If it weren't for the fact that several people already knew that the bumps in the cave were the bones of giants except for the rocks and sand, it would have been difficult to tell the origin of what was in front of them based on the appearance alone. It was a massive mass of columns comparable to giant trees, fixed by several strangely shaped objects of the same kind, and snapped together in some way. No one would doubt that it was a church or altar of some religion, and beneath the ruins, the entrance to the church, a black hole reminiscent of a crevice in the rock where water snakes hid. However, after a simple identification, several people quickly judged the true origin of this ruin, which was the right hand of the giant.

"This thing looks like it's in good shape. Lothar looked up at the shadows cast by the phosphorus fire, and he was right, the shape and preservation of the hand bones were the best of all the skeletons they had seen. Not even the vertebrae that once served as a ladder were as well-preserved as it was, in fact, it might be a little too intact to look like...

"They look like they've just been whipped off a living person. Fettis's tone was much more serious than the Count's. It's no wonder, given the nature of the warden's profession, that she may have seen a lot of bones that had just been taken from living people, and most of them might even be her own hands. But all in all, the hand bones look really good.

"Ask the crown of thorns if there are any of his people around here. Peg said to Lothar, but judging by her expression, the diminutive witch didn't have much hope. As I said before, the closer they got here, the more there was no trace of the shell people's activities around, thinking of this, Peg hurriedly continued, "By the way, ask him about the salt line." Are we still within the protection of the salt line, I don't want to be caught off guard by those monsters. ”

The Count nodded, and repeated the witch's words in as simple words as possible. But this time, Thorncrown's answer was quite long, and even made Lothar wonder if there was something wrong with their communication skills. He turned his head to look at the shell man lying on his shoulder, it didn't matter, and Lothar suddenly realized that not only now, but in fact, as the team approached here, the voice of the crown of thorns appeared less and less in his head. At this time, the poor shell man was almost completely curled up in the shell, only the suction cup at the bottom ensured that he would not be thrown off his clothes.

"You'd better come and see, the crown of thorns isn't in good shape. Lothar's call brought the companions together. Whether it's a witch or a kraken, they are indeed more likely than knights to know the cause of the shell man's anomaly. But after a period of discussion and research, the four of them could only helplessly say that there was no way to see the problem from the crown of thorns. In fact, the reason is very simple, what we usually call diagnosing a disease is based on the understanding of the disease. And even if the disease itself has never appeared before, we can always infer a thing or two about its nature from the location of the patient's lesion. But now a few people can be said to be completely ignorant of the physiological structure of shell people, not even shell people, looking at other mollusks, I am afraid that no one will deliberately study their unexpected characteristics in addition to eating. After all, the existence and appearance of the shell people is a mystery in itself.

Seeing that the body of the crown of thorns began to flow out of the liquid that they didn't know what it was, the members of the team were a little panicked, losing the crown of thorns here, let alone continuing to complete the task, they might not even be able to return the same way after walking too far. Garron, Peg, and even Fioni were uncontrollably anxious, as if they had seen the death of the poor Shell soon after. Fortunately, this is not the case for everyone. "Retreat one after another, and go in the direction we came. Try to stay away from the giant's right hand. ”

As he spoke, the Earl turned and walked with the dying crown of thorns in his hands. As the nominal leader of the team, Garren is rightly dissatisfied with the unauthorized actions of the mercenary named "Tarantula", and she just wants to hold Lothar, but she is pulled by Fetis. "I think this gentleman has a point. Since things can only get worse here, it doesn't matter if you change places, does it?"

"Thanks, thanks" As the team left the giant's right hand for some distance, the faint voice of the crown of thorns reached everyone's minds. They looked at each other, and they could all see the surprised expressions on each other's faces. "Put me, put down, food. The Shell Man said to Lothar, who immediately understood what he meant, crouched down and gently lowered the crown of thorns in his hand to the ground. As soon as the Shell Man came into contact with the sand, he immediately began to swallow grains of sand into his body, and the food contained in the sand was better than the bones of giants, but it was better than nothing.

Taking advantage of the time for the crown of thorns to devour the grains of sand to regain his strength, Karen said to Lothar in confusion, "Why? How do you know this will allow him to recover?"

Lothar shrugged, "Maybe it's intuition. He turned his head to look in the direction of the bone hand, "I always felt that those bones were not the same as the ones we had seen before. And since there is no problem with the crown of thorns along the way, the problem must be something different. You see it that way, don't you?Ms. Fitis, you must have sensed this and would agree with me. ”

The warden chuckled lightly and looked at the Count with rather amusement, "No, I've been a little slower than you are, and I only thought of it when you said there was something wrong with those bones. So this time thanks to you, tarantula, sir. She deliberately slowed down her pronunciation of the tarantula, an act that made both Peg and Lothar's hearts tighten sharply. Fettis noticed the stiff expressions of the two of them, and walked over to Peg's side and stroked the latter's long hair, "Don't be nervous, it's just been a long time since I've heard the word 'you' from a sailor's mouth." It seems that I have been in the cave for too long to know that such a well-bred gentleman has come to Heartless Bay. But don't worry, I'm not someone who likes to figure everything out too well. Since both Peg and Glenn have trust in you, I don't have that much curiosity about who you really are. But next time you'll have to remember it, understand?"

"Thank you, no, for your kindness, ma'am. Lothar bowed her head slightly in gratitude, and the cold sweat on his forehead dripped onto the sand and quickly disappeared. "Wait a minute," the Count was stunned for a moment, leaning down under the puzzled gazes of the others, reaching out and picking up a handful of sand, and letting it slip between his fingers, "Was the sand here so dry before?"

Fioni followed suit in the same way as Lothar, and then frowned, got up, picked up a piece of phosphostone for illumination, and ran in the direction of the bone hand. After a few moments, he turned back and did the same thing in the opposite direction. As the Kraken stood still a little breathlessly, he announced his discovery like the others, "I'm not completely sure, but in my judgment, the closer you get to your right hand, the less water is in the sand. It's just that this phenomenon doesn't affect the air, so I don't notice it. ”

"Is there a similar situation near a few other bones?" asked Karon.

The Kraken shook his head, "I'm not sure about any other places, but at least in the places where the Husk people gather, there is definitely a lot more water in the sand than here. That hand, there's a problem. ”