CHAPTER 75: MALADY’S GARDEN (1).

The humid air and slightly warm temperatures created the best atmosphere for all sorts of creatures to thrive in a diverse biome such as Malady’s Garden.

The entirety of the forest was hinged on the delicate balancing scale of chaos.

However...

Just this time, it was calm and quiet. It was serene.

Of course, that was just an illusion.

Whoosh!

The sound of the air being split cut through the serenity like a shrill whistle.

Footsteps hitting the ground, followed by the gentle sound of soil being upturned with every step, a shadow darted through the underbrush.

It stuck to the shadows and the paths that has been carved out by larger Abominations through the forest.

The shadow scaled a tall tree and rested on its branch.

The silence returned.

The wind slowly shifting through the leaves and branches was like the howling of a thousand wraiths, adding the perfect backdrop for a place steeped in the dark and grim.

Silence...

A distant caw.

Scuttling.

Something began walking along the path the shadow had come.

Its shadow crept it to reveal its rather large frame— something incredible monstrous and horror-inducing.

Ulcers and pus filled growths on its flesh, the being that arrived let out a low, throat growl as it stalked through the lightly dark forest in search of its prey.

Its sharp, curved talons cut through the earth like butter, its impressively long snout raised in the air as it searched for the rapidly fading scent.

The eyes of the Abomination glowed a faint yellow, but they were rather small, showing that the creature didn’t have the best of eyesight.

However, itself long snout made it so that nothing would escape it. The scent of the shadow, despite waning with the forest wind, was firmly grasped.

The Abomination trudged forward, its snout twitching as it moved.

It froze under a tree.

Its small eyes glanced up.

Silence.

The dread of Hunter and prey is a delicate thing.

Like the string tying the hearts o two lovers.

Or the sudden tension before a calamity.

The Abomination’s snout twitched again.

And then...

The entire tree shook as something shot all the way down from its crown, reaching the Abominations at its roots in a split second.

Abomination was swift. But its body type— low to the ground with stocky feet, didn’t allow for the fastest acceleration.

And so, it was unable to avoid it in time.

Its large maw stretched open as a wretched squeal erupted from its throat.

A spear’s head had pierced right through the back of the Abomination and into its chest.

Thick ropes of crimson blood shot out the grizzly wound as that Abomination scrambled around in its panic.

It smashed its back against a tree to try to get its assailant off all to no avail.

It twisted and roared, throwing its body all over the place without any regard for it.

In response, the shadow brutally twisted the spear in its grip even more, holding on for dead life to endure the frenzied movements of the Aberration.

The shrill sound of a blade being drawn cut through even the intense show of desperate madness.

The shadow leaned forward and with as much force as it could muster, pushed its blade into a gap in the creature’s natural armor.

Blood sprayed everywhere as the creature snarled furiously.

The shadow stabbed forward again and again even as the Abomination violently trashed and kicked.

A moment passed.

The Abomination had grown weak due to the immense loss of blood.

It staggered to the ground and fell onto its hind limbs.

And so, as a final show of mercy, the shadow placed the sharp Silver Blade in its hand against the throat of the Abomination. Then it sawed away.

A sickening gargling noise could be heard through the darker underbrush...

And then, silence...

***

{Rejoice, Heretic. You have slain a Dark Lizard}.

Seals of Sin: 182/1000.

***

Nero felt to the ground, completely exhausted.

His eyes were bright, but his face and arms were painted red with blood, painting a rather terrifying sight.

He took a moment to catch his breath.

It had been a few days since he stepped foot into Malady’s Garden.

And the name was truly fitting.

Compared to the Purple Evergrowth forest, Malady’s Garden truly was the festering grounds of rot, death, and damnation.

All sorts of twisted malforms existed with greater variety and make within this forest, making it many times more dangerous than the Evergrowth had been.

The vast variety of flora were also dangerous, perhaps even more dangerous than the fauna.

And then, there was the ever present dark river that cuts through the forest.

Nero had wondered the source of this strange river for some time now...

He let out a sigh and pulled down the hood of the Veil of Darkness. Thanks to the enchantment of the Relic, he ha been able to avoid the sharp, detective nose of the Dark Lizard.

Without it, he would have been discovered right away and his ambush would have failed.

With the change in environment, his methods of hunting had changed as well as.

Unlike the Purple Evergrowth forest, the foliage here was dense in some areas and sparce in others.

With that, often came drastic changes in the local nature of the monsters he came across. Some times, he set up ambushes, other times, he made use of the insidious poisons he came across in the forest. Having to coat a weapon made for a god in poison felt like a true insult.

But he couldn’t care less at the moment.

Other times involved more direct brawls between him and the beasts. Clashes of flesh and steel until one came out victorious over the other. His scars were far deeper now.

But they had also in turn made him hardier. He had become a true hunter of the dark forest.

He had learned to chart the patterns of the Abominations, learn the general distribution of Abominations within certain areas, as well as learn to distinguish the more tame parts of the forest from the truly dangerous parts.

He wiped the Silver Blade clean of the red that stained it then turned around to begin gutting and cleaning the Abomination.

After taking off a decent portion of flesh, he strapped it up properly, took a moment to rest, and continued on his way down the path.