CHAPTER 50: AMALGAMS

"Holy fucking... what sort of things are that?" looking at the abomination appearing from their hiding the moments he starts exuding even just a small amount of killing intent directed to them, Azrael couldn’t help but ask as he watches these ’creatures’ if you could even call them that, crawl, or rather, flow from their spot then either towards or away from him.

"Run... away..."

"Don’t... wake... it... up..."

"Dangerous... dangerous..."

"Pain... it hurts..."

Now finally understanding where the killing intent came from, Azrael couldn’t help but wonder why it is that their bodies are naturally exuding an immense killing intent, only now realizing that each one of their figures is letting out the very same one, as if they were part of one and the same creature.

Seeing that they don’t have any clear ill intent towards him though as they approach far slower than he expected, not even throwing an attack when he is already within their sight.

What interests him the most though is the fact that they can speak human language, making him wonder whether this is just a trap set for them to get his trust and let his guard down before they eventually sneak an attack on him, but something is telling him that it’s definitely not it.

"Run... away..."

"Too strong... ascenders... can’t... handle..."

"Calamity... don’t... let... out... of... forest..."

Looking at the several amalgam of flesh and bones, and even some of them having rocks and other unidentifiable, decaying things within their mass, approaching his location, the young man couldn’t help but wonder what is it that made him like this, the wary reminders and the clear emotion of worry and care along with the way they are speaking to him in barely coherent words, he can now pretty much make himself certain that they are once human, ascenders as well.

’The only questions now are what made them like this and... how long had they been like this...’ he thought to himself as he grips the weapon in his hand tighter than ever before, seeing these things making him feel more and more wary of this place.

"What happened here?" looking at these figures, not even bothered, a fact that is quite surprising given their just cruelly malformed physical appearance is enough to give one a morbid nightmare, the young man asked, hoping that they still have some semblance of intelligence in them to answer his question

"Epic... Monster... Abyssal... Rot..." hearing Azrael’s question, one of the less deformed ones replied as it moves what was probably once its arms, lifting this appendage to point deeper towards the forest, something in there definitely powerful or peculiar enough to warrant terror as this deformed figure starts shivering the moment it pointed its appendage towards the location.

Hearing this creature’s reply however, Azrael got piqued by the first words even more, his eyes glowing in excitement as the words ’Epic Monster’ just made him all the more interested in this place.

’While I might just be lucky harvesting the Evil Fang Sword from an Elite Monster, there’s no way an Epic Monster’s loot will be bad right?’ not even concerned for himself ending up like these deformed humans or whatever creatures they once were, the young man thought to himself as he looks at the sword in his hand, gripping it tighter in excitement as he talks to it once again.

"Looks like you’re going to have a great feast for today" he said with a smile on his face making the sword shriek in excitement, the first time ever that it acts like that since the time he told it that he would eventually be strong enough to give it a better name than Evil Fang Sword.

"No... don’t... dangerous... death!" watching this newcomer, a young man seemingly not even half of their age moving towards the depth of the forest where their most feared nightmare is, one of the amalgams couldn’t help but try and stop him, reaching out its short appendage towards the young man’s shoulder, only for it to fail as the young man, despite his leisure pace, is still too fast for it to keep up with.

"Hahaha, I don’t know for how long all of you are turned or what sort of monster turn you into that grotesque form, but trust me, if anything, death is avoiding me like I’m sort of a plague carrier" Azrael dismisses as he waves his free hand, wondering whether he should free these figures from their clear suffering, only deciding not to as he can still see the light of hope in their eyes despite their apparent, seemingly permanent pained expressions.

"Don’t... back... need to warn... cities..." the same amalgam reminding him time and time again tries to convince him one more time, only for its voice to reach nothing as it just noticed that the young man already disappeared from the area, leaving them back to themselves, making them wonder whether they really see a human being or it is just some sort of ghost, a possibility they considered quite a bit given that this is the Ethereal Tower, a place where everything is often just more possible to happen than not.

Meanwhile, Azrael is already rushing towards the direction that one of the amalgams points him to, and as he goes deeper and deeper into the forest, he also notices the alarmingly massive number of the same type of amalgam littering the surroundings, some of them moving away when they felt his presence while a minority of them moving towards him when they felt him, creating a clear distinction between amalgams turned from monsters and from humans.

’They’re all trying to warn me about an Abyssal Rot... is that the epic monster the first amalgam is talking about?’ all hearing the same words from the human-turned amalgams that he encountered along the way, the young man asks himself as he continues to walk towards the depth of the forest, the life force in the air still increasing as he moves forward, making him feel like the Evil Fang Sword or its weapon skill will level up once again any moment now.