The Record of Unusual Creatures

In the desert shrouded in darkness and mist, the unnamed, abandoned ancient city lay quietly with barren rocks and corroded metal wreckages. They stood silently in the cold, as though they were guarding secrets of the vanished civilization.

A furnace installation, shut down but still erect at the center of the ruins, was surrounded by thousands of monster of Chaos. These violent creatures, usually roaming aimlessly and fighting fiercely, were quiet as if they were a group of pilgrims. They stood still before the furnace tower, watching it silently in the dark.

It was something even the old knight Morris had never seen before; not even mentioned in the ancient books of the royal collection.

Veronica and her knights hid behind a low wall, equipped with full armor and swords, waiting quietly for the moment. Their position was the safest distance determined by Veronica and her old knights. The perceptual power of the festered monsters was tricky. Influenced by Chaos, but not entirely transformed, these festered monsters were different from the Servants of Chaos. Beyond a specific range, they appeared to be deaf, blind, and brainless. But within a particular range (some scholars referred to this range as the ‘defense zone’ of the festered monsters), their perceptual sensitivity was 100 times that of ordinary humans and having the ability to directly sniff out living things just like the Servants of Chaos.

Therefore, when ambushing the monsters, the distance was crucial.

The knights carefully crouched. Though they all were combat veterans, they could not help but still be quite nervous. A glimmer, an almost imperceptible effect of the Amulet of Order, was on each of the knights. The power of the sacred object was like a beacon in the chaos, but they could not bring it there. So, like Veronica, the knights had activated their Amulet of Order. Like astronauts performing space missions in spacesuits, they had to complete the task of ignition in an extremely short time to survive, which put tremendous pressure on them.

The sacred relic was in Hao Ren’s custody for now. It was not that the plate was too precious but hard to resist for the festered monsters. The plan to lure the monsters away would be screwed up if any monsters having a more sensitive nose sniffed out the plate.

As time went by, the knights only became more nervous. As the effect of the amulet only lasted a limited time, this type of ambush was a test of patience, courage, and discipline. The old knight turned his head slightly and looked at Veronica quizzically, his question was clear. “Your Royal Highness, is the Ancient Guardian really dependable?”

Veronica returned an approving gaze, but no one knew whether she was confident as she looked.

She looked up and across the square.

There, the collapsed building wall had an opening, which seemed to be the result of some huge monster rushing through the square, clearing out an unobstructed path. To lure the monsters in the square, that breach in the wall was the best direction. Veronica waited quietly for the signal.

After a moment of unbearable silence, a flash of light appeared at the breach.

“Boom! Boom!”

Two earth-shattering explosions were the signal. The Ancient Guardian seemed to be an expert of fire and storm spells; his attacks were always violent. When the flares of the massive explosions tore the night sky apart, Veronica saw two stone buildings on the edge of the square were blown up and away. The shrapnel from the blasts hit the ugly twisted monsters near the wall opening, piercing through their bodies.

The sudden attack sent the monsters in the square into confusion and horror. Jolted out of their strange state of quietness, they instantly became mad and angry. Roars began to rise in every direction. With a sweep of their paws, a few giant bears blew away the smaller and weaker monsters around them before charging in the direction of the explosions. The monsters of Chaos would not feel fear and had no sophisticated thinking. They acted based on their beast instinct with their destructive strength.

At this moment, a figure suddenly emerged from the smoke. Veronica could clearly hear the angry roar. “Son of a b*tch!”

A series of continuous blasts ensued with the firing of a powerful energy beam, instantly killing the monsters on the edge of the square.

The festered monsters were enraged. Roars of fury resounded through the air while the ground in the square trembling as the monsters charged toward the exit.

Veronica felt that the earth shaking under her feet, and the old buildings were squeaking. The knights looked at each other, stunned. Someone whispered, “May the goddess bless us.”

It was not the first time they witnessed what Hao Ren had done. It was just that they had not gotten used to the actions of the mad bomb man.

Space ahead began to open up as thousands of monsters rushed to the breach. There were no more obstacles between Veronica and the furnace tower, which sat a few hundred meters away from her.

But not all monsters could be duped—just as Hao Ren and the royal princess had expected. Festered monsters were products of chaotic pollution, so random mutations were their primary feature. Some monsters will stubbornly hold their ground even under provocation, while some more powerful ones would appear more vigilant. When nine-tenth of the monsters were lured away, the mutated variants and the smarter ones would stay in their positions, they would run in a circle in confusion and become the remaining threats around the furnace tower.

The princess drew her sword out of the sheath. Follow me!” she shouted.

The knights immediately lifted the shading spell off their swords, a sea of bright reflections suddenly filled the darkness. Dozens of people jumped out from behind the low walls and charged toward the furnace tower in the square.

The monsters immediately sensed the enemy when the humans entered their defensive zone. They roared and charged at high speed and confronted Veronica and the knights head-on.

In Veronica’s vision, only the square tower was her target. Standing at a dozen meters tall, the furnace was like a lighthouse in the dark, guiding the princess and knights. The princess knight kept going, waving the sword sideways. She suddenly felt she had hit something with her sword. The impact force transferred as a numb sensation on her wrist. She had hit a wolf-like monster and sent it flying in the opposite direction.

While the black wolf-like monster was still in the air, its belly, which the princess had sliced, burst open with a silver glimmer. The monster was burned into ashes before it even hit the ground.

Veronica tucked her sword and kept going. She still felt the numbness in her arm. During a typical battle, killing a festered, wolf-like monster was a piece of cake, but it was the one-hit-one-kill kind of fighting. To save time, Veronica had utilized the explosive physical strength of the knight, which could inflict more significant damage, both to the enemy and herself.

The furnace tower was drawing closer and closer.

“Don’t waste time with the monsters,” Morrian said with a loud voice. “Get into a defensive formation, cover the princess!”

At this time, all the remaining festered monsters in the square and the surroundings were alarmed. Their number was so many that Veronica could not help but think that the lured-away monsters had turned around, which was impossible, of course. It was just that even though only one-tenth of the festered monsters remained in the square when they gathered, it was still overwhelming.

Just like what Veronica saw now.

Thirty meters from the furnace.

The injured knights had switched position to the inner layer of the squad, using bows to support the main force on the outside. The other knights had formed a powerful shield around Veronica, clearing out a bloody path in the sea of monsters. Waves of festered monsters kept coming. They were using the most primitive ways of gnawing and tearing trying to break into Veronica’s defense. But the experienced and mighty knight warriors were able to kill all the monsters, pushing the waves of attack back, leaving a trail of burning ashes and human blood.

Ten meters to target.

Veronica felt that victory was within reach. The pressure was enormous, but she felt that finishing the last mile was no longer a problem. So Veronica became worried about the Ancient Guardian. Looking toward the direction of the breach outside, she tried to find the guardians and the thousands of monsters.

Veronica finally realized how crazy it was to let the Ancient Guardian fight alone in the endless Chaos. It would appear like an exaggerated, heroic story in the poets.

But the guardian was doing it.

Even the old knight Morian began to wonder if the guardian could make it back.

Suddenly, a dazzling light ball rose from outside the town.

Like a new moon poking out of darkness, it illuminated everything before it quickly burst. A huge mushroom cloud rose from the smoke and flashes of light.

Only then the sound of the loud explosion and the tremor of the earth arrived.

The furnace was in sight.

The knights turned quickly and formed an impenetrable barrier between the princess and the monsters. The old knight Morian shouted, “Your Royal Highness! Light it up!”

Veronica had been ready for this moment. She swung her sword around and cut a wound in her hand without hesitation. Blood with a faint golden light oozed out of the wound. She splashed it onto the pedestal of the furnace tower and chanted an ancient vow.

“In the name of the goddess of creation, the ancient vow, and of Collow, the guardians of the 77,700 Jailor’s Columns, the Light of Order will surely illuminate all the world!”