The eccentric doctor never makes a misdiagnosis!

Page 226

“Miss Rosalie, how long until sunrise? Although I am also from Gormouth, I have been away for a long time and have lost track of the seasons.”

"It will be at least two and a half hours before the sun officially rises."

Rosalie quickly provided her answer.

Seemingly worried that her response wasn't accurate enough, she added a sentence after a moment. (The last sentence appears to be a fragment and doesn't translate directly.)

"To be precise, it's two hours and fifty minutes."

"That means we should still be in the dark. But the sky is already almost as bright as day; we can see clearly even without lighting equipment." (Sarcasm)

Upon hearing this, Bartley clicked his tongue, his expression becoming slightly serious.

Because the White Cup Order's visors used light-filtering goggles, the wearer's vision was slightly dimmed. Only after Bartley turned off his lantern and the lamp hanging at his waist did the group gradually realize... the sky, though still dark, was indeed indistinguishable from dawn.

"How could that be? In a typical secret realm, even if the spiritual energy is abundant, the day and night cycle should be no different from the outside world..."

Rosalie couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy about this.

From a cryptic perspective, fabricating a false day-night cycle presents no technical difficulty; a certain secret sanctuary of the Moon Clan can maintain "eternal night" by relying on the spiritual essence of the Rebirth Moon. However, this would cause the secret realm to contradict the principles of the material world.

Therefore, in order to achieve such an effect, in addition to a large amount of spiritual energy... a certain degree of divine favor is also required.

"Are you scared, Miss Rosalie?"

Bartley noticed the fear Rosalie showed and couldn't help but grin, revealing a slightly rough smile.

Based on the current situation, it is indeed too dangerous for just four people to conduct an in-depth exploration. According to the Hunters' regulations, this place even warrants a high-level purge order.

But they are currently in a dilemma.

Even if one wanted to leave the secret realm, the exact location of the exit was unknown... From the moment one stepped into this place, all that could be seen were swaying flowers of various colors, stretching as far as the eye could see.

"Don't worry, young Moonborn. If we encounter an insurmountable danger, you won't be the first to die. Because I will die before everyone else."

“Mr. Bartley, please don’t always have such terrible ideas…”

Bartley's reassuring words, though somewhat unsettling, did make Rosalie feel better.

It must be said that when these fanatics with strong martial ethics are on your side, you do feel an inexplicable sense of reliability.

After entering the secret realm, the abundant spiritual energy in the external environment greatly interfered with the compass and other directional devices, forcing the group to rely solely on Rosalie's perception of the sun's direction to determine their route.

Humans find it difficult to move in a straight line when they are blind or in complex environments. They often start to go in circles from a certain point without realizing it.

Fortunately, Rosalie, strictly speaking, isn't human... so she can ensure the route won't deviate drastically.

About thirty minutes later, the scenery in the distance finally changed; it was no longer an endless sea of ​​flowers.

A few lamps illuminate the scene, a few high platforms stand, and a square pavilion stands.

One can see a small, exquisite building standing quietly in this vibrant yet desolate flowerbed.

"Is that a courtyard? And around it... are those stone pillars?"

The inchworm followed the light and felt a strange sense of danger rising within it.

“It’s not a stone pillar, it’s the root of a flower, but it’s unusually large. And the thing glowing at the top isn’t a lamp, it’s… a flower bud.”

Although they were far apart, Utus still seemed to be able to glimpse the details.

Rosalie wanted to catch a glimpse from afar, but the light shining through the flower buds and leaves made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

It was like sunlight, but far less intense and scorching... The light did not cause her any real weakness, but rather aroused a kind of instinctive aversion.

"and many more."

Bartley, who was at the very front of the group, raised his hand and stopped the others who wanted to continue.

"There's someone waiting for us in the courtyard. Beware of enemy attacks, stay alert."

Without his noticing, his hand had already gripped the hilt of the chainsaw sword "Splitter Shark" on his back. The spiritual energy emanating from the person in front of him was strange and intense, exerting an invisible, oppressive pressure.

"sieve--"

A gentle breeze stirred, and an unusually robust wild lily bud suddenly burst open, revealing a stunningly beautiful woman's face amidst the overlapping petals. Then came hair, arms, torso, toes…

Emerging from the veil of desire was a woman completely naked.

Her skin was fair and flawless, and her figure could be described as voluptuous, but because she was born from a flower... at this moment, it only gave people a chilling feeling.

"Good day, everyone. I am a remnant of the 'Gardener' of this place. I remain here in accordance with the prophecy of the 'Glandular Scales'."

“You bear neither the aura of a prophet nor the mark of an invitee. Oh… yet another invading pest attempting to plunder the flowerbed. Or perhaps, the flowers’ new food.”

Her gaze swept calmly over the crowd, and a faint glimmer of hope quickly vanished, replaced by a helpless annoyance.

"What...is she saying?"

After listening, the inchworm looked at Utus beside it with slight confusion. This time, however, the latter did not give an answer as cleanly and decisively as usual.

“I am a professor of oceanography, specializing in deep-sea paleontology, and I only have a slight knowledge of linguistics… Moreover, she was speaking some variant dialect of Old Attila. However, I could recognize a word in Attila that has remained unchanged to this day.”

"—pest."

The moment the word left her lips, the woman raised her hand and summoned several tulips, wrapping her body in their fluttering petals. Seven of the petals, shimmering with a faint lamplight, were tied around her neck like a necklace.

The once tranquil flowers in the flowerbed now stretched out their roots like snakes, moving silently.

"Danger confirmed. Be careful, everyone. If we start fighting this guy... I probably won't be able to take care of you."

Bartley exhaled, feeling a burning throbbing in his chest.

After wandering around for ages, I finally found something worth chopping up...

He drew his butcher's knife, swept it horizontally across the writhing flowers in front of him, and then leaped towards the woman among the flowers who called herself "Gardener".

"hunter……"

Feeling the chilling, murderous aura, she couldn't help but frown.

The next moment, the tendrils of the plant beneath Bartley tightly wrapped around his ankles. The network of branches quickly intertwined and overlapped, and within a few breaths, they had wrapped him into a huge cocoon.

"A secret technique to steal 'life' and 'color'..."

Utus raised his flintlock pistol, which was imbued with the second type of ritual, "Energy Shaping," preparing to dissolve the outer layer of the cocoon with a single shot and extract Bartley first.

"Buzz!"

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a loud and violent mechanical roar suddenly erupted from within the cocoon. Immediately afterward, a chainsaw sword burning with incandescent light sliced ​​through the constricted object.

"Damn, this sword feels even better in the hand than I expected..."

Two swords severed the cocoon, and Bartley's scarred face was filled with visible excitement.

Although he had only been inside the cocoon for a short time, the color of his body had visibly dimmed. He sensed that he had lost about one-fifth of his spiritual energy.

It doesn't matter. As long as the color isn't completely lost, there won't be any irreversible effects... Besides, the only secret technique Bartley uses daily is the second-class lower-level [Blood Burning], which doesn't require much spiritual energy.

Crimson flames coiled around Bartley, and enhanced by the Blood Burning Secret Technique, he broke through the wildly dancing flowers of desire with rapid and ferocious speed, resembling a humanoid beast, unstoppable.

Looking at the scene before him, Utus narrowed his eyes slightly, somewhat puzzled.

The chainsaw weapon in Bartley's hand seems to be more advanced than the mechanical armor our Order is equipped with... It's lighter, but the saw blade's cutting ability is much stronger, and it's also equipped with some kind of burning shuriken from the Sun Forging System.

Where did they get these relics from? But it seems the Mystery Hunters don't have any plans to explore the ruins recently...

As he pondered, Bartley had already closed in on the "Gardener" with unstoppable momentum, only a step away. And this was precisely the furthest distance his sword could reach.

“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Daily update]ˇGroup∶↑：釟>〖■岐∫＿★〗<牭′2”

The blade slashed across her neck, and with the sharp, serrated teeth spinning violently, the gardener's head was severed in an instant.

However, what spilled from the severed neck was not blood, but fluttering flower petals.

Red, white, and obsidian gold petals burst forth, reforming her head.

Although he couldn't kill her with one blow, Bartley had gradually figured out the details of this lady among flowers from their exchange.

"Her power and aura have not reached the fifth tier, so she cannot be called a high-ranking priest. However, her characteristics are troublesome and strange, unlike those of a human. The secret ritual she wields is ancient and powerful, but the ritual itself... is very weak."

The remnants left behind by the shedding or ascension of something of a higher status are probably placed here simply out of the idea of ​​"making the most of everything".

"It's a pity that your head will probably wither like a plant, and I don't know if it can be properly preserved. But I will still cut it off with full respect."

As the Gardener reconstructed the head, Bartley noticed that one of the seven petals she wore around her neck was missing.

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soup!

Chapter 119 Remnants of Annihilation

"Well……"

Pure physical damage is unlikely to seriously injure the Gardener, but the spiritual essence originating from the primordial sun in the chainsaw sword can indeed burn her.

Even the faintest trace can halt its self-regeneration process.

“Hunters have never mastered the skills of forging and melting; you are merely burning, cold ashes. But the sword in your hand is so warm and real.”

She let out a sigh, seemingly both confused and nostalgic.

"A brilliant, fiery rose-red, like the aurora borealis that never dies. How wonderful, it's as if we've returned to the bygone days before the sun died..."

Gazing at the faint sunlight shimmering on the blade, the gardener seemed lost in a kind of euphoria, oblivious to the deadly threat that was right before her eyes.

Unfortunately, those present could not understand her language.

If it were just Old Attila, Utus could barely manage to translate it, but with the addition of local variants and obscure Lost Sanctuary slang... he was truly powerless.

Ah, if only Brother Terence were here. He even has some knowledge of the language of the Dust Order Era; he could probably try to communicate with the person before him.

Utus dodged a root that tried to wrap around his neck, and couldn't help but sigh.

After a brief pause, the gardener once again commanded the surrounding flowering branches to launch an attack. Although the strangely shaped blade evoked certain memories for her, her duty remained unchanged.

That is, "to cleanse the flowerbed of all pests that are harmful to it."

The second round of competition has begun.

With each slash of Bartley's chainsaw sword "Sharktooth," an invisible heat emanated, quickly igniting the shredded flowers, leaves, and roots, transforming them into a dazzling wave of flames with astonishing heat.

However, this sword only contained a faint trace of Sigrid's spiritual essence, and could not truly wield the radiance of the primordial sun like she could. The wave of flames spread out once and then stopped, showing no further tendency to expand.

"I haven't had such a satisfying situation since the last time I executed a traitor in Loretown's Northbear territory... Although the feel of chopping up flowers and grass isn't great, it's still quite novel."

Under Bartley's relentless pressure, the Gardener could not create distance from him and had to accept close-quarters combat.

She possesses certain apostle-like qualities, making her difficult to kill with ordinary weapons, but her spirituality is extremely weak... even wielding some conventional secret arts is quite difficult.

Although Bartley's offensive put immense pressure on the Gardener, it came at a price. In no time, his wounds had visibly multiplied… mostly from the thorns entwined around the rose roots.

"That was tough to kill, but so satisfying... I'll take your second life!"

Bartley let out a low growl, then plunged the "Splitter Shark" into the Gardener's abdomen. With a flick of his wrist, her flawless body was cleaved in two from bottom to top.

The scattered tulip petals surged and flew wildly from its enormous wound, and the gardener lost another petal from her neck.

I "Huh..."

Even with Bartley's formidable physique as the funeral director, A felt slightly exhausted and needed to adjust his breathing for a moment to recover his strength.

Generally speaking, feeling pain in the [Burning Blood] state only stimulates his power. But the wounds caused by those Desire Blossoms and Thorns brought a different experience... a sense of emptiness and awkwardness.

Besides his spirituality, Liu's desires are also constantly being lost along with the colors.

The excitement of the crowd is fading, the blood is cooling, the frenzy is turning into tenderness, and the strength is drowning in weakness.

"Stripped of emotion and passion, hey, the occult rites of the light and shadow. So troublesome..."

While the other party was reshaping their body for the second time, Bartley was able to adjust her breathing slightly to alleviate the intense physical exertion.

Just then, several thorny tendrils in the flowerbed behind him silently twisted together, forming a long, slender needle that pierced straight towards the back of his neck.

“We must not let our guard down, Mr. Bartley.”

The situation was urgent, and this time Utus did not stand idly by.

He stepped forward, reached out, and pinched the needle-like root, then clenched it in half. The dark golden liquid inside the root burst forth from its surface with this grasp.

unarmed?

4. Bartley noticed Utus's actions just now and was somewhat surprised.

He knew that although this guy held the title of professor, he was actually a very experienced front-line combatant. However, he didn't expect him to be able to crush the thorny roots of the Desire Flower Branch with his bare hands... and he didn't even seem to be injured.