Chapter 125: Test Subjects
"These people didn't just die." Tyr said under his breath, his brows furrowed with a serious look: "They were tortured... mangled and thrown here like a garbage dump."
Hanzo exhaled, "The Black Merchant Guild members are horrible people, but the guild itself is smarter than this. What reason is there for them to needlessly slaughter over a thousand people like this?"
Tyr clenched his jaw and walked forward.
"Hey!" Trai suddenly exclaimed, reaching his hand forward, "Where are you going!? We should escape... who knows how many diseases there are in this one place. Probably enough to ravage civilizations!"
Tyr ignored him, continuing to walk forward.
He finally arrived at the large pile of bodies stacking up over 15 feet. Kneeling down, he examined each body with a look of curiosity in his eyes.
He picked up hands, staring at them closely before dropping them again.
Like this, he made his way around the pile of bodies for over 10 minutes.
'Some have holes blasted through their bodies... others have exploded heads, and others have been cleaved and broken.'
Tyr thought to himself as he continued examining the bodies.
'But... in the oldest of bodies, the ones that are the most dry and rotting... there is a pattern.'
He picked up the foot of an older looking body that was rotting like hell, 'Its large, too large for the body. Its like mangled bags of meat. The veins in it are nearly quadruple the size as well.'
He moved it how he pleased, look at each angle. Finally, he pulled the body out from the large pile.
Taking a good look at the face, Tyr saw that this person had 6 ears all over their face.
'There's no doubt about it. This person took an unstable pill... just as Malon's brother did in Mycelia. The enlarged limbs and veins... and the multiple ears are a tell tale sign.'
He paused, squinting as he thought about it some more.
'The oldest bodies are more fucked up than the newer ones in terms of looking crazy. That means... those slugs are finding a way to make unstable pills into usable objects. However, there are also bodies in here that have seemingly no flaws. That could mean that the 'perfect unstable pill' in the mind of these slugs is one that grants great power to the user with no side effects...
but then kills them no matter what after their job is done. Its a powerful weapon... one that can't give information. Like a war machine...'
He began to walk back to the exit, 'I doubt they've already perfected it... but even if they are close, thats quite an issue. The weak Mano was unrecognizable in strength after taking some pills... I can't even imagine what type of monster a more powerful person would become.'
As he made it a few feet away from where everyone was, he said: "They were test subjects for unstable pills..."
Everyone stayed quiet, silently acknowledging Tyr's words.
Reana closed her eyes, looking to the side with sorrow.
"Thats horrible..." She whispered.
Trai had a somber look on his face. Malon gritted his teeth, furious at those words.
Noa slowly shook her head, in slight denial while also feeling horrible about the situation.
Hanzo furrowed his eyebrows, "Slugs..." He said.
Tyr calmly spoke: "Their deaths won't be painless..." He said as he walked out of the warehouse. The others followed him.
When Tyr stepped out, his eyes once again flew open in shock.
"He-Helas?" He said from under his breath, noticing the lrax kneeling with his head facing the floor. His entire body was covered in blood, and around him lay dozens of freshly butchered corpses.
"W-what the fuck?" Tyr said under his breath again, unable to believe what he was seeing, "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?" He rushed over to where the lrax was.
As the others followed him, their expressions equally filled with horror and shock, Tyr placed his hand on the lrax's back and kneeled.
He stared at Helas' face. The man was clearly in shock. He seemed to have small wounds all over his body, but that clearly meant nothing to him right now.
His eyes were wide open, staring at the ground and dancing like crazy. He was panting heavily as well, as if he had just seen a ghost.
"T-they... are here." He suddenly said, "Don't lower your guard."
At that moment, Tyr furrowed his brows, "Huh?" He managed to say before feeling an immense pressure plow into his side out of nowhere.
A kick to his abdomen launched him several feet away, tumbling across the ground before sliding to his feet.
He quickly raised his head, staring at the large figure in a brown hood standing before Helas.
"Kehahaha!" The figure burst out into a peal of maniacal laughter, "Aren't you guys just a bit too late?"
The figure took his stainless robe off and threw it into the wind--revealing his immense physique.
Hanzo and the others halted, spreading out around the man.
His skin was black, his height easily over 7 feet tall. His muscles bulged as if they were powered by a full-on machine.
He had nothing but a mouth for a face and a giant ear on his torso.
"Foul beast..." Tyr said under his breath, rising to his feet.
"What you all have to understand is..." The mouth-ear-man began to speak, his voice very loud despite not yelling: "You are unmatched here! Worms can not defeat slugs!"
Tyr furrowed his brows, 'How the hell does he know about that nickname? Black slugs...'
"Transform!" A voice suddenly sounded from behind Hanzo.
It was Trai, who continued: "Cheetah!"
As he said this, he leaped into the air--his body morphing into a large cheetah in seconds.
He stormed across the field, grabbing Helas by the hair and throwing him to safety.
"Huh?" The earman exclaimed, slamming the back of his fist into the cheetah.
Trai was slammed in the face, and thrown several feet into the air before transforming back into his human form and falling to the ground with a loud thud.
Helas on the other hand was taken in by Hanzo and the others.
Hanzo tossed him a few healing capsules before turning to the earman again.
"Die!" Hanzo shouted, unleashing three red arrows.
"Huh?" The earman exclaimed, "Don't you get it? All matter and Aura, atoms and everything else is just an accumulation of vibrations on their core level. Vibrations are nothing but sound!"
The arrows absorbed into the earman's giant torso ear.
He then opened his mouth, unleashing a blast of red Aura at Hanzo and the others.
"Dodge!"
Most made it out of the way except for Malon and Noa.
Malon quickly slammed his giant shield in front of Noa, "Come!" He exclaimed.
The red Aura blasted onto his shield--pushing him back several feet but eventually repelling in all different directions.
"I see... so that your power. You hear something... and let us hear it back." Tyr said, making his way toward the earman, "What a copycat."