The direction turned northwest.
The main road narrowed.
The air changed.
The temperature slowly dropped.
Their breath began to form white mist.
Faint scratches appeared on the Copper Plate beneath their feet.
Claw marks.
Lu Yuan stopped and crouched to inspect them.
They were fresh.
Something had passed through here.
Lu Yuan stood up.
Gray-White Text flickered at the edge of his vision.
[Environmental Perception: Contamination concentration rising... Please remain vigilant...]
Lu Yuan stopped and raised his left fist.
The team halted.
Everyone quieted their breathing.
He looked into the darkness ahead.
The Marching Lamp could not reach the end.
Darkness swallowed the light twenty meters away.
Silence.
Too silent.
Then they heard it.
In the distance.
A faint sound.
The sound of something dragging its feet across copper.
Scrape... scrape, scrape...
Not one.
Many.
But they did not approach.
They remained in the darkness beyond the Marching Lamp's reach, keeping their distance.
As if they were waiting for something.
Boer leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"What do we do?"
"Not sure. There seem to be quite a few."
Boer did not ask again. The safety on his Short Shotgun was already off.
Wolf stepped forward and stood beside Lu Yuan.
Dark red heat radiated from his body.
He said nothing.
He merely watched the darkness ahead.
Everyone watched the darkness ahead.
The scraping did not stop.
Nor did it draw closer.
The team continued forward.
Lu Yuan lowered his Revolver and signaled them to advance slowly.
The scraping continued in the darkness ahead.
But it never came closer.
Firelight had already begun to flicker around Wolf's body.
A layer of Heinrich's Holy Light Inscription lit up, golden-white radiance spreading out to illuminate the space beyond the Marching Lamp's reach.
The light revealed something.
At the first