Chương 83: Red Monstrosity

"What the hell is that?" Kyle muttered, looking at the red monstrosity in front of him. He couldn't understand Lex's goal. He had clearly lost his sanity and intelligence, and his state didn't seem reversible. What was his goal? Kyle shook his head and threw these questions to the back of his mind; he had to get rid of this monster. He clenched his sword and looked at the transformed Lex with a cautious expression.

It slowly walked towards him; each step it took shook the ground, leaving deep footprints filled with blood.

"Roar!" The red monstrosity roared, then quickly ran towards him. It accelerated further and further, then suddenly jumped. Kyle calmly looked at the monstrosity, jumping away just as the monster's jump reached its peak.

"Boom!" The ground shook as the monster fell heavily on the earth; its giant fists slammed into the ground, leaving a giant crater, 2 to 3 meters wide, behind.

"Seriously?" Kyle muttered, his eyebrows twitching.

"Roar!" The monstrosity roared before rushing towards him, the ground trembling under its weight. Kyle waited for the right moment before jumping away, revealing the wooden watchtower behind him.

"Bam!" The monstrosity crashed into the wooden watchtower, instantly turning it to pieces. It continued running forward for over a dozen meters before skidding to a stop, its feet leaving a deep trail behind.

"I feel like a Spanish bullfighter," Kyle muttered, a bit amused. After turning into such a monstrosity, Lex's strength had massively increased, and his movement speed had moderately increased, but his reaction speed and agility had actually decreased. Not to mention that he had completely lost his rationality, making him just an irrational beast.

'How's its defense?' Kyle decided to test it. After waiting for it to rush towards him before dodging it again, Kyle rushed towards the monstrosity and attacked it, his sword leaving a silver afterimage in the air.

"Roar!" The monstrosity roared in pain and anger, but before it could swing its arm at him, Kyle flickered away, appearing next to the wooden wall dozens of meters away.

"It seems that its defense hadn't increased much," Kyle muttered, looking at the giant scar on its back. Blood oozed from it, dripping into the ground. However, the blood flow slowly thinned. Kyle's eyes narrowed as he watched the meter-long scar slowly but gradually close up. Going by its speed, it wouldn't take more than a minute for the scar to disappear completely.

"Amazing regeneration," Kyle muttered. Looking at the monstrosity that was approaching menacingly, Kyle didn't feel any fear. Although transforming into a monstrosity had greatly increased Lex's power, it was still within his power to deal with. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Truth be told, there wasn't much of a difference in difficulty between dealing with this creature and dealing with the hobgoblin Lex.

Kyle even felt that the cunning Lex was a more difficult opponent. Kyle sheathed his sword and slowly got into position. The monstrosity got closer and closer, eventually getting within a range of 10 meters. The 3-meter-high monster obscured the sun, casting a shadow on him. Its hideous appearance was enough to drive fear into the hearts of most men, but Kyle didn't flinch. When it reached the right point, Kyle's eyes suddenly sharpened, and his mana flowed from his heart to his limbs in a fraction of a second.

In the next moment, he disappeared. Four afterimages appeared around the red monstrosity, each swinging its sword at a different angle.

"Roar!!" The monstrosity heaved an earth-shattering howl, its voice filled with agony. Its legs and one of its arms were severed, falling onto the ground with a thud. The monstrosity quickly followed, falling onto the ground and struggling to stand up. It struggled to flip over, facing the sky. A shocking wound extended from its neck down to its waist. Blood and pus splashed from its wounds, dyeing the earth beneath it red. Its muscles spasmed violently as its regeneration went into overdrive.

Stumps of flesh clumped at the end of each severed limb, slowly extending forward.

"Damn, limb regeneration? Your recovery ability is beyond my expectations." Kyle exclaimed as he slowly approached the monstrosity. He stopped a few meters away from it, just out of reach of its thrashing. The monstrosity extended its remaining limb, its eyes filled with malice; blood and saliva flowed from its giant mouth, desperately trying to reach him. Kyle calmly looked at it, his palm lying on the sword hilt.

'[Phantom Sword Dance] proved very effective in battle, but it needs further refinement. As I continue to polish it and raise my mana capacity and physical strength, the number of afterimages I produce will gradually rise.' He stroked his chin, mulling over the effectiveness of his new skill. Shifting his gaze to the violently thrashing monster, he carefully examined it. It was truly a hideous sight, a skinless monster oozing foul liquids from all parts of its body.

'At least this time, it's proportional,' Kyle thought as he looked at its limbs, recalling the goblin abomination from two months ago. He shook his head and unsheathed his sword again. He flickered next to the monster and decapitated it before it could react. He flicked the blood away and sheathed his sword; his gaze swept through the camp before settling on the monstrosity.

"Should I take its head back?" Kyle looked at the hideous head a few meters away with an uncomfortable expression. The goblin shaman's head had turned into a skull, making it effectively worthless. The same goes for all goblin corpses. They had all turned into a blood slurry and were absorbed by Lex.

"So I worked for nothing?" Kyle scratched his head, feeling very annoyed. He looked around for a moment, finding nothing but dilapidated, rotten wood and dirty cloth. There was nothing he could take back apart from the head of the monstrosity to prove that he had completed the quest.

"I guess I'll have to inform the president of this. I hope he'll compensate me." Kyle muttered before picking up the head with a look of disgust and placing it in a pre-prepared bag. He splashed some water on his hands before thoroughly wiping them with a piece of cloth. It was only after completely removing the foul blood that he heaved a sigh of relief. Kyle hung the bag on his waist and took one last glance at the desolate camp before walking back to Mirevale. The journey back wasn't pleasant to say the least.

The smell of the head in the bag was foul. He had to put two pieces of torn cloth in his nose before he could barely tolerate it. It took him less than an hour to go back to Mirevale. The guards didn't even bother inspecting him. They just checked his adventurer tag before waving him in, their faces full of disgust. The people on the street were no better. Anyone who got within a 2-meter radius of him scrunched their nose and rushed away. Some even gagged and gave him a dirty look before running away.

Kyle was starting to regret bringing the monstrosity's head back.

"Maria! Why!?" A heart-wrenching cry sounded not far away, attracting everyone's attention. The one who made this sound was a black-haired man lying on the ground, while a stern knight stepped on his back. Kyle didn't want to pay attention; he had to dispose of the foul head as soon as possible, but when he took a glance, he immediately recognized the black-haired man. It was the warrior who was talking about the bloody hand on the second floor of the guild a month ago.

He had a female mage and a burly warrior as companions. Kyle distinctly remembered the scar at the corner of his mouth. Following his gaze, he saw a woman leaning against the shoulder of a flamboyantly dressed blond-haired young man. It was the brown-haired female mage.