The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

"The smell of blood is too strong..."

In the No. 4 irrigation canal on the southeast side, a fringe squad called "Holy Cross" made their already faint footsteps even quieter.

At the moment Marty died completely, the followers in the other three channels all sensed a "signal loss" coming from the depths of their souls.

In the eyes of Edmund, the middle-aged man with a goatee and the leader of the "Holy Cross"...

In such a dangerous and unknown passage, our "piecemeal team," consisting entirely of seven third-tier paladins and four third-tier priests, must be extremely cautious in order to enter the "root" alive.

He silently tucked away his glorious, gleaming combat achievements into his inner garment, and every ten meters he would apply a little bit of shimmering powder to the pipe wall.

"Sir...do we really have to continue?" His deputy behind him exhaled a puff of steam from the cold pipes.

"Continue, but you must put away your arrogance of 'slaying demons and monsters'," Edmund said, putting on a single night-vision goggles with a light gold coating. "Rest in place, take turns on guard duty... until you take off your heavy armor."

Knowing that his position was far inferior to Edmund's, the deputy weakly responded and turned away, letting the followers pass on the passwords one by one.

“Yes, take those coffin lids off. In close combat, you need agility,” Edmund stroked his goatee thoughtfully. “Don’t you think…we’ve been operating right under their noses all this time?”

"The traps along the way are all designed to drain our energy and strength... The trappers' purpose is obvious."

He took out a fluorescent green "stamina recovery potion" from his storage bag. It was said that the church's logistics department had begged and pleaded with others and spent a huge sum of money to buy it from Starmoke as a "diluted product".

"Come on, line up and replenish your energy," he said, looking at the pipe that seemed to have no end in sight. He replaced the exhausted "Holy Light Beacon" in his compass with a brand new one. "The fewer people there are, the less hope we have of getting out."

"Yes, sir Edmund," his lieutenant bowed his head, completely unaware of the drop of dirty water that had fallen out of nowhere.

That was Wave, which had drunk the "improved stealth potion." It took a deep breath and pressed its entire body against the pipe wall as much as possible, waiting for the drain valve to "reverse start."

Boom—

The distant sound was a "flood" etched into the frogmen's very bones, surging in from the entrance of their "roots," intended to provide them with a more perfect environment for raids, while the excess sewage...

They could even rush onto the ground and disgust those white robes with "germaphobia"!

呲!

The alchemical device hanging at the waist was gently lapped by the waves, and a sticky white gel-like substance landed on the heel of a priest!

Edmund reacted quickly, turning his head sharply towards the source of the sound!

How come there are no signs of any living creatures?

But his self-doubt lasted only a moment. Years of combat experience led Edmund to make a decision instinctively: "Priest, quickly sprinkle those glittering powders into the passage!"

wow——

Suddenly, a shower of golden rain fell from the pipe!

Sure enough, Edmund saw many "unnatural" patterns in it.

"Paladin, protect the priest who's sprinkling powder!" he commanded decisively, unleashing a third-tier spell, [Holy Light Arrow], towards the source of the strange fluctuations!

Pfft—!

The frogman couldn't dodge in time, clutching its wounded abdomen and letting out a fierce cry. Before it could fully reveal itself, it grabbed the nearest paladin and desperately stabbed the latter in the neck with an iron spike!

"Damn it, you beast!" The paladin winced in pain, the frustration from the journey mixed with the pain, and he pulled out a sharp silver dagger from his waist to retaliate!

Every cut pierced flesh, blood splattering everywhere!

The frogman let out a mournful cry, bit into the deadly venom hidden in its mouth, and sprayed it towards the paladin's face!

The latter punched the frogman in the side ribs, and the sound of bones cracking came from the frogman's skin!

Amidst screams of agony... the frogman collapsed first.

"I won..." The paladin grinned as he smashed the frogman's head, before being supported by his companions behind him.

"Wave, ripples!" The frogman leader desperately suppressed the roar that nearly erupted from his lips—the first batch of frogman warriors who had shown goodwill to Yunefu had been humiliated to death in this way!?

Water, come faster...

It knew that as the strongest being, it could not act yet; it had to wait for the "flood" that brought the opportunity to arrive!

The Church, however, would not give the frogmen such an opportunity. Edmund's commands were as precise as a machine. This seasoned "Holy Cross" leader made decisions that were almost always the best solution at the moment!

But they overlooked one thing...

That was the frogmen's determination to die.

Whenever a paladin brandished a dagger and stabbed it into the frogman's heart, the frogman would not block or dodge, but instead thrust his iron spike into the paladin's neck with even greater speed!

Injury for injury, life for life!

"Hold on, our reinforcements are on their way!" Edmund tried to calm the already wavering "Holy Cross" squad, but his gaze grew increasingly grave.

It's true that the signal from Marty's position, which was supposed to be receiving the signal, has completely fallen silent, but the large force on the west side, which should have been led by Seth and another Templar Knight...

What are they going through in circles in that pipe again, taking so long to arrive?

At that moment, a rumbling sound surged from deep within the pipe...

"Water, a flood!" The frogman leader, Wave, could no longer suppress his anger. He roared and pounced on a paladin in front of him!

"Damn it, damn it!" Edmund looked at the ever-growing pile of corpses around him, his heart chilled by this long-planned "flood"!

He continued his desperate resistance, the holy light and magical energy slowly coalescing in his hand, forming a sharp blade gleaming with golden light—the very fourth-tier magic [Light Blade]...

Those frogmen were "like fish in water," diving into the sewage that was up to their chests and made it hard to breathe, and then they became completely invisible and intangible!

There were also a few paladins who were good swimmers and tried to plunge into the murky water to fight the frogmen, but they were all blinded by the carefully prepared sewage and became "fish meat" to be slaughtered!

The water level is still rising... How do the people in "Roots" ensure that they are not flooded?

"Use [Holy Light Burst] quickly! The pressure it generates can extinguish this damned flood..." Edmund's words were cut short as he was engulfed by the rapidly rising water, and the rest of his speech was swallowed back down his throat!

"Fellow countrymen, the sea will remember every name. Follow me!" Wave raised the iron spike in his hand, his voice piercing straight through the dark sewage!

With a powerful kick, Wave transformed into a swarm of wasps, stabbing Edmund's neck with its stinger!

But... Edmund turned back towards the waves with a strange smile, and his entire body turned into a speck of light and disappeared into the water!

"Damn it, it's a projection! We need to finish off the rest and go support the other fronts!" Wave sensed something was wrong and rushed to help the other frogmen kill the enemy.