The two of them didn't stop and walked along the traces one after the other.
Moria walked in front, his steps steady. Perhaps due to the influence of the strong ether in the air, the weak breath of Radiance was forced out of him, invisibly dispelling the coldness of this place. Li Wen followed him, not too far or too close, just enough to maximize the two people's field of vision. Her figure almost blended into the shadow of the ruins, and Crow Feather Dagger was silently held in the palm of her hand.
The messy set of footprints and dragging claw marks on the ground clearly pointed the way, proving that there had been a hasty chase here not long ago.
After walking about a hundred meters, the road opened up slightly at a corner. Moria's footsteps suddenly stopped, and he stretched out his arm to stop Li Wen behind him.
A few steps ahead of them, a body huddled in the corner.
The man was wearing a Eternal Life Blessing Cult gray-white robe. The clothes and body had been torn and bloody, and his body was covered in dark brown blood. His death was extremely miserable. His chest seemed to have been cut open from the front by some kind of sharp weapon. His internal organs and broken bones were mixed with mud and flowed to the ground. There was still an expression of extreme horror on his face, as if he had seen something incomprehensible and terrifying before he died.
Li Wen's eyes swept over the corpse. On the edge of the hideous wound, she saw several claw marks that were deep enough to show the bone, which were exactly the same as the marks on the previous piece of cloth.
"It wasn't caused by a sharp blade." Moria's voice was slightly low, with a hint of solemnity. "The flesh and blood on the edge of the wound was not regular enough. It looked more like it was forcibly torn apart by the claws of a wild beast."
Li Wen didn't answer. She walked around the body and continued to extend her gaze forward. Deeper in the ruins, two more corpses were discovered one after another. Their death conditions were similar. They were brutally torn into pieces and dismembered. The severed limbs and internal organs were scattered everywhere. One of them was even cut off at the waist, and his upper body was stuck in the gap of a collapsed stone sculpture, as if he had tried to seek final refuge there.
This is no longer a simple battle, but a one-sided and brutal massacre.
"Something is hunting them." Li Wen said, his tone calm.
She squatted down and used the tip of her dagger to gently push aside the mud next to a corpse, revealing several broken crossbow arrows with slightly weird shapes. This is a standard military crossbow, which is sometimes circulated on Black Market. It is often used by mercenaries to hunt large beasts, which is enough to show that these believers are not without resistance, but it is obvious that their weapons have little effect when facing those unknown hunters.
Moria's brows were furrowed. He could feel a cold, vicious, lifeless power spreading in this area. It was a power that was mixed with resentment and hunger and belonged to Decay Lineage.
This ruins is waking up from Long Slumber because of their arrival.
Just as Li Wen was about to stand up, an extremely subtle friction sound that was almost mixed with the sound of water flow came from above her head.
"Be careful!" Moria's low voice and Li Wen's movements happened almost simultaneously.
Li Wen was already alert. Her body was like a spring that was compressed to the extreme, and instantly bounced back. The moment she left the spot, a dark shadow fell silently from the shadow of the building debris above, and its sharp claws clawed hard at the position where she had just crouched. Several deep ravines were carved out of the hard stone pavement, and gravel splashed everywhere.
Immediately afterwards, more black shadows emerged from the cracks in the walls on both sides and the shadows of the ruins. They were silent and moved so quickly that they did not look like living creatures, and they surrounded the two people in the blink of an eye.
Those were monsters that looked like humanoid skeletons. Their bodies were shriveled and skinny, their skin showed a grayish color after being soaked in sea water for a long time, and their bodies were covered with seaweed and barnacles. Their limbs were stretched extremely long, and the joints were twisted at a weird angle. The ends of their ten fingers were sharp bone claws that were as long as sharp knives and shimmering with light. The most heart-stopping thing was that in their empty eye sockets, there were two dots of faint blue flames, full of violence and hunger.
"Sunken Ghoul." Li Wen whispered their names. In the memory of previous lives, players had encountered such undead creations twisted by the power of dead souls when exploring certain deep-sea ruins. They are the product of the combination of the resentment of the drowned and the decaying power of the seabed. They are silent and efficient hunters.
Some people also say that they are actually advanced versions of Drowned Corpse. This is true. When it comes to combat effectiveness, Sunken Ghoul is as good as the weak Drowned Corpse.
There are no unnecessary roars or threats, the battle begins the moment they appear.
A ghoul took the lead and pounced on Moria from the front, so fast that it left an afterimage in the air. Moria moved forward instead of retreating, took half a step forward with his left foot, exerted a slight force on his body, and punched out the corpse's sharp claws with his right fist with a concentrated momentum. Soul Death Domain's creations are usually immortal, which means it is difficult to destroy them with conventional means. In addition to Radiance's power that can restrain them, flame is another better choice.
He chanted the spell, and his fists were covered with a layer of bright blazing flames. When his fists and claws met, the blazing flames exploded violently.
The ghoul's sharp claws were bounced upward by the heavy force, and flames ignited its entire body along the claws in an instant.
That's it.
A dark shadow passed by Moria like a ghost. Li Wen's figure was so fast that it was almost blurred. The Crow Feather Dagger in his hand drew a fatal silver line under the blue halo, accurately cutting into the neck of the corpse that was exposed by the heat of the flames.
Chi——
The sound of the sharp blade cutting through shriveled flesh could be clearly heard. The Soulfire in the eyes of the corpse flickered violently, then went out. The huge body fell to the ground weakly, and then turned into a pile of foul-smelling black ash under the flames.
At the same time, the other two ghouls were already outflanking him. Li Wen didn't even look back. She turned on Witch State, and her petite body instantly became extremely light. With an elegant spin, her whole body floated backwards like a weightless feather, narrowly avoiding the sharp claws attacking from both sides.
Moria, after finishing off the first ghoul, immediately turned around and faced another ghoul attacking from behind. His movements were still simple and efficient. He turned sideways to let the claws pass, and his elbow hit the corpse's ribs hard. The heavy force caused the withered body to make a crisp sound of broken bones, and staggered to the side.
Li Wen adjusted his posture in the air, tapped his feet lightly on the slippery wall, and used the force of his body to rebound, like a swift and elegant black cat, instantly appearing behind the ghoul that was repelled by Moria.
Spell-less Arc Light was activated, and the dagger enchanted by Radiance drew a cold arc in the air, and accurately pierced the back of the ghoul's head from top to bottom.
Soulfire suddenly went out.
The two of them cooperated smoothly without any unnecessary movements. One was as calm as a rock, responsible for frontal containment and defense, creating opportunities for his companions; the other was as swift as a ghost, responsible for catching flaws in the ever-changing battle situation and delivering a fatal blow. In just ten seconds, all the ghouls that attacked them were eliminated.
However, the end of the battle did not bring a moment of peace.
Just when the last corpse turned to ashes and the stench had not dissipated, a shrill scream mixed with fear and despair penetrated the layers of building debris, came from deeper inside the ruins, and fell clearly into their ears.