Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 535: Bones Dismantling Living Beings?

Ash squinted and said in a low voice.

She is a banshee, more skilled in combat and mind control, and doesn't have much of an advantage in detection; she just sees things a little better than mortals.

"I don't know what those skeletons did; all I saw was that the livestock they touched were dismembered into pieces—not just simple dismemberment, but..."

Ash looked at the railway in the distance, where livestock were torn to pieces.

Complete fragments.

Every bone and every muscle is so perfectly intact, as if the most skilled surgeon had performed the most delicate operation; it is a work of art.

For example, the entire firearm was disassembled into neatly arranged parts.

cocoa.
Ash stared at the neatly arranged cows spread out on the ground, so exquisitely crafted, yet she felt a chill run down her spine.

That distorted beauty delivers an extreme impact, making people feel uncomfortable even just by looking at it.

Ash looked away, glanced at her companion standing beside her, and suddenly frowned.

She inexplicably found these people to be ugly.

The muscles and bones are pieced together in a way that is utterly devoid of aesthetic appeal, and even just looking at it is unsettling. It would be better if they were taken apart and laid out neatly on the ground.

Ash suddenly opened his eyes wide, shook his head vigorously, took a few steps back, and pressed himself against the train wall.

The cold steel restored some of her clarity.

"Don't stare at those bones for too long, it will distort your perception!"

Ash said, panting heavily, and the surrounding expeditionary force members all gasped.

Even Ash's will has been twisted?

Ashe has always been synonymous with strength, both physically and mentally. Banshees are inherently difficult to shake in their beliefs, and Ashe is one of the most steadfast among them.

“How can we help you, Lord Ash?” Hodge asked worriedly.

"No need, I can recover on my own in a while. This place is too far from Castel, and with the symbiotic contract holding me back, I'm not in good condition."

Ash leaned against the carriage, her voice unusually weak.

The banshees who come here take turns every three days, otherwise the life force extracted by the symbiotic contract will greatly weaken their combat power. Today is her last day of staying, and she just happened to encounter this trouble.

“Those bones have risen again! No, I mean, those animals, they’ve come back to life!” Gwen’s voice startled everyone in the carriage, and they looked out hesitantly.

The livestock, which had just been broken up and scattered all over the ground, are now changing again.

The flesh decayed rapidly, turning into a disgusting mass of pus, while the bones became translucent. Then, with a tremor, they slowly pieced themselves back together.

Soon, a "cow" made of white bones stood up.

It took a few steps forward on its four hooves, raised its skeletal bull head, and slowly looked at the train in this direction.

Da da da da da!
A gunshot rang out, and the bullet accurately shattered the bone cow into pieces.

Then, shrouded in mist, it miraculously began to recover again.

It didn't take long for it to stand up again, but this time it didn't look so much like a "cow".

The bones that were originally in harmony seemed to have some errors when they were pieced together. Some fragments were joined with other parts that should not have been connected, making the whole "cow" look crooked and twisted, like a painter's hasty practice.

On the train, Gwen slowly stopped cranking the wheel. "These bones will guide the fog forward, and they will regenerate within the fog after being shattered."

The carriage fell silent for a moment, and a terrifying thought slowly surfaced in people's minds.

"At this rate, the White Disaster will soon sweep south and cover the entire continent, won't it?"

Hodge's mind was in turmoil. He subconsciously began to calculate how long it would take for the White Disaster to reach Castel, and soon came to an answer that he could not accept at all.

“We need to stop the White Catastrophe.” Hodge clenched his fist.

Castel was a very important place to him, and he was determined to protect her no matter what.

“Our train alone is not enough. We must get the message to the camp in the North as soon as possible. Lord Alexei will have a solution!” Hodge turned to look at the expeditionary force not far away. Their faces showed tension and fear, but their eyes were filled with the same determination.

"Forget about these bones, full speed ahead! Let the stoker and the steam engine have a good talk. Castells—no, the future of the entire continent—may be in our hands!"

The expeditionary force left the carriages silently but quickly, running to various parts of the train to relay orders. Everyone knew that the White Raven Kingdom had been destroyed by the White Disaster, and now they needed to race against time.

Soon, the steam engine at the front of the vehicle began to hum, the flywheel spun rapidly, and the entire vehicle accelerated to its maximum speed amidst clanging sounds.

The steam and water vapor, mixed with the thick smoke from the combustion, rose together from the chimney at the front of the train, forming a long line.

Behind them, the skeletons relentlessly pursued them, along with the white mist they dragged behind.

If viewed from directly above, it would look like flying a kite, with the train carrying the White Calamity of the entire North, like a rising kite, gradually enveloping the entire land.

Hodge paced rapidly through the carriage, his heart sinking deeper with each report from the sentry.

"A group of white bones has appeared on the east side!"

"There's one to the left front too!"

"Another large group appeared behind them!"

"What direction? Damn it, they have directions for every minute!"

Finally, Hodge climbed onto the front of the train and looked around through the observation window of the machine gun bunker.

That was truly a magnificent sight—

On the wasteland, the train, like a fish, weaves through a net of countless skeletons.

Behind the skeletons was a wall of mist as high as a mountain peak, like a tsunami.

"They're everywhere, both east and west, and the north is boundless, but the south is the only place without them. These white calamities and skeletons must have come from the north, either from the vicinity of the Canary Mountains or from the Principality of the White Ravens further north."

Hodge's face was grim as he looked at the soldier beside him: "How far are those bones from us?"

"The closest one is almost at the target we dropped earlier, at 3,000 km/h!"

"Get all machine gun positions ready to fire. Open fire immediately once within range!"

The skeletons appeared too quickly. Just a few hours ago, there were only small, scattered groups of skeletons chasing after them, but now there were more and more of them. Hodge had a feeling that they had planned this all along, but the inexplicable reminder that appeared made the expeditionary force set off ahead of schedule, disrupting their plans.

"Thank goodness there's no White Catastrophe blocking the railway; if that thing got in, it would be a death sentence," Hodge sighed.

"Report! A group of skeletons ahead! Right in front of us, on the railway tracks!!!" The sentry on the roof suddenly screamed, interrupting his exclamation.

(End of this chapter)