Chapter 47 Infestation
Zayne stepped outside the territory of the Black Wing and headed deep into the forest. He had a cold stare until the very end, but as soon as his silhouette disappeared completely into the darkness, his face twisted in disgust.
"Agh! Fuck! What was that...!" Zayne muttered with trembling eyes as he leaned against the tree to keep from falling. Images flashed through his mind of ripping the eye out of the man's head who had recently been alive as he felt something bitter in his throat.
"ARGH!!!" Zayne puked as hard as if he had been boozing nonstop for a week before. Zayne did his best not to twitch an eyebrow at the bandits, but after all, he was just a simple guy who was just trying to save his sister, at least for now.
After a while Zayne came to his senses, breathing deeply and looking up at the blue moon whose light passed through the dense crowns of the trees.
"Well, maybe it was hard, but I made it, right? Hah, I'll have to see what awards I got." Zayne muttered as he opened his inventory. The ring sparkled brightly as a three-dimensional cube appeared in front of him.
After Zayne received the ring, his inventory changed as instead of four cells there was now one large, inside which were all his items. He could zoom in and out if he wanted to examine a particular item.
'Hmm... It's pretty comfortable as if all these things were right in front of me. Fighting to the very end was definitely the right decision, this ring will make my life so much easier.' Zayne said inwardly as he began to examine the content. He took the jewels from the vault in a hurry, but he had yet to find out what Hugo had.
"Damn... He had a veritable collection of different knives, yet no more potions...? Was he really that sure of himself?" Zayne was puzzled as his gaze moved to the last thing that was in the farthest part of the cube.
Zayne stared intently at Hugo's eyes, feeling the gag reflex gradually closing in on him.
'I must get rid of it. I don't know if it can be useful, but I'll survive without it somehow.' Zayne thought as he reached out his hand, about to remove the eye.
Whooooooooosh.
Suddenly the eye flashed as its vertical pupil stared intently at Zayne, then the eye turned into red dust that streamed violently toward Zayne, entering his body through his ears, eyes, and nose.
"ARGH!!! What the hell?" Zayne exclaimed in pain as he slammed his fist against the tree.
[Alarm!]
[You have been infected with Chaos energy!]
[Recently you used Fate power, so your body is still infused with this energy! Chaos will not retreat until it has completely destroyed every bit of Fate!]
[Because of the Fate energy in your body, if you die, the penalty will be many times harsher! Do everything you can to get rid of the Chaos pieces, otherwise, you will face terrible consequences!]
[You have three hours!]
Zayne was shocked for a while, then his face contorted in anger as he slapped the ground with all his might.
"Damn! I knew I shouldn't have touched that eye! It was creepy nasty and now it's happened!" Zayne shouted with anger. He probably would have continued to be mad for a little longer, but the blood dripping from the corners of his mouth quickly brought him back to his senses.
Zayne removed the blood and took a deep breath. The Chaos particles were gradually destroying his body from within, but Zayne thought about something else, he didn't know at all how he could get rid of the Chaos energy.
'Hmm... Apparently, Fate energy won't help me in any way, there's no point in using the coin... Wait, when we were preparing to attack Chaos Hearth, there was some girl along with Roland, he called her Oracle or something, right?' Zayne inwardly muttered with a thoughtful expression while rubbing his chin, 'Well, if anyone can help me, it's definitely her!'
Whoooooooooooosh.
Zayne quickly ran forward. He didn't know what penalty awaited him if he died from the Chaos power, but he didn't want to find out. Chaos was devouring him inside like a parasite and Zayne had to do everything to get rid of it as quickly as possible, he needed a doctor, a special doctor who was familiar with the Chaos.
The light of the moon illuminated Zayne's path through the forest until he began to approach the village. He ran with all his strength, so a long way only took him one hour when in the distance he saw the lights from the village lanterns.
'I hope that the soldiers are not mistaken and Roland as well as the others have not left, otherwise, I will be in serious trouble!' Zayne inwardly exclaimed as he passed through the main entrance.
The guards were surprised by the sudden appearance of someone so late as they tried to stop him, but Zayne was just too fast. He didn't notice it, but he ran between the guards like a wind stream rushing towards the main building in the village.
Crackle.
Zayne stepped inside as he ran to the top floor, straight for the Village Elder's office, abruptly opening the doors.
Strangely enough, it wasn't empty inside as Aron who was sitting at the table stared at him with wide-open eyes.
"Zayne...?" Aron muttered in disbelief as he turned to Harald, who was lying on the couch with his arms crossed, seemingly about to fall asleep.
"No way... How could you come back so quickly?" Harald was puzzled as he rose quickly and headed toward Zayne with a wide smile, holding out his hand.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "Agh!!!" However, instead of a handshake, Harald received drops of blood falling on his palm as well as Zayne's painful cough.
Realizing that the situation was serious, Aron hurriedly ran to them and put his hand on Zayne's shoulder, "Boy... What happened to you? Is this the penalty all Travelers get?"
"No, Fate protected me, so I didn't get any penalty at all." Zayne shook his head with a bitter smile.
"In that case... What's going on with you? Is it some kind of disease?" Harald muttered with a thoughtful expression, holding up his chin, "No, it's all happening too fast..."
"Hah, in a way you're right since I am actually sick." Zayne grinned as he lifted his head, "It's quite a long story, but in short, I am infected with the power of Chaos, its particles are inside me, slowly killing me."
Aron and Harald's faces went pale as they looked at each other, nodded and Aron asked with a serious expression, "How much time do we have?"
Zayne sighed, "One hour and fifty minutes."
"Agh..." Harald shook his head in relief, " Fine, then it's not as bad as I thought. Being infected by the power of Chaos is a real disaster, but you're lucky that Roland and the Oracle are still in the village!"
"Hah, that girl... I think her name is Rina, so she can heal me, right?" Zayne asked with a satisfied smirk.
Harald nodded confidently.
"That's good, so I didn't just run here, so my feet are burning..." Zayne sighed.
"Well, there's no time to waste. This is the power of Chaos, so even if we have time, we must not relax! Come on, follow me!" Aron said sternly, leaving the office with a firm gait.