Chapter 317: Abnormal Situations and the Executioner

The clouds and mist were also constantly shifting, flickering like a glitched texture.

But strangely, no matter how the Moon changed, their surroundings remained pitch-black.

“Hard to say. Maybe it’s intentional?”

“In any case, I think it fits the atmosphere.”

Li Miao stroked his chin, not entirely sure himself.

After all, he’d had experiences where he’d mistaken a game bug for an intentional feature.

‘Of course this isn’t a bug…’

Luo Ge looked away, thinking to himself.

“The fish in the sea are strange. They’re extremely aggressive, but other than that, we haven’t noticed anything else unusual for now.”

At that moment, Black Mountain Little Demon leaped from the Giant-tailed Sea Monster back onto the Spirit Fire Sail and reported the situation to the others.

He also had the Giant-tailed Sea Monster bring back a fish for everyone to inspect.

The fish’s eyes were pure black and its scales were a mess. As it struggled, it continuously tried to attack, appearing agitated and restless.

Luo Ge extended the Power of the Spirit Candle into it.

Parasitism, Madness, even a hint of corruption and other powers he had never encountered before…

Moreover, it wasn’t just these bizarre powers; there was also some extremely faint, positive energy.

…It was like a complete hodgepodge.

Luo Ge’s brow furrowed. He had never seen anything so strange.

The group’s Spirit Fire Sails continued on their journey.

Soon, a new incident occurred.

In the sea, a group of Sea Monsters entangled in strips of cloth and fabric attacked them. However, they were still weak, even more so than the previous humanoid monsters, and the players defeated them quickly.

But before the group could even discuss these monsters, something unexpected happened.

A void of pure blackness suddenly appeared in front of Black Mountain Little Demon’s Spirit Fire Sail, and the surrounding space rapidly distorted and collapsed.

Although Black Mountain Little Demon himself didn’t fall in, his summoned Giant-tailed Sea Monster met a terrible fate. More than half of its body was devoured. Only after it was clear of the black void did blood begin to pour from the perfectly clean-cut wound.

“What the fuck?”

Black Mountain Little Demon’s pupils constricted. He hastily steered his Spirit Fire Sail, managing to turn just in time to avoid crashing straight into it.

Luo Ge frowned. After a moment of investigation, he sent a direct warning to the players.

[Attention, this area is unstable. Please steer clear of dangerous anomalies.]

That phenomenon just now was similar to spatial turbulence.

Forget the players; even if Luo Ge’s true body were thrown in there, it would likely be annihilated without a trace.

A threat of this magnitude was clearly far more terrifying than the monsters they had faced before.

“What kind of anomaly was that? It instantly killed my Summoned Creature?”

“It couldn’t be a bug, could it?”

Black Mountain Little Demon recalled the Giant-tailed Sea Monster, his heart still pounding with fear. Without even checking if its Magic Pearl had shattered, he simply took a new one from his inventory.

“Hard to say. Either way, let’s be careful. There are no Milestone Spirit Candles out here on the sea.”

Bu Long reminded them, shaking his head.

After this incident, the group grew even more cautious, constantly monitoring their surroundings.

Before long, another swarm of Sea Monsters attacked.

“ROAR—”

This time, the scale was unprecedented. The sea before them was almost completely packed with monsters.

But the strongest among them was just a single Scorching Charcoal Tier Sewn Humanoid Monster.

The outcome was a foregone conclusion. The ten Prison Players had barely lifted a finger, and the surface of the sea was already littered with monster carcasses.

“Why are all these monsters such weaklings?”

“Something feels off. You don’t think there’s something big waiting for us up ahead, do you…?”

Forgotten Dao said suspiciously as he tossed a corpse overboard.

“I have the same feeling. There’s probably a big boss for us to fight soon.”

Shore nodded in agreement.

‘If there isn’t a big boss for you guys to fight, you’ll just start complaining again, won’t you?’

Luo Ge felt a little resigned.

His Power of the Spirit Candle couldn’t cover this entire sea, so he had no way of knowing the specifics of the situation here.

But judging from the traces on the Reef Island and the endless waves of monsters, there was definitely a mastermind at work. They just didn’t seem very powerful.

This actually made Luo Ge relax a little.

The players treated this exploration like a game, but the truth was that even he, the Candlekeeper, had no idea what this place held.

A dead, uninhabited land; pathetically weak monsters; or an entity that could annihilate a person with a single glance… He had no way of knowing. Anything was possible.

The repeated appearance of these weak monsters, however, gave him a strange sense of reassurance…

After sailing for another ten minutes, Brother Mangzi, at the edge of the fleet, suddenly spotted something.

“Brothers, there’s an island! Let’s go ashore, let’s go ashore!”

Brother Mangzi shouted excitedly.

“Huh? What is it?” Shore didn’t react at first.

“Idiot, he wasn’t calling you. He was saying to get on the island,” Li Miao said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The players’ fleet quickly docked, and they set foot on the island.

Sand extended inward, meeting soil. It looked like a normal island, but its silhouette suggested it was quite small.

It was worth noting, however, that a small path up ahead led straight into the island’s interior.

After a moment of preparation, the group followed the path into the island, led by Faraway.

Before long, they began to hear a series of low wails and groans.

Dried bloodstains appeared on the ground, intermingled with heavy, strange footprints.

The cause of all this required no analysis.

Because, following the faint Firelight ahead, they saw a horrifying scene that made their skin crawl.

Within a crude village, dozens of humanoid creatures with dark red, Sea Star-like skin were being subjected to endless, frantic torture.

This was the source of the agonizing screams and wails.

Living, squirming, bloody parasites were being forced into their mouths and noses. Scissors slowly sliced open their chests and abdomens, their organs then held up before their very eyes. Small slits were cut into their skin, which was then slowly torn and peeled back…

Still other humanoids were nailed down by their limbs, their abdomens pulsing grotesquely as bloody parasites continuously dropped from their bodies…

The ones carrying out the torture were also humanoid creatures.

“Fucking hell, how did this get past the censors?” even Bu Long couldn’t stop himself from swearing.

His outburst alerted the humanoid creatures conducting the torture.

They all put down their tools, and their leader turned to face the players.

“Who are you people? You dare come here? You got a death wish? Get out of here, now!”

The lead Executioner roared.

“Scram, or we’ll chop your heads off!”

another Executioner snarled, extremely agitated.

“ROAR—”

The rest of the Executioners roared as well, looking as if they were about to pounce at any second.

THWACK!

But before they could finish their posturing, a heavy warhammer sent the second Executioner who had spoken flying.

“How many lives you got, talking to me like that?”

Brother Mangzi sneered, a wolf’s mane sprouting from his body as he transformed into his Fire Seed form, ready to charge in and start a massacre.

“Brother Mangzi, wait!”

Seeing this, Luo Ge frowned, shouting out while simultaneously sending a notification.

‘They weren’t in one of those areas where monsters could be Resurrected. If they killed the creatures here, they were likely gone for good.’

[You have received a special quest from the Spirit Candle: Capture the Executioners.]

The other players who saw this message reacted, quickly grabbing Brother Mangzi to hold him back.

“ROAR—”

But the Executioners at the front, seeing one of their own injured, could no longer contain their fury. Raising their blood-soaked instruments of torture, they roared and charged at the players.

But to the players’ confusion, the lead Executioner seemed to be in extreme agony as he issued them a hoarse warning.

“Quick… run!”

‘The Executioner was telling them to run?’

This bizarre turn of events made even the fired-up Brother Mangzi calm down a little.

However, they had no time to ponder it further, because the other Executioners were already charging them.

“Subdue them!”

Faraway shouted.

The two sides quickly clashed.

“CLANG—”

The muffled sound of a Block rang out.

Li Miao hadn’t even made a follow-up move when he saw that the force of the Rebound had knocked the helmet clean off his opponent’s head.

And in that instant, Li Miao got a clear look at his opponent’s face.

The dark red, wrinkled skin made it obvious: these Executioners were the same race as the victims being tortured in the village!