Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan had been walking beside Lin Mao only moments earlier.
The instant they saw him suddenly sent flying backward, both women froze in shock, their minds going completely blank.
But less than half a second later, they snapped back to reality.
The two exchanged a quick glance before immediately separating in opposite directions.
Each of them backed against a nearby tree, tightly gripping their weapons while staring warily toward the place where Lin Mao had been standing.
The next second, a massive figure stepped into the clearing.
The man stood over two meters tall, his body packed with bulging muscles like solid iron.
Yet his appearance was far from human.
Countless blood-red veins crawled across his face, while his eyes were a lifeless grayish white without visible pupils.
A thick stench of rot and blood radiated from his body, enough to make anyone nauseous.
Lin Mao slowly pushed himself upright against the tree trunk behind him.
Casually dusting dirt and broken stones off his clothes, he let out a faintly mocking laugh.
“So… seeing your prey about to escape finally forced you to come out personally?”
The smile on his face gradually faded.
His gaze locked firmly onto the monstrous man before him.
“Judging from that endless horde of zombies earlier… you must be the Blood Moon Boss ruling this area.”
Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan had just rushed to Lin Mao’s side when they heard those words.
Their expressions instantly turned pale.
They knew Lin Mao was incredibly powerful.
But a Blood Moon Boss was the ruler of an entire region.
Its strength was on a completely different level from ordinary zombies or elite monsters.
Just standing near it filled them with overwhelming pressure, making it difficult to breathe.
Neither of them could even imagine what fighting such a creature would truly be like.
Li Ruyue leaned close to Lin Mao and whispered urgently:
“Lin Mao… this thing is a Blood Moon Boss.”
“If we can’t win, we should find a chance to retreat.”
“There’s no reason to fight it head-on!”
Lin Mao merely shook his head lightly.
His eyes never left the monster in front of him.
“If it were you,” he said calmly, “would you let prey delivered right to your mouth escape so easily?”
The moment his words fell, the Blood Moon Boss suddenly let out a deafening roar.
“FOOD…!”
“Superior blood food…!”
Its voice was broken and distorted, but the hunger and madness within it were unmistakable.
The creature stomped heavily against the ground.
Boom!
Its enormous body shot forward like a cannonball, carrying a violent gust of wind as it charged directly toward the three of them.
“You two, stay back!”
“Don’t get caught in the crossfire!”
Lin Mao shouted sharply before shoving Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan away with a burst of force.
The two women stumbled backward several steps before barely regaining their balance.
…
Meanwhile, Lin Mao stepped forward instead of retreating.
Like an arrow released from a bowstring, he rushed directly toward the incoming Boss.
Within seconds—
Boom!
The two figures collided violently.
Lin Mao’s fist smashed directly against the Boss’s enormous iron-like fist.
A thunderous explosion erupted instantly.
A terrifying shockwave spread outward from the impact point, kicking up dust and debris that swallowed both figures completely.
No one knew that Lin Mao had deliberately chosen not to use his lightning abilities.
After gaining the Physique Enhancement talent, he wanted to test just how powerful his newly strengthened body had become.
And this Blood Moon Boss was the perfect opponent.
As the dust gradually settled, the two figures reappeared.
Lin Mao stood firmly in place, a satisfied smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
“Not bad…”
“If this had happened before, one punch from this thing probably would’ve crippled me.”
“But now?”
“My arm only feels slightly numb.”
“This physique enhancement really is impressive.”
Across from him, the Blood Moon Boss shook its massive head slightly.
Its lifeless gray eyes remained locked onto Lin Mao.
It growled hoarsely:
“Blood food…”
“Superior blood food…”
“Eat you… evolve…”
The moment it roared those words, the sky suddenly darkened.
The fading daylight was swallowed by an overwhelming crimson glow.
A gigantic blood-red moon slowly emerged overhead.
Scarlet moonlight poured down upon the forest, dyeing the entire world red.
Even the air itself seemed soaked in blood.
The atmosphere instantly became far more violent and terrifying.
The moment the Blood Moon appeared, the Boss seemed to receive an endless surge of power.
Its already massive muscles swelled even further.
A crimson light flashed within its pale eyes as it became even more frenzied.
Roaring once more, the monster charged toward Lin Mao again.
This time, Lin Mao met it head-on without hesitation.
The two instantly descended into another brutal battle.
Not far away, Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan watched the clash with their hearts clenched tightly.
The speed of the two fighters had become so fast that only blurry afterimages remained visible.
At the same time, both women stepped forward instinctively.
Even if they could only distract the Boss for a moment, they still wanted to help Lin Mao.
But before they could take more than a few steps—
A dry, blackened hand suddenly burst out of the ground beneath them.
It grabbed Wan Yuyan’s ankle tightly.
The sudden attack startled her instantly.
Without hesitation, she pulled the short blade from her waist and slashed downward.
Crack!
The rotten arm was severed immediately.
Dark blood splattered across the ground as the hand twitched a few times before becoming motionless.
But the moment Wan Yuyan looked up again, her pupils shrank sharply.
Cracks rapidly spread across the surrounding earth.
One rotten hand after another clawed its way out of the soil.
Then—
Countless zombies began crawling out from underground.
These zombies looked even more horrifying than the ones before.
Their bodies radiated a blood-red aura as they roared wildly and charged toward Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan, completely surrounding them.
The two women were instantly trapped.
Unable to break through the horde, they had no choice but to stand back-to-back and fight desperately against the incoming zombies.
…
Meanwhile, Lin Mao noticed the situation from the corner of his eye during his battle with the Boss.
He glanced briefly toward them.
Seeing that the two women could still barely hold on, he stopped worrying and focused entirely on the enemy before him.
His punches became even faster.
With the Blood Moon empowering it, the Boss had become increasingly insane.
Its speed, strength, and defense had all multiplied several times over.
After dozens of exchanges, Lin Mao had also suffered several shallow wounds across his body.
But gradually, he began understanding the Boss’s attack patterns.
Finally—
The moment the Boss threw another massive punch toward him, Lin Mao seized the opening instantly.
He shifted sideways to avoid the attack, then swept his leg violently into the Boss’s knee.
The massive creature stumbled slightly.
Its head became exposed for just a split second.
Lin Mao immediately gathered all his strength into his right fist.
Boom!
His punch slammed directly into the Boss’s head.
A dull explosion rang out.
Half of the Blood Moon Boss’s skull was blown apart instantly.
Black blood and brain matter splattered everywhere beneath the crimson moonlight.
Yet even after suffering such a terrifying injury, the Boss merely staggered backward several steps.
Its broken head twitched slightly as its pale eyes continued staring at Lin Mao without fear.
Then it charged forward once again.
But Lin Mao noticed immediately—
The Boss had become slower.
Its punches had weakened significantly as well.
Clearly, that previous attack had severely damaged its combat ability.
A cold glint flashed across Lin Mao’s eyes.
Without hesitation, he raised both hands slightly.
His telekinetic power exploded outward instantly.
Like an invisible steel cage, the force locked tightly around the charging Boss, freezing its enormous body completely in place.
The Blood Moon Boss roared furiously.
Its muscles bulged violently as it struggled with all its strength.
But no matter how hard it fought, it could not break free from Lin Mao’s telekinetic restraint.
The next moment—
Lin Mao disappeared from his original position.
In an instant, he appeared directly in front of the Boss.
Then he began punching.
One punch.
Two punches.
Three punches.
Every strike carried terrifying power.
The Boss’s massive body gradually began collapsing inward beneath the barrage.
Its iron-like flesh slowly caved in under Lin Mao’s fists.
The once-mighty body was beaten apart bit by bit until it resembled little more than mangled flesh.
Sensing death approaching, the Boss struggled even more violently.
Blood-red energy surged wildly from its body in an attempt to escape the telekinetic restraint.
But Lin Mao’s power held it firmly in place like steel chains.
Seeing this, Lin Mao increased both the speed and force of his attacks even further.
Several minutes later—
The once-dominating Blood Moon Boss had been beaten completely into a pile of unrecognizable flesh.
Its massive body collapsed heavily onto the ground.
This time, it no longer moved.
Lin Mao slowly stopped punching.
Shaking his sore arms lightly, he raised his head toward the crimson Blood Moon hanging overhead.
A frown appeared on his face.
“Strange…”
“The Blood Moon Boss is already dead.”
“So why is the Blood Moon still there?”
“Could it be…”
Before he could finish speaking, Wan Yuyan suddenly shouted in terror from a distance.
“Lin Mao!”
“Be careful!”
“These zombies are acting strangely!”
Lin Mao turned instantly toward Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan.
The zombies that had been attacking them moments ago had suddenly stopped moving altogether.
One by one, they stood frozen in place while emitting eerie growls.
Then—
Their bodies began melting at a visible speed.
The zombies slowly dissolved into thick pools of flesh and blood.
Afterward, the disgusting masses of flesh began writhing across the ground as though alive.
And all of them started moving toward the pile of flesh that had once been the Blood Moon Boss.