'Human corpse?'
The group's emotions stirred.
Along the way, they had seen mostly Bone Lizard's corpses, numbering in the hundreds, all killed in the same way.
Now, among the chaotic pile of bodies, there was actually a human corpse.
This discovery made them selectively ignore the silkworm-like corpses, their eyes fixed on the lone human body.
The corpse had a horrific lacerated wound on its back, even the spine severed. From their preliminary judgement, it seemed to have been slashed by a Bone Lizard's claw.
Blood had pooled on the ground, likely the source of the blood scent carried by the wind. However, deeper in the darkness, the blood scent persisted, suggesting even more gruesome scenes ahead.
Law approached the corpse, his gaze fixed on it.
The clothing was made of animal hide… a long shirt and shorts, with lightweight armor seemingly crafted from some hard shell.
His eyes swept over the horrific back wound, then settled on the back of the corpse's head, which had black hair.
After a pause, his gaze shifted to the disproportionately thick legs.
From the thighs, past the knees, to the calves, the muscles were swollen as if injected with gas, yet the feet were normal-sized.
These abnormally thick legs, paired with a height of less than 1.5 meters, looked highly disproportionate.
Biscuit and Tonpa also stood nearby, quietly examining the corpse. Then, they watched as Law reached out and slowly turned the face-down body over.
It was indeed a human face… male, with pale skin rarely exposed to sunlight. The features weren't particularly pleasing, but they were all there.
Only the wide-open, unclosed eyes were different.
The corpse's eyes were wide open, resembling cataracts, but with tiny black dots in the center of the pupils.
Suppressing his shock, Law dipped a finger in the blood and determined the corpse had died within the past hour.
He stood up and looked at Biscuit, exclaiming, "There really are humans here."
Biscuit pursed her lips and said gravely, "Perhaps the footprints on the Dragon Blood Tree were left by them."
"That's possible."
Law glanced at the male corpse's feet. Though the legs were abnormal, the feet were normal.
If surviving on the surface was harsh, the underground space might indeed be a viable option.
However, the Dark Continent was inherently unforgiving, with dangers even underground.
For example, the cockroach swarm, the Bone Lizards, and the few silkworm corpses.
The silkworm's body was sturdy, snow-white, with a row of small legs underneath, requiring careful counting to determine how many pairs.
After examining the silkworm more closely, they were startled to find crude equipment resembling a saddle on its back.
Earlier, their attention had been entirely attracted by the human corpse, so they hadn't noticed the riding gear on the silkworm.
In other words, this silkworm might have been a tamed mount for the human corpse.
Here, they had clashed with the Bone Lizard swarm. Based on the casualty ratio, the human side had stronger combat capabilities.
After all, hundreds of Bone Lizards lay ahead, while only one human corpse and three silkworm corpses were found here.
Law checked the area around the human corpse but found no weapons like hammers. It was unclear how the Bone Lizards' injuries had been inflicted.
One possibility was that the unknown weapons were scarce. During the battle with the Bone Lizards, the humans had no time to retrieve their comrades' bodies but would take any dropped weapons.
Random speculation couldn't yield accurate answers.
Law and Biscuit decided to press deeper.
Tonpa had no say in the matter. Though he was pleased to see human corpses, the danger remained.
Guided by their flashlights, the group pressed deeper.
After about twenty minutes of walking, they found more Bone Lizard's corpses, along with dozens of human and White Silkworm corpses.
Bone Lizard's bodies still outnumbered the others, but the number of human corpses was gradually increasing. Still, no weapons were found.
Amid their confusion, Tonpa's detection finally picked up something.
"Far ahead, many objects are moving." Tonpa whispered, his eyes briefly scanning the corpses littering the ground.
"Lizards, insects, humans… it's them, no doubt. They're fighting. There are less than a hundred humans, but thousands of lizards. They've surrounded the humans."
After detecting the situation, he summarized it in the simplest terms.
"Thousands..."
Law's expression shifted. He looked up at Kuro floating in the air and made a decisive command, "You protect Bruna and Tonpa. Biscuit and I will go ahead to check. Don't come closer unless we call for you."
As soon as he spoke, Law had Bruna leave his shoulder. She complied, extending her jellyfish-like body to float mid-air.
Hearing this, Tonpa breathed a sigh of relief. A large-scale battle lay ahead, and avoiding it was definitely for the best.
Once everyone was settled, Law had Kuro took out Shin. Gripping the weapon, he and Biscuit rushed into the darkness ahead with urgency.
A human settlement.
This was the conclusion they drew after seeing dozens of corpses and hearing Tonpa's report.
Yes, there truly was a human settlement on the Dark Continent. Despite some subtle physical differences, they were undoubtedly humans.
After learning this, Law immediately decided to rescue the hundred or so humans besieged by the Bone Lizards and follow them back to their settlement.
He had absolute reason to believe that these humans living underground were descendants of ancient humans who had not left the Dark Continent but had survived through arduous means.
This was information unknown to humans from the Six Continents despite their multiple expeditions to the Dark Continent. These indigenous humans likely possessed valuable knowledge about the continent.
Law's decision aligned with Biscuit's. Both recognized the importance of these humans… saving even one was crucial. They couldn't let them all die.
A sense of urgency began to gnaw at them. They even didn't hesitate to waste their Aura to increase their speed.
A few minutes later, intense sounds echoed from the darkness ahead.
There were the inexplicable calls of the Bone Lizards, the characteristic screams of humans, and the thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground.
They stowed their flashlights and attached luminous algae to their bodies.
Like two small, glowing suns, Law and Biscuit reached the edge of the battle, immediately drawing the attention of both sides.
As Tonpa had said, thousands of Bone Lizards surrounded a group of humans making a last stand.
Fewer than a hundred remained, all riding White Silkworms.
The ground was littered with corpses, with over a thousand Bone Lizards and hundreds of humans and White Silkworms.
For some reason, the Bone Lizards hadn't devoured the human and silkworm bodies, making their motive for attacking unclear.
Seeing the two newcomers, the Bone Lizards, with their limited brain capacity, quickly categorized them as allies of the humans.
The human formation, fighting desperately in a circular formation, looked surprised at the two humans who differed slightly from them.
With fewer than a hundred left, their fighting style was unique: they rode the White Silkworms but leaped into the air to attack, their feet glowing faintly red as they stomped down hard on the Bone Lizards' heads.
A single stomp could take down a Bone Lizard.
Then, several white threads would pull the jumper back into position, which are threads from the White Silkworms.
Law and Biscuit only had time for a brief glance at the battle before the Bone Lizards reacted. A large group from the periphery charged straight at them.
With no time to communicate with the silkworm-riding humans, Law and Biscuit, enveloped in their Aura, met the charging Bone Lizards head-on.
The good news is that the Bone Lizards had no Nen, making them easier to handle.
Law expanded his Domain, enveloping dozens of Bone Lizards, and used Invisible Sniper. However, the expected head explosions didn't occur.
The lizards' heads only flattened slightly before they fell to the ground, not dying immediately but failing to get up, likely incapacitated.
After seeing the effect of his first attack, Law realized the Bone Lizards' defense was formidable, significantly reducing the lethality of Invisible Sniper.
Shifting tactics, Law retracted his Domain, gripped Shin, and switched it to Blunt Blade Mode. Moving like lightning, he shot into the lizard swarm.
With a single slash, over a dozen Bone Lizards fell, each with a clear blunt-force wound on their heads.
Biscuit also engaged in close combat, punching a Bone Lizard's head and concaving it, killing it instantly.
"So hard."
Biscuit murmured, slightly surprised.
Though she could kill them with one punch, the hardness of the Bone Lizards' heads was beyond her expectations.
Several more lizards closed in, each quickly dispatched with precise punches.
In just over ten seconds, Law and Biscuit had killed nearly seventy to eighty Bone Lizards.
The human in the formation, witnessing Law and Biscuit's exceptional and dazzling performance, was shocked.
Though they didn't understand the newcomers' motives, they were certain they weren't enemies… they were here to help.
In their desperate situation, it felt like a glimmer of hope had arrived.