Loopshard

The sound of rustling leaves and creaking branches came from along the treeline at the far end of the forest arena. Broken trees and torn-up earth lay around Adam, and the crystallised shards of the exploded blood golem were still embedded everywhere.

Safe to say that the fiendbarb effect doesn’t wear off quickly. That probably means it’s lethal no matter what, since it should lead to gangrene as it would disrupt circulation.

Of course, that side-effect won’t really matter, since it might take days to fully set in and these stages are no more than half an hour at most in duration.

The rustling came closer and Adam pushed the speculations out of his mind. He clenched his jaw and fists. The ogre had been pretty bad, so he had no idea what could top that.

It sounds like there are quite a lot of enemies. Unless this thing is enormous…

Liquid red snouts poked out through the dense treeline, three in total.

Then the creatures all hopped out at once. They were wolves made of blood, each with a baseball-sized stone in their heads. Violet ethereal collars and leashes were bound around their necks.

Adam immediately attacked, driving his fiendbarb into the rightmost one and pulling it free as he ran towards the next.

When the first one exploded in a shower of crystals, his spear went through the second. Only then did the last one start to move. But it was too late, Adam would not give it the chance to strike.