Lord Shadow-Chapter 23: The mystery looms

He has entered the intersection and what greeted him was a scene of devastation. There are no zombies coming towards him…only a lake of blood.

And slithering creatures, near the entrance of his village, slithering around the dead, eating their flesh.

Azief hold back the urge to puke.

A lot of blood. He mused, gripping his hand more tightly and strengthen his resolve.

He at least should have expected this. The devastation is almost as bad if not worse then what he has seen, coming here.

Bodies scattered about with frightening expression on their face, a black red crow eating a man eyeball, a silver rat eating a man finger, a red snake swallowing an old man, its belly is bulging in a shape of a child.

Probably the snake ate a child before and now it is trying to swallow the old man. Azief inwardly thought.

The entrance of his village is full with crawling and slithering beast….but they are all small.

Rats, crows, snakes. But it is not gigantic like the beast he fought before. Should he have come faster? He thought to himself. 𝘧𝚛𝗲𝘦𝚠𝙚𝙗𝙣o𝙫𝗲𝚕.𝐜o𝓂

He takes a rest before moving from his initial position in the bridge. Searching for items and vials, or anything that could strengthen himself.

He alos rtake this moment to learn one of the skill books he found.

He took it and he elarns it

EYE OF NIGHT

PASSIVE SKILL. WILL ACQUIRE NIGHT VISION AND SEES FARTHER THAN DAYTIME. SENSES AT NIGHT WILL BE GREATLY ENHANCED.

‘Hmm’ Azief said. This will complement nicely with stealth and his other skills.

He then checked the items.

It was a brown pills and it smiles really bad. At the time Azief did not have time to check the pill but now he have the time so he sniffed it and he almost barf.

He then checks the information of the pills.

DIARRHEA PILL

WORK EFFECTIVELY FOR MONSTERS OR HOMO SAPIENS BELOW LEVEL 20. WILL CAUSE ANYONE EATING IT TO SUFFER TERRIBLE DIARRHEA. TO LEARN THE RECIPE CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS NEED TO BE CLEARED.

REQUIREMENTS: EAT THE PILLS

AN ALCHEMIST (PRODUCTION SKILLS IS NOT YET UNLOCKED)

Azief decided then. Even if he fulfills the requirement he would not eat this unappetizing pills.

But Azief then had an inspiration. More like, a revelation. Production skills exist.

And it has not yet be unlocked…..which means if his level is high enough or he did something that fit the criteria the production skills will be unlocked.

If there is a diarrheas pill wont there be like some EXP pills or pills that give boost to stats or something that would improve the body?

‘Hmm’ and this time he smiles. Anyway, this might be useful later. So, he keeps the pills inside his storage rings.

Finished with this, he looks at another direction.

He looks at the direction of Sofia village and as he expected there is a lot of beast corpse littered the streets.

He knows this is Sofia doings. Arrows riddled the beast corpse. Her experience must be harrowing.

He shut his mind of from Sofia.

Sofia has her objectives, he has his. He uses his fear Aura and black aura wafted from his body and some of the rat freeze on spot.

The snake however only shivers a bit before they change their target to him.

Azief did not wait. He kicked the ground and in one second he already arrived in front of the swallowing snake, and with one slash the snakes was slices like tofu.

A few rats tries to run away but Azief quickly activated Slashing Wind and the fleeing rat all turned to pool of blood.

In a few minutes the snakes slithers away; the rats flee to the holes and burrow themselves deep inside it, and the crows flies to the sky, squawking.

‘Huu’ he sighed.

He looked at the empty streets. Even though the snakes and the rats even the crows, are low leveled, they are a lot of them.

It’s good that they are intimidated of him.

If he has to fight them all, it would take a long time. He would win…he believes but it will take a long time.

And the longer it is, the higher the probability that his family did not make it. But he did not entertain that thought.

Or at least he tries not to.

In his heart…however there is this nagging sensation…that coming here is a big mistake…that he should have make that deduction long ago, that his family couldn’t possibly survives the initial fall.

‘Hope’ he said louder than he expected. Hope that keep him going. His feeling is complicated when it is about his family.

He shakes his head and tries to push this out of his mind.

Azief crouched and examines the snakes. He removed the black thing inside the snake bodies and the windows telling that it is safe to eat the meat appeared again.

He then stores it inside his storage ring.

He searches for a bead but he could not find it. Not all beast drop bead he deduced. Only certain types of beast or maybe it depend on luck.

He moved forward passing Amir house and entering the village.

There is the hill he mused. But when he reached the hill, he was shocked. His gaze is looking at this bizarre scene in front of him.

A palm print can be seen imprinted itself on the hill.

A beast! he inwardly thought in shock.

There is a giant beast here! As he moved from the hills, he could see from far away his First Uncle and Third Uncle house.

Should he check their houses first? He then hesitated before making a decision. He needs to check it too.

So he slides down the hill and arrive at the narrow path, near the swamp. The swamp was swamped with snakes.

‘Heh’ he smiles.

I could even make a pun with swamp he mused chuckling at his own joke. He brought out of his sword as power surged through his body.

He then dashed forward dispatching the small snakes that obstruct his way with one slash of his sword, the snakes powerless in front of him.

Hundreds of them were sliced like leaves.

This time Azief did not stop to collect the snake meat instead he dashed forward leaving the snake meat.

He is too anxious to look at his uncle’s condition.

Then he arrived at the entrance of his Third Uncle house. His first uncle house is behind his third uncle house, so he had to check his third uncle house first.

Opening the gates and with just one glance, he could already imagine the outcome of his curiosity.

He closes his eyes and take a deep breath.

‘Breathe, breathe slowly. Azief, be calm’ he said to himself.

‘Take a deep breath and be calm. There is nothing you could do. Breathe’ he keeps saying, almost like a chant and he open his eyes again.

He spread his divine sense trying to ascertain if there is an enemy but there isn’t.

He takes a step and another step and another step, trying his hardest to look at the corpse in front of him.

The front door was open and her Third Aunty could be seen sprawling on the front yard, a deep gash behind her back, her head was full of holes, something resembling a claw marks.

Azief expression turned hard.

Passing the corpse he enters the house, cautious with each step. Whatever that did this, might still be here.

Entering, another scene shocked him and he gripped his sword tighter.

Blood trail can be seen from the kitchen area leading to the front door, a bloody hand print on the TV and he could see his nephew bodies, split into two, the lower part on top of the living room table, the upper part on the sofa.

His face shows that he suffers heavily before his life was snuffed out, his eyes was gouged out, a hole was dug from his stomachs, his intestines juts out and fill the living room table, a slush of black blood still drips from his wound.

The boy was young…just a 15 year old kid.

Azief avert his gaze. He then went to the kitchen and finally he could deduce what happened in this third uncle house.

Whatever beast that did this come from the back. How did he deduce this?

The back part of the house disappeared, leaving only debris of stones and the corpse of his third uncle.

Even though his third uncle face was smashed into a pool of blood, he could recognize his figure anywhere.

A little stocky and tall. Azief did not say anything, only offering condolence in his heart.

He then spread his divine sense again but he could not find any enemies near his vicinity or at least enemies that could hurt him.

Whatever that had attacked this place has flee to other places.

From the back of his third uncle house, he walk straight to his first uncle house but he did not have to enter to know that his first uncle is no more.

Why?

Because his first uncle house was flattened by something very big, leaving only a large foot print.

The footprint is almost square…and it reminds Azief of a Brontosaurus foot print. He cast out his divine sense again as a precaution but does not find anything other than the small beast nearby.

Confirming that his third uncle and first uncle are dead…his worries only grew.

He then dash from his first uncle house and in no time he is in the narrow path again, and climbing the hill with his greatest speed.

Looking down the hill his eyes that could see further than before, he determined that there is not giant beast nearby.

He jump down the hill and rushed forward.

The distance from the hill and his house is only 1 kilometers so with his speed he run like the wind, slicing the snakes, the wasp and the other small beast that tries to obstruct his way.

500 meters he mused as his feet keep running.

His stamina is declining but with his large supplies of vials, he quickly gulps a stamina potions and spirit potions.

As he run, he slashes. As he slashes, the beast scattered.

100 meters he mused and then seeing the small ditch in front of his house, his heart beats fast.

In front of his house there is a small ditch and then finally…he reached home.

The creaky, rusted gates, the stone wall that his father built a year ago, the green grass in front of the garage, the white orange mix color of his house, because of the flood a few years ago.

All of it was still the same….but for some reason, his heart could not calm down. It was silent, eerily silent.

He hopes that his family is safe. He hopes his family is at least well. He walked from the ditch and step by step he came closer to the gate.

Opening it, it creaks and in a village where this is no one, the creaking sound awfully loud. He steps forward again but he could not hear any sound.

Only the winds.

He did not dare cast out Divine sense, fearing of what he might discover…fearing that his family is all dead.

Closer and closer he came to the front door. The front door is still closed; there is no sign of blood anywhere, not in the front yard, not in the grass, nowhere…only silence.

Fear crept inside his heart.

An absolute silence that give birth to countless of horrible imagination inside Azief minds. He closes his eyes, and he chants again, calming down his nerve and he grab the knob and turn it to the right.

The door opens.

He hoped that he did not see anything that would make him regret. He hope…that his family had hidden themselves well.

But what greeted him ….was despair.

***