Eternal XVII

The silvery liquid looked somewhat like mercury in Brando's eyes. However, judging from the distribution of the Frost Giant corpses around it and the sword embedded in it, it was almost certain that this was the corpse of some kind of creature—or rather, monster.

"A Mud Monster subspecies of some kind of metal element?"

"No. A Mud Monster's corpse obviously couldn't remain preserved for ten thousand years or more. Besides, there has never been any mention of Mud Monsters among the Twilight Species." Brando instinctively shook his head. Over the course of his long gaming career, he had encountered most of Vonder's monster species—including their states both before and after death. Beast-type and humanoid monsters generally left corpses after death, elemental creatures disintegrated and returned to their origins, and demons and similar beings were banished back to their original planes before death. The only ones that turned into puddles of water after death were Mud Monsters that had died recently or water elementals, including their ice subspecies.

But the situation before him clearly did not conform to any common sense. Brando slid down the ice wall and came to Medisa's side. He crouched beside the pool of silver liquid and reached out to touch it with his index finger.

The instant his fingertip touched the liquid, he suddenly jerked his hand back as if shocked by electricity. The "mercury" was not viscous. It did not feel like a creature's bodily fluid, but more like an inorganic substance. Yet that was not what put Brando on guard. Rather, the moment his hand entered the liquid, he had felt a faint sense of power draining away.

Brando's hair stood on end. He clearly felt the liquid absorbing his strength, almost as if it possessed a will of its own. "Be careful. There's