Chapter 212: Thorns and Beasts, Purification and Request

I never dare to recall the scene of "Fengxi Village" that night.

Broken corpses and collapsed houses, scarlet blood gathered into a pool of blood on the ground like maple syrup.

"Did I do this?" I asked myself this over and over in my heart.

And the flesh between my fingers, and the thick blood gas in my mouth that was nauseating yet delicious and sweet, had already given the answer.

I became a monster.

It was just like the maple forest behind the village, clearly it was still the morning when the sky was just dawning when I entered, and when I looked up again, the sun had already set.

Days in the forest always pass quickly.

I probably know what happened to me.

Therefore, after that night, I rarely contacted others again.

Wandering in the depths of the mountains and forests all day, only occasionally taking advantage of the brightest noon of the sun to go to nearby towns to exchange for some necessary supplies with the residents.

But it never lasted long.

The whispers echoing in my ears and the increasingly manic beast roars in my heart swallowed my consciousness on those nights when the moonlight was like daylight.

No matter how far I ran.

When I woke up, my body was still covered in fresh blood.

In front of me, there were always more or less a few corpses lying there.

I gradually began to get used to it.

Even no longer resisting the beast lurking in the depths of my inner shadows.

The time spent on all fours became longer and longer, and the days of walking on two legs became shorter and shorter.

The memory of once being a human became increasingly blurred, and I even forgot my name.

Many times, it was as if I were just a cold, cruel evil beast.

Until that day, I met a powerful adventurer.

He seemed to see the blood on my claws, and that light, which was more intense than the sun, also caused me serious injuries.

My consciousness became more blurred, and I didn't know where I fled.

And when I lay under the tree, thinking I would die like this.

Laini appeared.

Until today, I still remember her appearance in my eyes at that moment.

The blinding sunlight shone from behind her, as if she were draped in a layer of soft holy light, flowing between her golden hair strands, and even her facial features became incomparably holy.

She wore a pure white robe, the thorn necklace around her neck went straight into the inner collar, and only a small part could be seen, and the emerald green light radiating from her fair palms was so warm, making people sink into it.

My injuries were thus able to recover.

Seeming to notice the unnaturalness of my expression, and the anxiety and pain in my heart.

Before parting, Laini gave me a small cluster of wild mint she had picked nearby.

She said, "Mint grows in inconspicuous corners, but has a clear fragrance, dispelling turbidity and bringing tranquility."

"The grace bestowed by the gods is sometimes like this cluster of mint, small and tenacious, giving comfort when needed."

"Tenacious vitality, small good deeds, purification and hope."

I don't know why, even though I had forgotten my name and the memory of being a human was as blurred as the clouds in the sky, I always remembered this paragraph of her words.

And that cluster of mint, that touch of cool and quiet fragrance, seemed to have truly calmed my heart.

I didn't dare to approach the town where Laini lived.

Because I was worried that what happened in "Fengxi Village" would repeat itself in the town.

But the inexplicable feelings surging in my heart made me unable to stop hiding in the dim alley once a month when my psychology was most stable, just to look at her from afar.

Watch her treat the wounds on the knees of naughty children, drive away the pain for the pale-faced wife in her husband's arms, and recite eulogies for the dead elderly at funerals.

Unlike myself, Laini was the most popular person in the whole town.

I thought the days would just pass like this, until one day I truly gathered the courage, or found a way to suppress the beast in my body.

But I also knew in my heart that I, who was covered in blood and carried sin, did not deserve such a peaceful life.

Laini left, with two strange adventurers.

I was genuinely happy for her to find her own path, and also sincerely wished that she could continue on the path of an adventurer.

But the keen perception of the beast made me smell the gloomy rot radiating from those two adventurers.

The anxiety surging in my heart made me follow them secretly.

And what happened after that was also the first time I felt fortunate to possess the power of a beast. 【2

I saved Laini's corpse from the hands of those two adventurers.

She did not fear my beast-like body, and there was not a hint of disgust in her eyes.

Her injuries were so severe she could no longer speak; just before she died, she tightly clutched the necklace that had always been buried deep beneath her collar and handed it to me.

The necklace was very beautiful, woven from thorns, with a crystal pendant emitting a verdant green light at the bottom, reflecting Laini's pale face.

Those two adventurers were very strong; even after my beast transformation, I was no match for them at all.

I kept running away.

Perhaps it was the anger in my heart, the longing for revenge and power, but I found that my sanity was gradually becoming clear.

The beastliness roaring within my heart and the whispers echoing in my ears seemed to dissolve into the mane that shook as I ran.

Strange knowledge emerged from my mind as if by instinct; I began to be able to control the beast deep within my heart and grasped the ability to manipulate thorns and incite beasts.

But this alone was not enough against those two experienced, veteran adventurers.

Fragile thorns could not stop that blue-grey stone spear that tore through the air, and ordinary beasts in the forest had no room to resist under those two poisoned blades.

Perhaps it was luck favoring me.

A few months later, I suddenly arrived at an area where magic particles were extremely dense; the beasts inhabiting here were far stronger than those elsewhere.

And the mist permeating the air also made me realize that this was the extremely dangerous magic beast gathering place that I had often heard people in the village mention during my childhood—the "Mist Forest."

I stayed in the forest for a while, drove away some adventurers I encountered, and confirmed through repeated attempts that my abilities were still effective here.

This was the perfect place to settle everything and bring it all to an end.

These two people would be no match for the powerful magic beasts in the forest.

But what could I do to make these two shrewd and cunning adventurers willing to take the risk of venturing deep into the forest, and not retreat even when facing wave after wave of magic beast sieges, creating the conditions for my revenge?

I made a crazy decision.

I planned to join their team and, as a squad member, lead these two people into a trap step by step.

And only when I was in the team would the beast herds in the forest actively attack them.

Of course, before that, I needed a name—a new one to replace the one that had been forgotten as memories blurred.

"Bo He."

"My name is 'Bo He'."

I said as much to the two people in front of me.

The plan went very smoothly.

Those two adventurers did not suspect my identity, or rather, my disguise as a "novice adventurer" made them not care about my background—it would all end the same way anyway.

The only unexpected factor was that black-haired youth who also joined halfway and was called "Grey Sword" by the people in town.

A "newcomer" who, according to the two, had only recently obtained a professional level.

I hadn't paid much attention to him at first; after all, if he were really just a novice professional, he would be nothing more than an extra bite or two for the dangerous magic beasts in the forest.

Until a few days ago, when facing that pack of Temple Night-Walking Wolves.

That flash of iron-grey sword light gave me a sense of danger far greater than the two of them combined.

The plan changed accordingly. I would use this man's hand to kill those two adventurers.

Even if it meant paying a far greater price than before.

... I succeeded.

An Owl Bear that wasn't in the plan, and the disrupted formation seemed to make those two adventurers suspicious of Grey Sword.

And all it would take was a little more fuel to ignite the atmosphere in the team, which had been suppressed to the extreme.

Without the slightest surprise, faced with the magic item on my "corpse," the two launched an attack on Grey Sword.

"Tap, tap."

Stepping on fallen leaves, the sound of light, slow footsteps came from the shadows in the dense forest ahead.

A petite and frail figure gradually emerged from the depths of the darkness.

Her slightly greenish, black-brown short hair swayed gently with the movement of her body, and her plain-colored robe, stained with blood, trailed on the ground.

From the Owl Bear's powerful strike, her chest was sunken, but the surface was covered with a layer of emerald-green light, and her injuries were rapidly recovering.

There was no frailty from weakness as before, nor the stumbling that should follow a serious injury.

Bo He's footsteps were incredibly steady, even carrying a hint of lightness.

She looked nothing like a fragile spellcaster who had been seriously injured.

Reflecting the moonlight from above, her cheeks were still pale, but all the expressions she used to use for cover had dissipated.

All that remained was an indescribable, silent calm.

Those eyes, which reflected light slightly in the night like a beast's, passed over Xia Nan, passed over the corpses on the field, and finally stopped on the emerald-green radiance beside the tree trunk in the center of the clearing.

She took a step.

"Drip."

Viscous scarlet blood dripped from the tip of the iron-grey sword, splashing crystalline blood flowers on the meadow.

Staring at the frail figure walking slowly past in front, Xia Nan did not move.

He could feel that the other party was not coming with good intentions.

Having long sensed that something was wrong with Bo He, he wasn't particularly surprised by her current "mantis stalks the cicada, oriole follows behind" behavior.

This was reality, not a plot from an anime or game; given his personality, once he confirmed friend from foe, he would never give the other party even a second of pause or time to explain their intentions.

The reason he didn't make a move right now, but instead stood where he was and watched her walk past,

was because he sensed the subtle movements coming from beneath the ground around him.

Now that she heard Kashi say this, she couldn't help but suspect Xia Nan in her heart.

For a month and a half, since the mission of the Night-Walking Wolves, she had been paying high attention to this black-haired young man who joined the team halfway in the dark.

She knew that the other party's strength was far stronger than the newcomer she recognized, and she often suspected whether Xia Nan was lying to her.

But during the adventure, he hadn't made fewer mistakes that only appeared in novices, and he had also shown extreme lack of information regarding some professional aspects.

It didn't look like acting.

And Kashi's speculation cast a layer of mist over Xia Nan's image in her heart, making it unclear.

However, the development of things to now, it didn't matter.

Xia Nan still followed at the end.

Don't know why, he always felt a bit strange.

But specifically where it was strange, he couldn't say.

Maybe it was the dim twilight, the dim light leaking from the canopy above; maybe it was the jet-black figure of the Beastman that had disappeared into the depths of the grey mist; or maybe it was just a branch he had stepped on and broken under his feet just now...

Attributed to the blurred inspiration under high perception.

Things had come to this, he naturally couldn't retreat like this.

But he would never rush in recklessly.

While becoming increasingly vigilant in his heart, he followed the two and continued to pursue forward.

A few minutes passed in a flash.

Xia Nan didn't even accelerate, just hung far behind his teammates.

Then he saw Kashi and Weiruisi standing still in place by coincidence.

Following up, his gaze looked forward.

What appeared in his field of vision was a rare open space in the Mist Forest.

The area was not large, about the size of half a basketball court.

But in the environment where every corner of the field of vision was full of trees, it strangely gave people a feeling of emptiness and tranquility.

In the very center of the open space was an oak tree that was significantly thicker than other similar trees around it, about the thickness of five people hugging.

The shadow cast by the dense canopy on the ground, set against the increasingly dim twilight, looked like the corpse of a fallen giant in the blur.

And in the deepest part of the tree shade, it was dotted with scarlet blood and the laborious "he-he" panting sound.

The target of the Sea Thorn Squad, that jet-black bear-like Beastman, was leaning against the tree trunk.

The cold and sharp eyes that refracted yellow-green light like ghost fire, the focus was gradually fading; the amplitude of the chest heaving was gradually slowing down, and the vitality was passing away rapidly.

And the most striking thing was that between its neck, like some kind of necklace pendant, it was hung by slender branches, a touch of emerald green light radiating a rich aura of life.

A sense of deja vu emerged inexplicably in Xia Nan's heart.

But before he had time to think more.

From the teammate beside him.

A flash of cold light flashed in his peripheral vision suddenly.

In his ears, was the sharp whistling sound of a sharp blade tearing through the air.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 210 =====

The beastliness suppressed for over a hundred days and nights surged out from the depths of her heart like a flood when the hatred was finally ended.

The dam constructed by her will collapsed, and her human reason was instantly swallowed.

Thorns and beasts, rage and resentment.

With no reason to hold on any longer, Bo He chose to embrace her beastliness.

The full moon overhead,

the corpses of her enemies before her.

On the thorn-covered ground, under the gaze of countless beasts.

There was no possibility of resistance; even the last shred of her consciousness as a human was torn apart by the beast in her heart.

She instinctively completed the final step of the beast transformation ritual.

Boom—

Dust erupted!

Brown thorns surged like a tide from the soil, tangling and weaving, carrying the stench of plant sap and mud, and pounced toward Xia Nan.

Amidst manic roars, fierce beasts charged into the field, their fangs and claws gleaming under the moonlight.

Looking at the twisted, expanding, hideous figure in front,

Xia Nan only felt inexplicably confused.

"Thanks? Why thanks?"

"Help? Do I even have room to refuse?"

(End of Chapter)