However, compared to the "Frankenstein's monster" made of stitched-together pieces of flesh back then, this mutant has now slowly fused together flesh and blood from different organisms, making it look more like a single entity.
After a brief moment of shock, the soldiers of the Twilight Knights brandished their weapons and charged toward the monster before them.
The mutant placed its massive arm to its side, charged up its strength, and then lashed out. Five or six soldiers were sent flying into the air by the attack, then crashed to the ground, instantly losing their lives. The remaining people were too frightened by the monster's terrifying appearance and overwhelming power to move forward.
"Huggins! Take your squad and defeat him!" Seeing this, Todd could no longer care about anything else and turned to shout the order to the knight beside him.
Huggins looked hesitant: "But it is my duty to protect your safety, Lord Todd!"
Todd leaned closer to Huggins: "This is the Grand Master's order! If we continue fighting like this, the losses of the Twilight Knights will become unacceptable! Listen, Huggins, the only one who can defeat the 'Successor' is the 'Successor'!"
The knight looked at the enormous monster before him, pondered for a moment, and finally nodded to Todd, leading the 'Inheritor' cavalry squad to meet it.
The existence of the "Dragon Bone" grants the elite members of the Twilight Knights superhuman strength, agility, and speed, while abilities such as "Regeneration" and "Metal Skin" provide them with the foundation for survival on the battlefield.
The thirteen "inheritors" circled around the giant "mutant," using their speed and strength to overwhelm it.
Just when Todd thought the situation was settled, an unusual phenomenon occurred.
The mutated creature knelt on the ground, a huge bulge rising from its back, emanating a powerful, resonant sound. As roars echoed across the battlefield, dozens of chilling creatures emerged from the fortress's underground.
Perhaps using the term "biological" to describe it is not accurate.
They were like a pile of corpses—the old, children, women, soldiers—all long dead, naked and unclothed, sucked into a huge pile of flesh, digested, and transformed into mutated beings composed of corpses.
Cumberland, his face deathly pale, pulled out the cross from his chest, made the sign of the Holy Cross, and shouted to his men, "We are the Father's army, the vanguard of Heaven! These evil things are nothing but a bunch of weak puppets in the face of the highest holy light! Throw out all the remaining 'Holy Thunder'!"
Hearing the explosions around him, Todd gripped the reins tightly, his palms sweating. Just as he was thinking of a solution, a plume of black smoke slowly drifted towards him.
Todd's innate alertness and high level of tension allowed him to react extremely quickly to the scene before him.
When a hand emerged from the black smoke and lunged at Todd, he slipped off his horse, narrowly escaping the attack.
"It's been a long time, Lord Todd..." The black mist slowly condensed into a human form. The throat bone stood in front of the horse, smiling as it looked at the person on the ground: "Your achievements and progress have truly impressed me. I am now starting to believe in the so-called Holy Son."
Todd stood up from the ground, looking coldly at the man: "I never thought I would meet you here. What exactly is the 'Relief Society' doing here?"
Throat Bone glanced back at the 'mutants' and the horde of corpses, and said, "'Relief Society'? I believe the word 'scavenging' is more accurate."
The man, seeing that Harkins had discovered the situation and that the latter had already turned his horse towards him, turned back to Todd and said, "Speaking of which, Lord Todd hasn't visited us since we parted ways last time. How about... we go again this time?"
Todd took a half step back, his eyes full of wariness: "What if I don't agree?"
Throat Bone pulled a 20-centimeter-long short sword from his pocket, pinched the hilt with two fingers, and thrust it at Todd, saying, "Then I'll have to make you lie down first."
Todd watched the blade slowly enlarge in his eyes. Terrified, he tried to move, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot, and he couldn't move at all. At that critical moment, a dagger shot out and blocked the short sword aimed at his throat.
A woman with black hair and black eyes deactivated her 'mimicry' and 'stealth' and stood in front of Todd.
Seeing that familiar figure, Todd exclaimed, "Karin? What are you doing here?!"
“Someone warned us a couple of days ago that the ‘Relief Society’ was right here, so my sister told me to go with Uncle Huggins to the battlefield to protect you.”
As the knight's horse drew ever closer, knowing the opportune moment had passed, Throat Bone smiled, sheathed his short sword, and shrugged: "Lord Todd, there must be some misunderstanding between us. But it's alright, I believe we'll meet again soon."
After saying this, Throat Bone put his hand to his mouth and whistled. The 'mutant' and the horde of corpses slowly withdrew from the battlefield and disappeared outside the fortress gates.
"Lord Todd, please don't forget who we are. We are both different species, and sooner or later we will have a common enemy." The throat bone turned into a wisp of black mist, which dispersed in the night.
Watching Cumberland organize people to rescue the wounded and Huggins lead his squad to clear the battlefield, Todd looked at the slowly rising sun in the east, then collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by exhaustion and worry.
From this day forward, Northstone Fortress has ended the kingdom's centuries-long occupation and has been officially incorporated into the territory of Twilight Town.
But all of this is just the beginning.
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