plumpness and the amazing elasticity of her delicate figure. He deliberately remained quiet and kept moving forward. Han Kexin’s hands softly gripped the other party’s neck, and being carried by a guy in front of everyone made her cheeks a bit heated.

After a while, they eventually crossed the swamp area, but before they went any farther, they saw a long marshy river in front of them, at least a few hundred meters wide, flowing from west to east in a long stream, with many herbaceous plants growing around.

Now that there was yet another obstacle to cross, they quickly located a shallow area and began to cross the river like before.

Han Kexin felt a twinge of happiness in her heart. After all, lots of girls also came here on the backs of other boys, and after a period of adaptation, her courage also grew, and her hands gradually gained a tiny bit of strength, letting almost the entirety of her big breasts rest on the other party’s head.

With Han Kexin on his back, Xiao Yu was the first to go down, practically half-swimming and half-walking forward, and the people behind him got down the marshy river one after another and followed slowly.

Initially, everything was in order, and the group had already walked a dozen steps in the river. However, at the end of the line, in the middle of the marshy river, a Hawk member was slowly strutting before he suddenly felt a strong pull coming from his feet, and his whole body was dragged into the filthy river in an instant, leaving only bubbles behind.

When Xiao Yu was ready to cross the river, he heard a frantic call for rescue, “Help!” Before he could react, the voice died off quickly and abruptly. A large hole emerged unexpectedly in the middle of the river, and the muddy water in the surroundings started covering it to fill it up.

The person who was standing there just now is gone!

“Not good. Speed up and go ashore!” Xiao Yu yelled.

Everyone hurried to the shore as quickly as they could, but at that moment, another person was attacked and dragged down the river, only this time, it was a member of the Bear squad. When Jiang Xiaowen approached in the air, the only thing left at that place was a hole that was clogged up by mud and water. She could only stare at it blankly, and she had no way of doing anything.

Everyone stepped ashore one after another while Jiang Xiaowen was still flying around on the marshy river, sweating anxiously, but she didn’t know how to rescue her companion, who was dragged away.

Xiao Yu knew that those two people were most likely already dead, and he didn’t want Jiang Xiaowen to have an accident, so he immediately shouted, “Xiaowen, it’s dangerous over there; come back!”

Jiang Xiaowen hesitated, then the marsh underneath her suddenly erupted at the moment of her hesitation, revealing a weird-looking creature before a green, acid-like liquid shot straight at her. Jiang Xiaowen exclaimed, flapped her wings, and quickly flew backward.

The swamp suddenly bulged with countless moving big buns, which were rapidly approaching the shore.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, wondering what kind of monster they were facing.

Seeing this, Du Tao immediately shouted: “Don’t stand still; backup! Everyone back up! The Bears form a line of defense!”