Chapter 352
Jake sprinted through the overgrown streets, heading for another of Los Demonios’ secondary bases. A swarm of his minions followed closely behind. The crawlers scuttled on their long, powerful legs, while wingclaws soared through the air above. He navigated through the city, taking occasional turns at intersections and getting gradually closer to his destination.
At one point, as he reached another intersection, he noticed something on his left. He knew he needed to take a right, but there was something strange on the left-hand street, so he sent his minions a mental command to halt. Then, he turned left to examine the object that had caught his attention.
He saw a multistory building with something strange attached to its front wall. Having never encountered anything like it before, Jake approached the building to examine the oddity. It was some kind of deformed mass that appeared to be of organic origin, stretching across the entire section of the front wall up to the windows on the third floor.
What the hell is that? Jake thought. The strange matter resembled the Corruption covering every surface in his lairs, but it wasn’t exactly the same. It was very dark, though not as black as the Corruption. It visibly pulsed with a strange life, as if it were a living organism. Jake also sensed waves of heat radiating from it, causing the surrounding air to shimmer slightly.
Whatever it was, Jake didn’t like it at all. He was getting really bad vibes from it. He wondered what it could be, but no possible answer came to mind. Could it be another form of Corruption? What if there was another Corruptor like himself hiding in the city?
Jake found it hard to believe, though. So far, he hadn’t seen any signs of another morphus in the city. If there had been another one, he would definitely have crossed paths with it by now. So, while this strange mass resembled Corruption, it was clearly something else entirely.
Jake stepped up to the wall covered in the strange mass of organic matter. Morphing his right hand into claws, he swiped at it. His sharp talons carved deep grooves into the mass, but to his astonishment, the scratches healed almost instantly.
Undeterred, he morphed his other hand into claws and launched a fierce flurry of slashes at the strange organic matter on the wall. He tore chunks out of it, creating long deep gashes, but they filled back in almost as soon as they were made. He maintained his relentless assault for a couple of minutes until he finally gave up. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t inflict any lasting damage on this bizarre substance.
He took a step back from the wall covered in the strange mass, examining it once more. It resembled the organic protective matter covering the bodies of shamblers and whippers, shielding them from damage and regenerating after taking hits. However, unlike that, the mass covering the wall was far more powerful: its regenerative abilities worked much more efficiently, almost instantly repairing any damage he inflicted, no matter how severe.
Jake had definitely never encountered anything like that before. Still, he was determined to find a way to damage it. Opening his mouth wide, he launched a glob of acid at the substance-covered wall. It splattered against the surface, sizzling and smoking for a brief moment before completely disappearing. Any damage it did to the mass was immediately repaired.
Jake could hardly believe what he was seeing. Nevertheless, he had a few more tricks up his sleeve. In his inventory was a collection of gemstones that could bestow him with a variety of elemental attacks. He planned to experiment with each one to determine if the organic matter had a weakness to any of them.
For the next several minutes, Jake busied himself with exactly that. He retrieved a couple of gemstones from his inventory, absorbed them into the flesh of his hands, and then attacked the substance covering the wall. After noticing that one type had no effect on the strange mass, he would retrieve a different set of gemstones and try again.
Name: Ravage Contamination Impacted Area: Less than 1% of the Overall City Territory |
It was both intriguing and alarming. This was the first time he had come across the so-called Ravage contamination. A flurry of unanswered questions raced through his mind. What exactly was this substance? What had caused it? He felt certain that, although the strange mass seemed harmless at the moment, it would inevitably lead to some really bad effects in the future.
As he stared at the contaminated wall, he noticed something troubling. The substance was indeed creeping upward, and pretty fast at that. While he had been focused on trying to damage it, the mass expanded, climbing to the fifth floor and engulfing the previous two levels. This was definitely a cause for concern. Whatever was occurring was alarming.
When he checked the city’s contamination level again, he noted that it had increased to 2%. The patch of Ravage contamination in front of him was clearly not the only one in the city. There had to be more occurrences of this bizarre substance coating buildings somewhere in other areas of the city. The Ravage contamination had obviously emerged not long ago, but it was spreading at a concerning rate.
It was alarming, for sure. However, Jake wasn’t certain what he could do about it at the moment. He would return to this matter later, but for now, he needed to focus on the task at hand. Turning away from the contaminated building, he mentally ordered his minions to follow him and resumed heading toward the Los Demonios’ secondary base, the destination he had been headed for before he was distracted by this oddity.
Hey guys! Thank you for reading! I've recently posted Chapter 2 of my brand-new story! It's called Venator Arcanus and it's a Power Fantasy LitRPG. You can check it out here if you're interested: