Chapter 347 - 142. Plant Meat

Chapter 347: 142. Plant Meat"Xiayat!"

Fisher and Moli hurried through the corridor ahead, and not far off, they faintly heard the urgent sound of galloping hooves—no doubt Xiayat was in that direction.

But the direction they had just come from was restless too, from the second floor of the treasure vault and the area behind them, a multitude of footsteps, dense as drumbeats, resounded continuously, accompanied by the unconscious, inhuman roars and shrieks, like a pure waltz from Hell.

To pinpoint Xiayat’s exact location, Moli called out her name as she ran,

"Xiayat, where are you?!"

"Waaah! Hurry over! Help!"

Xiayat obviously heard Moli’s shouts and responded. Fisher’s gaze flickered, and he pinpointed the direction of the sound,

"Over there."

Captain Blake’s treasure vault wasn’t just a straight corridor leading into darkness; between the corridors, there were complex connecting passages, and Fisher had no idea where these corridors led, but probably each room beside a corridor contained a certain amount of treasure.

After Xiayat made a sound, Fisher suddenly raised his Fluid Sword, because he heard the noise of many Human Worms in the direction where Xiayat’s voice came from.

"Roar!"

The next second, a huge monster burst out from a nearby corridor. Unlike the Human Worms Fisher had encountered before, the Human Worm that appeared in front of Fisher was even more deformed, and it seemed to be made of just two humans.

The monster, with human flesh, was around three meters tall, with two drooping heads, like bells, hanging in the center of the deformed creature, and at the same time, layers of Magic Circuits lit up unconsciously on its body.

The structure of those Magic Circuits was close to Chaos and collapse, like two twisted and entangled circuits, making anyone looking at them feel the shivers in their scalp.

"Is this the same monster we saw before?"

Moli first kicked the monster in front of her to retreat a distance, and then Fisher used the Fluid Sword to split it in two.

"No, it’s not the same as the Human Worms we encountered before, at least the technique to create them is different."

Fisher and Moli watched the monster far away painfully fall into a pool of blood. Still writhing, its body kept merging together—not flesh and blood growing first, but in those separated areas, the keenly perceptive Fisher suddenly saw shadows constantly growing.

Was that... souls?

"Forget about it, let’s go find Xiayat!"

Fisher’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and with time pressing, he didn’t bother with the regenerating monster anymore and continued toward Xiayat.

Originally, there were many rooms around the corridor, but in this direction, there were none, just long, gloomy corridors leading to an unknown depth, and from that depth came continuous sounds of hooves and roars.

Less than three minutes into their sprint, what appeared at the end of the corridor before Fisher and Moli was a vast square. The terrain of the square was high in the middle and low on the sides. In the high middle part, there was a very strangely shaped relic. That relic looked like a tall tree but with many drooping branches that hung down like tentacles.

And beneath that tree, there was an operating table—something a doctor would use—placed there, with a small table beside it, covered with various medical tools like forceps, needles, and thread.

On the lower terrain of the site, a thin layer was paved with a strange mixture of blood and water. In that pool of blood, a group of strange creatures that Fisher and Moli had just seen were chasing after Xiayat, who ran with her eyes closed.

One could see that there were arrows from Xiayat’s bow stuck in the bodies of the monsters behind, indicating that Xiayat had initially tried to fight them but found out they couldn’t be killed, leading to the current "chase" game.

Yet Fisher didn’t see the figure of Lady Anna in her traditional Nali attire—no idea where she had gone.

"Fisher! Moli! Save me! These things can’t be killed!"

Seeing that Xiayat was already panting, one could tell she had been running for a while, and worried she might collapse from exhaustion, Fisher pulled out a magic-etched paper from his pocket and shouted at her,

"Head my way!"

Hearing Fisher’s words, Xiayat immediately turned direction, trampling over a pile of foul-smelling bloody water and ran desperately toward him. Moli, just about to move, discovered that the monster they had knocked down earlier was now catching up.

She paused in her tracks, took a deep breath, and timing her move precisely, she turned around, and her mermaid tail, like a swift racket, sent the monster flying and crashing against the back wall.

Fisher was not idle either. The Spinner, recorded on the paper in his hand, surged out rapidly, and a large amount of transparent threads quickly passed over Xiayat’s body and entangled the monsters chasing her.

Seeing the Spinner bind those monsters, Fisher gave a fierce tug, and like a huge net, he trapped them inside. The large monsters, piled one on top of another, were flung by Fisher to the side.

"Roar..."

Seeing that these things couldn’t be killed for the moment, Fisher could only use magic to imprison them for the time being, while Xiayat finally exhaled in relief, tiredly bringing her galloping steed to a halt.

"Thank heaven, you’ve finally come..."

"Where’s Anna? Isn’t she with you?"

Xiayat stepped onto the higher platform in the middle and then, looking at the corridor ahead, said,

"No, but as I was descending, I heard her voice. She seems to be deeper inside, so I kept calling her while heading this way; somehow, I ended up here, followed by a whole bunch of monsters that can’t be killed..."

Xiayat’s expression was somewhat bitter, but Fisher, looking past her figure, fixed his gaze on the large tree-like relic behind. If he wasn’t mistaken, could this very thing possibly be what Blake had used to create those monsters?

"Hey, wait a minute, I smell the scent of knowledge."

Just as Fisher was preparing to approach the operating table, the Book Knight, who had feigned death during the fight, suddenly flew out of his embrace. Circling around Fisher, the Book Knight hurriedly rushed to the operating table and shouted out to Fisher,

"It’s right here!"

Fisher watched the terrifyingly large tree above with caution, worried it might suddenly lash out. Obviously, though, it seemed to have no desire to attack Fisher and his party, standing quietly in its place.

"Rest easy, this fellow has no attack ability. Its sole function is to maintain the vitality of living beings. To be precise, this is a healing Holy Object known as the Tower of Babel Tree. During my travels, I’ve come across quite a few of these..."

"Healing Holy Object?"

The Book Knight flew to the front of the tree and gently tapped its trunk, resulting in a metallic clang of solidity,

"Yes, indeed. This thing can maintain the vitality of living beings to the utmost, and its effect is very powerful. Put simply, even if you placed a piece of meat in here, it would ensure that you stay alive!"

The more Fisher heard, the more ominous his premonition became. Ignoring the Book Knight buzzing nearby, he slowly approached the operating table, overlooking the surgery tools stained with faint traces of blood. He crouched down and saw under the shelf the "scent of knowledge" that the Book Knight had mentioned.

Actually, it was just a simple piece of parchment paper. Fisher flipped it out deftly and began to read.

Turns out, this parchment wasn’t some mystical tome, but a letter—a letter addressed to Blake. It read,

"Dear Mr. Blake, I have received your reply. Since you have made your decision, please read the following content carefully and perform the steps as I have detailed them to avoid any accidents."

"Life’s traits are diverse and complex; each race, each person has their unique characteristics. If you wish to acquire the traits of other lives, you might consider this method: Plant Meat."

"Plant Meat technology can incorporate any part of any living being into your life, seamlessly. The procedure is complex, but once successful, you will fully share another life’s entirety—their lifespan, abilities, traits."

"You need to prepare the following materials in advance: the relic Tower of Babel Tree and the Soul Comforting Bell. The Soul Comforting Bell might be harder to find, but it shouldn’t be an issue for Captain Blake. The former ensures the vitality of the life and soul of the flesh removed, the latter guarantees no complications after the procedure, especially the latter; please take good care of it."

"However, this technology is still in my experimental stage; even though I’ve conducted some preliminary experiments, the results have been far from ideal. I suspect the lack of relics like the Soul Comforting Bell might be the cause. Should you decide, please reply to my letter and prepare a non-personal Pure Body for me to attempt."

"Good luck, my friend."

The further Fisher read the letter, the more dread filled him, and in that instant, as he looked at those emotionless lines of text, he slowly understood everything...

Plant Meat... Plant Meat!

He quickly crumpled the letter, senderless, into a small ball and stuffed it into his chest, grabbing the Book Knight that was still floating nearby and stuffing it into his pocket.

"What are you doing?! Let go of this book!"

"Shut up, we have to find Blake now."

Upon hearing that they were going to find Blake, the Book Knight shrank considerably, settling back comfortably in the pocket.

This was Emhardt’s choice to hide, not Fisher Benavides forcing himself to hide—the difference between the two was vast as the Sky from Hell.

"We need to find Anna quickly now; I know where she is..."

Fisher looked outside the room and continued walking in the direction that was behind the colored glass of the great hall, which seemed to be where Blake stored his relics.

And Anna must be there.