The black mist, like a sigh exhaled by the grim reaper from the depths of hell, slowly wafted over, silently licking the entire valley.

It flowed without wind, shapeless yet heavy, as though a massive black womb was slowly engulfing the battlefield into its body.

The knights of the Dragon Blood Legion stood arrayed, with Fighting Energy flowing slowly through their armor, their heavy boots long sunk into the land interwoven with mud and blood.

Even seasoned knights, veterans of countless battles, could feel an unnatural chill belonging not to this world.

No, it was the fear of being watched by some presence.

The shudder that seemed to arch from the base of their spine into their brains, their rational instincts screaming: Do not approach.

"What is... this smell?" one knight whispered, his voice dry as sand.

It was not the rot of flesh, nor the usual battlefield smoke and scorched air.

It was an aura of death.

The Grand Mages before the Mage Forest raised their magic staffs, azure walls of wind surged forth, whipping up howling gusts that lifted the black mist.

In mere seconds, the thick fog recoiled like a tide, revealing a corner of the battlefield's remains.

But before they could catch their breath, the black mist once again writhed and gathered like conscious blood threads.

Emanating steadily from "that thing" with a clingy texture like amniotic fluid, accompanied by whispers.

"...It moved."

The hoarse whisper of the knight was barely audible in the wind, yet it stirred ripples across the battlefield, like a stone cast into water.

The first to move was a broken knight's arm.

It lay silently in the snow, beside a shattered battle halberd.

But now that arm slid by itself, making a slight "clatter," as if driven by some invisible will.

Next, other corpses.

Indifferent to friend or foe.

Humans, insect corpses, livestock, fractured bones, decayed intestines, fragmented faces, all writhed, conjoined, intertwined.

"Kacha." A crisp sound of bones reconstituting echoed within the black mist, like a signal of some "rebirth."

Soon thereafter, more sounds followed suit: "Krata, clatter, crack..."

The noise was like tens of thousands of broken skeletons reconstructing themselves simultaneously.

Under the knights' shocked gaze, the "corpses" before them had completed a new phase of construction.

They were monsters.

Shapeless monsters.

Some had three arms but no head, others had backs splitting open with bloody mouths, some were stitched from the remains of five different species, breathing out screams like a human infant's cries, sharp and tender, yet ear-piercing.

Even a flying hand implanted itself into the eye socket of an insect corpse's face, forming an "eye," while the rest wriggled into a new jaw, slowly clenching.

"Aaaahhhhh!"

In the distance, a Dragon Blood Knight charged out with a roar, red Fighting Energy infusing his spear tip, pinning a freshly conjoined monster into the rock wall with one thrust!

"Hah—!!"

The rock exploded, flesh and blood splattered, as victorious roars went unuttered to the next phrase.

"Ka."

The monster's chest collapsed, severed limbs gushed out, but in the next moment, the bones flipped, innards sprang out, re-collaborating as if gears realigned, lunging from the other side!

"Behind—!!"

In that moment, even the training, battle array, will, and Fighting Energy of the Dragon Blood Knights felt an unprecedented logical breakdown.

No matter how strong the sword, it could not sever a "resurrected dead thing."

No matter how dense the battle formation, it could not trap a lifeform beyond tactical understanding.

"Something's not right!" a knight shouted angrily while cleaving through a fleshy insect corpse. "They... won't die!"

It wasn't just "undying," but any residue from an attack would morph into more uncanny rebirths.

A Dragon Blood Knight who scorched an enemy with burning Fighting Energy realized the severed arm, instead of being ineffective, burrowed into another corpse, instantly imparting it with new "combat reactions."

"Left flank defense! Four missing in action! Right flank attack team trapped! Requesting backup!"

The battlefield echoed not with fear but with cool, urgent reports.

Battle commander Gaius gritted his teeth, red Fighting Energy burning the air around him.

As he cleaved a monster grafted with the faces of three comrades in half, for the first time, he felt a sense of powerlessness.

"Even if we shatter them... it's useless."

In less than a quarter of an hour, over ten had fallen in the Dragon Blood Legion's frontline.

Understand, this was no ordinary army.

Even the lowest-ranking Dragon Blood Knight was a high-tier knight chosen from ten thousand, the Empire's pillar.

They too were bleeding profusely.

They fought desperately, but who they "killed" was merely sustenance for "stronger future enemies."

They constantly devoured, reassembled, evolved, rebirthed.

Even the Empire's strongest high-tier elites were but a fleeting brilliance in its "food chain."

"We can't go on like this." Gaius held his sword high and shouted. "Full retreat, now!"

His voice thundered, shaking the battlefield.

At that moment, no one questioned; they were not scared away but conducting a strategic withdrawal.

Their lives could not be wasted among these ceaselessly knitting monsters.

As the horns blared long, the Dragon Blood Legion began restructuring...

The knights withdrew in formation, shield bearers covering the rear, cavalry slashed from both flanks to secure the retreat route.

The warriors rushed back through the snow mist, iron boots echoing off the cold stones with a series of heavy and urgent reverberations.

"Frost Halberd City—regroup complete!"

As the command resounded through the wind and snow, the last Dragon Blood Knight stepped through the city gates.

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