Hope you enjoyed this chapter! :-D

My apologies, it seems I had been becoming quite rusty ever since I came back from the hospital so I started to reread my work. XD Now I tried to reread my work, once I get used to it, I will return to my usual speed. I am rereading my work so that I won’t miss any secrets I had n stored for the future chapters.

***************************************************

Chapter 95 – Spreading of the Fallen

After talking to Murix in Nelus’ realm, he returned to a familiar room inside the inn. He then look towards the bed and saw two lying figures, they are Lina and Tania who seemed to be sleeping. They then opened their eyes which excitement was evident in Lina’s while Tania had the same as ever expressionless demeanor. They then stood from the bed as Nelus sighed; he then entered the bed as they then both lay besides him. Only a few moments had passed so Nelus had predicted that they were still awake.

Lina: Uncle, night…

Tania: Father, goodnight.

As they then both fell asleep, Nelus had his eyes closed but as usual, he was still awake. He was still pondering over to why he needs to find the maidens, and how is it possible for them to be left with something by Genbalt as once he died there is no way of him to do so if that were the case.

Nelus: (Murix said that she hasn’t found any clues on Genbalt’s revival which naturally falls to me or the God Emperor as only God Kings with responsibility of looking after him. Other than that, they would need his consent, which means it is unlikely to be the enemy… the question s who can do such a thing… maybe it is someone connected to the Red Spirit… or…)

As Nelus was thinking, he heard a banging noise and felt that something was wrong; he disappeared from the bed with astonishing speed in which the two wasn’t affected at all by his presence suddenly disappearing. What he saw was a man blasted out from the door with tears in his eyes and a terrified face.

???: Tara, please… don’t do this, everything I own already belongs to both of us as you are my wife.

Tara: Sorry, dear but I want everything to be mine.

The woman said with a threatening voice as her face started to distort as killing intent arose… Nelus finally found the reason… she was a new victim of contamination from a tainted soul… the woman then pounces at the man while holding a knife as the man closes his eyes as he seemed to accept his end as he seemed weaker than the woman especially with the effects of the tainted soul which also raises the victim’s aggressiveness. As he waited for his end it never came and as he was thinking this he heard his wife.  

Tara: Let go of me you bastard!!

She said with a growl, the man then opened his eyes and was quite startled… Nelus was holding the woman’s wrist while raising her whole body. She was frantically struggling, kicking and punching Nelus but with no effect at all. The female beastman, Tara, then tried to bite Nelus in which he just used his other hand to cover her mouth and grabs it as the woman was unable to shake of his hand.

???: U-uhm, who are you?

Nelus: Nelus.

???: Please… can you let go of my wife?

Nelus: No… didn’t she just try to kill you?

???: She did… its just that… I can’t believe it… but… I see… Lord Nelus… thank you for saving me and… do you know what is making my wife act up like this? Normally, she is very gentle and shy; she would never do or even think of such a thing such as try to kill me.

Nelus then uses Restore and cleansed her soul as it was still possible because the contamination hasn’t fully overcome her soul as it was quite pure unlike Keltis whom has quite the impure soul to begin with as well as the fact that he is a God King unlike Murix and the other Gods which needs to directly remove the soul. Still, there is a time limit and if it goes beyond it, the soul cannot be saved. The woman then stops struggling as she was then panicking as if unaware where she was and same holding her up. I then put her down and ask me…

Tara: Sir… why were you holding my arm up?

The woman’s crimson eyes then ceased to radiate killing intent and returned to its gentle luster. The man then trembled as relief spread throughout him.

???: Tara! You’re back… I’m so glad…

Tara: There, there… don’t worry, I’m fine.

The man said teary eyed as Tara gently caressed his head as she felt his unease. She was quite tall and the man was quite short for a beastman. With a gentle expression she was comforting the man but there was a hint of confusion in her eyes as well as the man. Nelus then spoke upon seeing their confused expressions.

Nelus: There is a disease that has spread in the land of earth.

Nelus said bluntly as well as so suddenly that they both froze.

???: A disease, how horrible, then maybe we should leave the land of earth for now… also, what kind of disease that could do such a thing?

Tara: Can you tell me what has happened?

The man then explained his wife’s actions as the woman started to tear up while using her rabbit ears to cover her face. They were both from the Rarine race, a type of beastmen. Nelus then pondered a bit as he hasn’t seen a beastman race like them before, it was created by Genbalt as he wanted to create a unique race. One was the “Single-winged” Arkelas of the sky domain and for the land of earth, Rarine and the other was… She then apologizes again and again in which the man easily forgives her.

???: Tomorrow, we should depart as fast as we can or the disease may infect not only you but also me.

Nelus: You must not.

Tara: But if we stay we might…

Nelus: The disease have only affected beings of earth and beings of wind so no mater where you go you can still be contaminated or worse, can contaminate the other beings from other lands.

Nelus said while only saying a part of the truth as the man stared and became quite anxious.

???: How horrible… then what should we do?

Nelus: Here… you can have this… if ever one of you feels weird you can use this to ward off the disease and this can be reuse even constantly even after constant use for a year.

Nelus then give them a clear crystal containing his spell, Restore. The man and woman was quite astonished of his actions as the man quickly tried to decline.

???: We can’t accept such a precious thing…it looks like a very powerful artifact.

Tara: Instead you must use it on yourself if ever the need arises.

In actuality, it was just a magic storing crystal with his magic inside of it which was why it was emanating a powerful aura. They thought it was a very high grade artifact thus making them reluctant to take it especially coming from a stranger who took the time to save the two.

Nelus: No need to be reluctant I have many in reserve so just take it.

Neus prompted making the man and woman have no choice but to bow with gratitude and take it. They then both returned to their rooms as Nelus faces towards the end of the hallway which has a stairway facing to the right.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Nelus: Taln, I guess you heard the ruckus.

Taln: So you noticed me…

Nelus: What about Altea?

Taln: She was quite tired today so she is still asleep as well as she drunk quite a bit because of me…

Nelus: I see…

Taln then tried to say something but stopped as she twitched and tries to head back to her room.

Nelus: You can ask me if there is something on your mind.

Taln then stops her footsteps and faces Nelus as she seemed quite anxious as cold sweat formed.

Taln: Is what you said true... about a disease that can mostly contaminate beings of earth and beings of wind?

Nelus:  …Yes… but what I said was partly incomplete… but all I can say is for now it isn’t safe. So take this as well as this other one and give one to Altea. Also, the disease is only temporary so you don’t need to worry too much.

Taln: If you say so then I will trust your words.

Taln said while not hesitating as all as her anxiousness vanishes. She then heads back to her room as did Nelus. Still, Nelus felt that these events are quite peculiar, the appearance of tainted souls shouldn’t be this fast… it has been only a little while since the death of Genbalt…

Nelus: Genbalt… is there a reason why this feeling of loss is so familiar…?

Nelus then felt that someone was watching him as he then turn and saw that it came from the door of his room, he then went forward and entered his room and saw the two still asleep… as the next day arrived Nelus went down the stairs with Lina holding his hand with a bright smile and Tania on the other.

Yora: Oh! Sir Nelus! Good morning.

Yora said happily while eating vigorously while Taln chops at his head and said for him to eat slowly as he grinned widely. Altea, hearing Nelus’ name turned towards him then said…

Altea: Nelus… I just wanted to say goodbye before I leave.

Taln: Hahh… I wish you could stay a bit longer but the sky monarch…

Altea: Yeah… if I could I would’ve… joined you on your journey…

Altea murmured quietly so that only she and Taln could hear it… of course everyone heard it due to their exceptional hearing capability… except for Yora…

As she then head out she then turned a little red and ran towards Nelus, grabbed his hand, knelt down and kissed his hand… leaving everyone but Taln, dumbfounded… as she then ranout the inn and flew away. Taln then grinned as she then explained…

Taln: You see, Altea isn’t just an ordinary swordmaster, she is also one of the Sky knights just like her sister. What she did was a gesture meaning that the one who received it will surely meet the knight, or at this point, Altea once again. (Of course I shouldn’t say that it is also a gesture of affection… I’ll leave that to myself…)

Yora was still eating, not noticing the events while Lina, who was already seated, felt an uncomfortable feeling as it only made her confused… as for a certain someone inside her… Tania, whom was fairly sharp then said…

Tania: Why only father?

Taln: A-ahh… you see… it’s because Nelus is kind of the leader of the group isn’t he? Where he goes, all of us will surely come with him…

Tania: I see… thank you for answering my sudden question.

Yora: As for me, I will be returning to my village afterwards as it seems, magical beast might attack the village. There has been an outbreak recently and weirdly, the beasts that naturally don’t cross the borders seem to run wild recently for the past few days… I heard from one of the passing messengers.

Nelus: (So it has affected even the magical beasts… Calice… has it reached your forest?

Calice: (No… but it is a matter of time… if they really are crossing the borders between lands then just stopping the beings of earth and beings of sky from interacting with other being won’t contain the contamination of souls.)

Nelus: (I see… then the quicker the better… in the afternoon, we will head out immediately.)

Yora: What about you teacher?

Taln: I will be heading to Tectis, the main kingdom in the heart of the land of earth.

Nelus: We are heading there too, mind if we come along?

Taln then had a surprised expression and nodded. After they continued to eat and converse, they then head out towards the next village which is south-west from here. When they went out from the inn, everybody had a look of reverence towards the group as they went their way. As they left the village, they entered a deep forest that is said to contain magical beasts that are mostly not hostile and for the hostile ones, they mostly hunt other magical beasts as they fear those more powerful than them.

Lina: Uncle! Those look cute!

Taln: Oh? Those are wood apes. They are very friendly to people especially if you give them food. They are merely at a rank of E to C which is the highest for their race.

Taln said while Lina was pointing at ape like creatures that are a bit smaller than her with fluffy fur similar to clouds in a way. The apes were staring at a direction while trembling while they seem to be wounded.

Tania: They seem afraid, something might have attacked them.

As the apes saw our group they were making noises in a panic while heading towards our direction, they then hid behind Nelus for some reason while some climb up his head while hugging it tightly while Nelus didn’t even change his expression, it then look like he had goofy thick brown hair making Taln almost laugh as well as Calice as they hold it in while trembling. Lina then caress some of the apes to calm them down.

Lina: Poor apes…

Random Ape: Ooo… ooo ooo…

We then heard a rustling noise as the apes panicked… what we saw were another group of wood apes… they had black fur red eyes andsharp fangs that made them look quite intimidating. Some of them had a rank of B and a few were A ranked!

Nelus: (Tainted Souls…)

Taln: Is this the disease you were talking about?

Nelus: Yes

Lina: Mu… apes bully, they are bad!!

The black wood apes of nearing a hundred runs towards us as Tania covers Lina as she went in front of her, Taln unsheathe her sword while Nelus put down the apes on top of his head on the ground and walk forward.

Black Wood Apes: OOOoooaaaahhh!!!

Nelus: It seems they are not just a group of wood apes... there are other magical beasts mixed in and... beastmen...

Taln: What!?

***********************************************************************

Phew! XD Anyways.. need more reading material… I need to bring back my sense so that I can once again bring normal updates. :-) So far I need to make the directions and hints proper and this chapter took way too long to post because of the utmost of grammar mistake… well for now I hope that after the chapter, I can fix myself…  

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! :-)