Modern World Warlock-Chapter 272: The Flesh Sprout
After the trio separated from the agents' checkpoint, Dante extruded his black wings to get to their destination faster.
While the warlock carried Megan, Sixteen was able to keep up with flying thanks to the jets on her legs, which allowed her to fly as fast as a jet aircraft.
As they got closer, they could feel the air starting to get heavier, so Megan and Dante pulled out their talismans from their pockets.
The talismans had been created by Imera and Asphodel, and they were simple necklace chains with a pendant that had been infused with purification magic, allowing them to transverse the thick necrotic air.
"Hmm, strange… It really does alleviate that weird sensation," Megan commented after putting on the necklace.
Glancing at Sixteen, she wondered if the android would also need a talisman. However, Dante explained that the environment wouldn't have an effect on her since she didn't have a soul.
Still, Megan thought it would be better to be safe than sorry and gave her an extra talisman that she had in her pocket.
When they found themselves on the cusp of the ichor's corruption, the daylight had been wholly obscured by the overcast above them, and they could see the shadowy tendrils slowly expanding.
"What do you think?" Megan asked, looking around at the corrupted buildings.
"It's pretty bad…" Dante replied.
The warlock explained that since the city of Limsa was more condensed in population than the cities in his past world, the necrotic corruption was expanding at a much faster rate than usual.
Moreover, there weren't many cities in Terra that had buildings as tall as the skyscrapers in Limsa, and seeing a few of them entirely covered by death's ichor seemed to help it grow even more.
Suddenly, Sixteen turned her head to the side as her system detected movement nearby.
"Something is coming…" Said the android, pointing her palm forward and extruding two rifle barrels from them.
When Dante and Megan turned to look at their attackers, they spotted a pack of six ghouls wandering around the corrupted streets, who instantly started rushing toward Dante's group as soon as they saw them.
*Ratatatatata…* Sixteen let out a barrage of bullets from the rifles coming out of her hands, riddling the ghouls with holes and ending them in less than five seconds.
As the trio approached the corpses to inspect them, Megan received a call from Camille, asking the brunette to turn on the livestream on the mini-camera stuck to her clothes.
At the Jade Palace, the three handlers were watching their mission in real-time, along with Paige, who was too curious to be left out of the office.
"Hmm, these ghouls were created with the corpses of the citizens here…" Dante commented after inspecting the bodies.
"My scan detects 50% human DNA on these beings," Sixteen said, crouching beside the dead ghoul.
'Huh, that's interesting… I didn't know it changed their bodies' composition that deeply,' Dante thought, feeling strangely glad that he had learned something new.
Suddenly, Sixteen stood up with haste and glared at the distance, where nothing could be seen wandering around.
Since Dante couldn't read the android's emotions, he didn't know exactly what was going through her mind, but her abrupt movements were enough of a hint to understand it was serious.
"My scanner is detecting familiar DNA…" Sixteen muttered.
"Familiar…?" Megan pondered aloud.
'Oh no…' Dante thought, getting a vague idea of what she sensed. freёnovelkiss.com
As Sixteen began walking toward the point shown on her radar, Dante also sensed a strange flow of energy nearby. However, it felt displeasing and somewhat disgusting, so the warlock knew that the sight wouldn't be pretty.
After a few minutes, they turned on a street and spotted a strange, fleshy structure that looked like a flower bud, releasing toxic gas every few seconds.
The sprout was as tall as Megan and had a width of at least three people, pulsating at the rhythm of a heartbeat that echoed on the streets.
"-The hell is this?" Megan pondered, and just as she spoke up, the bud twisted around and showed its deformed face to the trio.
Megan took a step back out of caution, and when she detailed the stretched-out face with no eyes, whimpering in pain, she gritted her teeth with anger and disgust.
Even though she didn't know what kind of creature was before them, she could easily tell that it had been made out of humans.
When Dante glanced at Sixteen, the android stood in front of the fleshy bud, completely unmoving and with a blank expression. Still, Dante was surprised when he noticed umbra flowing from her.
'I thought she had blocked those emotions…' Dante thought.
Moreover, the energy flowing from Sixteen was growing, and compared to Sami, her emotions didn't produce umbra for less than a second—It was a continuous stream of energy.
"Bro-ther… I'm… So-rry…" The deformed face muttered with painful whispers, making Dante and Megan widen their eyes in shock.
"Dante, could this be…?" Megan pondered.
The warlock glanced at Sixteen again, frozen in place while staring at the sprout—and based on her reaction, he was able to guess what was bothering her.
"I believe it is," Dante replied with a severe tone.
"My scanner detected Lexia's DNA here…" Sixteen commented, her gaze locked with the flesh structure.
With the android confirming Dante and Megan's fears, they quickly began pondering their next course of action.
In any other scenario, Dante would've simply destroyed the flesh sprout and freed the souls within it. However, since Sixteen was tasked with protecting Lexia, he believed that the android could start attacking them if they tried to destroy it.
"That bastard put this here on purpose…" Dante muttered.
A flesh sprout like that wasn't meant to be placed on the edges of the necropolis, and the fact that it had been left alone with none other than Lexia's soul inside was a clear giveaway that Netherius was playing with them.
It was his way of sending a message to the Azure Rebels for their betrayal, forcing them into destroying the structure housing Lexia's soul as a punishment.
