Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

The short building wasn't far away, and after changing direction, Poro and the others quickly arrived at the location of the gray figure.

The appearance of that figure gradually became clear.

Poro and the others also breathed a slight sigh of relief. The person speaking was wearing a somewhat dirty and messy military uniform.

His face also appeared somewhat thin, and the surface of his skin, especially on his arms, had many crisscrossing, scabbed-over scratches.

He looked about the same age as Inve.

His messy beard was stained dark brown by some dirty, unwashed bloodstains.

Regardless of who this person was—

At least he looked much more normal than those entranced dancers!

"Go, hurry, or those monsters will catch up!"

The man, seeing them approach, hurriedly opened a door behind him and shouted.

Poro and the others hesitated slightly before following the man's lead and entering the small building. There were no special sounds or auras inside.

Behind them, as the balcony door was closed and locked,

the entranced dancers crashed against the door with a bang. The wooden door began to shake under the strain, and a crack appeared in the center of the wooden door—

Through the crack, bloody, twitching limbs reached in, clawing at the air.

Making the crack even larger...

"Take the underground passage. You can't touch the red substance covering the streets and walls, or the dancers will find you!"

The man with the bloodstained beard said anxiously, leading them down the stairs.

The group discovered that the windows and doors on both floors of the building were sealed with wooden planks.

Even the cracks were blocked with debris.

The flesh extended through the gaps, but without larger openings, these scarlet biomasses could not invade the room on a large scale.

"This stronghold can't be used once the dancers find it."

Reaching the bottom floor, the man bent down to lift a wooden plank, revealing a series of steps leading to the basement, and then slowly descended.

He took a lantern from the wall and lit it.

The firelight illuminated the stone walls.

Within this deep underground passage, there was no sign of wriggling flesh, meaning that the entranced dancers were blocked outside by the basement's wooden planks.

Footsteps echoed in the hollow corridor.

The sounds of the entranced dancers, the chaotic and noisy dance music, all gradually faded away.

"Thank you for your help, sir. May I ask who you are..."

Inve looked at the red-bearded man ahead. The side of the man's military uniform bore a military badge that was almost worn smooth.

"Just like you."

The red-bearded man shook his head, the flickering light in his hand illuminating the scars on his skin, "Just another ghost of the Stetz Kingdom."

"So, you are also—"

A hint of excitement appeared in Inve's eyes.

"I am a surviving soldier of the old Stetz Kingdom's gold-purple King's Guard."

The red-bearded man turned to the end of the tunnel, using the lantern to dispel the darkness. A flight of steps appeared, and he took out a key, opened the door, and walked inside, "Now... an avenger."

The room connected by the tunnel was inside another building of unknown location.

The building's doors and windows were covered with curtains and wooden boards, preventing any light from entering. Only when the oil lamp was lit did the furnishings become visible.

"This is..."

The group surveyed the environment inside the room, their eyes widening.

"After that disaster, we survivors have nothing left but our lives."

The red-bearded man drew a flame from the oil lamp and lit the lamps in the room.

In the corner, many longswords were stuck in a wooden barrel. Many of the swords' blades were already chipped. On the wooden table beside it, there were also scattered badges, various items, and books... Some armor was piled in the corner, and the tools used to repair the armor were placed next to it.

"Family, children, the king, everything we knew of the past has disappeared in that apocalypse... We survived, but what meaning is there left for us?"

The red-bearded veteran spoke, his expression filled with grief and determination, "And those entranced princes are still wandering around, the dance plague they brought is still destroying one kingdom after another.

So, we came back, along with some others who also lost their families because of the dance plague.

If we can't stop this apocalypse originating from our homeland...

Then we'll die here."

"Then... what about the others?"

Leake asked, stunned.

"The others..."

The red-bearded man paused, his face turned toward the shadow behind the candlelight, making it impossible to see his expression. After a long while, he raised his hand and pointed to the other side of the door, "They're all dead, leaving only me."

Leake was stunned, walked forward, and pushed open the door.

The door hinges seemed to be somewhat rusty. Leake used a little force to open the door, but as soon as the door opened, a rotten stench rushed out!

In the corner of the room, several corpses were neatly laid out in the hall.

Many of the corpses were still wearing armor, but their bones had long since decayed and deteriorated, emitting a foul odor.

Poro endured the smell and walked inside.

Those corpses were covered with bluish-white fungal colonies due to the passage of time. Along the traces of the fungal colonies, one could still see many old, reddish-brown bloodstains on the ground.

"Over a long period, we carefully explored the truth of the apocalypse, searching for the secret of the dance plague's origin—but we failed.

Our mortal bodies simply cannot compete with those monsters.

No matter how strong the will, it cannot resist the dance plague's infection. To prevent themselves from becoming entranced dancers, they would choose to commit suicide when they found themselves unable to control their bodies.

So, now, in this city, I'm the only one left."

The red-bearded man said, beckoning Leake and Poro to come out of the inner room where the corpses were stored, and then closed the door again.

On the other side, Inve waved his hand, wiping a piece of cloth on the wall.

The dust faded away, revealing a map of the Stetz capital, on which the locations of buildings, streets, palaces, etc., were marked in great detail, as well as many lines and markings of unknown meaning.

This was a combat map.

"Did you make this map?"

The old soldier carefully looked at the map in front of him, a strange light in his eyes.

"Yes, this is the road we found in this city occupied by the dance plague, at the cost of our lives."

The red-bearded man said, sitting at the table on the side, looking at the group, then sighed and continued:

"What about you? I just saw that you can... even when stepping on that flesh, escape from the attacks of those 'dancers'.

Whether it's physical ability or... in every aspect, you are much stronger than ordinary people like me—

So, why did you come here, to the source of this dance plague disaster?"

"For the same purpose as you."

Inve opened his mouth, "To eliminate the 'Frenzied Dancer', to completely eliminate the dance plague that is eroding everywhere, and to allow the people in this city to rest in peace."

"You..."

The red-bearded man was silent for a moment, took a pen from the table on the side, walked to the wall, and put a dot on a red line representing a street on the map, a little further away.

Then, he turned his head and explained to the group:

"We haven't done nothing in this city for so long.

We used flames to burn the flesh on the ground, and without being discovered, we finally approached the palace, but there, there is a special magic array. Our spellcasters have found a way to enter the palace—

We need to kill three entranced princes and use their hearts to open that secret-hiding magic array.

But... we can't do it.

As long as we approach that prince and are discovered by him, we will immediately lose control of our bodies, be infected with the dance plague, and become those tireless, eternally controlled monsters!"

The red-bearded man said, looking up at the group, "That prince is very powerful, much stronger than the monsters transformed from these ordinary people!

Are you... really ready? If not, please leave here."

The group looked at each other, and Leake stepped forward and nodded, "Of course, if killing those entranced princes is a necessary condition to enter the palace, we will kill them!"

The old soldier Inve also took out a golden goblet from the package on the side and slowly opened it. The heart of the entranced prince's dance partner, which had been killed in the Boeren Kingdom, was still throbbing inside.

"In fact, we have killed more than one entranced prince."

Hearing this, the red-bearded man looked at the heart in the goblet in disbelief, and then his face showed joy:

"Really? That's great!"

While speaking, the man took a suit of armor from a clothes rack on the side, put it on, and then pointed to the red stone mark on the map.

"I know that there are still several entranced princes in this city.

The location of this one is very close to our tunnel. As long as you have the ability to kill him, we can... easily obtain another heart!"

...

Stetz Capital, a building near the city center that looks like... an extremely luxurious opera house.

But at this time, the walls, ground, and tall sculptures at the entrance of this opera house were covered with bright red flesh.

In the basement of the opera house, a hidden manhole cover was lifted.

The group crawled out.

The red-bearded man controlled the passage of the city's underground drainage system.

And in these "underground roads," most of the ground had been scorched by flames, and there was not much wriggling flesh to be seen.

"We knew before that there was an entranced prince and his dance partner in this opera house!"

The red-bearded man said, leading the group to the upper floors of the opera house.

The group held their breath and focused their minds. On the upper floors of the opera house, the surface of the flesh began to be covered with jade-white stairs. They wriggled, and a bizarre dance music rippled in the air.

In the dim light and shadow, the group also saw those entranced dancers slowly dancing in the opera house.

Their previous inhuman forms had shrunk back.

Only the slight crimson cracks on the surface of their skin proved that they were no longer human.

"That entranced prince should be in the front hall..."

The red-bearded man said in a low voice.

When not discovered by the dancers, the group could step on the flesh without being sensed.

Only when actually discovered by the dancers would this wriggling flesh have the ability to track their location!

"It's right there."

Inside the dance hall, there were no windows, no candles, and it was dark all around. In this almost completely dark situation, only in the very front, in the center of the stage surrounded by rows of seats, did the wriggling flesh seem to emit a faint crimson light and shadow.

Two shadows in court costumes were dancing in the center of the stage, embracing each other.

One was wearing a white dance skirt, and the other was wearing a black and red royal dress!

It was an entranced prince!

"You... are you sure you can beat it? I can't stand it anymore, I can't see it..."

The red-bearded man said, covering his eyes with one hand and retreating in the direction he came from.

For ordinary people, just seeing the entranced prince's dance would infect them with the dance plague!

"I have a way to help you resist this influence."

At this time, Karen spoke, pulling out a feather from behind, wanting to hand it to the red-bearded man, but the red-bearded man waved his hands repeatedly, his figure going to the lower level from which they came,

"Keep your magical powers for the battle with this entranced prince later. If you can survive, I'll be waiting for you at the basement door!"

After saying that, the red-bearded man's figure disappeared into the shadows.

"Well, such ordinary people, if they participate in the battle, are indeed easily affected and die."

The group turned their heads, lowered their breathing, grabbed their weapons, and prepared themselves.

They crept along the darkness and chairs of the dance hall towards that direction...

The entranced prince and princess were spinning in the very center of the stage, oblivious to everything around them, the flesh under their feet emitting a faint blood-red glow.

But just then, a foot stepped onto the stage!

Instantly, the flesh of the entire stage lit up in an instant, the bloody light bursting out, as if mixed with illusions of muscle bulging!

At the same time, a blood-colored arm tore through the dress and protruded from the back of the entranced prince—

It pointed in the direction of the intruder!

Instantly, the seemingly harmless flesh, like a red carpet on the ground, proliferated and burst like a waterfall in an instant, tightly entangling the uninvited guest who stepped onto the stage!

"Crack—"

A cracking sound came.

The existence that was rolled up by the blood-colored tentacles made an overwhelmed cracking sound, and under the wildly dancing light and shadow, it shattered into two halves and fell to the ground!

But...

That was just a gingerbread man broken in half.

The entranced prince looked puzzled and waved his arms again and again, and the existences that rushed onto the stage in the other two directions were also strangled by the proliferated flesh limbs.

However, what fell were still two gingerbread men.

The flesh entangled and covered the gingerbread men, but they did not move. The gingerbread men did not have Poro's magic, so how could they move?

And at this time, the real killing move arrived!

In mid-air, Lake, empowered by the Poro Levitation Spell, bypassed the carpet of flesh and blood on the ground, launching a surprise attack directly from above!

The Demonic Prince had only just regained his senses when, as he looked up at the sound of the wind—

Star-like silver sword light filled his blood-red pupils!

Lake gracefully spun and slashed in mid-air, the faint glow of the Star Slayer Sword piercing through the Demonic Prince and his dance partner's chest!

The prince's body collapsed into flesh and blood, attempting to intercept—

But these mutated bodies, no matter how many times harder, were no match for the sharpness of the Star Slayer Sword.

Silver light flashed past blood.

Two hearts landed on the Star Slayer Sword's horizontal blade, still slowly throbbing, pumping out scarlet mist!

I caught a cold today, it's really uncomfortable. Brothers, wear more clothes too, don't catch a cold in winter QAQ