Nero stared at Lucy's teasing smile with a grim look in his eyes.

On one hand, her suggestion was rather tempting. He also didn't want to return empty handed.

However, the dangers were just too much.

And yet...

He huffed deeply and frowned at Lucy,

"I want you two to stay here."

Lucy immediately displayed her displeased,

"Huh?! That's no fair! What if something gets us out here?"

Nero's expression showed he was not in the mood,

"That's final. Look over Aisha. I'll be back soon."

As he said that, he took in a deep breath and began walking forward.

As he did, he pulled out a light black veil.

To Lucy's absolute amazement, she watched as Nero donned the veil.

Then he disappeared.

Well, no. He didn't disappear.

Not exactly, at least.

It was more like it became harder to notice him.

"This is crazy..." Lucy muttered to herself.

Then she turned to Aisha who didn't seem surprised at all.

She raised a brow, "Did you know he could do this as well?"

Aisha shrugged,

"Why should I be?"

Seeing the rather dark expression on Aisha's face, Lucy couldn't help the strange feeling welling up in her chest.

With Nero's absence, it was as though the person beside her had changed completely, becoming a different person entirely.

It was odd and eerie.

'What a weird kid.' She thought to herself, but then thought nothing more of it.

Her gaze traveled back to the space filled with nothing but boulders.

'He'll be fine. Right?'

***

Walk-in amidst a scattering of living stone, Nero had his eyes set on the behemoth of living grit.

The Bog Golem trudged forward slowly, each step creating low tremors on the ground, leaving behind enormous footprints as well.

It was rather terrifying to see.

The creature seem to not have noticed him yet thanks to the Veil of Darkness. With it, he could effectively avoid detection as long as he didn't make a very big splash.

He only had to keep up his pace for a little while when he was greeted with a pungent stench and a bitter taste in his mouth.

He watched with a grim expression as the Bog Golem stepped right into the sea of swamp water in front of it, creating a huge splash.

Nero had to dive out of the way to avoid getting caught up in the terrible rain of acid.

Watching the ground sizzle away with trembling shoulders, he turned his gaze back to the Bog Golem.

'Where in the Seven Hells is this thing going?!'

The huge Bog Golem was wading in knee deep waters— waters that would completely envelope him if he dared dive into them. If he did that, then his death certainly wouldn't be painless.

He grimaced and looked around,

'What should I do?'

He couldn't dive into the terrible waters as is...

He froze.

Unless...

He frowned, "Will it work?"

Seeing the Bog Golem making it further and further away, he couldn't help but feel anxious.

"Damn it all."

With no more time left to hesitate, he let go of the inhibitions holding him together.

Nero let out a terrifying roar as his body began to rip and crack.

How skin darkened as large, terrible tumors and growths began to appear all over him.

His hair stretched from the roots, growing longer and longer until it had turned into a sea of darkness stretching from his head to his lower back.

His bones in his limbs broke and stretched as his muscles expanded, making them stronger and stronger.

His visage grew more and more terrible.

So horrid he became, that the world seemed to recognize his presence.

The depths of his dark eyes took on a golden twinge.

The Abomination, Nero.

Nero took a step forward.

And then another.

Then he flexed his long arms and clenched his fists.

He wasn't the least but uncomfortable, save for the dull ache on his back that came from a row of large growth on both sides of his spine.

He frowned and walked forward even morez stopping until he got to the spot where the toxic waters met the dryer marshland.

He hesitated for a moment. Then he leaned down and placed a finger into the toxic bog water.

Almost immediately, he felt the corruption in his flesh tense up.

His body reacted instinctively.

New growths appeared on his flesh, this time scaley, protecting the finger from being corroded by the toxic water.

Nero was amazed, "Incredible."

His body had adapted to the horrid stimulus instantaneously.

'Could this be because these waters are corrupted as well?'

He closed his eyes and felt for the strange of twisted Ein Sof.

Sure enough, the green, toxic waters were packed full with numerous chaotic strange of corruption, each one forming patterns he felt would turn his brain into a single blackened spot should he even try to decode them.

There was no time...

Forcing himself not to think more about what he was about to do, Nerk took the care to hide his satchel carefully.

He stared at the Silver Blade. If he took it, its sheath would sizzle to non-existence inside the bog. Besides, with Gungnir, he wouldn't be needing it much anyways.

Nero placed both the Silver Blade which seemed like a short sword compared to his enormous physique now, alongside his satchel into a hole he had dug into the ground beneath a twisting root of a large tree.

Then he pulled Gungnir from where he had stabbed it into the ground.

He huffed deeply.

Then he shot forward, breaking into a light sprint, before diving into the viscous, corrupted waters.

***

Staring at the edge of his short sword, Obed tried to remember what had chipped it.

When he couldn't think of anything, he sighed and put it out of his mind.

The sound of squelching mud attracted his attention.

He turned around to see Geor slowly wading through the mud to approach him,

"Any luck?" Obed asked carefully.

Geor was silent for a moment then he shook his head,

"No. We haven't been able to find much more."

Obed clicked his tongue. A terrible pang of pain came from his stomach, followed by a rush of nearly crippling weakness.

He was hungry.

And if he was in this state, it was rather terrifying to think what those who had barely gotten anything to eat all this time would be going through.

Most of those that had come with them had done so purely out of desperation.

Geor suddenly continued,

"That's not all."

Obed ran his fingers over his temples. A slight feeling of trepidation came over him,

"Please, do tell me more..."

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