Steam Old Days: The Extraordinary Begins with a Corpse Collector

Chapter 105 Hidden Arrows in the Forest, Chaos and Madness

"Rely on me?"

Lyndon found Ryder's statement strange.

After all, Viscount William hired him and Cecilia to come here to deal with the Dream Moth, but they were still quite a distance from the Dream Moth's nest.

Linden recalled the strange lights and traps he had seen in the forest, and alarm bells rang in his mind.

He glanced around warily, then asked Ryder, "What do you need me to do? What's up ahead?"

Ryder told Lyndon that a terrifying plant called Hemophiliacs grew in the woods ahead.

"Hemophiliac?" Lyndon asked in confusion, as it was the first time he had ever heard of this plant.

"That's right. I led a team into this area before, but unfortunately we encountered the Hemophiliac. Only two of the fifteen-man team survived, and the rest perished in the forest ahead."

As he spoke, a deep fear appeared in Ryder's eyes. He really didn't want to recall the tragedy, but in order to let Lyndon in, he had to personally reopen his bloody wounds.

Ryder took a deep breath and pointed into the depths of the woods, saying, "When I led the team here, we thought it would be a very simple mission, but once we went in, the nightmare began."

"At first, we saw vines twining around the trees, which looked just like any other vines we'd seen before, with small pink flowers blooming on them. They didn't smell anything special, so we continued on."

"But slowly, things started to get strange. We started arguing over trivial things, and then we started fighting."

"Later, it wasn't until someone died that we realized something was wrong, but by then it was too late. After the vines came into contact with blood, they began to emit a very thin layer of pink smoke."

"After inhaling this smoke, we started hallucinating, imagining lots of monsters, but those so-called monsters were actually our teammates, and then—"

Ryder covered his mouth in anguish, turning his head to the side so no one could see him crying.

"And then you started killing each other? Until everyone was dead?" Lyndon finished Ryder's sentence.

Ryder nodded, then said in a hoarse voice, "That smoke can cause hallucinations. The only way to eliminate the effects is with a spiritual priest, which is why Viscount William approached you."

Lyndon finally breathed a sigh of relief after realizing his usefulness.

A weight was lifted from his heart.

Lyndon was never afraid of being used, because even when he was being used, he still knew what he should and shouldn't do.

But when he was kept in the dark, Linden felt completely insecure, like walking on a dark path with no idea what might jump out of the darkness at any moment.

This extreme nothingness would cause Lyndon immense pain and struggle.

"I understand." Lyndon's lips twitched slightly; he appeared quite relaxed. "So, how can I help you safely cross this dangerous forest?"

"What you need to do is very simple, Mr. Philip," Mr. Ryder said. "You just need to use a requiem to prevent us from being misled by illusions as we pass through that area."

Lyndon nodded. He did indeed know the Soul Soothing Technique, a very basic secret technique in the mental arts branch.

"Okay, then once we're inside, I'll cast a Soul-Soothing spell until we're completely safe. But I can't open my eyes while casting the spell, so I'll need someone to lead me."

"That's natural."

Ryder turned and ordered the two guards beside him to protect Lyndon the entire time, and not to let Lyndon be disturbed in the slightest no matter what happened.

The two guards agreed, and one of them stepped aside and took Lyndon's arm.

Then, Lyndon closed his eyes, his lips moving as he silently recited the incantation for a requiem.

When the Soul Soothing spell was cast, a soft halo began to emanate from Lyndon's entire body.

"Maintain formation! Stick close to Mr. Philip!"

Leder's tone was serious.

Others, desperate to survive, quickly followed suit.

Soon, the group of people were huddled together.

So the whole group, with Lyndon at the center, slowly walked toward the dark forest in front of them.

They moved with considerable caution.

Two guards supported Lyndon on either side, while Cecilia stood in front of him, telling him what was in front of him and whether he needed to lift his foot.

"Philip, there's a vine lying across you, remember to lift your foot."

"Oh, there's a rock to your right front. Be careful not to step on it."

"Okay, the ground is flat now, you can walk with peace of mind."

As the group ventured deeper, they soon came across the hemophiliac vine that Ryder had mentioned.

It was an unremarkable plant, with gray-green vines tightly binding the tall oak tree.

The vines were covered with many small bumps, rough and sticky, just like a toad's skin.

Each small bump contains thousands of tiny pink spores.

"It's gotten bigger again," Ryder said, looking at the vines on the tree.

"What? It's expanded again?" a guard asked.

"These vines," Ryder said, warily surveying his surroundings. "The last time I came here, these vines hadn't grown this far, but now they've taken over almost half the forest."

At first, everyone's journey went smoothly.

The group walked among the giant trees entwined with vines. Apart from the slippery moss and tangled vines underfoot, they did not encounter anything particularly terrifying.

The group's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

They began to feel fortunate that they had brought a rather useful priest with them.

Unlike Kleid, whose eyes were always like an eagle's, his sharp gaze sweeping over every corner of his surroundings.

His hand never left the trigger of the rifle.

In fact, Ryder knew that besides the hallucinogenic hemophiliacs, there were even more dangerous things yet to appear on this road.

But what you fear most is what will happen to you.

Just as the team ventured deep into the forest, a sudden change occurred!

"Rustling!"

Several crisp whooshing sounds suddenly rang out in the quiet forest.

Several short, sharp arrows were shot from the shadows.

"what!"

A scream echoed throughout the entire forest.

One of the guards on the outermost edge of the formation was shot in the shoulder by an arrow, and blood flowed down his arm.

"Enemy attack! Take cover!"

Ryder reacted quickly; his years of combat experience allowed him to locate the enemy in a very short time.

He raised his gun and fired.

Bang bang bang!

Three gunshots rang out, and sure enough, a person fell down behind a tree in the distance.

But it's obvious that there's definitely more than just one person nearby.

"Rustling!"

Two more arrows pierced the sky.

An arrow grazed the back of Lyndon's head, sending a sharp pain through him, but Lyndon did not open his eyes. He continued to silently recite the incantation for the Soul Soothing Spell.

But the people next to him weren't so lucky.

Another arrow pierced the guard's throat with pinpoint accuracy.

The guard let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground.

And because his hand was still around Lyndon's arm, when he fell, he also knocked Lyndon to the ground.

The body of the guard fell on top of Lyndon.

Linden grunted, and finally stopped the soothing spell.

Furthermore, with the blood spilled on the vines, the blood-loving vines instantly absorbed all the blood on their surface.

The originally gray-green vines turned into a bewitching blood red in an instant.

Immediately afterwards, countless tiny spores shot out from the bumps on the vine.

It quickly formed a cloud of pink smoke.

"Watch out for the spores!" Ryder's pupils constricted, and he roared sharply.

Now the team's miserable state was once again before his eyes.

As soon as Lyndon's Requiem wore off, the guards who had ingested the spores were quickly plunged into terrifying hallucinations.

Their eyes became dazed and frantic.

"An alien, a different species!"

One of them pointed to a tree and shouted.

In his eyes, the tree in front of him had long since transformed into a menacing tree spirit.

The tree spirit kept getting closer to him.

In a moment of desperation, the guard raised his gun.

boom!

The gunshots rang out in the dense forest, sounding particularly jarring.

That gunshot was like a match that ignited a barrel of explosives.

Fear, suspicion, tension, and madness.

These emotions spread rapidly through the ranks like a plague.

At this moment, everyone's rationality was completely distorted by the hallucinogenic spores of the Hemophiliac.

"The mutant is there! Kill him!"

"Protect Mr. Philip!!!"

"Fake! Fake! You're all fake! I'm afraid of you! Come on!"

"I can't tell! I can't tell!"

The sounds of fighting and howling were chaotically intertwined.

Former comrades are now viciously attacking their brothers in the vicinity.

The pink smoke grew thicker amidst the splattering blood, and the madness of the people became increasingly terrifying!

"Philip! Where are you! Help me!"

After ingesting the spores, Cecilia saw countless poisonous insects before her eyes.

She waved her hands frantically, huddled under a tree, trembling.

At that moment, Lyndon pushed away the corpses that were pressing down on him and saw the group killing each other.

He tried to dispel the hallucinations by chanting a soothing spell, but at that moment, a guard brandished a cleaver and charged at him.

Lyndon had no choice but to evade the guards' pursuit.

He rolled awkwardly to create distance from the crazed guards, his leather armor covered in dirt and dead leaves.

After Lyndon regained his balance, he suddenly realized that the world in front of him was also beginning to distort.

It seemed as if there was a strange, ghostly face behind every tree around.

Lyndon shook his head, chanting a soothing spell to try and keep himself awake.

At that moment, the guard raised his sword and charged at him again.

Lyndon first dodged the incoming slash, and then, using his fighting skills, knocked the machete from the guard's hand.

Even without his weapon, the guard refused to give up. He broke free from Lyndon's grasp and turned to wrestle with him.

In the chaos, Lyndon casually tore off a section of vine, wrapped it around the guard's mouth, and then used both hands to tightly strangle the guard's head.

During this process, several small flowers from the vines fell into the guard's wide-open mouth.

After the guard swallowed the flowers, his previously manic and chaotic eyes instantly became clear.

"Mmmmmm!"

Once he was back to normal, the guard hurriedly patted Lyndon's hand, his voice muffled as he tried to get him to let go.

When Lyndon saw that the guards had returned to normal, he immediately loosened his grip!

He collapsed to the ground, limp, and stared in astonishment at the guards who had regained their senses.

Suddenly, Lyndon noticed the small pink flowers on the vine in his hand. He plucked one off and wondered, "Could this be the antidote to the hallucinogenic toxins in the spores?"