On the top floor of the steam lab, the tentacle-twisted ceiling, a giant eyeball slowly opened a slit.
It's weak as hell.
Witcher raised his head silently, sensing the ancient species.
It's not a pure void creature...
Eleazar saw mechanical components in that oval-shaped carapace.
It looks like a device set into the ceiling, or a void-constructed creature, if you will.
"Energy... Initiate... Decomposition..."
Intermittent psychic whispers resounded in his head, and beyond that, there was no more information.
This thing ---- has been mechanically theologized into a retard.
The killing intent subsides, Eleazar returns and walks around, picking up unresolved lab reports everywhere, trying to confirm what this place does.
[Report 1: Decomposing a metal greatsword, obtaining several iron blocks]
[Report 4: Decompose Extraordinary Gems and get some powder].
[Report 5: Decomposing Transcendent Equipment and Obtaining Damaged Junk].
[Report 11: Decomposing Transcendent Equipment for Damaged Junk]
[Report 27: Disassembling Transcendent Equipment and Obtaining Primordial Characteristics]
[Report 112: Decomposing lower-level transcendental materials, obtaining scrapped trash]
[Report 116: Decomposition of inferior transcendental material, obtaining scrapped trash]
[Report 235: Decomposition of lower level transcendental material, obtaining original characteristics]
[Report 112: Decomposing superior transcendent traits to obtain original traits]
[Report 647: Decomposing Void Worm Shells, Error--!
...
Based on the stacks of reports of experiments that either failed or succeeded, Eleazar slowly learned the true purpose of this lab.
This void creature they had captured possessed a very magical disintegration ray, similar to the dissolving properties of the Mother River of the Void. So this place was set up and used to start a series of experiments.
And the void energy required is a star core that also comes from the void.
Most things couldn't withstand the disintegration of that ray until those researchers started trying to disintegrate the higher-order bug shells that also came from the Void.
Then tragedy struck, the crystal barrier was damaged by the overflowing disintegration rays, void contamination leaked, and the entire lab was infested with flesh.
After that it was, those who could leave, all dead, and one with a star core in his heart as a life energy source.
"Decomposition rays... Star core..."
Eleazar looked at the thoroughly decayed Void Worm shell, and then up at the Void Magic Eye.
After a long moment of silence, he thought back to how he felt when he was swimming in the Mother River of Void.
There could be no mistake, that feeling of having your soul nearly dissolved, if you hadn't been too busy to pay attention at the time, the Cursed Armor would have been detached long ago at that point.
But it takes the void energy of a star core to activate this thing.
Eleazar opens the space crystal and looks at it silently for a long moment.
He doesn't have a star core anymore...
"Huh, no, there's another one!"
Eleazar pulls out the strange instrument Finnian made.
But that star core inside was completely different from the ones he had seen before.
There was no more void pollution that made his body feel uncomfortable, only pure void energy.
"I don't know if it's enough to start..."
There was no telling how long the pure star energy would last to disintegrate his vision, but he had no choice but to try.
It was the only way to quickly remove the cursed armor now.
Having found the energy input, and pushed the rotting voidworm shell out of the way, he was about to stand on it, but suddenly felt bad about it, and meditated and rested for the rest of the day.
...
Waking up the next day, Eleazar went back to the first floor to check on Fintan.
The man was pale all over, his skin devoid of any blood, as quiet as a corpse.
Eleazar rushed right up and checked his vitals.
The heart had stopped beating, but the spirit was imprisoned in the body, while the blood magic potion was still flowing slowly through the veins, the very stage of the magic potion's transformation.
When the effects of the magic potion wore off, if he still woke up, it would be a success.
If there's no way for the consciousness to reawaken, it's a silent death.
It's a fight he's fighting all by himself, and at this moment, in this situation, the Witcher sequence has no ability that can help him.
Eleazar turned away silently.
Because next, he's going to start his battle as well.
Re-entering the top floor of the steam lab, he loaded the star core ritual into the energy input port.
Coming over to the lab bench, he took out all the holy crystals, stacked them to one side, and disarmed his entire body of items, including the space crystal.
At the time, it was the desperate need to keep the thing that allowed the cursed armor to come back to haunt it again and again.
Getting everything ready, Eleazar looks up at the Void Magic Eye.
"Here goes..."
At this simple voice-activated command, countless purple lights were converging from those tentacles all of a sudden.
The originally dying Demon Eye suddenly opened its eyes and became cold.
Eleazar's heart skipped a beat before he saw a beam of deep purple light burst out viciously overhead.
Originally, he could have dodged, but in the end, he chose to stand still.
Then, a sharp pain came from the top of his head...
Eleazar gritted his dying teeth and took it.
Unlike the irresistible dissolving properties of the Mother River of the Void, the disintegrating rays were more intense and accompanied by unbearable heat, and the skin instantly withered away.
Standing in the violet light that enveloped his body completely, Eleazar roared up to the sky.
"Ah ----!"
It lasted for an indeterminate amount of time, and his dying consciousness only saw a whole bunch of weird stuff keep surfacing out of his body.
There was metal, there were dragon scales and all sorts of transcendent properties left in his body, and he was almost on the verge of being broken down into fodder by the purple light.
The cursed armor continued to be destroyed and reborn, and in the end, countless dead souls floated out of his body.
Eleazar finally knows the source of this seal's power.
The curse formed by those hundreds of thousands of dead souls .....
...
...
More than half a month later, in the silence of the steamy cellar, a pale figure slowly sat up.
Fintan looks around in confusion for a moment, slowly only finding his way through the memories of those sharp pains to the reason he came to this place in the first place.
"Blood and Justice Pathways..."
He mumbled something low and confused and stumbled out the door, then saw his change as he passed a bright piece of metal.
The hair was gray, the face was bloodless, and the whole person was as pale as if sick.
Fintan was stunned, looking at the unfamiliar reflection for a long time in silence.
Delicately empathizing with the new power in his body, he lowered his head and moved his mind.
Finnian's silhouette slowly emerged from behind him.
＜"Soul Binding
And the first soul he harvested was his brother.
Fintan was laughing and tearing up all at once.
"Never have to be on my own again..."
"But there won't be another one either..."