It must be referring to the many corpses of guards ahead. The group rushed forward and saw more than a dozen monster guards and new mutants lying haphazardly in the passage, including three Red Dragon Person sent by Alexstrasza to find the dragon eggs.
Their skin was indistinguishable from that of the Nightmoon, all aged and withered, but calling them corpses would be inaccurate. A brief examination revealed that almost none of them were dead; they were all in a coma. Judging from their posture when they fell, they had all been running away before they died.
Unas drew his Firekiss and delivered a final blow to the neck of each monster. Since they were already on the verge of death, he might as well harvest them for his own experience.
The path was filled with unconscious monsters. Unas kept attacking them as he advanced, only stopping when he entered the central hall, where all the monsters that had fallen were already dead.
It can be inferred that after their defeat, these guys hurriedly retreated into the research institute, only to encounter the still-unspecified Death and Decay in the central hall. The first group was directly corroded to death by the purple mist, and the rest couldn't escape and fell into a coma due to being contaminated by the purple mist.
A quick count revealed approximately fifty men from the passageway to the main hall, roughly the same number as the defeated enemies who fled into the lake. This confirmed that Gunsel's forces had been completely wiped out.
These guys consumed most of the purple mist, so they died a worthy death. The remaining purple mist, after being dispersed and diluted, could hardly cause any more harm.
However, the discomfort in the central hall was even more intense, and everyone felt somewhat suffocated. Only Unas didn't feel anything special. Having absorbed the essence of Essence of Life, he had a stronger resistance to this kind of spell that corroded life force.
There were only corpses and nothing to see. The group, still looking distressed, quickly passed through the hall. The effects of the Death and Decay diminished the further away from the center, and the group gradually felt more relaxed.
Where are we going?
"Go to the freezer first."
The freezer door was tightly closed, making it difficult for the purple mist to penetrate inside, which reassured Unas somewhat.
Pushing open the door, the prisoners, frozen in time, were scattered haphazardly on the ground. Gunsel's four mage assistants huddled in a corner, shivering. They were clever enough to know that the freezer door was tightly closed, so they escaped here for refuge, but they were also freezing.
"We surrender!" Upon seeing that it was Paladin had arrived, they immediately knew that the Lich had failed and quickly raised their hands in surrender.
Unas desperately wanted to kill these opportunists, but then he remembered they might still be useful. He pointed his sword forward and said, "Gunsel is finished. I won't pursue the things he forced you to do, but if you harbor any further thoughts of rebellion, I will kill you without mercy!"
"We would never dare to do it again, Knight! We are extremely grateful to you for freeing us from the clutches of the Lich!" Faced with the sharp crystal sword, the group immediately prostrated themselves on the ground and begged for mercy.
"Drake, you're in charge of monitoring them. Show no mercy; kill them on sight if they make any unusual moves!"
"Yes."
Seeing that there was no longer any threat, several Night Elves quickly went forward to check on the frozen prisoners, more than a dozen of whom were their own kind.
"Stop dawdling here, saving lives is the priority! Transfer all the prisoners who haven't mutated yet to the cryogenics room as quickly as possible!" Unas immediately ordered. At that time, he and his six mage assistants hurriedly transferred only about sixty people; there were still many prisoners mutating in the outer cells.
The Druid stood up from beside one of his fellow druids and asked hesitantly, "What about... those that have already mutated?"
"Eliminate them all. They died the moment they mutated into monsters. Don't harbor any unrealistic fantasies."
There were a little over three hundred prisoners in the Biological Research Institute. The first batch of 98 who had completed the mutation were taken by Gunsel to fight. They were either killed in battle or escaped and were killed by the Death and Decay. They have all been wiped out.
More than sixty of those who had not yet completed their mutations were transferred by Unas, leaving more than one hundred and forty in the various cells. The group immediately rushed to the prison area, determined to save as many as they could.
Unfortunately, too much time had been spent, and another third of the victims had turned into monsters. The group had no choice but to kill them all in the prison.
The final count revealed that there were a total of 166 survivors who had been transferred to the cryogenic chamber, representing various races, including even a young Sea Giant.
The Elves were the largest group, with 58 Night Elves and 36 High Elves, totaling more than half. It seems the Lich was indeed very interested in the long-lived Elves.
However, transferring them to a freezer does not mean they are saved. Emergency freezing only temporarily halts their mutation rate; only by completely eliminating the mutation can the problem be solved.
Drake and his four mage assistants were helpless; they were merely Gunsel's underlings and had no access to the core secrets of the Mutagen Potions.
"The Lich might have his magic notes in his storage space. If we could retrieve them..." the tall, thin mage suggested.
Unas took out the bone fragment removed from the Lich's corpse. Several mages tried to open it, but none could, and the Druids had no knowledge of this.
With only Natasha resting Meditation on the shore, Unas ordered Drake to take over the Shadow Priest.
Give us some time, let's think of a solution.
Unas left the Night Elves and mage assistants outside the cryo-freeze to keep an eye on the survivors, then led Natasha and four soldiers to a small room, saying, "Guard the door; no one is to enter."
"Yes."
Upon entering the room, Unas took out the Phylactery that he had almost cleaved in two, and then asked Natasha to try searching for the Lich's soul again, whether it was to find a way to open the storage Arcane Artifacts or to undo the Mutagen Potions.
Just as Natasha was about to cast a spell, the Phylactery flashed with purple light, and a semi-transparent shadow appeared in front of the two of them in a flash—it was Gunsel.
The incident happened suddenly. Unas instinctively thrust his sword forward, the blade piercing through the shadow, but he didn't feel anything being stabbed in his hand.
But Gunsel's Ghost seemed truly struck, writhing erratically and emitting a piercing scream, "Die! Die! Die!"
Unas was startled, fearing it was some kind of curse, and quickly pulled Natasha a few steps away.
But nothing unusual happened. The Ghost's screams grew weaker and weaker until it could no longer maintain its form and simply vanished into thin air.
What's going on?
The two looked at each other, and Unas dared not let Natasha cast a spell on the Phylactery rashly. The scene just now was too strange, and perhaps something else would go wrong.
"What an incredibly unlucky guy! Heh heh!" The voice of the Dreadlord echoed in his mind, though he didn't know who he was mocking.