CHAPTER 34: AFFINITY

Zephyr was etching spells into his core when he heard the sound of something moving beside his house.

This woke him out of his meditation.

He stood perfectly still, focusing on the sound.

The noise of someone or something stepping on leaves came to him.

From the direction of the noise, he deduced it was from the front of the house, near the side of the garden.

’What is it?’ He wondered silently.

Slowly, he stood from the chair and leaned closer to the window. It was nighttime and still foggy. He won’t be able to see anything. So, he concentrated on the sound.

Through the closed window, he heard the sound again.

’Whatever it is...it doesn’t want to hide.’

It was strolling forward, making loud noises.

’A person?’

’No, it can’t be. No one from the village will walk into the fog.’

After thinking that, Zephyr paused and shook his head.

’Perhaps it is the villagers. They are stupid and are willing to do stupid things. They could have been converted into the necromancers’ minions. They might be looking for me.’

Zephyr moved his head away from the window.

From the periodic noise of leaves, he concluded it was just a single person walking.

Everything outside the house was covered in thick fog. Even if he opened the window to take a look, he wouldn’t see a thing. So, Zephyr didn’t even bother.

Instead, he walked to the front door and waited. His right hand clutched the machete, and his left hand activated a spell.

Immediately, a small ball of mana condensed on his left hand.

"Crunch Crunch..."

The noise continued to flow into his ear.

Zephyr took in a deep breath and waited.

Any second now, it would reach his house.

"Gr—thud."

Suddenly, the noise stopped. There was no sound of footsteps or anything else.

It abruptly stopped.

Zephyr tightened the grip on the machete.

—

A few minutes ago, the dark fog around the village swept inwards. It swallowed everything and anything within the area.

Then it condensed into hundreds of tiny dark worms before drilling into the bodies of the villagers.

The first to fall to the dark worms were the weak-minded: they instantly surrendered to the invading worm, becoming silent, mindless puppets.

The larger group, the majority of the villagers, lost control, succumbing to madness before finally passing out on the ground.

And the remaining few fought back, struggling in a desperate, internal war to resist the dark worm’s grip.

Jack was one of those who resisted the worm’s mental attack. He struggled fiercely as the worm tried to take over his body and mind.

And as he struggled, he felt his body burn in pain. The pain was horrendous; it was akin to him being flayed alive and dipped in the ocean.

He thrashed his legs around, breaking the wooden chair and table nearby.

His breathing became frantic as an uncontrollable urge to rip everything around him to shred flowed into his mind.

Suddenly, when he was on the brink of collapse, he felt a torrent of cool energy flow over his body.

The energy was crystal clear and familiar.

It rejuvenated his mind, filling him with hope.

’No, I won’t.’ He shouted, then clenched his jaw.

As if responding to his calling, the cool energy that surrounded him flowed into his body. First, it moved through his limbs. Then it reached his internal organs before focusing on his heart.

"Thump."

"Thump."

Jack heard his heart thump in excitement.

Something he had only heard in stories was happening to his body. He, through the struggle against the mana worm, awakened his mana heart.

Now, he could be called a warrior.

However, his excitement died down just as quickly as it had come. Though he awakened the mana heart, his body struggled to expel the dark mana that drilled into it.

He rolled on the ground in pain, struggling to control the mana and expel the worm.

Still, he continued to fight against the invader without stopping.

Finally, after a while, he pushed out the worm and stood up.

Though jolts of pain travelled through his body, his concern for the village made him stand up.

However, when he went out of his home to look around, he was met with an empty village. Everyone seemed to have disappeared while he was debilitated.

’Gone. They are gone...my family.’

Jack fell to his knees.

"Grrr..."

Simultaneously, a growl came from behind.

By the time Jack turned around, he saw a ghoul made from the body of the fourth messenger lunge at him.

Watching it fly towards him through the air, boundless anger surged in his mind.

"DAMNED NECROMANCER." He shouted and swung his fist.

"THUMP."

"Crack."

With a hollow cracking noise, the ghoul was struck on its chest. Thrown back by the tremendous force, it crashed against a hut nearby, collapsing the wall.

Spitting dark blood, the ghoul tried to stand up. But unfortunately, its spine was bent back, its chest caved in.

Even though it struggled, it couldn’t stand up.

The injury was too much, even for a ghoul to handle. Without taking some time to heal, it won’t be able to stand up again.

However, from the looks of it, the ghoul was not going to get any time.

With fire burning in his eyes, Jack jumped to his feet and dashed towards the fallen ghoul.

He was going to rip it in half to quench his anger.

—

Later that day, Zephyr waited near the door to meet the unwelcome visitor.

When the footsteps disappeared, he panicked for a second, but still gathered mana, preparing to cast a spell.

Then he waited.

It didn’t take long for him to finally sense something move just outside the door.

The person or whatever the thing was stopped outside the door and knocked.

"Tuk."

"Tuk."

"Is Zephyr inside?"

A voice of a man asked from the other side.

For a moment, Zephyr was confused. He was expecting a fierce battle, but the unknown voice was asking if he was inside.

Why?

If someone was here to kill him, they wouldn’t do that, right?

So, why?

As his thoughts blazed through his mind, he remembered the kidnapping incident of the original Zephyr.

’Was he the kidnapper? Someone from the evil organisation. Someone working for the necromancer?’ He wondered and tightened his grasp on the machete.

"Zephyr, I know you are inside. You won’t be able to fool me." With a sudden shift in tone, the man said.

"If you are not willing to come outside, I will welcome myself in...with or without your consent."

’Yep. Not an ally. So, this can’t be considered friendly fire.’

Zephyr muttered and kicked open the door. Immediately, he threw the spell he had formed on his hand.

–

[Zephyr]

[Elemental affinity - Element of surprise 100%]

’Surprise, mother, father.’