Chapter Sixteen
From the Past, a Vile Nightmare
"Hmm, Immortal the Hardened Blood seems familiar. The clan has a remarkably ancient history," murmured Sero as he strolled calmly between the shops and taverns.
The Gaist clan was formed through the efforts of Khaled the Hardened Blood, who took on disciples from various parts of the Central Grassland Continent. These disciples established the Hervolt, Geist, and Anira clans, respectively.
Among them, it was the Geist clan that Immortal of Hardened Blood chose to stay in, while the Hervolt and Anira clans secretly supported it until it grew to its immense size.
In his honor, statues were erected in several locations throughout the village, with the largest in the central temple, a medium-sized one in the middle, and the smallest outside. All were documented in the notebook given by Lysa.
Sero walked up to the statue in the central area and scrutinized it closely. It was well-crafted, featuring many intricate details, though the face was barely discernible, standing tall on a raised pedestal.
With arms hanging down, one held a red sword representing his signature Blood Sword, while the other carried a scroll symbolizing his immense wisdom that reached the heavens. Just gazing at it stirred a strong feeling within Sero.
"I wonder how our battle would have ended if I fought him in my past life, but according to his story, he seems to have left many ways to find one or more magic dungeons," Sero thought silently, staring at the statue as if hoping it would provide a clue or guide him to a nearby dungeon.
But he came back to his senses. If such a thing existed, Sero would not be the first to find it, and relying on luck was the trait of fools.
"Oh? Isn't that the younger brother from the trial?" called out Hirlo Jin Bei with energy, causing Sero to turn slowly with a weary expression and gaze disinterestedly.
Jin Bei was walking with four men, one of whom was his companion from the tavern incident, while the others were hired pathless carrying their hunting gear of knives and bows for their hunting trip.
"Master Jin Bei! This young man welcomes you!" Sero replied softly, clenching his fists to show false respect to Jin Bei and his companion.
"Ha ha, no need for formalities; we are brothers on the same path. You seem to be doing well after your entanglement with that troublesome Doska," Jin Bei spoke loudly as if intending for everyone to hear about Sero's actions, but Sero paid no mind.
"From the look of you, it seems you're heading for a hunt. Might this little brother accompany you?" Sero asked sweetly, catching the attention of one of Jin Bei's servants.
"No! Hunting is a tough task, and we won’t let a child join us!" the servant responded haughtily, only to be slapped on the head by Jin Bei.
"This child has met the Anira clan's Elder herself and the High Judge Horai! Show some respect, you fool!" Jin Bei snapped sharply, then changed his tone as he turned to Sero.
"I wish to accompany you but don't have an offensive shard. Could you lend me a bow and five arrows?" Sero asked modestly, prompting Jin Bei to hand over a medium-sized wooden bow and a bundle of five arrows.
"We'll be hunting boars. If you want some meat, we'll let you take the first shot," Jin Bei said enthusiastically.
"Hey man, you might let him tag along since he’s a child, but I won’t let you have him waste our prey. We rely on this work for our lives too!" one of the servants shouted.
"As much as I hate agreeing with a pathless, they're right. We’ll let him take the smaller prey," his companion, a mage named Bo Sheng Yao, grumbled as he put his arms behind his head.
"Don’t worry, brothers; I only want to hunt deer," Sero said respectfully, including even the pathless, who felt a bit embarrassed for having offended the only mage who showed them respect.
"Boars and deer gather in the same place we're heading, so no problem. Let’s get going then," Jin Bei said with enthusiasm, taking the lead as they all headed towards the western north forests of the village.
Across the damp, earthy floor of the forest, five figures darted like shadows, with wild boars charging ahead, their grunts of anger echoing through the underbrush.
"Tree Shard Arrow!" Jin Bei shouted forcefully, launching a half-meter-long wooden arrow from his hand that struck the hind leg of one of the wild boars, sending it crashing to the ground.
"Sheng Yao! Bind it!" Jin Bei Yelled loudly.
"I'm ahead of you already! Earth Roots Shard!" Sheng Yao slammed his hands onto the ground, and several roots erupted around the boar, binding its limbs to the earth as it thrashed about.
"Take care of it!" Sheng Yao ordered, and in response, a volley of arrows rained down on the boar, piercing the rear of its head and killing it instantly.
"Well done, that's the fourth boar we’ve caught today," Jin Bei praised warmly as he took a swig from his wine pouch.
"And there he goes drinking again. No girl will ever like you this way," Sheng Yao chided, then glanced around. "Wait, where did that boy go?"
"He’s hunting on his own. Don’t worry; he’s more capable than you’d expect," Jin Bei said with a laugh, his drunkenness evident on his face.
Deep within the forest, Sero skillfully maneuvered through the branches, his eyes fixed on a massive stag with giant antlers. This dominant male ruled the area, making it crucial to avoid confrontation with it. He planned to obtain some deer meat for an indefinite period, but killing the dominant male would provoke disputes among the other males, potentially causing the females to migrate further away from the village.
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Venturing deeper into the forest towards the mountains, Sero spotted a female deer drinking from a flowing stream, holding onto a tree branch, and drew his bow. Though not a novice archer, his new body lacked the muscle necessary for perfect aim.
The arrow flew, speeding toward the deer and striking its neck, severing an artery and crushing the trachea. Blood gushed from the ends of the arrow as the deer thrashed on the ground. After a few minutes, the blood drained from the deer’s body, resulting in its death.
"Well, that’s good, but now I have the problem of transporting it. I intended to hunt more than one, but without a storage shard, I can’t carry all my catch," Sero grumbled silently, resigned to the fact that he would only hunt one deer.
As he approached the deer, various sounds surrounded Sero, but he paid them no mind. They were likely wild animals attracted by his prey, but his magical aura kept them at bay.
He moved towards the deer and hoisted it onto his back, causing numerous eyes to fall upon him as growls and hisses rose around the place. He then started walking back into the forest.
With each step, Sero left behind a trail of blood droplets from the deer’s neck, stopping every fifteen minutes to catch his breath.
"Tch, I should have asked someone to come with me," Sero muttered wearily as he ventured into an unfamiliar part of the forest.
The season was mostly summer with light rains, but what Sero encountered was an odd part of the forest where the soil felt cold to the touch and patches of snow appeared.
"Snow? This doesn’t seem natural," Sero murmured as he continued on. The deeper he went, the thicker the snow on the ground and the colder the surroundings became, but Sero didn’t give it much thought.
One more step and the situation changed. The area around him transformed from a vast forest into a frozen, barren land with cold winds blowing from the side. Sero glanced back to see that the forest he had passed through moments ago had become a desolate wasteland.
"A magic dungeon, then. I didn't expect to find one here," Sero thought silently, an idea forming in his mind.
Magic dungeons arise when a mage dies, causing their magic realm to explode and manifest in the real world, preserving their shards within it. Over time, the mana of the magic realm dissipates into the environment, gradually making the dungeon disappear.
"But this seems to be a new dungeon, likely belonging to a mage from the Second Path. Was he killed here? And why?" Sero muttered while digging into the snow.
Unlike regular snow, the snow of a magic realm was much colder, having formed from concentrated mana within a Second Path mage. This made it perfect for preserving the deer's meat for a long time. Sero sighed.
"Should I go back and tell Jin Bei about this place? No, I might get him to help transport the deer, but I won't risk revealing the location. At best, I could find a shard to sell later, and at worst, I can store the deers I hunt here and take out a few each week," Sero pondered silently, deciding to delve deeper into the frozen dungeon.
The dungeon wasn't large, with a radius of about half a kilometer, just a barren land without any medicinal herbs or mana stones. The shards would likely be at the center with the corpse of the mage Sero reasoned as he quickened his pace.
He didn't intend to stay in the magic realm for long due to the low temperature, but that wasn’t the main issue.
Because the mana in the dungeon was stronger than the mana in Sero's own magic realm due to the difference in paths, his world was under constant pressure, forcing him to hasten his search for the center, though he had no guide other than his instincts.
He knew that the center was where the mana was densest, and since the snow, cold, and winds were formed from the mana of the magic world, all Sero had to do was walk toward where the winds were strongest.
"I found it!" Sero grinned wickedly as he spotted a frozen corpse on the ground. From a distance, it looked like a statue carved from pure ice, with a cloak thrown to the side. A look of sorrow was etched on its face, and its eyes stared skyward in terror.
"How could a Second Path mage be killed so easily?" Sero muttered quietly, though he let the thought fade beneath his excitement at finding an opportunity to strengthen himself. He began searching for the available shards around the mage.
Unfortunately, most of the shards were broken or shattered, which was typical when a mage died, as three out of every ten shards usually broke due to the explosion of the magic world.
"Tch, this Mirror Jade Sword Shard would have been perfect, but it's shattered beyond repair. The Mirror Jade Claws Shard would have been good too, but it's broken as well. I didn't expect to find a mage using Mirror Jade shards. It might be the best element available right now," Sero muttered as he continued his search.
Mirror Jade was a special type of magical jade, distinguished by its transparent white water-like colour with a reflective surface. Most Mirror Jade shards were of the ice style, and although the ice style was poor in warm places, Sero wasn’t in a position to complain about shards.
"Haah, haah. Three First Path shards and one Second Path shard, not bad," Sero exhaled forcefully, having dug through the cold snow with his bare hands for half an hour, enduring the harsh winds with a determined expression.
The first shard was a Mirror Jade Skin Shard, which granted the user a glass-like skin that was impervious to most injuries except heavy blows, along with pale white skin. Sero decided to use it in the future.
The second shard was a Mirror Jade Hair Shard, which transformed the user’s hair into sharp glass-like pieces of white jade, but Sero had cut his hair and didn’t intend to use it. He kept it for future sale.
The third shard was the most important, a Mirror Jade Water Shard. It didn’t have an offensive role, but it had something Sero needed, so he stored it.
The Second Path shard was a Mirror Jade Fists Shard, useless to Sero, who was still on the First Path, as mages couldn’t use shards from higher paths. However, he kept it in case he decided to sell it.
There were no bad shards in the world; it all depended on the mage and the circumstances. If Sero couldn’t use it, he would sell it, and if he couldn’t sell it, he would give it to someone who could.
As long as the shard had value, Sero would find a way to benefit from it.
Suddenly, from one of the holes, a strange worm emerged, eyeless and the size of a snake, with a filthy appearance, a gray-green color, and a stench akin to dog feces, with a head like a drill bit.
The moment he noticed it, Sero’s eyes shrank to the size of a pin while he swallowed hard, then leaped back and drew his bow, releasing an arrow that struck the worm dead.
"Damn it! How the hell are these creatures here? No wonder a war broke out in Lan’s lands in my past life! I need to get out of this clan quickly, or I'll not only get caught up in the war but in something even worse!" Sero thought in disbelief as he resumed his search for the deer he had buried.
His concern was justified. His mind raced, recalling hundreds of memories from civilizations that had turned to ash and ruin, all sharing one common factor—the presence of such worms.
These creatures burrow into living beings, targeting the brain, devouring the part that grants the entity freedom and control, then laying thousands of eggs that infest the body, turning it into a blackened sponge-looking entity with the number of holes dug in the host flesh, all while the creature appears caught between life and death, with a single goal: rapid reproduction.
And the worst part was that they all shared one mind, a hive consciousness linking all the worms together.
These worms were infamous for causing deaths that made mages in every era to tremble at the sight of them, the ancient monster known as Zombie Parasites.
It starts with one and ends in a massacre.