Lord: I can see loyalty.

Vio's figure burst through the air, his sword pointing directly at the still writhing black mud monster!

However, with a "pfft" sound!

A thick, pillar-like black mud tentacle suddenly pierced out from the side of the monster's body, moving so fast that it was impossible to react!

Vio forcefully twisted his body in mid-air, slashing horizontally with his sword, severing the long tentacles cleanly! The broken black mud twitched wildly on the ground, quickly drying into ash.

But with that strike, his momentum had already stopped.

More tentacles continued to erupt from the chaotic body, like hundreds of venomous snakes suddenly lunging to bite, indiscriminately sweeping towards everyone on the ground!

"Shield Formation!" Jimmy shouted.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The heavy impacts were as dense as a torrential downpour. Several knights at the forefront, holding the giant shields, groaned and staggered back several steps. Corrosion was left on the surface of the shields, and smoke even began to rise from the edges!

A tentacle darted around a gap in the shield and nearly entangled the leg of a crossbowman behind it, but Gina, in the formation, reacted quickly and severed it with a sword.

"Watch out for that monster's attack!" Albright cleaved aside an oncoming tentacle with her sword, her arm tingling from the impact. "How many arms does this thing have... can this even be considered an arm?"

Before the words were even finished, the monster's attack had already changed again.

In the very center of that chaotic body, countless eyeballs pushed open to the sides, tearing open a huge, vertical mouth from which thick black liquid flowed!

Inside, there were only tens of thousands of sharp teeth forming a circle, leading directly to a dark cavity deep inside.

vomit--!!!

Like vomiting, a ball of black mud gushed out, carrying countless fragments of human bones that were not yet fully digested, and spewed towards the most densely populated area of ​​the crowd!

"Get out of the way!" Xavier roared, pulling two militiamen to the ground.

The militiamen tumbled and scrambled to the sides, the black mud balls grazing the edges, and splattered black specks landing on the calves of a Cooper hunter who couldn't dodge in time.

The leather armor provided by the Southern Territory was instantly corroded, creating a fist-sized hole, with the fabric and skin sizzling and smoking together!

The hunter screamed as his companion dragged him away, and Valerie swiftly sliced ​​away the remaining rotten flesh and fragments of leather armor from his leg.

"Damn it, we can't get close at all like this!" Xavier's forehead veins bulged.

But Vio did not retreat. He stepped on the edge of the black mud tentacles, and small black balls kept splashing out, landing on his dark skin, causing a burning sting, but that was all.

The first-level defense of the Gravel Breathing Technique is sufficient to resist this level of corrosion.

He needs to find the enemy's weakness.

Another wave of tentacles swept across, and Vio severed three of them, but the fourth lashed out at his chest like a whip!

"Bang!"

He was pulled back three steps, leaving a deep corrosive scratch on his breastplate, but he also used the momentum to get around to the monster's flank.

There was an area where the whiskers were relatively sparse, with only a dozen or so eyes that were always staring in the same direction.

Vio took a deep breath, pushing his breathing technique to its limit, just as he was about to thrust again...

boom!!!

A dazzling golden light suddenly burst forth right in front of the monster on the battlefield!

Vio looked closely and saw that it was neither flame nor lightning, but a warm, sacred light.

The light instantly illuminated the entire forest, as well as the churning black mud.

The black mud monster let out an unprecedentedly shrill scream!

The moment the light touched its body, the black mud surface that was illuminated churned violently, then shrank and dissipated.

Vio suddenly turned around and quickly retreated to the front of the allied forces.

On the edge of the allied forces' territory, across the muddy swamp, in the place they had passed on their way here, there were now four figures.

The leader was a surprisingly robust old man.

He was clad in heavy plate armor, gold and white, the surface of which shimmered with a faint light.

The warhammer in his hand was engraved with intricate and symmetrical patterns. His helmet covered most of his face, revealing only his deep-set, azure eyes and a short beard on his chin.

It was none other than the church paladin Heinrich who had once helped them!

Half a step behind him was the old mage Valentine, whose breathing was slightly disordered.

The old man's gray hair was blown into disarray, and the hem of his robe was covered in mud. Behind him was a young girl named Xavier, whom Vio vaguely remembered and who seemed to often follow Xavier around.

"Lord Heinrich?" Jimmy blurted out, his voice also filled with shock.

"Vio!"

Valentine rushed to the front in a few strides, ignoring the black mud tentacles flying everywhere. He stared intently at Vio, looking him up and down. Only after confirming that he had no fatal injuries did he breathe a sigh of relief, his voice a little hoarse.

"You child, you are so reckless, just like your father..." The old man tried to remain calm but could not hide his worry.

Vio's throat tightened slightly, and he spoke in a low voice, "Uncle Valentine, what brings you here?"

"What, shouldn't I have come?" Valentine smirked, a forced smile spreading across his face. "I couldn't save your father, and now I can't even save you?"

Valentine wiped his face hard again, suppressing his emotions, and then spoke.

"When I first discovered signs of this black mud monster, I did some research," the old man's voice regained its composure. "It's very similar to the Devourer God, but the Devourer God is actually a demon. However, I've never heard of anything like the situation in Mount Loba."

He took a deep breath and glanced at Heinrich, who was steadily moving forward behind him.

"I wrote a letter and sent it to the church of the Kingdom of Rovia. I had been in regular correspondence with Heinrich since the Battle of the Eclipse. I bet he... I bet the Knights of the Church would not stand idly by and watch corruption of this scale go unchecked."

Gelto, who was familiar with the forest terrain, also came along. He nodded silently without saying anything more.

Vio's lips curled into a slight smile. He said nothing, but simply pressed down hard on the old man's thin shoulder.

At this moment, Heinrich Storm had arrived at the front of the Allied forces.

He raised his warhammer high, and its light, far from dimming as he approached the monster, burned even brighter.

The black mud monster was frantically shrinking its body, its countless tentacles flailing wildly but daring not to touch the light, its countless eyeballs tightly closed, and it even began to avoid the light.

"Roar—!" It let out another terrified shriek.

"Holy Light..." The voice was no longer calm, no longer mimicking a human, but torn apart by primal fear, "Outsiders...you deserve to die...you deserve to die!!!"

Heinrich did not reply. He simply stepped forward steadily, placed his warhammer on the ground, turned his head, and looked at Vio with his calm, deep blue eyes.

Without the disdain a church knight might show towards a secular lord, he simply nodded.

"Count Vio," the old knight's voice was steady, with a hoarse quality that belied his age, yet still powerful, "it seems I've arrived not too late."

Vio gripped the Southern Will tightly, his sword pointing directly at the black mud monster that was painfully shrinking under the holy light.

"Yes, it's the perfect time."