Chapter 476 - 473: Fear Drive

Chapter 476: Chapter 473: Fear Drive

The frenzied animated things surged toward the pair like a flood.

Li Luo didn’t hesitate, immediately swinging the Holy Sword in her hand.

A powerful pillar of golden light instantly tore an opening through the aggressive flood.

Li Luo pressed her advantage, swinging a few more times, and only a handful of the animated things in the flood remained.

She stared at the Holy Sword in her hand, a little stunned.

The aura of the Holy Sword had a powerful suppressive effect on the animated things. It seemed capable of devouring their very "animation," first turning them into inert objects, then completely annihilating them.

When the pillar of light enveloped the animated things, it first paralyzed them. Then, it would gradually disintegrate them, turning them to dust.

Li Luo was only stunned for a moment before targeting the stragglers and continuing to swing her Longsword.

Soon, the once-aggressive flood had vanished. The ground was now covered in cracks, the power of the Holy Sword having left the forest utterly devastated.

"Keep moving!" Zhou Dynasty urged.

But after taking just two steps forward, they both froze in place.

The Animated Fear attacked them again. Their eyes widened as if they were witnessing some horrifying vision.

But at that moment, the Holy Sword once again erupted with a dazzling light, dispelling the terror that gripped them.

Li Luo instantly snapped out of her terrified state. Gasping, her heart still pounding with fear, she looked at Zhou Dynasty. "I was attacked too, but it wore off quickly."

Zhou Dynasty nodded. "It was the Holy Sword. Don’t worry about it. We have to get out of here, fast."

With that, the two continued onward, following the fissures that radiated an aura of destruction.

However, the Animated Fear seemed to have locked onto its two prey, pursuing them relentlessly.

"What’s that up ahead?" Li Luo came to a screeching halt, her eyes fixed warily on something just ahead.

A strange head rested on the ground, crawling with writhing maggots. Blackened flesh oozed pus, and the ghastly white of bone was faintly visible.

It was too badly decayed to identify the creature.

"Some kind of animal?"

They hadn’t seen any large creatures since entering the deep forest, so the sudden appearance of this corrupted head put them both on high alert.

"Let’s go around it," Zhou Dynasty decided instantly.

But before they could move away, the corrupted head suddenly began to twitch.

The earth beneath it cracked open, and a giant hand resembling a dead tree shot out of the soil, swatting at the pair.

"Watch out!"

Just as the giant hand was about to slam down, Li Luo raised her sword. A pillar of golden light shot toward the sky, cleaving the giant hand in two.

The severed hand landed perilously close to them.

The head was now several meters off the ground, propped up by a thick stone pillar, like some sort of totem.

As the stone pillar rose into the air, roots sprouted from its surface. The roots connected to several withered, twisted trees buried in the earth. The giant hand from before had been formed from these bizarre trees.

Moreover, the entire stone totem was wreathed in a gray-green dust. The dust swirled toward the severed wooden hand, and maggots began crawling out from the hollows within it.

The maggots converged into a single mass. Then, the severed giant hand swung forcefully toward the sky.

With immense inertia, the mass of maggots and gray-green dust was flung into the air.

A sickening cloud of maggots and dust blotted out the sky. The stench of decay alone forced the two of them back several steps.

A gray-green rain began to fall, mixed with writhing white maggots.

Seeing this, Li Luo had no choice but to raise the Holy Sword, which emitted a dazzling light that shielded them from the bizarre rain.

A few drops landed on a nearby tree, and something horrifying happened.

The once-vibrant tree began to wither and rot. Bugs crawled out from newly formed hollows, and a gray-green fungal dust devoured the deadwood from the inside out.

CRACK!

The great tree crashed to the ground. Gray-green dust erupted from the wreckage as a tide of maggots poured out, spreading in every direction.

The rain grew greener.

Writhing maggots were everywhere, even crawling over Li Luo’s and Zhou Dynasty’s feet.

"Corruption?" Zhou Dynasty murmured, staring blankly at the horrifying scene.

Li Luo held the Holy Sword high, swaying precariously in the putrid rain.

"I can’t swing the sword..."

If she were to swing her sword now, the rain, thick with the stench of decay, would completely engulf them.

"Animated Fear, Animated Corruption... It’s only been half a year. How did the contamination get this severe?" Zhou Dynasty said in despair, huddled under the light of the Holy Sword.

"Don’t worry, I have a plan," Li Luo said, raising her hand and untying a cord from her wrist.

The cord instantly transformed into countless threads that enveloped Li Luo.

Xiaozhi spun around Li Luo for a moment before shooting toward the sky, plunging directly into the putrid rain.

The corrupting aura seemed to have no effect on it. Xiaozhi shot into the air and rammed hard into the Block floating in the sky.

After completing its daily task, it immediately reversed course, returning to its spot above Li Luo’s head. The Purple threads condensed, weaving themselves into a large umbrella.

The umbrella grew larger and larger, completely shielding them from the putrid rain.

"Now my hands are free."

Li Luo lowered the Holy Sword from above her head, aimed at the distant totem, and unleashed a powerful swing.

From beneath the giant Purple umbrella, a beam of golden light shot out, instantly engulfing the totem. The stone pillar snapped in half, and the bizarre, corrupted head fell to the ground.

Li Luo seized the opportunity, striking the head with another slash.

With a flash of golden light, the grotesque head was reduced to dust.

However, the rain did not stop. The corrupting aura only grew thicker, and even the air itself began to take on a gray-green hue.

"Something’s wrong! Look over there!" Zhou Dynasty suddenly shouted, pointing in surprise.

Li Luo looked and saw another corrupted head resting on the ground, though she had no idea when it had appeared.

Soon, that head also shot into the sky, and a brand-new totem of corruption appeared in its place.

She swung the Holy Sword again, and another pillar of golden light destroyed the head. The totem was reduced to ash before it could even fully manifest.

But then another corrupted head appeared on the ground not far away.

’Destroy one, and another appears. Attacking the head seems useless. In fact, it just makes the corrupting aura even more chaotic.’

This time, Li Luo calmed down. She didn’t act rashly, and hesitated to swing the Holy Sword again.

’But just standing here is a slow death.’

If they didn’t do something, they would soon be consumed by the spreading corruption.

Li Luo raised her head and looked at the Block in the sky.

’Now, my only hope is an attack from the iron block.’

However, the iron block just hung in the air, as if it were in a daze.

’The iron block...’ A sense of worry began to grow in Li Luo’s heart.

What she didn’t know was that at this very moment, Mo Ling was also in grave danger...