MM Racing Chapter 8 Melting
Chapter 8 Melting
On the other side of the iron gate.
Luo Lan lay on the stone bricks, everything in his vision was slightly doubled. He tried to focus with his single eye, but failed, so he gave up and let his pupil float on its own.
He could hear impacts, creaks, and the whooshing sound of limbs piercing the air... all coming from the remaining groove on Luo Lan's right ventral segment, slowly being organized into sounds in his mind.
With his mental energy almost depleted, the color blocks of the entire world were distorted and stretched due to extreme exhaustion, and all external movements became viscous slow motion.
[......]
[Still alive...]
After a long period of daze, Luo Lan finally managed to piece together a complete and clear thought in her mind.
With difficulty, Luo Lan turned around and looked through the rusty iron fence at the giant armored spider that had gone mad.
"Clang—Clang—"
The enormous spider demon's body slammed heavily against the iron fence time and time again, the iron gate emitting a series of ear-piercing crashes.
The giant armored spider's mandibles, covered in sharp teeth, relentlessly bit into the gaps between the iron bars, frantically trying to force its thick, long forelimbs through the narrow openings. The sharp tips of its limbs scratched at the hard iron bars, creating sparks.
The commotion was immense, but the iron gate remained sturdy.
After carefully observing the deformation of the iron gate for a while, Luo Lan roughly judged that the giant beast should not be able to break through this physical blockade in a short period of time.
[It's safe... temporarily.]
Luo Lan believed she had been cautious enough in her actions.
Before each hunt for those larvae, he would activate [thermal vision] in advance and carefully scan the surrounding environment before taking action, but he never expected to inexplicably fall into this life-or-death predicament.
Deep down, Luo Lan silently raised the level of danger and strangeness of this world by a whole new level.
Suppressing the intense dizziness that felt like needles pricking his head, he ignored the raging beast outside that couldn't get through for the time being.
Even though his "body" has been trampled to pieces, with only a broken shell on the right side and four limbs remaining, he still has his own confidence.
[Current Chaotic Essence: 85]
The patient blockade by the stone bridge these past few days has paid off. The abundant source energy accumulated is enough to support Luo Lan in carrying out another major transformation.
[As long as suitable monster materials can be found...]
The four remaining limbs on the right side exerted their strength one by one, dragging the half-broken carapace and the bony hand that hovered in mid-air, groping forward with difficulty in this dark corridor that they had never been before.
Just as Luo Lan was about to pass a T-shaped corner in front of the corridor, a huge figure, at least two meters tall, flashed past in the darkness on the other side of the corner.
[What is that?!]
Luo Lan was startled. She quickly stopped moving forward with her limbs and dragged her mangled body behind a huge piece of rubble that had broken off from the wall.
Using the shadows as cover, I held my breath, mustered my strength, and struggled to focus the single eye on the back of my hand, directing my still-overlapping and distorted vision toward the end of the corner.
A few dozen seconds later, the figure passed by the corner again.
This time, Luo Lan saw its full form: it was a tall, thin, and strong humanoid creature.
The grayish-white skin was covered with thick black sutures, which had seeped deep into the flesh, probably due to the passage of time.
Mouth, nose, ears, and eyes—all are missing. There are no facial features; the entire face is smooth and bare.
His arms were slightly long, and a layer of hideous bone growths spread from his fingertips all the way down to his shoulders.
[This is... a stitched-up corpse?]
Just looking at its lifeless yet menacing appearance, the word "those" popped into Luo Lan's mind, and he felt it was the most fitting description.
Luo Lan had previously discovered several corpses in various parts of the underground palace. They all had a similar human-shaped, stitched-together appearance, but those were dead and had long since stopped moving.
This was the first time he had ever seen a living, stitched-up corpse.
Behind the broken iron gate lies a rotting corpse. Behind the intact iron gate, is life?
Looking back on her experience exploring the underground palace, Luo Lan summarized a simple pattern, but upon closer examination, it sent chills down her spine.
[How many of these things are locked behind these intact iron gates?]
An unexpected enemy has put Luo Lan in a dilemma.
The stitched-up corpse wandered around the corner of the corridor, passing by every few tens of seconds. Luo Lan's mangled body at this moment could not possibly pass through the corner passage in a few tens of seconds.
With his rear blocked by giant armored spiders and his front patrolled by stitched corpses, Luo Lan seemed destined to be completely trapped in this short, unprotected corridor.
[What to do? I can't get out, I can't find any materials, and having so much Chaos Essence is useless...]
The situation became extremely awkward and hopeless.
Time passed slowly, and Luo Lan huddled behind the rubble, her mind racing.
The fatigue from repeatedly overdrawing his mental energy to activate skills finally eased a little, and his mind gradually became clear again.
[etc.]
Luo Lan suddenly realized a crucial issue, recalling the specific description of [Condensation]:
[Condensation: ...can consume Chaos Essence, using all things as materials to assemble, strengthen, and fuse any target.]
This "everything" doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a new monster part, does it?
[I think I've fallen into a cognitive trap.]
There aren't many monster materials to be found in this corridor, but what if we broaden the scope a bit?
It doesn't necessarily have to be organic matter, nor does it necessarily have to be something taken from a monster.
Luo Lan's single eye locked onto the iron candlestick, which was flickering with a faint light, right next to the rubble where he was hiding.
He was unsure of how far the metallurgical technology of this world fared compared to that of Earth.
But just looking at the giant armored spider behind it, which can easily smash even rocks, and how it still couldn't do anything to the rusty iron gate after ramming it for a long time, is enough to prove that the rusty iron here is definitely one of the more sturdy materials in the underground palace.
The rusty iron candlestick in front of us is clearly made of the same metal as the iron door.
The flame on the candlestick flickered and burned for an unknown amount of time without showing any signs of going out.
Luo Lan dragged himself to the iron candlestick, grabbed the bottom of the candlestick with his bone claws, and carefully tilted the candlestick with the flame facing outward to ensure that the flame would not burn him.
Without any hesitation, Luo Lan silently recited in his heart:
[Condensation Casting - Melting Casting]
The notification sound in my head immediately went off:
[This action is expected to consume 20 Chaos Essence. Confirm?]
[It really works!]
Hearing the pleasant notification tone, Luo Lan knew she had found the right direction and immediately acquiesced.
[Melted and Recast: Rusty Iron Candlestick]
[Consumed Chaos Essence: 20]
[Current Chaotic Essence: 65]
Accompanied by the invisible force that draws upon the chaotic essence, the iron candlestick begins to change within the bone claw.
The hard rusted iron softened slowly, like heated wax. Molten iron seeped from the candlestick's surface, cold and even slightly cool, flowing down the bone claws and onto the tattered shell of the young spider.
Molten iron was poured into the cracks and gaps in the carapace, and the holes that had been made by the giant armored spider were gradually patched up.
Even the four missing appendages on the left side, as the molten iron gathered, slowly stretched and were shaped into new forms, and then grew back.
The remaining small amount of molten iron was not wasted; it was evenly spread across the entire carapace surface, including the appendages, coating them all with a dark, metallic sheen.
[Acquired: Rusty Iron Shell (Faction)]
[Tier: Black Iron]
【Rusty Iron Shell: Armored limbs made of rusty iron, capable of withstanding some physical attacks (Black Iron rank and below)】