Chapter 75

No one is more familiar with the grasslands than the兽人 who live here.

As a revered and knowledgeable shaman in the tribe, Sarota naturally knew about this swamp that only appeared during the rainy season. It was full of water holes and traps, making it unsuitable for grazing, so the herders never came here—this made Sarota even more certain: how could a human possibly know this place as well as he did, when even the兽人 who lived by nomadic herding were unwilling to approach it?

Watching Rodi, who kept zigzagging ahead but failed to shake him off, Sarota felt more confident. After the side effects of the Bloodlust spell wore off, he cast another enhancing shamanic spell, maintaining his worg's sprinting speed. Because Rodi kept dodging, the worg had an advantage on this winding route over the warhorse, so the distance between the group and Rodi began to close again...

This made Sarota somewhat excited, but just as they saw the hope of killing Rodi, the terrain suddenly changed. The swamp, which had been relatively flat with occasional grassy slopes and a height difference of no more than three to five meters, suddenly revealed a huge basin after Sarota followed Rodi over a long slope.

In the thin mist that had appeared, the ground seemed to form a circle at the edge of the field of vision, with the flat land dipping inward. The area was not large, but the drop was very noticeable. Sarota estimated that the diameter of the edge was about five to six kilometers.

Such terrain was not uncommon on the grasslands, but it was indeed strange to appear in the Death Swamp.

Rodi was heading straight for the center of the basin, and Sarota led the group in a mad pursuit. It was only then that he noticed a sizable pond in the center of the basin. In the pale white mist, the entire basin seemed like a giant eye, and the pond resembled a lifeless pupil, gazing at all the intruders in the thick fog...

The sky was still overcast after the rain, and the mist in the center of the basin, formed by the condensed water vapor, became increasingly dense. The visibility decreased the further they went, and Sarota frowned, feeling wary of this strange environment. Just as he slowed down a bit, an arrow suddenly shot through the center of the group, the whistling sound making everyone shiver, but it made Sarota even more furious. At that moment, he crouched down with a fierce expression, reached for the medicine bag on his worg's side, and shouted, "Charge!" The group immediately accelerated and charged forward.

Sarota's worg carried a medicine bag filled with various herbs. At this moment, he grabbed a handful of dark blue herbs and stuffed them into his mouth. Due to the limited conditions, the兽人 did not have "alchemists" or "alchemy labs," so the "shamans" who knew how to identify herbs could only use them in the most primitive way. The "Soulshade Grass" that Sarota ate was the main ingredient of the alchemist's "Mana Restoration Potion." Although its effect was not as good as the refined potion, the "mana restoration" effect was visible.

Clearly, he was preparing to go all out.

The ten worgs no longer cared about traps or mud because the road was relatively dry due to the basin. The wolf riders' formation immediately spread out slightly, accelerating to the utmost as they charged toward the vague figure in the mist.

"It's been a long time since I've been here."

Rodi, riding at the front, took a deep breath. The smell of the thick fog reminded him of the smog in the capital—"Ah... that's the smell."

He summoned the "Character Status Bar," glanced at the "Health Points," and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips. As he leaned to the side, he turned his warhorse toward the side of the pond.

In the field of vision, the air no longer had the fresh grass smell after the rain, but instead felt stuffy due to the mist. A faint, fishy odor could be detected, which became stronger as the warhorse galloped.

Turning his body, Rodi picked up a bundle of something from the side of the saddle, weighed it in his hand, and threw it out as the warhorse galloped past the side of the pond. This was all the dried meat left in the group, and with the acceleration from the warhorse's high-speed run, it splashed into the pond, creating a water splash of two to three meters, making a significant noise.

The pond under the thick mist was about two to three square kilometers in size, and the calm surface was like a mirror, but it was now shattered by the large piece of meat.

"Go!"

Rodi charged through without stopping. The sound of Sarota and his group's pursuit was getting closer, but his eyes glanced at the rippling water, and he muttered something.

"Seven, six, five, four, three."

His words were not tense but rather nostalgic. It was as if he had just thrown a bomb. The warhorse had already started to slow down and had run about sixty meters in five to six seconds. Just as Rodi counted to "one," Sarota and his group were about to pass the place where Rodi had thrown the meat.

The visibility in the thick mist was about a hundred meters. Sarota had seen Rodi's action and felt some doubt. He understood that it seemed to be a way to lure aquatic animals, but he couldn't think of any powerful creatures that lived in the ponds on the grasslands.

Sarota had seen almost all the fierce beasts on the grasslands in his lifetime, but what could appear in a pond that only existed during the rainy season? Man-eating fish?

As long as he didn't fall into the water, nothing would happen.

Thinking this, he still prepared his wooden staff, as he was a smart shaman who had been through many battles. To avoid any possible situation, Sarota deliberately slowed down a bit and fell behind the group.

Then, the group charged to the place where Rodi had thrown the meat.

Perhaps because they were too far away, the兽people didn't hear the countdown that the human on the horse had just finished, but they did hear him stop and shout in Sabine language—

"Come out, dragon!"

Dragon? What is that?

Sarota's mind was momentarily stunned, but in the next instant, he saw the most bizarre scene of his life...

His wooden staff was still raised in the air, the scene in front of him was still normal, and the human who had just shouted the strange words was still far away, looking at him. But in the next moment, before he could react, he saw the water beside him explode.

The pond, which was still rippling, was suddenly torn apart by a huge black shadow. A giant mouth, as big as a worg, appeared in front of him with a loud splash!

With a "thud," the wolf rider to Sarota's side, who couldn't dodge in time, crashed into the giant head and was thrown off. But this collision didn't affect the huge, dripping head at all. The massive jaws snapped shut, and a wolf rider who happened to be passing by was bitten along with his worg!

The sound of bones breaking was clearly audible. Sarota's eyes widened as he saw the long, dagger-like teeth and the blood-red, meat-filled mouth. His mind went blank for a moment... but he quickly reacted, grabbed the reins tightly, and leaned to the side, barely dodging the mouth that was about the same size as his body—out of the ten in the group, one was directly bitten, six managed to dodge, and the remaining three were thrown off their worgs by the impact.

Sarota hadn't even turned around when he heard the screams of the bitten wolf rider behind him.

"Ah—"

The heart-wrenching scream was abruptly cut off, followed by a bone-chilling crunching sound.

Sarota tightened his grip on the wooden staff and turned around. What he saw made him frown. The giant creature that emerged from the water was a huge turtle with a crocodile-like appearance and a spiky shell on its back!

In the "Animal World" broadcast on CCTV, such a creature was known as a "snapping turtle."

Although it was a "turtle," the snapping turtle was extremely fierce, and Rodi was well aware of all the attributes of this over ten-meter-long "Zerik."

Rare Elite, Level 15, with extremely high defense.

For the兽people wolf riders, such a creature was almost a sight that would make them lose all fighting spirit— their curved swords were barely larger than the creature's longest teeth, and in terms of level, none of the兽people, except Sarota, could break through its defense!

"Cunning human!"

Sarota now understood that he had been lured into an unimaginable trap—Rodi clearly intended to use this terrifying snapping turtle to kill his group.

But Sarota was not about to sit and wait for death. He maintained his forward momentum and immediately shouted to the remaining five subordinates, "Charge out! Leave this—"

"Bang!"

Before he could finish, a loud,闷响 sound came from behind, and the worg under Sarota was thrown off by a sudden impact!

"What is—"

The view spun as Sarota was uncontrollably thrown off the worg's back. The five wolf riders around him were also thrown into the air by this strange force and fell to the ground in a mess.

"Splash..."

Sarota rolled on the ground for three or four rounds, stunned and unable to speak. When he turned his head and looked at where he had just run, he was horrified to see the ground torn apart by the snapping turtle's landing, with all the worgs lying on the ground, vomiting blood and whimpering, clearly unable to stand up.

This thing can actually... use magic?!

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