I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

The other two nodded as well.

Where are your companions?

Iron Fist inquired, implying that Sia might have died from the insect attack.

"She should be fine."

Lu Ban replied.

He felt that Sia's combat power was definitely stronger than his own. He was lucky that he didn't encounter any monsters, but even if Sia encountered a bunch of insects, she would probably be able to escape.

The only thing that might restrain her is to avoid using too much force and destroying the entire underground passage.

Boom—

No sooner had she finished speaking than a loud explosion was heard, and a cloud of ash rose from the passage next to Lu Ban. Then, Xia ran out.

Before she could even make out who it was, she rolled over, her hand, clad in a steel glove, instinctively reaching up. Only then did she realize it was Lu Ban.

Are you real?

Xia asked a question.

"Three handshakes".

Lu Ban casually replied with a word, which put her at ease.

"I encountered several insects just now. I was worried that the magic would be too powerful and cause this place to collapse, so it took me a while to deal with them."

Sia's armor was covered in the filthy slime of insects, but her face was spotless, creating a distorted beauty.

"Where is this place?"

"Sia asked."

"It's an altar."

Lu Ban pointed to the center.

"The real altar."

In the center of the circular room, a huge pool was filled with blood, which was coming from a funnel-shaped object in the ceiling from which blood was constantly seeping out.

Where did this blood come from?

The faceless one was slightly confused.

boom--

Just then, they heard the sound of heavy objects crashing from the passageways. They hurriedly turned around to look and found that the road was blocked by stones.

“These are the paths that the original sacrifices were meant to take. They would come here, be imprisoned, and finally become sacrifices offered to the gods.”

Lu Ban described what he saw on the mural.

"Gods? What gods?"

"Sia asked."

"Right in the pool."

Lu Ban pointed, and everyone saw that the pool full of blood was making the sound of a mechanism turning. A small platform gradually rose from the blood pool, and on the platform were several round objects.

That's an egg.

Chapter 187 Are you just going to watch me get eaten up?

Lu Ban had once seen a movie where a group of people were locked in an incubation chamber and parasitized by insects, eventually bursting out of their bodies.

But clearly, the rituals here are more exotic.

On those eggs, Lu Ban saw tiny tentacles.

These tentacles, like the tentacles of an octopus, meander from the top of the egg in all directions, as if trying to catch something.

From the top, these viscous, slippery, dark eggs gradually crack open, and within those tentacles, some kind of creature seems to be gestating.

"Can we just blow these things up?"

Lu Ban didn't wait for them to fully hatch before asking Xia Ya.

For some reason, the people in the movie always watched these creatures hatch before taking action. Lu Ban didn't know what serious illness they had. If it were him, he would have definitely crushed them to ashes.

"no problem."

Sia raised her right hand, as if she were holding something in her palm.

"$@#&^%!"

She uttered a word that Lu Ban couldn't understand, and then, like throwing a shot put, she threw the invisible thing in her hand.

A few seconds later, the eggs were still hatching, and Lu Ban could already see the slimy surface of the ugly, wriggling larvae.

"It doesn't seem to be working?"

He looked at Sia.

"It will take a while to fly."

Sia said earnestly.

bang——

Before Lu Ban could even look over, he heard a violent explosion behind him. The insect eggs were instantly torn to pieces, and thick black fluid splattered onto the wall, leaving mottled marks.

"These things might hatch from the flesh and blood of the sacrifices, and then grow into the monsters you encountered before?"

Lu Ban approached the blood pool and used a crowbar to pry open the remains.

It has a soft, semi-transparent texture, like jelly.

"Is it tasty?"

He asked a question.

"..."

The iron fist remained silent.

"It probably won't taste good."

Only Xia responded to Lu Ban.

"These insects are carnivorous and generally have a high nutritional content. I suspect that the people here may rely on raising these insects as a food source, and then every year, in order to thank these insects, they created a god to worship and threw prisoners and slaves into it to feed the insects."

Lu Ban smelled the insects.

Suddenly, one of the tentacles in the wreckage leaped up and burrowed straight toward Lu Ban's head.

*Pfft*

The tentacles tore through Lu Ban's skin and pierced his throat.

The tentacles, like leeches, tried to burrow into Lu Ban's skin, tearing open horrific wounds. Blood flowed out, splashing into the pool and creating ripples.

But not much blood flowed, because soon, the green grass growing from Lu Ban's wound blocked the insect's momentum to continue burrowing in and pushed it out.

Lu Ban pinched it in his hand and observed it carefully. He found that the worm was already a complete individual. Perhaps there were countless such worms in that egg. Once it came into contact with a human body, it would burrow into the flesh and eat the blood and flesh, just like before.

"...You can put your hand down now. Wait a minute, it's not still flying, is it?"

Lu Ban glanced at Xi Ya, who had raised her hand, fearing that she would throw that spell at him again, scattering both the insect and herself.

"not yet."

Xia lowered her hand.

"So you were really planning to give me a blow just now?"

Lu Ban was surprised.

"My teacher told me that once we get rid of the hostages, the monster won't be able to threaten us anymore."

Xia answered decisively.

"Is this how you people from Gray Tower save lives?"

Lu Ban felt that one of them, Xi Ya and himself, must have a misunderstanding about this matter.

"Of course, otherwise, would we just stand by and watch you get eaten by a monster?"

Hia answered matter-of-factly.

"It's alright. We usually deal with you and the monster at the same time, then use healing spells to bring you back to life. You'll be basically indistinguishable from your previous body!"

"basically?"

Lu Ban raised an eyebrow.

"Can you use healing spells today?"

"Definitely tomorrow!"

Hia changed the subject.

Just as Lu Ban was speaking, the insect lost its vitality and quickly shriveled up, like an earthworm dried by the sun.

"You two, stop arguing."

Iron Fist said something and came to the blood pool. The blood was gradually flowing down. As the platform containing the insect eggs rose, the blood flowed through the gaps under the platform to the next level.

Where did this blood come from?

The faceless man dipped his finger in the blood and sniffed it. It tasted like human blood and was still warm.

They used the blood of someone with exceptional regenerative abilities to open the altar, but such blood should have long since coagulated after so much time.

The blood here is clearly fresh.

You should know that the wasteland nowadays is almost entirely inhabited by insects, apart from humans. There are no domesticated animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep as recorded in history books. Therefore, red blood is a human-only privilege.

"We can go down from here."

Iron Fist pointed to the gap in the platform.

"Since there are insect eggs, there must be something that lays eggs."