Chapter 61: Lord Nathan! Don’t Do This!

"Azreon, remove some of the rubble from there. Let’s check it out."

*ROAR!*

Azreon dived down and started moving the massive boulders covering the pool of liquid.

It didn’t take long to clear the entire area.

They landed right beside the pool, and Chris jumped down.

Walking up to it, he observed the pool for a moment before extending his hand and hovering it over the surface.

His survival instincts kicked in again as he decided to check for any dangers before touching it. No matter how strong he became, he still followed the same survival rules as before. They were practically engraved into his bones by now.

Not feeling any heat or cold emanating from the pool, he took a piece of meat out of his storage ring and dipped it into the liquid.

Nothing.

Noticing that it seemed safe, he dipped his finger into the gray liquid.

Nothing again.

*Sigh...*

He had been half-hoping that the liquid would be something similar to the one he had found long ago in a dungeon, which had allowed him and Azreon to advance their levels rapidly. Unfortunately, it appeared to be useless.

*ROAR!*

*SPLASH!*

His attention was drawn to the side, where Azreon had just jumped into the pool.

"Hey, what are you do—"

He stopped, and the words he wanted to say caught in his throat.

Azreon was submerged halfway in the pool, and Chris could clearly see that the scales covering his body were glowing as he bathed in the liquid.

Chris covered his hand in dragon scales before dipping it into the pool again.

"!!!"

A strange sensation immediately coursed through the scales on his body.

Normally, he couldn’t feel anything through his scales once he activated them. It was as though a layer of hard armor surrounded his body, completely blocking out any sensation.

But now, contrary to what he had expected, he could clearly feel a relaxing sensation spreading through his scales.

’Won’t hurt to try, right?’

He activated the scales across his entire body before jumping straight into the pool.

...

Some time before Chris attacked the ants, in another part of the forest.

A group of ten young men and women were walking through the forest with smiles on their faces.

"Today’s harvest was very good. What do you think, Lord Nathan?" a young man with short brown hair asked the dark-haired youth beside him.

The dark-haired youth, Nathan, appeared to be the leader of the group, as everyone’s attention was focused on him.

"Hahaha! Indeed, indeed. Today’s harvest was better than expected." Nathan nodded. "If we continue like this, our party might even be able to compete with the princes and princesses in strength!"

Everyone around him nodded in agreement, smiling.

"Lord Nathan, there’s something over there!" A girl beside them pointed into the distance.

Looking through the trees, they could see a small group of gigantic moths in the distance. They appeared to be sleeping.

This wasn’t the first time they had encountered these gigantic moths, and they were surprisingly easy to kill while providing plenty of experience for all of them.

"Shhh! Don’t startle them. We should sneak up on them while we have the chance," Nathan said.

The others nodded as they carefully approached and surrounded the moths.

Nathan gave a signal, and they all jumped towards the beasts together, slicing them apart.

"Hahahaha, another great harvest!" one of the young men from earlier shouted.

Nathan smiled as he approached one of the moths and slashed its head with his sword.

He extended his hand and grabbed the beast core lodged inside the black, slimy substance in the beast’s head.

’Strange. Why isn’t this one green inside, but black?’ he wondered, but still sank his hand into the substance to retrieve the core.

Suddenly, his hand caught on something sharp inside.

"Ugh!" He pulled his hand out and hissed in pain. A strong stinging sensation spread through his finger.

"Eh? Lord Nathan, are you alright?" The others gathered around him, asking worriedly.

He shook his hand dismissively. "No need to worry. I just cut my finger a little. It’s nothing important."

The others sighed in relief before scattering again to collect the beast cores.

Nathan grew suspicious and sank his sword into the moth’s head again, prying it open further.

Black liquid splashed onto the ground.

*Ding!*

Something fell out of the beast’s head and struck a rock on the ground. If it hadn’t made a sound, Nathan might not even have noticed it.

Crouching down, he picked up the object and examined it.

"What a beautiful dagger."

What he was holding was a short, black dagger, exquisitely crafted and beautifully carved.

For a moment, he wondered why a dagger would be inside a moth’s head, but then shrugged. He had found a treasure, and that was all that mattered.

He wiped it clean and fastened it to his belt before continuing to wander through the forest with his party.

What he didn’t notice was that the small black mark on his finger had begun spreading through his veins, turning them black beneath his sleeve.

They continued walking through the forest for another hour, but their luck seemed to have run out when they encountered a group of giant centipedes hiding in the tree canopy.

"There’s too many! Run!"

They turned around and started running through the forest.

Nathan stumbled slightly.

"Lord Nathan, are you alright?" the young man beside him asked worriedly.

"I’m fine! Just run!" Nathan yelled back before continuing to flee.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he had been feeling weak and sick ever since earlier. His head felt light, and he seemed to be slowly losing consciousness.

He was sure he hadn’t been injured badly enough for that to happen, but he still secretly drank a healing potion, not wanting to alarm his party members. He thought it was probably nothing serious.

However, now that he was running from the monsters and exerting himself, he began feeling even worse. He had no idea what was happening to him anymore.

Suddenly, he stumbled again and fell to the ground, showing no signs of movement.

The others turned around and shouted as they ran back towards him, wanting to help.

But he didn’t reply or move at all.

One of the centipedes closed in, opening its jaws before lunging towards Nathan.

"Lord Nathan!"

They had been running at full speed earlier and hadn’t noticed that he had fallen slightly behind. Now, it was too late for them to help.

Just when they thought it was over, Nathan suddenly sprang up from the ground and grabbed the centipede’s head with both hands.

*RIIIPPP!*

He tore the beast’s head from its body with his bare hands.

"!!!"

The others were instantly stunned.

Nathan then grabbed the dagger at his waist and swung it towards the approaching centipedes.

A wave of black energy shot out from the dagger and enveloped the centipedes.

The beasts began screeching as their bodies started melting as if they had been sprayed with acid, until they were reduced to pools of green liquid.

The members of Nathan’s party were stunned for a moment before rushing towards him.

"Lord Nathan! I was so worried! It’s good that you’re fine!" A girl approached him, checking him over.

Nathan smiled as he extended his hand towards her.

The girl didn’t understand what he wanted, but she trusted him enough to let him approach.

However, in the next moment, her eyes bulged as he grabbed her throat with a powerful grip.

"L-LOR—COUGH!"

She tried to speak, but his grip was too tight.

"Lord Nathan! What are you doing!?" the others shouted as they approached him.

He smiled again before black energy began seeping out of his hand, enveloping the girl.

Within seconds, her body began shrinking as she disappeared completely, leaving nothing behind. The energy then returned to his hand.

"W-WHAT DID YOU DO—"

The young man from earlier wanted to ask Nathan what he had done, but Nathan instantly grabbed him by the neck before he, too, was consumed by the dark energy.

The others were startled once again and wanted to run away, but Nathan swung his dagger towards their backs.

*Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!*

Small cuts appeared on each of their legs before they fell to the ground, unable to stand.

Nathan smiled. "Finally. I’m alive again!"

He slowly approached one of the young men who was trying to escape, but his legs wouldn’t move. He could only crawl away, which proved to be useless.

"P-p-please, Lord Nathan! Don’t do this! Don’t kill me!" the young man sobbed, but Nathan didn’t listen.

Extending his hand, black energy began seeping out, enveloping the man’s body.

"AHH! Young people really are the most delicious!" Nathan smiled wickedly as he approached another, repeating the same process.

They all screamed and cried in despair, but it only brought a wider smile to Nathan’s face.

Once he had finished absorbing everyone, he stretched and examined his body.

"Hmm, so weak." He shook his head. "It seems I’ll need to eat a lot more to regain my strength."

He showed a wicked smile before walking away into the distance.

...

Some distance away from Chris, after the fight with the ants had ended.

"What in the world did I just watch?" Kelvin asked, holding his head with both hands.

"H-h-he just destroyed that entire mountain!" Kenna shouted in disbelief.

Aelonen, having already expected such an outcome, couldn’t help but feel stunned all over again.

"Hahahaha, what did I tell you? Only big brother Chris would be crazy enough to try something like that. And look! He even succeeded!" he shouted proudly.

From the moment they had heard the first explosion until now, they had been standing in the same place, watching the spectacle in silence. None of them had said a word, completely stunned as they watched the mountain crumble little by little.

They couldn’t see Chris or Azreon from that distance, but they had heard the roars, screeches, and explosions.

"Prince Aelonen, how confident are you that it was Chris who did all that?" Lilith suddenly asked from the side.

She had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Hm!?" Aelonen turned towards her and shivered slightly. In his excitement, he had completely forgotten about his surroundings and the tyrant princess standing beside them. "I-I’m confident! There’s no doubt in my mind that it was big brother Chris." He nodded repeatedly. "That crimson fire is definitely his, and the loud roars in the distance are definitely coming from his beast."

"Hm? His beast?" Lilith tilted her head. "I didn’t see any beast beside him when he entered the portal."

"Haha, that’s natural. Big brother Chris owns an amazing magic artifact that can stor—"

He suddenly stopped speaking and covered his mouth. He had almost revealed Chris’s secret.

While he didn’t know whether Chris would mind him saying that or not, he didn’t want to find out.

"So he can bring wild beasts with him." Lilith nodded with interest. "Interesting."

Aelonen slapped his forehead. It seemed he had already said too much.

"Don’t worry, Prince Aelonen. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind letting me know." She smiled sweetly.

But to Aelonen, that smile didn’t look sweet at all. It looked like the devil himself was smiling at him.

"Well, as much as I enjoyed that show, it’s time for us to go our separate ways." Lilith turned around and started walking towards the forest, followed by her party members, who hadn’t said a single word or shown any expression the whole time.

"Tell Chris I said hi if you see him later." She waved her hand before disappearing between the trees.

Aelonen shivered again.

"Don’t worry, my friend." Kelvin patted his shoulder. "I’m sure big brother Chris wouldn’t mind. He already told us about it as soon as he met us, so it shouldn’t be a big secret."

Aelonen nodded. Part of him agreed, but another part still felt afraid.