novelraw Chapter 900: They Want War
Chapter 900: They Want War
The faint scraping and rustling faded as a writhing figure hauled itself onto the ledge.
Amidst the ceaseless moans of pain ringing in his ears, Lu Li drew a sharp dagger and raised his bleeding hand. Through the mangled, indistinct flesh of his palm, stretched so taut it couldn't close, he could make out a distant cliff from which shards of rock and lava were crumbling.
Lu Li tore his shirt, wrapped the strips of cloth around his palm, and pulled them tight. Then he turned and set foot on the stairs.
Sprawled on the cold stone steps and breathing heavily, the knight Vino gritted his teeth and tried to get up, but was pulled back by the weight of his thigh armor.
— Exorcist, you can't leave...!
He raised a trembling, bleeding hand, fumbling to unstrap his thigh armor as he yelled, but could only watch as the staggering figure ascended the nearly ruined stairs and gradually faded from view.
Tremors still echoed from deep within the earth at a steady frequency, but they were no longer overwhelming. An intact section of the Spiral Hall clung to existence, and anomalies began to emerge from the rocky offshoots, peering down at the collapsing level below.
Vile, rotting creatures with twisted bodies oozed pus, sniffing the air with protruding snouts. Guided by hunger and the scent of blood, they drew near to Lu Li.
Boom—
The deafening blast made the anomalies think another collapse had begun. They scattered, ducking back into the rocky offshoots. The acrid smell of gunpowder wafted from the pistol’s barrel. The hideous monster’s face was shredded, and it collapsed with a pitiful cry, writhing on the ground.Lu Li lowered his bloodstained hand and reached into his pocket with his left. He briefly caressed something inside before pulling out a small wooden box and flicking it open with his thumb.
The eyeball lying in the box quivered with the vibrations.
The monster with the shattered face didn't die at once; it continued to scream pitifully, its wound sizzling and smoking as it struggled.
Lu Li couldn't fire another shot to end its suffering, as he had lost the rest of his bullets during the escape.
However, the monster's gruesome state kept the greedy scavengers at bay. But as soon as the monster finally stopped struggling, a tiny, firefly-like spark of humanity flowed into Lu Li. The anomalies watching from afar began to creep forward again—only to retreat once more.
A tall silhouette appeared a few steps above Lu Li.
— Bring all the believers, — Lu Li said to the Trader, Antoni.
He vanished as quietly as he had appeared.
The strange Trader's presence had made the cowardly, greedy anomalies retreat, but the respite was short-lived. Another gaunt, underdeveloped, dwarfish corpse-eater drew near to Lu Li.
Lu Li, however, holstered his spirit pistol, his calm black eyes gazing at the space behind the dwarfish corpse-eater.
An unintelligible, prayer-like muttering whispered past. Then, sharp claws suddenly seized the dwarfish corpse-eater's thin neck. An indescribable darkness erupted, surging over the creature before melting away.
The flowing darkness, like a shadow startled by light, dissipated without a trace.
Over thirty robed figures prostrated themselves low on the stone steps, like a black wave kneeling before Lu Li.
The greedy, malevolent gazes from all around were no longer fixed on them.
Wagging his tail and carrying Elder Sister on his back, Prusius emerged from the crowd of prostrated believers:
— Miss Ofelia and Mr. John?
Lu Li accepted a cloak from one of the crawling believers and draped it over his shoulders. Elder Sister deftly leaped onto his shoulder, scrambled into the hood, did a somersault inside, and then peeked her head out.
— Ofelia and John are on the seventh level. Find them, — Lu Li told the believers, then glanced back at the precipice of the sixth level:
— Escort that man back to the Central Station of Midnight.
A portion of the believers split off, while the rest surrounded Lu Li and ascended the steps of the Spiral Hall, moving away from the source of the tremors.
The pressure eased as they neared the surface, but as they climbed the final step, a suffocating feeling washed over them.
— What's happening...
Prusius retreated anxiously behind Lu Li; the surrounding robed figures offered little comfort.
The main street before them was silent. Not a single silhouette moved; there were only the oil lamps in front of shops and alchemical plates flickering with fluorescent light.
But this profound strangeness was not entirely silent; secretive, indistinct gazes ignited in the buildings on both sides of the main street, their numbers growing.
The deeper they ventured down the street, the denser the gazes became, and the more the oppressive, sinister atmosphere intensified. It felt as if one could lose their mind at any moment from the dead noise.
Every story has an end, every play a final curtain. And there, they found the source of this strange spectacle.
A short, gaunt lawkeeper was waiting for them, his head thrown back in a fanatical, crazed scream:
— My Lord declares this a great moment!
— The Lord of my Lord has passed down a divine revelation!
— Begin the war against the deep layers!
— Slaughter! Conquest! Order!
— You! You will be the beginning!
The lawkeeper’s contorted, deformed neck slowly twisted back into place. He panted heavily, drool dripping from his mouth, and stared intently at Lu Li:
— I hear... you were attacked on the lower level... is that right?
An outward silence fell over the street.
But countless eyes watched from the houses. A quiet wind carried faint, indistinct scents. Hideous eyes opened on the cliff faces, and twisted scraps of paper stretched out from dilapidated huts.
The anomaly leaders who occupied the deep layers were all watching what was happening here.
They, too, were listening.
Lu Li seemed to have found himself in a situation more complicated than the Deep God's commission.
Behind the lawkeeper's frail, gaunt body, the Dark Twins seemed to loom, casting their shadows over him.
They wanted to use Lu Li to start a war against the deep layers.
The choice between order and chaos seemed obvious, but either way, the ants would be crushed.
— What happened below was just an accident, — Lu Li replied.
The lawkeeper tried to snarl in anger, the corners of his mouth stretching wide, but something stopped him, and he sank into a strange calm.
— You will regret this decision. Soon.
The lawkeeper slowly retreated and disappeared into the depths of the dim, silent street.
Lu Li remained where he was.
He remained on the main street, surrounded by seething anomalies.
A rough grinding of stone was heard, and a silhouette shrouded in rock crashed down from the top of the cliff, scattering shards.
— Give... it...
The blood soaking his bandages was slowly turning into a dark yellow, stone-like substance. Beneath the wrappings, a dense, grinding pain, like rubbing sand, emanated from his wound.
— I have no Anomaly Currency, — Lu Li frowned, pulling up his hood, no longer looking at whatever was slowing the deformation of his wound.
— Then... we'll take... you...
— You are making a deal with the devil, — Lu Li said, enduring the transformation of his wound. — And the devil, as humans say, is a creature without honor. He never keeps his promises.
— Do you really believe a human can get the Anomaly Currency?
— And I prevented the deep layers from plunging into war.
— That is... a great pity, — the stone anomaly rasped with regret.
— I have a clear objective, and the powers behind me crave the Ancient God's eyeball. Why else would a human appear in the deep layers? Bring me the eyeball of the Ancient God, and the currency will be yours.
The stone anomaly contemplated this slowly.
— You have other competitors, — Lu Li added.
— Every second you waste increases the chance that the Ancient God's eyeball and the Anomaly Currency will fall into the hands of other beings.
Lu Li's calm whisper lent his words an air of credibility. The stone anomaly was convinced. It rasped out a threat and disappeared into the ground.
— Are we safe? — Prusius asked fearfully.
— Why didn't you tell the lawkeeper the truth?
Lu Li raised his black eyes, but before he could answer, the ground beneath his feet suddenly swelled and erupted. A gigantic, house-sized paw burst forth.