A monstrous figure emerged from the depths of the forest, its presence suffocating and vile. Its towering stature resembled an ancient, rotting tree, but any resemblance to a typical giant ended there. Its skin was cracked and split like decaying bark, with sticky spores and fungi growing from the fissures, glowing sickly shades of green and purple. Its face was even more grotesque—one cheek had rotted away entirely, exposing twisted teeth and a skeletal jaw. Five eyes glimmered malevolently, two on its face, with the others sprouting from its forehead and temples, glowing a menacing crimson. A massive hump grew from its back, constantly spewing a cloud of spores. Any creature inhaling this toxic miasma began to decay, their flesh rotting from within. Its four arms were each in different states of decay. Some had bones protruding grotesquely, while others dripped with viscous, liquefied flesh. As it walked, the ground beneath its feet blackened and rotted, leaving behind only death and disease. When it opened its mouth, a dark, venomous mist spilled forth. Organs, barely held together by decomposed flesh, pumped out thick, black bile. Nothing survived where it tread. This abomination, far stronger than any other beast in the forest of monstrosities, bore a name from ancient tongues: Morbus, Lord of Decay and Disease. As Morbus’s colossal shadow loomed between the rotting trees, the sickening stench of decayed flesh filled the air. Every step it took sounded like something being sucked into a swamp, an unsettling, wet squelch that echoed eerily. It wasn’t long before Morbus noticed the intruders. With a single thunderous roar, it unleashed its poisonous fog in all directions. The miasma was so potent that any ordinary knight would have collapsed instantly upon inhaling it. But the group facing Morbus was far from ordinary. “Ugh... That’s intense,” Jerome muttered, grimacing as he waved his hand to cast an air-purification spell around them. Even with the spell, the noxious fog lingered stubbornly. It was no ordinary poison; its potency was unparalleled. But the group had their own trump cards. Among them was Piote, who stepped forward, clasping his hands together. “Oh, Goddess, hear my prayer!” he intoned, and a radiant light of purification emanated from him. It far surpassed Jerome’s spell, sweeping through the miasma with divine intensity. Sizzle! The holy flames burned away the poison mist instantly, cleansing even the toxins that had seeped into the bodies of the superhumans. Parniel, gripping her mace tightly, glanced at Ghislain. “I see its heart. Do we just destroy it?” The heart, grotesquely pumping black bile, throbbed within Morbus’s decaying flesh. “No,” Ghislain replied, shaking his head. “That won’t work. You need to crush it completely—into powder.” “And how do you know all this?” Parniel asked with a dubious look. Ghislain grinned. “Don’t you know? I’m the famed Saint. The Goddess tells me everything in my dreams.” Parniel let out a laugh, despite herself. If they weren’t in the middle of this battle, she might have smacked Ghislain with her mace and interrogated him for heresy. “Fine,” Parniel said, stepping forward. “I’ll go first.” “Remember what I told you earlier,” Ghislain reminded her. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll wait for the signal to go all in,” Parniel replied. “I’ll take one of its arms.” “Got it,” Ghislain said. With divine light radiating from her, Parniel charged. The others followed closely behind her. Morbus roared, its massive hand crashing down toward Parniel like the shadow of death. She conjured a brilliant shield of light to block the strike. BOOM! The impact created a blinding flash of light. Though the shield held, it couldn’t fully absorb the blow, and Parniel was sent flying backward. The raw power behind the attack was overwhelming. As Parniel held Morbus’s attention, the others seized the opportunity to strike. CRACK! BOOM! Bolts of lightning from Jerome and Vanessa struck Morbus, tearing through its decayed flesh. Chunks of its rotting body exploded outward, spewing dark, viscous fluids like waterfalls. Yet Morbus felt no pain—it was a being beyond death. Its only reaction was a roar of fury as it lashed out. SLASH! CRACK! Before it could retaliate, Julien and Gillian darted in, severing its massive ankles with precise strikes. Even the thick, gnarled limbs couldn’t withstand their blades. But Morbus didn’t falter. The black, sticky fluid pouring from its wounds rapidly reconnected the severed parts. From above, Ghislain descended, his aura blade gleaming as he cleaved Morbus’s head in two. For any normal monster, this would have been the end. But Morbus was far from normal. From the split in its face, a gaping void appeared, and from it erupted a torrent of deathly breath, engulfing Ghislain. “Guh!” Ghislain stumbled, the potent venom making his head spin as if he’d consumed strong liquor. His body began to decay at an alarming rate. His skin turned a sickly violet, splitting open to ooze black pus. He looked like a walking corpse. One of Morbus’s four massive arms swung down toward Ghislain, but he narrowly dodged, gasping for breath. Meanwhile, the others pressed their attacks, giving Ghislain a moment to retreat and recover. Morbus thrashed wildly, its four arms carving through the air and striking the ground with devastating force. The blows churned the earth, leaving deep gouges in its wake. Despite its relentless assault, Morbus couldn’t easily land a hit. Jerome and Vanessa’s continuous barrage of spells kept tearing its flesh apart, leaving it unable to focus. The corrupted monster’s frustration peaked, and it unleashed a burst of black miasma, enveloping the area in suffocating darkness. Yet, thanks to Piote’s radiant purification, the group moved unhindered. The divine light shielded them from the poison, burning away any trace of corruption it touched. But Ghislain was an exception. He had specifically told Piote not to cast the purifying light on him. Instead, he stood alone, deliberately inhaling the venomous mist. Huff! Ghislain’s five cores spun furiously, each whirling with violent energy. The cores began absorbing the potent poison invading his body, transforming it into mana. His previously decayed flesh started to regenerate, and the violet hue of his poisoned skin faded back to its original color. “This... is intense,” Ghislain muttered with a sharp grin. The poison was far stronger than he had anticipated. Even with his resistance, the sheer potency made his head spin, teetering on the edge of life and death. But the greater the danger, the greater the reward. The effects were remarkable. The mana within his body surged explosively, as if he had consumed a dragon’s heart. “Guh... Ugh!” When his body reached its limit, overwhelmed by the surge of mana, Ghislain vomited black blood. His body couldn’t absorb any more poison, and the excess spilled out. Sizzle! The black blood hissed as it hit the ground, releasing toxic fumes before evaporating completely. “Well, that’s a shame,” Ghislain said, wiping his mouth with the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) back of his hand. “Guess I’ll just have to keep feeding on it while we fight.” His eyes gleamed sharply, filled with a predatory hunger. From the moment he had read the battle records, Ghislain had been eagerly anticipating this fight with Morbus. The stronger the poison, the stronger he would become. “The poisonous fog made it impossible for us to even approach Morbus. Anyone who got close immediately succumbed to the toxin, their bodies decaying within moments. We had no choice but to assemble a large contingent of priests and mages to prioritize purification...” This passage from the records highlighted why the Delphine Dukedom had suffered repeated defeats in past encounters with Morbus. The poison fog, spreading in all directions, had no effective countermeasure at the time. But the superhumans standing here today were different. They could endure the miasma, and the divine powers radiating from Parniel and Piote shielded them from the worst of the corruption. This left Ghislain free to focus on absorbing the poison, uninterrupted. Rumble. As Ghislain’s five cores activated to their maximum capacity, his body surged forward, propelled by raw power. His aura blade, now even larger and brighter than before, sliced through the air. BOOM! A flash of light illuminated the battlefield as one of Morbus’s colossal arms was severed. This was the signal. Ghislain had absorbed enough poison. The other superhumans, recognizing the moment, unleashed their full strength without holding back. ROAR! Even before Morbus’s agonized scream faded, Julien’s sword gleamed with radiant light, infused with his indomitable will. SLASH! With precision, Julien severed another of Morbus’s arms. Black smoke and viscous fluids poured from the gaping wound, cascading like a dark waterfall. Parniel seized the opportunity. With divine energy surging through her mace, she struck the exposed stump. BOOM! SIZZLE! The corrupted flesh at the stump burned and hardened, sealing the wound to prevent further leakage of the toxic black ichor. Meanwhile, Belinda emerged from the shadows behind Morbus, her voice sharp and commanding. “Piote! Bless my weapons!” FLASH! Dozens of daggers launched by Belinda were imbued with blinding holy light. THUD! THUD! THUD! Like a meteor shower, the daggers struck Morbus’s back, embedding themselves deep into his decayed flesh. The divine energy within them spread rapidly, tearing into Morbus’s body. ROAR! Morbus bellowed in rage. Though he could not feel physical pain, the divine energy invading his body was something he could not endure. It constricted his movements and struck at the very core of his soul. While Morbus writhed in torment, Gillian relentlessly hacked at one of his ankles. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Like a determined woodsman felling a tree, Gillian attacked the same spot over and over again. BOOM! At last, one of Morbus’s ankles gave way, and the monstrous being staggered, struggling to maintain its balance. ROAR! Reeling from the loss of balance, Morbus raised one of his remaining arms to crush Gillian. CREAK! 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎 But this time, the movement of Morbus’s arm was unnaturally slow. Jerome had cast a gravity spell that pinned the massive limb, restraining its motion. ROAR! The spell’s force was powerful enough to crush most monsters entirely, yet Morbus resisted, pushing against it with tremendous strength. “Fall back!” Jerome shouted. At his command, the others quickly retreated from Morbus’s vicinity. In the sky, Vanessa hovered, her hands outstretched. A massive spear of fire materialized and shot toward Morbus. BOOM! The first spear pierced through Morbus’s abdomen, detonating with a deafening explosion that shook the earth. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A chain reaction followed as multiple flaming spears rained down, each one piercing and exploding within Morbus’s massive frame. Black ichor and spores erupted from his body, mingling with the roaring flames. The surrounding swamp and trees ignited, consumed by the inferno. SIZZLE! The flames licked at Morbus’s decaying form, but the disgusting black fluid within him extinguished the magical fire again and again. The cycle of burning and smothering continued, producing a thick, acrid smoke that filled the air. Yet even amidst the inferno, Morbus survived. Torn, impaled, and burning, the monstrosity refused to fall. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Ghislain, leading the superhumans, launched another relentless assault. Their attacks rained down like lightning, carving away chunks of Morbus’s decayed flesh. ROAR! Morbus screamed in rage and desperation. Once the absolute ruler of this forest, he now found himself cornered, his very existence threatened by the invaders. Even so, the poison clinging to his body was deadly. A mere touch from his attacks caused armor to melt and flesh to rot. Yet Parniel and Piote’s divine power healed the wounds almost instantly, nullifying the poison’s effects. With the two of them present, Morbus’s ability to overwhelm his enemies was significantly hindered. This group was no ordinary band of warriors. They had experience defeating dragons, and even a creature as formidable as Morbus was no match for their coordinated onslaught. BOOM! ROAR! Ghislain’s blade cleaved deeply into Morbus once again. The balance of power on the battlefield had shifted—Morbus was no longer in control. As Ghislain absorbed more poison, he grew stronger, almost as if he were Morbus’s natural predator. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Unlike their usual tactics, where Parniel would lead the charge, Ghislain now took the forefront. His ferocious attacks commanded Morbus’s attention, allowing the others to strike at every available opening. THUD! THUD! THUD! Bit by bit, Morbus’s decayed flesh was stripped away, reduced to nothing more than butchered meat in a slaughterhouse.