Free Web NovelChapter 470: Although Flesh Render Is Irredeemably Evil, He Really Stands Firm on Major Principles
The news of the student party being collectively sent into the Astral Realm was immediately conveyed to Murphy.
Several error messages from the computation beads regarding their coordinates made the vampire lord, who was starting to doze off as night fell, suddenly jolt awake. Upon seeing the specific information projected by the core bead, he knew his “perfect schedule” would be disrupted again today.
Although there was a bit of complaint, these were still his precious children after all, and those who needed saving had to be saved. Therefore, Murphy immediately rushed into the office next door to wake up Tris, who had drunk herself into a daze.
The Blood Vulture Grand Duchess glanced at those absurdly strange relative coordinates and shook her head.
“No hope of saving them.
These are coordinates deep in the Astral Realm. Even if I opened an Astral Gate right now, they wouldn’t make it back. These areas have never been explored by any Spirit Mage, and there are dangerous time currents. No one knows what strange things lurk in there.
But why do these few always get into such weird situations?
Just looking at these coordinates, forget about accidentally entering, even if you wanted to commit suicide in style, trying to teleport yourself to such a godforsaken place would be extremely difficult even for a Spirit Sovereign like me.
So, what exactly happened?”
Faced with Tris’s question, Murphy shook his head and said:
“I don’t know. The computation beads don’t have real-time recording functionality. The beads we use are still too basic, but I guess they’ll post their experiences on the forum soon. Most likely they encountered a powerful enemy who wanted to silence them but overlooked the Transia warriors’ ‘immortal’ nature.
Whenever things like this happen, I think they’re really quite useful.”
The vampire lord blinked.
He and Tris logged onto the forum almost simultaneously, and as expected, saw a new post purely for venting:
《There’s a strange skeleton-level BOSS wandering near Plague Town, suspected to be a world or field BOSS, has forced teleportation ability, don’t provoke it!》
The post was made by Cheche, with frustration and helplessness evident between the lines.
Although the content wasn’t much, it detailed their entire encounter with the unexpected incident on the east side of Plague Town, and even included photos of the Astral Realm landscape taken before they died.
Hey, you have to admit, those fantastical and magnificent photos dotted with a sense of temporal and spatial chaos had an artistic quality reminiscent of Van Gogh’s abstract paintings at first glance. But what couldn’t be ignored was that in all these photos, there was a blurry, strange-glowing Astral Direwolf-like monster that really caught the eye.
Cheche said the last time he was accidentally teleported into the Astral Realm, he was eaten by this snake, and during this second “teleportation accident”, they encountered this strange snake again.
This should have been a serious matter, but the post was filled with a sense of joy.
Sword Saint Ashina: 【This beautiful vampire who never misses any fun rushes in to laugh first! Hahahaha, you’re really too unlucky, my precious babies. This team wipe will set you back 3 days, giving back all that lead advantage you worked so hard to get.
See, see? I told you moving fast in a real world is useless!
You need to move steadily.】
Onboard Joy Stick: 【It’s not right to laugh at people, Little Ashina, you’re too cruel. Allow me to express my feelings about our brothers’ tragic encounter:
Ahem!
Hahahahahaha.】
Meow King: 【You evil thing! Being so happy at others’ misfortune. Unlike me, I’m the most caring big brother. Come come @Ah Yuen, tell uncle, what evil deed were you few planning when you mysteriously went to the unknown area east of the dungeon?
Let’s hear it.】
Ah Yuen: 【Tch, how can I say? Just don’t go there, that’s all. That BOSS is very powerful, basically the ‘kill on sight’ type. You can’t even aim before being sent to the Astral Realm.
What a weird fellow.
Also muttering something about Creator and such, just like a typical cultist. I’ll post his photo, you all should avoid him when you see him.】
After saying this, Ah Yuen uploaded a photo taken before they were teleported, and naturally, everyone mocked that mysteriously dressed figure.
Because this guy was wearing Western cowboy attire that was completely different from the local style, like someone who had time-traveled from the Wild West era to Transia.
They all shouted that the dog game designers were up to their tricks again.
However, the two “dog game designers” currently browsing the forum stared at each other wide-eyed. Murphy and Tris’s focus wasn’t on this guy’s clothing, they both simultaneously fixed their attention on the metal staff held in the “explorer” hand.
“Future sci-fi style?”
“Creator’s Artifact!”
Murphy and Tris exclaimed simultaneously.
Although they said different things, neither was wrong.
To Murphy, this metal staff truly possessed an indescribable, precise futuristic tech style that was completely at odds with the continent of Transia.
This thing didn’t look like a staff at all, but rather like the control stick of some dismantled precision instrument. It even had seven different modules and precise sliding tracks that could move, along with something like a short antenna standing at the head of the staff.
As for Tris
The Crimson Witch, who had traveled the continent extensively and seen much, recognized the origin of this metal staff at a glance.
She said seriously:
“When I was stealing… ahem, I mean interning at Moon Holy City, I personally saw the treasured collection of that generation’s Death Patriarch, which included similar ‘artifacts’.
The Sanghai people called these items that were completely at odds with the style of the entire world but possessed various strange effects ‘Creator’s Artifacts’. Most of these things were excavated from several Creator ruins in the Land of Creation.
Even the most learned Sun priests cannot explain how they work. Like all miraculous items, this is mystic knowledge that doesn’t belong to this era.”
“So after witnessing the chaotic dance of the Spirit Age, am I about to personally unveil the prologue of the ‘Sci-fi Age’? What exactly is the deal with this cursed continent?”
Murphy vigorously rubbed his temples, trying to calm himself down.
He suddenly realized his understanding of the “Dusk” group seemed a bit one-sided. Just from this newly appeared dangerous figure, it seemed these doomsday cultists weren’t simply typical medieval-style cultists who only knew how to tie people to stakes for BBQ parties.
“Bang bang bang”
A sudden knocking sound made Murphy and Tris turn to look at the door.
The clan matriarch’s chief guard “Mad Woman” Bonnie pushed open the door with a serious expression and placed a pile of items in front of Tris, several computation beads and spirit dog tags still bearing traces of Astral energy, belonging to the student party members who had just died.
“They suddenly appeared in the teleportation hall!”
Bonnie explained with some confusion:
“The guards there only saw an Astral rift open and close. These items seem to have been ‘deliberately’ sent back.”
“Just like last time?”
Tris narrowed her eyes and said:
“Last time when that unfortunate Cheche accidentally entered the Astral Realm, his bead and dog tags were sent back the same way. I found it strange then, ordinary computation beads don’t have such precise positioning and automatic transmission functions.
Looking at it now, it’s clearly an issue from the Astral Realm side.
Some force sent back their personal items after the student party disappeared, and that force can clearly decode the save points in the beads.
Perhaps this is some kind of probe?”
Murphy remained silent.
He just stared at those recovered computation beads.
He was not an expert in Astral Realm matters and knew very little about that mysterious plane. In this area, he needed to defer to Tris’s judgment, but this series of events at least proved that some things that were hard to understand and very easy to overlook were happening in Plague Town.
And the appearance of those things indicated that Dusk’s power was still lingering like a restless ghost in Transia.
“That cursed place can’t be left alone!”
Murphy made up his mind.
He said to Tris:
“I’m heading to Plague Town immediately. If necessary, I’ll intervene in the little players’ conquest of that place to take it down quickly before the situation develops new complications. I have a feeling that what’s happening in Plague Town has already transcended this battle itself, even transcending the scope of the ‘Black Plague’.
We’re approaching some very dangerous things, and I don’t want those things suddenly jumping out to become our trouble before the Black Plague arrives!”
“Mm, go then, contact me if you need anything.”
Tris picked up a computation bead and said:
“I’ll analyze the Astral energy residue on this to see if we can trace back exactly who is ‘observing’ us from the Astral Realm. Frankly speaking, compared to the visible Plague Town, this figure hiding in the Astral Realm worries me more, Murphy.
Even if it’s not an unknown Astral Giant, even a lower-level Astral Beast is enough to keep one on edge.
And I have sufficient reason to suspect it has already set its sights on us.”
————————
Casually disposing of the vampires who came to spy at the edge of the battlefield was just a small matter for the explorer who was in quite a good mood. This fellow had no idea that his background was almost being exposed by the little players on the forum. He was currently busy receiving the roster of the entire Plague Town in Flesh Render’s Plague Tower.
The Flesh Render in front of him seemed to have truly prepared to leave, with packed luggage sitting at the old gnoll’s feet.
“Check it.”
Flesh Render leaned on his Soul Corruption Staff and said to the explorer before him:
“If there are no problems I’ll be leaving shortly. The vampire servants at the town’s perimeter launched a probing attack today. Although they returned empty-handed, I suspect this is just a strategy.
Perhaps they’ll soon launch a devastating offensive.
I don’t understand why you must take over this hot potato, but if you’re certain about doing this, then I can only wish you safety, my friend.”
“Ah, it’s just for some grudges and romances of the higher-ups, we’re all poor servants. Just as you have your mission, I have my work.”
The explorer shrugged and casually flipped through the roster in his hands, not noticing that Flesh Render’s gaze kept wandering to the metal staff at his side that clearly had connections to the Land of Creation.
“You’re taking Lame Claw?”
After a few seconds, the explorer found something amiss and said to Flesh Render with furrowed brows:
“This doesn’t comply with our agreement, Mr. Flesh Render! Lame Claw is a very capable construct engineer, even Lord Source has taken notice of it. I must keep it to turn this place into a land of death for Lord Murphy!”
“But Lame Claw is also very important to the Plague Clan, explorer.”
Flesh Render stood firm and said:
“I must take it back to the Dark Mountains. The necromantic knowledge it possesses is extremely important for the Plague Clan’s legacy. This is something I cannot give up.”
“Yet it was you who turned it into that ghostly state. You turned a life that could have become a construction master into a pitiful undead madman, and even at this point, you still won’t set it free?”
The explorer said with disdain:
“Such good talent has truly been wasted in your hands.”
“You understand nothing! Human.”
Flesh Render snorted and said:
“If not for me, Lame Claw would have fallen into the Netherworld many years ago!
It was always an eccentric gnoll, its obsession with death led it to do terrible things.
You only know of its talent, but you don’t know of its ‘achievements’ in the Dark Mountains! Half of our Plague Clan’s current ‘reputation’ is thanks to Lame Claw’s ‘contributions’.
Hmph, although I have its soul casket, this thing can only suppress it but not control it. If you want it to stay and help you, you’ll have to convince it first. Lame Claw?
Lame Claw!
Come here!
Lame Claw?
Can you hear me?”
The Flesh Render activated the control core of the Plague Tower, calling repeatedly towards the Construction Tower but receiving no response. The deathly silence from the other side made Flesh Render’s expression change dramatically.
“Not good!”
It exclaimed, grabbing its bone staff and limping hurriedly down the tower.
The explorer had no idea what was happening, but from Flesh Render’s expression change, he realized something might have happened to Lame Claw, so he followed after.
The two rushed into the silent Construction Tower one after another.
The explorer was cautious enough to cast several layers of spirit shields on himself before following Flesh Render inside. Upon entering, they immediately saw the constructs that should have been sent to the battlefield strewn about haphazardly.
Various stinking blood and construction tools were torn and scattered everywhere. The entire Construction Tower looked like it had experienced a raid and massacre.
Flesh Render rushed into Lame Claw’s laboratory with a grim expression, immediately seeing Lame Claw’s head thrown among the torn bodies nearby.
But it was still “alive.”
Upon seeing Flesh Render and the explorer enter, Lame Claw’s unfocused eyes rotated on its head, and it screamed in a way that seemed like both crying and laughing:
“It’s alive! It’s alive!”
“!!!”
Flesh Render’s expression grew even worse.
There was indeed a trap set for the explorer tonight, but this wasn’t the “trap moment” it had imagined!
Damn, things had spiraled out of control!
The explorer beside him had no idea what was happening, but seeing the tragic scene before him and making ominous connections from Lame Claw’s screams, this vigilant Dusk servant knew something was terribly wrong.
He didn’t care about anything around him and immediately rushed out of the Construction Tower.
The spirit suppression in this tomb-like tower prevented him from using teleportation magic, otherwise he would have teleported away long ago.
Flesh Render didn’t act rashly though. It reached out to pick up Lame Claw’s head and asked:
“Where is it?”
“Right outside!”
Lame Claw shouted:
“That fool is dead for sure! Our king’s rest was disturbed, it’s very angry.”
“Ah!”
As soon as the words fell, a scream of rage mixed with a hint of terror came from the explorer outside, followed by earthquake-like impacts and wild beast-like roars erupting in the darkness.
That royal roar from a hundred years ago made Flesh Render and Lame Claw, who had orchestrated all this, close their eyes involuntarily.
Flesh Render carried Lame Claw’s head, inching along the edge of darkness to leave the Construction Tower, but just as they were about to exit, a massive shadow suddenly appearing in the darkness made the two stop in their tracks, not daring to move an inch.
Behind them, the resurrected King Gnawbone sniffed like a beast. The cold death force and strange midnight blessing upon it made its eyes flash not with ghostly blue spirit fire in the darkness, but with crimson gazes.
Enough to terrify any gnoll who had heard its stories.
But fortunately, King Gnawbone seemed to smell the scent of kin on Flesh Render.
It made a series of indescribable whimpers, then vanished like wind in the darkness into the Construction Tower’s killing ground. Flesh Render, who had been scared into a cold sweat, had never felt so close to death. Only after confirming King Gnawbone had left did it begin to move towards the exit.
“Behind! There’s something behind.”
Lame Claw’s head in its hand called out.
Flesh Render wiped its sweat and looked back, seeing the explorer’s head, which had been torn from his spine and crushed flat, lying miserably at the edge of light and shadow in the Construction Tower. That blood and flesh-covered metal staff lay quietly nearby.
With a severed left hand still attached to it.
Instant kill!
This highly self-regarding fellow couldn’t even mount an effective counterattack before being eliminated bare-handed by the resurrected King Gnawbone.
“Hehe.”
Flesh Render had no time to think deeply, it let out a strange laugh while casting spells outside the Construction Tower to seal this now inaccessible dangerous tower, while picking up the metal staff and the explorer’s shattered head.
It said in a low voice:
“Even after death and resurrection, our king still chose to protect its offspring, and you, you foolish dog who recklessly offended the Creator’s dignity, died at just the right moment. Perhaps this is fate.”
“Um… you don’t actually think I’m dead, do you?”
The explorer’s sighing voice resonated dully from the broken skull in Flesh Render’s hand. Only now did Flesh Render notice that no blood flowed from the explorer’s severed neck. Instead, there were some strange things like torn gears and connecting wires in the neck’s stump.
This torn apart fellow rolled his eyes, sparks bursting from his nostrils and teeth like malfunctioning machinery, and he said haltingly:
“This is just a puppet body substitute.
The real me never left the safe zone, yet this made me realize that someone I considered a friend was actually harboring evil intentions. Although I don’t know why a gnoll like you would suddenly become a Creator’s believer overnight, but Flesh Render
hold onto that staff in your hand well!
I’ll be coming to take it back soon.
One last piece of advice, don’t go in! Don’t go to the Land of Creation! You know nothing about the Creator’s secrets, you know nothing about the true purpose of that area, you’re just a lucky headless fly.
You’ll die there, and that’s the best outcome I can think of.”
“Bang”
The skull making those sounds was crushed by Flesh Render. The aging gnoll stared at the red and white matter in its hand, watching the lubricating oil like black blood staining its claws. Its face showed no fear as it said softly in this tragic night:
“Hah, thanks for the warning, but that’s my concern now.
My king’s regrets, my king’s unfinished business, must be completed by me, Flesh Render, and my Plague Clan. Perhaps I won’t live to see that moment myself, but the next King Gnawbone… will surely be born from my clan!
We gnolls may be evil, but we never thought about destroying the world, while you…
You bastards of chaos and madness born of doomsday!
Everyone should put you to death!”
