The last two Human-Faced Insects did not try to escape.
Even after observing Cao Yaun killing seven of their kind, they still continued to circle him in an eerie manner. Their faces of humans attached to their carapaces seemed to be full of hatred and hunger. The sound waves produced by them increased and continued to hit at his mind and soul.
Cao Yaun felt himself to be completely drained. The long fights against the centipedes and then against these insects brought him to exhaustion. The boost provided by the Shamanic Rune was almost depleted. He felt himself to be heavy and his actions to be slow. Every step he made hurt his wounded body.
But those two insects still did not show any intentions of leaving. They were ready to fight to the end. At a distance of ten meters, the two remaining human-faced insects clacked their sharp pincers in rhythm. The distorted faces of humans on their pale carapaces seemed to distort in a sneer. Sensing the quickly decreasing aura of the cao yaun body, they knew that he was already running on empty.
"Oh damn it, why don't these creepers leave?" – said Cao under his breath in despair as his face contorted in an ugly frown while a vicious glare flashed brightly through the eyes of insects.
Refusing to give him any chance to rest, the two high-tier predators jumped forward, their iron pincers and mandibles snapping at him like scissors.
The fight immediately became a terrible and cruel war of attrition with Cao Yaun retreating and staggering backward in the blood-soaked mud as the two insects continued to chase him and slash at his legs and lower torso, one after another, inflicting sharp pains on his body and making him wobble in circles among the corpses lying on the ground.
Cornering him towards the thick bark of the tree, Cao Yaun changed his strategy from the retreat to counter-attack, feeling himself no longer capable of performing quick and explosive actions. Cao Yaun switched his style to the more defensive one, concentrating on enduring their attacks while searching for opportunities. It became a brutal war of attrition, exchanging injury for injury.
Suddenly, The two insects attacked him from opposite sides. One of them produced a strong sound wave while another rushed forward, slashing with its sharp legs. Cao Yaun endured the psychic attack and blocked the physical one with his arm. The claws tore the flesh of Cao Yaun, but he grabbed the insect and threw it to the ground with his remaining strength.
Crack!
The carapace cracked. The insect screeched loudly, but it was not dead. It started thrashing violently and bit him in his shoulder. A new pain shot through his body while he started to bleed again.
"Ugh" – groaned Cao Yaun in pain, from the excruciating pain which came from his shoulder. Despite the painful sensation in his body, Cao Yaun instantly capitalized on his opportunity and leaned forward with his left shoulder pressing the monster against his body. Then he raised his right fist. Collecting every ounce of raw physical power and density left in his frame, he punched the insect downwards like a heavy iron hammer with his target being the center of the pale human face on its shell.
CRACK!
His attack now did not have explosive power boosted by the shamanic runes anymore, but applying all his body density to it, it contained the pure and untamed weight of his advanced silver bone. The carapace cracked. The insect shrieked, thrashing violently with his legs against Cao Yaun's chest, but he did not let go of it. He punched it again and again, smashing the cracks in its carapace with his broken knuckles until it collapsed completely and a fountain of dark green fluid spurted over his face. The insect's grip loosened and its limp body fell down in the mud.
The last insect became even more aggressive. It continued to circle him rapidly and producing the sound waves to confuse him. Cao Yaun rushed after it, but his actions were slow. It darted to him, slashed at his back and then quickly retreated before he managed to counter it.
It chased him around the torn-up clearing. Every time he tried to catch it, the insect attacked and ran away. He got a number of new wounds, his vision began blurring because of blood loss and mental exhaustion.
Enduring the pains of the wounds increasing across his body, Cao Yaun moved ahead. When the last insect charged him again, Cao Yaun deliberately took the blow. The claws of the insect slashed across his chest, but in exchange, he grabbed the body of the insect with both his hands and smashed it to the ground with all the strength he still had.
Boom!
The blow created a small crater. The carapace of the insect cracked in several places. It struggled weakly, its face twisting in agony. Cao Yaun did not stop his assault and opened his palms wide around the body of the insect and started to squeeze it, pressing it to the ground with all his weight and power. His throat released the deep glottal roar.
CRUNCH!!!
With a horrific crunching sound, the high tier 1 insect's carapace burst as it crumpled completely under the immense pressure of the squeezing press. The human face stamped on its back was shattering into dozen pieces as its internal organs were completely pulverized. Its multifaceted eyes were going blank and its thrashing legs were becoming limp.
Cao Yaun unclamped his grasp around the now broken carapace of the insect filled with greenish blood as this monster became more dead than deader. The last creepy fellow joined its brothers on the path to the netherworld.
Standing in the middle of the battlefield under the shadow of the titanic tree's canopy, Cao Yaun looked around as his eyes glittered with something unknown, looking at the corpses surrounding him. He was breathing heavily and irregularly. Blood was covering almost his entire body. Deep cuts were spreading across his arms, chest, back and legs. The mental exhaustion from the constant sound waves made him dizzy and exhausted.
Trying to get used to the slight weakness flowing through his body, Cao winced as the shamanic rune became suddenly silent and stopped boosting his power, making his cultivation realm fall from the late-stage to his current state, advanced stage. He had over-taxed it during the fight.
Totally empty, Cao Yaun staggered a couple of steps before he collapsed on one knee. He leaned on his iron rod to support himself as he was breathing heavily. The clearing remained silent except for the sound of his breathing and the occasional dripping of blood.
He survived.
But the price was very heavy. His body was covered with fatal injuries. He was feeling enormous pain, but he still tried to remain conscious. He could not afford to black out here. The smell of the blood would attract additional monsters for sure. Dai Yaun looked at the devastation around him – broken centipedes' bodies, crushed Human-Faced Insects, torn-up ground and blood all over. Observing the vast number of corpses of the beasts, Cao Yaun hissed at how the forbidden forest was much more dangerous than he had expected.
Hiss...
Step.
Recovering his mind, Dai Yuan tried to take a step forward, but his right leg suddenly gave out. The severe trauma of his abdomen along with the blood loss from his shoulder were too much for him. He collapsed forward in the damp mud right next to the remains of his enemies. He lay there, on his side, breathing shallowly and faintly, but incredibly irregularly. His clothes were torn into shreds and saturated with a mixture of his own crimson blood and dark green fluids of the beasts.
He was totally exhausted, his energy was completely depleted and his body was full of near-fatal injuries. Clothed in the gloomy twilight of the Brightmoon Forbidden Forest, Dai Yuan closed his eyes and fought a desperate silent battle to keep his fading consciousness from falling into the darkness.
He took several shaky breaths and slowly tried to push himself up. With the help of his iron rod, he moved toward the relatively safe place under the giant tree. He had to heal his wounds and rest even for a little while.
Seated there under the tree, cao yaun twitched in fury as blood spurted from his injuries. "And he was only in the Outer Layer" – thought aloud Cao Yaun and chuckled with self-mockery.