Chapter 195

In an instant, a strong sense of distortion and tearing swept through his entire body.

This feeling was far more intense than he had imagined—as if every inch of his skin was being pierced by countless fine needles simultaneously, and every nerve was being stretched to its limit.

Space folded, twisted, and reorganized before his eyes, and countless illusions and afterimages appeared in his field of vision.

In a trance, he seemed to see countless terrified faces wailing in the darkness, or perhaps he heard the whispers and snickers of some ancient language.

"Concentrate!"

Luo En forced himself to stay awake; the experience from the simulation device last time made him immediately realize that this was the curse taking effect.

The curse of the abyss!

Unlike the simulation effect in the simulation device, the real curse was more complex and multi-layered.

He could feel his flesh and blood wriggling, as if countless tiny creatures were crawling under his skin.

At the same time, his thinking began to become chaotic, and all sorts of bizarre thoughts emerged, trying to erode his sanity.

It was as if he were suffering from a dual curse of physical mutation and mental distortion simultaneously.

Luo En immediately activated his bloodline power, and a strong heat flow erupted within him; the power of the Red Blood Flying Dragon swept through his body like a raging fire.

The powerful bloodline power of the dragon species acted like a barrier, temporarily blocking those strange changes trying to erode his flesh.

At the same time, he quickly entered a meditative state, his mental power circulating within his body, forming a special mental defense.

"Zikruniag."

He muttered the syllables of the Erosion Movement again, using this mysterious power from the starry sky to counter the curse from the abyss.

This method of fighting poison with poison had astonishing effects—the two distorted forces from completely different sources canceled each other out within him, allowing him to remain awake.

"The effect is better than expected." Luo En felt slightly relieved in his heart.

Last time in the simulation device, that was a simulation of the curse of the third and fourth layers of the abyss.

And what he was facing in reality now, although it combined the dual effects of body and mind, the intensity seemed to be much weaker, probably only equivalent to the level of the first and second layers.

While pondering, the teleportation process finally ended.

The distorted space around him gradually stabilized, and a strange world presented itself before his eyes.

Luo En stood on a strange plain.

The ground was a semi-solid dark red substance, and stepping on it had a slight elasticity, just like stepping on a thin meat blanket.

The sky presented an unnatural purple-black color.

There was no sun, no moon, only some dark clouds of strange shapes floating, occasionally flashing with weak red lightning.

In the distance, the outlines of some twisted and deformed mountains were looming; those "peaks" looked more like the curled-up spines of some giant creature.

What was even more unsettling was that the entire environment seemed to be "alive":

The ground would rise and fall slightly with breathing, and a fishy, sweet scent permeated the air, just like standing inside some giant creature.

"Is this the inside of the Bloodline Altar?"

Luo En looked around vigilantly, while carefully using his mental power to detect the energy fluctuations around him.

After confirming the safety of the area, he quickly opened his space bag.

"Daier, come out."

After a slight spatial fluctuation, the silver-haired little siren crawled out of the space bag.

As soon as she appeared, she clearly felt uncomfortable.

Those large purple-blue eyes widened instantly, and her slender body trembled violently.

"Ma-Master," Daier's voice was hoarse and painful: "Here... so uncomfortable..."

Luo En immediately supported the little siren who was about to kneel down.

"Hold on, Daier; this is the influence of the abyssal curse. Don't resist it; learn to adapt to it."

Daier nodded, but her skin had already begun to show unnatural changes:

Small patches appeared gray-white, as if rapidly dehydrated.

Luo En quickly took out a bottle of light blue potion he had prepared from his storage bag.

"Drink it; this is an 'Abyssal Adaptation Potion' that can help you reduce the influence of the curse."

Daier took the potion bottle tremblingly and poured the potion into her throat in one breath.

The effect of the potion was almost immediate—her skin gradually returned to its normal color, and her breathing stabilized.

"Thank you, Master," Daier said softly; her voice was already much steadier than before, but her eyes still carried terror:

"This place is even more terrifying than I imagined."

"This is just the beginning," Luo En warned seriously:

"The journey ahead will only be more difficult. But don't be afraid; remember everything I taught you, and we can survive this trial."

The little siren nodded firmly, trying to stand up straight.

"Master, this place... it feels like a battlefield?"

She looked around and asked, somewhat confused.

It did indeed look like the ruins of an ancient battlefield, but it had been twisted by the power of the abyss, losing its original appearance.

Countless twisted and deformed metal fragments were scattered on the ground.

Those objects that might have once been shields, spears, or swords had now merged into the ground, becoming deformed protrusions.

Some huge skeletons protruded from the ground, but they were clearly not human skeletons—too huge and twisted, with strange shapes that were unrecognizable.

Further away, the remains of some flags half-buried in the blood-colored soil swayed gently in the wind.

The emblems on them were already blurred, but one could vaguely identify the signs of several different countries or races.

"You're right, Daier. This should be an ancient battlefield eroded by the power of the abyss."

Luo En squatted down and touched the ground lightly with the tip of his sword.

That layer of substance that looked like soil cracked open, revealing dark red tissue similar to muscle fibers underneath.

"This soil... should be said to be a living tissue. The entire space has been transformed by the power of the abyss, becoming a kind of semi-living existence."

Daier shivered, leaning toward Luo En involuntarily, her voice lowered to the extreme:

"So you mean we are standing on the body of some... giant creature?"

"More like the entire battlefield has been endowed with some kind of twisted 'life'."

Luo En explained:

"The 'Abyssal Creature Illustrated Handbook' mentioned similar phenomena—the fourth layer of the abyss can transform death zones into 'Activated Ruins,' which condense death and decay into a special form of energy."

Just as they were talking, the ground in the distance suddenly began to wriggle violently, and a huge object broke through the blood-colored soil.

It was a deformed corpse, at least two meters tall.

Its whole body was covered with rusty ancient armor, but the armor and the flesh had completely merged, making it impossible to distinguish.

Its head presented a strange mixed form:

The basic outline of a human skull, but with four glowing eyes, and the jaw extended into a lizard-like shape, filled with sharp teeth.

What was most terrifying was that there was a huge opening in the chest of this corpse, inside which countless tentacle-like internal organs wriggled, occasionally extending from the opening, as if sniffing the surrounding scent.

"Master! What is that?" Daier stared at the behemoth in terror.

"Forgotten Warrior," Luo En replied in a low voice, a flash of vigilance in his eyes:

"But unlike the original low-level undead, this guy is an abyssal mutant that has fused undead characteristics with multiple alien bloodlines."

He quickly drew his sword, took a bottle of potion from his waist, and poured it into his throat quickly to improve his resistance to abnormalities.

"Be careful of its tentacles; they may carry corrosive toxins."

The Forgotten Warrior had clearly sensed their presence.

Those four glowing eyes turned toward the two of them simultaneously, emitting light of different colors.

It let out a deafening roar, the sound mixed with harsh noise and some kind of low echo, as if thousands of dead souls were wailing at the same time.

"Master, let me handle it!" Daier was already prepared for battle, and water elements quickly gathered between her hands.

"Follow the plan," Luo En said in a deep voice: "Your resistance is not strong enough; I have a shield to approach it first, and you are responsible for long-range interference and support."

As soon as the words fell, the Forgotten Warrior had already rushed toward them with heavy steps.

Every step left deep depressions in the blood-colored earth, and the surrounding soil wriggled with its movement, as if echoing its existence.

Luo En did not retreat, but took the initiative to meet it.

"Ring of Radiance!"

Golden-red flames erupted from his body, forming a dazzling armor attached around his body, hidden and not yet released.

The Forgotten Warrior swung a huge arm violently.

That deformed limb, which had already merged with the armor, was covered with sharp bone spurs, enough to pierce through an ordinary person in one strike.

Luo En dodged sideways nimbly, while his long sword drew an arc, precisely stabbing toward the opening in front of the Forgotten Warrior's chest.

The core of such monsters is often hidden in such special structures.

The moment the long sword stabbed in, the Forgotten Warrior let out a painful howl.

Those tentacle-like internal organs suddenly coiled over, trying to drag the weapon and the sword-wielder into the chest cavity together.

But upon touching the defensive net of the "Ring of Radiance," it immediately made a sizzling sound like squid being fried on an iron plate...

"Daier, now!"

The little siren acted immediately, her hands waving quickly.

Water molecules in the surrounding air gathered quickly, forming dozens of sharp ice blades.

"Crystal Arrow Rain!"

The ice blades shot toward the Forgotten Warrior like arrows, precisely hitting those tentacles extending from the chest cavity, cutting them off one by one.

The Forgotten Warrior staggered backward, and the severed tentacles sprayed a black liquid that emitted a foul odor, which immediately corroded small pits emitting smoke upon hitting the ground.

Luo En took the opportunity to quickly distance himself from the enemy.

He had already noticed that the severed tentacles were regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"This is the regenerative ability of abyssal creatures... must find its core."

He carefully observed the movement pattern of the Forgotten Warrior.

This abyssal mutant, mixed with the characteristics of many alien races, had strength and defense far exceeding ordinary creatures.

Coupled with its terrifying regenerative ability, conventional attack methods could hardly produce lasting effects.

"Still have to use this move... hope my previous idea was correct."

Luo En took a deep breath, and his mental power quickly built a complex spell model.

"Sonic Vibration Erosion State!"

An invisible ripple spread from his palm, wrapped in strange whispers from the depths of the starry sky, hitting the Forgotten Warrior directly.

Almost instantly, the Forgotten Warrior's movements became sluggish.

Countless black spots appeared on the surface of its body, as if eroded by some invisible corrosion.

The tentacles in its chest cavity rolled wildly, as if trying to get rid of this abnormal state, but the effect was minimal.

"Effective!" Luo En was overjoyed.

Just like when he encountered the half-blood snake demon last time, the mysterious power of whispers from the depths of the starry sky indeed had a peculiar restraining effect on abyssal creatures, just like some kind of natural nemesis.

The Forgotten Warrior let out a painful howl, and the armor on the surface of its body began to peel off, revealing the rotting flesh underneath.

Its four eyes flickered with struggling light, and then, it made an unexpected move:

It suddenly reached a hand into its own chest cavity and pulled out a crystal emitting purple light; that should be its core.

Then, to everyone's surprise, the Forgotten Warrior actually stuffed the crystal into its mouth and chewed hard!

"Is it... committing suicide?" Daier was confused for a moment by the opponent's move, which seemed a bit stupid.

"It wants to make the core explode!" Luo En immediately understood the opponent's intention.

The crystal was bitten to pieces in the Forgotten Warrior's mouth, and the purple energy scattered into the air like smoke.

The next moment, the Forgotten Warrior's body began to swell violently, countless cracks appeared on the surface of its skin, and purple light shone through the gaps.

"Run!"

Luo En grabbed Daier, quickly distanced himself, and simultaneously built the sturdiest flowing protective wall.

Boom!

The Forgotten Warrior's body exploded in an instant, turning into a purple-black energy cloud, spreading in all directions.

The flowing protective wall blocked most of the impact, but some energy still penetrated the defense, forming a strange blood mist in the air.

Just as Luo En was about to check on the little siren in his arms, a strange movement caught his attention.

The substitute puppet at his waist seemed to have an autonomous reaction, and a faint suction force came from it.

The next moment, those purple-black blood mists actually seemed to have consciousness and were quickly sucked into the puppet.

"This is...?" Luo En immediately sensed the abnormality.

The substitute puppet was quietly wrapped around his waist, but its surface had already undergone subtle changes.

A layer of light purple patterns appeared on the originally smooth surface, like blood vessels distributed throughout the entire doll.

What was even more surprising was that the puppet seemed to be slowly absorbing the energy in those blood mists, and its dim energy indicator light brightened slightly.

Luo En immediately checked the status of the substitute puppet:

【Automatically absorbed active abyssal substance, charging progress +1%】

【Current energy: 3%/100%】

"It absorbed these abyssal energies and performed autonomous charging?"

Although the magic puppet had previously reacted with the living tissues of the manticore and snake demon in experiments and completed charging.

But this behavior of autonomously drawing energy to complete charging during battle did indeed make him feel a bit surprised.

He gently probed a trace of mental power, trying to wake up the substitute puppet.

The puppet reacted instantly, but this time the deformation speed and fluency were better than ever.

Not only that, its morphological changes were also more diverse.

The previously fused snake demon and manticore characteristics seemed to have been enhanced in some way.

"The energy of abyssal creatures seems to have enhanced its alienation and deformation ability..." Luo En was thoughtful.

If the substitute puppet could autonomously absorb and fuse the characteristics of abyssal creatures, then perhaps it could reach the charging target faster.

He carefully put away the substitute puppet, his heart filled with more expectations for the journey ahead.

"Master, are you okay?" Daier asked with concern.

"I'm fine," Luo En replied, recovering from the surprise just now:

"But we need to be more careful. The monsters here are clearly different from ordinary abyssal creatures; their self-detonation behavior... is very unusual."

The little siren nodded firmly: "Don't worry, Master; I will be more careful."

Luo En carefully observed the surroundings, looking for possible clues or targets.

On this twisted battlefield, there must be a core location.

Finding it and completing the trial was the purpose of this trip.

But now, what was more urgent was to understand the rules of this environment so as to better deal with the challenges ahead.

………………

Meanwhile, Trish was also teleported to another area of the Bloodline Altar.

After a whirlwind, the brown-haired girl found herself in a strange swamp area.

Unlike the battlefield where Luo En was, the ground here was covered with a sticky dark green liquid, emitting a pungent, foul odor.

The sky presented a sickly yellow-green color, and strange-looking flying creatures occasionally swept by, emitting harsh cries.

"Abyssal curse..."

Trish immediately felt that suffocating sense of oppression, as if her muscles and bones were being slowly twisted by some force.

But as a student of Corinna, she had long undergone special training to resist the influence of the abyss.

"Isolation Barrier!"

A light green energy barrier spread from her body, forming a translucent protective cover, temporarily blocking the erosion of the abyssal curse.

Trish looked around and found a slightly glowing stone tablet in the center of the swamp not far away, with complex rune patterns carved on it.

"That stone tablet might be related to whether I can reach the core area."

The key to the passage to the core altar might lie within it.

But the problem was that there was a vast, bottomless swamp between her position and the stone tablet; stepping into it rashly would be no different from suicide.

She took a small bottle from her waist and drank the liquid inside.

This was an adaptation potion specially prepared for her by Mentor Corinna, which could temporarily allow her to move freely in this environment.

The effect of the potion was almost immediate.

A layer of light green shimmer appeared on the surface of her skin, and the flow of blood in her body became more rapid and powerful.

"Hope this is enough to support me in reaching the stone tablet."

Trish stepped onto the surface of the swamp cautiously, letting her toes touch those sticky green liquids lightly.

Surprisingly, under the effect of the potion, her body became unusually light, almost able to float on the surface of the swamp instead of sinking into it.

"Mentor's potion is worthy of being technology from the Crystal Spire."

She remained vigilant while moving forward.

This "miracle" would definitely not last long, and she had to reach the target as soon as possible.

Just as she approached halfway to the stone tablet, the swamp suddenly churned violently.

A huge creature slowly rose from the mud, its body pieced together from countless small corpses, emitting a nauseating foul odor.

Its "skin" was composed of countless tentacles and vines, wriggling constantly, extending or contracting as if alive.

The head was a huge flower-like structure, with a large mouth full of sharp teeth in the center.

"Swamp Assembler..." Trish's face turned pale, recognizing this terrifying abyssal creature:

"Why would a creature from the second layer of the abyss appear here?"

The Swamp Assembler had clearly discovered her; that "flower" turned toward her direction, emitting a strange buzzing sound.

Then its entire body began to move toward her; with every step forward, a small piece of corpse fell off it, and was immediately replaced by new tissue.

Trish knew that she could not confront this terrifying creature head-on.

The only choice was to reach the stone tablet as soon as possible and leave this area after completing the task.

Unlike Luo En, she could not bring a combat partner into the altar.

The rules of the Bloodline Altar strictly limited each participant to being alone, and only Luo En was allowed to bring an assistant by virtue of his champion privilege.

Facing the crisis, Trish could only rely on her own abilities.

She quickly awakened the sleeping Forest Elf bloodline in her body, and a green energy surged from her body, spreading rapidly to the surroundings.

That energy, as if alive, quickly seeped into the depths of the swamp, establishing a connection with those mutated plant lives.

A moment later, dozens of huge vines suddenly shot out from the swamp around her, each as thick as a child's arm, covered with sharp thorns on the surface.

Under Trish's mental guidance, these vines whipped toward the Swamp Assembler like flexible whips, temporarily entangling it.

"This should buy some time."

Trish did not stop, but quickened her pace and rushed toward the stone tablet.

The Swamp Assembler let out an angry roar, and its huge strength caused those vines to begin breaking one by one.

But for every one that broke, two new vines emerged from the swamp, continuing to entangle its body.

Taking this opportunity, she drew a complex symbol on her chest with both hands and chanted a spell.

"Vines of the swamp, hear my call, become my shield and spear!"

Countless vines emerged from the swamp, circling around her like green snakes.

At the same time, Holt's situation was not optimistic either.

He was teleported to a canyon-like terrain, with towering rock walls on both sides, but those "rocks" looked more like some kind of fossilized giant skeleton.

The sky presented an unnatural orange-red color, as if illuminated by an eternal sunset, yet there was no sign of the sun.

A metallic smell permeated the air, and every breath felt like inhaling tiny iron filings.

"The power of the curse is stronger than imagined."

Holt felt the influence of the abyss on himself; that sense of nausea and dizziness made him almost unable to stand steady.

But he quickly controlled his state.

As a member of the Law Enforcement Team, he had undergone specialized anti-interference training and could remain calm in extreme environments.

"Earth Elemental Colossus, appear!"

Holt quickly took a crystal from his storage bag, and after injecting mental power, an Earth Elemental Colossus five meters tall rose from the ground.

It presented a deep brown color, and its surface was covered with hard stone armor.

Holt's strength relied almost entirely on this Earth Elemental Colossus.

As an Earth Elemental specialist, he had invested all his research and resources into this field.

Making his colossus far exceed construct creatures of the same level in terms of strength, defense, and durability.

"Start exploring."

He ordered the colossus to clear the way in front, while he followed cautiously behind, observing the surrounding environment vigilantly.

The canyon was dead silent, with only their footsteps echoing between the stone walls.

Holt noticed that some strange white crystals were scattered on the ground.

After careful observation, he was surprised to find that they seemed to be some kind of crystallized bone tissue.

"These should be crystallized bones; the 'Abyssal Creature Illustrated Handbook' mentioned that they usually appear in certain areas of the third layer of the abyss, known as the 'Field of Dead Bones'."

After repeatedly confirming that they were harmless through detection methods, he carefully put the crystal into his storage bag; this might be a precious research material.

Continuing forward for about half an hour, the canyon gradually widened, eventually opening into a circular basin.

A stone building resembling an altar stood in the center of the basin.

Surrounded by seven tall stone pillars, each with a red crystal floating at the top, emitting a faint light.

"That must be the control point."

Holt was just about to approach the altar when he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet vibrate slightly.

The vibration became more and more intense, and soon, the entire basin was shaking violently, just like an earthquake.

The Earth Elemental Colossus immediately entered a defensive posture, crossing its arms in front of its chest, ready to meet the impact.

The ground in the center of the basin suddenly cracked, and a huge figure broke through the ground from underground.

It was a huge worm-like creature, at least twenty meters long and over three meters in diameter.

Its body surface was covered with heavy bone-like armor, forming ring-shaped protective layers, looking impenetrable.

The head had no eyes, only a round large mouth.

The inside was filled with ring-shaped serrated teeth, constantly rotating, emitting a creepy friction sound.

"Bone Worm," Holt's voice trembled:

"One of the predators of the third layer of the abyss..."

The worm seemed to have sensed the presence of intruders.

Its body swayed, then it rushed toward Holt violently, its speed astonishing.

(End of chapter)