A deafening roar erupted from behind it, first hitting its rear. The impact immediately interrupted its instinctive dodging movement, and in the next instant, something slashed into its thigh.

Struggling to regain its balance, it hurriedly leaped forward with the momentum, barely managing to steady itself.

Just as it was preparing to launch a counterattack, it suddenly felt a sharp pain radiating from its left thigh.

Looking down, it saw that its left thigh had been ruthlessly gouged by a curved sharp weapon held in the opponent's mouth, creating a wound so deep the bone was visible, with blood gurgling out.

If the wound had been just a bit longer or extended a few centimeters higher, it might have even sliced off its family jewels.

It lifted its head, looking back with a mix of terror and fury, wanting to see exactly which monster dared to trick and ambush it, and who had the audacity to harm its noble body.

Under the moonlight, it quickly saw the full appearance of the intruder and was slightly stunned.

Was this a Flame-tailed Fox variant? Or a completely new monster?

It was a canine monster only half its size. It looked to be of the same type as the Flame-tailed Fox but definitely wasn't a creature from this forest. In short, it was also a type of dog.

It held a sharp blade in its mouth, its eyes locked onto the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard.

"Awoo—"

With the blade in his mouth, Da Huang let out a long howl toward the sky. The Flame-tailed Foxes patrolling in the distance pricked up their ears, hearing Da Huang's alarm.

Soon, news of an external enemy invasion spread throughout the entire territory.

A total of twenty Flame-tailed Fox warriors alertly raised their tails and quickened their pace toward the scene.

Treating the opponent's howl as a mere provocation, the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard could clearly sense from the other's size and aura that it was only a Tier 2 monster. Its strength was likely on par with one of its Avatars.

With such weak strength, it actually dared to ambush it! Most importantly, the leopard had actually fallen for the trap!

An inexplicable sense of rage and disbelief quickly surged into its heart.

"Roar! You deserve to die!" it howled, its eyes turning blood-red. It immediately ordered its Avatars searching in the distance to return. "Avatars, get back here!"

The Giant Red Worm corpse hidden in the cave was, naturally, placed there by Qi Ye.

He could control two Giant Red Worms. After the first was killed by the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard, he immediately ordered the second surviving Giant Red Worm to burrow back and hide in the cave ahead, making noise occasionally to tell the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard that a monster was hiding inside.

The opponent did not disappoint and successfully fell for it. Its cunning, evil, yet cautious nature made it think it had discovered a flaw, which instead led to it being ambushed by Da Huang, who was hiding behind it.

If it hadn't noticed the trap in front at all, or if it had just charged through recklessly to attack the Flame-tailed Fox Patrol Team ahead, Qi Ye would have had no way to deal with it.

But that was impossible, because its nature dictated that it would definitely stop halfway.

It was precisely this feeling of being seen through that filled the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard's heart with rage in an instant. Instead of fleeing, it took the next irrational step.

It howled and pounced directly at Da Huang.

Indeed, with a physique nearly twice the size of Da Huang's, even if one hind leg was crippled, it only needed to extend a front claw to crush Da Huang's head with a single swipe.

It was even fully confident that if the opponent dared to counterattack, it would simply crush the dog's claws and head together; the opponent had no power to fight back.

This was a case of absolute power suppression. As for the blade in the dog's mouth?

Before the blade could hit it, the dog would have to still be alive.

And now, a single strike would be enough to send it to the afterlife.

But was that really the case? Qi Ye, hidden within Da Huang's fur, smiled slightly. The Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard's actions were currently all within his expectations.

Ancestral Impulse, activate!

Blessing Spell, initiate!

Two skills in succession, one from within and one from without. An ethereal white light shot out from mid-air, landing directly on Da Huang's head.

Ancestral Impulse caused Da Huang's physique to undergo another drastic change, a transformation that was completed in a mere moment.

His muscles were strengthened, his bones creaked and groaned, and his golden fur instantly became exceptionally tough. The black mane on his back stood tall, and his sharp claws lengthened once more, glinting coldly under the red moonlight.

Da Huang gave a low growl and engaged in the first round of combat with the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard in the next second.

The Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard's gaze turned to astonishment as it instantly snapped back to its senses.

What terrifying skill was this! His aura had surged in an instant, reaching the strength of a Tier 3 Monster Lord!

Its attack had been aimed at a Tier 2 monster. Due to its momentary arrogance, it was once again caught off guard.

It was like stepping on an ant only to find the ant had suddenly turned into a wild boar that sent it flying with a headbutt.

Their claws collided, creating a powerful shockwave in the air that blew away a large number of fallen leaves nearby.

It suddenly felt a stabbing pain in its chest and hurriedly leaped backward. By just a hair's breadth, its heart was almost pierced by Da Huang's blade.

Da Huang followed up by tilting his head, the blade in his mouth tracing a horizontal arc in front of him.

Unable to dodge in time, its right front leg was slashed by the edge of the blood-drinking saber.

It landed on the ground and staggered back several steps, nearly falling. Its right front leg couldn't exert any strength; just standing on the ground was already extremely difficult.

As expected of a seasoned Tier 4 Monster Lord, even this situation failed to kill it.

Feeling that death had been only centimeters away, its back broke out in a cold sweat. It turned a wary gaze toward its opponent and the blade in his mouth.

This was clearly a weapon belonging to an Adventurer.

Until now, it had never seen a monster that could use an Adventurer's weapon, and now it had suffered a great loss because of it.

The blade in the dog's mouth elevated his close-combat strength by a tier. Now, in close-quarters combat, his combat power was equal to that of an uninjured Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard.

Unfortunately, by the time the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard realized this, it had already had one hind leg and one front leg crippled due to its own rage and arrogance.

However, the opponent's base strength was that of a Tier 3 Monster Lord. Even if the leopard was heavily injured, as long as it caught an opportunity to bypass the blade's range, it could still destroy the opponent.

"Roar!"

It took a small step back, eyes wide, howling at Da Huang.

This was a show of force, but also a stalling tactic.

It could sense its Avatars rushing back at high speed. As long as there were three Avatars assisting from the side—even if they were used as cannon fodder—it would create a perfect opportunity for it to release Shadow Magic Blast.

It could only use this skill twice and needed to charge it up. It had used it once before, and the energy left in its body only allowed for one more use. Therefore, this last time had to be released at a perfect moment.

Seeing the dog in front also growling lowly, it felt its scheme was working and couldn't help but reveal an evil grin.

But in reality, Da Huang wasn't responding to it; he was talking to Qi Ye.

"Master, what should I do now, woof?"

Dealing with a Tier 4 Monster Lord for the first time, Da Huang was a bit nervous. Even after severely wounding the opponent twice, he felt that even if he charged in for a brawl now, the opponent could still dodge his attacks.

He could even sense through instinct that the opponent seemed to be hiding some unused trick.

Unable to think of a good way to expand his advantage for the moment, he chose to ask Qi Ye.

"Don't move for now, don't show any openings. It probably has more skills than what we've seen. Don't be in a hurry to charge; wait for the other warriors to arrive."

"Okay, woof. Actually, I'm a little scared, woof, but my ability can still last for a while, no problem, woof!"

Because of the Communication skill, Qi Ye could understand the Dark Curtain Demonic Leopard's words. They were nothing more than some vile curses, and Qi Ye had no intention of responding.

There was no need to communicate with an evil monster.

Moreover, the opponent was clearly stalling for time.

Qi Ye gave a cold laugh. The territory was full of his Followers. The opponent was waiting for its Avatars to return; did it really think he didn't know its plan? Did it really think he didn't have reinforcements?