Undead Plane. The lands of the undead plane appeared to be completely dry, with high temperatures due to the lack of rain. Although a few mysterious ponds and lakes appeared here and there, they were infected with a strange power and made the world inhabitable. Even in this situation, a few poisonous plant species, mutated trees, small animals like mutant rodents, and insects managed to survive till now. But they, too, were on the brink of extinction.
In the northern part of the Undead Place, a small mountain stood alone in the middle of the wasteland, dominating its surroundings. Surrounding that mountain was only rocky plains. A pond appeared next to the mountain and was surrounded by strange, withered plants and trees, giving the area an eerie feel.
The wasteland area was too quiet, and only occasional chirping noises were heard.
If someone looks at those insects' eyes, they will find that they resemble more like red gems. Did the strange chaotic power already infect them? No one knew the answer.
Suddenly, four humanoid figures emerged from the mining cave at the base of a small mountain and disturbed the peaceful atmosphere. They were Abium and his group.
Once they walked out of the cave's opening, Abium saw tens of wooden mining carts parked at the entrance. Additionally, he noticed a dirt passage moving to the left and thought of following that path.
'I should check the surroundings first.' He nodded inwardly, released his spirit power, activated the [Spiritual Scan] ability, and checked the surroundings.
After confirming that there were no enemies nearby, he breathed a sigh of relief and muttered.
"I think those skeletons are not pursuing us now. But this world looks more like a large desertland." He quietly took out his sword and put it on his waist as he spoke.
At that moment, Fennelis also noticed the changes in the surrounding air and spoke.
"I'm also sensing that the air's impurities are growing denser and denser."
Meanwhile, Abium nodded his head in approval and thought of what to do next.
'I don't know what that Goddess is planning, but we've got to find a way to leave this plane sooner. If my guess isn't wrong, it should be the same plane Runeth planned to send us on the final mission.' When they were pursued by the undead skeletons earlier, Abium noticed some resemblance with the undead skeletons they faced during the first mission and concluded.
'They spoke a similar language. But the question is: How can we get out of this plane?' A grim look appeared on his face.
Although he had enough rations and water to survive for more than four more months, what he lacked now was time!
'The longer I stay here, the more problems my friends will face in Easica World.'
He also had a bad feeling regarding the weather. He peered up and noticed that the sun was already masked by darkness.
He quietly observed the darkened sun and then shifted his gaze towards a huge moon-like structure hanging in the opposite sky. However, unlike the moon he had seen in the Easica World, its color was reddish, and its size was double that of the normal moon.
Just looking at the moon gave him an uneasy feeling. He speculated it might be too big to call itself a moon.
'Maybe a planet?'
While he was pondering about those random things, Nicolaus suddenly noticed the lone pond that appeared ahead of them and started walking towards it.
"There is water in this place!" He added.
Abium and Fennelis also snapped out of the daze, turned towards that direction, and followed after him with slow footsteps. A few mixtures of rotten red-colored plants grew all around that pond and made it seem eerie. The group also saw a few withered trees in the vicinity of the pond, and they appeared to be on the verge of dying down.
As Abium and others moved closer to the pond, a foul smell assaulted their nose.
"Why is this place so smelly?" Fennelis covered her nose and slowed her footsteps.
Soon, she shifted her gaze towards the pond water and frowned.
"It's not water."
Indeed, what appeared in front of them was not water but some dark liquid!
It gave off an ominous sensation whenever they looked at the liquid.
"Acid?" Abium raised his eyebrows in suspicion, moved towards the nearby withered tree, and broke off a branch.
Then, he aimed at the pond and hurled the stick towards it. The dried wood flew forward with a whirring sound and soon reached the black liquid.
Once the stick touched the black liquid, it started to decay and soon turned into ashes!
'That's not acid. It looks more like a liquid that corrodes everything!' Abium furrowed his brows and soon felt something was off about this place.
After a short moment of silence, he quickly raised his hand and told everyone to back away.
"Back off!"
However, the rotting withered trees near the black pond suddenly whirled in all directions and began shaking.
The next instant, a few infected black-colored fruits fall from those trees, burst open like some explosive fruit, and spread spores everywhere!
'I have a bad feeling about this.' Abium's expression turned grim as he saw the fruit explosions and tried to back away.
Meanwhile, Nicolaus looked at the withered trees with a shocked face and asked.
"How are these trees swinging their branches like some living thing?"
"It might be due to this unique environment," Abium spoke solemnly and continued to back away.
In truth, he had heard of these sensitive types of trees from stories and myths.
'The Elder Trees are one of those trees.'
While thinking, Abium surveyed the nearby areas using his Spiritual Scan function and soon froze.
At that moment, he noticed multiple red dots that appeared in the surrounding areas and got confused.
'Strange. No enemy signs appeared on the map when I scanned earlier, though. So, Azolla considered these trees as enemies now, huh?'
While he was thinking, the infected fruit spores had already spread into the air and began to affect the surrounding area. The first to be affected by those spores was Umi.
She showed a vacant look and started walking towards the black pond.
Fennelis instantly noticed the anomaly, grabbed Umi's hand in a hurry, and tried to walk her up.
"Umi, what happened? Wake up!"
Unfortunately, no response came from Umi. She gave a foolish smile, opened her arms wide, and tried to run towards the area.
"Illusion?" Abium also realized something as he shifted his gaze towards the pores and hurriedly covered his nose.
"Don't inhale those spores."
He said as he turned around and thought of moving further away from the black pond. Fennelis also did the same while carrying Umi in her arms and tried to follow after him.
But before they could walk ten meters away from the black pond, a sudden tremor came from the deep belly of the earth, causing the earth to move like a wave. The sudden surge caused everyone to drop to the ground, and then slowly; they saw something rise from the black pond.
A second later, a monstrous reptile-type undead appeared in their vision.
It had a reptilian head with two horns, two bone wings with rotten flesh and liquid flowing everywhere, a monstrous tail, and two metal-like legs.
Every part of that monster's bone was covered in deep black and red lines and looked eerier. In terms of size, it was nearly six meters long and three meters tall.
'No good.' Abium quickly activated the [Spiritual Scan] skill and scanned it while backing away.
[Name: Unknown
Race: Undead Wyrm (Magical Beast type)
Level: Tier-1
Affiliation: Chaos
Physical Attributes:
Strength-8
Agility-9.1
Vitality-8.9
Spirit- 125
Chaos Spells: Chaos Breath, Wyrm Dominance, Poison Claws, Metal Skin, Undead Call.]
'What the h*ck?! It's an Undead Magical Beast!' Although he didn't know how powerful an undead Magical Beast would be in this world, he vaguely guessed that it would be like the ones he had seen in Easica World.
'We have to escape.'
What made him more anxious was its reddish eyes.
'That creature is affected by the chaos power and seems to be in a berserk state.' Just as they took two more steps, the Undead Wyrm walked out of the black pool, shook its body to remove the eerie liquid from its body, and opened its wide mouth before roaring.
Roarrrrrrrr!
After a loud, ear-piercing roar, that Undead Wyrm bit the nearby tree and shredded it with its wide jaws. The Undead Wyrm raised its lizard head towards the sky and roared.
Roarrrrrr!
Once again, a deep roar emerged from that Wyrm's mouth, followed by a mysterious pressure that assaulted their bodies.
If Abium and others were in a mortal state, they would've long become unconscious. Thankfully, they managed to resist the spiritual pressure and continued to run away from the black pond.
Meanwhile, the Undead Wyrm shook its head and remained standing near the pond for a few more seconds. After some time, it suddenly shifted its gaze towards their direction and locked onto them!
Sensing its gaze, Abium shuddered a bit.