met free Chapter 60 Chaotic Aberrations
Chapter 60 Chaotic Aberrations
"Let me make this clear beforehand, Brother Ronan, the thing down there is really weird. If I get out of there too quickly, don't blame me for being a bad brother."
Swan walked along the edge of the stone steps to the side.
As he stepped into the shadows, Swann's lean, muscular frame began to blur eerily, as if a thin gray veil had been draped over him.
The sounds of fabric rubbing and boots hitting the ground, caused by his movements, all vanished into thin air, and Swan seemed to blend into the dark, gloomy underground passage.
It was his Shadow Affinity and Low Presence feats working together.
Even in such a professional stealth state, when Swann looked back at Roland's side, he couldn't help but linger for a few more seconds on the three strange, charred, broken spheres still covered with green plant roots.
"But speaking of which, bro, your three...little pets? They're really unique-looking."
Swan pointed to "Spider Ray" crawling on the stone steps.
"This sphere made of scraps of bone, with legs made of rotten vines, would be considered aesthetically unique even among the oddly tasted necromancers of the 'Paradise of Innocence,' wouldn't it?"
Faced with this teasing remark, Luo Lan remained silent for a moment.
Luo Lan himself couldn't be sure whether this [Undead Assembly], which originated from Victor's "Star Undead Necromancer," could be considered orthodox necromancy in this world.
As for the construct being ugly, Luo Lan's [Dead Remains Assembly] skill level is only lv.1, so it can't be forced.
Swan's attempts to lighten the mood went unanswered by Luo Lan, and his heart pounded with anxiety.
The chilling aura emanating from the skeletal dog beside him, despite its low energy fluctuation level, brought Swan a strong sense of oppression.
Moreover, Swan knew very well that even with his solid Gold-rank strength, he could never burn the entire second level of the Rift Ruins into an unreasonable sea of fire like Luo Lan, who was as tough as a can.
Swan cursed his bad luck inwardly.
When he bought the information that "the core of the Rift Ruins in the form of an ancient treasure" at a high price at the black market gathering, he thought he had gotten a great deal.
He was planning to take advantage of the demonic tide and, with his Gold Rank strength, monopolize the ancient treasures in this low-level rift without outside interference, making a huge profit.
The results of it?
Who knew we'd encounter those Flesh-Splattering Rotting Nests on the third floor? We hadn't even seen the Rift Core yet, and we'd already lost some equipment.
Just as he was about to retreat, a death knight who appeared out of nowhere blocked his way and was now leading him to jump into the rotten pot on the third floor.
Swan silently cursed the entire family of the black market middleman who had initially sold him the information, while his mind already began plotting something else:
[How am I going to find a chance to retrieve my lost pair of dark iron sword and shield in this godforsaken place?]
Since they were already risking going back, Swann didn't want to leave empty-handed.
Moreover, if the Dark Iron Sword and Shield were to be completely devoured by that pink fleshy slime, all the work he'd done in the last two months would have been for nothing.
……
The two people and the dog, each with their own thoughts, continued to descend the steps.
As the chaotic aura approached the third level, it changed form, transforming from the rich, sweet floral scent of the second level into a moist, fishy smell that clung lightly to the stone walls and entered the lungs with each breath.
After rounding the corner of the stairs, the pinkish-white monster that had been chasing Swan was now blocking his way.
This thing has no eyes and no obvious mouthparts.
It is more like a mass of proliferating flesh without any self-awareness, instinctively expanding its hunting net outwards solely out of a pure desire for the warmth of life.
Its semi-liquid body continuously extended sticky, messy, fleshy tentacles, aimlessly waving them towards Luo Lan and the other person. However, when it approached a certain boundary at the corner of the stairs, it seemed to have hit an invisible wall of air, and was firmly blocked in mid-air.
【Name: Flesh Slime】
[Race: Chaos Aberration]
[Rank: Bronze+]
Specialties: Physical resistance, semi-liquid state
[Skills: Split Lv.4, Aggregate Lv.3, Devour Lv.2, Heal Lv.1]
The delicate little round shield that Swan had previously discarded in the chaos was now tightly wrapped around the slime's body by five or six tentacles, with only a small part of the metal edge exposed.
Most of the shield was already embedded in a translucent, fleshy digestive layer. Under the faint refraction of ambient light, pits were slowly being dissolved into the shield's surface.
The dark iron scimitar fared even worse, wrapped in a lump of pink liquid flesh and blood, becoming a fleshy tumor stuck on the top of the slime's head.
Swan pressed himself against the cold stone wall, staring at the pair of pieces of equipment being corrupted and devoured, and the smile on his face began to falter.
"Be careful, bro. This thing doesn't look much stronger than a regular elite slime, but you'll find out it's a completely different story once you face it..."
Swann spoke up to remind them, also hoping to get the equipment back.
"Regular swords and blades can barely do any damage when they hit it. I tried using Shadow Enchantment to cut one of its kind in half, and it just turned into two smaller versions of itself!"
Looking at the [Physical Resistance] and [Split Lv.4] on the slime's panel, Luo Lan knew that Swann's words were true, and his opinion of him changed a bit.
"Okay, I got it. I'll try it first..."
Luo Lan responded in a low voice.
Silently praying, Luo Lan drew his broadsword, his iron boots crushing the slime on the stone steps, and walked directly towards the slime.
Sensing the approaching heat source, the flesh slime unleashed dozens of tentacles that lashed out wildly.
Luo Lan shifted her feet, nimbly dodging several tentacles that lunged at her from close range. Those she couldn't dodge, she simply swung her sword horizontally.
But the feeling of the sword blade striking the slime was absolutely awful.
It was like a sword striking a tough, multi-layered cowhide; the heavy blow only altered the tentacle's trajectory, failing to sever the viscous flesh.
"Hey bro, I told you you can't do this, wait a minute! What's this?"
Swan, who was watching from the sidelines, was about to offer another reminder when the words suddenly caught in his throat.
As the silent prayer ended, a thin layer of pale light appeared on the broadsword in Luo Lan's hand.
When the sword was swung again, the situation was completely different.
The heavy sword blade, shrouded in a pale light, sliced through the giant slime in two cleanly, like a hot knife through butter.
The two halves of the slime's body fell to the ground, convulsing and writhing wildly. Its semi-liquid flesh churned like active magma, attempting to recombine into two independent individuals using [Split lv.4].
But the pale holy light clinging to the cut surface was like a bone-deep affliction, constantly scorching the flesh, emitting a piercing "sizzling" sound and acrid white smoke.
Purified by the ordered energy of the Holy Light, the flesh slime of the [Chaos Aberration] race completely lost its cellular vitality and quickly turned into a pool of viscous, foul-smelling pink stagnant water.
Swann rushed forward, enduring the stench, and rummaged through the slime to retrieve his sword and shield.
Both pieces of equipment are quite corroded; it's unclear whether they're still usable.
"Brother Ronan, was that... holy light just now?"
Swann, holding the broken weapon, looked at Roland, the "Knight of Death," with a hint of scrutiny in his eyes.
"You know holy light isn't this color. But at least the attack was effective, so keep going."
Luo Lan didn't have the habit of confiding in strangers, so she casually avoided the sensitive topic and continued down the stone steps.