81: Chapter 81 Swamp Siege
After missing their pounce, the four Swamp Giant Lizards quickly turned around, their murky yellow eyes locked firmly onto his position.
The 23rd-level leader had already crawled completely out of the swamp.
Its massive body was a full four meters long, covered in dark green scales that made it look formidable.
More troublesome still, the 15th-level Swamp Giant Lizard he had stabbed earlier was not dead.
The poison he had injected in his haste had only temporarily paralyzed it.
At this moment, it was struggling to climb out of the swamp, letting out angry hisses.
Six Swamp Giant Lizards surrounded him completely.
Lin Fan quickly scanned his surroundings.
The 23rd-level one stood directly in front; it was the leader and the greatest threat.
There was no retreat.
Then he would just have to fight his way out.
Lin Fan took a deep breath, the cyan-black scales on his left hand shimmering with light.
A flash passed by his right hand, and a dark brown shield, about thirty centimeters in diameter, instantly snapped onto his left forearm, side-by-side with his Armorization-enhanced left hand.
The Black Armor Shield was a prize from the last cultivation competition.
Looking at the six Swamp Giant Lizards surrounding him, Lin Fan actually laughed.
"Come on, let me see what you've got."
The 23rd-level leader seemed angered by his smile; it opened its blood-stained maw, and a stream of dark green venom shot toward him—Venom Spit!
Lin Fan didn't even blink.
His left eye grew slightly warm, and the trajectory of the venom was broken down into countless thin lines within his field of vision.
The landing point, range, and flight speed were all clearly visible.
He took a step to the left.
The venom grazed his shoulder and landed in the swamp behind him, corroding it with a hissing white smoke.
One step, perfectly dodged.
Lin Fan looked at the 23rd-level Swamp Giant Lizard and smiled.
"Your aim is terrible."
Although the Swamp Giant Lizard couldn't understand human speech, the mockery in his smile and tone was clearly palpable.
It roared, its massive body lunging forward, while the two 16th-level Swamp Giant Lizards on his left and right also launched their attacks simultaneously, flanking him from three sides.
Lin Fan's left eye flickered repeatedly, taking in the attack trajectories of all three Swamp Giant Lizards.
He did not retreat; instead, he stepped forward.
This step allowed him to pass exactly through the gaps in their attacks.
The bite from the one on the left missed, the pounce from the one on the right grazed his clothes, and he sidestepped the charge of the 23rd-level leader in the center.
Its massive body crashed directly into the swamp, splashing up a large amount of mud and water.
"Too slow."
Lin Fan shook his head and casually waved his right hand, firing three Shadow Wood Thorns.
The target wasn't the 23rd-level leader, but the 16th-level Swamp Giant Lizard on the right that hadn't yet had time to recover its stance.
The Shadow Wood Thorns pierced precisely through its fragile eyes and penetrated straight into its brain.
The Swamp Giant Lizard didn't even have time to scream before it crashed to the ground, splashing up mud.
One strike, one kill.
The 16th-level Swamp Giant Lizard on the left saw that things were going poorly and opened its mouth to spit another stream of venom.
Lin Fan didn't even turn his head, simply raising his left arm with the Black Armor Shield.
The venom sprayed onto the shield, and the rebound stone glowed slightly, reflecting most of the venom back onto the Swamp Giant Lizard's own face.
Amidst a hissing sound, the Swamp Giant Lizard shrieked and retreated, its face horribly scarred by its own venom.
Lin Fan didn't even glance at it, turning instead to look at the 23rd-level leader that had just crawled out of the swamp.
"Is that all you've got?"
The 23rd-level Swamp Giant Lizard was thoroughly enraged.
It let out a heaven-shaking roar, and the remaining three Swamp Giant Lizards lunged simultaneously, launching an all-out attack in coordination with their leader.
Four figures, four directions, sealing off all avenues of retreat.
Lin Fan's left eye operated at high speed, the trajectories of the four attacks weaving into a dense web within his vision.
He instantly activated Wood Shadow Stealth, turning into a shadow and rushing forward.
He then appeared in front of those Swamp Giant Lizards.
He held the Black Armor Shield in front, taking the pounce of the 17th-level Swamp Giant Lizard on the right head-on.
The Swamp Giant Lizard's teeth bit into the shield, and the force of the rebound was so great it couldn't even close its mouth, forcing it to let go with a shriek.
Using this force, Lin Fan twisted his body, his left hand's Spiked Poison Fang stabbing into the neck of the 17th-level Swamp Giant Lizard on the left.
He injected the poison, and the Swamp Giant Lizard's body stiffened before it fell straight into the swamp.
Two strikes, another one down.
The 23rd-level leader's blood-stained maw was already upon him.
Lin Fan did not dodge; instead, he met it head-on.
Just as the Swamp Giant Lizard's sharp teeth were about to bite him, he changed his footwork, sliding past the side of its mouth like a fish, simultaneously waving his right hand to fire three Shadow Wood Thorns into the Swamp Giant Lizard's ear canal at close range.
The Swamp Giant Lizard let out a heaven-shaking scream, its massive body thrashing wildly.
Lin Fan had long since used the momentum of that slide to retreat gracefully, standing three meters away and watching it calmly.
"You scream pretty loudly."
He glanced at the remaining two Swamp Giant Lizards.
One was the 16th-level one disfigured by its own venom, and the other was the 15th-level one he had casually wounded earlier.
Seeing the miserable state of their leader thrashing its head, and looking at Lin Fan's face with its faint smile, the two Swamp Giant Lizards finally felt fear.
They exchanged a glance and turned to run without hesitation.
Lin Fan did not pursue.
He looked at the 23rd-level leader still spinning in place.
The poison had entered its brain through the ear canal; its movements grew slower and slower, its eyes increasingly unfocused, until finally, its massive body collapsed with a crash.
Lin Fan walked over, crouched down, and checked its condition.
"The poison took a bit too long to kick in; need to be faster next time."
He stood up and scanned the Swamp Giant Lizard corpses littering the ground.
Four down, two escaped.
From head to toe, he didn't even have a single scratch.
He retracted the Black Armor Shield, flexed his wrists, and smiled.
"Warm-up complete."
...
Fifty meters away, behind a shrubbery.
The tall man with a golden crystal covering his right eye slowly withdrew his gaze, his expression as ugly as if he had eaten a fly.
The Bald Strongman asked in a low voice.
"How is it?"
The tall man was silent for a long time before speaking.
"That kid... took care of all six Swamp Giant Lizards."
The Tall Thin Man was stunned.
"What? All six? What about that 23rd-level one?"
The tall man nodded.
"It's dead. The other three are dead too, and two ran away."
The Bald Strongman narrowed his eyes.
"He wasn't injured?"
The tall man shook his head.
"Not injured. From beginning to end, not even the corner of his clothes was touched. It was as if he could predict the Swamp Giant Lizards' attacks in advance; he dodged them perfectly every single time."
The Tall Thin Man swallowed hard.
"Boss, this kid... is a bit freakish."
The Bald Strongman was silent for a few seconds, but then a cruel grin appeared on his face.
"Freakish? That's even better. It's more satisfying to kill a Genius."
He looked at the tall man.
"Perhaps we can find some more trouble for him..."