This is double heating from the sky and the sea.
The bay was like a soup pot. Gradually, the skin and flesh softened and melted in the water.
The life form is transforming, and a large amount of wriggling flesh and blood begins to search for more nutrients in the body.
They set their sights on the skeleton.
Just like the most greedy mouth sucking the bone marrow, devouring all the nutrients contained therein.
Then there is no need for such waste.
The flesh slowly squirmed, squeezing the dry skeleton out of the body, and the whole body had completely transformed into its original appearance - a ball of soft, foul-smelling meat paste.
What happened next was clear...the survivors lying on the rocks all followed suit.
They are not dead.
Their bodies became part of the "Bressworm". Their minds and souls were also captured by it in the process of their brains being devoured, becoming its intelligent appendages.
The unique geographical environment continuously provides it with nutrients for growth. For more than a hundred years, countless travelers and explorers have been swallowed up by it.
Devouring is happening all the time.
Eat people when there are people around.
When no one is around, they eat seabirds and fish.
But it's still too slow.
Growing too slowly.
Is there any way to provide high-quality rations safely, stably and continuously?
Oh... these absorbed souls seem to know a method called "cultivation".
Then, it arched up the seabed, bringing coral reefs and endless mud to the surface.
Thus, Brays Island began to take shape.
In the process, it met some strange people.
They gave it a name and it liked it.
Worm…Braceworm.
The village on the island is called... Worm Village.
The chosen breeder...is also called Worm!
Ah!
Praise the sun!
It was the endless, hot, and brilliant fireball that gave birth to me.
Give me form.
Grant me wisdom.
We have been living together, understanding and loving each other.
I love...this feeling so much.
More...more.
Want more.
I want to... make this big family lively.
A little more lively...
When the white fog on the sea began to dissipate.
When the scorching sea breeze begins to blow.
We will welcome a new family.
As long as the hot wind blows...
almost……
almost……
Chapter 45: Corpse Purgatory
The Hot Wind Festival has officially begun.
After the speech phase, Frick and Hitzfeld were escorted by the team to Blade's Edge Cliff together.
Standing near the edge, you can see that most of the surrounding white mist has evaporated.
Only the opposite bank near the sea, that is, the location of Blade Point, was covered with a layer of fog. The fog near Blade Cliff had long disappeared, and one could directly overlook the sea below from a high place.
This is absolutely... a horrible torture.
Standing here and looking down, you can see reflected golden light everywhere. If you stare at it for a long time with your naked eyes, you may even get burned. You can imagine how terrible the temperature on the sea surface is.
It is on the basis of this environment that another ray of hot golden light is projected from above in a fan shape, just covering the strait between Blade Cliff and Blade Corner.
"..."Looking at this scene, Frick is now torn between his conscience and his desires.
The first level is the surprise and anger after learning the truth.
If Hitzfeld's reasoning is true, it means that the mother who was "bought" by the parish and got this opportunity as a skilled sailor was probably eaten by the monster like countless victims.
That's right - as a gold-rank Flint Knight, he had a special reason for appearing on this mission. On the one hand, of course, he was following the royal family's order to monitor and observe Hitzfeld, but on the other hand, the word "Crystal Sea" itself was enough to attract his attention.
He wanted to find out the truth of what happened back then.
He survived thanks to his mother's sacrifice.
Not only did she survive, but she also earned a lot of money, enough to buy her a nice cemetery.
But where is she?
Are her remains still there?
These expectations surround Frick's inner world like a curse, and he realizes that he must resolve them before he dies, otherwise they may get out of control and corrupt him from the inside out.
The second level is enlightenment and sudden realization.
There is a sense of clarity as if the fog has been cleared away and everything is revealed.
So this is what temperature difference is all about.
So, this is what the sun mentioned in that message means.
The reason why the recorder knew all this was not necessarily because he had been to the Crystal Sea and came out alive. Another possibility was that the entire Crystal Sea, including the surrounding waters, was the hunting range of that thing. It was possible that it would sometimes go out and wander around, and then just happened to find the land rescue team that had just arrived on the shore.
So they were eaten.
Some were swallowed up and fused, while others had their blood and flesh sucked dry.
And this recorder... he was most likely drilled into the brain. When he wrote this record, his mind and consciousness had already begun to blend with that thing, and he naturally understood everything, and then with the last bit of remaining humanity... left a record.
He just couldn't understand the scattered corpse-dissolving monsters because the temperature there was not too high, not high enough to "dissolve" a human body.
How did they become like that?
Why didn't it absorb them into its body, but let them move around on the ground?
...Finally, there is the third level, which is also the most difficult thing for him to face.
Fear from deep within.
It is true that he possesses power far beyond that of others, but what is the use of it all?
The land rescue team had five machine guns but could not escape the fate of being wiped out. This was in its lair, and the worst thing was that all those who had fallen to this point could not even choose their own fate.
The heat is here.
All conditions have been matched.
Even if I get angry now and leave the team and jump off the cliff, what will happen?
It is still inevitable to soak in the boiling sea water and become a dissolved corpse.
It is still inevitable that even the soul will not have peace of mind.
He couldn't help but blame Hitzfeld a little.
As he had said before, there was no point in seeing through all this, because they still couldn't leave here.
After experiencing a variety of emotional fluctuations such as surprise, anger, and realization, they still have to face the cruel reality.
Is this the despair you want?
There was a cheer from the team.
Frick turned around and saw a fat man at least twice the size of an ordinary man jumping off the edge of the cliff.
He jumped into the fan-shaped beam of light, and his body turned into a huge fireball. His shrill wails could be heard from a long distance away.
Then, a huge wave rose on the sea surface.
The water parted, revealing a huge, strange, slime-like creature that occupied at least two-fifths of the entire strait.
Its body is amber in color.
It is also as transparent as amber, refracting endless colorful halos under the sunlight.
It first gently caught the burning fat man and let him sink into its soft body. Then the upper body expanded and stretched, quickly forming a transparent bubble that covered the fat man.
Something extremely terrible happened.
The bubble withstood the strong beam of light from above, gathering all the temperature inside and projecting it completely to the fat man inside.
In just a blink of an eye, his body melted.
"..."
Okay, now he knew where the dissolving corpses on the shore came from...
Frick even thought he was hallucinating.
Because at the last moment of this man's melting - when only a head was left, he actually read an emotion called "joy" from that charred face.
He thought he must be crazy.
But at the same time, a deeper sense of horror enveloped him, giving him goose bumps.
Everything that happened next made him subconsciously think that he was in purgatory.
The villagers were a little scared at first.
But under Lindworm's loud scolding and incitement, they quickly abandoned their worries and began to jump off the cliff one after another like dumplings.
"Chichi..."
"Chichichi..."
They melted and dissolved in the sunlight, and were reborn under the witness of the sun and their companions.
The fog gradually rose again.
But this time, the air began to be filled with that horrible stench.
Plus the scorching air.
The spreading wailing.
In between were waves of cheers from the natives.
Frick vomited countless times. He felt that even if he was not injured, he would not have the strength to fight.
So... it's over?
Such an ending.
Even someone who knows the secret of the Crystal Sea cannot take it out of here.
Just like the message said.
[This is divine punishment.]
[Whoever attempts to touch the sun will be reduced to ashes...]
