3286 The Corrupted
It is a presence, a powerful one, and it is coming toward me.
They had sensed me as I had sensed them. I wanted to run away, and even took a step, before stopping myself. There is no need to run away. Given their power, they would easily be able to catch up to me.
So, I waited.
Not useless instead, I moved my strings around the book, before wrapping the book with them, before pulling out.
I had just taken the book in my hand when they appeared in front of me.
“I thought there would be no one beside me who would be interested in books,” said the pleasant feminine voice.
Hearing this, I turned and saw a beautiful tall woman with shiny black hair. She is taller, taller than humans. She a slightly above seven feet tall and has a lean warrior physique.
At a casual look, one might think of her as a very tall human; some humans reach such height, through means natural or artificial.
Though she is not human or not a complete human; those slightly larger eyes and invisible scales covering her are proof of that. She is also very powerful, a Peak Sovereign.
“I also like books,” I replied, and a small mirthful smile appeared on her face.
“Found anything good?” she asked. “Yes, this romantic one and a few about crystals,” I replied, holding the books. “You don’t like the romantic books then?” she asked.
“I like them fine,” I replied to her with a smile.
“Good, I like them too,” she replied and smiled back at me.
Now, both of us are looking at each other with a smile, with nothing to say, and it is turning awkward.
The woman may be smiling, but I am not feeling good about her and wanted to get away.
“It’s nice meeting you, miss, but I have to go,” I said and begin to leave. “Wait!” she said,
“Yes?” I asked, turning.
“Do you know anything about runes? I have found an amazing thing deep within the library.”
“It will be tremendously helpful to me. If you could help me solve it, I am willing to share it with you,” she asked.
“I am sorry, but I only have a general proficiency in them,” I said with a shake of my head and a hint of regret in my eyes.
Hearing that, the expression of the tall woman had truly become worse.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
“Another dud; at least. You are human and will be good for dinner,” she said, and the world around me shifting.
She begins to move through the library at a very high speed. It is extremely dangerous but also made me unable to do anything against her.
There is also thick energy enveloping me, which is very hard to breach. Still, I am trying with strings of forbidden power; not caring about the consequences of being discovered.
It is not a time to think about that, when I am feeling, my life is very much in danger.
I can’t believe I have encountered such danger in the library. I had expected broken formation and even Grimm, but not this.
Not by natives who didn’t care whether I could be use of them or not. She had just picked me up and taken me somewhere, at incredible speed, which I think is very dangerous.
She will get killed herself and take me with her, in this foolishness.
Suddenly she slowed down, and I thought she was stopped, but no, she had slowed down to move around a dense group of broken formations before increasing her speed again.
Six minutes passed, and we were still moving.
My strings of forbidden energy had breached halfway into the thick energy layer, and, in two minutes, the rest would be breached too.
Then I will move it and activate any broken formation I have come across. It will be dangerous, but what choice do I have? I couldn’t go where she was taking me. It is certainly not a place where I will be safe.
Hun!
I was completely focused on the strings when suddenly my clone informed me of something that shocked me to my core.
Corrupted.
It is corrupted, just like Ven, but its intention toward me is not peaceful. Most importantly, its energy is showing me that it had eaten natives and not in a small amount, either.
After meeting Nev and collecting a few samples and other data from him, I have created a few tests to quickly recognize them.
Even Ven had warned me that not all corrupted are good. Some are even worse than the Grimms.
It increased the hurry in me, and I begin to move the string faster, letting go of all my inhibition of getting discovered.
I was doing that when suddenly it stopped, and what I saw shocked me.
We stopped in front of another person; it had azure reptilian scales all over its body and had a lizard beastman, but after seeing the woman. I know it is no lizard beastman, but corrupted.
It truly looked like a Lizard Beastman, aside from anomalies that one could easily ignore.
I would have too believed it as a Lizard Beastman. If I am not seeing it, eating the pieces of what seemed like an elf, and it had not even cooked them; it is eating them raw.
As we appeared, a smile appeared on its face, and it was dangerous when I looked at that bloody chin of it.
“Does it know the runes?” asked the corrupted man casually. “It is saying it did not,” the corrupted woman replied. “Well, then kill it. We will eat in the evening,” said the corrupted man.
Immediately, I saw the sharp energy spike forming in the corrupted woman’s hands.
“Wait! I know the runes. I am pretty good at it!” I shouted, and the woman stopped with a white energy spike less than an inch away from my head.
“They always tell the truth,” laughed the corrupted man, and a white disc appeared in its hand, and it threw it toward me.
“You have an hour to solve the formation on it. If you accomplish it, you will live, faint and Gada here will kill you and we will eat you as dinner in the evening,” said the Corrupted man, before taking a bite of the elf’s leg.
I looked away from the man and looked at the disc; the formation on it is quite tough. Though not for me.
I don’t think I would even need the help of my clone to solve it.
I was right; I had solved the formation within thirteen minutes, but I did not show it. Instead, I studied the surrounding area, hoping to see something that will help me get away from here.
I could see hundreds of things; this whole place is filled with broken formations, and some of them are even moving, but these two didn’t seem to care about that at all.
These two are peak Sovereign, but these broken formations are dangerous even to them. It seemed like they have been here for a long and figured out their path; it is the only reason they could sit here so carelessly.