Ark Undead

"Don't you guys consider the load-bearing capacity or anything? It's so open down there."

"There is no need for the special envoy to worry about this. Our architects are professionals and have made proper security preparations in this regard."

The man led W to the center of the warehouse and took two steps back.

He signaled to W that he could begin.

So W took out the crystal block he had obtained from the absolutist.

She pressed the small button on the crystal block, which immediately split into eight pieces and began to gradually disintegrate.

The crystal shards left a mark on W's hand for a moment. W placed it on the ground and took a few steps back.

The black, viscous substance at the center of the crystal block transformed into black smoke and patterns after the crystal disintegrated, spreading outwards in concentric circles from the center of the ground.

If that were all, it would be fine; the man wouldn't think there was anything wrong with it.

But soon he realized something was wrong.

The smoke seemed to resonate with some substance inside the warehouse.

The sound of shattering glass kept emanating from the boxes inside the warehouse.

Puffs of black smoke billowed out from the scattered boxes around the warehouse and gathered in the center.

W and the man surnamed Xu immediately realized that this was not a portal at all; it was clearly something akin to a demonic seed.

Moreover, this enormous demonic seed also attracted other demonic seeds that had been hidden here by special means.

The mortal's dwelling hides a demonic seed, and not just one!

What W did wasn't opening a portal; she directly released a switch for a demonic seed on the spot!

By gathering all the demonic fragments gathered here, the gate to the abyss was opened.

"What exactly did you do?!"

After the man realized something was wrong, he immediately questioned W.

"This isn't a portal at all!"

"This is what the King meant; without a doubt, it is the portal."

Although W was lying through her teeth, she had actually been mentally prepared for this; Greyhound had warned her that something was wrong with this thing.

The ever-spreading black smoke gradually condensed into a circle, and from the very center of the black circular mist, a crack appeared.

It's hard to describe what was leaking out of the crack; it looked like black light, but how could there be light in black?

W and the man's intuition and feelings seemed to have become distorted; they involuntarily frowned and felt physical discomfort.

"Do you have a way to stop this thing?"

Why do we need to stop?

W shrugged, indicating that he couldn't do anything about it.

The strange black light leaking from the crack in the center of the circle spread out again, as if to dye the present world with a pitch-black hue.

Then, a hand reached out from the crack.

Crack.

Like a torn piece of glass, the crack was broken apart by this hand, torn off piece by piece, and casually thrown into the air beside it.

Once those fragments are torn off, they will continue to pollute the surrounding reality, causing the entire black ring to expand further.

Until you can get past the first person.

“The will of our king has been proclaimed in the Great Yan. You have done well, W.”

A kind and loving voice rang out, and a tall, thin figure emerged from behind it.

He was wearing a black robe and holding a cane with two lifelike snakes coiled at its tip.

W was all too familiar with these people; they were the group of pardoners who had entrusted her with this task.

However, the pardoner in front of me seemed to be a bit special. The fingers holding his cane did not have human-like skin, but rather the withered shell and joints of an arthropod.

W lowered her head, knelt on the ground, took out the things the greyhound had given her, and held them above her head.

"Sir, this is what Greyhound asked me to give you."

Greyhound?

The pardoner's tone was surprised, but it was clear that he knew Greyhound.

The pardoner flicked his fingers twice, and the box in W's hand floated into his hand out of thin air and opened automatically.

After seeing the crystal inside, the absolutioner chuckled softly twice.

"Heh heh... Very good, it seems he hasn't forgotten our mission after all."

The laughter sounded like the chirping of insects, sparse and infrequent, not a sound that human organs could produce.

The man was dumbfounded. He had thought that the troops W mentioned were normal people like them, but he never expected that a creepy guy would come.

"And who are you?! What did Theresis send you here for?!"

Before he could finish speaking, a limb that had sprung out of his black robe pierced his chest.

Only then did W see the true shape of the limbs.

Those were arms made of insect-like carapaces, extremely long and with a grayish-white sheen.

After being pierced by that arm, the man surnamed Xu was dragged back to the pardoner's side amidst screams, and wrapped in a black robe that suddenly opened up.

The black robe writhed, making a creaking sound much like the ripping and tearing of leaves by hungry insects.

However, this leaf was made of real flesh and blood, and the flesh and bones were crushed, but the black robe was like a bottomless pit, absorbing it all.

In just a few seconds, the Sarkaz completely disappeared, and even the bloodstains on the ground were greedily swallowed up by the black mist, leaving no trace.

W felt nauseous at the sight, and her brain was preventing her from thinking any further; just seeing these things caused her to have frantic thoughts.

"Ha... a body of flesh and blood, not even a soul can reside within it. It's nothing more than delicious food."

The absolutioner's black robes returned to calm, and he turned to W, praising him once more.

“You have done well, W. The King will not mistreat those who have made contributions. Once this matter is settled, you will return to Kazdel and you will surely have earned some credit.”

"Thank you... thank you, Master."

W was almost speechless.

So this is what Greyhound meant when he said the portal was faulty.

That wasn't for teleporting the troops brought by W at all. It was for directly deploying their own forces from Kazdel to Great Yan!

From the portal behind the pardoner, countless enormous shadows emerged one after another.

They have human faces, but their bodies are bloated like insects. Although they have five fingers, they are withered and have a shell-like appearance and slender limbs.

When they are much larger than normal people, just seeing them can cause panic.

Not only these insect-like monsters, but also many wild beasts that have lost their minds. Yet, their original human structure can still be vaguely discerned.

At that moment, the Pardoner turned around, looked at the portal, and raised his insect-like limbs upwards.

His words were calm, but contained an extreme fanaticism.

Its rhythm, like reciting poetry, is so captivating that one can't help but become immersed in it.

"The coward bows to the flame, seeking a moment of peace. Little do they know that the end of that flame is also an unfathomable abyss?"

"The efforts of a fool are but a drop in the ocean. For the flame that suppresses everything will eventually be swallowed up by the surging darkness."

"Therefore, you need not fear the darkness, for the time to feast on food has come."

302. The Imperial Guards Fighting Against the Abyss

W was still underground, watching the Pardoner continue to maintain the portal, and her brain felt an unprecedented tearing sensation.

It wasn't a physical tearing apart, but a blow to the spirit.

It was as if countless voices were whispering in her ears. Her gaze towards the surging insects and monsters gradually became indifferent, as if she were getting used to their presence.

The price, however, was that W's hair began to curl, her face grew paler, and her eyes slowly became cloudy.

But at that moment, a sharp pain erupted from W's thigh wound. The intense pain forcibly pulled W's mind, which was about to become immersed in the experience, back to reality, and the transformation between body and mind was abruptly stopped.

The wound, the one that had pierced W's thigh with a sword a month or two ago, a scar that hadn't fully faded even now, played a crucial role at this moment, allowing W to maintain his human sanity.

"Huh...huh..."

W looked at her thighs in horror, then at her hands and body.

In that false sense of peace and normalcy, she strangely felt her body become lighter, and her hands and legs became longer and thinner. Only her body gradually swelled, expanding like a balloon.

W never wanted to experience that terrifying feeling again, not even once; it was like turning into an insect.

Is this Theresis's army? What kind of monsters did he send over?!

Furthermore, why are there so many hidden demonic seeds beneath the Red Dust Guest?! Does the Si Sui Tai intend to turn the entire Shang Shu into hell?!

These questions swirled in W's mind. But the persistent stinging pain in her thigh pulled her back to reality.

W already had a premonition of what would happen if she stayed here any longer.

Dragging his dizzy head, W rushed towards the emergency exit next to him, trying to escape.

The pardoner also noticed W's little actions, but he just chuckled softly and did not stop him.

"Why should the cowards be afraid? The time to feast has come. Run away, and witness the moment when endless darkness truly descends, when you will all be children of the abyss."

The voice of the pardoner lingered in W's ears. Pushing aside several insects, W squeezed into the stairwell, enduring the eerie sensation of contact with so many large insects, and ran outside.

At this moment, the guests and staff of Hongchenkeli seemed unaware that there was any problem.

They were still working at the pub, at the front desk.

It wasn't until the first scream rang out that everyone realized something had happened.

At the elevator entrance and the stairwell, the Red Dust Guest security guards were being torn apart by slender yet hard insect limbs and fed into the mouth of a face that looked human but had actually become a monster.

As the first group of monsters rushed out of the stairs, the troops working for the Red Dust Travelers were the first to suffer.