The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 312: Wonders and horrors (3)

Chapter 312: Wonders and horrors (3)

A/N: this is the regular Chapter of today.

Bonus Chapters owed: 3 out of the 4.

Thank you for reading and supporting me. Please continue to do so.

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"What... What the hell is this?"

Hex heard the captain whisper in horror beside him. The captain seldom spoke and appeared to be a man who had weathered plenty of storms in his life. And yet, even someone like him seemed flustered at the sight below them. Hex hadn’t seen the man tremble even amid the sandstorm that threatened to leave them dead or disabled.

But his emotions were natural. Hex could understand him as he felt something similar. He was sure they both thought back to the High Queen’s words once they saw the people inside the nest.

They are known to enter the body through one of the orifices and live for a certain amount of time. The creature they inhabit provides sustenance to them.

"They are the ones already functioning as the host of those creatures."

Hex put the horror in the words and sensed the captain shudder at them. A normal response.

They studied the nest a little. Hex counted at least ten humans, a large bird, and a raccoon-like creature, lying inside the wide nest. They all seemed alive. The beasts lay still but the humans groaned in pain.

He saw their bloodshot eyes, crawling veins, and starved bodies, wondering how some had survived till now.

"There. Those two," the captain whispered with some urgency in his voice, as he pointed at two people lying a bit away from the nest.

Hex recognized those two. Both women had been part of their group. They lay naked and shivered in the cold. Their clothes fluttered in the dark.

One was already on her back but the younger one sat on her knees with her hands clasped around her neck. Hex could see the tip of what looked to be a tail, still sticking out of her mouth.

"Let’s go!" Hex motioned as he jumped to his feet.

He had no idea what he would do about the others. Could these people even be considered humans at this point? He didn’t know. What he did know was that the girl needed help. Her struggle showed her resolve to fight and he would help her with that.

Flex Step

Hex used his oldest movement technique to descend. He didn’t sense a Space Pocket nearby and he feared that jumping onto the branch might alert the other snakes. He rather helped the girl first before tackling the others.

The hisses intensified as he approached the branch. The specks didn’t stop floating over, agitating the snakes into a frenzy. The humans wriggled harder. He even saw one claw another person closest to him.

Two others, one male and the other female, wrapped their skin-over-bone bodies around each other and moved in a suggestive manner. Hex stared in disbelief as he landed beside the girl.

"This is the way they procreate, using the bodily fluids of the creatures they inhabit to inseminate their eggs."

With a start, Hex turned back. A figure made of light, not larger than the size of his palm, fluttered in the air.

"I am Elize...the High Queen. I can control these specks to scout, attack, communicate, amidst many other things."

Hex sensed the air vibrate as she spoke. He stopped himself from analyzing her marvelous abilities.

"What do I do?" He asked, grabbing the end of the tail to stop the snake from disappearing inside. This seemed to cause the girl more pain. She gagged with tears streaming down her cheeks. She loosened her hands from her neck and grabbed her belly, which wriggled intensively.

"You need to stop them from moving first," she instructed.

"Will freezing them work?" Hex asked.

"Yes. Actually, the more you can freeze them, the better in removing their bits. But be precise. If you freeze the airways of the hosts, they will suffocate before the creatures can kill them."

Control wasn’t an issue. Involuntarily, he remembered his master’s instructions. He always emphasized control above other training paths. The bearhanded sword was his best Technique, Hex realized. Thanks to it, his control over his strength, energy, and elements stood out from every other person he met.

With a thought, the Ice element circle on the back of his hand lit up. The girl writhed in pain as the Ice spread through the tail, inward. Hex used his other hand to hold the girl in place – the captain helped by keeping the legs of the girl tied to the floor – and continued to pour the Ice element inside the girl.

After a few seconds, the girl wriggled less and less. He saw the movement in her stomach cease too.

"Now what?" He asked.

The snake was frozen solid. There was no way to pull it out.

"Break it into pieces. Try to keep the airways open. What remains in her stomach can be removed when we reach Salty Leaf City."

Hex followed her instructions and broke the frozen body into pieces. The log of the frozen snake’s body till the throat was removed easily. He didn’t know what to do with the rest though. Luckily, the airways and the path to the stomach differed.

He stood up and went to the woman at the side. Her stomach bulged. The snake inside her sensed the people outside and seemed to wriggle a lot.

"Freeze the stomach. The woman is still strong. She will survive such a treatment unless we fail to bring her in time to a proper healer."

Hex didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the woman and started to freeze the stomach area through the skin. This was something far harder than through an opening. If he applied too much Ice element through the skin, he risked tearing her body to shreds.

Suddenly, the woman jerked her pelvis up. She whimpered in pain. Hex didn’t understand why she reacted in such a manner but the captain, a man who experienced the world, looked up with a start.

"Turn her."

Hex, confused with his instruction, still helped turn the woman on her stomach. And then he saw. A small snake head wriggled out from the back.

’This,’ Hex took a deep breath. He grabbed the head, freezing it at once. He felt the body of the snake trying to writhe but he jerked at the head, pulling the small body of the snake out of the woman.

"It’s not matured yet."

Hex didn’t reply. In his heart, he thanked the poor woman’s fate. If it had matured, the damage to the woman’s body would be devastating.

Once they removed the snake, the woman fell onto the ground. Her weak breath showed she survived but was unconscious.

Hex stood up, gasping a little. He started to understand the meaning behind Elize’s words. The snakes were weak. At least, he could easily deal with them. The pain he sensed the people go through as he worked, was the hard part.

The nest was in a frenzy. The humans stared at them with wide eyes that seemed to almost pop out of their sockets. The stench of their breath and who knew what fluids mixed in there, assaulted Hex’s enhanced olfactory senses as he stepped closer to the nest.

"And them?"

"They are citizens from Salty Leaf City, who are reported to have disappeared the last couple of days."

"But can we save them?" Hex didn’t care if he didn’t know them. He would help if he could."

"Difficult. If you can freeze them while ensuring they survive, we can try to bring them to the city and see whether the Healers can help."

Hex spread his arms out and blasted Ice elements onto the nest. The snakes hissed loudly. Their panic was palpable in the air. But Hex didn’t show any mercy. The bodies froze, turning still, one at a time.

"How do we bring them out?"

The captain who remained back, asked, once Hex finished freezing the people. Hex sensed their life force plummet rapidly. They were dying.

"Put them onto my back."

Hex said, transforming into a large bear. The captain stirred the wind and lifted the people onto his back. He tried to be fast while being careful.

"You could have helped," Hex said, making sure only Elize could hear him. The snakes were terrifying in the way they fed and propagated. They weren’t strong. An Enlightened Knight like her should be able to eradicate them with ease.

"I could. Yes," Elize replied. She didn’t even bother to make an excuse. "But this was more interesting."

"Seeing others suffer is interesting?" Hex growled. He almost swathed her into specks.

"No. People always suffer. And I am not at leisure to search blindly for these creatures. If they hadn’t attacked us, I would not have discovered them."

"Then what is interesting."

"The fact that they attacked us. You see, creatures of the dark can sense light and energy better than others. Usually, they would flee as soon as we got near. Yet, they attacked."

"Why then?"

"Something...or someone attracted them."

Hex couldn’t see her face but he was certain her smile had widened even more. He knew she meant him.

"How...How could I have attracted them into an attack they knew they wouldn’t survive."

"I don’t know. Perhaps, it’s the bond they and you share?"

"What bond is that?" He asked.

"The bond with the Witch."