The Mountain Ogre clutched its left eye in agony, yet could still see pale blue **fluid dripping profusely from the coarse skin between its fingers; this shot had likely inflicted a persistent bleeding effect. A venomous glint flashed suddenly in the remaining triangular right eye. Its right hand, gripping the colossal tree-trunk club, saw its muscles swell with grotesque speed; the thick, blue-gray skin was stretched taut, revealing every coarse pore!

Without warning, the Mountain Ogre screamed and violently hurled its weapon at the spot where Das stood. The massive club spun rapidly through the air, emitting a dull whoosh, whoosh sound! This was the Ogre’s special ability: Throwwood Kill!

Although Das possessed excellent Agility, his Perception was a weakness. If it had been Fang Senyan, he would have sensed the danger the instant the Ogre's arm muscles began to swell. But by the time Das’s eyes registered the throwing motion, the enormous deadly weapon was already spinning toward him! It slammed instantly into the tree Das was sheltering behind.

With a colossal CRACK, the struck tree exploded along with the great club. Leaves and bark rained down everywhere, and Das inevitably fell into the "Knockdown" status from the Throwwood Kill, crashing to the ground like a stone. His struggles were futile as his entire body went numb, making it difficult to regain normal movement.

The Knockdown status was set to last a long, agonizing five seconds. Even accounting for Das’s natural stamina mitigating some of the abnormal condition, he would still struggle on the ground for at least four seconds!

The Mountain Ogre, having flung its club, now lumbered toward Das with a deep-seated hatred, moving silently. Its broad feet churned the mud with every stride, covering four to five meters per step. Though Das was fully thirty meters away, by the time he painstakingly endured the four seconds and regained control of his body, he could already smell the indescribable stench radiating from the Ogre, which had closed the distance to within seven or eight meters!

Das immediately rolled in place and then executed a standard tactical forward lunge. He remained calm; just two more seconds, and he was certain his extraordinary agility would allow him to shake off the monster and re-establish distance. But at that moment, an indescribable muffled roar sounded in his ears, and his chest felt choked by an oppressive, ineffable atmosphere. An invisible force slammed into Das’s back, and as this unseen impact arrived, his entire body seemed to freeze stiff, making it impossible to even lift a foot!

The Mountain Ogre unleashed its special ability for the third time—

Heartrending Shriek!

Das fell into despair... Despite having an Agility of 24, augmented by the tertiary bonus from Footwork LV6, a full 70% reduction left him with movement speed equivalent to only 7 Agility, not even factoring in the penalty from the rough terrain! Meanwhile, the Mountain Ogre possessed a full 9 Agility. More tragically, Das’s Stamina was only 9, meaning the 70% speed reduction debuff (DBUFF) would last for a full nine seconds…

For Das, with only 90 HP, half a second was more than enough for the terrifying Mountain Ogre to finish him once it closed in! Nine seconds was an eternity!

Even then, Das refused to give up. Despite the 70% speed drop, he continued to scramble forward, half-rolling and half-crawling, his fingers digging deep into the muddy water. Simultaneously, he let out an uncontrollable shriek of desperation:

“Crowbar! You idiot! Without me, how could you bunch of melee fighters possibly take down this monster?”

Crowbar’s face turned ashen again, his facial muscles twitching violently. He merely waved toward the three surviving subordinates and commanded:

“Go!”

The word was spoken with bone-chilling coldness, saturated with lethal intent. After saying it, he immediately charged toward the ongoing melee. \This chapter was manually transcribed by Chastity\

By then, the Mountain Ogre was already cackling sinisterly, kicking out at Das! The blow was like a small mountain colliding head-on with Das, sending him flying five or six meters backward before slamming heavily against a tree and sliding down. However, Das’s Strength likely surpassed the 18 threshold, preventing the Ogre from dealing extra crushing damage. Even so, the blood Das sprayed from his mouth showed he was severely injured.

The Mountain Ogre then raised its massive foot high again, clearly intending to stomp Das right into the earth! Fortunately, a faint green light bloomed around Das just then, suggesting he had used some kind of rapid healing medicine to boost his health. He managed a painful roll, barely dodging the stomp, but his entire body stiffened from the intense pain, resulting in his left arm being brutally crushed under the foot, eliciting a sharp cry.

The Ogre’s assured stomp had failed to kill its foe. It let out a series of furious screeches from deep in its throat and casually swiped a punch downward and across. Das, drenched in a cold sweat from pain, dodged with all his might. The tree he was leaning against bore the brunt of the blow, snapping with a loud CRACK. Das was exhausted and could no longer evade. Facing the savage Mountain Ogre, he could only close his eyes and wait for death.

Just then, a large hand shot out and gripped the back of Das’s hair, yanking him backward.

Das felt a rush of wind past his face, a feeling of suffocation, and then smelled the Ogre’s unique stink, mixed with the faint vibration of the earth. A massive splash of mud splattered onto Das’s face and body, stinging the exposed skin. He felt as if he had been physically struck. At the very last second, Crowbar had used his innate ability, Flash, arriving instantly and grabbing Das’s hair to pull him back from the brink of death. The Ogre's determined stomp missed completely. However, Crowbar’s Flash ability was now on a lengthy two-hour cooldown and could not be used again.

Repeated failed attacks sent the Mountain Ogre into a complete frenzy. It roared furiously, stepped forward, and swung a vicious backhand strike, but a human silhouette darted forward and took the full force of the attack! It was Gree, one of the Symbiosis Society members present, who had the highest Stamina among them at 16 points, making him the perfect sacrificial target assigned by Crowbar to be used as a punching bag.

Under Crowbar’s strict orders, although Gree desperately wanted to see the idiot who had dared point a gun at his head reduced to a smear of flesh, he had no choice but to charge in and absorb the blow. Fortunately, the Mountain Ogre had lost its club, which was its primary weapon. So, even though Gree spat blood, was spun several circles, and stumbled into a sitting position, he shook his head a few times and was quickly able to roll and crawl to safety behind a tree, appearing relatively intact without fatal injury.

Seeing this, an odd light sparked in Crowbar’s eyes. He dragged the injured Das backward while shouting:

“Keep it up, everyone! This brute is useless without its tree trunk; don’t be fooled by its bulk.”

Das felt the few seconds under the Ogre’s “Heartrending Shriek” slow down felt like centuries. Gasping heavily, he struggled to flee forward. While the Mountain Ogre’s attention was fixed on Gree, he finally endured until his movement speed returned to normal. Das said nothing more; he shot Crowbar a glance, clutched his wounded arm, gritted his teeth, and vanished into the darkness.

What followed was a demonstration of classic teamwork by the Symbiosis Society members, showcasing their prowess to Fang Senyan. Facing the enraged Mountain Ogre, they exploited the blind spot from its disabled left eye, employing classic guerrilla tactics: harassing primarily, attacking secondarily. When they absolutely had to withstand the Ogre’s attacks, as soon as someone was hit, others would immediately fill the gap for cover. They ensured the damage inflicted by the Ogre was distributed as evenly as possible among everyone.

Of course, their internal reserves of medical supplies were astounding. As Fang Senyan observed coldly, he confirmed two things: first, the recovery amounts provided by the medicines/bandages used by these Symbiosis Society members were all above fifty points; second, the cooldown interval for using these items did not exceed three minutes. It was worth noting that the high-quality American military field bandage Fang Senyan had used previously had a five-minute cooldown, suggesting the Symbiosis Society hadn't been entirely forthcoming with him either.

Soon, the distinctive popping sound of a Mauser rifle echoed from the distant woods. Das must have understood the principle of shared peril; after hastily completing his treatment, he reappeared, aiming as best he could at the Ogre’s single remaining right eye, hoping to alleviate the pressure on the Symbiosis Society members. Having learned from his earlier experience, the Mountain Ogre was hesitant to be careless, frequently shielding its right eye, which diverted a significant amount of its focus. This gave the Society members a glimmer of hope for victory, and they continued to grit their teeth and hold on.

As the seconds ticked by, although the Mountain Ogre showed no obvious external wounds, there was a marked decline in both its attack frequency and damage output. This was likely the consequence of excessive use of its various special abilities, leading to severe mental exhaustion! It held its blinded left eye, panting deeply, thick saliva constantly dripping from between its yellowed, sharp teeth onto the ground. If any contracting party stepped in it carelessly, it was as disgusting and adhesive as stepping into a large patch of glue.