Bloody Road
Shortly after entering the corridor in the southeast corner, a strong smell of blood that was almost tangible made Ximu slow down his pace.
The stench of blood was very familiar to her.
——That’s why her expression at this moment looks particularly solemn.
Such a chilling and thick smell can only be accumulated by mountains of corpses and constantly flowing blood.
The alienation in this workshop is much more terrifying than that in other places.
Morina and Sorens also stopped.
But unlike Xi Mu who read an ominous meaning from the smell, the reason why they stopped was relatively simple and clear.
The long corridor was covered with trails of blood, crisscrossing and still wet. Limbs and handprints covered the ground, and traces of struggle snaked from one door to the next.
"Oh, gods, this is too terrifying..."
Morina's murmur came from behind. Ximu turned around to look at her. Seeing that although she looked horrified, she was at least still conscious, he felt relieved.
Ximu had a special experience, and was plagued by murder, so he had no special feelings about this horrifying scene and the cruel scenes behind it that were easy to imagine;
As a priestess, Morina often prayed for blessings and went out to see patients, and had seen bloody injuries. In addition, she had followed them in the battles and gained experience, so even though she was shocked at this moment, she was not scared to the point of being unable to walk.
The one who couldn't hold it in the most was naturally Sorens.
As the only ordinary person among them - at least he must have thought so - he saw the familiar workshop turned into a living hell overnight. It was already a little shaky at this time. If it weren't for Morina beside him who quickly helped him, he would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.
"…What on earth happened here? Why did it become like this? Are they all crazy?!"
He asked in disbelief, but he had no idea who to ask this question to.
"Keep your voice down." Ximu warned softly.
Although he had previously avoided those unknown spherical monsters with the help of a temporary pass, the scenery in this corridor was so bloody that there must be ferocious monsters lurking here.
"Let's move forward and try to avoid those bloodstains."
According to Ximu's past experience, some sensory monsters can quickly lock onto the location of their prey through some seemingly unintentional arrangements - her intuition tells her that these traces may not belong only to the victim, so she should avoid them if possible.
"What about them?"
Morena pointed at the four combat puppets that had been following them all the way.
Yes, humans can accurately find the gaps in the blood and adjust the size of their steps, but the steps of these mechanical puppets are basically the same.
If Ruixia were here, she might be able to make some minor adjustments on the spot, but...
Just when he was thinking about whether to just leave them here, one of the machines that had been following him obediently suddenly stepped forward and made a hugging gesture towards Ximu.
Um?
What, is Ruixia looking over here?
The mechanical puppet pointed to the distance and made a hugging gesture again. Ximu thought about it and quickly understood what he meant.
"You mean, let the mechanical puppet take us and jump directly over the area with the most blood?" Xi Mu asked.
The puppet nodded.
It is indeed a solution.
As far as Ximu was concerned, it was easy to pass through here without touching the bloodstains, but Morina and Sorens were both wearing long robes. If the hem of their clothes fell down a little when they passed, all their efforts would be wasted.
These mechanical puppets already have a certain ability to jump, and with Ruixia's modification, there shouldn't be any problem even if they each carry one more person... Moreover, by jumping instead of walking, there's naturally no need to worry about the puppets' fixed steps.
"Well, take them over there—I don't need them. I can do it myself."
In this way, if anything happens, whether charging forward or turning back to provide support, Ximu can act directly, which will be safer.
"Wait a minute, what are you guys secretly plotting?"
Seeing Ximu suddenly start talking to the battle doll, Morina guessed that she and Ruixia might be discussing something, but before she could ask what it was, she was picked up.
“Hey, what is this…?”
Sorens was a little surprised as it was the first time he encountered such a thing, but the short-haired girl next to him had a bad expression on her face as if to say "Oh, I knew it" and waved at him as if it was normal.
"Ah, I get it... It's okay. They just like to throw their teammates around when they have nothing to do. I already--Ohhhh!"
Before he could finish his words, the puppet jumped up with Morina and flew far away with a "whoosh".
Sorens followed closely behind, but before he could shout, the puppet holding him covered his mouth with its extra hands.
Seeing the puppet standing steadily in the larger gap between the bloodstains, Xi Mu, who was always ready to fill the gap, breathed a sigh of relief. Then he tapped his toes lightly, picked up the empty space in the blood on the road, and caught up with them little by little.
The sounds of work in the rooms on both sides never stopped.
The deeper you go into the corridor, the higher the temperature becomes, and the more obvious the sounds of hammering and pouring become - the wails and wails, which you don't know if they still belong to human beings, also begin to penetrate your ears little by little, stinging your forehead.
Sorens's face grew paler and paler. He looked around several times, but he really didn't have the courage to stop and see what was being hammered out in the workshops that were supposed to produce weapons.
The door of one of the forging rooms was wide open, and the bloodstains left by those who were dragged in were particularly thick, obviously not formed by a human body.
The moment Ximu saw it, he guessed what was being dragged in.
"Don't look, just keep going."
The mechanical puppet followed her instructions, covered the eyes of Morina and Sorens, and quickly left the door without hesitation.
But——Ximu paused briefly in front of the door.
The user of this forging room must have been a very particular person when he was alive.
Although the masonry inside was almost entirely stained with blood, the tools were meticulously arranged, with all the materials sorted on the floor: hands with hands, legs with legs, torsos with torsos, and heads with heads.
Moreover, these human-like materials have obviously mutated. They do not come from normal people, but... belong to spherical monsters that have been distorted.
The mixed flesh and blood were separated again. These pieces of flesh that would never die made low humming sounds from their mouths, blood flowed from their broken limbs, and they twisted slowly, but were fixed in place by huge iron nails and iron hooks, unable to move.
On the high forging platform, there was an extremely long object.
It was composed of segments of humanoid torsos, each segment retaining its arms but only possessing a pair of legs at the very end. The arms grasped various objects: minerals, tools, human bones, bellows... Other arms served as centipedes, supporting the long body as it crawled nimbly and swiftly.
There is a human head on the top section of the body, but the head is broken backwards at a strange angle, and the eyes are covered with a black scarf. It seems that it has lost its sight a long time ago, and can only rely on the two tentacles growing from the crack in the neck to distinguish external information.
It put the broken materials on the forging table, hammered, crushed, and shaped them, and tried to add various materials - but no matter how it hammered, the broken flesh and blood would return to its original shape, and continue to fuse on the table, and finally turn back into that big mixed ball.
Ximu couldn't understand the idea of disordered things.
But it is obvious that something that has been imprisoned here for many years has become a puppet of the idea of "forging". It wants to "create" something desperately, but it seems to be just repeating the established tragedy.
The confused magician forgot his own appearance, and the blind craftsman lost his normal cognition and could no longer polish and create in the right way...
All those trapped here are trapped in an eternal nightmare.
Ximu vaguely felt that the joints should be the monster's weaknesses, but in this situation, it would be better not to alarm it...
Just as I was about to leave, the annoying knocking sound that had been ringing in my ears suddenly stopped for no reason.
A chill ran up her spine, and Ximu looked down at her feet, only to find a trickle of bright red liquid brushing against the corner of her shoe.
--impossible!
She had clearly confirmed when she stopped that she had not moved during the entire process!
This stream of blood...I brought this upon myself!
"Go find the mine entrance, quick!"
The moment the words came out of his mouth, Ximu kicked off from where he was standing and chased after his teammates in front without looking back!
The rustling sound of extremely fast footsteps approached from behind. Xi Mu ignored it, but had already grasped the dagger in her hand. At this moment, the two combat puppets on standby who had been following her empty-handed suddenly turned back, brushed past her, and directly pounced on the enemy who was chasing her from behind!
Then came a teeth-grinding sound of throbbing. Ximu knew from the sound that one of the machines had been destroyed. The other one seemed to be struggling with it, but the sound of breaking joints continued to be heard, and it was obvious that it could not hold on for long.
The two remaining puppets holding people had obviously been taken over by Ruisha. Since the monster had been alarmed, they no longer cared about avoiding the blood. They started sprinting at full speed and rushed to the innermost gem processing area with Morina and Sorens!
Fortunately, they had already conducted detailed discussions before and had various plans for the location and entry methods of the mine. At least they would not panic too much in this crisis.
"Prepare the defensive magic and the corresponding scrolls. It will be too late to cast them after I blast the secret door in the mine."
While running away quickly, Morina grabbed the puppet's arm and quickly reminded Sorens.
According to their past experience, different monsters have their own territories. As long as they can enter the territory of the mine, the current situation of being chased will naturally be resolved.
"well……"
Although Sorens was nervous, he knew that Ximu was still behind them buying time for them, and his eyes gradually became firm.
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