Blind combat

Morola, fifth floor of the Knowledge Church.

An enforcer dressed in a black cloak stood at the window, gazing at the entrance to the behemoth-like Underground Mausoleum.

His eyes reflected Lumian's figure as he descended the Gray-White stone steps.

Somewhere in Morola, Albus Medici also stood by the window, but his eyes reflected not the buildings a dozen meters away, but the Cemetery and Lumian's figure, which were completely out of sight from this street.

"Shall we begin?" the Descendants of the "Red Angel" chuckled.

Blindfolded, Lumian moved slowly through the darkness, following the markers on the map in his mind, toward the "Abscessed Severed Hand" head he sensed.

"This is the end, I need to turn left... It really is exactly the same as the example diagram in the book..." Lumian stretched out his right hand, which was not holding the Carbide Lamp, and touched something cold and hard.

That should be a wall.

He then turned left, walked a short distance, and stopped.

He felt that the head of the "Abscessed Severed Hand" was only two or three meters away to his right, and the surroundings were so quiet that there was not a sound.

Lumian turned his body to the side and tried to reach out his right palm in that direction, but he still touched the cold, hard wall.

"Behind the wall? Hmm, according to the example diagram, there should be a room behind this, and the door is five meters ahead..." Although Lumian couldn't see it, the importance of knowledge became apparent in this situation.

He counted his steps and walked to what should be the door. He reached out and touched it, and sure enough, it was Wooden Planks.

Lumian fumbled for the Handle, gently turned it, and pushed open the slightly ajar door.

At the same time, he muttered to himself:

"Albus just casually tossed it, and it landed the Severed-Hand Brother's head in this spot?"

"Even a bouncy ball shouldn't be able to bounce this far. Although it's not far from the entrance, there are two turns, and the door is closed..."

"Was the door closed later?"

Lumian became increasingly vigilant, listening intently to the sounds behind the door.

There wasn't a sound.

He slowly, very slowly, walked into the room, heading towards the corner where the special connection was incredibly clear and the stench of decay continued to emanate.

His right hand reached into the "Traveler’s Bag," ready to draw the "Sword of Courage" at any moment, while his left hand, holding the Carbide Lamp, stretched forward and touched the head of the "Abscessed Severed Hand."

The head was positioned too high, not on the ground as Lumian had expected, but rather on some kind of shelf.

The next second, Lumian's fist touched something slippery, wet, and wriggling slightly.

Five cold, finger-like objects instantly gripped Lumian's left fist.

Lumian's scalp tingled.

Encountering something like this when it's invisible to the naked eye is twice as terrifying, no, four or five times more Library.

He had no idea what this thing was!

He could only be certain that this was not the head of the "Abscessed Severed Hand"; it was just a head!

With a whoosh, Lumian ignited a Blazing White Flames in his left fist.

Instead of retreating, his fist advanced, relying on a sudden, short burst of speed, and struck the five objects that resembled fingers with a crisp crack.

Boom!

The violent explosion ripped open the slippery, wet "fingers," and Lumian immediately used the Black Mark on his right shoulder, which was already in a semi-activated state, to Flash behind the thing that resembled the head of the "Abscessed Severed Hand."

"Snort!"

Lumian exhaled two beams of white light from his nostrils.

He felt he had hit the target.

He didn't have time to wait for the other person to fall unconscious. His left fist, gripping the Carbide Lamp and Burning with Flames, suddenly slammed out, while his right palm was ready to grasp the "Sword of Courage" and draw it out at any moment.

Bang!

Lumian struck as if he had hit a piece of dead but resilient wood, directly igniting the accumulated Flames power.

Boom!

The raging wind and waves pushed the slippery, wet "wood" forward a distance.

Then, the thing stopped moving and didn't make a thud when it fell to the ground.

Lumian cautiously transformed into a Blazing White Flame Spear and swiftly gave chase.

He felt himself pass through withered trees filled with rust and flesh, and amidst the pungent stench, land in front of the "Abscessed Severed Hand" head.

During this process, he encountered no obstruction or substantial counterattack.

"Is that all?" Lumian, who was completely invisible, felt a little uneasy.

He kept his right palm inside the "Traveler's Bag," held the handle of the Carbide Lamp in his mouth, stretched out his left hand diagonally upwards, and was ready to activate the Contract Ability of "Spirit World Traversal" at any moment.

In the frozen atmosphere, Lumian touched limp, slimy chunks of flesh, and greasy, disgusting clumps of "Weeds."

"This should be Severed-Hand Brother's hair... nothing else is unusual..." Lumian mustered his courage and continued to feel around.

Soon, he felt something that resembled a rotting neck, and then he felt a "shoulder" with obvious wounds.

Shoulder... Lumian was still startled, even though he was somewhat prepared.

Surely it's not like a body sprouted from a head that Abscessed Severed Hand?

After waiting a few seconds and not receiving a sudden attack, Lumian raised his left hand, grasped the clump of "Weeds" that looked like hair, and pulled it towards himself.

As he gradually increased his strength, a reluctant "pop" sound, like a cork being pulled out, rang out in front of him.

Lumian's center of gravity suddenly shifted, as if his strength had fallen into empty air.

He ripped the target's head off!

Almost simultaneously, Lumian's right hand, which was inside the "Traveler's Bag," sensed that the two Corpse of the "Abscessed Severed Hand" were moving, but they could not break through the spatial Barrier. They could only wriggle closer to each other, slowly pushing aside piles of debris.

"This is the head of the Severed-Hand Brother... Then who was it that tried to 'shake hands' with me just now?" Scenes flashed through Lumian's mind:

Those were heads flying with bloodied Spine, and headless Corpse chasing after them...

"There are similar headless Corpse in the Underground Mausoleum that seals '0-01,' and one of them mistook the Severed-Hand Brother's head for its own and put it on its neck? No wonder Albus just casually threw it around and the Severed-Hand Brother's head 'ran' here..." Lumian quickly made a guess, finding the matter both Jester and horrifying.

If the combination of the headless Corpse and the "Abscessed Severed Hand" head were allowed to persist for another six months to a year, something terrible might happen...

Lumian didn't dare put the head of the "Abscessed Severed Hand" into the "Traveler’s Bag," as that would inevitably cause the body parts to Aggregation, summoning the "Abscessed Severed Hand" and completing its reconstruction. Lumian wanted to do that after meeting Julie, Sallys, or Albus and Vanak.

He carried the "Abscessed Severed Hand" head and the Carbide Lamp used for decoration in his left hand, preparing to leave the room.

Suddenly, Lumian sensed something and shrank his right shoulder.

He felt something was trying to take his picture.

But once he moved away, everything around him became quiet and still.

Instantly, Blazing White Flames erupted from Lumian's body, expanding in a spherical shape and spreading out in all directions.

This ignited the thing that originally housed the "Abscessed Severed Hand" head.

Without being able to see, Lumian didn't dwell on figuring out what had just tried to pat his shoulder. Instead, by recalling the previous battle, he quickly determined his current location and the direction he was facing.

Then, he walked steadily back to the door and went out, acting as if he could see every single detail of the place.

Having finally obtained the head of the "Abscessed Severed Hand," Lumian felt a little more confident. Based on the three-dimensional map formed in his mind, he headed towards the bottom of the Underground Mausoleum was crowded with Soldier Puppets.

With layers of white Bandage Entanglement his eyes, he would sometimes turn right, sometimes walk forward, sometimes go down the stairs, and sometimes grope his way to open doors, whether heavy or simple.

He didn't forget to activate the Brass Charm in Ancient Hermetic, using one ear to learn and the other to monitor the surroundings.

As he walked, a ball of Flames suddenly condensed in Lumian's right palm, which he flung to the side and forward, transforming into a Burning Straight Sword.

It seemed like it had struck something, yet it also felt like an illusion.

Lumian didn't try to maintain the Flames Straight Sword, letting it go out, nor did he try to figure out whether what he had just encountered was a real event or an overreaction caused by his heightened mental tension and loss of vision.

Although none of the knowledge he possessed had been explicitly stated, his previous experience allowed him to vaguely grasp a key point:

In Underground Mausoleum, whatever you take as real, it may very well become real!

Unless there is any real danger to oneself, it is best to treat the potential danger as non-existent!

After climbing another flight of stairs, Lumian suddenly felt himself being watched by a series of gazes.

In that instant, he had the urge to rip off the Bandage on his face to see what was going on.

A drop of cold liquid landed on the back of his left hand.

It was a little sticky, but Lumian didn't smell any blood.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter, the cold "water droplets" increased in number and speed, like a sudden rainstorm.

Inside the Mausoleum, some 20 to 30 meters above the ground, a sudden downpour began.

What the hell is going on? What does the surrounding area look like...? The book only mentioned that there was a large hall here, and that going straight would lead to the exit, but it didn't give a specific layout or say anything special about the hall... Lumian endured the soaking "rain" and took a step forward with his right foot under the watchful eyes of countless people.

Thump!

The sound of drums suddenly rang out, as if striking Lumian's heart, making him feel an urge to vomit blood.

Knock knock knock!

The drumbeats grew clearer and more intense.

Lumian also vaguely heard a soft, ticklish chuckle.