The Record of Unusual Creatures

The blast, shockwave, and shrapnel were tearing the plains apart. They burned the rotten and distorted materials along with the Festered that roamed the land into ashes.

At the center of all the explosions, smoke formed into whirlpools and then dispersed gradually. When Hao Ren emerged from the vortex of hot air, his Steel Membrane Shield was still glimmering, while the halo caused by the clash of Order and Chaos had expanded out a few meters from him.

He did not need the sacred objects such as the Amulet of Order to walk in the chaos and to create a wider space of Order. He was already the world’s most celestial sacred object, except for the missing goddess of creation. As the direct spokesperson of another true god, he could yield an energy force as powerful as the golden war banner did in the chaotic realm of Collow. The reason he drew the Festered away himself was that he wanted to prove something about himself but out of Veronica’s sight.

The revelation that he was a sacred body would set the world alight. So he had not decided whether to spill the beans in front of the locals.

Anyway, Veronica had thought that he was only able to move freely in the chaotic realm because he was carrying some ancient Amulet of Order.

Hao Ren looked at the expanding halo around him and the bright silver lines that were faintly visible in the corona. He then focused his eyes further out into the distance and saw the charred pieces of the festered were undergoing weathering rapidly. The weathered substance gradually became a part of the surrounding environment in a way that defied common sense, before it disappeared quickly and thoroughly.

The nuke had indeed helped.

He knelt beside a carcass, examining it as it dissipated. “The boundaries between physical and non-physical are blurry. After a material loses the energy that holds itself together, the surrounding environment will quickly assimilate it, including the residue. According to the cross-section analysis of the carcass, its physiological structure has lost its meaning. All these monsters are not dependent on the internal organs of the body to function. Their energy could be coming from a third-party energy source such as magic. The bones contain black crystalline structure, but for now, it is not known whether this structure had anything to do with the so-called ‘chaoticization.’

After the carcass disappeared, Hao Ren looked up at the darkness.

He felt an unprecedented sense of loneliness, and uncomfortable with his condition now. For various reasons, his teammates were not around him, and even his mental connection with the MDT had become weak. Being alone in the strange world of Collow, there was no time more disturbing than now.

He froze. A moment later, he came out from his daze and did not let the feeling of loneliness and uneasiness dishearten him.

From the surrounding fog, which had grown thicker, he heard some soft roaring sounds. Hao Ren immediately raised his guard and clenched his plasma spear. He knew the Festered were still there, and there were more of them than those he had killed.

The explosions might sound loud, but the Festered was not as fragile as he had imagined. Many monsters had survived the shockwave at the edge of the blast, and more monsters, with their strong instinct and speed, had escaped the scene right before the explosion. There were only less than one-fifth of the thousands of the Festered were killed. Those fled into the darkness were coming out again. It would be more difficult for him to pull off the same feat again.

Though the Festered were not smart, their predatory instincts were good.

Hao Ren checked his Steel Membrane Shield, which was still glimmering; it had exhausted one-third of its capacity during the battle earlier. He realized that he would not be able to survive long with only the Steel Membrane Shield and some weapons in Collow.

He observed the movements in the fog while releasing a few autonomous robots from his dimensional pocket, ready for the next wave of attacks.

Suddenly, a beam of light from behind him appeared, interrupting him. The light beam had also attracted the attention of the monsters in the dark.

In the ruin of the town, he saw a column of light, as if the Tower of Babel, rose into the sky and tore a large hole in the black clouds. The broken walls of the town gradually became crystal clear as the hidden runes on the stones lit up, becoming a temporary Barrier of Order. A translucent, shield-like optical shroud formed over the city. It swayed gently for a moment before stabilizing down.

The thought of the furnace came into mind.

It turned out that it was the furnace.

The roar of the Festered interrupted him.

The light lit up the sky and the town, and the Festered hidden in the darkness just a while ago had nowhere to hide. Covering their eyes, they groaned in pain as smoke rose from their bodies. But instead of running away, these monsters did the opposite.

As Veronica and Morian said, the Light of Order attracted the Festered.

The Festered ran toward the town as if moth were attracted to the lamp.

Hao Ren had heard about the habits of the Festered from Veronica before, but seeing them in person still made him gasping in horror. He had seen all kinds of ferocious and terrifying monsters, but nothing like the Festered that had this counterintuitive behavior. The bodies of the ugly creatures billowed with smoke and fell apart as they ran, leaving trails of burning body parts on the ground. They charged at the light curtain under the furnace tower as if all the pain could not stop them.

Hao Ren, the number one enemy of the Festered just a while ago, was ignored.

The Festered ran past him. Not even one looked back, leaving him rooted the spot. Grabbing his spear, he quickly ran after the monsters.

Of the thousands of monsters rushing into the Light of Order, 70 % died even before reaching the furnace. Hao Ren killed a small portion of them from behind.

When Veronica saw the Festered on fire, only a hundred or so of them, with only skeletons left, remained. For Hao Ren and the knights waiting in the square, eliminating these fragile enemies was a walk in the park now.

Hao Ren came back up to Veronica. Other than the exhausted Steel Membrane Shield, he was unhurt. Veronica looked at him in amazement. “You must have been the most powerful warrior in the temple; I have never heard of anyone who could easily accomplish this feat like you today.”

“Nah.” Hao Ren waved his hand. He looked at the piles of ash in the square and frowned. “These monsters just died like that? Most of them died by suicide.”

“The Festered are sad creatures,” Veronica said and lowered her eyes. “Destroying them is as simple as ABC. We only need to use the Light of Order as a trap, and they will rush into it without thinking. Deep inside the soul of the Festered, they still had a yearning for the Order, but they had fallen too deep into the Chaos and could not help themselves.”

Hao Ren shook his head and turned to look at the furnace tower shining behind him.

The square rock tower was fully operational now. Golden runes were glowing on the once dark outer wall of the tower, and light was dancing in the hollow space at the bottom of the square tower as if a fire was burning inside. The top of the square tower emitted a bright beam of light, which was what they saw from outside the ruins.

Standing next to the Furnace Tower, Hao Ren could now clearly feel the unpleasant chaotic energy, once pervaded the wilderness, had gone. He could finally breathe in the fresh air. The feelings could not be better. That was how it felt in the land of Order.

“With this thing here, there is no more worry,” Hao Ren said.

“But the furnace could only last for a while,” Veronica said, looking at Hao Ren. “It has burned out. This place is right in the chaotic hinterland. The dark side of Carnos has completely shrouded this place. Without the power of Order, this passive fire could not last. I was using my blood as fuel to ignite the fire, and it will only last for two hours.”

Now it dawned on Hao Ren that why Veronica and her knights still had to look for Mount Cassouin: apparently, it was not easy to secure the land of Order in the realm of Chaos.

“What have you got so far?” Hao Ren looked at Veronica.

The princess knight wanted to find out what caused the strange behaviors of the Festered. When Hao Ren came back, he saw the old knight Morian was checking around the pedestal of the tower, and several knights were examining the remains of the monsters that had yet dissipated completely. He was curious about what they would find.