Beyond the Apocalypse
Chapter 117: Demonic contamination

Chapter 117: Demonic contamination

Vlad flashed to the left for exactly seventeen meters, avoiding the explosion of the lightning eagle. The electric discharge did reach him, but that was not a problem for someone like him with a Thunder Lord Bloodline. Immediately, he waved his sword to the right, cutting in half the head of a mutated wolf that was trying to bite his leg.

A fierce smile full of bloodlust appeared on Vlad’s face as he killed the mutated wolf. He usually kept absolute focus on all his battles as he could not allow emotional distractions. Yet, things were different now that he had the A.I. Chip, allowing his mind to truly relish in the spectrum of emotions during the fight—something very beneficial for his future evolution as a Depravita.

Less than a second after cutting that mutated wolf in two, Vlad did a somersault, dodging the attack from another beast and avoiding the explosion of a lightning eagle before landing on the head of a third monster, blasting its skull open.

Freya’s battle style was no less ferocious than the young man’s, her mace blasting any of the mutated wolves that got near her, with her shield blocking the strikes she could not avoid, and blasts of ice around her helping with crowd control.

The two warriors and two spellcasters unleashed extremely powerful attacks, each butchering the packs of mutated wolves at such a speed that the battle was over in less than ten minutes. Vlad and Freya couldn’t help but breathe raggedly as the battle had truly exhausted them, but both showed fierce smiles as dozens of mutated carcasses lay around them.

In the end, the group killed over 90 mutated wolves, possibly all the beasts in the area, decimated the forest around them, their most potent attacks blasting the trees around them.

"There are no enemies in the vicinity. We have advanced a lot already, and this battle has left us exhausted, so we should rest and eat before carrying on," Vlad used the A.I. Chip to scan the surroundings, and after making sure there were no life forms present, he spoke to the group.

Freya nodded to the young man as she agreed with his words. She detected nothing either, and it was better to rest if the threats they would face ahead were just as significant as this pack of mutated beasts.

Usually, they would divide the carcasses at this point, but neither Vlad nor Freya had any interest in them. The mutated beasts were riddled with tumors and rotten flesh, not apt for consumption, and all the inner organs were too malformed to be of any use.

Freya just pushed them to the side into a pile, and Grey Hawk began to freeze. Vlad, on the other hand, began to analyze them. Now that he had time, he wanted to figure out the key behind their mutations.

The A.I. Chip began to thoroughly analyze every corpse and its surroundings, analyzing the data to give the best possible explanation for the alterations to the mutated monsters.

[Beep! The changes in the monsters’ physical form and energy are due to a constant stream of demonic blood and chaotic energy introduced into their environment.

The monsters’ natural ability to integrate energy into their flesh adapted to the demonic energy in the surroundings, leading to their mutation and enhancement. The process was accelerated by the lightning energy in the environment.

...

No contamination sources have been detected on the way up. The most likely source is on the upper side of the mountain!

The Host is advised of the dangers as the monsters and fauna ahead will have suffered from more significant demonic energy contamination.]

Vlad could not help but frown as he heard the news. Something in the upper section of the mountain was contaminating the environment, generating demonic mutations in the flora and fauna.

Although he had no idea of the origin of the contamination, he could not allow it to continue, as it was only a matter of time before the mutations spread beyond the mountain.

’I guess I have a new reason to reach the mountain peak.’ A cold light appeared in Vlad’s eyes as he focused on the mountain peak, ready to destroy whatever might lie there.

The young man did not waste much time with those thoughts, as there was still a long way to go to the peak. He and Jormungandr began to gather their side of the corpses into a pile before using the Runic Set to generate a blast of fire and set them ablaze.

Once all the corpses were taken care of, Vlad made the cauldron appear, and the group began to feast. It was a truly surreal scene to see a young man and woman, accompanied by a small yellow cat and a sturdy old man, eating a stew next to two piles of mutated monsters, one frozen and the other set on fire.

Yet, Vlad knew these types of scenes would become more common and even more bizarre as he grew in power and began to face even more powerful enemies and adversities in dangerous terrains.

Of course, the young man did not care about those things right now and was simply enjoying his meal and the company.

----

After finishing their meal and resting for a few hours, ensuring their bodies and energy pools were in peak condition, the group began to march through the dark forest that covered the base of the mountains.

Vlad and Freya’s eyes were sharp as they advanced through the area, their gazes growing somber as they saw how the more they advanced, the more twisted the trees and flora became.

The group could not help but feel a dangerous atmosphere around them as they moved through the area, seeing broken corpses and skeletons all around. Yet no matter how hard they looked around, there was nothing but trees and branches in their sight, no sign of the responsible party for this butchery.