Blood tax

Chapter 43
Going further, Griffith found a collapsed sinkhole and two bodies.There are still deliberately collected tree trunks and branches scattered around the pit, but the soil in the pit has been completely planed and collapsed.

The hirelings appear to have planned well in advance.They first dug huge traps to cover up and lure the mountain monsters over.After the mountain monster fell into the trap, they attacked from above, but this time the unexpected happened.The mountain monster used a huge force to smash the soil of the pit to cause the landslide, and successfully escaped and killed several hired workers.

Griffith thought for a moment about the current situation.Since the mountain monster fell into the trap and took revenge on the shooter, it means that the attack by the hired workers was successful at the beginning, and it is likely to blind one of its eyeballs.The remaining people were not killed immediately, but continued to fight the mountain monsters while moving.

These people are so brave!Griffith praised slightly, it is not easy for ordinary people to run away without panic, not to mention fighting in the face of mountain monsters.And they lost at least one-third of their manpower, and they could continue to fight!

Griffith was a little apprehensive for a while.Both the mountain monsters and these hired workers are very ferocious, and it is not safe to intervene rashly.

Thinking of this, Griffith was about to run away.Before he could act, another huge crack erupted in the nearby woods, and then a loud rumbling came in his direction.

The three blood-stained hirelings sprang out of the woods in panic, fleeing in the direction of Griffith.The leader of the group holds a two-handed sword and is the leader of the group, Root.The two people beside him were holding axes and hatchets, and they all looked lost.

As soon as Root saw Griffith's figure, he immediately shouted: "Sir, help! Mountain monster!"

As soon as the words fell, the trees behind them were torn apart, and a thick trunk smashed to the back of the hired worker.

"Come on!"

The hired worker turned into a mass of blood and splattered on the spot.

When the flesh and blood spattered, a mountain monster rushed out of the jungle with an earth-shattering momentum!It is nearly four meters tall, as strong as a city wall, and its gray-brown skin is tough and wrinkled.It had a broken arrow in its right eye, and there were bloody wounds around its knees and neck.

Griffith slammed the spear in his hand and threw it towards the knee of the mountain monster's right leg with all his strength.

Only to hear a bang that ripped through the air, and the spear pierced through the mountain monster's knee like lightning.The giant beast wailed and rolled directly to the ground.

My attack is so strong! ?Griffith was surprised for a while. He didn't expect that he could shoot over a mountain monster with one shot, but he quickly reacted.This mountain monster and the hired workers have been fighting for a long time, and there must be many injuries on his body.The hired workers probably also aimed at key positions such as its knees and eyes, and the accumulated injuries combined with Griffith's full blow just now directly broke the mountain monster's right leg.

Root and his companions had expressions of ecstasy on their faces when they saw that the Mountain Monster had been knocked down.But before they could catch their breath, the mountain monster roared wildly.

It thumped the ground furiously, howling in pain and anger, and smashed rocks under the dirt with its hands at the hired worker.

Root hurriedly dodged to avoid it.But his partner didn't have such skill and luck. He was hit by the stone on his forehead and fell straight down.

The mountain monster with a broken leg grabbed the dirt and pounced on it, grabbing the employee's thigh and biting it directly.

Heck!Griffith hurriedly acted, pounced on the flank of the mountain monster with a spear, and threw a shot at the exposed waist and abdomen.

"Bang!" The spear smashed deeply into the belly of the mountain monster, and it was jammed by the muscles.

"My lord, this monster's body is extremely strong," Root shouted to Griffith. "We have been attacking for a long time, and it is difficult to cause fatal injuries to it."

Griffith glanced at Root, who was covered in blood, and asked, "How many people are still alive?"

"Only down," Root shook his head with difficulty, "We found the trace of this monster, and we followed it for fear that he would attack the academy. We didn't expect it to be so terrifying."

"You shot him blind?"

"Yes, Exu shot the mountain monster's right eye, but he was immediately avenged."

In a few words, the mountain monster had already eaten most of the employee's body, patted his belly, turned his head, and looked at the two people in front of him with small eyes.

It had half a crossbow bolt stuck in its right eye, and its left eye socket was also covered with wounds, which could only be barely opened.The right leg joint has been broken, and the blood is gurgling. He can only kneel on the ground with both hands.

But even so, this mountain monster is still very dangerous.Griffith estimated that his armor was as big as the mountain monster's grindstone, and he was very sure that he couldn't withstand the mountain monster's blow.

"Let's retreat," Griffith said after thinking for a while. "Its movement has been restricted, and it can't escape very far in a short time. When I return to the academy, I will call up more people to kill him."

"Yes, my lord." Root's face was covered in blood, and he couldn't see his expression clearly, but his answer was straightforward.

The two immediately retreated in the direction they came from, preparing to evacuate across the thorns.The mountain monster actually followed, chasing after it with both hands and the remaining leg.

This giant beast still had arrows and a short spear stuck in its body, and its eyes were seriously injured, but the only remaining one eye showed a fierce light, which made people look really terrified.Although Griffith never killed a mountain monster, he also fought a giant wild bear with his comrades.After those beasts are pierced through their stomachs, they will use grass to plug the outflowing intestines and hunt down hunters endlessly.

Griffith felt that he was also quite ferocious, and when he was in the East, he did not less bad things.But after being seriously injured, he didn't retreat but continued to fight for his life, which made him have some scruples.

The two ran all the way to the vicinity of the thorns, and the tree trunk that was brought down as a bridge was already in front of them.

At such a dangerous time, Griffith did not dare to be chased by the mountain monster.He was a few positions ahead of Root, and was about to step onto the tree trunk, when suddenly there was a pain in his leg, and he immediately lost his center of gravity and fell to the ground.Root sliced ​​through his leg with a two-handed sword, splitting the greaves and hurting the calf.He actually had the idea of ​​killing Griffith here, and then he stabbed at his waist with a sword.

Griffith hurriedly rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the blow.

Root swung his sword and chased after him, and slashed at Griffith's head.The mountain monster also noticed that its prey had stagnated, showing a ferocious smile and speeding up to chase.

Griffith drew out his sword, picked up Lute's blow, adjusted his breathing and asked, "It seems that you have a reason to kill this mountain monster, but why did you attack me?"

Root didn't speak, turned around and rushed towards the tree trunk on the thorns.

"Ow!" At the same time, a terrifying roar came, and Griffith had already fallen into the influence of the mountain monster's ability.With this heart-piercing roar, his brain was dizzy and his body stiffened.

As soon as the mountain monster succeeded, he raised the giant tree in his hand and smashed it down at the apprentice knight.

"Goodbye, my friend," Root waved at Griffith as he ran, "I'll avenge you soon!"

You must have underestimated me.Griffith opened his palm and pressed down.

"Frozen under my power, Frozen Nova!"

Between the lightning and flint, an extremely cold icicle hit Root, and before he could see what was going on, his feet were already frozen with frostbite.

"Boom!" The mountain monster's heavy blow landed on the ground, splashing several meters of soil, but it also missed the target.Its huge hands and feet were covered with frozen ice, and it looked at it in disbelief.

Griffith didn't say a word, rushed up to the tree trunk despite the minor injury, grabbed Root's shoulder and threw him directly.

"No!"

Root screamed, and before he could stand up, a huge palm was pressed down.Root was shot into the ground on the spot, spewing a mouthful of black blood.

The mountain monster raised his fist with a wicked smile and thumped it according to Root. With only one punch, the ridges of his eyes were cracked, and black beads burst out, as if he had opened a dyeing workshop, and red, black, and purple ones were all about to bloom.Immediately after, it grabbed Root's legs and tore it to the sides like a person tore a roast chicken.

Griffith is already ready to go.The tree trunk under his feet was too heavy for him alone to destroy or lift.Moreover, the mountain monster also saw this road, and it is difficult to say whether it will pull up a few big trees as a bridge to escape in the future.Once it escapes the forest, it is dangerous to enter Homonwarts late at night and run around.

Seeing that the mountain monster was about to tear Root's body apart, Griffith took two steps back, sprinted forward along the tree trunk, and leaped vigorously at the end.

The mountain monster who was tearing up the prey suddenly heard the whistling sound in his ear. Just as he was about to look up, Griffith had already swept over sideways, holding a spear and pierced the mountain monster's right ear.In this position, the mountain monster's right eye has been shot blind, and its right leg has also been broken, making it difficult to detect and react in time.

"Oh!"

Griffith used the strength of his jump to spin around in the air, and stabbed his sharp spear into the unsuspecting right ear of the mountain monster.The feeling of getting started seems to have pierced into the core of the tree, and the jerky feeling of penetrating the brain tissue also passed down the barrel of the gun.

The huge mountain monster was suffocated all over, and the hands that were holding Root also loosened.Its only murderous left eye was rolled up to reveal the white of the eye, and its mouth was still dripping open.

Reinvented it!Griffith dropped his gun and landed, ready to launch the final blow.

At this moment, a huge and weird bison phantom suddenly appeared behind the mountain monster.The gloomy and cold breath of death wrapped around its body, and charged towards the mountain monster aggressively.

Griffith was taken aback, and hurriedly stepped back, only to see a ghost-like phantom behind the mountain monster that was collided by the phantom of the bison.

This ferocious mountain monster froze there, as if it had lost its soul and turned into a rock.After about a minute, it slowly fell to one side, splashing a piece of soil with a bang.

Should be done.Griffith drew out his sword, carefully circled from behind to the head of the mountain monster, and slashed towards its neck with a sword.This sword not only did not cut off the head of the mountain monster, but almost flew the long sword out of his hand.The thick skin was only slightly torn at the back of the neck that was chopped off, and the vital point was not damaged at all.

So arrogant.With the vitality and extraordinary power of the mountain monster, even a Shutoral team might not dare to challenge it head-on.

However, Root and a few hired employees not only found the mountain monster's lair hidden near the academy, but also successfully trapped it and wounded it.If it wasn't for their previous battle, Griffith would only have to flee for his life in front of the mountain monster alone.

Root's body was thrown aside, almost torn in two, and already killed.But why did he insist on killing the mountain monster here, even at the cost of trying to murder Griffith?

The information that can be known at present is that these employees are trying to please Kroger and strive to become regular employees of Homenworth.However, the selection criteria of Homenworth are quite strict, and the daily work on the farm is obviously not enough for them to pass the examination.

From Homonwarts' point of view, after a capable temporary employee killed a mountain monster, it was nothing more than a reward with money and full-time employee qualifications.Griffith believes that if it is purely for money, these hired employees do not need to fight against mountain monsters in the ninth death, and they can report to the school to get a lot of money.The reason why they tried to get extra points by killing the mountain monster, Root even chose to try to kill Griffith at the last moment, to prevent him from escaping and asking for help from the school, should be trying to take the credit for killing the mountain monster.

After all, the achievements of killing the mountain monster and discovering the mountain monster are completely different from each other, and the school has a high possibility of granting him the status of an official employee.

But is being a regular employee worth the risk?What exactly do they want to do when they enter Homonwarts?
Several broken clues are like puzzle pieces, missing key information that cannot be connected together.

Griffith came to Root's side, ready to examine his body.The man who had just been torn apart by the monster fell on the muddy ground, his limbs were already twisted.An extremely ominous feeling lingered in Griffith's mind, as if urging him to flee here.

Why...why is he trying to kill my reinforcements?The first reason was naturally because he didn't want me to escape and call for help, preventing him from killing the mountain monster.But……

But with his strength, how could he kill this mountain monster?How dare he face a mountain monster alone?
Griffith reached out to Root's body suspiciously.A thought suddenly popped up in my mind—

Could it be that this Root has some kind of hole card, some kind of hole card that cannot be known, and must be used without witnesses? !

"Snapped!"

Suddenly, Root's right hand bounced.He was already face down on the ground, but his right hand was angled back at a weird angle, as if the shoulder and elbow joints didn't exist, and the backhand held Griffith's outstretched right hand.

"what!"

Griffith was taken aback by the unexpected sight.Although he has also been tested by war, the scene in front of him is too amazing and completely beyond the scope of common sense.

Root, who had been torn apart, twisted his back and moved like the front of a normal person, his hands and feet stretched out naturally.His legs were hooked on Griffith's knees, and his arms and armour were gripped with backhands.

At the same time, in the terrified Griffith's eyes, an even more incredible terrifying scene appeared.

The turban wrapped around the back of Root's head suddenly wriggled, showing the outline of a human face, and giggled at Griffith.

This crazy and terrifying scene was unheard of, and Griffith had never seen anything like it in even his most absurd nightmare.His brain was in a mess, and fear overcame his will in an instant, scaring him out of his wits.

Griffith began to struggle frantically.He has lost his mind and only wants to escape from this monster.

Root's body was wrapped tightly around Griffith, as if it were hanging on him, and there was no way to get rid of it.As Griffith rolled and struggled, the hood on the back of Root's head also fell off.

On the bald head that should be smooth, there is a hideous and distorted facial sore.Grotesque and murderous wounds that resembled eyes, noses and mouths were staring at Griffith oozing pus.Suddenly, it seemed that the position of the mouth was split open, revealing sharp fangs, biting towards the apprentice knight's neck.

The terrified Griffith burst out with rare power, shoving the monster that was about to bite him, while pulling out his dagger and stabbing the monster.

Finally, the monster was thrown out.But it just hit the ground, crawling on all fours like an insect, and jumped at Griffith again.

Griffith screamed and rolled towards the area, picking up the saber that had fallen to the side and preparing to fight to the death.Suddenly, a hoarse and terrifying scream erupted beside him.

When the monster jumped at Griffith, it missed, and plunged into the black thorns in front of it.The sharp thorns immediately pierced its flesh, and the surrounding thorns surrounded it as if they had gained life, tightly entangled the monster.

Root's body was splattered with blood like a squashed orange.The thorns gathered more and more, and finally wrapped Root like a ball of thread.

The human face sore on the back of the head howled at Griffith before spitting out blood and fragments of organs.Its body is also getting smaller.Finally, the thorns sucked its flesh and blood, and it slowly loosened from black to blood red.Root's body also turned into a tattered human skin with two faces hanging on the thorns and fluttering in the wind.

Griffith looked at the mountain monster on the ground in horror, then looked at the nearby blood-colored thorns and the human skin hanging on the thorns, his teeth trembled involuntarily.

(End of this chapter)