Once they saw the blurry figures, the group didn’t waste time.
Hana was the first to make a move as she quickly shot two arrows in quick succession, nailing two of the smaller blurry figures in the head.
After they died, their camouflage came undone as two Ambush Fangs were revealed.
At this point, the rest of the blurry figures had recovered from the sudden flashbang.
Realizing that they were spotted, the larger creatures rushed forward, as they moved in a slithering pattern on the ground while the Ambush Fangs retreated back a little.
"The light will only last for a few more seconds, finish them now!"
Lake roared out as a majestic aura spread out from his body, enveloping both his enemies and allies alike.
The members of the group could feel a warm energy rise up within them, enhancing their abilities slightly while Lake’s voice echoed out in their head.
Gwen’s expression changed slightly but realizing that the large creatures were still rushing towards them, she quickly focused her attention on the battle ahead.
Gwen and the rest didn’t immediately rush forward but allowed the creatures to continue to approach.
Hana shot an arrow at this time, hitting one of the creatures in the shoulder, momentarily disabling its camouflage.
When everyone saw the scaly figure reel back in pain, they immediately knew what they were dealing with.
"What the hell are the lizardmen doing all the way out here?!" Everyone cursed internally as they watched two of the remaining lizardmen lunge towards Jayce.
Their spears that were hidden in the grass as they crawled forward were revealed as they were thrusted straight at Jayce’s chest!
Jayce immediately reacted as he shifted to the side, narrowly dodging one of the spears as he grabbed the other one.
Yanking the spear towards him, he whipped his legs at the lizardman who held on tightly to the spear.
The lizardman who was kicked in his chest went flying a few feet backwards as the remaining lizardman repositioned himself as he slashed the edge of his spearhead towards Jayce.
Raising his hands to block the incoming blow, Jayce was prepared to take some damage but before the spear could reach him, a sword appeared between them blocking the blow.
Jayce didn’t need to think much before he ducked under the sword and rushed at the lizardman, hitting him once in the stomach and aiming an uppercut towards his head, his arms now covered in a bluish light.
The lizardman’s lower jaw immediately exploded into bits and pieces as its body fell limply to the ground.
While the frontline was continuing their fight, Hana was also working hard in the backlines, firing several arrows towards the vague figure of the Ambush Fangs that were trying to approach Jayce and Landur from behind.
At this moment, the light had begun to fade and the remaining creatures seemed to realize this as they temporarily retreated, waiting for night to fall once more.
However, when they stepped back, what they met was not the embrace of the foliage, but the cold touch of steel as several sword lights illuminated the dark world.
Several heads fell to the ground as Gwen swiftly killed off three nearby Ambush Fangs.
After the initial wave of attacks ended, there were still 3 lizardmen and 6 Ambush Fangs remaining.
Soon, darkness descended once more and the group was once again in a position where they could barely see in front of them.
The lizardmen and Ambush Fangs felt happy inside as they felt themselves return to their natural environment once more.
However, to these two creatures’ dismay, they weren’t the only predator that thrived in darkness.
A lizardman with an arrow in its shoulder screamed slightly as it felt its tail pulled from behind it, landing it flat on its stomach.
Another loud explosion sounded out causing the remaining creatures to all look over. All of them had decent night vision which allowed them to clearly see the corpse of a lizardman whose head was smashed into pieces, forming a crater on the ground.
As they were wondering what happened, no one realized that two more Ambush Fangs had silently died.
The group who were wondering what was happening slowly had their vision adjusted to the darkness.
Although they still couldn’t see far, as long as they didn’t take their eyes off of the blurry figures, they wouldn’t lose them.
Jayce rushed forward towards one of the lizardmen who was slightly distracted.
With his fist raised, he sent a straight jab towards the lizardman’s chest.
Seeing this, the lizardman hurriedly raised its spear, trying to block Jayce’s fist.
The spear broke in half as Jayce’s fist landed firmly on the lizardman’s chest.
The power however was greatly reduced because of the timely block with the spear so the lizardman still stood firmly rooted to the ground.
With Jayce still standing in front of it, the lizardman opened its large jaw as it tried to bite off Jayce’s head.
Landur was prepared to move forward and provide assistance but was intercepted by the remaining lizardman, preventing him from approaching Jayce!
Jayce hurriedly dodged to the side as the lizardman bit down on his shoulder, causing him to grimace in pain.
The lizardman didn’t let go of this opportunity as it clenched its jaw tightly onto Jayce, wrapping its tail and arms around him to prevent him from moving.
Gwen saw this and immediately wanted to rush out of her position to save Jayce, but before she could react, a shadowy figure appeared right beside the lizardman like a ghost.
Reaching its hand out, it grabbed onto the back of the lizardman’s neck as its claws sank into its neck.
The lizardman screamed as its grip on Jayce weakened significantly, allowing him to break free of the creature’s hold.
As for the shadowy figure, it was naturally Lake who kept sinking the claws of his gauntlets further into the creature’s neck.
Seeing that its ally was struggling, the other lizardman immediately gave up on fighting with Landur and rushed to save his brethren.
At that point, Lake stabbed his left hand into the lizard’s lower back, all five fingers penetrating its thick scaly skin. Lifting the creature up in this hold, Lake flung it at the other lizardman that was running towards him, knocking the two of them to the ground.
Jayce and Landur saw this opportunity and immediately pounced on the two fallen lizardmen, stabbing and punching them to a pulp.
The few remaining Ambush Fangs were prepared to run off seeing the strongest among them all fallen, however, two arrows and a few swings of a sword finished them off before they could escape.
Once the battle was over, Hana, Landur and Jayce collapsed to the ground, exhausted. This was especially true for Jayce who had a huge bite mark on his left shoulder.
Gwen walked over after finishing off the last Ambush Fang.
Once he was sure that he had collected all the strands of fate, Lake also walked over.
Seeing the injury on Jayce’s arm, Hana eventually took out a first aid kit and started to clean and bandage the wound.
"What the hell was that? Aren’t the lizardmen supposed to be all the way in the mountains south of here? Why the hell were they in the forest with the Ambush Fangs?" Jayce asked as Hana treated him.
No one answered as they were also curious as to the reason, well, except for Lake of course.
He had already observed the fate of the lizardmen who had come here and had a preliminary understanding of why they were stationed here. However, he couldn’t just say it out loud and had to come up with a plausible sounding explanation.
This wasn’t like the time in the rift where he made up a lot of weak lies and excuses to stop Romero and the rest from asking questions. At that time he had his identity hidden so it didn’t matter what he said.
After thinking about it for a while, Lake finally spoke out.
"These creatures all came from a rift collapse right? Maybe these creatures previously worked together inside the rift but once they were outside, their group split for some reason. One group went towards the mountains while the other group came here to the woods."
When everyone heard Lake’s theory, they thought for a bit before finding it to be highly likely!
After all, the lizardmen seem to have a high level of intelligence, being capable of using weapons and knowing how to organize a coordinated ambush with other species, and even showing companionship in the way the last lizardman tried to save the other in the end.
Maybe the lizardmen were a tribe before and they split up due to internal disputes. As the group continued to theorize on the reason, Lake looked at Jayce’s wound before thinking for a bit.
Walking up, he asked Hana to stop for a moment before raising his hand.