Yuan Tianzhu turned his gaze in the direction of the sound. The strange noises echoed sharply, slicing through the murky, heavy air of the Black Forest. He could see the dead trees moving in an erratic, eerie way, sending chills through his body as he witnessed it. The stench of gore and decay quickly rose into his nostrils, and his stomach churned with disgust.
Zezezezeze!
The sound seemed to get closer and closer. Yuan Tianzhu's heart pounded, his lips were dry, and beads of sweat dripped from his pale face.
"Now's not the time to be scared! Grab your weapons! If we don't fight, none of us will survive."
While the others remained lost in their stupor, the middle-aged man had already picked up a black weapon. It was etched with strange purple runes that cast a faint glow in the dark, shadowed forest.
Hearing the middle-aged man's voice, the others snapped out of their despair; their once-hopeless eyes now had a fierce and determined gleam.
They immediately took weapons from their bloodied bags. The young woman was holding a spear, the child; a short sword, the ragged old man, a sickle.
"Catch!" At that moment, the middle-aged man tossed a sword to Yuan Tianzhu.
He extended his hand and caught it. As soon as the sword was in his grip, a chill run through it. The blade was smooth like jade and as cold as winter.
"They're coming."
Zezezezezezzeze!
The middle-aged man's expression turned grave. The ragged old man, the child, and the young woman looked toward the source of the sound, and their faces fell. Their bodies trembled slightly, but they ignored it—they couldn't afford to succumb to fear.
The ragged old man looked lovingly at his grandson, his green eyes filled with a sinister glow. But none noticed.
Zezezezezeze!
Finally, Yuan Tianzhu could see the cause of all this drama. His pupils shrank to pinpoints and his face went pale.
"Oh my god. This must be a joke…"
It was a storm of monsters soaring over the Black Forest. They were pale like snowflakes, transparent like ghostly beings trapped in a haunted house. Their ghostly bodies were covered in black blood that dripped all over them. The most striking aspect was the stench of decay; it resembled a collection of decomposing corpses stitched together.
The smell was terrible and humanly unbearable. Just inhaling that odor made Yuan Tianzhu's lungs constrict, and his nostrils shrivel.
They all had red eyes, with lines of black blood flowing like rivers from hell. Their mouths were monstrously wide, with yellowed, rotten teeth sharp as knives, emitting a putrid smell made waves around them.
Zezezezezezeze!
Their bodies soared through the darkness of the Black Forest, while strange and bizarre sounds whistled through the air.
Just hearing it made his body feel cold rapidly, and he shuddered.
'Fuck. Why the hell does everything in this place smell so bad?!'
Yuan Tianzhu grimaced, his face darkening. The grip on his sword becoming stronger.
As soon as he finished that thought, the Abyss Wraiths lunged swiftly toward him and the others. Their bodies moved like the wind, and in the blink of an eye, they were already very close.
"Don't look into their eyes!" the middle-aged man hurled as he furiously slashed at a nearby Abyss Wraith with his sword.
However….
It was too late.
Yuan Tianzhu's gaze was already locked with an Abyss Wraith. Those red eyes looked like a nightmare, announcing his death.
His body began to quiver uncontrollably. Before he realized it, his vision blurred, and in the next moment, it darkened. His bodily senses fading away as he felt being transported into a new world…..
Bang!
In an extremely sinister place, where little light shone upon, one could see a large red altar made of bones of varying sizes. The floor was red, resembling a sea of blood, with several bones submerged in it. The stench of blood and decay lingered heavily in the air.
At that moment, a figure could be seen sitting on a throne atop the altar, legs crossed, clad in a red and black robe adorned with exquisite details, seemingly crafted from the most valuable fabric in the world.
He had long black hair that cascaded down his back like waves of a sea, and his charming yet threatening red eyes sparkled ominously. His face bore a smile that eagerly awaited the chaos of the world.
"Kekeke. Yuan Tianzhu, you're such weakling. How delightful was seeing you get knocked out so easily. Hahahaha—pathetic! Hey, little worm. Since you managed to crawl this far, how about you join me in killing everyone outside? Doesn't that sound cool? Hehe, speak up! Are you timid? why aren't you answering? Are you deaf or just too frightened to respond?"
Whoosh!
Mo Xie Zhe instantly vanished from his throne and appeared before the Abyss Wraith, grabbing it with his right hand.
"Huh? Disgusting." Mo Xie Zhe frowned as he waved his right hand in disgust.
The Abyss Wraith stood there like a pet dog, its red eyes losing the color they once had. Its murderous intent faded away like a birthday candle being snuffed out—quickly and without delay. However, upon closer inspection, one could see its ghostly body trembling slightly.
Mo Xie Zhe looked at the Abyss Wraith with red eyes that resembled the devil in human form, a monstrous smile spreading across his face, almost reaching his cheeks.
The world trembled as a wave of the blood sea rose waiting to shallow everything in its path.
However, that smile disappeared when he realized the Abyss Wraith had already vanished.
"Tsk. Waste of time."
Gasp!
Yuan Tianzhu snapped out of his stupor, his breathing labored as a sea of sweat dripped from his pale face.
'What happened? Where's the monster?' He wondered internally.
He couldn't remember what had happened after he locked eyes with the Abyss Wraith. Looking down, he could see he was still in the Black Forest. His body trembled slightly as he took deep breaths of fresh air.
"What are you doing, you idiot?!" The ragged old man dodged an Abyss Wraith's sharp, rotten claws while glancing at Yuan Tianzhu out of the corner of his bloodied eye.
Hearing the ragged old man's voice, Yuan Tianzhu immediately became aware of his surroundings. He straightened up, his back tense. Crap! How can I forget we're being attacked by monsters?!
Zezezezeze!
At that moment, a bizarre noise filled his ears as the air whistled. Suddenly, a flash appeared in his field of vision.
"Damn!"
Yuan Tianzhu blinked furiously, the hair on his body standing on end. He could smell death closing in, filling his nostrils. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, yet the stench of death kept intensifying.
At the last moment, he pushed his body to its limit, his strength focused in his lower body as he narrowly dodged the attack. He rolled a few meters before recovering and standing up.
"Huff, huff," uncontrolled gasps escaped his mouth. Yuan Tianzhu suddenly felt a warm liquid trickling down his cheek. He touched his left cheek and, turning his hand over, saw it was smeared with blood.
Even dodging at the last moment, I still got hit…. Just as I expected. He had never been trained; he wasn't a professional fighter either. He was simply trying his best to survive this nightmarish situation.
Swoosh!
While he was lost in thought, an Abyss Wraith stretched its sharp claws and pounced at him.
It's too close— I won't be able to dodge... If that's the case, then...!
Yuan Tianzhu's eyes glinted with a cold light. He immediately twisted his body slightly to the left.
Puch!
Blood squirted through the air as excruciating pain shot through his body, his senses heightened to the pain. He immediately bit his tongue. He couldn't allow himself to be overtaken by it. If he did. It would be over. He didn't wanted to die. Not now.
Gripping his sword trembling, Yuan Tianzhu swinged with all his might.
Slash!
The blade sliced through the Abyss Wraith, cutting it in half as black, putrid blood sprayed into the air, some even fell onto him.
A foul stench instantly filled the area, and Yuan Tianzhu frowned. Despite having smelled it many times, he never got used to it.
He quickly looked around and saw that the others were still fighting.
The middle-aged man was holding his own fighting several Abyss Wraiths, but the same couldn't be said for the ragged old man. He had already lost his left arm, exposing his aged bones as blood spurted out, splattering the ground while he swayed his remaining arm furiously. The child—his grandson—was behind him, supporting him from the back.
Despite being just a child, he was fiercely brandishing his small sword.
The young woman had lost her right eye completely, her whole face covered in blood. Strangely, her eye wasn't closed, revealing the raw, red tissues pulsing slightly as blood poured out. But her spear never stopped flowing, tearing apart multiple Abyss Wraiths.
Yuan Tianzhu didn't know how long he had been fighting, swinging his sword; all he knew was that they had to fight desperately, like madmen. His arms had begun to ache, feeling heavy as a numbness set in. His breathing was labored as he continued to unleash his sword.
They had no hope. And that's why they had to fight, because in moments of despair like this, hope was born.
After a long stretch of fighting, Yuan Tianzhu noticed the bizarre sounds of the Abyss Wraiths had stopped.
Bang!
He dropped his sword, drained, onto the cold blackened ground of the Black Forest, which had grown even darker with the blood of the Abyss Wraiths, the stench of rot filling the air as if it were oxygen. Yuan Tianzhu took two deep breaths, grimacing.
He glanced at the others and saw they, too, had stopped fighting. They were all sprawled on the ground, utterly exhausted, struggling to breathe.
"Huff... Fi... finally, it's over…." the middle-aged man looked up at the dark sky above the Black Forest, feeling utterly drained. His red eyes and trembling body were smeared with black.
The young woman and the others didn't respond; they had no strength left, especially the child, whose chin was shockingly torn, blood still dripping from it—a grotesque sight. His face was ghostly pale, beads of sweat rolling down to his injuries making him grimace and shriek in pain.
Zezezezeze!
Suddenly, a high-pitched sound echoed above.
Yuan Tianzhu felt chills run through his body, his heart pounding furiously as if it wanted to escape from his chest.
The sound was like trumpets announcing the end of the world, sending shivers down anyone who heard it.
"Arghhhhh! Grand—!"
Instantly, a shriek like that of a pig being slaughtered filled Yuan Tianzhu's ears.
He immediately turned and saw the ragged old man shoving his grandson toward a humongous blood-stained mouth.
Filled with large, sharp, rotten teeth, of a strange black creature that seemed one with the perpetual darkness of the Black Forest.