Wasteland Echoer

"Enemy? Monster?" Wright asked doubtfully, staring cautiously at the head not far away in front of him with pure black eyes.

Although the tone in his mouth was not harsh or urgent, he was even a little frightened by the weirdness in front of him.

But as a former member of the Imperial Guard and now a legion [soldier], Wright instinctively relied on muscle memory to draw the "Bear Bear" pistol from his waist. He held the gun steadily with his left hand, unlocked the safety with his right hand, and pulled the trigger.

Immediately afterwards, he bowed slightly, his feet stepped on the cold ground that reflected the orange and gold sky like a mirror, and slowly moved forward along the arc, gradually approaching the strange head.

Until... the head retracted the flesh-colored tentacles covered with sunken patches, closed the scarlet eye, only revealing the light green one, and made a soft whisper in the mouth, followed by a short and rapid animal-like "purr", It actually made a human voice!

"Someone...is here? I'm...so...happy, so happy...hahaha, hahaha."

boom!

The head's narcissism was interrupted by a rapid explosion.

The bullet pierced the orange space, "stroking" across the top of the head in a nearly straight path, and after cutting off a few squirming hairs irregularly, a small explosion occurred not far behind its head.

"Hmph, don't be so impulsive, young man." The head said in a tone that sounded like he had experienced the world, with a twisted smile, and a stinking liquid of white burning and scarlet flowing down from the broken part of the hair:

"In the past thousand years, you are the first human being to escape from the yellow sand and sneak into the 'Feiyue Arena'. Now, the light of the sunset has not yet escaped, and the light of the waning moon is still lingering. In the short and warm atmosphere, you don't want to be with me. Shall I talk?”

"Let's talk?" Wright took half a step back defensively, stood up straight, and held the gun tightly with his right hand trembling slightly, with the muzzle pointing vertically downward. He thought for two seconds and then asked:

"In what capacity are we talking? Enemies? Or collaborators?"

He didn't know the identity of the monster in front of him, and he didn't have any information or knowledge in his mind that could correspond to it.

But this head released limited goodwill after all. He decided to follow the tips in the "Safety Code" and decided to collect as much information as possible in an unfamiliar environment.

And talking is one of the best ways.

"I said..." The head made a voice like that of a young man about the same age as Wright, somewhere between mature and immature, with a little ethereal voice:

"The sunset has not yet ended, and the crimson moon still needs to come. During the time of light, we are friends, and we all believe in the 'Goddess of Light'. But when the crimson moon comes, we will become enemies. At that time, I will accept the 'Lord of the Dark Night' With the power of the 'Ball of Desire', he loses his intelligence, releases evil spirits, and becomes a monster."

"This is a principle set by the Creator. It is not transferred by the will of any living creature. Of course, it is not restricted by magic."

"So, we have been friends for a quarter of an hour?" Wright said with a wry smile.

After all, in his impression, a beautiful, bright, soft, and hopeful sunset lasted only a moment at most.

"Perhaps time is very fast for you, but it is a torment for me. The daylight is extremely short here, and the slowly long night will eventually accompany you and me. My body will change as needed, but the most powerful There is only one body."

"Let me introduce myself. I have no name, only the code name, 'k-r01'. You can call me 'Old K'. I am the [Changeler] who is only one step away from touching the [Sacrifice] .”

"[Shifter]? This term is a bit familiar to me. But what I'm curious about is why the upper-level profession of [Shifter] is [Sacrifice]?" Wright asked doubtfully, scratching his hair subconsciously.

"Sure enough, times have changed." Lao K sighed with emotion, then looked up at the orange sky where the light was gradually dissipating, and said melancholy:

"I remember that it was about a thousand years ago when I was trapped here, around the middle of the Steam Age... By the way, these concepts of time were told to me in a dream by the mechanical boy some time ago."

"It is said that this is an era where magic is withering and technology is also withering. In order to survive, people will ignore the general knowledge they should have mastered. I remember that when I was still free, I took the Ice Kai from the Aventrai Empire. Line No. is bound for Tanibin City in the Fire Empire."

"At that time, I borrowed a book called "The Relationship Between Middle-Level Occupations and Upper-Level Occupations" from the Imperial Library. It clearly described the relationship between 16 sequence groups and upper-level professions, including the upper-level professions corresponding to mid-level professions, and the promotion relationship. .”

"It mentioned that [Changelers] are often exposed to filth and sin, and are corroded by long-term corrosion, but they can keep their brains awake, so they have the ability to change into various weird forms. But [Changelers] cannot create new ones out of thin air. species, all we can do is splice and combine based on known structures."

Upon hearing this, Wright blurted out:

"Stitch monster? Plagiarize... seize... no, refer to the best parts of other species and bring them together to obtain more powerful power?"

"That's what happened." The head nodded slightly and said:

"But there is no cost. After all, the references are all long-dead creatures. However, as the sequence card 'No. 1: Sacrifice' tells, 'The strong warrior raised his proud head to sacrifice himself. Our lives are exchanged for the light of the oracle. When we must give up powerful power, use light to dispel darkness, and after holiness washes away sins, we will be promoted to [sacrifice]."

"As the name suggests, [Sacrificial One] sacrifices his own blood, body, spirit, and even soul in exchange for exponentially increased power. But if you are not careful, you will still be suffocated by the filth of your time as a [Shapeshifter] , temporarily transformed into an animal form."

"No wonder... Ivan the 'Baby Wolf' turned into a wolf. I always thought it was the empire's experiment that transformed him into that shape. Maybe he himself didn't know it was a side effect of [Sacrifice]," Wright muttered.

"So..." The head's voice suddenly became high-pitched, and he twisted on the spot with all his strength, as if he was trying to get rid of the shackles of some terrible force.

After struggling for a few seconds, he continued:

"Speaking of which... this 'Crimson Moon Arena' actually does not belong to the Western Continent, and certainly does not belong to the East. It is another alien plane independent of the world, or as the Crusad scientists call it, it is an 'alien Dimensional space'. However, because the 'Daughter of Mechanical Yuan' sleeps here, its entrance is fixed here."

"I'm curious, old K, how did you get trapped here? It seems that your level of demon source is not low." Wright asked curiously, and by the way, he lifted up his sleeves, revealing his wrists that exuded a rich golden light.

"'Bracelet of Spying'? Boy, you are not simple. This item is a token of Ivan XXII's favorite princess Sophia. But times have changed, the Krusted Empire was destroyed, and the palace The thing naturally spread to the people. But..." An indescribable expression appeared on the dim face of the head, and he said:

"It is said that the man who can be recognized by the bracelet will become the husband of Princess Sofia. Unfortunately, Sofia lived for a full 95 years and could not wait for her love. By the way, the information indicated by the bracelet is correct. I am bathing in the sunset. Possessing the strength of Order 4: Hope. I am trapped here because of ‘desire’.”

"'Desire'? The seven deadly sins..." Wright guessed in a low voice.

"That's right. When I was in the Fire Empire, I was plotted by the little emperor of the 'Sorrower' who believed in the culture of the Western Continent. I was tied to a jade-carved coffin in the cold and damp underground palace illuminated by the moonlight."

"The little emperor forced seven Xilu nuns to cast a 'Holy Curse' on me, trying to expel me to the Dragon Clan ruins to find and bring back the Dragon Clan boy who will play a pivotal role in the 'Long Qing'."

"The nuns surged with the magic power of water, earth, darkness, and wind, and surrounded me with seven dark colors. They lit the 'incense' that plays a role in communicating with the gods in Eastern religions, and in a battle with fire I was transported here by mistake in a cacophony of prayers chanted in Imperial Tongue."

"What happens next?" Wright listened with great interest, as if he was listening to a fairy tale.

"After that, I was imprisoned here. Although the 'Daughter of Mechanical Element' woke up several times in a thousand years, even though she told me many stories about gods and machines, and encouraged me to persevere as much as possible, By waiting for the arrival of the [Order], I can break out of the prison cage and go to the 'Land Shrouded in Light'. But the endless loneliness wraps me up and makes me suffer all the time."

"I know that [Order] is the rarest and rarest type among the sixteen upper-level professions. It has appeared among the dragons in the first era, it has appeared in the Fire Empire in the second era, and Ivan II has appeared in the third era. The Twelve Lifetimes are [Orders], but there is one person who appears every thousand years, where is he now?"

Looking at Old K with a sad face, Wright suddenly understood from his words that the key to getting out of the "Crimson Moon Arena" and reaching the area where "Vita Water" is located is himself, the [Order]!

Thinking of this, Wrighton felt dizzy.

He suddenly felt like he was on top of a towering incandescent ice sheet, lacking oxygen.

After taking a deep breath, he slapped his chest that felt dull and blocked with his left hand, stared at Old K, and said solemnly:

"I am the [Order]."

"You?" Old K looked down at Wright in disbelief, frowned, and sniffed his scent briefly and quickly with his nose.

Immediately, his brows relaxed as if they had been ironed, and then he opened his mouth, revealing two sharp beast-like fangs and four flesh-colored tentacles, and said in a somewhat unclear language:

"The smell of the red magic source power is unmistakable. It has the same smell as the 'Daughter of the Mechanical Element', and the smell of the [Order] that makes people surrender. I found it, I found it!"

Old K shouted excitedly.

Immediately afterwards, his head twisted and struggled hard, causing crimson ripples to appear on the ground around him.

Wright raised the pistol again and looked at the ground.

He suddenly realized that the central area of ​​the arena surrounded by 12 towering stone pillars looked like a "free" pool to Lao K, but to him and Feng, it was a solid "land".

In just half a minute, Lao K's body gradually changed from struggling to calming down, and began to "float" slowly like riding in an elevator.

Then, a body as pure and strong as a human youth appeared in front of Wright.

Old K's head still maintains a weird and weird appearance. He is about the same height as Wright, and his body is bone-like gray-white, with a faint scar across his chest and abdomen.

His strong and plump muscles look like a [warrior] who has been exercising all year round, and his whole body is covered with tattoos composed of red lines.

After trying to interpret it, Wright roughly saw the double-headed eagle pattern, as well as the "crimson waning moon" pattern next to Shamon who fell to the ground in the "Blood Bright" castle hall just now.

But in addition, there are still several parts of Old K's body that are not human. A layer of "armor" that is as pitted and dry as tree bark seems to be vaguely visible on his back, and his private parts are wrapped by countless twisted branches. The skin of his feet is light blue, like fish.

Immediately afterwards, before the two of them could continue their conversation under the increasingly huge but dim orange sunset.

Several white doves, representing peace, glided past the center of the arena with a few withered and yellow branches in their mouths, and stayed in the stands, turning into several skeletons.

The white dove feathers fell to the ground in a funnel-shaped spiral, directly inserted into the "soft" pool-like ground.