Chapter 355: Crazy Figure (Seeking monthly votes at the start of the month)

"Since we've all got it, why not try it?"

Those white bones looked at Lu Mian, who was shocked by the terrifying aura, and laughed either happily, mockingly, flamboyantly, or crazily.

Splash!

The dim spring water, which wasn't pale enough, surged out of that dark hole, filling the small "pond."

Compared to before, there was a figure in the water.

That figure seemed to be burning violently, and colorless flames wrapped around his whole body.

He clearly only occupied a corner of the spring eye, but he made the frozen Lu Mian feel he was abnormally huge, comparable to a mountain peak.

In the colorless flames, this figure revealed dark red hair, and the sculpted face was full of rotting and festering traces. The bones inside flashed with a metallic luster like steel, and those iron-black eyes seemed to be "rusted," revealing a bit of ferocious blood color.

Yellowish "magma" constantly dripped from this figure, and was quickly extinguished by the pale spring water.

Accompanied by the surge of the "Samaritan Woman's Spring" again, those countless white bones fell into silence, scattering with a splash, as if they were about to rot into mud.

After seeing that mountain-like rotting figure, the blood and rust smell in Lu Mian's nose became more intense, and his shocked spirit was stained with the madness of wanting to destroy everything, which completely ignited the irritability and ferocity that had originally existed.

If it weren't for his state of near-death, where even his thoughts were completely withered, he would have lost his mind and become a lunatic right now.

In that case, he might lose control at any time.

But even so, he still stood frozen in place, just like facing the most feared natural enemy, only knowing how to tremble, forgetting to resist, forgetting to run away.

Splash, splash!

That highly rotting figure burning with colorless flames stepped on the dark hole, trying his best to walk to the edge of the "Samaritan Woman's Spring," trying to reach out his right palm, which was constantly dripping yellowish-red liquid, and grab Lu Mian, who was standing there.

Splash, splash, the spring water surged, and light mist gathered, preventing that figure that gave people the illusion of a mountain peak from leaving the spring eye.

The figure let out a low roar, its iron-black, blood-red-tinged eyes filled with a pure madness that would cause corruption just by being seen.

Affected by this, Lu Mian's brain buzzed, his mind went blank, and the "Samaritan Woman's Spring" shook violently.

That terrifying figure, although unable to leave the restraint of the spring water, successfully prevented them from shrinking back into the dark hole.

At the same time, those blurry figures that were both rotting and dim, floating in the spring water, were driven by the low roar and surged toward the shore.

Among them were a flowing-pus woman with a temperament as quiet as the night, a rotting corpse wearing a golden crown, an iron-colored skeleton that had grown a large amount of greasy feathers, a weird existence composed of countless broken maggots, and a weird existence that was only a mass of black...

These figures were also unable to leave the "Samaritan Woman's Spring," but they approached the edge and reached out their hands—either pale and festering, highly rotting, covered in yellowish feathers, or composed of disgusting maggots—toward Lu Mian's feet.

That black hair floating on the water surface, like a clump of weeds, suddenly came alive and extended rapidly toward the outside of the spring water.

The female figure in the white robe wandering around the "Samaritan Woman's Spring" was instantly wrapped layer by layer by these black hairs, and Lu Mian's figure was reflected in her dull, icy blue eyes.

Lu Mian was grabbed by one weird and terrifying palm after another, pulled by black hair, and slowly, uncontrollably slid toward the "Samaritan Woman's Spring," approaching that huge figure composed of madness and flames.

His body became colder and colder, and his thoughts became more and more blank.

Just at this moment, his eyes suddenly lost all light and were stained with the deepest and darkest darkness.

Melodious singing and chanting came from afar, making this area peaceful and quiet, making those blurry and dim figures no longer so crazy, as if they had been appeased.

The terrifying palms that grabbed Lu Mian's feet and made his spirit and flesh freeze almost completely retracted. The black hair pulling his body lost its activity and hung weakly on the ground. The female figure in the white robe wandering around the "Samaritan Woman's Spring" also stopped, as if listening to the movement of the night.

Even that most terrifying and crazy figure appeared sluggish, and the terrifying aura originating from it weakened quite a bit.

Lu Mian found his thoughts again and instantly figured out what exactly had happened:

The thief who stole the Earth Blood Ore was Monit from the "Different" cabaret!

And he deliberately created a coincidence, meeting himself in the fourth level of the catacombs, in order to use the technique of stealing to quietly return the Earth Blood Ore to himself, letting him bring this mineral specimen to the side of the "Samaritan Woman's Spring" without noticing, triggering the abnormality!

You have to know that Lu Mian hadn't intended to carry the Earth Blood Ore underground recently. He felt that with his current strength, it was difficult to deal with the various abnormalities existing in underground Trier. The island swindler Monit's stealing and returning behavior was aimed at letting him passively open encounters that might be good or bad!

As for why the other party wanted to do this and what the purpose was, he might have to wait until the matter ended to understand.

Lu Mian's thoughts surged. While reaching out to grab "Madame Hela's" arm, he triggered the contract mark, intending to use the "Spirit World Travel" ability to escape from here.

During this process, he also tried to shake off the Earth Blood Ore in his palm, letting it attract that crazy figure with blood-colored hair.

But the Earth Blood Ore seemed to be affected by the abnormal environment here and showed obvious signs of weathering.

Silently, it shattered into powder and drifted away, while the dark red blood stains it contained stained Lu Mian's palm and eroded into his skin.

On the other side, the flame of the white candle in "Madame Hela's" hand was dim to the extreme and could go out at any time, while the black diamond ring on her right hand quietly flowed with pure darkness like the night.

After Lu Mian grabbed her arm, he found that the two of them didn't move at all.

This area seemed to be isolated from the Spirit World and couldn't be escaped!

Can't escape... Lu Mian decisively retracted his palm and opened his mouth toward that huge figure composed of madness and flames:

"Ha!"

A pale yellow light sprayed from his mouth and fell on that huge, dim figure like a mountain peak.

That figure swayed slightly but was unaffected and let out a silent roar again.

After receiving the new "order," those weird figures appeased by the quiet night shuddered, and once again reached out their rotting or disgusting palms, grabbing toward Lu Mian's feet, and the black hair that had hung to the ground rose again.

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Lu Mian suddenly had clusters of blazing flames erupt around his body.

These crimson flowers of destruction dimmed rapidly and went out quickly, as if they had exhausted all their life in an instant.

The pale, festering palm grabbed Lu Mian's right foot first, making him suddenly become "quiet," and his thoughts settled rapidly.

The highly rotting palm, the iron-colored skeleton covered in yellowish feathers, and the form composed of disgusting maggots also completed their tasks one after another, dragging Lu Mian, who looked as if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open, toward the "Samaritan Woman's Spring."

"Madame Hela" was surrounded by layers of black hair, which broke through the quiet night and wrapped toward the lady who showed signs of slight rotting.

Lu Mian stared blankly at that face with its rigid, rotting, bone-exposed features, looked into those iron-black eyes leaking rust-colored blood, and felt the pure, extreme madness, yet he couldn't even form a single thought.

His body became stiffer and stiffer, and purple-red corpse spots appeared on his body surface.

He was only one step away from the pale spring water.

Just at this moment, the "Samaritan Woman's Spring," which had been delayed for a long time by that huge figure, finally "collapsed" the dam, rolled up all the figures, and shrank back into the dark hole that even light couldn't shine into.

That huge figure burning with colorless flames let out an unwilling roar, but was still dragged back into the depths of the dark hole by the pale spring water.

Lu Mian "woke up" suddenly. Seeing the female figure in the white robe start wandering again, he hurriedly turned his body and ran wildly toward the top of the slope.

His idea was very simple:

Since the abnormality originated from that piece of Earth Blood Ore, and the Earth Blood Ore was now half-integrated into his palm, he had to seize the time to escape, rather than taking this opportunity to scoop up the water liquid remaining in the spring eye.

As long as he could escape from here before the pale spring water surged out again and that terrifying figure floated up once more, "Madame Hela," who was left here, would be much safer and could retrieve the water from a relatively calm position, with his share included.

As for how to run, in the situation where "teleportation" didn't work, relying on his legs was the only way now.

Lu Mian ran while making preparations for not being able to escape.

He relied on the "Pyro" ability to stabilize the flame of the white candle and took out the "Torture" gauntlet from his bag, putting it on his hand.

At the same time, he tried to chant Mr. Fool's honorific name in Hermes:

"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era..."

This was the inspiration brought to him by the grayish-white mist around the "Samaritan Woman's Spring"!

Splash!

Just as Lu Mian chanted halfway and ran out for a distance, the sound of spring water surging suddenly rang out.

This was faster than he expected!

That low roar, full of blood and rust and madness, echoed in this area again.

"Madame Hela," who didn't understand Lu Mian's idea and followed him away from the edge of the spring, trembled again, as if the corpse without emotions had turned into a panicked and fearful living person.

Her eyes caught a glimpse of that huge figure burning with colorless flames, and she saw the blood-colored hair and the tattered, blood-stained armor.

Lu Mian was also shocked, and even had an urge to surrender and give up resistance.

He tried his best to endure it, unable to chant the honorific name anymore, and could only place his hope on the "Torture" gauntlet.

Hold on a bit longer, hold on a bit longer. Those hidden evil gods will soon cast their gazes because of the material of the gauntlet, sending dangerous creatures to exert influence or launch attacks.

If it were in the past, Lu Mian would definitely pray that the upcoming abnormality would be within the range he could handle. But now, he hoped the more dangerous, the better!

Only when the water is muddied do the fish have a chance to escape!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 356 =====