Chapter 858 - Night Parade of Monsters
They waited until dawn. When the first light touched the lost continent, the eerie sound rang out again like a morning alarm, and everything reset.
Grass regrew, walls repaired themselves, and the villagers who had been killed as monsters the night before reappeared in their homes.
Han Wu extended his senses and confirmed that the farmers were going about their day exactly as before. It was as if the previous night had never happened.
Several farmers spotted Han Wu’s group and fled back into their homes in terror, bolting their doors behind them. The sight of the four Bone Dragons, Steely, and Dark Locust was too much for ordinary villagers.
Han Wu sent Dark Locust to grab a villager for questioning, making sure to stress that the villager be alive. Dark Locust soon returned with a trembling man reeking of urine and feces. Han Wu was unimpressed. The same people who had turned into High Lord monsters last night were cowering like ordinary peasants.
“Where were you last night?” Han Wu asked.
The farmer babbled incoherently. It took Jing Jing’s soul link to translate.
“Spare me, good sir,” the man begged. “I have an eighty-year-old mother and a baby at home. Please have mercy on my already motherless child...”
Han Wu frowned. This time, he had Jing Jing ask through the soul link to avoid miscommunication. The farmer said he had been sleeping at home all night and had no idea anything had happened.
A theory was forming in Han Wu’s mind. He placed his hand on the farmer’s head and carefully sensed the energy within. There was nothing abnormal about him.
Releasing the farmer, he turned to Jing Jing. “I think some kind of time-related law has frozen this continent in a single day. There’s also something causing their souls to mutate. Their memories have been tampered with. They don’t realize their time has been frozen, but their souls have noticed and have grown violent from the never-ending repetitions of the same day. The slaughter every night is their way of coping.”
“The vessel is right,” the Origin of Mutation agreed. “It’s not just the humans. The wild animals are the same. Even a single fly has accumulated enough power to reach the Heroic rank. I can’t imagine how many times this continent has repeated the same day.”
“Our only option is to push forward. The ruins might hold answers,” Han Wu said.
Jing Jing nodded. “I will follow my Lord’s every step.”
The group set out at full speed. Everyone except Dark Locust rode the Bone Dragons. They tore through villages and towns along the way. Villagers panicked and screamed about monsters at the sight of the Bone Dragons. Some guards even tried to block them.
Han Wu heartlessly rode straight through the villages, trampling anything in his path. This was not cruelty. These people’s lives were frozen in time. Even if he killed them, they would just reset tomorrow, repeating the same day they had already lived countless times with no memory of the last.
It didn’t matter how many times the day repeated; each one felt brand new. At night, when the eerie sound rang out, the entire continent transformed. Their memories awakened. Faced with an inescapable time loop, they revealed their true selves and killed each other for sport. This was the tragedy of the lost continent.
Over the course of one day, Han Wu’s group passed through dozens of villages and towns. By nightfall, they found themselves in a large city. The eerie sound rang out as before, and everything changed.
The polished stone streets became covered in a layer of dark red sludge. Paint peeled from the walls. Roars and growls echoed from every corner of the city as mutated souls poured from their homes and staged a living spectacle of a night parade of monsters. Han Wu and his group quickly became their targets.
Despite being faced with far more mutated souls than the night before, Han Wu and Jing Jing showed no fear.
Jing Jing used her incomplete Soul Jurisdiction to project crushing soul pressure, forcing back every mutated soul that approached. Han Wu drew Peerless from his spatial storage and activated Soul Shatter Slash. The Netherworld White Tiger emerged to devour mutated souls by the dozens. The more it ate, the stronger it became.
Steely swung his hundred arms, each wielding an Obsidrum greatsword and creating a wind of blades that shredded everything in range. Dark Locust, under Han Wu’s explicit orders not to Self Detonate, transformed into the Dark Curse Nail and pinned enemies down.
The Origin of Mutation, having nothing to experiment on, hid behind Han Wu and watched the fight with bored eyes. Meanwhile, V used various methods to test the mutated souls, gather data, and analyze their weaknesses.
Although Umbral Mouse had no combat abilities, she still assisted in the fight with her support skills. She layered her darkness onto Dark Locust and boosted its kills significantly. At the same time, she also collected the dropped crystals using her Dark Energy and delivered them to Han Wu.
The four Bone Dragons fought hard with every bone in their bodies. Despite the overwhelming numbers, Han Wu’s group steadily pushed the mutated souls back.
As Han Wu was caught up in enjoying the fight, the Origin of Mutation called out to him, “Vessel, look at that triangle-head with the big blade. I think it’s planning to run away!”
Han Wu’s eyes followed the Origin of Mutation’s gesture. Sure enough, a mutated soul wearing a triangular cone helmet and carrying a large blade was hesitating at the back of the pack.
It seemed to have decided that its side was losing, because it turned to flee. Before leaving, it snatched two Spirit Stones that Umbral Mouse had not collected yet.
“That one’s interesting. Origin of Mutation, bring it back,” Han Wu ordered.
“You always make me do the dirty work,” the Origin of Mutation complained, but acted quickly regardless. The triangle-head was soon dragged back.
Jing Jing pressed it with soul pressure and asked on Han Wu’s behalf, “You have intelligence, don’t you?”
The triangle-head nodded. Its long, pointed helmet jabbed into the ground and sent up sparks.
