Retreat

"Damn it." Hans gritted his teeth. "Speed ​​up! We have to find it before it spreads from the source!"

The team's speed has noticeably increased.

This time, without Lu Yuan pointing the way, everyone knew which way to go.

Where the lichen is thickest, that's the direction.

It took about fifteen minutes to walk there.

A strange sound suddenly came from the darkness ahead.

"Gurgle...gurgle..."

It looked like some kind of mollusk rubbing against each other.

Ed, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped.

He seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying, and froze on the spot.

He then suddenly made a "extreme danger, stop advancing" gesture.

"What happened?"

Hans lowered his voice, signaling Ron and Gray to protect Lu Yuan, while he crouched down and crept up to Ed.

Even the battle-hardened captain of the Night's Watch couldn't help but gasp after just one glance.

In a huge bay ahead, there was a mountain of corpses.

No, that cannot be fully called a corpse.

Those were the dozens of missing workers from the water plant; Hans even saw a familiar face among them.

They weren't dead, but they were no longer considered human.

They were stripped naked, their bodies wrapped in a thick, semi-transparent membrane.

Their skin had taken on an eerie translucent appearance, and the blood flowing in their veins was no longer bright red, but a viscous, dark green liquid.

They were now piled up naked and tangled together like animals, blocking the entire drain.

And in the mud beneath them, countless fist-sized, translucent eggs were densely packed together.

Every time the eggs wriggled, these "people" would let out a painful, muffled groan, as if their life force was being slowly drained away by the eggs.

This is practically a living incubator!

These people were all treated as a "breeding ground" to provide body heat and nutrients.

"These beasts..."

A fierce glint flashed in Hans's eyes, and the veins on the back of his hand gripping the sword bulged.

Just then, perhaps the light from the flashlight startled those things, or perhaps the presence of a stranger disturbed them.

"roar..."

The "person" at the very top of the pile of corpses suddenly raised his head.

Half of his facial features had melted away, his mouth split open to his ears, and he let out a non-human roar.

Immediately afterwards, the entire pile of corpses began to tremble violently.

The water surface exploded with a roar.

Several dark figures shot out from the water like arrows and landed in front of the pile of corpses.

Those were four enormous mutated creatures.

They look somewhat like large, skinned hounds, with strong, powerful limbs, sharp bone spurs all over their backs, and a mouth full of fangs that are dripping with slime.

[Sighting of the mutated creature: Corrupted Hound (mutant species)]

[Characteristics: Extremely agile; its bite is highly corrosive and venomous.]

[Weakness: Blunt weapons. 】

Not only that.

A faint crawling sound came from the cracks in the wall, which had been silent before.

Countless mutated rats, no bigger than a palm but with human teeth, are swarming in from all directions; these are the alienated natives.

"We're surrounded! Retreat! Retreat first!"

Hans let out a roar, and the ferocity in his eyes instantly transformed into a resolute killing intent.

Surrounded in this narrow, deathly tunnel, they would all become part of that mountain of corpses if they didn't tear a hole immediately.

"Gray! Incendiary bombs! Seal off the rear!"

"Ron! Protect Dr. Lu and get out of here first! Ed, follow!"

"I'll take care of these dogs!"

As the command was given, Hans did not retreat, but instead took a step forward.

The silver greatsword in his hand drew a fierce arc in the air, carrying a wind pressure that seemed to tear the air apart, and slashed fiercely at the oncoming corrupted hounds.

"Pfft!"

A sickeningly loud sound of flesh and bone separating.

The hound, still in mid-air, didn't even have time to howl before it was cleaved in two from head to tail by the giant sword.

Before the dark green blood could even splatter, Hans had already used the momentum to turn around, slamming the hilt of his sword hard into the skull of another hunting dog, smashing it into the wall next to him.

"Go! Go quickly!"

Hans kicked away a hunting dog that pounced on him, then pulled two Molotov cocktails from his waist and smashed them hard against the writhing mountain of corpses.

"boom!"

Flames erupted, instantly forming a wall of fire that temporarily forced back the mutated rats that were trying to surge out.

"withdraw!"

Gray, carrying the tower shield, retreated while firing his musket backwards to suppress the rats trying to climb over the top of the pipe.

Lu Yuan was tightly protected by Ron in the middle and quickly retreated.

But Lu Yuan didn't just focus on running away.

Because Lu Yuan discovered that beneath the murky sewage beneath his feet, a dense, almost tangible black aura was rapidly gathering beneath the surface.

Like a giant whirlpool, it was silently drifting onto the path that the group was bound to take.

That's something more dangerous than a hunting dog!

"Stop! Don't step into the water!"

Lu Yuan suddenly grabbed Ed, who was about to wade into the water, "There's something underwater!"

Ed was pulled so hard he stumbled and instinctively pulled back his foot.

Almost at the same instant.

"Splash—!"

The once calm water surface suddenly exploded.

A tentacle covered in barbs, as thick as an adult's thigh, shot out from the bottom of the water, precisely piercing the spot where Ed had just landed and embedding itself deeply into the wall.

If Ed hadn't pulled his foot back, his leg would be useless by now.

"What...what the hell is this?!"

Ed's face turned deathly pale, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

"Don't look! Keep running!"

Lu Yuan didn't explain. He could see that the black mist was still swirling underwater, seemingly searching for the next angle of attack.

"Move to higher ground! Stay away from the water!"

As Lu Yuan shouted, he raised the silver-plated pistol in his hand and pulled the trigger at the tentacle that was trying to be pulled out.

"Bang!"

The silver-plated bullet struck the tentacle, sending up a burst of black sparks. The tentacle, in pain, abruptly retracted into the water, creating a splash.

"Listen to the vice-captain! Get on the trail!"

Hans also rushed back while fighting and retreating. He was covered in blood, and blackish-green slime was still dripping from the greatsword in his hand.

"Gray! Use mithril to block anything behind us!"

"clear!"

Gray answered and took out a brightly colored bottle from his backpack.

He then smashed it hard into the swarm of rats that surged behind him.

"Boom—!"

A loud explosion suddenly rang out, followed by a silver flame that engulfed all the mutated creatures that dared to touch it.

The silver flames dissipated at a visible speed, but they also completely blocked the monsters' pursuit route.

Under the cover of the firelight, the five disheveled people finally broke out of the deadly tunnel and ran wildly toward the exit.