As Eli plunged his sword into the behemoth's back, it swayed and hissed in grief and anger, and the bursts of wind rushed Eli so hard that he almost fell off its back. But Eli's face showed no fear, and he could see the beast was at the end of its tether, and with one more vicious thrust of his sword, the beast collapsed with a loud thud.
But it did not die immediately; lying on its side and still struggling on all fours, Eli did not care about the throat, head and other traditional vitals; he fearlessly approached the big claws that were still kicking and rushed to the belly of the beast is a fierce stab, and then a horizontal force stroke---
The longsword with cold sword qi directly cut open the belly of the beast!
The red blood burst out, splashing everywhere, and even a drop splashed to the side of Eli's face, but Eli did not dodge far, only staring at the beast's abdomen, thinking about whether or not to come back to the sword, and from what place to start.
Finally, a puff of black smoke erupted from the bloody cleft!
Eli's heart sighed in relief.
The black smoke spewed out at a rapid pace, and bizarrely, the corpse of the giant beast also deflated rapidly, as if it had initially relied on this black fog to support its body. After the black fog came out, it jumped straight at Eli, who was stunned for a moment before he remembered to dodge, but the black fog had already swept past his body and left.
It also left a hot ... crystal on Eli's hand.
This is the rare energy crystals condensed in the behemoth's body; Eli initially wanted this thing. Eli looked at the thing in his hand that still carried the behemoth's body heat and then inclined his head to sweep a glance at the black fog that had re-coalesced. It was a circle bigger, and I suddenly felt like laughing.
And then he laughed out loud.
He laughed solidly for several moments as the black mist slowly circled and waited in place. When Eli had laughed enough, he gradually calmed down, pointed toward the giant beast, and rushed to the black mist, "What are you waiting for? I don't want the rest, and you eat it."
Only then did the black mist slowly cover the behemoth's corpse.
Eli didn't move away this time either and just watched it in action. He remembered the behemoth's strangely deflated stomach and asked, "You were in there; did you eat all of its insides?"
The black mist couldn't speak or answer, and Eli even suspected that it couldn't understand words that were too complex. After some thought, Eli added, "I wanted its bones."
After all, the fact that the Black Mist could leave the crystals whole for Eli meant that it was able to control the target of its devouring.
True enough, the black mist quickly finished eating up the giant beast's flesh and blood. Leaving behind a huge skeleton that lay there alone, it was visually both shocking and bizarre. When the black fog left the skeleton, the edge of the smoke swept past Eli's side. Eli didn't feel much, as if a fresh breeze was blowing on his face, but the blood on his face and hands all disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Eli looked at his hand, then at the longsword, which was still dripping blood, and slowly said, "There's still blood on the sword."
The black mist didn't move.
Eli added, "I'll collect my sword energy and not hurt you."
Only then did the black mist roll over, a swipe that easily washed away.
Eli smiled slightly and collected his sword, following up with, "I don't want the bones either; you eat them all."
The black mist swallowed the bones again, unresponsive to Eli's outburst.
Eli thought it was pretty stupid but also felt relieved. After this, the two sides became much closer. They no longer travelled one after another but walked side by side, cooperating to fight, take out the treasures, and clean up the scene. Eli also often spoke to the black mist, not necessarily a command, but sometimes a casual conversation. After a long time, the black mist seems to be able to distinguish between his depression and happiness. When Eli sits by the lake without saying anything for a long time, the black mist hovers beside him; when Eli is looking at the fire in the cave, the black mist is close to him or even wrapped around him in an attempt to give him some of the "warmth" as Eli calls it. Eli feels that it is becoming more and more spiritual, like a contracted animal that understands human nature, and like a friend. Eli thought it was becoming more and more spiritual, like a bonded animal with a human face, and like a friend. The black mist was much more comforting and reassuring to Eli than the various people he had experienced before.
It's just that sometimes when Eli talks alone for a long time, he wants a response. He didn't want to look for someone else either, and he just thought it would be nice if Black Mist could answer him. When he thought about it, he would reach out his hand and walk through the black mist, which he couldn't touch or grasp, and a handful of it only made him feel more empty.
"If only you were a person." Eli always sighed.
I don't know how long they spent together, but one day, while the black mist was still devouring a magical beast, Eli sensed another energy fluctuation not far away.
"You eat first, and I'll go check it out," Eli said, turning away. This was their regular mode of action; as long as that energy fluctuation wasn't tricky, the Black Mist would go to Eli when it was done eating, or Eli would come back to it after it was resolved; it was all the same.
However, this time, even though the object of the battle needed to be more decisive and Eli resolved it quickly, something went wrong.
A spatial rift suddenly ripped open around him.
Eli: !!!
This was something that Eli was not unfamiliar with, it was how he fell into this world. Moreover, in this brutal and danger-ridden world, space was not stable, and spatial cracks were not uncommon. Eli had previously planned to use the crack to leave this world with very few resources again, only to push this plan back again after encountering the black mist. Even if he wants to go, he has to arrange the black mist first, either to say goodbye to it correctly or ... to take it away.
But the plan couldn't catch up with the change; when the crack ripped open, the powerful suction force grabbed Eli. Eli was too close to it, even if he reacted quickly, the force had already swallowed him and many things around him into it in one hand at a rapid speed. The spatial rift would tear apart the vast majority of those things, and only someone as powerful as Eli would be able to preserve himself while travelling through the rift.
But Eli was taken anyway. These spatial rifts were random, and he didn't know how to get back or where precisely the world where the black mist was. He had felt nothing but regret, but on second thought, he assumed it was just a return to being alone and that it was no big deal. But as he travelled alone again on the long road, he only felt more and more nostalgic.
He wanted to talk, but there was no one to talk to, and talking to himself would make him feel like a madman. He wanted to give his trust, but there was no being that he could safely hand over his back to again. Even domesticated beasts gave him the feeling of "livestock", and he had no urge to talk to them.
Perhaps it wasn't that the other beings weren't good enough, but that the Black Mist had taken its place after Eli's encounter with the Black Mist. It was difficult for Eli, and he didn't have the patience to go through the process of cultivating trust again, as the Black Mist had already used up its only spot.
Eli found it somewhat amusing that he had voluntarily turned away from the world and people of his origin, wanting to go far away on his own. But now, surprisingly, he couldn't control himself from thinking about his already lost companion again.
However, even if Eli came to his senses, he couldn't go back to his partner.
He can only continue to drift from world to world to make himself more robust and faster through the gap in time and space. After arriving at the new world and not finding the Black Mist, he continued travelling. He became a great power in a thousand worlds, collected many treasures and "food" suitable for the black mist, but did not want to stay and dominate. He always felt that he would meet Black Mist again, and their destiny must not be over.
Until Eli came to this world of abundant resources and active human beings.
Most people here don't believe in miracles, and technology has allowed them to fulfil many of their wishes, and ordinary people can go to heaven and earth. Though they felt their group was chaotic, Eli thought it had been a very peaceful place. He had also been to many worlds with humans before, but now this place was the one that made him feel most at home with ordinary humans.
And he had just arrived here with a strong suspicion - he would meet the Black Mist here!
So he stayed, not killing and pillaging in this largely orderly world, not even showing himself much in front of ordinary people, just quietly skimming through city after city.
Finally, in one city one night, he sensed the Black Mist!
He quickly ran towards his target. Just when there was only about a kilometre left to go, he had already locked on to where the black mist was and detected another abnormal energy point approaching it!
The red moon, which was descending, and the blood light reflected on the glass walls of the building-
Eli drew his longsword and arrived in an instant!
Swish-!
The red moon was split in half; Eli landed in front of the black mist but found that everything had been very different.
The black mist ... turned into a human appearance?
***
"So I didn't reveal you immediately because you played the stranger with me."
Eli sighed softly, "I thought you had forgotten about me, or maybe you just did it on purpose. But then you didn't resist my proximity, so I figured it was okay for us to be friends again then."
Middendorffi said, "I want to give you a human friend."
"You are my friend, human or not." Eli took his hand and rubbed his fingers, "When I said 'I wish you were a human' before, I was trying to talk to you. I wanted to know what you thought of me and what you thought of me. I'm not looking for another human."
Middendorffi said, "Then I can talk to you now. Though, sometimes I may still not quite understand what you're trying to say."
"That's okay, I'll teach you slowly." Eli lost his smile, and he thought Middendorffi was just too cute. He used to find it quite attractive during the Black Mist period, but now, after being able to know his mental activities, he finds it even more adorable. He used to keep raising Black Mist, and now that he had continued to grow it in its human form, it was hard for Eli to articulate the feeling of pleasure in his heart.
Eli asked again, "How have you been since I left?"
"I searched for you for a long time and finally determined that you were no longer in that world." Middendorffi's tone was bashful, but the words came out so that Eli couldn't help but sigh again, "Then the rift appeared, and I remembered that you said that's how you got here, and I dove in."
Eli could guess these processes, but with Middendorffi saying it herself, Eli still couldn't help but feel the aftermath.
But Eli still asked, "Were you ... okay when you crossed the gap?"
Middendorffi thought momentarily, "It was worse the first time; I consumed a lot and chipped most of it. Just slightly stronger than when I first met you ..."
Eli is a little hard of hearing.
But he didn't stop Middendorffi from talking; he just pressed his hand to his forehead and slowly closed his eyes.