“This…… Seems to be the doings of mysterious entities.” The bandit’s hair stood on end. As a member of the underground activities, he had only heard of these entities in myths. These stories emphasised the most important things about them: their mysteriousness, their cold-heartedness, and that they were not to be made enemies of!
“I’d better hurry and leave! If I knew this mission was linked to these mysterious entities, I wouldn’t have accepted it even if the rewards were dozen-fold!”
The grey robed man trembled and wanted to leave.
“I found it. The smell of my enemy!” At this moment, a hoarse and repugnant voice sounded from behind.
The bandit’s body shivered. He saw an abomination, the size of a child, floating in midair.
Its body was strewn with scales in a disorderly fashion. Its face was full of warts. From time to time, its snake-like tongue hissed out.
“I’m afraid that even the devil wouldn’t be as ugly as this!” The bandit thought as he jumped back by 5 metres.
“I should have thought of this before! I have actually turned into bait!” The bandit shouted.
“Don’t think about leaving!” Doris spat its tongue out and flew above the bandit, almost immediately with just a few flaps of its wings.
“We can talk about this! I have a lot of information on this mission’s principal!” The bandit yelled in despair.
“Die!”
Doris’s eyes were bloodshot. It did not care about the pleas and screams of the bandit. Immediately, it chewed on the right arm that was waving the dagger about and fed voraciously on the bandit’s blood.
A few minutes later, only the bandit’s shrivelled corpse remained.
“A scent lingers on his robes! That damned acolyte is definitely in the city!” Doris squinted at the silhouette of the city walls.
* Xiu! *
A black arrow zoomed past. A boom was heard as it went supersonic, directly piercing Doris’ chest.
“The last of the Scent-Masking Powder was wasted here. I even sprinkled some paralysis powder on the bandit’s body. I don’t believe that this arrow won’t hit its target!”
From behind some tall shrubs, Leylin emerged wearing a leather armour and carrying the crossbow he had just used.
“Enemy!” Doris’ face twitched. Its originally repulsive face now even showed veins bulging from it. It was a sight that would definitely make children cry.
“Even I wouldn’t have guessed that the one chasing me was the Green Tree Sprite from before! This originally beautiful creature has now turned into something like this!” Leylin was a little shocked.
[Mutated Green Tree Sprite. Strength: 3.1, Agility: 4.3, Vitality: 3.5, Spiritual Force: 5.5. Abilities unknown!] The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned the readings and situation over.
“Its attributes were actually raised by this much! What an astonishing spell. However, its body’s unstable condition can slowly be seen on its surface. It is unlikely to survive more than half a month.” Leylin eyes flashed coldly.
“The enemy who murdered my father and sisters! Even if Doris had to betray its soul, Doris will avenge them!”
Doris howled as it yanked the arrow out of its chest. A puddle of green liquid gushed out of the wound.
The green liquid quickly covered the whole chest., A plant root could be seen extending continuously and very soon the wound was suppressed.
“Go to hell!” Doris charged at Leylin in a green blur.
“It actually went through so much mutation that melee attacks are no longer effective?” Leylin nodded his head and snapped his fingers.
“Pa!”
Suddenly, a mud ball rose from the ground, blocking Doris’s path. Its contents were revealed to be crimson coloured potions.
* Bang! * A flame rose up. The accompanying heat wave even scorched the nearby vegetation.
The flames engulfed Doris and the crackling sound of something being barbequed was heard.
* Hu! * A green figure emerged from the sea of flames. Its body was scorched black. It even still had the fire burning on it as it charged towards Leylin.
[Target’s speed reduced by 67%!] Chimed the A.I. Chip.
“It was first affected by the paralysis powder, and then injured by the explosive potions. Even if it specialises in fire resistance, it will definitely still receive damage!”
Leylin’s face was calm. He threw away the crossbow and then drew his cross blade as he charged forward.
“Cross Slash!” The silver cross blade shone. This time, Leylin even circulated his ignited internal Knight energy. The sharp blade reflected a glimmer of light.
When the cross figure directly struck the Green Tree Sprite, immediately a pool of green liquid appeared.
Doris toppled, and Leylin stopped advancing. He looked at the cross blade in his hands and his brows furrowed.
The silver blade was already filled with bumpy spots where the various liquid from Doris’s body splashed.
“Even its bodily fluid has a strong corrosive effect? This cross blade is ruined!” Leylin felt a little rueful. This cross blade had been taken from a noble youth while in the travelling party. It was extremely handy to use, but he never thought that it would be destroyed here.
He threw away the cross blade. As he looked at Doris who was still trying to charge over despite the cross slash on its chest, Leylin quickly chanted an incantation.
“Umbra’s Hand!”
A black-coloured palm rose from Doris’ shadow. It grabbed hold of its ankles and kept them firmly on the ground.
* Sssi Sssi! * A layer of white mist rose from the black-coloured palm.
“Although Umbra’s Hand has a corrosive effect, it seems like, against the mutated Green Tree Sprite, it is still somewhat lacking! Leylin’s mind quickly worked out the situation.
“I’ll use you as a guinea pig for my newly learnt spell!”
“The sound of the azure thunder! Listen to my command! Descend to the mortal realm and strike my foes down!” (Byron Language)
As Leylin voiced his incantation, silvery-blue lightning suddenly appeared in his hands.
“Go!” Leylin pointed his fingers and dazzling lightning flew towards Doris in an arc.
“Doris is not afraid of death!” At this moment, Doris stretched its hands forward, and its palm split open. From it, a tree root-like object extended out.
* Xiu! * The tree roots entwined and assumed the shape of a bow. A brown coloured arrow was already loaded onto it.
“Not good!” Leylin hurriedly dodged.
Chapter 47 - Inconvenience
Leylin tried to wrest his way out, but an excruciating pain radiated from his shoulders.
[Host has sustained injuries from an arrow! Warning! Warning! High bacteria concentration on the arrowhead, recommend immediate disinfection of the affected area!]
“Damn it!” Leylin hurriedly pulled out the arrow and took a silver dagger from his robes. Gritting his teeth, he gouged out the flesh surrounding the wound.
He hurriedly retrieved a green coloured potion from his waist pouch and poured half of it onto the wound. The other half he emptied into his mouth. Only after hearing the A.I. Chip’s voice, [Crisis under control], did he heave a sigh of relief.
When Leylin was struck by the arrow, Doris had also been struck by the lightning, and had fallen down, crashing onto the ground.
At this moment, Doris’s whole body was charred and its wings were more than half broken.. One of her hands had vanished without any trace of it left behind, and her ankle was still grasped by the Umbra’s Hand spell. Her life force had dropped to a dangerous level. She could die at any moment.
“Revenge! My revenge!” Doris unconsciously kept muttering those words. Suddenly its eyes flashed coldly, and it bit off its own right leg.
* Pa! * The leg flew in the air. The Umbra’s Hand, which was holding onto the ankle, disappeared quickly as well.
“Let’s die together!”
Doris’s whole
body inflated. Warts on its face vibrated. Her speed tripled as she charged directly at Leylin.
“Damn it!” Leylin pressed down on his shoulder wound and hastily retreated. At the same time, he threw out the last explosive potion.
* Bang! * An intense explosion reverberated.
Red flames and green liquid mixed together. It let off a dark green firelight.
Leylin rolled back several times before he could finally escape the blast radius.
At this moment, the surroundings were showered with a bunch of green-coloured bones and flesh. It was utterly repulsive.
“Eh?” Looking at the green-coloured remains on the ground, Leylin saw that a yellow fluid swiftly flowed out, continuously corroding the ground. His expression involuntarily changed, and he hurriedly inspected his body.
A few drops of thick fluid had unknowingly corroded his leather armour and opened several wounds on his body. Around each of these wounds was a patch of yellow that was beginning to numb that area.
[Host is suffering from an unknown secondary pathogenic infection. It has invaded the Host and is spreading at very rapidly. Recommend to take counter measures!]
“A.I. Chip! Scan the injury! Find a way to treat it!”
[Mission parameters established! Scanning……]
[Beep! Treatment requires 30 grams of Human Head Bird, 500 millilitres of pink ink oil, 50 grams of Green Coconut Rock……]
The A.I. Chip continued to list down a huge number of items.
“When would I have the time to buy these? A.I. Chip, generate the method for immediate suppression!” Leylin’s face darkened.
[Cauterising the wound with a flame will be effective in reducing the rate of infection!] The A.I. Chip responded.
“A flame?” Leylin ripped his clothes and casually picked up a burning branch as he placed the glowing flame on his wound.
* Sssii! * The sound of something being barbecue was heard accompanied by the smell of charring flesh. Leylin’s face contorted in pain.
Minutes later, the A.I. Chip pronounced the treatment effective. Leylin put away the fire and sat limply on the ground panting, cold sweat dripping all over his body.
“The enemy this time was extremely dangerous! Its resistance towards physical and flame attacks was extremely high. Its speed was also fast, and it had a poison attack. It seems to have been prepared specifically against me. If not for the A.I. Chip, I’m afraid……”
Doris’ body fluids, containing the secondary infection from the arrow’s poison, were something that the A.I. Chip had not factored in. This made Leylin, who expected only mild injuries from the encounter, suffer such a wretched victory.
“On top of that, the explosive potions that I had prepared have all been used! I have to prepare more ingredients again!”
The past few battles, Leylin had highly relied on potions to defeat his enemies. However, the consumption was also huge, and he threw away close to a thousand Magic Crystals in value.
Fortunately, he knew how to brew explosive potions; if not, the cost would have skyrocketed even higher.
“Flame can only temporarily constrain the spreading of the pathogen. I have to buy the necessary ingredients to cure it completely!” Leylin looked at his charred wound, his brows furrowed as he gulped down another Strength Potion before picking himself up and heading back to Grey Stone City.
This was a huge disturbance. It was very likely that the city’s guards already sensed that something was amiss and would very soon send someone over to inspect.
Leylin endured the intense pain and sneaked back inside Grey Stone City. He stealthily took out his chest, not bothering to even bring his two horses along with him. After stealing a light brown coloured horse outside the city walls, he escaped under the cover of night. He was headed towards the Magus market located on the map.
As for the summons of the city lord, it was only natural that he ignored it completely.
……
A dozen odd days later, on the way to Wolkan Province, a light brown coloured horse could be seen carrying two huge chests with a black robed figure astride its back. The horse was panting heavily as its four hoofs dashed across the ground.
“A.I. Chip! Show me my current status!” Leylin’s body which moved up and down with the horse’s movement, thought inwardly.
[Beep! Leylin Farlier, Level 2 Acolyte, Knight. Strength: 1.3(2.5), Agility: 1.5(2.7), Vitality: 1.0(3.0), Spiritual Force: 4.1(4.4), Magical Power: 4.0. Status: Host is in a weakened state due to infection from the pathogen]
“Although the pathogen was inhibited, it has been a dozen odd days since then. My body is still in a weak condition. Only my Spiritual Force has increased again- this must be due to the result of constant meditation!”
Leylin looked at his stats and smiled bitterly.
Right now he had a completely new face. He had changed from an icy cold soldier into an extremely dashing golden-haired blue eyed westerner. His face, however, was devoid of colour.
“A.I. Chip! Project the mind map!” Leylin looked at the little information he had compiled superimposed onto an extremely detailed map.
“From Bicky’s intelligence gathering, there should be a gathering area for Magi nearby. There, I will be able to buy ingredients to treat this infection!”
Based on half a month of probing and simulation, Leylin surmised that the opponent had only dispatched Doris. Due to the official war with Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, nobody could be bothered with a lowly Level 2 Acolyte like himself. This was a great piece of news.
“I can probably even make inquiries about the current situation in Abyssal Bone Forest Academy!” Leylin made up his mind and left the main road. He quickly found a spot, took out his tent and tools, and went about setting up camp.
“This area seems a little desolate. However, it’s only normal. Magus activities always steer clear of human communities as much as possible. Moreover, the radiation from a Magus is not something that regular humans can withstand.”
Leylin sprinkled some white powder around the tent area to prevent bugs and beasts from approaching. He then picked up a metal pan, poured some stream water into it, and lit a bonfire.
Just as the stream water began to boil, Leylin emerged from the trees and threw some mushrooms and other plants into it.
A moment later, after adding some spices and a few strips of jerky, a fresh fragrance of food permeated the air.
Leylin scooped a bowl for himself. The soup base was white in colour. It felt extremely comforting to drink it while it was hot.
Leylin sighed in contentment, “As expected, food that’s hot is the best. I could almost puke from constantly eating biscuits and jerky.”
The surroundings were dotted with wildflowers, and there was also the sound made by an unknown bird; its cry was much similar to that of a skylark.
“If not for my injury, this would have been perfect!” Leylin finished his meat broth, and adjusted his robes.
Under his clothes, a charred area of flesh had a layer of fine hair growing around it looking like hair on one’s head, which creeped people out.
Warlock of the Magus World 1-596 Page 38
