Nero waved his sword in a flourish.

The viscous blood that clung to his blade was shaken of, splattering into the ground with a terribly wet sound.

Abominations were violent by nature, but even they had survival instincts...

The other creatures let out low gargling sounds before slinking back into the depths of the swam.

Nero stared coldly as the surface of the bog slowly returned to normal. Then the crease in his brows vanished. He let out a sigh of relief.

He hissed a wince through his teeth as he turned his arm.

There was a terrible burn on in, most likely caused from one of the toxic fluids of the Abomination.

He clicked his tongue and tore off a piece of his clothes before wrapping it around the wound.

Then he turned around only to see Lucy glaring at him with an oddly suspicious look.

There was a little more than suspicion in the gaze as well.

Perhaps it was...

Nero frowned, 'Fear...'

However, he watched as the suspicion dissipated and was instead replaced with doubt.

Doubt of what she had just seen. Indeed, how was one supposed to explain that?

Nero chuckled bitterly. Indeed, he had no way of explaining it. So he could only stare right back at her.

They simply stared at one another,

"Ah. I think I hit my head." Aisha rose to her feet, rubbing the back of her head with a pout.

She turned to glare at Nero,

"Couldn't you be at least a little bit gentle?"

Nero snapped out of it and rubbed his neck awkwardly,

"Sorry. I was caught up in the moment."

Aisha's glare softened and she clicked her tongue,

"Nero... You have to learn to treat a woman—"

"Alright, that's enough. Let's get moving." Lucy said with a grimace as she walked ahead of the two.

Seeing this, Nero chuckled then turned to Aisha and extended his hand.

This time, the other party seemed quite a bit eager leaping into his arms.

A few moments later, Nero came to a stop.

"We are here."

Unlike the rest of the bog, the area they had stopped in front of was a large piece of dry land with numerous rocks covered in moss and algae scattered everywhere. Some were big, others were much smaller.

Instantly, Nero could tell what those "rocks" were, even without looking with Heretic Eyes.

Still, he decided to take a look first before deciding on what to do.

Sure enough, most of the "rocks" within this space had several strange and detailed patterns of Ein Sof flow within them.

With just a single glance, he could see that the average strength of the Bog Golems was grade E, with a dozen of them being Grade D.

He had just recently fought off a grade D Abomination and it hadn't been too terrible.

Still, he had to err on the side of caution.

He looked around.

There was nothing that would give him an advantage should a battle break out.

And even worse, he had to look out for Lucy and Aisha. Although he was sure Lucy could handle them, he knew his subconscious wouldn't be very forgiving.

He looked up.

Although the sky was covered in clouds of toxic gases, he could tell that the day was far from over.

He still had some time to think things through.

"We'll rest for now." Nero said.

Lucy chuckled grimly, "I don't think we have that choice anymore "

Nero raised a brow. Then his head snapped around.

They had yet to step into the clearing, instead, standing on the path leading to it.

One of the boulders within the clearing had begun to move.

Nero watched with utmost disgust as the boulder cracked in the center and a pair of enormous, fleshy limbs shot out.

They were pink and covered in a viscous red slime he was sure wasn't blood.

The flesh also didn't look completely like living matter. It was cracked and even crumbled in some places as the creature rose to its fullness.

As the transformation continued, Nero concluded in his mind that he had never seen anything so vile and horrid before.

A being of rock and flesh.

A Bog Golem.

The Big Golem, standing at its full height, was over twelve feet tall, with enormous arms that were a person thick and two people long.

Its bulky, rocky body was much larger than the rest of its body, making it seem as though the majority of its mass was located there.

Its legs were short but stocky, made of rock and organic matter as well.

Throbbing veins filled with a thick red liquid were located on the rocky exterior of the Golden.

Its head was attached to its body, and was only a dark maw and a pair of two red, glowing eyes sunken into the hard stone head.

Nero cursed out loud,

"Crap."

Then he frowned.

The Abomination had not noticed them yet.

It stood motionlessly for a moment.

Then it began to walk in the opposite direction.

Nero exchanged a glance with Lucy,

"What is it doing?"

Lucy had a frown on her face,

"I have no idea."

Then her brows shot up,

"These Golems look strange."

Nero frowned, "What do you mean?"

"There are no Teargail Fungi on them."

Nero glanced at the trudging Golem and noticed that it was true. Although he had never seen the Teargail Fungi before, he could tell that besides moss, there was nothing else on the bodies of these monsters.

His expression darkened drastically,

"So does that mean..."

Lucy shook her head,

"No. There's no need to jump to conclusions yet."

She was silent for a moment as though considering something.

Then she made a rather bold suggestion.

Her lips moved slowly,

"Let's follow it."

Nero's eyes widened, "Are you crazy?"

There was a strange look in her eyes,

"Crazy is a strong word, don't you think..."

"That is a bad idea. Besides, can we really walk though this place without stirring those things awake?" Aisha said, her worry written on her face.

Lucy chuckled darkly,

"It's either that, or we turn around."

She turned to stare at Nero, a teasing smile on her face,

"The choice is yours."

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