“I’ll manage. Can’t waste dust when we’re not in a skirmish or worse,” Ollie said, turning to what Gale was holding. “You going to explain what the hell that is?”

“It hurts a bit to look at, but manageable,” Lily said, turning away from it.

“It’s what I got from my mission that Erin sent me to,” Gale said, dematerializing it back into his space storage.

“Summarize what it can do so we know capabilities,” Kyle said.

“Its hard to explain…” Gale muttered.

“Will it fucking get us to Clyde?” Kyle glared at him.

“I’ll bet my life on it.”

Rachel looked to him, then down at the new sword, Erebus in his hand. “You’re explaining more of that later.”

Gale nodded and turned to Lily, “You remember the route?”

Lily slid her magazines out, checking them, then slid them back in again. “Route’s locked in. Let’s move.”

The team moved to the left from where they dropped down the duct. Right path had nothing in it. Gale was at the front after the tight space, and once again, Rachel was last.

Walking through the civilian path, it was wider than what they had seen from the hologram. The whole space was covered with flesh creep, blocking the emergency lights that made the flesh look even redder.

After just a minute of walking, Lily raised her hand. The team stopped. From a visual perspective, none of them could see through the veil of darkness. But Breath of the Void showed Gale the two flesh pounds up ahead.

Whirring noises echoed through the corridor from the flesh pounds’ hands, which were the only confirmation to the others that the abominations were up ahead.

Gale waved Rachel over. He whispered to her when she came close enough, “Two flesh pounds up ahead, coming right our way. You take the one on the left. I’ll take right. Clear?”

Rachel nodded. Gale also looked to Lily, who nodded, knowing what to do. A silence sigil once again rose up and covered the space between them and the two flesh pounds.

Without waiting, Rachel and Gale leapt into the darkness. Mid air, her glowing fist lit up the area, uncovering the grotesque forms of the flesh warriors.

One punch to the metal bucket and one slice horizontally at the head. Both flesh pounds simultaneously dropped sideways. Their bodies hit the side walls with a thud.

Rachel signalled the rest of the team to come forward with her glowing hands that pierced through the dark. The group soon moved back into formation as Lily nodded, moving forward once again.

At exactly 500 metres, they reached the corner. The corridor turned sharply right, walls at ninety-degree angles. Lily stopped just before the corner, looking to Gale for a decision.

Dad always said never peek a corner that’s complete darkness. That was a death sentence in a scenario where a bear could bite your head off.

Breath of the Void’s tendrils expanded through the corridor. The smell hit him first, coming from what looked like hundreds of lung sacs clinging to the side walls of the corridor. It exhaled something that smelled like feces that had been left to rot for a few days. Without the purifying sigil, they’d probably die from the smell itself.

The corridor, though, showed him the straight hallway that led to a junction. No hostiles yet. Just a 200 metre corridor that had flesh that were expanding and contracting as if they were breathing.

Apart from that, there were numerous living hostiles from Tainted to Defiled from both paths of the junction. They’ll have to deal with it when they meet them.

“Straight is clear. Lily, proceed,” Gale said.

Lily nodded, already moving to scout ahead. She stuck as close as possible to the right wall. Bad move. The flesh expanded and touched her sleeve. A mucous substance clung to the side of her sleeve.

She wiped it off and then continued to proceed, holding up her deagle, aiming forward while moving. The others maintained their positions, following Lily from behind. They stared at the lungs as they passed by, wincing at the disgusting sight.

Analyze.

[Centralized Lung]

[Stage: Awakened]

[Description: Provides oxygen to Holy Structures of the Proctor’s domain.]

After another 200 metres forward, the path led to another junction. Left path would’ve been the first path that Erin talked about then the right was the second path.

Gale looked to Erin, then pointed to the left.

Erin nodded back, expressionless.

The floor beneath them suddenly vibrated. Something was poking through the flesh creep and hitting the metal beneath. A rhythmic tapping sound echoed from the corridor to the left.

Breath of the Void showed him the indescribable image of a robotic centipede with a human body as its head.

“Something’s coming,” Gale said. “Prepare for contact. Lily, sigil!”

Rachel moved to the front from the back, gauntlets already glowing orange hot.

Lily shot out another silence sigil, and soon the world muted.

Soon, the thing poked through the darkness of the left path and everyone saw the mechanical centipede. Its body was covered in wires that connected the base of its head to the numerous robotic legs. Its heart, exposed, beat at more than 160 bpm. Its eyes held red ocular lenses, contracting at their direction as if seeing them. Its torso no longer held any arms, as its limbs were now just the centipede it had become.

[Holy Guardian Lament]

[Stage: Late-Defiled]

[Description: Lament never did like being human. She wanted to be free of her mortal bonds. Her prowess and agility impressed the Proctor, convincing him that her combat would be wasted as a sacred womb. She entered the flesh forge out of her own will, serving the Proctor with unbending loyalty.]

The author’s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Ollie and Erin stepped back from the junction. One of them didn’t need to be involved, and the other one had a cracked core. No point in wasting their energy on this fight. A late defiled was equal to a resonant.

Looking to Rachel, he signed, No explosions. Stay back.

She nodded. She’d probably know when to intervene if they were losing the fight. But just because this was only a late resonant, its long body would be hard to deal with, though that also meant they had an advantage.

The centipede surged forward. Legs clacked on the metal floor. The metal body below scraped off the flesh creep on the walls.

Kyle acted first. Dagger thrown past the centipede. Blink. He appeared behind the centipede on the ceiling, already firing at the centipede’s back. Sparks flew. Bullets pierced through the metal plates of its body.

Response came instantly. Its centipede body whipped upwards. Kyle had already blinked somewhere else before the body slammed into him. Metal ceiling dented upwards from the slam. Pistol firing multiple rounds at the thing’s head.

At the corridor’s entrance, Gale let Breath of the Void in instantly. 40% this time so that he could still tell between friend and foe. Launching himself into a spin, he cut through where the centipede’s metal body met its flesh torso.

Too shallow.

The cut began to repair itself immediately, letting out steam with a hiss.

Upon his legs meeting the ceiling, Gale pushed himself up from the ceiling. Fist slammed into the centipede’s back. Its body crashed onto the floor.

A sigil appeared on the human head of the centipede. Mist formed around its lenses. More sigils appeared all over its body, and in a snap of Lily’s fingers, they all exploded with a blue light at once. A few of the centipede’s legs blew right off.

The centipede opened its mouth as if to respond to the assault. But no, that was a huge misunderstanding. Acid spewed out from its mouth, aimed at Lily’s position.

A blue shield formed in front of her, big enough to cover her entire body. The acid spilled everywhere around her. Vapour escaped from the acid, stinging everyone’s eyes.

Erebus materialized in an instant. Gale was already mid air, aiming for the throat.

Suddenly, Lament had snapped its head back. Its human fist redirected Erebus’ aim.

Throat sliced. Shallow. It began to repair its cut immediately just like before.

Kyle blinked again to the ceiling. More pistol shots at its back. It spewed bile at the ceiling where he was. Blink again. Now he was on the centipede’s back, dagger slicing through the machinery components.

That seemed to do something as it tried to shake him off. Slammed its body again against the ceiling. Kyle was already gone. He appeared where the machine met flesh. Stabbed his knife right at the seam.

The centipede suddenly rolled. Kyle blinked again, behind Lily’s shield.

Lily’s body this time lit up blue. In the blink of an eye, she appeared on top of the rolling centipede and stretched out her open palm. Three blue light shields appeared around the rolling centipede.

She closed her palm. The three shields compressed until they stopped the centipede’s roll.

Gale was up. He launched himself, spinning towards its head. Alter activated. Erebus extended. Head sliced off.

While the head was in mid air, both Kyle and Lily shot at the head, shredding it into pieces.

Gale landed, so did Lily. The centipede’s body had paused from its erected form, then crashed down onto the corridor’s bare metal floor. Flesh creep had been fully scraped off from that roll alone.

Is it dead? Lily signed.

Gale shook his head in response. There wasn’t a notification of Origin Extraction. The thing was still alive. And from when Kyle and Lily shot at the head, there was no brain matter that splattered from it.

Readying Erebus again, he thought they needed to wait a few more seconds until Phase 2 started.

But the centipede began to move again, becoming more violent with jerky movements. Its headless human body still moved its arms. Once again, it surged forward, this time, rolling along the whole corridor.

Lily met it head on. Two hands in front of her. Three shields materialized. First one broke. Then the second diminished its momentum. Third finally stopped its movement cold.

A dagger flashed in the dark, embedding itself just below the human torso. Blink.

Kyle appeared. Drew his dagger, and stabbed at the beating heart. Blood exploded from the heart as it burst open. However, the centipede continued its assault.

Its arms grabbed Kyle by the neck.

Gale was already there. His spin sliced off the human arm before it could do anything.

Falling from the height, Kyle braced himself for impact.

Lily caught him mid air. Feet landing on the centipede’s metal body, then bouncing off back to the back line.

Breath of the Void expanded outwards. Where the fuck is the real brain or heart? It scoured the centipede’s body, going to the chambers beneath the metal casings, but it was too hard to see. Too many things blocked his view and it was too cramped. He needed another way.

Guide,Gale mouthed.

[Recommendation: Use the sense of touch of Breath of the Void to feel for the heat beneath the metal case.]

Finally some good fucking advice.

Breath of the Void expanded once more, willing it to feel every disgusting surface of the metal centipede. It was a mix of flesh and circuitry that extended all the way to the end of the centipede’s tail. Most parts were warm, until he finally felt the hot spot.

The heart was just before the last section of the tail.

Tail swatted Gale to the side. His body slid down from the dented wall of the corridor. Thinking too much wasn’t a good idea during battle.

He signed to the team fast. Create distraction. Tail. Weakness.

Both combatants nodded.

Kyle once again blinked to the ceiling, shooting at it from above. The centipede twisted, slamming its body at him.

Blink again. Dagger stabbed into the mix of flesh and metal. Kyle ran from the middle section all the way to the tail, revealing the grotesque contents below the metal. A mix of wires, electronics, and a digestive tract. And finally, there was a dimly glowing heart just before the end of the tail.

Lily glowed blue and zipped past the centipede’s body and jumped taking aim at the heart. Bullet flew through the barrel of her deagle. It hit the heart, but it sparked and ricocheted from its surface.

Trying again, her deagle charged up blue for a lance. But before it could fully charge, the centipede’s head swatted her. Her body crashed into a wall, and she fell to the floor.

Jumping onto the wall and launching himself forward, Gale twisted himself into another spin. Erebus aimed at the glowing heart. Phase Touch encased its edges.

Slice. Shallow, but enough.

The red glowing heart spewed out blood from where it had been sliced. The centipede began jerking and twisting. It smashed its body into the side walls, into the ceiling, and onto the floor, shaking the whole pathway. Soon enough it shrivelled up into a spiral and stopped moving altogether.

[Holy Guardian Lament felled.]

[Extracting Origin from Prey…]

[Origin Grain: 10]

[Points: 1000]

Kyle blinked towards where Lily fell and shot a gun syringe into her neck. A green glow covered her body as her consciousness returned.

Gale and the rest of the team joined them afterwards.

Lily shook her head awake before she signed, Is it dead?

Kyle nodded. You good?

Good. Lily signed. With a few flicks of her fingers, the silence sigil disappeared.

Rachel knelt beside Lily. “You sure you’re good?”

“Fine.” Lily winced as she got to her feet. “Didn’t expect the heart to be that tough. My mistake.”

“If you need another gun syringe, don’t hesitate,” Rachel said.

“I know,” Lily smiled. “Let’s keep moving.”

Blood and oil dripped from the ceiling where the centipede had slammed itself repeatedly. The dead centipede lay coiled against the wall.

“Lily’s up,” Gale said, dematerializing Erebus. “Move out.”

Lily took point as usual, moving ahead, aiming both Deagles forward. The others fell into their established formation behind her. The corridor showed signs of the centipede’s passage. Its large body had scraped up most of the flesh creep on the floor and walls.

50 meters ahead, the corridor bent sharply left. Before they moved, Lily stopped and waited for Gale and the rest to catch up.

With a quick OK sign from Gale, she moved ahead through the bend, the rest following just a second behind.

This new corridor was a straight line. They would need to find the duct entrance from here. It should be on the right.

Moving a full minute forward, Erin increased her pace until she was at the front with Gale. She pointed to a bulging flesh creep up ahead.

Looking to Kyle, Gale nodded him forward.

Kyle complied immediately, not wasting time pulling up his dagger. He stabbed his dagger deep into the flesh until it hit metal, then sliced it downwards until he reached the corner of the square from the bulging flesh. Rotating his dagger, he sliced more until he created a square on the flesh.

Immediately, he ripped out the flesh revealing the duct beneath. And without any other hesitation, he yanked the grates again just like before and stood up to look at Rachel.

Rachel moved to the opening without hesitation. She lit up one hand, making her hand light up like a bright orange glowstick. Lily followed next, then Kyle, Ollie, Erin, and lastly Gale.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep