Mystery: Gray Walker

Chapter 76 Marianne!

Green stared at the killing altar before him, his heart pounding.

The left side represents desire, the right side represents death, so... what does the third room represent?

Heart?

"We've already seen two stomachs... intestines. Could the heart be in the middle?"

Should we turn back now?

The existing intelligence is enough for the Night's Watch to know what is happening here, but the core of Veronica, the switch to the ritual, must be in the middle.

go ahead?

With every extra second they waited, the risk of being discovered increased exponentially. Alvin was still waiting outside, and time was ticking away.

He flashed through his mind the image of Aunt Sylvia taking the drink, and the waiter following Emily as she walked toward the dessert table.

"There's no time to hesitate."

Green gritted his teeth and made a decision.

He must see the 'heart'.

"Take one look, never go any closer, and whatever you see within thirty seconds, you must leave..."

Green quickly left the room and headed towards the room in the very center and deepest part.

His back was soaked with cold sweat; these scenes had completely overturned his understanding of the world.

The deepest door, also the heaviest, is an oak door carved with patterns of twisted vines and fruits.

The door had no lock, or rather, the lock had become meaningless, because the door itself seemed to be part of some kind of living tissue.

He tried to enter through the door, but failed. So he simply peered through the crack in the door.

But that one glance plunged him into an eternal nightmare.

The room was larger than the two rooms on the left and right, and was circular in shape.

In the center, instead of the altar or magic circle he had envisioned, there was a... living, pulsating tree.

It is not any known tree species in nature. The trunk is a pale, fleshy texture that is smooth and jade-like, yet it is covered with dark wood grain, like pulsating blood vessels and nerves.

The canopy is not branches and leaves, but countless supple, wriggling vines and branches that shimmer with a pearly luster. They hang from the ceiling and coil up from the ground, filling the entire space.

And in the center of that pale tree trunk, there is a person.

No, it's semi-fusion.

Marianne Fairfax.

Her stunning beauty was exactly the same as in the portrait, even adding an inhuman, otherworldly radiance.

Light brown curly hair cascaded down, intertwining with pale vines.

Her eyes were tightly closed, her long eyelashes trembled, her cheeks were flushed with an unnatural redness, and her lips were slightly parted, uttering intermittent murmurs as if she were immersed in ultimate pleasure.

Her upper body, shoulders, neck, and arms were perfectly "grown" outside the tree trunk, with smooth skin. Her lower body, however, was completely integrated into the tree trunk.

It was as if the tree trunk was her extended body, and she was the fruit that the tree bore.

However, the scene surrounding her was even more horrifying.

On those writhing branches, instead of leaves, grew fleshy growths of various shapes, some even bearing the blurry outlines of human faces, with expressions of fascination or pain.

Seven or eight men stood like hypnotized puppets, their eyes vacant, yet their faces filled with fanatical obsession.

The vitality in those men quickly faded, and their skin turned ashen.

The branches connected to it are even more lustrous and full, and the dark red light of the life force it has absorbed is transported through its veins to the central trunk, eventually flowing into Marianna's body.

Marianna's expression became even more excited and satisfied, and the tree trunk swelled and pulsated slightly.

This is not a simple resurrection.

This involves using Marianna's remains and soul fragments as the core, and the "Tree of Desire" as the vessel and amplifier. Through continuous, sacrificial means, the power of life and desire is gathered, purified, and infused, causing her to "grow" and "transform" into some kind of non-human being.

The room in the middle is not the heart, but a filthy, ugly, and blasphemous furnace.

It devours the life energy sacrificed on the left and right sides, undergoing final fusion and transformation here, nourishing the gradually awakening, distorted "new life" in the center.

Green felt a violent spasm in his stomach, and a chilling fear and intense nausea gripped him.

He saw the core of the ceremony and that it was working successfully.

Veronica isn't here, but her "creation" is running automatically, greedily devouring everything.

Thirty seconds!

He forced himself to look away from the blasphemous center and quickly scanned the rest of the room.

The walls were covered with glowing roots, forming an extremely complex and constantly pulsating magic array.

In each of the four corners of the room stands a small, neither-male-nor-female stone statue, with a faintly glowing gem in its mouth, seemingly playing a role in stabilizing and guiding energy.

The intelligence is sufficient. No, it's far more than we imagined.

Just as he was about to back away, Mariana on the central tree trunk suddenly opened her eyes.

Those are not human eyes.

His pupils were deep, constantly swirling, dark green vortexes.

Her gaze was vacant, yet it seemed to pierce through the shadows, landing precisely on the direction outside the door.

The sound stopped, and Marianna's lips slowly curved into a huge, satisfied smile.

"...Ah...another one..."

Her voice echoed directly in Green's mind, hoarse and overlapping.

It was discovered!

Not by Veronica, but by the very core of this ritual that is being "activated"!

The effect of the "sloth's" cover diminishes dramatically under the gaze of such a close and intense spiritual presence!

Green felt a powerful, alluring force trying to penetrate his mind, eroding his reason and dragging him toward the branches.

run!

Without the slightest hesitation, Green turned around, used all his willpower to fight against the mental pull, and sprinted back towards the passage he had come from!

The invisibility effect of "The Lazy One" instantly failed due to his vigorous exercise, but he didn't care.

Behind her, came Marianna's joyful sigh, and the sharp whistling of branches suddenly tearing through the air!

"Come... I'll let you experience the pleasures of being a man... Let me bear your child..."

The sound made Green's heart pound violently.

He dared not look back, and could only pour all his will into his legs, running desperately through the dark corridor filled with the stench of blood and the sweet smell of alcohol.

"Come on... experience joy... have a baby..."

The hoarse, overlapping murmurs continued to echo in his mind and deep within his soul.

Every word was like a barbed vine, trying to hook his reason and drag him into the quagmire of desire and death.

Mariana's eerie, satisfied smile flashed uncontrollably before his eyes, along with the writhing growths on the branches. His stomach churned, and his throat tightened.

Don't stop! Don't think!

The sound of something cutting through the air behind us was sharp and piercing, and there was more than one!

Those pale, pearly vines, like living tentacles, darted through the heavy "trapdoor" and pursued with agility and speed.

"Let me...do it for you..." her murmurs intensified.

Green felt his legs go weak, and an absurd, instinctive heat tried to break through his inner fear and take over his body.

He suddenly sidestepped and crashed into the wall. It was the room on the right that he had just left; this was the "Killing Room."

Greene no longer cared about the situation inside the room; he practically ran forward a few steps before bursting through the wall again.

The erratic S-shaped route gave him a glimmer of hope.

Before the branches could strike again, he plunged headfirst into the "room of desire".