Sultry.
Ling curled her hands tightly in front of her chest and stayed motionless against the wall, for fear that her movements would hinder others.
The dripping sweat made her half-long dark blue hair cling to the back of her neck and cheeks, making her feel stuffy and itchy all over - but she was completely suppressed by the tension.
The heat waves from the torches came in waves, and the men holding spears in front and back stared wide-eyed and did not dare to look away for a moment. The crowds of people, their body heat mixed with the temperature of the lighting fixtures, further made the narrow walkway stifling.
The two people holding spears in the front row were Lao Qiao and Yajiro. Because the passage was only half a meter wide, even though they were relatively small, they could still only raise their spears sideways. The ceiling was only two meters high, and it was difficult for tall people like Henry and Galeva to turn around inside - and they were behind the spear-holders on both sides, relying on their height advantage to hold torches for lighting.
A big sword cannot be used in such a place, and even a short sword or a one-handed sword can only use more small-scale cutting and lunging attacks.
This is the world of spears and spears, but the use of spears is not aimed at killing.
——Because the results of previous attempts to do this were somewhat disastrous.
Narumi, who was holding his forearm, clenched his teeth against the wall, and the blood vessels on his face bulged out from the pain. A large section of the warrior leader's strong left arm was tightly bound by a bandage. Even so, blood was still flowing out. He had to follow Henry's instructions to press it with his hands to avoid fainting from excessive blood loss.
A Japanese-style metal armguard, a "cage hand" made of cloth combined with slender painted iron bars, hangs down from the elbow of his left arm. There is a straight cut on it, which was used by the sage to treat his wounds. The knife was used to cut open, but what made people unable to take their eyes away was the huge breach in the mail ring and iron plate, which looked like a powerful blunt instrument.
Two rows of four, eight in total, formed into a trapezoid with slightly varying widths—obviously the result of the bite of some creature with a long snout.
Less than 10 minutes after entering the stone gate, Narumi, the leader, was seriously injured.
The sage made a prompt decision and asked the group to exit the passage immediately. While fighting in the wider environment outside, the same roar as inside came from outside the stone door behind him.
Where did it come from?
There is only one road outside, could it be climbing up along the waterfall?
Spend your time thinking about these issues in a daze, and you won’t have to think about them again in the future. The adventurer's prompt decision was coupled with the high-quality Kazuto elite warriors. At Henry's request, the group immediately shrunk their formation and assumed a protective posture with both ends of their spears.
The narrow passage makes it difficult to use strike weapons or outflanking techniques, but in the eyes of those who are familiar with the terrain characteristics, this terrain is not all flaws.
There is no complicated terrain, which means that as long as the opponent appears within the range of firelight, they can see it. There is no need for complicated and gorgeous skills or exquisite formations. You just need to shrink the formation and stand ready, hold the weapon tightly, and thrust forward the moment the enemy appears.
Yajiro and Lao Qiao stood as if they were carved from the same mold:
Bend your left foot forward at the knee and lower your center of gravity. While leaning forward, extend your right leg and turn your right foot over so that the two feet are facing 90 degrees.
A standard fighting stance, compared to having both feet side by side, this stance will be more stable when there is a powerful impact from the front and will prevent you from losing your footing and falling. The two men held their spears tightly, with the tip of the spear placed at a height of about one meter - because according to Narumi, who was the only one to witness it, that was the physique of the ferocious beast that attacked him.
That's a wolf.
But the roar was like a bear. But bears basically don't move in groups. A beast of this size will occupy a considerable territory alone. The only possibility is a mother bear with cubs, but the roars that appear before and after are equally loud and powerful without any childishness.
——At the end of the day.
How could a beast so strong and powerful that it could bite through iron armor grow out from behind this stone door that had been closed for so many years that the dust was enough to make people cough?
How is the old pharmacist?
This thought in the Luoan girl's mind only lasted for a moment, and she had to focus on the current situation.
Joshua closed his eyes to prevent the last remaining bits of vision from disturbing his more acute hearing.
The heartbeats of the people around him were "thumping". Huddled in the middle of a group of people, Torataro was itching all over because of the stuffy heat, scratching his ears and cheeks, sometimes gritting his teeth, and sometimes letting out unsatisfactory grunts of "Err", which were amplified a hundred times because of the silence of the others.
Narumi controlled his breathing to overcome the pain.
The water drops on the roof of the cave fell into the small long puddles "tick-tock". .
At the same time, Joshua also caught the slight "click" sound of something hard colliding with the stone ground.
"It's coming! Direction to the bottom of the cave!" He immediately warned his companions, and the suddenly raised voice scared Torataro to say "Ah--" and at the same time, there were rapid footsteps from the bottom of the cave. Joe and Yajiro clenched the short guns in their hands, while the sage took out a short knife from the holster on his waist, flipped it with his fingers, held the tip of the knife, and threw it out the moment the black shadow appeared.
"Whoosh whoosh-" "Dang-!" The tip of the knife came into contact with the fur-covered beast's head, making a metallic sound that no one expected. It failed to penetrate, but the force was still enough to kill the wolf-like head. The non-tiger beast was slightly dizzy and instinctively closed its eyelids to protect the fragile eyeballs, while shaking its head in pain and dizziness.
Its thrust was crooked.
"Go!" The sage shouted, and Yajiro and Lao Qiao worked together to rush forward and stab.
"Drink - ah!" Old Qiao, who was older and therefore more experienced, stabbed the opponent in the chest with a spear, and then Yajiro, who had a clear understanding of his mind, pressed down the tail of the gun barrel with his right hand while thrusting forward. Control the direction of the gun tip.
"Roar——!" The tip of the triangular cross-section of Moon Kingdom's short spear pierced through the thick fur and the neck covered with blood vessels without any hindrance and pierced out from the other side, but the inexperienced young samurai only knew that He forgot to twist the short spear to widen the wound. The creature with incomplete claws like a wolf immediately raised its front paws and tried to attack him. Fortunately, Old Qiao noticed this and immediately pulled out the short spear and used the Moon Kingdom's unique method of throwing the spear. Facing the beast.
"Crack——!" The short spear made of hard wood screamed and broke when it met the muscular claws of the beast. Yajiro came back to his senses and was frightened. He drew out the short spear that stabbed his neck and planned to attack again, but the beast let out a hoarse cry. Roar immediately crawled backwards crazily on all fours in a weird posture that was not like a normal cat or dog, and disappeared into the darkness again.
"Why, he's not dead -" The young master was covered in cold sweat. The short spear stabbed the beast's neck firmly. Before that, Old Qiao stabbed it in the chest, but it was still alive and well.
"Blood." Henry stretched out the torch, while Mira took another short gun from Galeva and handed it to Old Joe.
While expressing his gratitude, the older countryman picked up the broken gun head and stuffed it into his belt, and moved the gun barrel out of the way with his foot.
And this is when our Luoan girl saw the black liquid on the ground.
Her face darkened, and too many things resurfaced in an instant that Mira was speechless. Henry noticed this and rubbed her hair and asked his disciple to continue to guard the other side.
"Is it the same thing as the weird thing before?" Yajiro also experienced the battle with the ghoul. The pronunciation he used was "Ayakasi" - weird - as a name for Kazuto. A general term for things that cannot be understood, and ghouls obviously fit this description.
Monsters with names and surnames are neutral existences in the Crescent Continent where there are eight million gods and all things are spiritual. They are like gods but not gods. They have their own society and rules, and have their own joys and sorrows in the legend of Kazuto. Unlike Rigal's god, who is a supremely good being, and unlike Rigal's demon, who is a supremely evil being.
The "spirits" in the mythology of the Moon Country are not binary oppositions of black and white, they are more like the incarnation of emotions or emotions - but weirdness is not among the monsters. They have no emotions and are only born to deprive lives and trample on happiness.
Black blood.
Will Narumi be infected? The Luoan girl turned back to look at the samurai leader. The left arm he was pressing hard was wrapped under a bandage and the color of the blood vessels could not be seen clearly, and even the pain on his forehead appeared The blood vessels are also invisible because the firelight cannot shine on the person under the tall back of the sage.
——Should I bring it up? But checking this issue now would disturb the already uneasy psychology of the team members.
The teacher must have thought about the same problem. However, he who needs to be responsible for coordinating and directing other people and providing lighting warning may not be able to take care of the problem of a fire in the backyard.
You can't be vigilant.
Stress turned into anxiety and caused her to lose focus. This strange beast looked like multiple carnivorous mammals pieced together. It moved extremely fast and was extremely strong. If it hadn't been for Joshua's reminder, they might not have been very reliable in the first place. The formation will be easily overwhelmed. And as long as they are close enough, the claws that can break hard wood and the teeth that can bite through iron armor will cause them considerable harm.
——Should I quit? There is also one outside the door. I have seen the movement ability and speed of this strange creature in a narrow passage. Going out to fight in the open is not necessarily a good idea.
But being stuck here is in a dilemma, the sweltering heat makes people irritable, and the most important thing is——
There is an unpleasant smell in the air here.
It's like the stench of protein decay emitted by egg shells left behind in summer kitchens under high temperatures.
You can smell it when you first enter the cave, but the deeper you go, the stronger the smell becomes, so much so that even the peppermint ointment you carry with you cannot completely cover it up.
They can only apply peppermint ointment with their fingers and stuff it into their nostrils, then inhale deeply to keep their brains awake with a strong enough cooling stimulus.
"It seems." After the flash of complicated thoughts passed by, the doctor lady spoke softly.
"It's just like it was made in the workshop."
Her words were a little confusing, and knowing that others couldn't understand, Aya continued.
"The earth spiders are missing exactly the same leg and have the same scars. They combine the characteristics of tigers, wolves and bears——"
"That thing can use the characteristics of the creatures it swallows and absorbs. The purpose of creatures is almost always reproduction and expansion."
"What would it do if instead of being killed, it managed to find a safe spot?"
Ling took out her notebook and rummaged through it as if possessed.
"The absorbed organisms are copied and produced after analysis. The original body is hidden deep in a safe place, and these copies are used to search for food and supply supplies for expansion."
"And the way to attract the next target you want to copy - the dead earth spider, centipede and human-faced bird are all of the same gender."
"Ah——" She covered her mouth.
"What's wrong?" Mira didn't fully understand, she turned around and asked.
"Male animals in estrus will be attracted by the female's voice, and hunters will use this method to imitate the female's voice, but they don't know that they are heading towards death."
"...The old pharmacist said before that the Changshan Tiger can imitate human voices." Ling did not continue, but no one who understood the meaning of her words asked further questions.
"You mean Hui is already there? That's impossible! It's only been such a short time!" Although Torataro is arrogant and dandy, he is smarter than he looks. He also understood and roared loudly to cover up his panic with anger.
"Go forward." Henry said, and everyone else looked at him. Although most of them trusted this man, the current situation clearly did more harm than good. In such a dangerous situation, they would rather not give up the money.
"There will be legends, which means that this thing has been around for a long time. Maybe it has been several generations."
"Don't you want to study it and see what kind of creature it is when it grows into a complete body?"
"Teacher-" Mira looked at him. She was not afraid, she just wanted to know the reason.
“Huddle within your own safety zone, only identify with what you know well, and deny everything outside this range.”
"Not really an adventurer." Henry shrugged.
Most of the risk-takers at the bottom are forced by life, but those who have become famous can use their savings to live a stable life, but there are many people who are still active in this industry after fifty years.
It is precisely because this profession has characteristics that other industries do not have.
Someone who can use a sword may not necessarily be an adventurer, he may be just an ordinary swordsman; someone who can use a bow may be called a marksman, but he may not really be an adventurer.
Mercenary is a formal title, and even guilds are called mercenary unions. Folks, even nobles, and most people who engage in this profession also call themselves so.
As for adventurer, he is a self-proclaimed person with a somewhat romantic and noble connotation.
Do things that others can't do, see things that others can't.
People who mindlessly rush into the fire are not adventurers, they are just death volunteers. Assess risks, master and practice skills.
Those who can see strong winds and waves and come back to tell legendary stories are adventurers.
This kind of longing, the excitement of new things.
A clear contrast between a heart that swells with blood and a beating heart in the face of danger, and a calm mind and clear thinking.
The senses are amplified, and even though it sounds a bit childish, I can't help but burst into tears when I see the magnificent scenery.
That is the true meaning of this profession.
"Let's go."
Darkness and threats are ahead, but precisely because of this, there is value in continuing to go deeper.
