PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

In an unknown location in the forest where Sasha and Desmond were, there was a sinister-looking cave, the rock around it was a black color with a sickly dark green tint and strange red marks like pulsating veins extended from its interior. ; To add even more intensity to the macabre aura inside the cave, a dark miasma constantly emanated.

If someone were here long enough it was unknown what this miasma could do to said individual, but one thing was for sure; if said individual were close enough to the cave he could hear the following: ¨ Araszh enick orizae ¨ over and over again as if it were a sinister mantra.

Strangely the cave was not as deserted as one might think, from time to time people walked in and out of it. . . well, that’s assuming these corrupt and necrotic beings could still be considered people.

The vast majority of the beings that entered or left the cave were the so-called zombies that Desmond had been killing all this time, looking at the amount here present and the amount that had perished at the hands of the young hunter one could imagine that the missing persons of the neighboring city were not few, of course, the same applied to any wandering traveler or adventurer who crossed the area; after all, this forest is quite rich in magical resources that tend to attract these types of people.

Someone might wonder why no one had done anything about it, well this was not like in the movies where the authorities waited until the protagonist finished his mission to appear, actually the city of Garvent that adjoined the forest had sent a small squad of soldiers to investigate. . . but only one of them returned alive.

When they tried to ask him what he had been through, he was just repeating the same thing over and over again.

′′ Corrupt creatures. . . we didn’t have a chance. . . all dead. ′′

But the Garvent leaders were not to blame for not knowing the source of this malevolence that infected the forest and the dangerous creatures that this source engendered, in fact, they were not the only ones; Desmond and Sasha were also unaware of the exact nature of this phenomenon.

.....

Unknown to all of them in that cave was giving birth. . . no, an ancient plague that had plagued these lands centuries ago was being reborn and grew stronger with each passing day, at first only small animal creatures that did not even reach zero-star class had been infected by the miasma, but due to their scarcity of vitality, these did not become corrupted creatures and simply died with their vitality drained.

But soon the first human-made his way to the cave by chance, an ignorant person who, upon seeing the necrotic energy that came out of it, believed that he had found a treasure. . . This is how the first zombie arose, but it was far from being the last, as the corruption of the cave spread, more and more people began to be affected; some for venturing too far into the miasma without the strength to resist it, and others were drawn into it by the corrupted humans who were now under the control of whatever entity was deep within that cave.

Those who had a certain amount of strength and experience in the use of mana, fought but were soon overwhelmed by the number of enemies and succumbed one after another, but left behind stronger corrupted creatures, due to their bodies more akin to mana these were able to withstand more of the necrotic and corrupting energy that originated all this; Proof of this is that one of these “extra strong zombies” as Desmond called them, had managed to withstand a full-blown shot from his bow without succumbing in a bloody explosion.

But this was only the tip of the iceberg, after all in this forest there were many creatures with physiques much more powerful and related to mana than that of human beings; soon these small armies of zombies began to hunt these creatures.

At first, they lost more than half their numbers to hunt down their first magical beast, but once it was dragged back to the cave and reanimated, this being turned into a bloody killing machine that contributed tirelessly to the plans of the cave entity.

Over time more and more magical creatures were dragged into the cave and corrupted, some even going through the process in life and their roars of agony echoed throughout the forest to be heard by anyone.

Soon led by the first necrotic beast, these beasts were hunting in packs throughout the forest looking for larger and more powerful beasts to add to their ranks and it seemed that their search had been fruitful today, due to the corruption that was spreading throughout. The forest the vast majority of the beasts in it had escaped thus leaving the infected area, due to their bizarre and supernatural nature the corrupted beasts could not leave that area of ??the forest so it had become difficult to capture more creatures to corrupt. . . but there were always exceptions and in front of this herd of bloodthirsty beasts, there was an exception.

A giant snake was currently feeding in the small mountainous area where corruption was spreading, strangely this snake did not feed on any type of meat or plant, it was actually swallowing what appeared to rock with an obvious mineral sheen on them which appeared to have been excavated by the snake itself.

The snake in question was about 15 meters long with its body extended and its body was at least 3 meters thick, it was completely covered with dark gray scales that gave off an obvious metallic shine that betrayed its extreme hardness, the huge head The snake had two pairs of fangs that gave off a terrifying metallic shine that Desmond would recognize very well if he were here, it was the color of something being strongly reinforced by metallic-type mana; The last striking feature of the snake is that at the base of its skull it had a strange formation of elongated scales that protruded outwards as if they were a strange, dangerous-looking mane.

The imposing serpent was still feeding without a care in the world and who could blame it, even the idiot tiger that Desmond fought would think twice about fighting this serpent; unfortunately for her, the corrupt beasts that stalked her cared little for her imposing appearance.

So without thinking twice they pounced on the huge snake and thus without any warning or warning a fight began between one of the most powerful predators of the forest and the necrotic servants of a long-forgotten entity.