Chapter 36: Noticed By The Mastermind… Fight!

Kranos was both shocked and horrified by the words spoken by the figure clad in black. He wanted to pretend he hadn’t heard anything, but he knew it would be futile. The figure clearly possessed some form of sensory ability that could detect if he was being watched.

Without hesitation, Kranos stood up. In a flash, the Time Sword appeared in his hand. He focused on the man before him—Foundation Establishment? Kranos was surprised; the aura emanating from this stranger felt eerily similar to his own.

After some moments of thought he felt it was plausible since the man before him could very likely be a surbodinate of the creature responsible for this harm. Just as he guessed previously, the figure had noticed everything he did in the village.

Fortunately the creature was occupied with something and couldn’t come giving him a chance to catch his breath…

…

The man clad in black studied kranos for a moment before letting out a slight chuckle, “Young boy, don’t be so guarded. You’ve yet to experience the true vastness of the world. Do you really believe this small planet is all there is? Follow my master, and he’ll show you a world far beyond your imagination.”

Kranos sneered inwardly, the man was trying to entice him after noticing that he was just a little kid. But he could never guess that Kranos was, in truth, an old monster over ninety years of age—one who had lived through countless schemes and betrayals.

Kranos didn’t reveal his true thoughts rather he appeared to be pondering on the man’s words. His face showed a hesitant expression as though he wanted to agree but seem to have second thoughts. Seeing this, the man grew more confident and pressed further.

“Young boy, you have nothing to worry about, you and I are actually similar in many ways,” the man said removing his hood. Kranos got a clear look at his face. The man had light skin and dark hair tinged with with a shade of purple at the edges, a smile hung on his lips as he spoke.

No corruption? Kranos was stunned. Normally, those tainted by the creature would slowly degrade into monsters. But this man looked perfectly human—almost indistinguishably so.

Wait… indistinguishable? A chilling thought flashed through Kranos’ mind.

If even he couldn’t tell them apart from normal humans, didn’t that mean they could have already infiltrated the safe haven? If so, its destruction was only a matter of time… If it hadn’t already happened.

Kranos immediately felt a sense of urgency, but there was nothing he could do, he even had the thought of ’accidentally’ letting the other villagers die but that wouldn’t change anything.

Countless thoughts raced through his mind in an instant. Then, Kranos made a decision. “Alright… I’ll join your ranks,” he said, nodding solemnly.

The man grinned in satisfaction. He reached into his pocket and retrieved something. Kranos stared at the object and noticed that it was a curled-up insect-like creature. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a purple worm. His eyes widened in astonishment.

Although he had an idea as to what this was he couldn’t help but ask, “what is that?”

“This,” the man replied proudly, “is the Corruption Gu, a creation of our master.”

“What does it do? How does it work,” kranos asked calmly. The worm was vastly different from the Gu that had currupted the villagers and the others.

In that case the figure had already displayed two Gu worms, maybe there’s a third, kranos wondered in his heart.

The man hesitated for a moment, but seeing that kranos was just a child he felt there was no harm in telling him, “this is the source of our strength, if you swallow this you will feel you aptitude increase greatly, bottlenecks will no longer be a problem, your strength will soar greatly! Besides you will have an undying body.”

When the man reached this point he took out the longsword on his back and slashed his own hand. Such ruthlessness stunned kranos, but the next moment his expression changed drastically.

He saw that the man’s hand had fallen to the ground but the next moment later, a writhing tentacle burst from the man’s shoulder, latched onto the hand, and reattached it effortlessly. The next moment the man waved his hand as though nothing had happened.

Kranos could hardly believe what he was seeing. He knew that the man told him this and even displayed it to him for two reasons…

The first was he believed kranos would join their ranks, the second was to tell kranos… see? I can’t die! Do you have a choice but to join our ranks? Even if you chose to be stuborn and fight with your life on the line i will just cut off all your limbs and make you swallow the Corruption Gu!

Kranos understood all of this which was why he was horified, but the again, could one possibly be immortal? Kranos no longer wanted to continue discussing with the man, with a flash he vanished into thin air.

He appeared behind the man, his sword was already thrusting forward aiming for the man’s heart, if a creature had a fatal weakness it would definitely in the heart or head, kranos decided to aim for the former first. Seeing kranos attack the man’s expression immediately turned ferocious.

“You really don’t know what’s good for you, kid!” he snarled, drawing his sword and parrying the strike.

A loud explosion rumbled through the forest and the force of the collision sent kranos and man several feets apart. But kranos didn’t let up, he immediately attacked again, his sword flashed rapidly as he clashed with the man, executing daylight strike.

As he fought, Kranos remained fully focused, yet his mind raced, desperately analyzing the enemy’s weaknesses. His sword struck the man’s arm and with a bang the man was knocked back a few feet, his arm was fractured and mangled, only being held by a thin piece of flesh, but the next moment a few worm-like tentacles sprung up and rearanged the man’s arm.

He rushed forward and struck at kranos’ abdomen forcing him to use space flash to dissappear and appear behind the man.

Without hesitation, he followed up with Space Slash, the air itself distorted rapidly as if being torn apart.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep