Motionless, silent.
These were the characteristics of stone statues.
The group of statues that suddenly appeared before them were motionless and silent.
However, not a single person present thought so.
"There are seventy-two!"
Bruna temporarily acted as a little math whiz, calculating the number of statues as quickly as possible.
She had not miscounted.
Shiro was a step behind Bruna, but he also accurately counted the number.
A full seventy-two stone statues. If they were attacked, they would have to face seventy-two enemies.
That was the thought, but since they had seen this group of statues, none of them had made any move.
Recalling the experience after encountering the stone eagle earlier, the statues would probably only react once someone entered a specific range.
Speaking of which...
Shiro instinctively glanced at his teammates around him, finding them all observing the statues ahead, also showing grave expressions.
Among that group of statues were many races, including humans.
The statues had different postures and sizes, with only three humans, the smallest creatures among them.
The common trait of each statue was calmness. Not just being motionless and silent, but the postures and Auras they displayed were very calm, without much fluctuation, some might even say ordinary.
He guessed that his teammates, like him, focused most on those three human statues.
Statues were beings assimilated by petrified feathers.
The moment the body is fully petrified is not death, but a continuation of existence in another form.
Therefore, different species would not necessarily abandon their hostility towards other species just because they were petrified.
So then, why could the statues, including the humans, maintain such a peaceful scene?
If not for the prior experience, any outsider seeing this group of statues would only take them for ordinary stone carvings.
Compared to the fierce or aggressive creatures, Law's gaze was mostly fixed on the three human statues.
All three human statues were male, tall and robust, about two meters tall.
The clothes they wore were all made of animal hide. Even petrified, one could see the craftsmanship of the clothing was very crude.
This suggested that these three humans were likely indigenous people of the Dark Continent. Moreover, being petrified by the feathers meant, in a sense, eternal life.
So, this phenomenon might be connected to the Mender who grants immortality to the Gatekeeper clan.
That is to say, there really was a possibility the Mender would appear in this Forest of Medusa.
'Normal indigenous humans, what a pity...'
Law glanced at Bruna, who was leaning on Salin's shoulder. For some reason, Bruna's ability did not work on petrified creatures.
If it did, these three humans would be very suitable conversation partners.
'What a pity, what a pity.'
Law shifted his gaze and looked at the surrounding environment.
As per usual, they needed to find a path to bypass this group of statues.
However, trailing behind the team was an unstable factor.
Just as Law was looking for a suitable route, the spherical creature that had been keeping its distance suddenly darted past the team and headed straight for the statues.
Catching the creature's trajectory, Law's expression darkened. He could not help but curse silently, then quickly signaled his teammates to retreat.
But it was too late.
The spherical creature was too fast... only a few in the team could react to that speed.
The spherical creature merely made a pass before the statues, like a Taoist shaking a soul-summoning bell, causing the originally still statues to show signs of movement.
Stiff and sluggish.
That was the impression given when the statues first moved.
But the next second, that obvious stiffness and sluggishness disappeared.
Awakened by the spherical creature, they ignored it and directed their gazes straight at Law and the others.
Meeting the statues' staring eyes, Law was quite direct and said calmly, "Prepare for battle. Spare the three humans."
No sooner had he spoken than the statues moved, charging clearly towards them.
It seemed that from the moment of petrification, these statues from different races had broken free from the food chain and aligned themselves in the same camp.
Facing the statues' attack, the support members consciously stepped back while the combat members moved forward.
Since petrified feathers petrified the essence of a living being, including its life force, it was equivalent to permanently freezing it.
Paradoxically, creatures with their life force petrified and frozen could still move freely, yet they lost the powerful weapon of life force itself.
Therefore, statues lacking life force did not pose a high threat.
But in an environment where future unforeseen events were unknown, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Soon, Law and the others clashed with the charging statues.
Within a single exchange, Law's group's attacks easily cut into the statues' bodies.
Stone chips flew everywhere, mixing with the petrified feathers flying wildly all around.
The milky white light reflected off the swiftly moving bodies, also casting streaks of shadow.
The sounds of breaking stone rose and fell, and soon, fragments of the statues littered the ground glowing with milky white light.
Lacking the protection of life force, the statues crumbled even without deliberately adjusting the distribution of their energy.
From the start of the battle, the situation was one-sided.
The attacking statues were at a disadvantage, and their destruction was only a matter of time.
Outside the battle ring, the spherical creature gently flapped its jointed wings, its round eyes reflecting the scene of statues and humans fighting.
It seemed to be enjoying the show... if it had hands, it might have clapped happily.
Before long, aside from the three human statues that were deliberately spared, the rest of the creature statues lay shattered on the ground, motionless.
Buhara, Shiro, and Kuro each restrained one human statue, rendering them immobile.
Their lusterless eyes could not reveal the human statues' emotions.
Standing before the human statues, one could only sense them looking back... beyond that, there was nothing else.
"Nana."
Law signaled Bruna to try establishing a communication bridge again.
Bruna tried, but failed once more.
It was as if the statues' heads contained only chaos.
But in reality, Law knew these three humans before him continued to exist in another form.
"Why not kill them?"
Just then, a young girl's voice came through.
The source was the unidentified spherical creature that had been trailing them.
The language she spoke was one Law and the others could not understand.
Strangely, despite knowingly hearing an incomprehensible language, their minds seemed to translate it automatically.
"..."
Everyone's attention fell once more on the spherical creature.
'What was the purpose of this being of unknown origin?'
Law did not know, but he increasingly felt the need to eliminate this potential threat as soon as possible.
At the very least, he could no longer leave it unchecked.