The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 196: Studying the murals (1)

Chapter 196: Studying the murals (1)

Splat.

The noise of soft explosions woke Hex up from his sleep. Despite the exhaustion, Hex turned battle-ready in a fraction of a second.

’It’s still dark.’

Through the opening, he peered outside. The soft glow of the half-full moon didn’t remove the darkness but provided enough light to have some visibility.

Splat.

There it was again. The noise that rose him from his sleep. Hex turned his gaze toward the source.

Black vapor rose from the corpse of the Disaster. Hex frowned. After surveying the surroundings, he exited the dome. Despite not sensing anything nearby, he remained cautious. The memory of the Calamity didn’t fade so quickly.

He crouched, ready to move, and moved slowly toward the corpse.

Splat.

This time he saw it clearly. It was the sound of flesh cooking and the blood splattering. At such a short distance he felt the heat coming from the corpse.

Hex observed the process without touching any part. After a while, he noticed the cause. The worst pieces of mangled and disjointed flesh were around the cuts and slashes he had made. He noticed the melting ice and wriggling black gaseous substance.

’The black gas truly corrodes and burns. But damn, I didn’t expect it to remain eating the flesh, even after so long.’

This was the second time Hex used the black gas consciously. The first time he was knocked out for a while so he missed the chance to see its effect. This time, he observed attentively.

The pungent smell released as the flesh cooked, spread through the air. With the wind in his back, Hex was spared the assault on his olfactory senses. He didn’t forget to cover his face with his cloak and ice element.

’The creature’s poison is perhaps mixed in this vapor. It would be sad if I die after killing the beast and aftermath of my own abilities.’

Time trickled slowly away. But Hex’s focus never wavered. He looked with interest as the flesh disintegrated, the blood cooked and turned into a paste of some sort, and the bones charred.

Finally, the tendons and flesh fell apart, turning the corpse into a mush. There was nothing to observe about it more. But Hex’s eyes were fixed on the black gas. There were thirty-one faint streams of it. The densest one existed in its heart. They moved at a snail-like pace but after watching for so long, Hex noticed something.

’The thirty streams around the body are all moving toward the heart. And the one at the heart seemed to be sinking into it. But why?’

His curiosity urged him to open the heart and check but Hex suppressed it. He decided not to intervene and only observe.

As time passed, Hex sensed some energy fluctuations at a distance. A few energy waves surpassed the one the creature before him possessed but none came near him. Hex suspected the poisonous gasses wafting through the air served as a warning to the other creatures. There was no way for Hex to discern whether the dangers above Disasters were near so he stopped worrying about it.

’Things you can do nothing about are not worth worrying over.’

It was a simple philosophy he picked up after all his experiences. It didn’t mean he would surrender to fate but some things were inevitable. It was why, despite meeting a Calamity and a Disaster on the first day of his mission, he didn’t despair. He just focused on surviving. Only those alive can have a chance to win.

After long boring hours, finally, the gas streams reached the heart. The one at the heart had long disappeared inside it. Seeing the the thirty streams also act similarly, increased Hex’s curiosity. He waited and finally, the last one disappeared.

"Let’s see what this is all about," he mumbled happily as he jerked the heart out of the fleshy parts. He handled the heart with care. Feeling the soft, rubbery texture in his palms, he smiled.

’Nothing to see from the outside.’

After ensuring he didn’t miss anything he opened the creature’s heart. In the middle of it, lay a crystal. The Disaster’s Crystal.

’Did it enter inside?’

He hurriedly retrieved the crystal and looked inside. A murky green color mixed with light blue glowed in the crystal. ’The nature element mixed with the wind element,’ he surmised. After studying the colors for a while, he noticed a black glob at the crystal’s center.

’Is that the black swirl? But it seems denser than before!’

Hex compared the swirl in his inner space. The quality of the black glob seemed to surpass the black swirl by a large margin.

’I wonder if I can fuse with it?’

Not willing to waste any time pondering on it, he sucked the colors and glob. In the next instance, he stood in the middle of his inner space. In front of him, the remnant soul of the Disaster appeared. It growled furiously but it couldn’t attack.

The black swirl wrapped around it. From Hex’s perspective, it seemed like a multi-tentacled creature engulfing its prey. The furious roars turned into panic and finally into desperate cries, ultimately disappearing entirely.

The remnant fragments turned into a gaseous substance, mixing with the black swirl. Although the underlying principles of the process remained a mystery, Hex grasped the process itself a little better.

’The black swirls are indeed the unwilling parts of the souls, merging with my inner space. It can be strengthened and increased by fusing remnants of stronger souls. I haven’t figured out the reason why remnant souls can be fused and used like this...but who cares? If I understand it someday okay...if not, as long as it can go boom...I will be satisfied.’

Barely a year ago, Hex didn’t even grasp the aspects of Blessed energy, ranks, and the various power struggles. In such a short time, he even witnessed Heaven’s descent and a battle surpassing the limits of real-life powers.

Chirp.

Hex looked up and saw a flock of birds fly over his head. The golden hue of the rising sun and the first rays peering through the tree crowns painted a peaceful picture. But the mushy flesh at his foot contrasted sharply with the illusion.

’A new day. Let’s hope life is less fucked up today.’ With a self-mocking smile, Hex walked toward the dome. It was time to locate where he was currently.

Hex entered the dome and surveyed the inner side. The ground consisted of broken tiles filled with scratch marks and dirt. In some places, the tiles seemed corroded and highly discolored compared to other areas.

’That should be poison gas it subconsciously released,’ Hex concluded. The smell inside seemed strangely less pungent than he expected.

The dome had an estimated radius of ten meters. Vines and plants grew inside the cracks in the wall and ceiling.

At the sides, Hex noticed wooden cabinets with broken glass doors. The walls were filled with murals but most had faded through time or were blocked by the vegetation growing atop.

Hex ignored the other stuff and studied the murals. His first task was to find himself on the map. Else, the notes and assistance of the map would be zero.

The female hero played the main part in all of the pictures. Her life seemed interesting. The murals depicted her battles against armies, beasts, and a dragon. Hex paused when he saw the giant winged reptile-like creature. To his frustration, the pictures after that were missing. There were many cracks and holes, making it difficult to decipher the rest.

’Was she the one who killed the Frost Dragon? One of the founders of Notrelune?’

Hex studied the history of the city briefly. After all, before the competition he already had a target inside the ruin, the corpse of the Devil-stage Frost Dragon. Although he never discovered traces of dragons, he read about the founders. There was only one female on the list of founders, Saint Elsa Oswaldo.

’There is no mention of her dome on the map,’ Hex sighed. But he still scoured the walls for a hint about another dome nearby. According to the mapmakers, there should be a map-like mural depicting the nearby domes.

’There it is!’

He needed to look up. The mural was on the ceiling.

’The Saint’s dome is at the inner circle. The one with the Calamity is a bit to the south and...yes, the Sword Dome. That is here on the map.’

Hex watched the map and matched the domes on the map. He landed around the center of the central area. And his path forward led through a place marked with a skull.

’A region of certain death? Another normal day I guess.’

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