Chapter 170 - 57: [Pulangti of the Swamp]

Chapter 170: Chapter 57: [Pulangti of the Swamp]

"Alright, thank you. You’ve completely dispelled my last bit of hope for resolving this through peaceful negotiation—such an unrealistic idea really shouldn’t have existed," Samael replied from behind the tree.

"Of course, if you want to defect to my side, I can accept that too. I see you’re quite perceptive. Maybe you could be my assistant? Help me hunt for materials and do some odd jobs?" Pulangti’s voice chuckled softly from among the seven or eight hat helmets. "In exchange, I can spare you from a beating when the battle starts."

"No, thank you," Samael replied. "I have more important work to do."

"Oh, then it can’t be helped." Pulangti’s tanned corpses wearing wide-brimmed hat helmets held their Fish Spear Guns and slowly came ashore, splashing through the water. They split into two groups and inched their way around the giant tree, hoping to use the Fish Spear Guns to impale and hook Samael, dragging him into the murky water.

"Come for a swim! Is there anyone who doesn’t like swimming?"

The hat helmet Undead wore no Armor. The tanned corpses themselves possessed strong buoyancy, and using the Nether Copper Tridents and crocodile-skin suits as counterweights perfectly allowed them to remain suspended in the water.

However, Samael’s Nether Bronze Armor was exceptionally heavy. If he entered the water, he would instantly sink to the bottom. Even walking normally would cause him to sink into the underwater mud. If he were dragged down, he would be completely at the mercy of Pulangti’s Corpse Hunters.

The Corpse Hunters leveled their Fish Spear Guns, pressing the long handles flat against their sides at waist level. Their tough, black leather-like fingers gripped the Nether Copper Springs, and they slowly advanced inch by inch toward Samael behind the tree.

The moment the four Corpse Hunters on the left came around the Nether Copper Tree Trunk, a Nether Copper Hammer Spear swung out viciously, sending all four tanned corpses flying simultaneously!

[Biological Posture Material Called: Conquest]

A powerful heavy-weapon combat technique used in wars, suited for scattering groups of unarmored and lightly armored targets.

During the time he had hidden behind the tree, Samael had melted down his Nether Copper Kite Shield and Knight Sword, reforging them into a massive Nether Copper Hammer Spear!

[Biological Posture Material Called: Forging]

Samael didn’t give them a chance to stand back up. He smashed the Nether Copper Hammer Spear down mercilessly, crushing and snapping the Corpse Hunters along with the Long-handled Fish Spear Guns they used to block.

The four Corpse Hunters on the other side rounded the tree trunk. Taking advantage of Samael being busy finishing off their comrades, they abruptly pulled their triggers!

The instant the Crossbow Mechanisms triggered and the Fish Spear Guns fired, the charging impact of four Sword and Shield Corpse Knights sent the four Corpse Hunters flying violently. The shoulder bashes and elbow strikes of [Lion-Hunting Gladiatorial Combat], mixed with wrestling techniques, flipped the Corpse Hunters to the ground. Four Knight Swords executed a [Drop Kill] simultaneously, decapitating the tanned corpses.

The Nether Copper Hat Helmets, covered in duckweed leaves, dropped to the ground, echoing with Pulangti’s laughter.

"Playing with combat techniques, are we? You’re good at constructing and combining combat techniques? What a nice target! It’s happily decided then—in three days, I’ll attack you first!"

Samael picked up the wide-brimmed hat helmets from the ground and melted them into a puddle of Nether Copper.

He waved his hand, and the Corpse Knights leaned down, picking up the Fish Spear Guns and several leather pouches from the remains of the Corpse Hunters.

CLICK. The soft sound of a fuse triggering.

Startled, Samael had no time to tell the Corpse Knights to throw the pouches away. He could only dive and roll behind a nearby tree!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Continuous explosions mingled with the fizzing of corrosion and splashing liquids. Bone spikes shot out wildly, pinning themselves into the surrounding tree trunks and branches.

More than ten seconds later, silence finally returned to the swamp.

The Nether Copper Giant Tree that Samael had leaned against finally collapsed under the unbearable weight of the successive corrosion, explosions, and spike penetrations, revealing Samael behind it, who had already reforged the Hammer Spear back into a shield.

The giant tree collapsed with a crash. The snapped upper half of the trunk fell into the swamp, splashing water and mud, startling a sky full of screaming waterbirds.

The remains of the Undead were scattered everywhere.

The bodies of the Corpse Knights were mostly corroded by acid, and their Nether Bronze Armor was pierced with dozens of small holes from the explosive spikes. The spikes even had barbs, making them impossible to pull out.

The waist pouches and Fish Spear Guns that Samael had originally wanted to recover and study were all destroyed as well, leaving no structure left to examine.

Giggling laughter echoed somewhere in the swamp. In the distance, a hat helmet covered in duckweed floated on the surface before diving and disappearing. Two swimming ripples trailing behind it cut through the dense duckweed leaves on the water’s surface, swimming toward the depths of the swamp.

"How insidious..." Samael muttered subconsciously. "Oh, I shouldn’t say that. After all, I seem to have done similar things myself—though the goals were different, the methods were pretty much the same."

He rummaged across the ground and picked up a small fragment of a Nether Copper Fuse. He suddenly realized it was a Nether Copper Limb combined with flint.

The fuse had been remote-controlled by Pulangti using Nether Copper Components—although it was difficult to combine the components into effectively usable constructs, they were still very suitable to be used as remote-controlled fuses.

"Pulangti’s mind is quite sharp..." Samael thought. "Then again, it seems no Knight in this forsaken place called the Heart of the Remains is truly stupid or incompetent. Everyone has their own unique skills, and everyone can give you an unexpected surprise. Perhaps, just as Lahador mentioned before, only outstanding souls are chosen to become Ghost Knights. The enemies are getting fiercer one by one. The pressure is really multiplying."

Samael felt a bit tired, but Talia’s voice came faintly from behind him.

"Found it..." her nervous voice called out from behind. "The Burrowers’ temporary nest. Their Empress is in bad condition, but she can still be saved..."

"Coming." Samael adjusted his mood, returning to his usual state. CLANK CLANK, he trotted off, heading in Talia’s direction.

"Let’s go. Before Pulangti’s other Undead surround us, we’re leaving here."