Based on how the flame monsters and three-faced monsters behaved towards him, Lumian divided the monsters in the Dream Ruins into three levels:
The lowest ones only had instinct left, and would try to attack him as soon as they saw him, but when he activated or half-activated the black thorn symbol on his chest, they all chose to completely surrender and allow themselves to be slaughtered;
The higher-level ones would also hunt him before he half-activated the black thorn symbol, and then cleverly choose to flee after he finished the sacrificial dance. However, beyond a five-meter range, they could not sense the existence of the black thorn symbol. The fire monster just now should have been hiding from him out of fear, equating the polluted aura from the seal with Lumian.
With a certain level of status, Lumian could be directly aware of his "specialness" and show obvious fear without Lumian activating or half-activating the black thorn symbol on his chest, nor did they need to be within five meters of each other.
Are there other levels besides these three? Lumian thinks there should be, at least one, at most three, for example, the kind that does not flee on the spot in fear when facing a half-activated black thorn symbol, but continues to attack despite being greatly weakened, for example, the kind that is so high in status that it does not react to the black thorn symbol...
So, on the one hand, Lumian was delighted that he could scare off the three-faced monster and seemed to be able to walk sideways in the dream ruins, but on the other hand, he did not dare to be careless at all.
Not to mention that there may be terrifying creatures with higher status than the three-faced monster, the fire monster alone, relying on its powerful long-range attack ability, could be completely unaffected by the half-activated black thorn symbol and burn him into a charred corpse.
With this judgment, Lumian hesitated for a moment, then dived into the depths of the dream ruins along the escape route of the three-faced monster. He planned to find out the status of the bloody "mountain" and the area around it today, and do the preliminary intelligence gathering work for the subsequent unraveling of the secrets of the dream.
On the way, he kept walking in relatively hidden places that were not easy to be discovered, and was on guard against monsters that might suddenly jump out.
Maybe it was because the three-faced monster had just passed by, and the other monsters were scared away from their original positions. Lumian didn’t see a single “human figure” and successfully passed through collapsed buildings and gray rubble everywhere, and arrived at the foot of the bloody “mountain”.
There is still a circle of ruins here, but unlike the layers outside, the buildings here have not collapsed, but have completed a twisted reorganization as if they had their own life. They are connected to each other, as if building a strange wall made of "thorns".
The "city wall" is stained a light, grayish black, with windows and doors belonging to the original building scattered on its surface. Some are open, revealing the broken tables and chairs inside, while others are tightly closed, as if they can no longer be opened.
Lumian glanced around and looked up at the bloody "mountain" behind the "city wall".
At this distance, even though the fog was still thick in the sky and the light deep into this world was quite thin, he could still see every detail of the "mountain".
It is made of stacked stones and soil, no more than thirty meters high, but it gives people the feeling of soaring into the sky. The color of its surface is very unnatural, whether it is the brown-red of the stone or the reddish-brown of the soil, it seems to be dyed later, which is quite evil.
“According to Aurore and those supernatural magazines, this might be stained with human blood…” Lumian muttered silently to himself, his eyes raised higher and higher, towards the top of the “mountain” covered by thick fog.
At this moment, an invisible wind seemed to blow through the air, dispersing a lot of the fog there.
The top of the "mountain" suddenly came clearly into Lumian's eyes.
There, sitting cross-legged, was a "giant" who was about four or five meters tall.
"He" is naked, with three heads on his neck. One is facing left, with anger, greed, hatred and other emotions evident in his expression, looking extremely evil. One is facing forward, with a distorted expression filled with pain and regret. One is looking to the right, with a holy face and eyes full of compassion.
This "giant" had six arms, stretching out to both sides at different angles in the air. His entire body, including the three heads, was made up of pieces of flesh and blood, and organ fragments. Cracks were visible everywhere, and yellow pus was flowing everywhere. Especially the head facing Lumian, transparent bloody tears were dripping from the corners of its eyes.
As soon as Lumian saw this "giant", his mind suddenly "buzzed" and he heard the terrifying sound in his ears again, which seemed to come from infinitely far away and yet was right in front of him.
His head felt like it had been split open by an axe. The intense pain filled his mind and deprived him of all ideas.
On his body, blood vessels of varying thickness stood out, red enough to seem like they were about to catch fire.
When Lumian "woken up" from his near-death state, he found himself curled up on the ground, rolling back and forth, as if this was not enough to relieve the pain in his body.
His vision was blurry and bloody, and everything he saw was foggy.
In this state, Lumian felt that even a skinless monster could easily kill him, but perhaps because the black thorn symbol was fully activated, no one dared to enter this area.
The "giant" on top of the bloody "mountain" was either unable to leave or was also affected by the black thorn symbol, so he did not attack Lumian who was almost out of control.
After a long pause, Lumian climbed up and saw that the linen shirt under his dark jacket was covered in blood and sweat stains.
"What is that?" The more he thought about it, the more scared he became.
Just by looking at it, his black thorn symbol was fully activated, and he was almost out of control, which was even more dangerous than when he gained the power of "Dancer".
He didn't even dare to recall the appearance of the "giant" now, and could only make certain inferences based on his impression:
“An advanced version of the three-faced monster
“Strongly polluting
"Sure enough, Aurore is right. Don't look at things you shouldn't look at...
"It sits on the bloody 'mountain', which is the center of the entire dream ruins... ..Does this mean it is part of the secret of the dream
... ..”
As his thoughts raced, Lumian suppressed the urge to raise his head and take another look at the top of the "mountain".
If you look at it again, you will die!
He decided to evacuate first, return to reality to rest, and then explore again at night.
Turning around, Lumian was about to leave along the same path he came when he suddenly heard the sound of "Dang! Ding! Ding!"
"What's going on?" He was curious and planned to dive over to take a look.
Of course, he was not so anxious or reckless, so he found a half-collapsed building opposite the "city wall" and hid there, waiting for his spiritual power to recover.
After a while, Lumian performed the mysterious sacrificial dance again.
It was as if he had become the priest of that hidden being, and delighted him with his dance which summoned the natural forces around him.
When he felt the burning sensation in his chest, Lumian stopped and dived towards the occasional clanging sound.
After circling the bloody "mountain" and the twisted "city wall" for half a circle and dancing again, he saw a flash of fire.
Behind a half-open mahogany door on the "city wall", flickering orange-yellow firelight shone through.
“Dang! Dang! Dang!
The figure in the house was reflected on the glass window diagonally above. It looked like a human, but it looked a little elongated due to the light.
At this moment, the "figure" was holding up a hammer-shaped object and smashing it down with great force.
when!
There was another crisp sound of metal collision.
"Blacksmith? There are blacksmiths in the dream ruins?" Lumian made a guess based on the knowledge he had.
Relying on the fact that the black thorn symbol on his chest had not disappeared, he crouched, rushed to the glass window, turned his body sideways, and looked inside.
Although Lumian's eyes had not fully recovered and his vision was still a little unclear, he could barely make out the scene in this room on the "city wall":
Broken tables, chairs and furniture were everywhere, and in the middle was a stove with the upper half missing. There was a fire burning in the stove, and a piece of iron plate that looked like it was pieced together was placed on it.
There was a silver-black dagger on the iron plate. It was slightly twice as long as a normal dagger and its surface was covered with layers of strange patterns. Lumian felt dizzy at just one look.
"when!"
The "figure" holding the hammer kept hammering the dagger like a skilled blacksmith.
“He” was wearing a black robe, and his face, facing Lumian, was full of signs of decay, with some parts even revealing the bones inside.
Another monster? Is it continuing what it did when it was still human? That dagger is unusual, a little bit evil, is it a sealed item or a extraordinary weapon? One thought after another flashed through Lumian's mind.
The straight-line distance between him and the rotten "blacksmith" was less than three meters, but the other party did not seem to sense the black thorn symbol on his chest and kept "silently" hammering the dagger.
Considering that the black thorn symbol was about to disappear, Lumian retracted his body and tiptoed away from the window area.
He had just taken a few steps when the burning sensation in his chest disappeared.
The next second, a creaking sound came from behind him.
Lumian turned around quickly and saw that the brown wooden door was completely opened.
The "blacksmith" in a black robe appeared there. There were four or five rotten wounds on his face where bones could be seen. Half of his left eyeball had slipped out and seemed to be hanging in the eye socket. He looked like a corpse that had been dead for some time.
"He" held the hammer in his right hand and the silver-black dagger in his left hand, and Lumian's figure was reflected in both of his wooden eyes.
"++!"
Lumian couldn't help but curse.
He instantly understood what was happening:
The "blacksmith" monster was clearly affected by the black thorn symbol just now, so it was "quietly" hammering the evil dagger, pretending nothing had happened.
When the black thorn symbol disappeared, "he" immediately took up his weapon and came out to hunt him.