Chapter 1476: The Last Experiment

Malrik left two of the elves inside the cockpit. One of them would guard the door, while the other operated the cannon. They needed to ensure that their infiltration wouldn’t be noticed by a lack of mana beams.

Their worries, however, weren’t needed. After the grand failure of the cannons, firing them again was a waste of resources. However, Malrik instructed the elf to fire at the other ships once Arthur saved Diana.

As for the rest of the elves, they had to sneak through the corridors of the ship without being found or using their abilities. They looked through different rooms, and thankfully, most of the abyssal seekers were on the ground.

That left the engineers and Invidia’s own troops. There was a group called Surneth who served as Invidia’s own guards. They were a mix of abyssal spirit users and other devourers of souls.

Malrik fought against them during the last attack. They all wore masks that hid their faces, and during one of their fights, Malrik’s spear strike managed to send one of the masks flying.

Underneath it was a disfigured face that had overlayered eyes, mouths, noses, and ears. At the beginning, Malrik thought it was some genetic defect, but that was wrong. According to Halstren, these warriors were disfigured because they consumed the souls of others.

Just like a soul is shaped according to the body’s shape, the same happens the other way around. After devouring countless souls, partial or complete, these warriors were unable to prevent their bodies from becoming a horrifying mesh of bodies.

Their disfigurement also made them vulnerable. Some of them had two hearts, making wounds gush out faster. Some of them had regrown nerves they didn’t need, making their actions almost possessed.

Malrik was still worried about encountering some of the Surneth. They were a terrible group that would release abilities like a wheel of fortune—or in this case, of doom.

"Halt," Malrik raised a hand to the others. They stopped as he peeked into the hallway, seeing two of the Surneth guarding a door. The two of them were chatting, which made them miss Malrik who retreated. "Two Surneth fighters."

"That’s similar to last time," a female elf said. "Should we send the signal?"

"We only have one chance, and we cannot mess this up," Malrik said as he held the crystal around his neck. "That lady, Ozyrae, said that once we crush the crystal, Arthur would come to our rescue. But if we do it on the wrong ship, then it would kill Diana."

The others nodded.

"We need to find Diana first," the elf said. "She’s the reason I’m still alive."

Most of them were saved by the Princess of Ice and Fire. If not directly, then during their escape when she lured away the Slender monster. None of them considered her an outsider because of her race.

Malrik nodded.

"We have to lure the Surneth away. I have a plan, but you need to be careful," Malrik advised and the others nodded.

Instead of heading toward the Surneth, Malrik led them back toward the engines. They found several engineers dressed from head to toe with aprons, gloves, masks, and protective glasses.

It was easy to knock them out.

Then, all elves dressed as engineers except for Malrik. They tied the naked engineers, who were also a little disfigured with a mouth on their body or an eye in their hands, against the pillars of the engine room.

The two groups then split. Malrik returned to the same spot he had earlier, while the other elves took different hallways to reach the Surneth.

"Thank goodness!" shouted the three elves who were disguised as engineers. "Someone knocked out the engineers in the engine room and stole their clothes! Come quick!"

Malrik could hear their voices. He looked at the Surneth, who hesitated, before leaving the pair of heavy doors.

Malrik didn’t hesitate to slide toward the door and open it. It creaked open and he slipped into the darkness. The elf could only see the outline of several tables and things hanging from the ceiling.

He looked around for a lantern or a torch, but found nothing. He crawled through the darkness, making sure that he didn’t hit anything that would bring the attention of the Surneth.

"Mhmhm!"

A voice came from above, making Malrik flinch. He looked at the source and it came from the end of the room, where tables filled the farthest wall. He could only see the tables because of the small gemstones underneath them that radiated dim light.

Malrik had a bad feeling about this, but he had to investigate. He walked through the tables, looking for the source of the movement. As he approached the faraway tables, he finally spotted a lamp hanging from the ceiling.

After some more searching, he found the switch. It was built very high for some reason, and Malrik had to jump to turn it on. Light flickered into existence as he turned.

Malrik felt his stomach turn.

The room was illuminated by the single lamp, but he wished that it didn’t. All around him were countless tables, filled with severed body parts. Hands, heads, legs, and even torsos lined the table.

"Mhm!" a voice made Malrik almost jump from his skin. He looked behind him, to the table on the farthest wall, and his entire body began shaking.

Chained to the table was someone who lost all their limbs. It was nothing but a torso and a head.

It was Ranya, the elf that Malrik assigned to be Diana’s guide before they were dragged to this realm. Her mouth was gagged, and her torso was chained through the flesh into the table.

Malrik stepped back.

His entire body was shaking.

They had found Ranya before they found Diana.

She was one of the participants in the last attack.

Everyone thought she died in the battle.

But she was here.

Not all of her.

Malrik had a bitter thought.

She was better off dead than this.

"Mhm!" Ranya cried again with tears in her eyes, and they began to mirror Malrik’s own.

His tears fell as he stepped forward and removed the gag from her mouth. Her voice was weak and hoarse.

"Mal... rik..." she could barely say his name.

Before, she would shout for him from across their camp inside the Dark Forest, filled with joy that he used to hate because it had no damn reason.

And now, he wished that she would say it in the same way again.

"Kill... me..." she said with tears streaming down her face.

Malrik stood rooted in place as he looked at her.

She had lost her limbs.

The bleeding was stopped by some form of burn.

Malrik gulped down as tears fell from his eyes.

He took out the knife strapped to his belt.

"Thank... you..." she said with a smile.

Malrik drove the knife through her heart.

She flinched.

Blood covered her chest, dyeing the entire table and falling to the ground. It pooled as if attempting to drown her underneath. But he didn’t let it.

Malrik held her face. He pressed his forehead against hers as tears streamed down his face.

"Well, that’s a shame," a voice said behind him. Malrik snapped back, and found Invidia at the door. "I was here to conduct my final experiment on her."

"Invidia!" Malrik roared, his voice shaking the entire room. He pulled out the knife and turned toward him. "I’ll never forgive you for this!"

"Oh, please. She’s not the first, and hardly the last," Invidia said with a snicker. "In fact, she was very helpful in my research. Do you want to know what I did to her?"

Malrik let out a scream that he never knew he could. His feet carried him to the fallen elf, knocking tables and body organs. He stumbled through the room until he was a few feet away from his target.

Two creatures descended from the ceiling.

They wore dark robes and white demonic masks.

The two Surneth warriors pinned Malrik to the ground, slamming him against the cobblestone. The knife flew from his hand, landing next to Invidia’s feet.

Malrik kept screaming.

Invidia was unbothered as he picked up the knife.

"She was a valuable test subject. As you can tell, my Surneth warriors are hardly perfect. They are monsters in human flesh because of the greatest side effect that they couldn’t overcome: body metamorphism."

Malrik struggled against their grasp. The two warriors then placed their knees on his arms and pushed down. His two arms released a sickening crunching sound as they bent. Pain made him howl even more.

"Your friend was the subject of my latest theory: organ transplant. I began transplanting organs that contained the bits of souls I needed. That way, there shouldn’t be side effects. Well... it’s a long subject, really," Invidia said as he crouched on the ground.

Malrik glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

"You did well to kill her. Even if the greatest healer in the world came here, they wouldn’t be able to sew her back together. Her soul became my plaything. Barely anything was left of it, really, so I’m surprised... that she could even remember you."

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