My inventory is full of monster materials.

Chapter 144 Fishman Statue

Without the command of High Priest Kotō, the mutated Kotō merfolk, though still ferocious, became completely chaotic, even engaging in infighting.

In this way, the pressure on the team was suddenly relieved. In the blink of an eye, the last Kou Tao fishman let out a mournful roar, then collapsed onto the cold stone, his body twitched a few times, and he was completely lifeless.

This unexpected encounter has finally come to an end.

The battlefield was littered with the corpses of merfolk and black blood. Twisted limbs and ruptured eyeballs were scattered all over the ground, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench.

The squad members' armor and clothing were covered in stains, but fortunately none of them were injured, only suffering minor scratches and exhaustion.

Clearly, their elite squad, which had been carefully selected, was not just a name without substance. Although the sneak attack by Kou Tao the fishman came suddenly, it only caused some trouble.

With a clang, Killian plunged his greatsword into the ground, wiped the blood from his face, took a deep breath, and then picked up the magic lantern from the ground.

The bright lights illuminated the surrounding battlefield. Killian slowly looked around, and only after confirming that there were no other unusual movements did he nod in relief.

"Alright, the battle is over. Everyone, check your condition, treat your wounds, and replenish your stamina and mana."

Everyone nodded, found a relatively dry rock to sit on, and began to tidy up their equipment and treat their injuries.

But just then, Killian noticed that Mark wasn't resting like everyone else. Instead, he was squatting to the side, carefully dissecting the corpse of a mutated Koto fishman, his expression focused, as if he were studying something.

Curious, Killian stepped forward to Mark's side, looked down at him, and asked in confusion.

"Mark, what are you doing? Have you found something?"

Mark didn't look up, continuing to carefully slice open the fishman's body with his dagger, dissecting it as he spoke.

"I want to see the extent to which these merfolk are corrupted by the abyss, and whether there are any abnormalities in their body structure. Perhaps I can find some clues about the abyss's corruption."

As Mark dissected the body, a pale blue system panel suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[The deformed left limb of Kou Tao, the whipper (white)]

Completeness: 51%

[Effect]: Agility -1, "Finger Disability I"

【special】:

Mark frowned, set the deformed left limb aside, picked up the silver knife, and sliced ​​open the other fishman's head.

[The deranged fish-man's head (white)]

Completeness: 38%

[Effect]: Willpower -50%, Rage +20%

【special】:

Mark dissected the heads of several fishmen, including ordinary deformed Koto fishmen and Koto whippers.

Mark stood up after dissecting the last fishman corpse, wiped the silver knife in his hand, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

"Although these fish-men have undergone a certain degree of physical mutation, they do not actually contain much abyssal energy."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked puzzled.

Gray, being a mage and also a learned individual, spoke on behalf of everyone.

"What are you trying to say?"

Seeing this, Mark stopped being mysterious and directly called out the name.

"These merfolk, like the kobolds at the cave entrance, are passively affected by the pollution of the abyss, and are fundamentally different from the abyssal monsters that besiege the canyon."

"!!!"

Upon hearing this, Killian and the others all turned to look at him, their faces showing great surprise.

At this point, Theresa nodded and added.

"Mark is right. I can sense that these merfolk are not influenced by the will of the abyss."

Killian frowned, pondered for a moment, and then spoke.

"So, those abyssal monsters were unaware of our allied forces' actions?"

"Were these merfolk simply corrupted by abyssal energy and happened to appear here to launch a sneak attack on us?"

"That's about it."

Mark nodded and said.

"If these murlocs and abyssal monsters are allies, their attacks should be more organized, instead of charging haphazardly without a leader like before."

Upon hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

It now appears that these merfolk were merely mutated creatures that appeared by accident, and that they were not colluding with the abyssal monsters, which is undoubtedly good news.

Killian stood up, looked firmly at everyone, and delivered his final verdict.

"In that case, our Anchor Point operation will continue as planned."

"But for the safety of the allied forces during their retreat, and to prevent these fish-men corrupted by the abyss from spreading further and threatening other areas."

"We must completely eliminate this mutated Kotau fishman's nest before we can move forward safely and complete the subsequent missions."

Gray, Eris, and the others nodded in agreement with Killian's decision.

Then, everyone gathered together and began to formulate a battle plan.

Killian, as the squad leader, spoke first.

"The merfolk's lair should be in a cave in the nearby rock wall. We need to find the exact location of the lair first."

Killian's gaze swept over each of his teammates, hoping someone would take on the responsibility of scouting ahead.

At this point, Mark volunteered.

"I'll go find the nest."

Killian frowned and hesitated.

"you can?"

Mark nodded.

"I have an affinity for dark elements, and my perception of dark energy and creatures far surpasses that of ordinary people. With this perception, I can quickly locate their nests."

Mark didn't explain why he had an affinity for dark elements, and Killian and the others didn't press him for an answer, since everyone present had their own secrets.

Killian nodded in agreement.

"Alright, then Mark will be in charge of finding the nest's location. We'll follow behind Mark, stay alert, and try not to make any noise to avoid alerting the fishmen."

"Once we find the nest, we'll launch a surprise attack and catch them completely off guard."

By the end, Killian was gritting his teeth, clearly wanting to retaliate for the murlocs' sneak attack.

Then, Killian began to systematically assign combat tasks to everyone, finally whispering a command.

"Does everyone understand their tasks?"

"Understood!"

Everyone answered in unison, their eyes filled with fighting spirit.

Once everything was ready, Mark took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, using the dark element affinity of the "Shadow Dragon Bloodline" to begin sensing the surrounding abyssal energy fluctuations.

A moment later, Mark opened his eyes and said firmly.

"Found it. The murloc nest is in the cave in the rock wall of the bend in the underground river ahead, about two hundred meters away from us. There are still a few guard murlocs around the nest, so we need to be careful."

"Okay, let's go!"

Killian lowered his voice and spoke to the group. Then, the team members slowed their pace and followed Mark toward the murloc lair.

The magic lantern was set to its dimmest setting, barely enough to illuminate the path beneath its feet, to avoid emitting too much light and alerting the vigilant fishmen on the perimeter.

The underground river was still turbulent and filled with water vapor. The stench in the air was even stronger than before, clearly indicating that we were getting closer and closer to the fishmen's lair.

The group proceeded cautiously, their steps light. After traveling about eighty feet, Mark suddenly stopped and made a "shush" gesture to the group.

"The area ahead is the outer perimeter of the murloc lair. There are five ordinary Kotō murlocs and one Kotō whipper guarding the cave entrance on both sides and in front of it."

The team members stared in the direction Mark pointed, and sure enough, at the entrance to the cave in the rock wall not far ahead, several mutated Koto fishmen were patrolling back and forth.

Killian lowered his voice and gave Eris a wink. Eris nodded, and with a swift movement, like a cheetah, silently circled behind a merman in front of him. Taking advantage of the merman's inattention, he plunged the dart into its back.

With a "thud," the short blade pierced the fishman's vitals with precision, and black blood spurted out. The fishman didn't even have time to let out a roar before he collapsed limply and was quickly dragged behind the rock wall by Eris and hidden away.

Eris then used the same trick again, and in just a few minutes, he silently cleared out the guard murlocs on the perimeter. He then made a "safe" gesture to the group, and they all stepped forward to the cave entrance.

The cave was dark and damp, and smelled even worse than outside.

The ground was covered with black slime and fishman excrement, making it very slippery; one could easily slip and fall.

The rock walls on both sides of the cave are covered with caves of all sizes, and the figures of some fishmen can be vaguely seen inside. The fishman eggs are strangely black, obviously corrupted by the energy of the abyss.

The group moved cautiously and quietly through the cave, with Mark using his dark elemental senses to guide them.

During their journey, both Eris and Adele were agile professionals. Once they spotted a merman, they would immediately launch an attack and quickly kill it to avoid alerting more mermen.

After walking about thirty meters, the cave became more spacious, and a huge hall appeared in front of us.

In the center of the hall was a murky pool of water, upon which stood a crooked, black stone statue, emitting a pungent stench and an ominous aura.

Clearly, this is the fish-people's water source, and also the place most severely polluted by the abyss.

Around the pool, a large number of mutated Kou Tao fishmen gathered, including Kou Tao fishman cubs and Kou Tao whippers. They played and rested in the pool, numbering as many as fifty or sixty.

At the deepest part of the hall, there was a tall stone seat, where a figure much larger than an ordinary fishman sat, wearing a tattered priest's robe and holding a twisted wooden staff.

It was none other than that High Priest Kou Tao!

However, there was still a noticeable wound on its shoulder, from which black blood was still seeping.

Suddenly, High Priest Kou Tao seemed to sense something. He raised his head, his murky red eyes fixed on the direction of the cave entrance, and gently tapped the staff in his hand.

The fish-men in the pool instantly stopped what they were doing, turned their heads, and looked toward the cave entrance, their eyes filled with rage and murderous intent.

"We've been discovered!"

Killian shouted in a low voice.

"Prepare to engage the enemy!"

At Killian's command, the squad members immediately sprang into action.

Holding his greatsword, Killian strode toward High Priest Kotō at the deepest part of the hall. Murlocs along the way rushed forward to stop him, but were all cut down in the waist with a single sword strike.

Seeing Killian charging towards him, High Priest Kotō hastily unleashed a "Weakening Ray" from his staff, aiming straight for Killian!

Killian neither dodged nor evaded, but raised his arm armor to shield himself.

The gray-white rays struck the armor, the engraved runes lit up for a moment, and then the spell's power vanished.

"Roar" 6

High Priest Kou Tao let out a strange roar, and with a tap of his staff, he released a "spiritual weapon"—a magical scythe appeared out of thin air and slashed toward Killian.

Killian dodged the scythe attack with a swift movement, while simultaneously slashing his greatsword fiercely at High Priest Kotō.

High Priest Kou Tao reacted extremely quickly, wielding his staff horizontally to block Killian's greatsword with a dull thud.

Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, a long ice crystal spear crossed the entire battlefield from the cave entrance and shot straight at High Priest Kou Tao on the stone seat.

High Priest Kou Tao had to dodge the fatal shot by sidestepping, but this allowed Kirian to successfully wrestle and smash High Priest Kou Tao into the surrounding stone wall with a sweeping sword.

Boom!

When High Priest Kotō rose from the reef again, the battle in the hall was drawing to a close. Both the Kotō Whiplashers and the ordinary Kotō murlocs had been mostly wiped out by Killian's teammates.

Eris with her wrist twirling sword, Nolan with a giant hammer on his shoulder, Theresa in her full holy armor, Adele riding a displacement beast, and Mark and Gray in the distance with one blue and one red palm.

Seeing that there was no way to turn the tide, High Priest Kou Tao roared with his neck stiffened, and the next second he was blasted into nothingness by the multicolored ball of light.

The hall fell into complete silence.

The team members looked a little tired, but they all had relieved smiles on their faces.

After resting for about fifteen minutes, everyone's physical strength and magic power recovered somewhat.

Killian stood up, looked around the hall, and said.

"Alright, let's start cleaning up the battlefield and see if there's anything of value."

"However, these fishmen have lived underground for a long time and have been polluted by the abyss, so they are probably not of much value. We can just do a simple check."

Upon hearing this, the others stood up and examined the fishman's corpse one by one, trying to find some valuable material.

But as Killian said, these merfolk were so corrupted by the abyss that their scales, limbs, and teeth were either in very poor condition or contained a rich abyssal energy, making them of no practical use.

Eris examined several merfolk corpses but found nothing of value, and couldn't help but complain.

"What bad luck! We killed so many murlocs, but we didn't get anything of value. All that effort wasted."

Nolan shook his head and said.

"There's no way around it; these fish-men's bodies have been completely twisted, and there's simply no usable biological material left."

Just when everyone thought that cleaning up the battlefield would yield no results and was about to give up, Mark suddenly noticed a strange statue in the pool in the center of the hall.

The statue is about two meters tall and is carved from black rock. It depicts a fish-man-like creature with a fish-shaped head, protruding eyes, thick fleshy whiskers on its chin, a human-shaped body, a staff in its hand, and an exaggerated smile on its lips.

Curious, Mark stepped forward to examine the statue closely and shouted to his teammates.

"Everyone come quick! There's a strange statue here!"