paranoianovel Chapter 150 Arrival at the Crimson Monastery! A building made of breathing flesh!
Chapter 150 Arrival at the Crimson Monastery! A building made of breathing flesh!
The rear half of the carriage was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The lizardman berserker's massive body slid down the metal bulkhead and crashed to the ground with a dull thud.
Its two once-proud, thick arms now hung limply at its sides like noodles, broken bone fragments piercing through its dark green scales, and dark red blood flowed everywhere.
"ah--!"
The belated, excruciating pain caused the lizardman to let out a piercing scream. It rolled wildly on the ground, knocking over several rows of seats.
The remaining three alien mercenaries froze.
The orc holding the staff was the first to react, letting out a low growl as his withered fingers rapidly rubbed the crystal at the tip of the staff while he began chanting a spell quickly.
A ball of raging fire element rapidly gathered above his head.
Jiang Ming sat in the chair, not even raising an eyebrow.
He casually raised his left hand, palm facing the orc mage.
The purple epic skill's light flashed and disappeared in an instant.
"Bang!"
The fireball that had just formed above the orc mage's head instantly dissipated.
Immediately afterwards, a terrifying force of gravity descended from nowhere and pressed down directly on its shoulder.
Before the orc could even scream, his knees slammed heavily onto the metal floor, creating two dents.
The staff slipped from his hand, and he was pinned to the ground, unable to move even a finger. His features were contorted in extreme pain.
The two fallen elves next to them, who had just drawn their scimitars, were abruptly frozen in mid-air.
They looked at the lizardman leader whose arms had been crippled by a single sword strike, and then at the orc mage who had been crushed into a meat pie by an invisible force; their hands holding the sword trembled like leaves.
Clang.
One of the fallen elves couldn't withstand the deadly pressure, and his hand loosened, causing his scimitar to fall to the ground.
He knelt down with a thud and buried his head in his hands.
Upon seeing this, the other person quickly threw down his weapon and knelt down as well.
Chen Qi, holding the rifle, scoffed, "That's it? I thought they were really tough. Turns out they're just a bunch of cowards."
Marlowe is now taking advantage of the situation.
The goblin crawled out from under the dire wolf's belly, straightened its wrinkled vest, and strode into the middle of the passageway with an air of indifference.
"I'm asking you a question!" Marlowe, feigning superiority, stood with his hands on his hips, pointing at the group of aliens and shouting, "Who's getting out?"
The two fallen elves kowtowed repeatedly, stammering in Common, "We're leaving! We're leaving right now!"
"What's the rush?" Jiang Ming shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning back in his chair. He took a bottle of mineral water from his storage card, unscrewed it, and took a sip. "You don't have to pay for the broken things?"
Upon hearing this, Marlowe's two pointed ears immediately perked up.
He's an expert at this!
"Did you hear that! Compensation for emotional distress, site cleaning fees, and even damage to our boss's weapons!"
Marlowe lunged at the orc mage pinned to the ground and groped him haphazardly inside his cloak.
In no time, Marlowe pulled out a heavy money bag, from which came the pleasant sound of coins clinking.
He then searched the two fallen elves thoroughly, even taking the cheap magic necklaces around their necks.
Finally, Marlowe walked over to the lizardman who was still groaning on the ground, and stepped on the man's severed arm, causing the lizardman to roll his eyes in pain.
The goblin skillfully pulled a small leather pouch from the lizardman's waist, opened it, glanced inside, and immediately beamed with delight.
"Boss, these guys are pretty fat!" Marlowe scurried back to Jiang Ming's side and piled a bunch of spoils on the empty seat next to him.
More than two hundred otherworldly coins, a few low-level magic crystals, and two parchment scrolls covered with random symbols.
Jiang Ming glanced at it, but showed little interest.
He wouldn't even look at this level of junk now.
He casually transferred the gold coins to Marlowe as a running fee, and tossed the two [Basic Fireball Spell Scrolls] to Chen Qi for self-defense.
"Get lost." Jiang Ming waved his hand.
Gravity spell removed.
The orc mage, panting heavily, scrambled to his feet and, together with the two fallen elves, helped the lizardman leader up from the ground, then fled towards the next carriage without looking back.
The heavy isolation door closed, completely cutting off their view.
The carriage was quiet again.
"Brother Jiang, these bastards are just bullies who pick on the weak and fear the strong." Chen Qi played with the reel in his hand, grinning from ear to ear.
Jiang Ming didn't respond, turning to look at Marlowe who was counting gold coins: "Crimson Monastery, how much do you know?"
Marlowe paused in counting the money, his smile vanished instantly, and his long ears drooped again.
He swallowed hard and cautiously moved a little closer.
"Boss, that place... is a cursed land." Marlowe lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something. "It used to be the territory of the Church of Radiant Light, used to house and treat civilians infected with the plague. I heard that the abbot of that monastery was a great philanthropist, and his strength was terrifying."
Jiang Ming tapped the armrest: "Get to the point."
"Then something happened." Marlowe shuddered. "About five years ago, a red plague of flesh swept through that area. The monastery couldn't stop it; instead, it became the source of the plague. I heard that the abbot, in trying to save people, contracted the most potent disease himself, and as a result... went mad."
"Now it's full of mutated monsters. The flesh of the living and the bones of the dead are intertwined, and the buildings are alive! Blacklight Outpost once sent two full-strength mercenary groups of a hundred men each to explore, hoping to find the holy relics left behind by the church, but not a single one of them came back."
After listening, Jiang Ming leaned back in his chair without commenting.
Living architecture?
A monster stitched together from flesh and bone?
It sounds a bit like the "Stitching Butcher" I encountered in the underground shelter in Dongjiang City earlier.
It seems that this so-called flesh plague is probably related to necromancy.
Jiang Ming opened the portable storage card and dumped all the spoils he had just picked up on the front line onto the table in front of him.
A dozen or so [High-Rank Necromancer Cores] emitting a ghostly glow, three portions of [High-Rank Spirit Essence], and several pieces of rare blue equipment.
His current stats are enough to overwhelm monsters of the same level, but facing a level 30 lord-level BOSS, relying solely on his stats to brute force his way through is still a bit risky.
We need to prepare some trump cards.
Jiang Ming picked up a [High-level Necromancer Crystal Core] and a [High-level Spirit Essence].
Both of these things contain an extremely high concentration of negative energy.
Synthesis talent activated.
[High-Tier Necromancer Core] + [High-Tier Spirit Essence] + [Empty Glass Bottle] = [Netherworld Venom Bomb (Purple Epic Consumable)]
[Attribute Preview: Upon shattering, it releases a highly concentrated mist of venomous resentment, covering a radius of fifty meters. Targets within the mist suffer a forced 50% reduction in armor and are inflicted with a continuous Soul Tear effect. It is particularly effective against undead creatures, triggering a rampage of their magical energy.]
Jiang Ming's eyes lit up.
This thing is an absolute weapon in group battles, especially against those tough-skinned mutated monsters.
He synthesized three bottles of [Netherworld Venom Bomb] in one go and carefully stored them in his storage card.
Then, using the remaining materials, along with the chemical reagents they had previously scavenged in the training building, they synthesized several vials of [Powerful Coagulant] and [Mental Strength Restoration Potion].
The train traveled smoothly through the void.
Outside the window was a bizarre and chaotic scene, with the occasional sight of a huge meteorite or the skeleton of an unknown behemoth floating in the void.
A journey of more than ten hours is not a long time.
Chen Qi, holding his rifle, leaned back in his chair and started snoring, while Marlowe, clutching his money bag, huddled in a corner, drooling as he slept.
Jiang Ming did not sleep.
He had been resting with his eyes closed, adjusting the circulation of energy within his body.
His 37 points in strength attribute kept his body in a constantly tense, peak state, and he needed time to fully adapt to this inhuman power.
"Waaah—"
The piercing whistle blared again, shattering the tranquility of the carriage.
Chen Qi suddenly woke up with a start, grabbed his rifle, and pulled the bolt: "Have we arrived?"
A synthesized mechanical voice came from a speaker on the roof of the carriage:
[Next stop: Scarlet Monastery.]
Please take your belongings and prepare to disembark.
The train began to decelerate drastically, and a sickening metallic scraping sound came from inside the carriage.
Jiang Ming stood up, grabbed the [Hellfire Prison] next to him, and carried it on his back.
"Get ready to work."
"Clang!"
The heavy metal doors slid open to the sides.
An overwhelming, pungent smell of blood, mixed with the stench of rotting flesh, instantly flooded the carriage.
Chen Qi was caught off guard and took a big gulp, then bent over and started dry heaving.
Marlowe covered his nose tightly, and even the dire wolf scratched its paws restlessly, letting out uneasy growls.
Jiang Ming stepped out of the car with a blank expression.
His "Iron Will" not only made him immune to mind control, but also greatly reduced his physical discomfort.
The platform beneath my feet is no longer recognizable as it once was.
The bluish-gray stone slabs were covered with a layer of dark red, fleshy, muscle-like carpet.
It feels soft and yielding underfoot, and you can even feel these fleshy blankets pulsating slightly.
The sky was shrouded in a thick, blood-red haze, preventing even sunlight from penetrating, and the whole world appeared in a depressing dark red.
[You have entered a dangerous area: Crimson Monastery (Lv.20-Lv.30).]
[Survival Quest Activated: Survive for 72 hours, or defeat the Abbot (Lv.30, Lord-level).]
[Current area exploration progress: 0.01%]
Jiang Ming looked around.
The area surrounding the platform was a dead forest, with unidentified entrails and intestines hanging from the tree trunks.
Several hundred meters directly in front of it stands an extremely magnificent Gothic architectural complex.
That must be the Scarlet Monastery.
This building, which should have symbolized holiness and redemption, now looks like a giant slaughterhouse.
Thick blood vessels were wrapped around the towering spires, and dark red blood flowed down the cracks in the brickwork.
Dozens of distorted, pained faces were even embedded in the gate, emitting faint wails.
"Brother Jiang, this place... seems a bit eerie." Chen Qi, having recovered, leaned close to Jiang Ming with his gun in hand, warily scanning their surroundings.
A series of chaotic footsteps came from behind.
The four aliens from the Bloodfang Mercenary Group also got off the vehicle.
The lizardman leader's arms were held in place by some kind of rough splint, and his face was deathly pale.
When they saw Jiang Ming standing in front, they immediately shrank to the other side of the platform, not daring to approach at all, but secretly sizing him up with sinister eyes.
Jiang Ming ignored those good-for-nothings and walked straight toward the monastery.
I had just walked less than fifty meters from the platform.
"Pfft!"
A withered tree with intestines hanging from it suddenly split open.
Three dark red shadows suddenly sprang out from the tree trunk, bringing with them a nauseating, fishy smell, and rushed straight at Jiang Ming and Chen Qi.
【Flesh Hound (Lv.20)】
[Danger Level: Medium]
[Characteristics: Biting, plague infection, painless.]
These three monsters were the size of adult lions, but they had no skin at all; their bodies were covered only with exposed scarlet muscles and bulging blood vessels.
It has no eyes on its head, only a gaping maw filled with three rows of sharp teeth.
"Bang bang bang!"
Chen Qi reacted extremely quickly, raising his gun and firing a short burst.
The rifle bullet struck the head of the foremost hound with pinpoint accuracy.
But then a strange thing happened.
The bullet pierced the flesh, only splattering a little blood. The hunting dog didn't even pause; instead, it pounced even faster.
"Useless?" Jiang Ming sneered. "Looks like this thing has no vital points."
He didn't even draw his sword.
Faced with the bloody hound lunging at him, Jiang Ming swung his right leg up suddenly, creating a piercing whistling sound, and struck the hound squarely on the side of its waist.
The terrifying power of 37 points was unleashed without reservation.
"Bang!"
A muffled thud.
The Lv.20 Fleshhound was as if it had been hit head-on by a cannonball; its massive body was bent into a bizarre V-shape in mid-air.
His spine shattered instantly, and his internal organs mixed with black blood gushed out of his mouth, flying more than ten meters away like a tattered sack. He twitched twice on the ground and then lay still.
[Defeated a Fleshhound (Lv.20) that is above your level, gaining 2000 experience points.]
The remaining two hounds had no concept of fear and continued to pounce on the prey from the left and right.
Jiang Ming loosely clenched his left hand.
"Gravity spell".
The gravity within a ten-meter radius instantly increased fivefold.
The two hounds, which had been suspended in mid-air, were slammed to the ground by an invisible giant hand, their bones cracking under the weight.
"Change to incendiary bombs," Jiang Ming ordered without turning his head.
Chen Qi immediately understood, quickly switched to a magazine loaded with incendiary bombs, and pulled the trigger at the two hunting dogs that were unable to move on the ground.
The scorching flames instantly ignited the monster's flesh, and with a piercing scream, the two hounds were quickly burned to a pile of charcoal.
The Bloodfang Mercenary Group in the distance was stunned.
They had hoped these monsters could probe Jiang Ming's capabilities, but he didn't even need to draw his weapons; he kicked one to death and used magic to kill the other two.
Are these still those weak humans?
Jiang Ming continued forward, stepping on the sticky, fleshy carpet of flesh.
The closer you get to the monastery, the stronger that eerie pulsation becomes.
A faint red mist began to rise in the surrounding air, and visibility dropped drastically.
Finally, the three arrived at the main gate of the monastery.
The two ten-meter-high brass doors were tightly closed.
Two enormous statues stand on either side of the gate.
No, that's not a statue.
As Jiang Ming and the others approached, the stone skin on the two five-meter-tall "statues" began to peel away, revealing the enormous bodies pieced together from countless corpses beneath.
They dragged rusty giant cleavers in their hands, their heads were made of three different human heads sewn together, and their six eyes were staring intently at Jiang Ming.