The few Mutant Beasts that reacted quickly enough to avoid crashing into the earth wall glanced back at their comrades, who were in a chaotic mess, then turned to face the perpetrator of the scene.
"ROAR..." They let out a furious snarl and pounced as one toward the short Investigator.
"Hmph..." Facing the five pouncing Mutant Beasts, the short Investigator, who was at the Third Order Initial Stage, wore an expression of disdain. With a cold snort, he stomped his feet, and his body shot forward like a cannonball to meet them head-on.
"BANG."
"BANG."
"BANG..."
The short Investigator moved like a phantom, his speed far too great for the five Mutant Beasts to follow.
He effortlessly dodged the five Mutant Beasts’ attacks, then counterattacked with a flurry of punches and kicks.
The clash lasted less than thirty seconds. The five Second Order Middle Stage Mutant Beasts all collapsed to the ground, dead, their heads having burst apart.
After killing the five Mutant Beasts, the short Investigator didn’t even spare them a glance.
His gaze fell upon a three-meter-tall, pitch-black gorilla-like Mutant Beast standing on its hind legs within the Exotic Beast Group.
"ROAR..."
The black gorilla Mutant Beast met the gaze of the enemy looking its way. The battle intent between them was palpable. No longer holding back, it let out a ferocious roar.
It bent its knees and leaped, but instead of landing, it came to a stop, hovering in mid-air.
’Third Order. This black gorilla Mutant Beast is at the Third Order Initial Stage.’
Seeing the true instigator of this incident reveal itself, the short Investigator wasted no time. He leaped into the air and flew toward his opponent, launching an attack.
"BANG."
The three-meter-tall black gorilla Mutant Beast’s fist was the size of a sandbag. Although the short Investigator’s fist was nowhere near as large, he did not lose ground in their collision.
A terrifying shockwave erupted from the point of impact, spreading in all directions. It sent their hair, fur, and clothes whipping backward, plastering the material tight against their bodies.
"BANG, BANG, BANG..."
Exchanging punches and kicks, the man and the beast—both at the Third Order Initial Stage—battled fiercely in the sky.
Their fight grew increasingly intense as they rose from dozens of meters up to a hundred meters in the sky.
It seemed both man and beast had the same idea: to separate their own battlefield from the one where their subordinates were fighting.
It made perfect sense, after all. The shockwaves from their battle were more than ordinary fighters could withstand. If their own forces were caught in the crossfire, it would be a needless loss of combat strength.
While the two Third Order combatants were locked in a fierce struggle a hundred meters in the sky, the Mutant Beasts and the charging Investigator teams on the ground finally clashed head-on.
Meanwhile, the hundred-plus Exotic Beast Hunters hiding in the distant bushes, who had come to assist the Investigators, received the order to attack.
They burst from the bushes, quickly moving to encircle the Exotic Beast Group from the rear.
This was a pincer movement, planned in coordination with the Investigators, to attack the audacious Exotic Beast Group from both the front and rear, leaving them unable to defend on both sides.
"ROAR..."
Discovering they were being trapped in a pincer attack, the Mutant Beasts showed no fear. Instead, they roared with excitement, then broke formation to ferociously charge the enemy on all sides.
"RUMBLE..."
"ROAR..."
"KILL..."
The wilderness echoed with an unending cacophony of booms, bestial roars, and battle cries, the sounds weaving together and spreading for miles around.
As the Investigators and Exotic Beast Hunters erupted into a fierce battle with the Exotic Beast Group, a figure in camouflage fatigues could be seen inside the safe zone, sprinting over from the distance.
Rushing to the scene, Lin Li first glanced up at the distant sky, watching the man and beast trading blows a hundred meters high in the air.
He then quickly brought his gaze back down, looking through the chain-link fence to the grassy fields beyond, where the Investigator and Exotic Beast Hunter teams were jointly slaughtering the Mutant Beasts.
"I’m not too late. By the looks of it, the battle just broke out," Lin Li muttered.
Then, with a mere thought, he retrieved his Spiritual Longsword from the Mysterious Small Island.
Spiritual Longsword in hand, Lin Li took a couple of steps to the chain-link fence, bent his knees, planted his feet, and with a single leap, easily cleared the several-meter-high wall.
Once he landed in the wilderness, he quickly closed in on the intense battlefield and joined the fray.
* * *