The experimental area is located on the first basement level of the church.
A bearded priest was startled by the explosion from above and instinctively sharpened the long blade that had Alienation in his right hand.
He did not choose to go to the ground to fight the invaders; he had a more important mission.
As Bishop Yiden's confidant, he had to protect the experimental area at this critical moment. Its value was far greater than it appeared. In addition to the experimental subjects imprisoned underground, there were also a large number of tree species, seedlings, even human flesh and blood, as well as the research data that Yiden valued most.
Suddenly, he remembered a small incident from a few days ago—
Was that three or four days ago?
That was the day the bishop ordered the disfigured man to be thrown into the dungeon.
After dealing with that man, did he lock the trapdoor?
I can't remember!
The man felt a chill run down his spine and quickly walked to the trapdoor a few steps behind him, bending down to look.
Fortunately, the specially made padlock was still hanging where it should be.
Phew, I was just overthinking it.
Just as the man was about to look back towards the laboratory door, a blade with a professionally heat-treated surface swiftly emerged from the gap in the wooden planks of the trapdoor, piercing through a palm-thick piece of wood and embedding itself deeply in his side.
"Well..."
The middle-aged priest uttered a voice tinged with doubt and pain.
Before he could react, a second knife emerged from another crack in the wood. However, because he was only leaning forward and not completely pressed against the trapdoor, the blow only pierced the skin of his left chest, not his heart.
Having been stabbed twice in succession, the middle-aged priest was no fool. He forcefully stabbed his right hand, which Alienation into a long blade, into the ground, using it to prop up his torso, which had been stabbed in two places, and forcibly pulled out the two daggers.
The moment he regained his balance, his long blade was already stabbing towards the trapdoor.
Although we don't know where those experimental subjects got their daggers from, this farce should end!
Feeling the resistance from the long blade, he knew he had killed one of the test subjects.
But it doesn't matter anymore. Although they are precious, they lost all value the moment they raised their knives against me.
The priest drew his longsword and heard the expected dull thud of a body hitting the ground, a sound exactly like the one he had made when he threw the man down that day.
The middle-aged priest clutched his abdomen and leaned against the wall. The injury was not fatal, but it brought back a long-lost pain, and he needed a moment to recover.
Fortunately, the test subjects below should already be dead; we must report to His Holiness the Bishop immediately.
But things didn't end as he expected. With the stab of his long blade, a long gash appeared on the trapdoor.
The next moment, the axe blade followed the cut he made and passed through the trapdoor, then quickly withdrew.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth...
The knife mark quickly turned into a huge hole for the head to pass through, and then a ferocious face poked out from the broken board. The bloody [Zhong De] looked at the somewhat bewildered middle-aged priest fiercely, showed a kind smile and greeted:
"Here's Johnny!"
The wooden door burst open, and the players filed out on the ladders, instantly cornering the priest who hadn't even realized what was happening.
The priest's combat strength is actually not low, but after all, not everyone is an elevator god of war.
"Brothers, kill him!"
[ Zhongde ] shouted and swung his pickaxe, adding:
"We've already checked [it 'Easily Soluble in Water ], these beasts won't die that easily, everyone avoid vital organs and cut them down with confidence!"
"Yes, boss!"
The players charged at the priest with screams, while the priest was still completely bewildered by the situation.
What about the experimental subjects?
What about those emaciated, abused, and missing limb experimental subjects?
How did they turn into a bunch of burly men?!
Confused by the current situation, the middle-aged priest was pinned to the ground by players who pounced on him like hungry tigers. The candlelight in the experimental area flickered, and the Shadow of tools such as axes, pickaxes, and saws fell on him.
The battle in the basement lasted less than a minute before it was over.
Objectively speaking, the priests of the Tree Worship Church were indeed very strong, but firstly, [ Zhongde ]'s side launched a sneak attack, and secondly, [ Zhongde ] and his group were outnumbered nine to one. As the saying goes, even a novice can defeat a master with a flurry of punches. The priests of the Tree Worship Church used all their skills, but in the end, they only suffered more pain for nothing.
With the cognitive filter of Ed's beta version, those bizarre scenes that were originally terrifying enough to give people nightmares and the unlimited amounts of blood have become acceptable to players.
Under the players' friendly shouts and cries of the axe, the priest responsible for guarding the basement quickly became a lifeless, limp corpse.
"Boss, what should he do?"
Although the tone and form of address between [ Concrete Mixed with Spaghetti ] and [ Zhongde ] remained unchanged, the feeling they gave off had shifted from civil engineering junior and senior to mafia hitman and mafia boss.
Looking at the groaning, groaning human stump on the ground, [ Zhongde ] took out a small bundle of rope from the large pocket of his coat.
"Of course we can't just leave him here. What if someone rescues him? Help me tie him to me."
"Okay!"
Just as the two players took the rope and were about to tie the stick in front of them into a backpack, everyone suddenly stumbled.
Looking at the tabletop beside them, which was beginning to sway due to inertia, and the flickering candlelight, the players all had some guesses. One of them shouted:
"It's an earthquake!"
Why are there earthquakes in the game?!
[ Zhongde ] leaned against the wall and subconsciously asked a question, and then he saw an incredibly terrifying scene unfold before him.
The church in White Wax Town is constructed entirely of stone, including both the ground floor and a basement where the secret experiments took place.
At that moment, everyone saw, illuminated by the candlelight, strange-looking roots and slender vines emerging from the cracks in the ground. Almost instantly, those roots pinpointed the priest's location.
The priest, who had been half-dead, suddenly opened his eyes wide, his gaze now bloodshot, and looked pleadingly at the group of enemies before him.
"No, no! Your Excellency! No!"
Amidst the bewilderment of the crowd, the roots of the Boston Ivy pierced the man's flesh, and the branches climbed up his body. The stone that made up the basement floor of the church seemed to have turned into fluid in the past ten seconds, and the players watched as the seriously injured priest sank into the ground.
However, after devouring the priest, the players were horrified to discover that the Boston Ivy on the ground and around them not only did not disappear, but began to grow continuously.