Chapter 65: Chapter 65

With Morris’s command, the remaining six squad members immediately shrank the encirclement and surged forward. But the moment they clashed, Garrick and the others realized just how immense the pressure Morris had borne alone moments ago truly was.

“Captain, our weapons can’t sever this thing’s tentacles!”

Constantly provoked by Morris, this Aberrant Beast’s tentacles had become exceptionally resilient. Relying solely on their current weapons, Garrick and the others couldn’t break through its defenses at all; the only thing they could do now was draw fire for Morris.

Or block attacks from specific angles for him.

Morris, wielding his Transcendent Weapon, still served as the main attacker. But unlike earlier, when he could only constantly skirmish, he now had teammates by his side to block those non-lethal yet sufficiently annoying tentacle attacks for him.

He only needed to focus on the few in front of him. Even though these tentacles had become resilient enough to momentarily hinder even a Transcendent Weapon, it was merely a delay; they couldn’t truly ignore the cleaving force of a Transcendent Weapon.

With the help of his six teammates, Morris’s efficiency in severing tentacles far exceeded his solo combat earlier. Not to mention, he now possessed Transcendent Perception; every movement of the Aberrant Beast’s tentacles was within his awareness.

Whether it was a sneak attack or a change in trajectory, it made no difference from a direct thrust to Morris. He could even predict all of the opponent’s possibilities for the next few seconds based on the current state of the Aberrant Beast’s tentacles.

Although the Aberrant Beast was a product of Chaos, its tentacles were still composed of flesh and membranes; to move freely, they inevitably had to conform to corresponding physical rules.

And now, even though Morris didn’t understand exactly what these rules were, drawing from his own bodily experiences, he instinctively knew how to apply them.

Extending these rules to others signified an ultimate grasp of the human body’s state of motion. It was just that, after acquiring Transcendent Perception, he could also apply these rules to creatures like the Aberrant Beast.

“No matter how bizarre the Aberrant Beast, it still has to bow to reality!”

In a short while, the ground where the seven men fought was already covered with the tentacles severed by Morris. Even after separating from the Aberrant Beast’s main body, those tentacles continued to twist and stretch, as if they could reintegrate into the main body upon contact.

Morris and the others naturally wouldn’t just sit back and let that happen.

“Marlin, you and Meredith, disengage and move these severed tentacles on the ground far away.”

“Yes.”

Upon receiving the order, the two immediately pulled out of the Battle Formation. They used their swords to flick up every Aberrant Beast limb they could find in the area, then ran to the edge of the battlefield.

Separated from the main body, those severed limbs and tentacles were still moving, but their vitality had clearly dropped significantly compared to before.

Garrick and the others knew that edible meat could be obtained by harvesting and purifying these Aberrant Beast limbs or even the main body after slaying it. Moreover, the effects were somewhat better than the territory’s homegrown Fire Beef.

If one were to make an analogy using Knight ranks, the territory’s homegrown Fire Beef would be like a Knight Apprentice: while it had come into contact with the transcendent, it had not yet truly become transcendent.

But this meat harvested from Aberrant Beasts and then purified was at least equivalent to an Intermediate Knight. The Life Energy that a single piece of such Purified Meat could produce after consumption was often five to ten times that of an equal weight of Fire Beef.

Of course, there was no difference at all between the Life Energy produced by the two; Life Energy was solely related to the Breathing Technique and the Knight themselves. No matter the food, it was merely a consumable in this process.

At most, some foods had a higher efficiency in producing Life Energy, while others had lower efficiency, that was all.

Consequently, even though many Knights favored Purified Meat, they wouldn’t exclude Fire Beef or even ordinary food from their diets.

After all, Purified Meat could only be obtained during the annual Aberrant Beast invasions in midsummer. Even if it could be preserved for a long time, the Life Energy it could produce would eventually become indistinguishable from Fire Beef, or even lower.

It was as if certain Transcendent Factors within it had naturally dissipated over time.

…

“Garrick, send a signal and have the watchtower dispatch people to collect the Purified Meat.”

Amidst the battle, Morris issued a new order. The battle was drawing to a close, and they couldn’t stay here indefinitely to collect the Purified Meat; they needed personnel from the rear to come over.

Naturally, while the Aberrant Beast meat collected at this moment was referred to as Purified Meat, it actually still lacked a purification process; it was merely called Purified Meat out of habit.

“I’ve notified them; they’ll be here shortly.”

With the path they had carved out, it wouldn’t take long for rear personnel to arrive. Even though the vegetation in the Qiumu Forest grew incredibly fast, it wasn’t so fast that it would close up a cleared path in just an hour or two.

After all, it was still winter!

This was the season least suitable for plant growth!

…

Receiving Garrick’s confirmation, Morris couldn’t help but accelerate his offensive. Even though he had already achieved the Senior Knight rank, and even though the Aberrant Beast before him had been hacked down to nothing but a feather-covered flesh ball of a main body…

Its surface still bore the stubby “stumps” left behind by the severed tentacles. Now, these “stumps,” which lacked the protection of thick hide and feathers, had become Morris’s best points of attack.

It wasn’t that the Transcendent Weapon couldn’t break through the feathers and thick hide on the surface of the flesh ball, but with such obvious weaknesses present, Morris wouldn’t stubbornly attack the enemy’s most heavily defended spots.

Meanwhile, the Aberrant Beast also seemed to realize that the locations of its severed tentacles had become the enemy’s primary targets, and the flesh around those stumps was rapidly undergoing connective tissue formation.

However, due to the continuous destruction caused by Morris’s attacks, the scarring process couldn’t advance. Often, just as it “healed” a little, Morris would tear the wound open once again.

“Why do I feel like I’m mining!”

Having acquired Transcendent Perception, Morris was now extremely at ease compared to his earlier state of facing a formidable foe. Even if he couldn’t completely slay this Aberrant Beast, it was highly unlikely that the opponent could injure him now.

The thought of mining suddenly sparked a realization in Morris’s mind, reminding him of the Aberrant Beast invasion five years ago. Because the number of attacking Aberrant Beasts had inexplicably surged, the Territory Guard had found it difficult to cope all at once.

Thus emerged the ultimate form of an Aberrant Beast mutated to its absolute limit: the Metamorphosed Beast!

Shedding its old body, the Metamorphosed Beast discarded its previous chaotic form and instead transformed into the complete state of a certain creature. The two Metamorphosed Beasts that appeared five years ago were both in the form of complete wolves.

The moment those two Metamorphosed Beasts were born, they were practically at their peak state. Even Formal Knights arrayed in Battle Formations could only defend themselves, completely lacking the capacity to attack.

What was even more despair-inducing was that those two Metamorphosed Beasts seemed to have gained intelligence, knowing exactly where the Knights’ true weaknesses lay. After charging through the Territory Guard’s Battle Formations for a while, they unexpectedly made a beeline straight for the territory.

To prevent those two Metamorphosed Beasts from charging into the territory and running amok, the Territory Guard paid a grievous price. Yet even so, they ultimately failed to stop them.

If not for the Lord, the Sis Territory might have ceased to exist five years ago.

This was also the fundamental reason why, even knowing that the Lord’s resistance to foreign aid might cause harm to the territory, the Territory Guard still chose to remain loyal.

However, it was also in that battle that the Lord suffered severe injuries, from which he has yet to recover even now.