Two faces

Countless tentacles flapped wildly in the air, pulling out a rustling sound. The giant metal snake twisted continuously as it entangled, and from a distance it looked like a raging python.

The red-haired young man dodged the attacks one after another and jumped from the gaps in the middle of the vines to the next one, so fast that he didn't have time to think.

High concentrations of pollution are alienating the land. Tiny spider larvae crawl out from the insect eggs left on the ground. Some are crushed by vines and squeezed out transparent juice, some become food for the vines, but more climb up the tentacles, and from time to time you can hear a popping sound when you step on them.

Oreius did not hesitate. He dodged, chopped away, or changed his route when he encountered obstacles, just like the protagonist of an action game.

This was not the most terrifying sight he had ever encountered, but after a battle, he was too exhausted both physically and mentally. For the first time in his life, the young man regretted that he usually used too much strength and acted recklessly, relying on the fact that this body was not sensitive to pain.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to circumvent a few particularly aggressive vines. Although they looked fine from a distance, once he got closer, he discovered that the entire plant was in an extremely unstable state. It was like a fire on the verge of breaking point, with nerves stretched to the limit, and even the slightest stimulation would cause them to violently counterattack.

Fortunately, the snake attracted most of the attention. The tiny human being was walking among the thick vines, hiding himself cleverly. He ran to the end of the flesh tentacles slidably, and jumped up with bated breath at the right moment. The next tentacle that swung by directly took him away from where he fell, and swung him in a big circle in the air.

The strong inertia forced the young man to stab the sword into the vine to steady his body. Before the opponent went crazy due to the pain, he quickly found the next vine that could help him move forward.

If we ignore the bizarre, strange and terrifying background, this scene is actually quite interesting. Oleus finally got over the obstacle and stood on the vine to see the familiar hut.

Today, the hut has been completely surrounded by giant trees, with only the outline of the beams vaguely visible at the edge. Rather than calling it a hut, it is more like a naturally grown tree house.

On the front of the huge tree, Amira's face has completely merged with it. The deep wood grain vividly outlines the struggle and pain of its owner, as if a living person has been integrated into the tree, which makes people shudder after seeing it.

Aurelius's eyes flashed across his face, and he felt a heavy feeling in his heart. Sweat oozed from his palms, making the hilt of the sword he was holding a little wet and slippery.

Next, he would use this sword to kill the other party. When this thought arose in the young man's mind, he pursed his lips and his expression returned to its original firmness.

It would be better to let the noble ones die than to let them live in this world in such a miserable way. Even Amira herself would never want to see herself become like this.

The young man lowered his eyes and scanned the vines in front of him. The vines here were more severely mutated than before. Human faces appeared clearly on the fleshy surface, and he could even hear faint cries when he got closer.

One of them even opened his mouth and tried to bite Oreius's trouser leg. Unfortunately, he had no teeth or tongue, so he was brutally pierced by the long sword.

Compassion and mercy are no longer applicable in such a scene. He came here with only one purpose - to ring the funeral bell for this sad town!

Oleus rushed forward, jumping over the obstructing vines several times. He stretched his muscles to maximize his jumping ability and speed. The activation of the [Holy Arms] caused complex red lines to appear on the young man's face. The enhanced sword was as sharp as a flowing shadow, and it was invincible wherever it went, even the most flexible flesh was as easy as cutting tofu.

But the vines here were more irritable and sensitive than those in other places, and they all aimed at the young man. Their polluted and strengthened bodies were like long whips, but the whips would not have such a fierce posture that could crack the ground.

The continuous sounds of breaking air became a deadly song, and the red-haired young man danced to this song of death. Every time he bent down, he would inevitably avoid the fierce blows, and every time he turned sideways or lowered his head, he would brush past the vine branches that wanted to smash his head.

In the extremely dangerous shuttle, the young man's speed was not affected at all. As he approached, the face on the surface of the vine tree changed.

The eyes made of wood grain slowly "opened" and cast a look at the approaching person. When it "saw" the young man, the movements of the vines became more violent. Oleus' forehead was slightly sweaty, and he saw with his sharp eyes that the vines under the tree raised their heads like cobras, as if they were also jumping up and down. And in the cover of the vines, there was a mass of things wrapped in thick vines.

What is that?

Confusion flashed through the young man's mind, but it did not affect his quick withdrawal of attention and his search for a solution to the problem.

The method was simple. He only needed to cut the tree in half. This was not easy, but it was the most effective. The position could not be too high, otherwise it would leave too much life and could not ensure the death of the vines; nor could it be too short, otherwise it would be too thick and difficult to cut with his ability. Aurelius quickly scanned and soon found the target.

That was the spot just below the face. By stabbing the sword into this spot, he could use the inertia of his footing to rush sideways and cut the giant tree in half!

The young man made up his mind, and faced that ambiguous face with a solemn expression like a mourner. Without any hesitation, he raised the tip of the sword and rammed it straight into the heart he had chosen!

“——”

The sound of something piercing shook the eardrums, and the hard feel pressed against the palms, accompanied by a burning pain. Both parties had undoubtedly accomplished their goals.

Oreius' eyes widened in disbelief.

As expected, his sword penetrated deeply into the trunk of the vine. But at the same time, a protrusion appeared on the surface of the vine. It was shaped like a spider limb and had the color of flesh. It pierced the young man's chest from the front.

The place that was touched felt like being roasted on a stove, and the pain made it difficult to breathe. But what was even more confusing was what was happening in front of him. Oreius's thoughts froze and he could hardly understand what was happening.

...What is going on...?

His vision was a little blurry, and the face in front of him that belonged to Amira became more and more distorted. Under this face, two new faces appeared again.

They were also painted like wood grain, their faces full of mockery and ridicule. On the left and right, they were male and female. The trembling flesh of the vines went almost crazy because of their appearance, strangling the giant snake tied in the air and making it creak.

The two faces showed no reaction to this. They smiled widely, one with a hoarse voice and the other with a soft tone.

"We have had your attention for a long time, Mr. Oreius. We have been observing you since the portal rebellion."

"What a shame, what a shame. You have great qualities and we have high hopes for you. Although the Bloodline in this body is still struggling, he will soon be completely corrupted. You have two choices: die or join us."

"…Who are you?"

Oleu's voice was dry. The two faces smiled at each other, and one of them turned into a familiar face. He winked at the young man and laughed heartily.

"Thank you for your help, Lord Bloodline. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid it would take me a lot of effort to send Kao back."

When he saw his face clearly, the young man paused and said, "You are... the young guard I saved back then."

Did the problem start from that time?

"That's right." The male face smiled. "It's a pity that I didn't expect you to be so powerful and to be able to defeat my spider so easily. This opportunity is rare, so let's just start from the beginning."

"In fact, no one in that squad survived. The youngest guard, Lei, was the first to be infected. But he was lucky because he died quietly and I took over his body afterwards."

"The original plan was that they would die for me, and after going through hardships, I would bring back the intelligence. Since I was the only one left, the guards would let me face the Bloodline directly. In our one-on-one time, I could take the opportunity to contaminate him and subtly parasitize the entire town. Unfortunately, your appearance ruined my plan."

What he brought back with so much difficulty was not only his companions, but also prey that might have parasitic eggs. Although he originally regarded them as materials, it was not a pity to use them in this place, at least they parasitized some human guards.

The man continued speaking lazily.

"Of course, you also interrupted my temporary plan. It doesn't matter, we still have a second plan. This plan has some flaws, but it is enough to support the mutation here. Although the Baron's return is very troublesome for us, but if we change our thinking, as long as it is operated properly, the vines will actively absorb nearby pollution in order to survive."

"Pollution is everywhere. As the vines absorb it, it will automatically gather here and increase the concentration of the surrounding area. We can completely rely on the Baron of Alienation to build a more powerful Spider Kingdom."

The female face continued the conversation, sighing softly, "But Amira was really stubborn, and the townspeople here were more difficult to deal with than we thought. We had to try another approach, and found a little girl who hated him."

"It's easy to convince her. After all, the girl witnessed her sister being devoured by Amira. As long as a reliable person comes forward and tempts her to swallow the spider eggs used for parasitism instead of merging with them, with flesh and blood as a barrier, basically no one will notice the problem in such a highly polluted environment."

Of course, a frightened child would not believe everything anyone said. But as a town guard, a civilian youth who protects everyone. He has a natural advantage, and a little bit of words can get good feedback. As long as he finds a reason to [die] later, it will be easy to get rid of suspicion.

No one would suspect that a dead man was to blame.

"...your purpose is not just to turn this place into a lair."

The red-haired young man endured the pain in his chest and said coldly, "This is a trap. You have already chosen this village as a sacrifice."

The male voice corrected: "This is not a trap for you."

The female voice said, "We just want to mutate some new bloodline people and let them leave with more spider eggs. That's why we kept the chess pieces until the rescue team arrived. We were shocked when we saw you coming. Not to mention those annoying brain worms. It would be troublesome if they found us."

The male voice seemed to agree: "So even if we eliminated the fighter bloodline, we could easily wipe them out. But in order to avoid accidents, we still chose to deal with him and used the precious poison from the mother."

"As for you, your achievements are truly remarkable. As soon as you showed up, you destroyed the infection plan in Ya'an City and killed the queen worm. Even though that guy is a fool who can only reproduce, he is enough to attract our attention."

"After that, you went to Cross's territory and ruined the wolf pack plan. The people in charge of the relevant plans were furious about this. But it doesn't matter. I don't like that woman, so I am optimistic about you."

The woman's voice was light and charming: "Although your power is amazing, your blood is indeed strange. Unfortunately, our true body is not here. This is just a parasitic ability of ours. Even if it is stained with blood, it is still only this vine tree that you control. And with your current physical condition, if you want to completely control it, I'm afraid you will bleed to death directly."

At the end, the two voices overlapped and laughed: "It's not easy to accomplish all this. All we can do is go with the flow and make everything seem reasonable. Fortunately, you didn't find the problem."

Orelius's throat rolled as he tried to swallow his dry saliva, not out of fear or terror, but because his body was getting colder.

The place pierced by the vines was similar to Rambo's. The rotten grayish-white part had no blood at all. It was obviously a poison specially chosen to target the swordsman. The other party said so much, undoubtedly to delay time. One of them wanted to let the poison take effect, and the other wanted to restore more strength to the body.

It seems that I was really careless. I relied on my powerful strength to get by, but I completely forgot that there are always people better than me and there are always better things than me. What kills a lion is usually not another lion, but a poisonous snake hiding in the dark.

The red-haired young man smiled bitterly in his heart. It was obvious that the other party was not here to kill him. Admiring the young man's weak posture, the female voice spoke again, with a seductive tone.

"Of course, we come here with sincerity. If you join us, not only will you be able to survive, we can also provide you with more powerful strength."

"You will be satisfied with the care from the Black Mist. He is the source of all human evolution. It is only because we have not embraced Him that we fear the unknown."

As they spoke, wisps of black mist spread in the air, brushing softly across the young man's cheeks as if in response, like a mother's caress and persuasion. The red-haired young man was silent for a moment, then asked back, "So, if I don't join you, I will die here today?"

The two faces smiled but said nothing. The young man asked again, "Can Amira be saved?"

The male voice replied, "He is already entangled in the mist, and is destined to become his possession, along with all the souls in this town. But if you agree now, we can still let you see him one last time."

"I see."

Oreius nodded. Just when the two faces thought he was going to agree, a sneer appeared on the young man's face. He gritted his teeth, grabbed the vine and pulled it out of his chest. Blood splattered on the vine, and dense blood threads spread in an instant.

They really didn't want to kill him, and deliberately avoided the heart. Orelius jumped back to create some distance, then used the blade of his sword to scrape off the thin layer of rotten flesh on the surface of the wound. The sharp pain was transmitted along his nerves, and it hurt so much that he could hardly clench his fingers for a while.

Seeing this, the two human faces slowly retracted their tentacles and their expressions turned cold and cruel: "It seems that you are destined to be our enemy."

"Don't talk nonsense."

Oleus said unruly, fresh tender flesh reappeared at the wound, blood flowed down as if to take away all the vitality, and all fell on the knight's sword. The latter was bright and shining, as if it was just blooming in the morning light, the thorns were red enough to sting the eyes, and it was pregnant with an unparalleled sharp aura.

Afterwards, the young man took half a palm of blood and drank it with his head raised. The lines on his face grew rapidly, and in an instant, they covered half of his body densely. A murderous aura as fierce as that of an ancient beast suddenly surged out, and unexpectedly condensed into a sea of ​​blood that seemed to be solid. From it came the wailing and crying of countless monsters, which made those who heard it shudder.

He used this body as a weapon to strengthen it from the inside out, squeezing out every last bit of vitality from every cell. Just like the shattered sword before, this was a strengthening that was done entirely at the expense of the body's lifespan, but in this case, Oreius was no longer afraid!

The madly beating heart almost burst, stimulating the visible growth of tender flesh at the wound. The soreness and itching intertwined, and scarlet lines crawled to the corners of the young man's eyes and forehead. His cold and cruel facial features looked like a demon.

He raised his sword and swung it, the sharp edge of the sword piercing the two faces. The latter chuckled and disappeared easily. The long sword pierced into the tree trunk like cutting tofu, provoking a frenzy of counterattacks from the vines. The red-haired young man dodged the intertwined flesh contact, and the two faces' stealthy laughter rang in his ears.

"It's useless. We have parasitized this vine. No matter how you attack it, it will only anger it."

"Give up, you won't be able to find us. It's not too late to surrender now."

"Do you think those people are sincere to you? As long as they find out that there is something wrong with your blood, you will be caught and studied immediately. You don't know how special you are. You are like a black mist living in the world."

"You know what? We were meant to be companions."

Whether using coercion or inducement, or flattery, they recklessly talked about the tragic death of the red-haired young man after he was discovered, and each one was chilling.

Oreius turned a deaf ear to this. Scarlet murderous aura filled his eyes, and for the first time, his consciousness, which should have been withdrawn long ago, did not leave. In the terrifying murderous intent that washed over his mind, he struggled to distinguish the information that could still be obtained, trying to find a flaw in it.

If I allow my body to be driven by the curse, I won't be able to get rid of these two people even if I bleed to death!

Parasitism, parasitism, parasitism...

Parasitism must have a trigger, like the blood of Oreius or the eggs of the phantom spider. There must be something!

His chaotic thoughts were intermittent, and he was looking for a breakthrough between instinct and reason. The red-haired young man suddenly threw himself forward, and he didn't dodge anymore. He was hit by the vine tree, and there was a crisp sound of bone breaking in his left shoulder.

As the two faces looked at him as if he were looking at a dead person, he slashed the bulging vine with his sword, revealing a dead little spider.

It is completely different from other spiders. It is only the size of a palm, but the vines it wraps around are extremely thick, as if this is the only way to absorb all the pollution in it. Its translucent body is like a work of art. Its upper body is a clean human body, but it splits from the neck and grows two heads, one on the left and one on the right. One has a delicate face, and the other has handsome eyebrows and eyes.

The two faces showed a mocking expression at this. They had long guessed that the other party would attack here. Unfortunately, this was just a deception. The carrier was already an empty shell. The really important part had already been injected into the vine.

But Aurelius did not attack it.

He dodged the next attack, rolled over to the spider, and wiped the remaining blood on his hand onto it.

Scarlet blood appeared on the body of the little spider, and the empty corpse slowly climbed up under the drive, shaking its head with a creaking sound. The young man cut off a vine that wanted to crush the spider with his backhand, and finally spoke hoarsely.

“—Go and find it.”

Even if it is an empty shell, it does not matter, because parasites must have a carrier.

Since the breath is the same, just like the shadow man can sense Shaken's call, this spider must also be connected to that thing!

The two-headed spider man turned stiffly and looked up at the tall tree. As his two faces changed color suddenly, he made a spider's hissing sound.

Countless vines suddenly snapped and rushed towards the transparent spider-man. Even Oleus was unable to stop him and crushed him into pieces.

But it was enough. With that roar, transparent ripples spread out in circles, faintly echoing something in the vines, and coming from the same source.

Oreius jumped up without thinking and stabbed towards the center of Amira's eyebrows - there, there was a strong pollution.

It has no substance, yet it does not flow, disturbing the entire giant tree by occupying the core of the vine, and directly transferring it when necessary.

Who can catch a flowing mass of pollution?

Therefore, no one can free themselves from the alienation that comes from having two faces.

But Oleus did it. As the sword pierced through his face, his broken left shoulder rammed into it. The broken bones pierced through his already severely injured flesh, and blood spurted out, instantly transforming the nearby tree trunks and trapping the pollution in the part controlled by the blood thread.

"Are you crazy!?"

Both faces changed color instantly and screamed at the same time. However, Aurelius just grinned with a sharp white smile, looking ferocious as if he was completely crazy.

He raised the sword and stabbed at the core of the black mist again and again. Blood dripped down the hilt and dripped onto the core, making a sizzling sound of corrosion.

The black fog suddenly grew larger, and they wanted to escape but couldn't move through the vines. They wanted to resist, but the parasitic fog eggs themselves had no offensive effect!

"We will find you! Don't think you killed us! You don't know who you have offended!"

"Do this to us, and you will die here and live in fear forever!"

Amid the terrible cries of pain, the male and female voices suddenly distorted, uttering hateful curses and reproaches. The red-haired young man raised his sword again and pierced through the core, causing a bloody cry of pain.

Looking at the black mist dissipating along the tip of the sword, he replied expressionlessly: "I'll be waiting for you."

I will kill you once I see you, and I will kill you a hundred times if I see you a hundred times. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I will rip your skin off alive and reveal the two faces hidden inside.

The madness brought by the curse surged, and endless malicious thoughts turned over in his mind. The crazy swordsman took a breath, his face was as white as snow, but he still wanted to continue stabbing. The wounds from being pulled were almost numb, his body swayed, and finally he fell down unable to support himself.

The body covered with wounds fell softly along the tree trunk, and a streak of blood slid down along the center of the eyebrows.

...It seems that people should not be too impulsive, nor should they make excessive promises. This body is destined to die here...

His consciousness was exhausted by the side effects. He used his last bit of energy to vaguely think, but he could no longer withstand the blood loss and injuries and completely passed out.

The blood left on the tree slowly soaked through the bark, and the originally mad Wan Teng gradually calmed down for some reason.

After a while, the deep hole between the brows of the vine tree slowly healed. The fleshy branches let go of the giant snake in the sky and fell down in layers.

They shook off the spiders crawling on the surface and gently covered the red-haired young man, like layers of wet and slippery bedding, or like a womb nurturing a newborn, isolating him from all external influences. The snake floated in the air for a moment, then fell down. It wrapped around the giant tree, wrapped the vines around the unconscious master's abdomen, and stopped moving.

In the cocoon, some tiny vines stretched out towards the young man, wrapped themselves around the wound like a bandage, and performed basic bone fixation and compression to stop bleeding.

Everything became quiet, with only the slight rise and fall of human chests and the sound of weak breathing echoing in the air. A new fleshy vine hung down, and gently touched his hair as if it were treating a younger generation.