The sound came suddenly and was extremely rapid, like someone in high heels practicing short-distance sprints upstairs.
Except for Salin, who was immersed in deciphering the ancient text, everyone else's attention was drawn by the sounds coming from the ceiling.
Within a second of the sound's arrival, Law released his En, permeating the ceiling to cover every inch of space on the second floor.
The unknown objects causing the sound were penetrated by the En. A slight, itchy sensation was instantly transmitted to Law's skin.
These sensations turned into information conveyed to his brain, quickly constructing a rough model within a short time.
After obtaining the second-floor information, Law's eyes changed slightly.
The internal layout and structure of the second-floor room weren't much different from the first floor.
Similarly, there were randomly scattered desks and chairs, neatly arranged transparent glass cabinets, simple control panels against the walls...
The only difference was... the glass cabinets on the second floor were damaged, with unknown liquid spilled everywhere, and they contained no Brion-parasitized bodies.
The unknown objects making the sounds were only about the size of soccer balls, but there were many of them, moving by bouncing. Their strength wasn't weak, hence the heavy, muffled sounds.
"What are they?" Ging noticed the change in Law's expression.
"Embryos."
Law suddenly looked at the embryos inside the glass cabinets on the first floor.
Hearing Law's words, everyone's expressions changed, and they all looked towards the glass cabinets.
The distance was too far, so Kuro, at the control panel, didn't hear what Law said. Noticing his teammates all looking in his direction, he was puzzled.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Kuro's peripheral vision caught movement inside the glass cabinets.
In that hurried glance, the lifeless embryos seemed to have twitched.
This movement, coupled with Law and the others looking at the cabinets, immediately put Kuro on alert.
He rolled his smoke-form body to the front of the glass cabinets, closely observing the activity inside.
Inside the glass cabinets, bubbles continuously rose.
The Brions standing in the unknown liquid were as motionless as statues. The slightly open eye slit on their metal spherical heads showed no light at all.
"Did I see wrong?" Kuro thought.
Just then, the embryos extending from the human bodies' sides twitched slightly.
Kuro, always focused on the activity inside the cabinets, noticed this immediately. His heart lurched, and he instinctively retreated several steps, warily watching the movements inside the cabinets.
This high level of alertness was warranted because the Dark Continent had far too many strange things.
Kuro's actions were seen by Law's group.
"Come back."
Law called Kuro back while quickly glancing at the staircase near the containers leading to the second floor.
Hearing Law's call, Kuro retreated without hesitation, arriving beside Law and the others.
"Earlier, the embryos inside the containers moved."
After returning, Kuro reported his discovery.
'So it was true...'
'That meant the things causing the intense activity and sounds upstairs were indeed embryos?'
Everyone immediately focused intently on the area with the containers and the nearby staircase.
Without knowing the embryos' abilities, even if they seemed fragile, they had to be highly vigilant, with no room for relaxation.
"Ging, Stargie, with me."
Law walked towards the numerous containers.
As one of the strongest combatants in the team, Ging and Stargie exchanged a glance and quickly followed Law.
The three advanced about thirty meters, a distance from which they could clearly see inside the containers.
At this moment, the embryos inside the containers were not only active, but their drooping eyelids had opened, revealing tiny white eyeballs.
Immediately after, the small embryos, like piranhas from the Amazon, pounced on the human bodies parasitized by Brions, opening their mouths to frantically tear and bite.
Instantly, the entire container was stained red with blood.
Watching this, Law raised his hand. Aura surged, generating dozens of marble-sized Nen Spheres suspended above his palm, ready to be launched at any moment.
Crack!
Just then, cracks appeared on dozens of the containers.
Seeing this, Law decisively attacked, firing dozens of Nen Spheres.
Before knowing the enemy's threat, long-range attacks were always the best probing method.
Swoosh!
The Nen Spheres shot out, piercing the containers in the blink of an eye, leaving several round holes in the glass. The crimson liquid inside flowed out through the broken holes.
Moments later, the dozens of containers shattered simultaneously. The remaining liquid inside spilled out in all directions, instantly forming a river, and the embryos fell onto the crimson liquid.
The human bodies parasitized by Brions and the basin-sized metal spherical heads were gone. Only the embryos, now several times larger in volume, lay soft and limp on the liquid mixed with blood.
"They were eaten..."
"In that short time of less than two seconds!"
Looking at the embryos lying motionless on the ground, the three standing at the front frowned in silence.
The human bodies and Brion heads originally inside the containers had disappeared. Before the container glass shattered, the embryos had pounced in a feeding motion, indicating the human bodies and Brion heads were eaten by the embryos.
That was the conclusion, hence the embryos' sudden increase in size by several times.
Yet, this phenomenon was truly bizarre.
'If the embryos inside the containers were alive, they should have moved earlier and devoured the Brions and human bodies.'
'Could it be... because of the electricity?'
Law and Ging narrowed their eyes, thinking the same thing.
Black and white Aura appeared between Stargie's hands, instantly converging into a mass, transforming into a black stone harp, its base gently placed on the ground.
"Law."
Stargie, enveloped in Aura, glanced sideways at Law beside her, asking if they should attack.
Meeting Stargie's questioning gaze, Law slightly shook his head and calmly said, "The ones from upstairs are coming down. We'll deal with them all together then."
The muffled sounds from the ceiling had clearly moved towards the staircase location.
Stargie nodded slightly, but her fingers were already on the harp strings, ready to attack at any moment.
Among the embryos that had fallen out of the containers, more than half had been hit by Law's Nen Spheres and were wriggling slightly. Some embryos that weren't hit now agilely got up, their movements completely incompatible with their embryonic form.
They decisively pounced on their companions whose bodies were pierced by aura orbs, opening their mouths to frantically tear and devour them.
Calling them 'companions' might not be appropriate.
Because the embryos clearly belonged to different species.
However, the human-like embryos were indeed tearing into other human-like embryos.
That craving for flesh and blood, like Amazon piranhas attracted by blood, also made Law and Ging immediately think of the Demon Island's seed that absorbed flesh and blood.
Simultaneously, soccer-ball-sized embryos rolled down from the staircase, seemingly ignoring Law and the others, directly pouncing on the embryo corpses on site.
The embryos coming from the second floor already had some hair growing on them, likely speeding up their growth rate by consuming flesh and blood.
That's what it seemed, but this growth speed was too exaggerated.
"What exactly are these things... products of ancient human research?"
Law muttered to himself, then gestured to Stargie, signaling to attack.
Seeing Law's gesture, Stargie's hand on the harp strings plucked down. The sound of the strings rose, and Aura transformed into blades that shot out, instantly slicing all the embryos on site into pieces.
However, the fist-sized chunks of flesh were still wriggling.