Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 320 Bone Spur
Kraft saw with his own eyes a series of subtle and complex contradictory expressions on Wadin's face: tension about the worsening situation, polite mourning, association with his own situation, and a bit of inevitable gloating.

As the distance got closer, these expressions were flattened and disappeared, replaced by confusion and vigilance.

The boat looked like it had been there for a long time, so long that it was engulfed in a damp, disgusting black mold and its original color could no longer be seen.

A dead snake-like tether tied it to a protrusion of the reef, the knot almost worn through, and only a few strands of fiber held the abandoned boat from being carried away by the rising and falling water.

It was not a boat of the same style as theirs, nor did it have fixed floats, but was just a small flat-bottomed boat common on the Teme River, used for ferrying or carrying cargo in calm weather. It was made of ordinary materials and could easily capsize.

Some people outside the church arrived earlier, within a few weeks to two months.

There was no identification in the boat, only deep bites and tear marks on the hull that showed what it had gone through on the journey.

The interior of the ship was reinforced with additional wooden planks, but this did not prevent the thing that attacked them from breaking off a large piece of the side plank and gouging several large holes with rough edges in the bottom of the ship. This might be the reason why they panicked and lost their way when they went ashore.

That group of people survived the attack and arrived here.

"Those pagans." There was no one else to suspect, but it was hard for Father Green to imagine how they had gotten down to the hall before it collapsed, and with a boat.

"Hopefully they've drowned in their own madness." Rather than still being alive here in some form, which would mean things would be a lot more troublesome.

Although very reluctant, Green still cast a pragmatic, inquiring look at Kraft, who, supporting half of his body with the sword, nodded to indicate that his condition was barely acceptable and that unconventional means could be used to solve unconventional troubles if necessary.

The priest stopped for a moment and walked over here. "The ancients also made an alliance with the king who held the sword in the stone. The kingdom was bathed in glory because of it. It can be seen that the sword is not good or evil just because of its origin."

"Today is just like more than a hundred years ago. Perhaps Heavenly Father is testing us again. We should unite our hearts and minds and put aside our differences."

He took off his gloves and, in an exaggerated and somewhat theatrical manner, shook hands firmly with the professor who had just realized what he was going to do.

[You handle this, I'll handle the rest]

Once he was sure that Kraft understood what he meant, Green released his hand and looked around at the monks present, meeting the faces of each one who had chosen to follow him here in turn.

He didn't know if other people thought the same, but this unique rocky beach... the "little creatures" that gathered here for some reason, the boats pushed ashore, and themselves, it seemed that all signs indicated that this was that special place.

The will of Heavenly Father, the choice of the lake, a certain inevitable result, a secret confluence arranged by fate for those who have gone astray for different reasons.

The feeling of revelation clears my mind, and I realize that the answer is just ahead. The answer to the cold case I have been pursuing for months, the answer to the pagan cult, the answer to the historical mystery, and perhaps the final answer to several insignificant lives.

A question that I felt I couldn’t empathize with at the time came to mind:

【Don’t you want to know? 】

Many things flashed through my mind, including the first time I heard about the Father's deeds, my determination to become a defender of doctrine, my receipt of a theology degree, my current position, and the fact that I have spent half my life within sight of the spire of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Now that you have explored so far without realizing it, wouldn’t you want to know the final answer?
But when he was only one step away from understanding miracles and heaven, he found that he was not as persistent as he had imagined. It was like a knitted robe worn over armor. Although it was gorgeous and comfortable, it was no big deal to take it off when it felt dirty and heavy. "No, I don't want to." He didn't care whether there was an afterlife, whether the church represented the supreme will, or even whether there really was a supreme will that loved the world.

He came to solve this big trouble that he discovered first, and that was all.

Green turned and walked towards the depths of the rocky beach.

Kraft, who was unable to connect with the crowd for a moment, followed them in confusion, not understanding what he didn't want. But it seemed that the result was good, as the barriers within the team were reduced. They no longer lingered on the periphery and were determined to explore inward.

The rock clusters tilting outwards become denser and taller, like waves splashing towards you, standing one after another.

Most of the rock clusters were carved out with shrine-like depressions, and the craftsmanship was consistent with the characteristics of the lost tribe. When a little light entered, it occasionally illuminated some muddy squirming shadows wrapped around pale hard objects.

The water did not disappear as it went deeper, but lingered around the feet. It was brought to the surface by the pressure between the narrow gaps, and poured out from unexpected holes and gaps, disappearing into the gravel ground in an instant.

The fog passed through the stone forest, mixing with information other than moisture and coldness, a cruel smell that made people instinctively alert, dark stains that chilled people, and a signal of the passing of one's own life.

The traces of the body being torn apart by something diluted and oxidized, simplified into an intermittent dark brown guide that led them to the remnants.

It was coated with a layer of reddish-brown fragments of bone, still fresh in time. The soft tissue that had once been attached to it had been "washed away" - this was the only word Kraft could think of - like the specimens in the specimen room that were treated with chemical solvents specifically to preserve specific parts, "clean" to the extreme.

The cloth was inextricably entangled with the mail, and the reddish-brown color that ran through the braided threads and iron rings was clearly the same kind as the ones they were wearing.

The staggering amount of bleeding showed what a terrible experience the person had suffered, but the marks were not quite the same as expected.

There was no time to mourn for the other team. After checking, Green and Wadin came to the same conclusion: he was not dragged here, but came here on his own.

It looked like he had been seriously injured and had been running for his life, but he finally stopped due to excessive blood loss. The tortuous route had several turns and backtracks, indicating that he was no longer able to discern the direction.

After being allowed to do so, Kraft stepped forward and lifted the fabric, observing the entire skeleton that was shattered due to the loss of connecting tissue, hoping that there would be some defects that could indicate what kind of trauma he had suffered, and help understand what kind of enemy they were about to face.

However, the actual situation once again refuted the subjective conjecture. There was no obvious defect in the skeleton, but instead it showed uneven abnormal proliferation.

The changes were not found in the common joints and epiphyses, but were concentrated in the left lower jaw, shoulder blade, and thoracic ribs. Half of the upper body showed particularly bizarre changes in bone structure in terms of direction and degree.

The newly formed bones were like inverted burrs and protruding needles, wildly growing to a length of two to three horizontal fingers. From the surface of flat bones to the shafts of long bones, nothing was spared, and they were so dense that the original surface appearance was almost unrecognizable.

They pierced into the blood vessels of the surrounding organs, passed out from under the skin, and tore the body apart from the inside out.

Thanks to the book friend "Huangshan Xiaoyuci" for the reward! (ω)

But I still have to say that there is no need for rewards. After all, updates only depend on the time available, and it is difficult to add more chapters even if you give rewards.