Alien Species Invasion? I Kill Them Back.

Chapter 87: Chapter 85: Fox Demon

After 5:00 AM, the sky stopped changing. The light remained perpetually dim and overcast, just like a cloudy day.

Inside the Three Pure Ones Palace, the group woke up one by one, packing their things to prepare for departure.

As expected, Feng Ling didn’t force Li Qing to come with them.

For one, she figured it would be easier to find their way during the day than at night.

For another, Li Qing’s Card wasn’t an attack type, so he lacked the ability to protect himself.

Pei Xianjue had no objections. She hadn’t wanted the Maze Administrator to accompany them in the first place.

The group returned to the mountain path from the previous night and found the drone’s wreckage. Some of its parts had been trampled into the wet mud, and it was severely damaged.

"Such huge footprints. It must have been a Monster..." Baozi murmured.

Feng Ling knelt beside the footprints, examining them closely.

It had the outline of a human footprint, but it was absurdly large. The toe impressions were long and sharp, as if a Tiger Claw had been stitched onto a human foot. It was incredibly strange.

Pei Xianjue knelt beside her. "Some of these footprints head down the mountain, and some head up. It looks like the Monster was pacing this path all night while we slept."

"So if we follow this path..." Huangfu Miaomiao bit her lip and whispered uncertainly, "does that mean we’ll run into... that Monster?"

The group exchanged glances.

In the treetops, the Cat Owl’s head swiveled to one side, a low cooing sound rumbling in its throat.

Feng Ling couldn’t understand bird-speak, but she immediately sensed its alarm. "Something’s coming," she said.

Pei Xianjue placed a hand on the hilt of the blade at her waist. "Is it that Monster?" she asked quietly.

"Not sure. Let’s wait and see." Feng Ling got to her feet and took a few steps back.

The area was dotted with towering granite peaks of varying heights. They offered places to hide but also made climbing more difficult. If they abandoned this mountain path, continuing up would be nearly impossible.

Two figures slowly materialized from the thin mist, drawing closer.

It clearly wasn’t the Monster from last night. The figures looked slender and petite, about 1.6 meters tall. They walked with a limp, yet their footsteps were nearly silent.

Everyone held their breath, hiding behind the rocks and waiting silently for the figures to draw near.

The blurry shapes slowly came into focus. As they emerged from the mist, the group saw they were Monsters with human bodies and fox faces, dressed in ancient-style clothing.

The clothes were a mismatched jumble of styles from different dynasties. The long sleeves were torn by branches, and the skirts were caked in mud. The entire ragged, absurd outfit hung off the Monsters’ bodies. They were the very picture of beasts trying—and failing—to pass for human.

At the same time, a pungent, musky odor reached Feng Ling’s nose.

She couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose. The stench reminded her of a zoo cage left uncleaned in the scorching summer heat.

It was enough to jolt anyone awake.

The two Fox Demons swayed their hips, swaggering past the group’s hiding spot and heading up the mountain.

Feng Ling recalled the procession of Weasels they had encountered earlier.

At the time, Li Qing had said they were Yellow Demons, a type of Monster recorded in *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio*.

’*Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* had Yellow Demons and Fox Demons... So this Maze was combining Sanqing Mountain with Chinese folklore and ghost stories?’

’In that case, which Monster from the *Strange Tales* was the giant that appeared last night?’

Pondering this, Feng Ling decided to follow the Fox Demons and see what they were up to.

Huangfu Miaomiao trailed after Feng Ling like a shadow.

When Pei Xianjue saw the two of them move, she silently followed.

Baozi was next, emerging soundlessly from behind the rock.

Liang Zhou was clearly unhappy about letting Feng Ling dictate their movements, but speaking up now might alert the Fox Demons ahead. He frowned but chose to follow as well.

Feng Ling trailed the two Fox Demons, matching their stop-and-go pace.

After a short while, she had the nagging feeling that something was wrong.

She stopped cautiously and looked up at her Cat Owl. It had landed on a nearby branch, its cooing now rapid and strained—a clear warning of danger.

Feng Ling scanned the area, looking for a place to hide, but just then, the Fox Demons ahead let out a piercing shriek!

They spun around in a panic and bolted, dropping to all fours. As they fled, they looked like jackals draped in clothing!

Instantly, two chains tipped with iron hooks shot out, piercing the Fox Demons through the waist!

The two Fox Demons fell to their sides, their hind legs twitching violently as blood gushed from their midsections. Their screams turned to agonized wails.

And then the chains began to retract—

RATTLE... CLANK...

RATTLE... CLANK...

The struggling Fox Demons were dragged into the mist, leaving two long, crimson trails of blood behind them.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the path ahead.

The thick fog concealed the bloody scene.

But the sounds carried clearly through the air. First, a CRUNCH, CRUNCH, of bones being chewed. Then, a SQUELCH, SQUELCH, of organs being pulled out...

Blood continued to flow, soaking into the mud beneath their feet like a winding stream.

The color drained from everyone’s faces.

Huangfu Miaomiao’s face was ashen, her legs trembling uncontrollably.

Feng Ling glanced at her two companions. The Cat Owl had already retreated to a safe distance, flying far away. The Cat Spider’s fur was standing on end, and it lay motionless in the grass.

RATTLE... CLANK...

The sound of chains dragging across the ground started up again.

’It’s coming.’

Feng Ling crouched slightly, her eyes locked on the spot where she expected the target to appear, her hands gripping her axe handle.

A massive silhouette entered her line of sight—

It was a humanoid Monster, at least three meters tall!

Its powerful body was topped with a horse’s head, and its skin was a grayish-green color. Thick, long gray hair covered its chest and waist. Having been drenched in blood too many times, the hair was matted into stiff strands, making it look, at first glance, like the Monster was wearing a shaman’s skirt made of rotten cloth strips.

Even though she had prepared herself, the sight of such a hideous, terrifying beast still left Feng Ling momentarily stunned.

Then, she realized this wasn’t the Monster from last night.

She remembered clearly: last night’s Monster had a pair of bull’s horns and dark red skin. It looked nothing like the creature before her!

’I get it!’

’It’s Oxhead and Horseface!’

’In the legends, Oxhead and Horseface are bailiffs who escort the souls of the dead. But this thing... this was a savage, bloodthirsty Monster created by the Maze.’

The Monster dragged the blood-stained chains in its hands. Upon seeing Feng Ling and the others on the path, it let out a long roar!

Like an animal that had spotted intruders in its territory, it swung its chains without a moment’s hesitation!

Feng Ling grabbed Huangfu Miaomiao and dove for the cover of a large tree by the path!

The iron hook on the end of the chain ripped away a huge chunk of bark!

The other hook missed, gouging into the earth and sending dirt and gravel flying!

The sheer difference in size was overwhelming; before the Monster, they were like a group of toddlers scrambling to escape.

Only Liang Zhou stood his ground.

He stared intently at the Monster as his body began to swell, coarse wolf fur sprouting from his skin!

His clothes ripped apart as his body expanded. Fangs and claws emerged, his pupils turned a reddish-gold, and in a matter of seconds, he had transformed completely into a massive Gray Wolf!

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!