Our Family Has Fallen

Instead, Lance retreated to the back to heal, blowing a conch to inspire and provide either enhancement or stress relief, or using artillery in emergencies to save the day.

Of course, he also continuously bestowed blessings upon Wang Cai, Boudica, and Amanda.

Having too much spiritual essence is also a problem. It’s useless for himself, and Audrey, in Lance’s eyes, is not one of his own, so he naturally wouldn’t invest in her.

Amanda felt the gaze of the Lord, fully exhibiting her combat posture, completely changing her previous cautious stance, knowing someone stood behind her.

Boudica didn’t think too much; she just knew the boss wanted her to kill these bastards.

The battle ended, with others in a state of calm, and then Lance went over to wrap things up.

Originally not paying much attention, he discovered an exquisite leather bag in the room.

Those evil cultists have crooked brains; don’t expect them to clean. Just look at what a mess those bastards made of the old house—garbage and excrement everywhere.

However, the dungeon should be a sacred place for these cultists. At least nothing unnecessary was seen when entering; it’s as if these guys didn’t need to eat or defecate.

This made the leather bag stand out conspicuously; it seems only something left by their ancestor would they dare not touch.

Lance didn’t waste words, directly opening the bag, and his heart was startled as he reached inside to pull out a musket with a bizarre shape.

The power contained within was truly astonishing, and the emergence of the item caught Amanda’s attention.

"A musket! How could there be such a thing here?"

"Who knows?" Lance smiled without answering, playing with the musket in his hand.

Feeling the power, even he could sense the enhancement in perception, indicative of its tremendous strength.

Another legendary equipment, more importantly, with minimal negative effects and few limitations.

"Try it."

Amanda didn’t think Lance would harm her, and immediately took up the musket, her face instantly filled with surprise.

Pointing the musket at empty space as if aiming, likely even someone unfamiliar with muskets could achieve precise shooting with this.

"How could such a thing be casually discarded here?"

Amanda returned the musket, emphasizing once again to Lance, yet Lance only smiled as he accepted it without saying much.

He recognized something but couldn’t speak of it; could it be the ancestor’s equipment?

The ancestor’s misstep, Lance knowing it’s foul, yet must endure the disgust to clean up, extracting the Hamlet Family from this affair.

Damned ancestor!

Cursing in his heart, yet remaining composed, even able to smile and change the subject.

"There’s more in the bag."

Lance reached in to further explore the contents, finding some gold coins and gemstones, along with rolled-up manuscripts. He chose not to open them before Amanda; any unpleasant content would be awkward.

"Let’s move on."

The initial fear was gone for everyone, even Lance lacked the previous enthusiasm, with constant high-intensity battles leaving them numb.

Until they encountered something new.

An unsurprising battle ensued, consisting merely of familiar evil cultists, with Boudica and Wang Cai leading the charge, Amanda and Audrey following behind.

The battle was almost one-sided, but suddenly a nearby statue stretched out thin tentacles to grab Amanda, who was pursuing the ascending witch.

No one anticipated an enemy hiding there; Amanda, despite her agility, struggled to react or evade.

However, at that moment, a gunshot rang out, the lead bullet swiftly tearing through the extended tentacles, thus resolving the crisis.

Lance wielded the strange musket, undeniable that the ancestor left something good; the faster, more accurate gun feel could instantly make an ordinary person a sharpshooter.

Amanda, having narrowly escaped, didn’t even glance at the item, forced to re-engage as the witch threatened them.

Lance had the leisure to reload while observing the writhing creatures emerging from the ruined statue with a playful expression.

Truth be told, the mutation of flesh wasn’t peculiar; Lance had long noticed the tumors controlling the cultists’ bodies, though they showed no autonomy.

The eerie part was that the attacker of Amanda was a flesh monster, detached from the evil cultists and bonded to the dungeon’s ruined statue.

It was similar to the tumors on the cultists—whether eye, mouth, or twisted blood vessels forming into tumors—with tentacles sprouting from them.

Yet, this creature no longer required a human host, attacking like an independent life form.

It was an autonomous entity, possessing self-awareness...

The creature regenerated the bullet-damaged flesh, and Lance stepped forward, triggering its attack.

Thin tentacles compared to the flesh lunged from within, easily avoided by Lance.

This was Amanda’s style of attack earlier, but now prepared instead of caught off guard.

Lance approached to provoke further attacks from this bizarre growth, aiming to gather more information.

Unexpectedly, the writhing flesh launched itself, attempting a facehug.

Would Lance tolerate this?

Directly, he pressed the musket against the growth, pulled the trigger.

"Puff!"

A muffled sound, using the flesh growth as a silencer softened the gunshot significantly, but the flesh couldn’t withstand the pressure.

The growth lost a large chunk instantaneously, flesh exploding and splattering, dropping from the barrel like a pool of muck.

A charred smoke marked the entry point, though the creature wasn’t dead, slowly attempting to heal.

That all?

The other battle ended quickly, the rest joined to witness the peculiar creature.

"What is this thing exactly?"

Amanda, nearly caught off guard earlier, remained wary.

"It resembles the flesh growth detached from the cultists’ parasite."

"We’ve never encountered this before; could its appearance here indicate something?"

While others were pondering, Boudica bluntly suggested:

"I reckon just cut it down, isn’t that right?"

Lance ceased pursuing the source, smiling and nodding.

"Yes, we need to destroy them all, then head home for a good rest."

Lance quickly tidied up the battlefield and continued on the road.

But as he proceeded, everyone sensed something amiss.

No cultists appeared on the upcoming path, yet the sculptures along it showed abnormal damage.

Broken columns, railings, even spiked arcs scattered randomly, battle marks evident on stone fragments.

Their prior path brought minimal destruction, so what fighting caused this?

The aggravating point was those damaged statues harbored flesh monsters encountered earlier, ready to ambush at any moment.

Flesh exploration might cost much, but Wang Cai was there, effortlessly traversing debris, biting them one by one.

The environment exerted excessive pressure, combating unspeakable corruption, keeping nerves taut constantly, alongside guarding against lurking creatures, leaving even Lance a bit numb.

"Ahead lies reprieve, a chance to rest."

Beyond loomed a gateway, finally pacing past the nauseating route.

Arriving in the next room, Lance voiced an involuntary remark at the scene:

"Even it couldn’t escape corruption...?"