Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 590 - 583: Carter’s Experience

Chapter 590: Chapter 583: Carter’s Experience

However, even knowing the inside story of this new legion, Luo’er couldn’t do anything about it. Their mission was to train this new legion as per the instructions from headquarters. As for what the Church Court intended to do, that was none of their business.

"Have you ever seen Corpse Demons, Sir Carter?" Luo’er couldn’t help but ask.

Carter looked at Luo’er, a vestige of lingering fear flashed in his eyes, then he nodded and said, "I have. Before we came to this camp, we were once attacked by Corpse Demons."

"Could you explain in detail?" Luo’er asked expectantly.

"Hmm." Carter nodded, then began to recount their encounter with the Corpse Demons.

It was probably over two months ago. Carter accompanied the temple knights to the epidemic area in search of a suitable training camp. Then, the epidemic area had not yet spread to its current extent.

They were advancing along a small path through the forest when suddenly there was a commotion in front, and then the horse under them started getting restless. The knights promptly drew their swords and went on alert.

From the side of the road emerged countless ragged and ghastly Corpse Demons. Part of their bodies were already rotted, and some even lost their eyes, with green pus flowing out of their empty eye sockets.

They were growling, staggering towards everyone with the pace of a walk. The scale was so large that Carter was filled with dread when he first saw them.

Though the temple knights were heavily armored and sharp, they didn’t care about numbers. Upon the command of the captain, the knights attacked the Corpse Demons. As one of the temple knights’ protectees, Carter did not join the fight but retreated from the battlefield with others who were also being protected.

Though the Corpse Demons were numerous, they were utterly unarmed. Their only weapons were their claws and teeth. The fully armored knights on horseback were unstoppable, breaking the dense formation of the Corpse Demons with a single charge.

Soon after, the knights began to slash at these feeble Corpse Demons from horseback, while the Corpse Demons tried to attack with their numbers. But their claws were no harm to the knights’ armor, and their teeth were just as ineffective.

Due to their vast numbers, this one-sided slaughter lasted for almost three hours before all of the Corpse Demons were cut down. Everyone thought it was over, little did they know, it was merely the beginning of the nightmare.

After the battle, some of the knights started to cough badly. At first, everyone thought they were just fatigued due to the prolonged fight and didn’t pay much attention. They regrouped and continued on their way.

However, more and more people started to cough along the way until almost half of the knights joined the ranks. Even their horses also began to cough. The captain, sensing something was wrong, ordered the convoy to camp on the spot and had the coughing knights examined after removing their armor.

The moment their helmets were removed, nearly everyone was stunned. They saw that the coughing knights had even coughed up blood. Some of them had unexplainable rotten spots on their faces, and some even lost their eyes. The moment they took off their helmets, their eyeballs dropped to the ground and turned into a puddle of pus instantly.

Witnessing this, the travelling priest was dumbfounded, believing these men were cursed by the Corpse Demons. He concluded that only fire could purify them. Soon, the coughing knights died one after another, and the captain seized the opportunity to gather their bodies along with the horses and set them on fire.

In the raging fire, they saw a knight standing up, walking towards them while wailing. The sound he produced was different from that of a human, it was the wailing of a Corpse Demon. No one dared to approach, they could only retreat continuously. Soon, the burning knight collapsed halfway through.

It seemed the accompanying priest had thought of something. He instructed the remaining knights to burn their armor with the blazing flames, believing the sacred fire that cleansed evil could also cleanse the stains on their bodies.

Although everyone was confused, they did as told, grilling their armors in the flames.

The fire burned for an entire day, leaving behind a dozen charred bodies that had yet to turn to ash. It was only then that they dared to gather all these bodies and ashes into a large pit for collective burial.

Although the incident happened over two months ago, Carter would still tremble uncontrollably whenever he recounted it.

"Those who underwent the Sacred Fire rite didn’t fall ill, did they?" Luo’er asked after a moment of thought.

"Yes, those who underwent the Sacred Fire rite ultimately remained safe, and found this current camp," Carter paused for a moment, frowning as he spoke, "I heard from the Knight Captain that they too would be cursed when they fought against the Exotic Beasts. However, it was not as brutal as fighting against the Corpse Demons. Most of them ended up being turned into Corpse Demons by the curse."

"So, Corpse Demons are highly concentrated carriers of the infection. No wonder the Church Court needed to rely on earth’s experiences to form a new legion." Luo’er nodded. At first glance, the new legion didn’t seem to be much different from the other legions. The only difference was that they used earth’s weaponry. Luo’er managed to infer from this that the Church Court’s new legion was likely a chemical defense unit.

"Do you know about these Corpse Demons, like how they became Corpse Demons?" Luo’er further enquired.

"Not really sure, at that time, we did not participate in the battle but just watched from a distance. Soon after the knights and the Corpse Demons fought, coughing symptoms started to manifest," Carter shook his head as he spoke.

"Coughing, could it be that the virus is airborne and spread through the respiratory system?" Luo’er found himself pondering this thought.

However, judging by the present situation, it had apparently become a consensus. Never mind the fact that all the mercenaries guarding the base had donned chemical warfare suits and gas masks. After arriving at the camp, Luo’er had noticed that the helmets of those knights guarding the camp were a bit different. The metal plate covering the facial area seems like it had been cut out a chunk, replaced with a plastic disk.

The role of the armor is to protect the head and face, therefore, most knights in the Otherworld had fully enclosed helmets, with only the eye area left open. If Luo’er’s guess was correct, those knights of the temple must have modified their helmets to accommodate the gas masks on their faces.

If all of this made sense, it would mean that the Church Court had understood how the virus spreads and put the necessary protective measures in place. When Carter and his people initially came under attack, the priest’s suggestion to burn the armour was not out of superstition, but in hopes of using the high temperature of the fire to eliminate the virus on the surface of the armour.

All these factors indicate that the virus from the Corpse Demons is likely airborne, which is why so many people were infected, and it prompted the Church Court to use Earth’s long-range weapons to combat the Corpse Demons.

"Oh, by the way," Carter seemed to recall something and tapped his forehead, "When I was just observing from a distance, I noticed that the heads of those Corpse Demons seemed to have mushrooms growing on them."

"Mushrooms?" Luo’er was stunned. How can mushrooms grow on a human head, mushrooms are a type of fungus.

Not right, if it’s true that mushrooms significantly grow on Corpse Demons, that implies this is not a coincidence. There’s a high possibility that the occurrence of the mushrooms has a lot to do with the Corpse Demons.

"Does every Corpse Demon have a mushroom growing on its head?" Luo’er asked, furrowing his brows.

"That’s not too specific, after all, I didn’t participate in the battle," Carter paused before adding, "However, it seems that a quite significant proportion of Corpse Demons had some strange things growing on their heads."

"Did any of the infected knights have mushrooms growing on them?" Luo’er asked further.

Carter thought for a moment, then answered firmly, "No, they didn’t. Before they were burnt to death, none of them had mushrooms. But their bodies were rotting."

"So, only dead people would have mushrooms growing on their heads. Or, could it be possible to assume that the reason the Corpse Demons are active and attacking other organisms is maybe due to the mushrooms growing on their heads?" Luo’er concluded thoughtfully to himself.

"What are you talking about, Captain Luo’er?" Carter asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing, I’ll go first, you can continue your work." Luo responded after coming back to his senses.

"Take care, have a safe trip." Carter nodded.

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