It was clear they hadn't taken any serious hits, and their cores remained mostly unscathed.
A few unlucky fighters were knocked to the ground, but fortunately, everyone could see the health bars of the corpses.
Judging by the health bars, their health was indeed dropping.
Pariston, small and quick like a ghost, darted around the corpses.
Every time she struck them, powdery particles, similar to those in a video game, would fall off their bodies.
When the hits reached a certain threshold, the health bar dropped all the way to zero, and the huge corpse would suddenly shatter and collapse.
At the same moment, several bright green spheres would fall to the ground and be absorbed by Pikelot.
If others could see what she saw, they'd notice these glowing green spheres, representing the experience points she gained from defeating wild monsters.
Absorbing them slightly increased her strength.
As the battle continued, the fighters finally glimpsed the cores inside the corpses.
Each one had something resembling a heart at its center, though it wasn't a typical heart.
This mysterious object emitted a purple light, similar to the glow of a purple forest, and it pulsed faintly, sending out subtle ripples.
Inside the translucent object, there was something vaguely insect-like.
"A parasite?" Ging mused as he examined the core of the corpse.
He flicked his finger, sending a concentrated burst of aura to break through the core.
Based on his experience, this kind of worm was most likely a parasite that controlled the host's movements by living inside it.
What he wasn't sure about was whether these worms infected the creatures while they were still alive or after they died.
This parasite could explain the strange behavior of the corpses.
Even though they seemed to have been dead for a long time, they were still moving, primarily because of the parasites inside them.
The worm itself was unusual.
It was surrounded by a large, jelly-like substance that looked like a beating heart.
These gelatinous masses weren't just around the worm. They were attached throughout the bones, connecting to every joint like a network.
The parasite was at the center, with countless of these colloids linking to the skeleton.
These gelatinous parts were incredibly tough, making the bones hard and difficult to break apart.
This explained why the skeletons could move despite being dead.
Ging's doubts about how corpses and skeletons could still move were finally cleared up.
Still, one thing puzzled him: why did the corpses seem so fearless?
They charged forward relentlessly, even as many fell down.
Their attacks weren't coordinated; they just struck at random places without any strategy.
Yet, in a short time, the ground around them was covered with corpses, and the earth was churned up from their repeated movements.
People had to watch their steps carefully to avoid tripping over the piled-up bodies.
Meanwhile, Larry's group remained calm, which allowed him to observe the corpses and their behavior closely.
He noticed the obvious things everyone else did, but something felt off.
The parasites didn't seem interested in completely devouring their targets.
Instead, Larry saw signs of panic in the corpses' movements.
They appeared desperate to rush forward, almost as if they were fleeing from something while opportunistically attacking anything in their path.
At one point, he saw two or three corpses fall, with the ones behind them trampling over the fallen.
The leading corpse was
crushed underfoot and ignored by the rest, treated more like a stepping stone than a victim.
This behavior suggested that the parasites were driving the corpses forward with urgency, but not in a coordinated or truly aggressive way.
It seemed that once you stepped on the ground covered with corpses, there was no chance of getting back up.
The more Larry observed, the clearer it became that they were trying to escape.
Then, as if something clicked in his mind, Larry turned his head slightly and gazed deeper into the forest.
Even now, more bodies were rushing out.
After a moment, his ears twitched, and a look of realization crossed his face.
He was right, the corpses were still being hunted.
Suddenly, several purple figures swooped through the air, appearing at the edge of his vision.
They resembled birds at first, but on closer look, they were more like insects.
Their bodies were mostly purple, giving off a poisonous vibe.
Needles jutted from their lower bodies and shoulders, constantly dripping purple liquid at the tips.
Their appearance was somewhat like wasps, with a pair of short, thin wings.
The needles on their lower bodies were especially large, making up nearly a third of their entire length.
Besides purple, black stripes ran along their bodies, making them look more like bees.
Their heads were grotesque, with large compound eyes similar to those of flies, faintly shimmering in the light.
Their mouths were long, mosquito-like proboscises, not just for sucking a little blood, but something more sinister.
If one of these purple bees manages to latch onto a person, it can suck out all their blood in an instant, turning a lively adult into a dried-up mummy within moments.
Their appearance signals the imminent end for the corpses.
These purple bees move much faster than the corpses, their wings beating so rapidly that they leave almost no afterimage.
Larry estimated that only those with S-level abilities could even see their wings; for everyone else, the wings are invisible.
Their speed is almost like teleportation, they could be hovering one second, then suddenly appear behind a corpse the next.
With their slender mouthparts, they pierce the bodies precisely and extract a gelatinous core.
The corpses, which were moving just moments ago, suddenly lose their power source and collapse lifelessly to the ground.
Since Larry first noticed them, over a dozen corpses had already been taken down by these purple bees in just a few breaths.
They're clearly feeding on the parasites inside the corpses.
There were six purple bees in total, yet these six managed to chase away hundreds of corpses, which fled in panic without even trying to fight back.
The strength of the purple bees shouldn't be underestimated, but part of the corpses' weakness is their lack of any defense against aerial attacks.
"Hiss... Their speed is unbelievable," Beyond said, coming over to Larry's side, his face growing serious.
He had stopped paying attention to the corpses altogether.
Compared to the purple bees, the corpses were nothing.
While the corpses had strong defenses, their attacks were weak and they could be defeated given enough time.
But the purple bees were different, they were fast, powerful, and could fly, making them nearly impossible to deal with for most people.
"Tell everyone to ignore the corpses. They'll probably just avoid us and run," Larry said, watching the purple bees carefully.
"Focus on those bees instead."
Just then, Larry realized why the corpses had rushed over in the first place, the safety suits they wore somewhat muffled their breathing, making them harder to detect.