After understanding the basic situation on the island, everyone looked at the towering mountain of flesh ahead.
This pile of flesh and blood spread across the island. Arka looked at the highest point and saw it was probably over a hundred meters high.
This pile of flesh and blood truly resembled a colossal mass.
Arka turned to look at Anris's strength and the group behind him. Speaker Anris's strength was only just beginning at the sixth stage, while behind him was a hooded figure. This figure, in turn, was the strongest of the group, having reached the sixth stage of perfection.
Among the people following him, there was only one at the fifth stage and one at the fourth stage.
The rest of the group were all at the third stage of perfection, the pinnacle of the Toucher.
Based on their understanding of this force, the Secret Spell Council was more like a council of scholars.
Moreover, it was more like a research organization.
And this force had a very close relationship with the Church of the Holy Machine.
"Maka, go get a specimen," Anris said.
The towering being next to him, at the sixth stage of perfection, nodded and pulled down his hood.
Only then did his true form reveal itself.
He was a burly, bald man, his body covered in tattoos resembling spells, even his smooth head emblazoned with various patterns.
Alka saw two treasures on him, one gold and one orange.
He walked over in front of everyone, bare-handed.
From about 100 meters away, he swung his bare hands at a staggering flesh monster ahead.
Whether others could see it or not, Alka saw chains formed by some kind of force fly out as he swung them.
Alka arrived at the monster's side almost instantly, bound it, and dragged it towards him.
The entire process was incredibly swift, from the moment the attack was launched to the moment the creature was pulled in, taking only two seconds.
Even so, the flesh puppet was pulled in with almost no movement. This still startled the other flesh puppets nearby.
These startled flesh monsters immediately began to surge in speed, completely losing their previous stumbling and twisted gait.
Using almost every limb they could, they began to leap, crawl, and run frantically.
They rushed towards the man named Maka with a near-charging momentum.
Faced with the oncoming horde of flesh monsters, Maka remained unfazed.
With another wave of his hand, more transparent, invisible chains flew out, binding each of the monsters one by one and dragging them in.
It seemed as if these monsters were being controlled by a mysterious force, floating in the air, unable to move.
By then, most of the startled monsters had fled.
This Maka, standing still, subdued about eleven of them and dragged them back to the camp.
Looking at the group of flesh-and-blood monsters, Anris pointed to one that looked less unusual. He placed it before him, still bound by the transparent chains.
Then he glanced behind him and selected two people: "Danny, Bona, you two come here and serve as my assistants. The rest of you watch and take notes."
The entire team immediately sprang into action, with Alka and the others watching.
However, the dissection was extremely slow, and as it progressed, Alka gradually lost his understanding.
I didn't know much about these creatures or their specifics.
After a moment's thought, he looked at Simon and Mathilda and said.
"I'll leave this to you two."
Then he glanced behind him, thought for a moment, and said, "Lucille, Sofia, Pororo. Come with me and take a look."
The three nodded.
Then the four of them left the simple camp and headed forward to scout.
As Sofia walked, silver ripples continuously probed into the distance.
"There are a lot of monsters, at least hundreds... but they aren't very powerful. Just a few of them who possess treasures and are at the fifth level should be able to slaughter them all."
Sofia said as he sensed them.
As they made no attempt to hide themselves, the surrounding monsters began to notice their presence and rushed over one by one.
Pororo stood still and waved his hand gently, and a killing wind appeared in the air around them.
Formed by a weak storm, it was accompanied by lightning.
These flesh-and-blood monsters met Pororo like a nemesis, instantly crumbling to pieces as they approached within a certain distance. The areas they touched were reduced to dust, and the monsters fell to the ground in fragments.
This also showed that these monsters were extremely weak and had almost no intelligence.
"Killing them all the time isn't a solution. I wonder if these monsters will be of any use in the future."
After a moment's thought, Alka snapped his fingers.
A special effect resembling a shattering mirror appeared around the group, and then they became invisible.
Soon, the surrounding monsters seemed to have lost their target and began to wander aimlessly again.
Observing this, Alka paused, pondering, and waved his hand from a distance.
A distorted phantom emerged, then transformed into Alka's form.
The monsters immediately swarmed over, smashing the phantom into pieces.
This experiment continued for a while.
"These monsters actually rely on sight and hearing to identify themselves, with almost no signs of using magical detection."
In short, there's no need for conceptual invisibility like Alka's; normal optical invisibility is sufficient to handle these monsters' normal pursuit.
Maintaining this state, the group began to walk around and observe.
These monsters mostly resembled some kind of spliced-together flesh and blood limbs.
Like toys that can be freely assembled and assembled, they formed extremely distorted forms.
Just looking at them would make a normal person feel a little uncomfortable.
Soon, the group arrived next to the fleshy tentacles.
The flesh piled together like a tumor, and it connected to the surrounding rock structures through a network of vascular fascia, like a spider web.
And above these spiderweb-like vascular fascia, a thin membrane made of flesh and blood adhered to it.
Because it was somewhat transparent, sunlight could filter through slightly, making the flesh and fascia gleam.
And the air was filled with a certain sweet smell.
It was extremely uncomfortable.
Fluid flowed through the veins of the flesh, gently pulsing like breathing.
"What kind of cult ritual and power could have produced so much flesh? It's like a mountain."
Hearing Sofia's words, Alka shrugged.
Who could possibly know?
As the group chatted, they began to walk along the edge of the flesh, observing.
Because they had rendered themselves invisible, the surrounding monsters ignored them, allowing them to wander freely within their territory.
Just then,
Through the spreading waves, Sofia discovered something amiss.
"There's something going on here. Follow me."
With that, Sofia led the way, guiding them in a circular motion.
Then they came to a gap in flesh.
Although the surrounding flesh still contained those disgusting things like spreading blood vessels and fascia, it looked more like a wound.
The wound was roughly oval in shape, connected to the depths of the interior like a pipe.
The surrounding flesh walls were covered with tiny tentacles, and a sticky mucus could be seen secreted within the pipe.
The mucus was tinged with a hint of blood-red.
The main point was that they saw a group of twisted flesh monsters carrying something inside.
They were carrying chunks of flesh and blood.
"Isn't this... the same thing we just killed?" Sofia asked.
Bororo nodded.
"I killed it. There's still a trace of my aura left on it."
The fragments they were carrying were the fragments of the flesh monsters that had charged at them just before they became invisible.
As they wandered around, the monster remains they'd left behind had been gathered up by the monsters and transported into the flesh mountain.
The men looked at each other.
They couldn't help but stand still and observe carefully.
After the flesh monsters had carried their limbs out, they themselves moved into the pipe. As the last monster entered, the wound closed up, the flesh fused together, and there was no longer any sign of an entrance.
"Closed? I thought it would always be there," Alka said. "Do you think the entrance is still behind this flesh and blood?"
Hearing this, Sofia looked at Alka and couldn't help but ask, "Don't you want to go in and take a look?"
Alka nodded. That was exactly what he meant.
Now that he had an idea, he immediately took action.
The body shattered and then reunited.
A clone, formed by the power of the elements combined with dreams and mirrors, appeared in the same place.
It was somewhat similar to the dream clone from before.
This time, through the power of dreams and mirrors, a clone was created that was almost identical to the original.
It wasn't as powerful, only about the fifth stage.
Like the dream clones from before, the death of too many clones would affect his mental state.
However, that situation was a thing of the past. Alka's death now wouldn't affect his mental state, or rather, the mental impact wouldn't be as fast as his recovery from the dream.
Because his strength in his dream was nearly reaching the ninth stage.
The gap between his power and reality was already too great to be affected by the mental state created in reality.
Seeing this, the three of them nodded in agreement. After all, it was just a clone.
Alka sat down immediately.
"Please keep an eye out for me. I need to focus my attention on the clone."
Then he produced a large mirror and placed it before everyone.
"I'll broadcast the images in real time. Please help me see if there's anything I've missed."
The three nodded.
Alka then closed his eyes.
The previously lifeless clone suddenly became full of life, as if possessed a soul.
After all, it was a replica of his own body. Apart from a weakened strength, nothing had changed. Alka adapted immediately.
He then reached the area that had just closed, a blade formed from a blend of mirror and elemental power appearing in his hand. With a gentle swipe, he slashed.
The flesh immediately split, revealing the passageway within.
As the wound was inflicted, the surrounding flesh immediately coalesced into a long, tentacle-like whip, attacking Alka.
However, Alka was swift, charging in even as the tentacles were still gathering.
The wound healed quickly.
Everyone else witnessed this scene.
After entering, Alka, using his darkvision, observed the interior. A strange, fishy yet sweet smell emanated from the interior, causing Alka to frown.
In order to gather more intelligence, he couldn't block his sense of smell, so he raised the mirror and began transmitting real-time information about his surroundings.
The slime beneath his feet dragged and tugged at him with every step, causing Alka extreme discomfort.
A mirror appeared beneath his feet, floating ten centimeters off the ground, preventing him from stepping on the slime.
Arka had also made himself invisible upon entering, so the tentacles inside didn't notice him and didn't attack him.
Quickly, Alka controlled his speed and caught up with the flesh monsters transporting chunks of flesh.
They were still moving forward, and Aka slowed down, falling behind them.
This tunnel was like a blood vessel within the body.
Aka followed behind, traveling for at least twenty minutes before he saw an exit in the distance.
As he reached the exit, Alka was met with an astonishing sight.
"Amazing!"
It was like an internal organ, with all sorts of fleshy creations gathered together, forming a factory-like existence.
The flesh seemed to be transporting, pumping.
Before him lay what looked like a smelting pool. Alka looked at the liquid within, which emitted a strong, sour, and foul smell.
It was something like stomach acid.
Then the monsters threw their flesh and blood fragments into the pool.
After doing so, the monsters unexpectedly stuck to the flesh walls and melted into it.
The flesh fragments dropped into the pool of stomach acid instantly vanished.
The smell was unbearable. Alka could only frown and begin to explore the interior.
He could see countless blood vessels connecting them. These flesh and blood structures were completely incomprehensible.
But they were probably similar to human internal organs. That was all Alka could think of. However, the mirror nearby had already reflected the entire scene. He could ask Matresha and the others for details later; they would at least know more than he did.
Arka wandered through the chamber, seeing no flesh-and-blood creatures; everything was operating on its own.
Floating within the flesh-and-blood chamber, Arka suddenly sensed something and, controlling the mirror beneath his feet, lunged forward, dodging an attack.
It was an attack like a long whip of flesh.
Arka immediately turned, warily eyeing the attacker.
It was a...
A humanoid, I suppose.
That was all Arka could say, because the humanoid appeared to be naked, its body devoid of skin, but bare flesh.
Its head was also composed entirely of flesh, with no visible facial features. Only a few buds of flesh floated on it, looking strangely unsettling.
Its limbs were also unusually uncoordinated, and the probing force that attacked Arka was a slender tentacle on its back.
Since it was only a clone, Arka had no idea of the monster's true strength. But judging by the force of the attack just now, it might be stronger than his own clone.
Several more tentacles attacked quickly, and Alka controlled
Attacking with elements of lightning and fire.
This wasn't the power of the treasure, but rather an ability he had learned from it.
However, the attack, upon impacting the enemy, was instantly deflected by another tentacle.
The tentacle's tip had a large, fan-like limb, like a leaf growing from its tip.
This should be able to resist these elemental damage.
Then Alka felt a pain in his chest.
Another monster had appeared from behind him, unbeknownst to him. It was incredibly concealed, emerging from a fleshy limb above its head.
Alka immediately sensed the limb he had pierced through was filled with poison.
It seemed his clone wouldn't make it out alive.
With a counterattack, Alka gathered a powerful energy and pressed it against the monster behind him, blasting off a significant portion of its body.
Since he couldn't make it out alive, he decided to test the strength of these monsters.