175: Weird creatures

Dwarven Kingdom, Hammer Town.

The peaceful morning was broken by a shrill roar.

The Dwarven blacksmith, who was about to forge armor, had just added coke to the furnace when he heard the roar, which did not sound human. He instinctively gripped his hammer tighter.

He did not rashly go out to check the situation. Instead, he walked to the window and looked in the direction of the roar.

The morning mist had just cleared, and the window was hazy, making it difficult to see clearly.

Suddenly, a humanoid black shadow flashed past the window and then burst into his neighbor's house.

The neighbor's front door was wide open, and the black shadow went straight in, followed by the sound of breaking pottery and the mistress's screams.

The blacksmith's heart sank, knowing that something unexpected must have happened. His sense of justice made him unwilling to stand by.

So, he quickly put on the armor from his shop, grabbed a war hammer and a round shield, pushed open the door, and walked out.

"What's going on at Baru's house?" The owner of the general store across the street poked half his body out and whispered to the blacksmith.

The blacksmith did not answer. He also didn't know what had happened. He held his shield to his chest and slowly approached the house.

Inside the house, there was a sudden sound of tearing fabric, which then turned into the sound of flesh being ripped and bitten.

He swallowed hard, pressed himself against the door frame, and peered inside. The sight before him made his pupils contract sharply.

His neighbor, Baru, who used to come to him for nails, was now hunched over, standing in a pool of blood.

His wife lay on the ground, her eyes wide open, a bloody hole torn in her throat.

And Baru was tearing open his wife's chest with sharp claws, his pointed fangs biting into her internal organs.

That's right, Baru had not only grown sharp claws and fangs, but countless black "velvet hairs" had also grown all over his body.

These velvet hairs were composed of tiny black tentacles, constantly twisting and tangling.

Clearly, Baru was no longer a pure Dwarf; some unknown change had occurred.

The Dwarven blacksmith did not act rashly. His neighbor's wife was already dead, so rushing in now would change nothing. It would be better to wait for the City Guard to arrive before acting.

He signaled to a curious neighbor to find the City Guard, and the blacksmith continued to guard the door, intending to keep the creature trapped inside.

Suddenly, a baby's cry interrupted Baru's feeding and shattered the blacksmith's illusion.

Oh no! He forgot they had a child!

Seeing Baru slowly raise his bloody face, his crimson eyes fixed on the inner room, a gurgling sound coming from his throat.

At this point, the blacksmith no longer cared about waiting for the City Guard. He gritted his teeth and charged in.

He tucked his body behind the round shield and charged forward like a wild boar.

Baru clearly did not expect this and was hit squarely by the Dwarf, his body slamming directly against the wall.

The blacksmith, taking advantage of the situation, swung the war hammer in his hand directly at the monster's head.

The monster was struck directly on the forehead by this powerful blow, leaving it somewhat dazed.

But the black tentacles on its body were not dazed; they quickly stretched and lengthened, tightly gripping the shield and war hammer.

Some other tentacles crawled along the war hammer towards the blacksmith's arm, trying to entangle him.

The blacksmith was unwilling to be entangled by these disgusting things and quickly pulled hard on the shield and war hammer.

But these little things were stuck on, no matter how hard the blacksmith pulled, he couldn't get them off.

Seeing the black tentacles about to touch his fingers, the blacksmith had no choice but to drop his weapons and look around the room for other handy tools.

The neighbor was just an ordinary peddler, and there were no weapons in his home. There might be knives in the kitchen, but the blacksmith couldn't get past the monster to enter the kitchen.

At this moment, the monster recovered from the hammer's heavy blow, let out a piercing shriek, and charged at the blacksmith.

In a critical moment, the blacksmith picked up a solid wooden stool nearby and threw it.

The wooden stool had a close encounter with the monster's head and then shattered into pieces.

The blacksmith also didn't fare well; the monster was not repelled by the blow and collided heavily with him.

And the tentacles on the monster's body quickly spread along the point of contact between them, soon covering the blacksmith's entire body.

These tentacles were pervasive, drilling into the blacksmith's body like parasites.

The blacksmith felt as if all the skin on his body, including his internal organs, was burning. He wanted to call for help, but when he opened his mouth, he spat out a large number of black tentacles.

And his form was slowly changing; his originally clear eyes became hollow and devoid of any light.

His sturdy muscles became even larger and more exaggerated, while also becoming as hard as keratin.

And his bones, like blades unsheathed, "grew" out of his skin.

By the time the transformation ended, he had become a black "porcupine" covered in sharp spines.

At this point, the blacksmith had been completely corrupted by the monster, becoming a new monster.

Some neighbors watching from outside saw how ferocious the monster was, and even the blacksmith, who had served in the City Guard, was no match. They quickly fled back to their own homes and tightly shut their doors.

The blacksmith, transformed into a monster, was attracted by the baby's cries from the inner room. A cruel glint flashed in his eyes, and he quickly went inside.

Subsequently, the baby's cries became sharp and tragic, then completely ceased.

After the two monsters finished feasting on the corpses inside the house, they both walked out of the room and wandered in different directions.

Meanwhile, the City Guard was slow to arrive. Monster attacks had occurred throughout the city, leaving them overwhelmed.

More seriously, these attacks continued to spread, causing great chaos.

And the source of this chaos continued to wander aimlessly through the city.

This was a multi-limbed, mayfly-like creature, covered in eyes, drifting in the air with the wind.

Some Dwarves who had risen early to attend to their livelihoods were drawn to this strange creature, all staring blankly at the monster.

As their sanity was lost, they became completely corrupted, becoming sacrifices to the Unspeakable Monster.

Meanwhile, in the Elven Forest on the other side, chaos also erupted, but this disturbance was quickly suppressed by the Elven Elder, who had lived for thousands of years.

"Close the city gates! Activate the barrier!"

The Elven Elder looked at the chaotic tree city and decisively ordered the entire city to be sealed, preparing to stifle the chaos within the town.

Then, the Elven Elder cast natural magic, controlling all the plants in the entire tree city.

The vines climbing over the tree city suddenly twisted wildly, entangling the corrupted monsters one by one and concentrating them in the central treehouse.

However, the instigator of all this ignored these vines and continued to wander through the city.

The vines wrapped around the monster as if passing through a phantom, not restricting the monster in the slightest.

The Elven Elder frowned slightly. After careful observation, he realized that this monster was only wandering aimlessly and did not deliberately attack or corrupt the Elves.

But after only observing for a while, the Elven Elder realized that his mental energy was burning fiercely. Fortunately, he averted his gaze with absolute control.

He then manipulated the vines to seal off the area around the monster and issued an instruction aloud.

"All clan members evacuate immediately! All avoid the Southern Commercial Street area and gather at the North City Gate."

The Elven Elder had experienced many sudden incidents, and now he handled the source of infection with ease.