Hua Zhenfeng and many soldiers couldn't hold it in and ended up vomiting, tears and pain pouring out of them.
That pulsating monster coiled around the slab until it covered it entirely, and its body emitted a green light that was immediately snuffed out when a loud crack burst from inside the mass.
It was impossible to know with their eyes what had happened to the slab, but with their ears and a little thought, they deduced it had broken.
Weapons trembled—some with their edges pointing at the ground, others spinning in their bearers' hands.
The soldiers tightened their grips and tried to correct their stances—to hide their fear and arm themselves with courage. And though they managed it for a second, their real feelings flowed back into their arms, and they returned to their former state.
As for Huo Yanming, he tensed the muscles of his back, gripped his spear with full force, and the orange mist appeared—this time condensing along the blade of his spear.
Like a mantis toward its prey, he launched his thrust instantly. He loosened his grip with his right hand and, with the left, almost at the end of the shaft, drove forward.
The spear cut the air with a sound close to a howl, and the tip landed a devastating blow on the monster, which was carelessly coiling around the slab.
The spear intent exploded on contact with the creature, and with the force of the push, tore a massive hole through its body.
Huo Yanming stepped back quickly with his footwork. He kept his gaze fixed on the wound he had carved into the monster and murmured with a frown, "It's quite hard."
That blow could with great ease have destroyed the monster, but now it had only managed to drive in nearly a meter before disappearing.
Many soldiers had been recovering their sight and were rising to attack the monster.
The soldiers surrounded the monster and attacked with everything they had. The monster didn't defend itself—it only used the dozens of limbs from the missing soldiers sprouting from its body to harass and block the soldiers' strikes.
Those actions only stoked the hatred and fury in the soldiers further, driving them to attack with their whole being, forgetting their fear.
Their cuts weren't very deep, and though they were surprised by the monster's toughness, their blows didn't stop—and to compensate for their weakness, the soldiers struck the same spots, deepening the wounds.
No one needed orders to know they had to attack with everything while the monster was occupied with the slab.
Xue Yanluo pulled his spear back and left a somewhat deep wound open in the monster. He stepped back to prepare for the next thrust, but every second a strange feeling gnawed at him.
It wasn't only him—the other vampires felt the same, especially Huo Yanming, who from the very first blow had felt the hardness and something else he couldn't put into words.
Huo Yanming was preparing to land another blow with his spear intent when the monster pulsed like a heart, the sound resonating through the entire hall, and every person felt a chill strike their body.
In the end he landed his blow even though he wasn't fully ready and stepped back while ordering, "Everyone — fall back!"
Each soldier landed one last cut, thrust, or strike and retreated to a safe distance.
In the hall, almost everyone had their muscles tensed and their legs bent, ready to dodge or run.
And in the hall, there was another contrast: four people with grave expressions and slower breathing.
In the confusion they had drawn together, and without taking their eyes off the monster, they voiced their concerns.
Xue Yanluo spoke first—and though his words weren't directed at anyone by name, they were clearly aimed at Huo Yanming. "What did you feel when you hit it?"
"The same as you. What does it have to do with us?"
"Who knows. I also don't know why our vampire energy reacts to contact with that thing."
While both were talking, Bao Qingcao came closer and cut in, "When I wounded it, I poured my energy into the wound. It seemed to flow toward the center."
"Anything else?" asked Xue Yanluo after Bao Qingcao went quiet suddenly—it seemed there were more words still to come.
"No — my energy dissipated."
The three looked at Bao Qingcao and then at the monster in confusion. Each person's energy was nearly unique and could harm another person's body if it entered without control.
For someone's energy to dissipate—and above all, vampire energy—meant the creature itself had a similar energy or a comparable living form.
"A vampire?" asked Huo Yanming, looking at Xue Yanluo and then at the monster.
"No. It doesn't feel the same as us. Let's stop talking and kill that thing first."
The monster was seeping dirty yellow liquid from its wounds while its body turned a greenish red.
Its body, covered in limbs, eyes, and teeth, expanded every second, scraping against the floor and producing a horrible sound that made the soldiers' heads spin.
At that moment, the monster seemed focused on nothing but devouring the slab inside it, and it would have been the moment to attack—but Huo Yanming felt a horrible sensation every time he thought about going in and immediately pulled back.
The reason was easy to deduce: the monster was already accounting for their presence, and although it appeared focused on the slab, its true purpose was to draw them in and explode into a devastating strike.
As he had guessed, after a few seconds in which no one approached or attacked, the monster stopped expanding, and dozens of eyes bloomed across its body, watching everything around it.
For the first time, its body moved from the center of the hall and dragged itself toward one side.
Its speed was very low—with no legs to support the weight of its body, it had to drag itself forward.
The monster had no front—any part of it could be that, which made attacking it difficult. Every corner could be seen by its dozens of eyes, and its body, hard but still somewhat yielding, allowed it to strike at every angle.
The soldiers readied themselves to dodge, and some were already moving aside as the monster approached.
Its body compressed like a spring, and, with that same force, a thin blade formed from its flesh shot forward, cutting more than seven soldiers in two.
The monster didn't seem to be done and was readying itself to fire another blade when many of its eyes turned to focus on more than five figures that had shot forward and were about to land their strikes.
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Author here, it is my first time writing a very big fight scene, and I will appreciate it if you can leave a comment on all the parts that might seem bad, poorly made, or incorrect. Thanks for reading my history.