Chapter 10

"This should be the heart of the withering woods!" Murphy rubbed his nose.

"The scouting method I have prepared can now be used!" Murphy took a black coloured potion from his robes and poured the contents on the ground after opening the plug.

* Plop plop! *

After the black coloured potion was poured on the forest floor, it actually turned into tiny ants scampering in all directions.

As expected, after roughly a dozen minutes, a black coloured ant appeared at Murphy's feet, crawled on his robes all the way to his ears, and appeared as if it whispered something.

"It's been found! Follow me!" Murphy followed the ant and led the group to a withered oak tree.

"Move this oak tree away!" Murphy pointed at the large tree, "According to my probing, there seems to be a secret tunnel underneath it."

"Squad 1! Go!" Jackson waved his hands.

Several Black Iron Guards went forward and stabbed their pikes at the oak tree.

The withered oak tree did not seem capable of withstanding the assault. After being pierced multiple times by the pikes, many pieces and chips of bark filled the air as if it were snowing. The ten guards hurriedly moved the completely withered oak tree away revealing a dark sinister tunnel.

"Here it is!" Murphy's eyes flashed, and he chanted an incantation.

The widely spread black ants returned from all directions and entered the hole.

Suddenly, Murphy's face turned pale, and his body fell backwards, almost fainting.

"What happened?" An acolyte asked.

"There seems to be an extremely dangerous creature inside. It destroyed all of my precious babies!" Murphy's expression appeared very unsightly.

"What should we do?" An acolyte asked, apparently wanting to leave.

"Prepare a fire!" Jackson waves his hands, "We'll have a look down there!"

"Yes!" The guards quickly carried out their lord's orders. Leylin and the other acolytes looked at each other. Having no other choice, they could only follow.

The hole was rather small. A grown man needed to crouch before they could enter. However, the tunnel became more spacious the deeper it went, until a number of guards could walk abreast, even raising the fire torches high did not touch the cave's ceiling.

"Lord Viscount! There's a fork ahead!" A squad leader reported to Jackson.

"Let me have a look!" Jackson stepped forward.

There seemed to be two perfectly similar tunnels ahead. Looking at the darkness of their unfathomable depths, one could not see the tunnel's end. It felt like walking into the huge mouth of a beast.

"The negative energy in here is becoming too dense. Some of our scouting methods cannot be used here!" The city lord's aide, the grey-robed person spoke.

"Call two men to reconnoiter each path ahead!" Jackson's brows furrowed as he gave the order.

"It would be better to let me do it!" Leylin walked forward suddenly.

Since he knew that the 'parent' was extremely powerful, he did not want his side to lose too much battle strength.

"Since Mister Leylin has decided to step forward, then it's for the best!" Viscount Jackson smiled.

Leylin walked forward several steps and took out a transparent crystal from his robes.

"Gurisitong – Jiaonateyer!" Leylin chanted. A black vertical pupil suddenly appeared within the depths of the crystal.

The vertical pupil was the same size as a human's, but it did not have the white of a human eye. Looking at this pure black pupil made one feel as if it could tear their souls from their bodies.

"This is… The Negative Energy Eye!"

"Only acolytes who specialise in negative energy are able to use it!"

The acolytes behind began to whisper and their gazes contained more hostility and fear than before.

The rank 0 spells of magicians who specialises in negative energy are generally more destructive and their personalities were more bloodthirsty and savage than most other Magi. This normally meant being a Dark Magi.

The regular magicians' hostile looks were understandable.

Leylin did not have any inclinations of explaining himself to the soon to be dead people behind him whatsoever.

The black pupil split into two. One floated into each tunnel.

Following the vertical pupils mentally, Leylin's closed his eyes. Viscount Jackson became rather nervous as he stared at Leylin. The group grew quiet, only the constant soft snapping noise of torches burning could be heard.

A few minutes later, Leylin opened his eyes, "On the tunnel to the left are a few mutated lizards. At its end is a large granite rock."

"As for the one on the right, I only know that it leads unknown distance downwards. My spell got smashed after I tried probing further."

"Since it's that way, let's all go down together." Jackson pointed to the tunnel on the right.

.....

"Light! There's a light ahead!"

A guard walking in the vanguard shouted.

"Enter!" Jackson gripped his large sword with both hands and was the first to rush in.

The rest followed suit.

"Argh!" "Monster!" "Be careful!"

Various shouts resounded, and weapons were brandished.

[Alert! Imminent attack ahead! Optimal response: step back and crouch!] The A.I. Chip's voice intoned and projected a faint blue screen.

On the screen, a talon the size of a palm was clawing towards Leylin.

Leylin hurriedly retreated a step and crouched to dodge the attack.

Amidst the wails all around, Jackson's faint howling could be heard.

After the A.I. Chip's scan, Leylin could see that many lizard-like creatures were making use of their familiarity with the geography to attempt a massacre of Jackson and the squad of guards around him.

The sneak attack was so quick that when Jackson and the rest finally reacted, the whole squad already suffered heavy casualties.

As Leylin swept his gaze across the scene before him and his eyes finally adjusted to the bright light. He realised that the floor was already littered with corpses. Many of them had traces of having been chewed on by these strange creatures.

At that moment, only the 2 Knight level squad leaders and the grey robed figure, who always followed behind Jackson, were all that remained of the group with Jackson.

As for the acolytes, one had fallen to the ground and another had a large wound on his abdomen that was oozing blood.

All the 'mysterious energy' was flowing into his body. As his level increased his attraction of 'Mysterious Energy' also increased , so the amount wasted due to distance has decreased . He was taking it all in.

At the apex of the cave, white-coloured jellyfish-like creatures were floating. The flash from earlier had radiated from their bodies.

Murphy appeared, clutching a book to his chest.

At this moment, in the cave, there were many mutated, yet familiar creatures. There were lizards, brown bears, and elks, all numbering over a dozen. At the centre most of them all, there was an enormous yellow snake that seemed to be the king, as it was guarded by the other creatures.

"It's Mankestre – Great Withering Snake Mankestre!" Murphy's book fell from his hands to the floor, letting off a bang.

"A.I. Chip, scan!" Leylin instructed.

[Great Withering Snake – Mankestre (Half-adult body) Strength: 11.9, Agility: 6.5, Vitality: 14, Spiritual force: 8] [Abilities: 1 – Parasitic. A Mankestre is able to develop an extremely strong parasite in its body, and spread it to other organisms, making them its underlings.] [2 – Wither. In any areas where a Mankestre has passed by, the plants will die, and become a type of nutrient for the Mankestre. An adult Mankestre possesses the strength of an official Magus, and can transform an entire forest into withering ashes.] [Source of information: , ]

The A.I. Chip delivered the information immediately in front of Leylin.

"Murphy, don't be fooled by its appearance. This is but a non-adult Mankestre. We still have a chance!"

"Indeed!" Murphy scrutinised the brown yellow colour of the huge snake and finally recovered from his fright, "An adult Mankestre is at least 100 metres long, and this snake is obviously not of that length yet. A number of parasites that it produces is also not right!"

"This huge snake is the cause of the withering woods?" Jackson asked at the side while staring at the huge snake as his Adam's apple moved.

"That's right! A Mankestre uses the juice of plants as their food. They are rather crafty and lazy, and also hate to move about. Basically, it uses the parasites to gather food for itself!"

Murphy, who had bountiful experience and wisdom, was extremely aware of the habits of the huge Mankestre Snake.

"So then, if we kill it, the herb production in Dark Night Woods can recover again?" Jackson used his long sword and pointed at the huge yellow snake that was protected by its parasitic mutated creatures.

"In theory, it should be the case as long as you kill it or drive it away. Although its death cannot revive the withering woods, it can still allow the prey and woods to slowly recover back to what it once was!"

Murphy smiled wryly.

* Hiss! * The snake coiled in the centre of the cave hissed, and let off a low, snake-like speech.

It was a kind of sound made by the friction of rubbing two pieces rotten leather together, which was extremely unpleasant to the ears.

The creatures surrounding Leylin and the rest seemed to have received orders, and howled as they charged forward!

"A.I. Chip! Simulate the most optimal method of attack!"

Leylin pulled out his cross blade.

[Beep! Inputting situation data, initiating build with Host's stats!] [Calculating battle simulation for the most optimal method!] The A.I. Chip continuously displayed the attack style of creatures surrounding home.

Leylin's feet moved as he dodged a brown bear's attack. The cross blade in his right hand drew a strange trajectory, and deflected the paw of the bear, and directly pierced through its skull.

The few acolytes also casted their rank 0 spells that they had prepared and assisted in killing these creatures.

Leylin only took a look and did not bother about them anymore.

* Sssii! *The corpse of the brown bear that Leylin had killed rapidly decomposed. From the bones, many veins appeared, which turned into the creature that Leylin and the rest had been chasing earlier. The creature then climbed into the Mankestre's mouth.

The Mankestre Snake opened its mouth and revealed rows of razor sharp teeth. Its tongue coiled, as it swallowed the strange red veined creature into its belly.

After swallowing the parasite, the Mankestre Snake finally uncoiled and looked at Leylin and the group, who were unrestrainedly slaughtering the creatures. Its crimson eyes showed signs of rage.

* Bang! * The huge body of the snake shot out, and the entire cave trembled violently.

The huge Mankestre Snake's body moved at an alarming speed, charging towards Jackson.

The Mankestre Snake opened its jaws wide, and its razor sharp teeth snapped at Jackson, bringing about a fish-like smell. If Jackson were to be caught, he would definitely die without a corpse left.

"Sir!" The remaining two Knights and the grey robed person shouted.

"Hah! Good try!" At the brink of death, Jackson finally released all of his internal energy, and the sword pierced at the crown of the snake with a speed that was hard to track by eye.

The sword, however, only left a white spot on the scales of the snake. As for Jackson, he used the force to rebound, and twisted his waist, evading the snap of the snake's jaw.