CHAPTER 636: 636

The cursed land was not only dangerous, it was wrong. Everything breathed of a corruption that had sunk deep into its roots, twisting life into mockery.

Still, the godlings pressed on. Their excitement had not faded, though it was now mingled with unease. They exchanged nervous grins, their hearts pounding with something they would not name as fear. For this was the adventure they had sought

The deeper they went, the worse the horrors became. They heard it first before they saw it, an animal’s roar that split the swampy silence. Yet it was not the roar of any beast they knew. It was jagged, broken, warped into something that sounded chillingly like a person screaming in raw agony. The sound echoed through the mist, bouncing off the crooked trees until it was impossible to tell where it had come from.

Their ears twitched, eyes scanned, but nothing emerged. The silence that followed was almost worse than the scream.

But the scream was not the true enemy here. The longer they lingered, the more they felt the mist gnaw at their thoughts. It pressed against their minds like icy fingers, whispering doubts, twisting memories, making shadows seem alive. Their training and sheer willpower as Fifth Stage godlings kept them steady, but it came at a cost.

Each step forward demanded mana to keep the corruption at bay, to shield themselves from the mist’s insidious grasp. It was effective, but costly. They were burning through reserves at an alarming rate. And unlike the open world, where mana flowed freely from the atmosphere, here the air was poisoned. The ambient energy was saturated with corruption, impossible to absorb without letting the rot seep into their own bodies.

They all felt it, the slow drain, the knowledge that their strength was not infinite. This land would wear them down, piece by piece, until even the greatest of them were nothing more than prey.

"I propose we mark our current position," one of the werewolf godlings growled, his voice low but steady, his amber eyes cutting through the mist. "Trace it back once we’ve refilled our mana. With our speed, we’ll be back in a blink. Better to return here sharp and strong than waste ourselves stumbling deeper while drained."

The others hesitated, some bristling at the suggestion. To retreat, even temporarily, felt like weakness. Yet the logic was sound. Already some of them could feel the strain creeping into their movements, the way their mental shields trembled ever so slightly against the pressure of the mist.

The apelings exchanged glances, one of them muttering, "This land doesn’t fight us with claws or fangs, it wants to grind us down. Every step is part of its trap."

The Mermen warriors dipped their tridents in the murky water, leaving faint glowing sigils to mark the place, their way of agreeing silently. The Harpies, restless and sharp-eyed, scanned the skies above, though the bloated birds circling made even the sky feel unsafe.

For a brief moment, silence settled again as they considered their options. The cursed land was vast, endless. If they pressed forward now, it might swallow them whole. If they turned back, they risked losing precious time.

But then, faintly through the mist, they heard it again. The scream-roar. Closer this time.

And moving.

The second scream tore through the swamp, rattling the vines above and shaking the foul water at their feet. This time, it did not echo from afar, it was close. Too close.

The mists ahead parted just enough to reveal a hulking shadow lurching toward them. At first glance, it looked like a great stag, its antlers splitting the air like jagged black trees. But then the details bled through: its body was bloated, its fur patchy, and its legs bent at angles that no natural beast should endure. Where its eyes should have been were hollow sockets, from which the scream pouredout, an endless cry of torment that scraped against their skulls.

Before they could brace, another shape burst from the swamp behind them. This one slithered and skittered all at once, a serpent’s long body riddled with snapping insectoid jaws along its length, dozens of them gnashing independently, each scream harmonizing with the stag’s cry in a chorus of agony. Its tail ended in a grotesque human hand, bloated and twitching, grasping at the mud as though it were drowning on land.

The godlings fell into formation instantly. Excitement still burned in their eyes, but now it was sharpened by the taste of true danger.

The werewolf who had spoken earlier let out a low growl, claws extending with a metallic scrape. "Finally," he muttered.

The Harpies fanned their wings, flames appearing in their hands , circling high to keep the creatures surrounded. The Mermen raised their tridents, water from the swamp swirling unnaturally around them, glowing faintly blue as they forced corrupted liquid to bend to their will. The apelings crouched low, muscles coiled, their control of elements gathering like a storm about to break.

The stag-abomination lowered its twisted antlers, the mist curling tighter around it, and charged forward, its scream shaking the forest. At the same time, the serpent-insect lunged from the rear, its countless mouths gnashing, the human hand at its tail clawing desperately for purchase.

The stag-abomination lunged first, its malformed legs propelling it forward in lurching bursts. Each step sank deep into the swamp, but instead of slowing, it seemed to glide unnaturally, carried by the mist itself. The hollow sockets of its eyes released another ear-splitting scream, this one so sharp that the vines overhead quivered violently, showering the swamp with black sap.

The werewolves met its charge head-on. With a thunderous growl, two of them shifted fully into their hybrid forms, their bodies swelling with muscle and fur, claws gleaming like steel. They slammed into the beast’s side, raking deep gouges across its bloated hide. Black ichor spurted, sizzling on the wet ground. Yet instead of weakening, the stag bucked wildly, flinging one werewolf across the trees. The impact splintered bark, but the godling rose instantly, with excitemnet in his eyes.

Behind them, the serpent-insect abomination surged forward, its dozens of mouths snapping in mad unison. The apelings leapt to intercept, their movements blurring with wind-augmented speed. One flicked his wrist, and blades of compressed air sliced across the serpent’s flanks, severing several of the snapping maws. They dropped into the swamp, twitching grotesquely like severed worms. But to their horror, the wounds did not bleed, fresh mouths began to bubble out of the stumps, gnashing hungrily.

"Keep cutting and it multiplies!" one apeling barked, vaulting onto a tree branch to reposition.

The Harpies descended next, their wings carving the mist as they dove. Armed with gleaming spears, they struck at the stag’s skull, stabbing for its hollow sockets. One Harpy drove her weapon deep into the creature’s empty eye, but instead of piercing brain matter, the spear struck a pocket of mist inside its body. A violent shockwave burst forth, flinging her back midair, her wings straining to right herself before she could hit the swamp.

The Mermen focused their efforts on the serpent. Thrusting their tridents into the muck, they drew up streams of swamp water, forcing it into serpentine whips. The corrupted liquid resisted their will, twisting like a wild animal, but their mastery bent it enough to lash around the abomination’s body. With a collective heave, they pinned its slithering form in place, its human-hand tail thrashing madly.

"Now!" one of them roared.

An apeling answered. Leaping high, he spun in midair, a cyclone of flames forming around him, at the same time he was blessed by a wind spell from another apeling. With a deafening crash, he unleashed it on the restrained serpent, shredding and burning half its length into chunks. The swamp erupted with pieces of twitching flesh and wriggling maws.

But even as the godlings celebrated the strike, the mist thickened unnaturally, seeping into the torn pieces. Each severed chunk convulsed, sprouting legs, teeth, or malformed wings. The battlefield multiplied with smaller abominations, writhing forward in a swarm.

At the same time, the stag let out another scream. This one was different, lower, drawn out.

The swamp reacted. The black water began to boil, bubbles of corruption rising and bursting, releasing tendrils of vapor that slithered toward the godlings’ feet.

One of the werewolves snarled, claws dripping with ichor, as the ground beneath him writhed like flesh. "The land fights with them, this whole place is alive!"

The swamp shook as the stag-abomination lowered its crooked head for another charge. This time, the werewolves met it not with claws alone but with the power of their bloodlines. One of them raised his arms to the sky, and above the mist, faint starlight pierced through. It gathered around him, coalescing into burning orbs that drifted like constellations made flesh. With a roar, he hurled them forward. Each star-strike exploded on impact, tearing holes through the stag’s rotten hide, burning away its corruption with pure celestial fire. The beast howled, the scream twisting between animalistic rage and human-like agony.