Chapter 33 – Setting Out… The Terrifying Gu Worm…

After cleansing ten people and killing the Gu Worm that came out of their bodies, Kranos reached his limit. He previously guessed that he could heal about fifteen people, but it seemed harder than he thought. I must be because they are highly corrupted. If it were those that are moderately or barely corrupted, I should be able to heal at least five of them in a day. Kranos sat down, breathing steadily as he began restoring his mana reserves.

Despite the toll, he knew that with continued effort and experience, his efficiency would increase…

…

A month passed in the blink of an eye. “Finally, the last one,” Kranos muttered, withdrawing his hand from the village head.

During this time, the villagers acted like there was no change in their village whenever the creatures visited in the night, but Kranos knew that the village had changed drastically compared to when he came here.

“Thank you,” the village head said, bowing slightly despite Kranos’s youthful appearance.

Kranos simply nodded. “I’ll spend today recovering my mana. Tomorrow, we leave for the safe haven.” His eyes narrowed as he added, “The fewer people with us, the safer the journey will be.”

The village head agreed to his words with a nod, he had already discussed with the villagers that Kranos was planning to head to the safe haven

Only ten had volunteered to accompany him. The rest decided to stay behind—why risk the dangers of the wild when they could remain relatively safe in the village?

The next day Kranos packed the little things he had at the apothecary, which consisted of a diary and a few books; after all, during his time here, aside from cultivation, he needed something to pass time. As he walked out, he saw that the purple sun was already shining brightly.

The apothecary was only a short walk from the center of the village, about three minutes at most. As he approached, he saw the silhouettes of several figures. He instantly knew it was the village head along with the others that would accompany them.

Seeing Kranos, the village head nodded and spoke, “i’m leaving my identity as the village head behind, you can call me Ross.” Over the past month that Kranos took to cleanse the villagers, Ross had already assigned a new village head. He then proceeded to introduce the rest of the group.

With no more delays, they set off. It’s finally time to head for the safe haven, Kranos thought, letting out a breath. He was aware that he had spent too much time here, considering the two-year limit on the trial. But it had been necessary. Now, at last, he could focus on completing his mission.

…

As they left the village behind, they re-entered the dense, familiar woods. Ross took the opportunity to offer some insight. “When we left the safe haven, we came through these very woods. Back then, we were more than a thousand.”

Kranos’s eyes widened. “A thousand? Then how come only around a hundred of you are left?”

“You must understand—everything in this forest seems to have been given life,” Ross replied grimly.

Kranos frowned. That didn’t match his earlier experience. On his way here, he had only encountered one hostile creature, which was the child-like girl. To him the village was pretty calm

“See that tree over there?” Ross said, pointing towards a tree that was a few feet from them, and he approached it cautiously. Using a stick, he poked the trunk and immediately darted back.

Kranos’s eyes widened in shock as a thick branch whipped through the air, slashing where Ross had just been standing. The resulting explosion of force sent dust billowing into the air. Kranos stared in disbelief.

When I came through here, there was nothing like this… If I had been attacked while resting… He shuddered at the thought.

Curious, he approached the tree with an inquisitive look, placing a hand on its bark. A normal tree shouldn’t possess intelligence. From the books i’ve read, there are magical trees that possess intelligence but this is different; this is just a normal tree! Kranos reached the tree, placed his hand on it and began studying it. he infused bits of his mana into the tree, trying to study the tree. He could see that the interior of the tree was deeply corroded.

In the middle of the tree, similar to the heart of a man, his wisps of mana encountered a pulsating mass. He was shocked, he couldn’t help but exclaim inwardly, a gu worm! Even though it was only for a moment that his mana encountered the tree before the gu worm rapidly devoured it, Kranos knew he had encountered a gu worm.

He was horrified as he stared at the trees; they became terrifying in the blink of an eye. How can it be? What the hell is going on with this planet? Since almost every tree contained a gu worm, Kranos could imagine that the creature responsible for this was planning something horrible, he began contemplating.

From the information i’ve gotten, it seems this creature wants to implant its gu worm into every living creature in this world, but what could be its goal for doing that? Kranos sighed. If this was how terrifying the trials were, do they expect students to accomplish it? Kranos understood he didn’t have much time left.

According to his guess, the only reason the creature hadn’t executed its plan was because there were still living creatures that hadn’t been corrupted yet. He could also guess that the creature must be planning something big for the safe haven since that was the only place that still had living creatures that weren’t infected.

Sigh… I need to hurry up before anything happens to the safe haven. Kranos didn’t consider himself a hero. The only reason he was in a rush to reach the safe haven was simple—once there, with the help of the experts, we might stand a chance of defeating the creature.

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