After the blue light faded, Chen Rui found himself in another teleportation array.
A forest lay before him. Beneath his feet, a flagstone path led deep into the woods. Hazy white mist drifted everywhere, and visibility was poor.
This should be Doom Swamp, the infamous perilous region of Nightmare Plain. The hand-drawn map given to him by the human merchant contained little detail about this area, merely marking its approximate location and adding the four-word warning: "Extremely dangerous."
Chen Rui had come to Doom Swamp in person, while his clone Shura had gone to meet Bonite in the dwarf forest, escorting Ina and the others, along with the unicorn White Wind, out of Nightmare Swamp. Ina's ship would take White Wind back to Emerald Forest. As for Bonite, who was very likely a member of the Hall of Saints of the Blue Radiance Empire, Chen Rui had no desire to have much to do with him—especially since Chen Rui was one of the Church of Light's "most wanted criminals." One misstep could implicate Ina, Lucio, and even Samuel.
The most urgent matter was to immediately rescue the half-elf girl, who might have been designated as the sacrifice for some ritual.
Six three-meter-tall statues stood on either side of the stone path near the teleportation array. Their forms were extraordinarily bizarre: each had two upper bodies and clutched sharp blades, looking savage and uncanny.
The six statues gave Chen Rui a strangely familiar feeling. As he passed them, dim crimson light suddenly shot from their eyes, and they came alive.
Only then did the Analytical Eye display their information: Black Iron Golem, overall strength assessment: C. Analysis: damage reduction attribute, sensory detection nullification.
So they were the Black Iron Golems he had once seen in the underwater Land of Hatred! No