Hiruko III

At this moment, a group of twisted, malformed test subjects came into view.

Most of them were based on humanoid torsos wrapped in filthy bandages.

But they had been crudely grafted with the limbs of various beasts—

Some had reverse-jointed hooves, while lizard-like scaled tails protruded from the shoulder blades of others.

Still others had torn faces fused with the compound eyes of insects.

Every pair of pupils boiled with murky killing intent and utter madness, like beasts stripped of all reason.

The moment they spotted the four people in the tunnel, they let out inhuman shrieks and charged forward chaotically.

Tianyi found the group of test subjects before him very strange.

His thoughts raced in a flash.

These test subjects certainly looked grotesque and terrifying.

Their howls and lunges were enough to make ordinary people tremble, but under the insight of his Byakugan—

Their chakra was not only weak, but also chaotic and flickering like candles in the wind—

The strongest was merely at the level of an ordinary Jonin, while the rest hovered between Chunin and Genin.

So weak, yet positioned to block them head-on...

Expendable pawns. The words suddenly crossed his mind.

As if confirming his guess, the body of the foremost test subject, shaped like a many-legged lizard, suddenly began to swell.

As ominous cracks and a scorching red glow appeared across its surface, a sense of danger pierced Tianyi's mind.

They were going to self-destruct! They would use these low-cost, mass-produced test subjects to detonate simultaneously.

They would create destruction across the widest possible area, collapse the passage, and block pursuit.

It had to be Hiruko buying precious time to escape! A classic lizard-tail maneuver.

Sure enough, Tianyi had been right.

"Boom boom boom—!!!"

Violent explosions erupted within the pit, causing rocks overhead to start