Monster - Chapter 112
Chapter 112: Dream Castle - Zombies
“There’s no other way. We’ll have to go down and get it.” Lou grabbed Lin Sandie, preparing to have Miu lower them, but Lin Sandie suddenly grabbed her hand back, holding on tight.
“Wait a second,” Lin Sandie said in a low voice.
“What’s wrong?”
Lin Sandie’s lips moved, a trace of hesitation on her face.
She felt that something was off, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Lin Sandie peered down at the hall below. The bloody water there had been frozen by one of Enzo’s artifacts into a layer of blood-ice several inches thick. Countless corpses lay haphazardly, half-submerged beneath the ice and half-floating on top. Some were face-up, their eyes wide open from when they were hanged, as if they were staring right at Lin Sandie and Lou. Some even had their mouths agape, tongues lolling out, covered in blood…
Just looking at the scene for a moment sent a chill through Lin Sandie’s entire body. She took a deep breath, pulled her gaze away, and refocused on the matter at hand.
Right now, she was with Lou and Miu, both experienced Sentinels and Guides. Logically, Lin Sandie didn’t need to worry about their plan of action. Whether in terms of strategy or execution, she had nothing to boast about. In fact, one could say that she, Lin Sandie, was the weakest link in this hastily formed team.
In this situation, if both Lou and Miu thought it was fine to go down and retrieve the item, then it was highly probable that it was fine…
“Do you think something’s wrong, Lin Sandie?” Lou asked.
Lin Sandie composed herself. “Today’s events feel too coincidental, and everything has gone too smoothly, so I’m a little uneasy. Take Enzo, for example. Back in Silver Stone City, I honestly thought this would be a tough fight—after all, you both initially felt the mission wasn't worth the risk. But now, we’ve dealt with him without lifting a finger. Is this… something that happens often on your other missions? I don’t have much experience in this area, but I don’t really trust my own luck.”
“I know what you mean.” Lou stroked her chin, not dismissing Lin Sandie’s view.
Neither did Miu. It gave Lin Sandie an appreciative glance and said, “Today has indeed been coincidental and smooth. In situations like this, it’s best to play it safe. I won’t go down with you, just in case we all get wiped out at once.”
At that moment, the heavy rain outside began to subside. As Miu spoke, it flew out through a crack in the window, abandoning the original plan to go to the basement with Lou.
Lou smiled at Lin Sandie and jumped straight down from the protruding platform. She wasn’t heavy, but the sudden landing still cracked the ice below. She stood up as if nothing had happened and looked up.
“Lin Sandie, jump down,” Lou called up to her, her arms already open.
Those arms didn’t look particularly strong; Lin Sandie felt that if she jumped, she might crush Lou to death. Sitting on the edge of the platform, she bit her lip and stared at Lou, hoping she would explain the basis for telling her to jump.
“Come on, jump. I’ll catch you,” Lou continued to coax with a smile.
…Lin Sandie took a deep breath, clenched her jaw, closed her eyes, and leaped.
The wind whistled past her ears, and she was caught securely by a pair of arms.
If Lin Sandie were a Guide right now, she would have seen Lou’s Spirit Separation state—a massive white bear, its form overlapping with Lou’s. It was the arms of this bear that had first caught Lin Sandie so steadily.
“Caught you~” Seeing Lin Sandie still squeezing her eyes shut in her arms, Lou’s smile widened. She truly loved seeing this side of the woman in her embrace—neither composed nor restrained.
“Okay.” Lin Sandie, who had been holding her breath, finally let it out and released her tight grip on Lou’s neck.
“Did your heart skip a beat for me?” Lou didn’t put Lin Sandie down right away, teasing her playfully.
“Thank you, Lou Lou.” Lin Sandie already knew what she had to say to make Lou let go.
The moment Miu flew out of the castle, the lifeless corpses in the first-floor hall suddenly opened their mouths in unison. They remained dead silent, their faces ashen, their tongues hanging out, but they seemed to be controlled by something.
“Annoying.” The dead bodies silently mouthed a single complaint. Lou, who was looking up and coaxing Lin Sandie to jump, didn’t notice.
At the same time, upstairs, the bones of a corpse that hadn’t been frozen began to crackle incessantly. It then climbed to its feet in an unnatural posture. It picked up a submachine gun someone had dropped, walked to a window, and pushed it open.
The dead body, its eyes now devoid of life, gazed into the deep night. Its neck bent slightly downward, and then the area around its shoulder blades began to bulge slowly. The swelling stretched the clothes on its back, and blood started to trickle down its back and legs.
The things growing from the corpse’s back stretched its clothes higher and higher until, reaching a limit, two blood-drenched bones pierced through the fabric at the shoulders and extended backward. The corpse’s legs went limp, like a pair of freshly removed stockings, unable to support its upper body. The corpse now stood erect on its pelvic bones, like a deformed person without legs.
Behind it, flesh and blood clung to the bones, connecting more and more bones that burst forth from within the corpse, forming a pair of flesh-and-blood wings.
Most of the corpse’s bones and flesh had transformed into these wings. It “stood” by the window, spread its carnal wings, raised the submachine gun, and flew into the air.
More and more corpses began to rise up like this. Their bones and flesh were ripped from their bodies to form pairs of spreading, fleshy wings. To reduce weight, some discarded useless bones and unneeded internal organs, leaving only the parts needed to support the wings, two eyes for observation, and hands to hold various weapons. Then, like some kind of insect, they flew into the air one after another, their target singular:
Miu!
Miu, who had been vigilantly monitoring the Dream Castle for any changes, quickly discovered the terrifying situation. It watched the corpses flying toward it, their skin now limp and billowing in the wind, while their horrific flesh-and-blood wings dripped constantly with blood. This completely upended its understanding of Leviathan. When it first arrived a few months ago, it had thought this was a civilized society. But this scene would definitely rank in the top three most terrifying things it had ever encountered.
“Bang, bang, bang!!” The corpses surrounding Miu raised their guns and began firing from different distances and angles.
“Shit! I might actually die!” Miu dodged the blanketing volley of fire in mid-air, sensing how this mission might end for it.
“Don’t leave the range of the ‘Line’.” Lou grabbed Lin Sandie and ran toward the basement. Her eyes were dark and vacant as she observed the places her extended ‘Line’ reached. The ‘Line’ she continuously sent out also began to attack, severing the flesh-and-blood wings of the mutated corpses.
As Lou pulled her along, Lin Sandie heard the sound of ice cracking all around her. Looking down, she saw that the ice layer underfoot was fracturing, and the previously frozen corpses were beginning to stir one by one.
Is going to the basement really a good idea?
The question surfaced in Lin Sandie’s mind, but she didn’t interfere with Lou and Miu, silently following Lou’s lead toward the basement.
“There are too many of them.” At first, Lou’s ‘Line’ only needed to attack the wings of the mutated corpses, but the number attacking Miu kept increasing. Several times, she had to use her Line to pull Miu aside, allowing it to narrowly avoid an attack.
Moreover, these mutated corpses were extremely fast. Even when Miu tried to land, they pursued it with intelligent-seeming low-altitude flight and strafing runs.
Noticing that Lou’s pace had slowed, Lin Sandie grabbed her hand instead. “You help the Crow Lady. I’ll keep watch here. I’ll tell you if anything changes.”
Lou didn’t answer, but she completely let Lin Sandie lead the way. A moment ago, she had almost failed to deal with a mutated corpse sniping at Miu from a distance. As a Guide, Miu’s defenses weren’t high, not to mention their skills hadn’t fully recovered yet. If it got hit by a sniper, it could be taken out on the spot.
Lin Sandie had previously seen a glimpse of Cheng Gui’s battle, so she had some understanding of the Dream Castle’s basement layout. Taking advantage of the fact that the frozen corpses hadn’t fully revived yet, she led Lou to Enzo’s office, which had the fewest bodies and no ice.
She didn’t rush in. As they neared, Lin Sandie drew the pistol from her holster, let go of Lou’s hand, and slowly opened the room’s door herself.
“Grrrrr…”
A huge Doberman Pinscher was lying there. The moment it saw Lin Sandie enter, it stared at her warily, baring its teeth and letting out a warning growl.
Lin Sandie looked back at it. It wore a silver necklace unsuited for a dog around its neck. She then glanced at Enzo, whose body was half-buried in a pit in the room. The pit was surrounded by rocks, and Enzo had been bludgeoned beyond recognition. The Doberman, however, showed no signs of grief, nor was it hovering around Enzo’s body.
The sound of thawing ice from outside grew louder. The eerie red light of the basement flickered over Lin Sandie and the Doberman. They watched each other, neither making a move.
Lin Sandie raised her gun. The Doberman’s expression grew more tense, and it snarled, ready to pounce. But Lin Sandie’s eyes didn’t waver; she kept her gaze fixed on the dog’s. Her eyes and face were devoid of emotion. She slowly returned the pistol to its holster, which made the Doberman relax slightly.
The woman and the dog stared at each other for a while longer, and the hostility between them gradually faded in that straightforward gaze. The Doberman seemed to understand that with its original master dead, it had no reason to fight to the death in this situation, and likely no hope of survival either.
Sensing that she didn’t have much time, Lin Sandie stopped paying attention to the Doberman. She walked over to the pit, pulled Enzo’s entire body out, and dragged it outside the room.
After dealing with Enzo’s corpse as quickly as possible, she pulled Lou—who was still outside with vacant eyes and a tense expression—into the office and shut the heavy door.
Is coming to the basement really okay? Lin Sandie couldn’t help but ask herself again as she turned to look at the Doberman.
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