Chapter 122: Necromantic Energy

The miasma of the Rotten Bone Swamp writhed outside the Holy Light Shield like a living thing. Finally, a Swamp Poison Lizard directly charged at Mark’s Great Shield, its mouth full of sharp teeth gnashing wildly.

These Swamp Poison Lizards were more than twice the size of the Blade-Backed Lizards they encountered on the outskirts of the Monster Beast Mountain Range.

In terms of strength, they were almost on par with Mark.

Due to the sudden, forceful impact, Mark, who hadn’t firmly planted his feet, felt a sweet, fishy taste of blood well up in his throat, nearly causing him to fail to block the impact.

The three individuals encountering these strange lizards for the first time were truly caught off guard.

Mark held his Cross Shield firmly, and the Desecration Brand had already quietly climbed up the lizard’s ferocious head along the shield surface.

As the lizard on the Cross Shield twisted its head and gnawed at the Holy Light Barrier outside his body at a strange angle, the acidic liquid sprayed from its fine, sharp teeth easily eroded the Holy Light Shield on his body surface into a honeycomb-like pattern of holes.

“Their throat is their weak point!”

Anna, having adventured in Osborn Town for some time, was more composed than Mark and Monica in the face of such an unexpected situation.

Although she hadn’t noticed the Poison Lizard hidden in the mud at first, the moment Mark saved her, she decisively shot through the throats of three Poison Lizards.

Although those three lizards were still struggling and trying to charge at the three of them, they seemed to have lost the ability to spray acidic venom.

Three more arrows wrapped in thorns pierced the air, accurately striking the swollen Poison Sacs below the lizards’ throats.

The instant the mucus in the Poison Sacs of the three Poison Lizards boiled like it was stimulated by magic and exploded.

Meanwhile, Monica released the dagger the lizard was biting and transformed into a shadow, merging into the miasma. With another dagger, she imbued it with the seeds of the Vampiric Rose and fiercely plunged it into the gaps between the scales of the lizard’s throat.

“Holy Judgment!”

Mark stopped wrestling with the lizard. His Great Shield instantly transformed into a Longsword. With a sudden retraction of his shield and a backward lean, he slashed at the throat of the lizard, which had lunged its entire body into the air, also accurately striking the Poison Lizard’s throat Poison Sac.

After being pierced in the Poison Sac, the remaining lizards exploded in a shower of acid, just like the previous three, and were then blocked by the Great Shield that Mark conjured again.

To be honest, the Cross Necklace modified by the Mysterious Being was really useful.

With its characteristics of Eternity and Solidness, Mark never had to worry about it being corroded or destroyed.

Although these five Poison Lizards were clearly stronger than the ordinary Magical Beasts Mark had encountered before in terms of Agility and Venom Attack, their Health and Defense were visibly lacking.

When the skull of the last lizard was split in two by Mark, the three-person team once again obtained a third-rank Dark Element Venom attribute Magic Crystal.

As Mark somewhat disdainfully put the Magic Crystal into his Package, the three suddenly heard a crisp sound of bones shattering from deep within the swamp.

Judging by the sound, it should be the area marked on the mission map where Ghost Mushrooms grow.

After Mark replenished the Holy Light Shields on the three of them with Holy Light Protection, they followed the sound to a non-poisonous miasma area with a thin layer of water.

It seemed to be just a small pond within the swamp.

However, by the time they arrived, the water in that small pond seemed to be boiling.

Amidst the churning mud at the bottom of the pond, half of a Magical Beast skull as large as a horse carriage emerged from the earth. Dozens of dimly glowing, ghostly blue mushrooms clung to the bone-white skeleton.

The translucent mushroom caps swayed in the wind, and the Spore Powder that fell with their movement slowly merged into the surrounding miasma as the caps pulsed.

Judging solely by the color and form of these mushrooms, they were indeed the Ghost Mushrooms that Mark and the others were looking for as their mission target.

“So many? I thought the number of Ghost Mushroom spores was very small. The Adventurer’s Guild mission this time didn’t seem to have a quantity limit, isn’t this just handing us money?”

Mark said with some surprise as he looked at the Spore Powder drifting in the air.

“I don’t know. This mission was posted by the Adventurer’s Guild a month ago. However, Leader Beta said that my and Jimmy’s Rank was too low, so it wasn’t safe for us to be active in this area, so we didn’t accept the Gathering Task here.”

Anna recalled the information she had collected and compiled in Osborn Town. “It seems a Solo Adventurer took this mission later.”

“Then it seems he failed the mission? Or his gathered quantity was insufficient, is this a newly issued mission?”

Mark subconsciously judged as he looked at the mushrooms continuously erupting from the swamp, “It shouldn’t be insufficient quantity, as long as they have enough containers, the spores produced in this small area alone should be enough to fill at least ten bottles.”

“It shouldn’t be a newly issued mission by the Guild; new missions wouldn’t be issued to Osborn Town at least. Perhaps that adventurer didn’t have the ability to deal with the Poison Lizards in the swamp.”

Anna inferred.

Although their three-person team didn’t have a Water Mage like Siqi in Beta Squad who could ignore corrosive acid attacks, as long as Mr. Mark’s Great Shield was deployed, the attacks of the Swamp Poison Lizards could essentially be ignored.

There were very few Shield Warriors among Solo Adventurers who had clumsy movements.

Even if there were some scattered Shield Warriors, their equipment generally couldn’t withstand the acid corrosion of the Poison Lizards in this area.

Seen this way, it was highly likely that the adventurer who failed previously was unable to withstand the attacks of the Swamp Poison Lizards, leading to mission failure.

It’s just unknown whether that unlucky adventurer managed to retreat from the Rotten Bone Swamp unscathed.

Since the mission target was now within reach, Mark proactively stepped into the small pond and took out his specially prepared silver dagger to scrape the Ghost Mushroom’s Spore Powder.

“Wait!” Monica suddenly held Mark’s hand as he was about to reach for the stem.

The identification information appearing in her eyes was flashing wildly. “A High Rank Magic Crystal Shard is embedded in this Magical Beast Skeleton, and these mushrooms are absorbing Necromantic Energy…”

Before Monica could finish speaking, Xiao Mu suddenly let out a cheerful gurgle.

Pink Tentacles swiftly coiled around three Ghost Mushrooms on the skull’s head. The basin-sized, ghostly blue mushroom caps exploded into a brilliant Aurora upon being grasped by Xiao Mu.

The miasma of the Rotten Bone Swamp instantly solidified, and the moment Xiao Mu swallowed the Ghost Mushrooms, the entire swamp trembled as if grasped by an invisible hand.

Just as Mark was about to scold the glutton, he saw more ghostly blue fluorescence lighting up consecutively from deeper within the swamp.

Countless skeletons were emerging from beneath the thin layer of water, like an awakened legion of the Undead.

The change happening beside him made Mark’s pupils contract sharply.

Anna’s pale green hair was, unbeknownst to him, soaked with dark red bloodstains, and Monica’s chest had been inexplicably pierced from behind!

She opened her eyes wide in astonishment, a large amount of fresh blood gushing from the corner of her mouth.

She looked at Mark, wanting to say something, but was unable to utter a single word because her throat was blocked by blood!