Chapter 338: Everyone's Mad?

The next morning.

Morning light filtered through the crimson clouds, enveloping the entire camp in a dark, oppressive, rust-colored hue.

After resting for the night, Ansu's mental state was much more refreshed.

Capitalizing on his morning clarity, he did not delay. Before starting the simulation, he drafted the final roster of personnel to continue south.

The team heading deep into the core of the contaminated zone had to be streamlined. Aside from himself and Celia, Radish, who was the most resistant to corruption, naturally had to be by his side. Altina and Vera were also included.

In addition, the demon hunter couple, Danielle and her husband, who had fought magic pollution for years, along with the three elders—Matthew, Kurt, and Ariel—joined them as well.

The rear was left in the hands of Elder Barnes, while the battle mage regiment retreated to the edge of the contaminated zone to wait in place.

With all arrangements in order, Ansu returned to his tent alone and sat on the edge of his cot.

Then, he slowly closed his eyes.

【The following times can be simulated】

【In 10 minutes (October 8, 8:12 AM), consumes 10 points】

【In 10 hours (October 8, 6:02 PM), consumes 50 points】

【In 100 hours (October 12, 12:02 PM), consumes 100 points】

【Remaining points: 315】

Ansu needed a thorough simulation and deduction, so he chose 【Simulate 100 hours】 without the slightest hesitation.

【Future: 100 hours later】

【Starting simulation...】

Darkness flooded his vision like a rising tide.

When he opened his eyes again, Ansu found himself leading Radish, walking across a completely unrecognizable, dark-red wasteland.

The sky overhead was an eerie shade of red, and a faint crimson mist drifted through the air. Every breath felt like swallowing something sticky and greasy. He felt as though he were soaked in a giant pool of blood, his entire body crawling with a lingering scent of blood and a deep chill.

Subconsciously looking around, he noticed the size of the team had significantly shrunk.

None of the other horses that were supposed to accompany them were there; only Radish remained by his side, its ears twitching uneasily.

Ansu did a quick head count. Two members of the team were missing—Elders Kurt and Ariel were nowhere to be seen.

The remaining people walked with hurried steps, as if they were rushing to a destination, or perhaps fleeing from something. The entire group was dead silent, with only the sounds of footsteps and the wind whistling in their ears.

At the same time, a faint discomfort radiated from his body.

Ansu raised his wrist and pulled back his sleeve. A distinct stinging and swelling sensation surged from deep beneath his skin.

His veins bulged hideously, and fine capillaries twisted and tangled together, forming a blurry, bizarre, blood-red pattern on the inside of his wrist.

Looking closely, it looked remarkably like an eye. The pupil seemed to stare back at him, silently and eerily.

What is this?

Suppressing the chill rising in his chest, Ansu pulled his sleeve back down and looked up into the distance.

Not far away was a slightly elevated dirt slope, offering a relatively open field of vision.

“Let's rest here for a moment,” he said, his voice much hoarser and drier than usual.

The sound of soft footsteps came from his side as Celia walked over to him.

“Are you feeling unwell again?”

Her eyes had turned completely dark red, a restless, anxious emotion swirling in their depths.

“Yeah, a little,” Ansu replied, while closely observing her condition.

Celia was in terrible shape. Filthy mana surged around her body. Those dark-red eyes of hers would occasionally glaze over in a hollow stare, only to suddenly turn sharp and gloomy the next second, as if she were in a constant tug-of-war with some non-existent will.

Although this was similar to her previous blackened states, the current Celia gave Ansu a subtly more dangerous feeling...

This is bad...

The team silently stopped on the slope to rest, giving Ansu a chance to open his 《Future Diary》.

The entries for the first two days were relatively brief.

【The deeper we go south, the worse the situation gets. All the towns and villages we passed along the way are entirely shrouded by the Crimson Plague. Severely monsterized infected are visible everywhere.】

【The noble lords of various regions have abandoned their territories, retreating north with their fortunes and private armies, or fleeing further south to the Kingdom of Lenaya, leaving the people of the South to fend for themselves.】

As fragments of memory flooded his mind, Ansu saw shocking scene after scene.

Mountains of rotting corpses, distorted figures wandering through ruins, lakes dyed red with blood...

A mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

An apocalyptic world being swallowed by madness and destruction.

By the third day, the team's situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

【Elders Kurt and Ariel simultaneously suffered severe mana backlash. Hallucinations completely took over their consciousness. They began talking to non-existent 'people,' uttering crazed, chaotic gibberish, and became highly aggressive.】

【The two elders completely lost control, repeatedly attacking their traveling companions.】

【Celia had no choice but to kill both elders.】

【On the same day, all the horses in the team turned into frenzied monsters overnight. Only Radish remained unharmed.】

【The conditions of the others continue to deteriorate. Their emotions are becoming extreme, and they are also experiencing hallucinations.】

Many conflicts that occurred not long ago flashed through Ansu's mind. Danielle and her husband had been bickering the entire way, acting like a couple of bitter rivals who wanted nothing more than to kill each other...

Vera's eyes were completely bloodshot, making her look like a blackened little vengeful spirit. Fortunately, her combat ability was relatively weak, so she posed little threat even if her mana plague flared up...

After he warned her one last time that he would teleport her back if she threw another fit, Vera finally behaved herself a bit.

Throughout the entire third day, the only ones in the team who remained relatively stable were himself, Celia, Radish, and Altina.

Ansu looked suspiciously at 'Altina-Crow' patrolling in the sky.

Why was she completely unaffected?

Altina certainly didn't seem like someone with immense mental fortitude or the ability to independently solve magic pollution... Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so desperate to find him.

There were too many things to focus on right now. Ansu withdrew his gaze and temporarily suppressed his doubts.

On the fourth day of the simulation, that bizarre, blood-red, eye-like mark began to emerge on his left arm.

【Strangely, in the entire team, only Celia and I grew this mark.】

【Celia has spent the entire day researching the mark. She has tried every method of analysis, flipped through the few ancient magic books she brought with her, and even directly used her own mana to test the eye-like pattern's reaction.】

【But she found nothing. This mark is of unknown origin, its trigger is a mystery, and its consequences are impossible to predict. Celia's intuition suggests that this is highly likely a powerful and unknown magic curse.】

“I knew it... I had a feeling something would go wrong! But you just wouldn't listen, Ansu. You just had to come to the South...”

A pair of dark-red eyes, filled with gloom, suddenly leaned in close, giving Ansu a fright.

Celia slammed Ansu's diary shut, staring at him intently and forcing him to look at her.

“I've had this feeling from the very start. We might not make it back this time. Ansu, we are very likely going to die here...”

Her tone trembled, her voice suppressed with a restlessness that was on the verge of spinning out of control.

“Ansu, while we still can! Let's leave right now. This is our last chance, Ansu!”

Ansu put away the 《Future Diary》 and looked helplessly at the hysterical Miss Witch.

The sound of flapping wings came from above. Altina-Crow landed on a charred black branch, tilting her head and looking at the two of them with a face full of confusion.

Ansu sighed inwardly. Now, only Altina and I are left as sane people...

“Calm down first,” Ansu said, pressing his hands on Celia's shoulders. “Listen to me. Take the inhibiting serum first, then enter a state of meditation to force your mental strength to stabilize. That way...”

“I'm not sick! Why should I take an inhibiting serum?” Celia's eyes instantly flared with hostility. “Ansu, do you not believe me? Or do you just refuse to listen to me and insist on going deeper?”

“Of course I believe you,” Ansu soothed gently. “But your current state will affect our subsequent actions.”

“No! Absolutely not!”

Celia was completely beyond reasoning. She suddenly sat on the ground and pulled out a magic item Ansu rarely saw her use—a set of divination bones engraved with astrological patterns.

Ansu remembered that Samantha used to love using this kind of magic item. Samantha excelled in divination magic, and had once come incredibly close to successfully predicting her greatest enemy—which was himself, the Chosen One.

Celia originally did not believe in fate, nor did she deign to use divination magic.

Because Miss Witch had always been proud and confident, believing her own power was enough to crush any obstacle in her path.

But at this moment, she had completely panicked.

Ansu and Altina-Crow, who had perched on his shoulder, watched her in silence.

At this moment, Celia was in a state of frenzy, constantly muttering incoherent whispers... She lined up the bones on the ground one by one, slicing her fingertip with a dagger. As a rich scent of blood wafted out, a twisted magic circle slowly manifested in the air.

Low, obscure incantations spilled from her mouth, and the astrological patterns lit up layer by layer.

After a long and complex ritual, the divination was finally complete.

“My fate... my upcoming fate...”

The bones glowed with a faint, eerie light. She reached out to draw the first one, flipping over the bone that represented herself.

On it, it clearly displayed—

“Death.”

Celia's fingertips instantly froze.

Those dark-red eyes slowly rose, staring straight at Ansu.

After a moment of daze, her mind cleared slightly. She immediately reached out in a panic, touching the bone that represented Ansu.

And flipped it over.

...