All of their hands and feet were facing the wrong way but that did little to hinder their overall movement. Their digits ended in sharp, twisted shapes that resembled serrated hooks, easily piercing into every object in their path.

They jumped left and right onto the walls and uneven surfaces like some kind of horrendously mutated grasshoppers and sprinted towards him with a speed that should not have been possible by ordinary mortals, let alone dead ones.

Before Hao Xuan could even think what to do they were already on him. He managed to raise the glaive just in time to block the first creature that fell on him.

It weighed several tons and even for someone of Hao Xuan's caliber, it wasn't easy to block. He staggered and fell on his back, splashing mud everywhere.

"RAAGH!" it snarled at him with that hideous mouth, smearing his face with saliva that left a tingling sensation on his skin.

Hao Xuan tried to push its face away but not only was it too strong but he himself was far too weak, still not fully recovered from the effects of that black substance that had invaded his body.

"BARACUS!" he shouted, "Offense power 100%!"

"Affirmative!"

Baracus realized the urgency of the situation and activated every single nanomachine within Hao Xuan's body. With a low-pitched whirring sound they got to work on the muscles on his arms and legs first before moving on to the rest of Hao Xuan's body, expanding them to twice their normal size.

He could feel himself getting stronger.

A timer appeared on the edge of Hao Xuan's vision, counting down from 180 seconds. That was how long this phase would be able to last.

It was to be noted that these were still the most basic nanomachines that had not undergone any supplementary procedures to increase their effectiveness, otherwise, the range of their abilities and powers would not be so limited.

The other creatures arrived and leaped towards Hao Xuan who was already struggling with the first one.

Focusing the power into his forearms, he pushed the first creature away and jumped back to his feet. Seeing that, instead of running in without a care for themselves, the creatures stooped just outside the reach of the glaive.

Hao Xuan's heart clenched. These things, whatever the hell they were, they weren't as mindless as he was hoping for.

Realizing Hao Xuan was ready to fight back, they stopped in their tracks instead of attacking head-on.

Hao Xuan raised the glaive in front of him horizontally and bent his knees, standing on the tip of his toes that were half-buried in the mud.

There were about five creatures in total. Three of them looked like they were adults while the remaining two were much smaller, probably made from the corpses of children. They circled around him, covering every possible direction he could run to.

Their faces were expressionless. The only, or rather the MOST off-putting thing about them, was the sounds coming from their necks when they rotated their heads at an angle of 180-degree in either direction. Almost like curious newborns seeing something new for the first time.

Under the smoky sky Hao Xuan waited for them to attack, focusing his complete attention on the sound of raindrops and the clicking of their vertebrae to know if the ones behind him were attacking as well, but all they did was constantly move in a circle around him on all fours.

There was a hint of curiosity in their white eyes when they looked at him, almost as if he was an oddity and they didn't know how to react.

And Hao Xuan caught that too but the time was very much a factor right now not only because of the limitation of the nanotech but also because of the others. He could hear screams coming from all directions with some minor sounds of Qi attacks.

There were fights going on in other places and when they ended with the humans on the losing side, he didn't want to be here to greet the surviving creatures. His only option was to reach one of these groups before they died off and either use them as bait or join hands with them to fight against them.

Left with no other choice, Hao Xuan chose the smallest creature as his target and waited for it to reach his right side. The sounds of fighting were the loudest from the right so that would also be his destination. Power continued to gather in his legs, ready to explode any seconds.

Time passed by a little too quickly. By the time the creature reached his right side, there were less than 120 seconds left on the clock.

Hao Xuan leaned towards the left. The largest of the three adult creatures quickly reacted and moved in that direction but then Hao Xuan jumped to the right, using every little bit of energy he could muster.

Utilizing the complete range of the basic techniques of the Imperial Glaive Doctrine Hao Xuan slashed towards the small creature. His goal wasn't to kill but to push it away just enough to make a run for it, which he managed to do.

The glaive swung horizontally in the direction the creature was moving. It ran into the glaive headfirst but managed to move its head out of the way. The blade pierced its abdomen and cut the bottom half of it cleanly off.

It let out an ear-piercing screech, both the upper and lower body parts flapping around the place while Hao Xuan jumped over it.

Hao Xuan lowered his body and pushed against the ground, shotting forward in a straight line towards the nearest group. The other creatures were already behind him, including the small one that was dragging its upper body along the muddy ground with its hands.

It didn't look like losing the lower half of its body was fatal enough to take its life.

Hao Xuan jumped over and ran through whatever was in front of him, landing in the middle of a fight.

There were two groups here.

One belonged to the guards which numbered less than twenty, and the other was of the creatures which were more than fifty at first glance.

Hao Xuan ran in head first, slashing every creature that blocked his path.

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