At last, Firefly gradually broke into a run, heading for the main hall of Oak Mansion.
A thick, dark-red substance began to seep from the corridor walls, giving off a strange stench of cloying sweetness mixed with decay.
Along the way, she saw many phantom images of Doomsday Beasts embedded in the walls and floor, like fossils, or perhaps creatures asleep. Their shells reflected a cold gleam beneath a faint light from nowhere.
"Such numbers... Could Gofemwood's plan already be coming true?"
"Impossible..." Firefly dismissed the thought and quickened her pace.
If it had already succeeded, this place would not be so quiet. The Swarm would have long since erupted into frenzy.
Gradually, the path ahead grew ever redder, as though soaked in blood.
The air turned hot and humid, while spore-like motes drifted through the darkness.
After passing a mural depicting an idyllic pastoral scene, though most of it had already been covered by a dark-red fungal carpet, Firefly arrived at a guest room overgrown with bizarre red plants.
Everything in the room—the tables and chairs, the bed, the dressing table—was covered by those crimson plants, which wriggled slowly as though alive, their surfaces webbed with veins. More glowing spores floated in the air.
Firefly frowned slightly and held her breath, yet she still shoved open the half-rotted wooden door without hesitation and charged out.
Along the way, more and more words appeared across the Eroded walls and floor, written in a frenzied hand:
[To live toward death?]
[Bestowed with the secret of the Stellaron, seize the Propagation Pathstrider.]
[I shall use this to recreate the Great Cosmic Plague and welcome the descent of the divine master.]
At last, she burst through the final mass of Entangled red roots and arrived at the Oak Hall.
The space here was