Strange Voyage: Summoning the Fourth Disaster.

Chapter 799 "Progress"

However, even after she threw away that sticky, green stuff, Mr. Zhong could still see a layer of green on her head, as if it had taken root in her Candle Spirit body.

After regaining her senses, Ms. Qin quickly noticed the information in her notification bar.

You have been corrupted by the "Guardian Array of Greed".

"Greed Guardian Array? What is this? Why is it corroding the body?"

After Ms. Qin told Mr. Zhong about the situation, he couldn't help but frown.

But soon, he remembered Miss Qin's frantic opening of the box, and after thinking about the names of the people, the ship, and the protective array, he suddenly understood.

"It seems that these underwater whirlpool treasures, which are not specified by the treasure map, retain the power called the [Greed Guardian Array]."

"Once you open a treasure chest out of greed, you will be corrupted..."

After realizing this, Mr. Zhong immediately stopped Ms. Qin from opening the box.

Fortunately, the damage wasn't too severe, and the green patch on her head quickly faded away over time. No further abnormal notifications appeared in the notification bar.

Miss Qin was somewhat disappointed at the thought of so many boxes that couldn't be opened, but she still chose to listen to her boyfriend.

The two then began searching for information related to the "Greed Guardian Array" within these underwater whirlpools.

After some time, they actually found the core of this Greed Guardian Array, which was a floating stone sphere engraved with a large number of incantations.

Beside the floating stone sphere, they also saw many long-dead corpses.

It is worth mentioning that two of the remains also contained texts such as diaries and suicide notes.

But the content above is completely different.

The older of the corpses was that of a vicious pirate.

But perhaps because a dying man's words are often wise, he wrote that there was danger here, warning those who came after him not to tamper with the place, especially the treasures nearby.

The other skeleton belonged to an explorer.

He encouraged those who came after him to open the treasure chests and welcome the erosion.

Because he came here specifically because of this legend, believing that there was a "real treasure" hidden under this strange protective array. But to obtain this treasure, he had to first undergo the erosion and become part of the protective array.

The two opposing viewpoints left them somewhat perplexed.

"Brother Yu, how about I give it a try?"

"Even if this erosion is fully completed, I should only die once or twice, right?"

Miss Qin was eager to try. As players, they weren't afraid of anything like corruption or curses.

After pondering for a moment beside the floating stone sphere, Mr. Zhong nodded in agreement with her idea. However, before that, he still asked Miss Qin to put the important items back into the milestone candle and made preparations.

Soon, after Miss Qin frantically unpacked the box...

She finally got cheated on.

Then, to Mr. Zhong's astonishment, the completely corrupted Miss Qin transformed into a brand new "human boat" right before his eyes.

"Treasure!"

The new ship roared and launched an attack on Mr. Zhong, wielding its ghostly scimitar without mercy.

"Oh no, Brother Yu, I've dropped a level... The final effect of this erosion is almost the same as the punishment for falling into the Dark Boundary!"

Miss Qin felt a pang of regret.

"It's alright, we can practice again when it's over," Mr. Zhong replied while dealing with the attacks from the man and boat.

It seems that this person and the ship came from Miss Qin after she was corrupted.

Therefore, compared to the previous human-ship Yeston, it is much weaker in both ignition power and health.

However, since they were currently in an underwater vortex, the opponent had the home-field advantage, and Mr. Zhong was one person short, so he could not defeat them in the short term.

Miss Qin quickly went to the revival point to help.

But at that moment, as the crew and ship used the "whirlpool current" to stir up the entire seabed, the suspended stone sphere seemed to have activated some kind of mechanism and suddenly began to rise...

The next moment, the entire ocean and seabed underwent a dramatic change.

Centered on the location where the floating stone sphere rose, the surrounding seawater seemed to be driven away, retreating into the distance to reveal the exposed seabed.

"The adventurer's suicide note really wasn't wrong..."

Mr. Zhong was immediately invigorated.

In retrospect, by bringing the human-ship Yeston ashore to fight, they lost the opportunity to activate the Greed Guardian Array from the start.

Fortunately, Miss Qin built another personal ship due to the erosion, otherwise it would have been very difficult to find a way to activate the mechanism.

So... what exactly does the Greed Guardian Array protect?
Rumble!
The seabed trembled continuously, and the once tightly connected seabed was peeled away layer by layer until finally, the...

...a border of darkness.

This left Mr. Zhong completely taken aback.

But he soon realized that this was because the world had shattered, causing the space beneath the seabed to break apart as well... and the true treasure was naturally lost along with it...

"I rely on!"

Mr. Zhong cursed and immediately focused all his energy on the battle, quickly killing the rookie ship that was harassing him.

At the same time, Miss Qin, who had been resurrected, also arrived back at the scene. Seeing the final darkness at the bottom of the sea, she naturally understood what had happened.

"This scheme is outrageous! They just don't want to give us the treasure, so why pull this trick on us? It's infuriating!"

Without further ado, Miss Qin pinned the blame on Lingzhu's planner.

"Although there was no treasure... it can't be said that we gained nothing at all..."

Mr. Zhong looked at the protective array mechanisms, which seemed to have some patterns engraved on them.

As he walked, he summarized the situation of this instance and offered his own thoughts.

"The ship and its crew were undoubtedly created by this protective array, its purpose being to guard the treasure beneath this mechanism..."

People set sail for this sea in search of the legendary treasure, driven by greed, but most of them ended up as corpses beneath their ships.

However, some people successfully defeated or killed the human-ship.

However, most of those who succeeded were corrupted by the power of the protective array due to their greed for the treasure, and thus became the new human ships...

Of course, it's also possible that someone has already discovered the real treasure below and taken it away.

But it was clear that Mr. Zhong and Ms. Qin had no way of finding the answer.

……

An unknown area.

Claymore gripped the candle-lit longsword tightly in his hand, moving slowly along the dark, rugged cliff edge.

After a perilous journey of unknown length, the road ahead finally widened, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.

During this time, he had been following in the footsteps of the bull horn, trying to find and help him.

However, in this infinitely fragmented space, finding a person is like finding a needle in a haystack, and is extremely difficult.

Furthermore, it seems that Bull Horn hasn't returned to the Fire God Temple for a long time, and he didn't even participate in the last war at the gathering of evil gods.

Of course, Claymore did not participate either, as he was exploring an unknown area at the time.

Perhaps it was because of his special connection with the candlelight that the campfire did not summon him, or even notify him.

Of course, that's all in the past now, and for Claymore, the present is more important. Coincidentally...

Having received no information about the bull horn from the Fire God Temple, he unexpectedly stumbled upon what might have been battle traces left by the bull horn during his routine exploration today.

Right here in this peculiar place.

"The signs of battle seem to have been there recently; there's still blood..."

"It seems that Horned is in some trouble... We must find him quickly!"

After arriving at a relatively spacious area, Claymore quickly scanned his surroundings.

But soon he frowned.

The structure of this area is quite bizarre.

His position marks a dividing line: below him are steep cliffs and peaks, and a smooth slope.

Above that... were thick layers of rock, mixed with some soil and constantly falling water droplets.

Furthermore, the distance between the two is very short, and in some places it can even be described as narrow, with the cold rock layers making it difficult to breathe.

This place looks like the deepest part of some cave.

Now, Claymore only has two paths before him.

The first option is naturally to walk along the slope.

The second path... naturally leads to a gap in the rock strata above.

Claymore examined the ground carefully for a while and found several blurry footprints.

This prompted him to make a quick decision and head directly towards the gap in the rock strata.

The space became even more cramped, and Claymore had to constantly bend over to move forward, and his armor and sword would occasionally hit hard rocks, making the claustrophobic atmosphere very uncomfortable.

But soon, Claymore had no time to worry about comfort.

Because he could clearly hear the sounds of fighting coming from ahead, accompanied by tremors.

Claymore's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly quickened his pace.

But the gap seemed to be working against him, the road ahead becoming increasingly narrow and cramped, severely limiting his speed.

With a muffled groan, the fighting in front suddenly stopped.

Claymore saw the exit at that moment and quickly stepped out. Then, he saw a scene that made his heart stop.

A blindfolded man wielding a dark gold hook claw pierced another man's chest with one hand, tightly gripping his heart amidst spurting blood.

jingle.

The helmet with bull horns landed on the solid ground with a crisp, cold sound.

Horn seemed to see Claymore suddenly arrive. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't make a sound because of his injuries.

escape……

Claymore seemed to hear what the bull horn was thinking at that moment.

He didn't want his last friend to die here with him.

"Stop!" Claymore roared, drawing his sword and striking the one-eyed man with the fastest speed he had ever strode.

Bang! Clang—

The blindfolded man crushed the bull's heart with a single squeeze, while simultaneously raising his other bloodied claw to firmly grip Claymore's sword.

The clash of fire and sparks from weapons reflected on Claymore's furious face.

"Whoa, another one..."

The blindfolded man chuckled, then pulled his hand out from the pile of minced meat, and immediately slashed his claws at Claymore's neck.

It seems to be because of the huge gap in strength.

Even though Claymore was clad in armor and protected by fire, he was still sent flying by the blow, the force of which had not yet dissipated.

Bang!
Boom!

Claymore's body crashed directly into the rock wall, and the terrain here seemed unstable. Affected by the commotion, a pile of rubble fell, and dust rose everywhere.

Click click click…

The blindfolded man twisted his neck and moved his body, making loud noises. His body seemed to be flashing like a series of double images, which was a manifestation of speed.

He slowly walked toward the direction Claymore had flown backward, his entire body shrouded in shadow, his outline indistinct except for the dark gold claws on his five fingers swaying.

"Hmm... the scent of the Firewood Gatherer. You're here to find this fool, aren't you?"

"For him, you might have arrived a little too late..."

"But for me, you've come at just the right time..."

"Besides the treasure I've been greedily searching for, I can also gain the soul of a woodcutter, hehe..."

The blindfolded man laughed. The brief exchange had already convinced him that the woodcutter in front of him was at most a little stronger than the corpse beside him, and could not possibly be his match.

In this way, he naturally felt no pressure and instead relaxed, ready to release his past frustrations.

"You... are you that depraved guy who hunts down the souls of the woodcutter?..."

Claymore struggled to his feet, his voice filled with anger.

Hearing his words, the blindfolded man shrugged: "You got the objective right, but your description of me is completely wrong."

"This is not depravity..."

As he spoke, he slowly removed the blindfold from his head, revealing a pair of eyes made of ash, which extended outwards from the eyes.

"It's progress..."

As his deep voice rang out, his ashen eyes stared intently at Claymore.

next moment.

Claymore felt a sweet taste in his throat, and then uncontrollably coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

At the same time, his face turned pale instantly, and he began to experience severe pain in his internal organs. Pustules began to grow on his body and quickly ulcerated.

In areas contaminated with pus, this process repeated itself, quickly covering most of Claymore's skin.

In an instant, Claymore was afflicted with an extremely terrible plague, rendering him unable to wage war.

But soon, the blindfolded man drew the power back, stopping Claymore's body from deteriorating, though the traces of the plague remained.

"Did you feel it? This power from the ashes..."

“I even have to hold back a bit… just in case you die too quickly…”

The blindfolded man closed his eyes with a cold laugh.

"...This is the power I gained from the ashes!"

"Great Ashes!"

The blindfolded man raised his hands and shouted wildly.

“When I prayed to the campfire, it not only did not respond, but also coldly extracted my soul! It treated us as tools that could be discarded at any time!”

"And when I prayed to the ashes, they gave me power that could almost end everything!"

(End of this chapter)