NOVEL NEXT Chapter 570: Who are you?
Horam flashed his eyes open, sensing a new presence on the Dune. A long black snake slithered next to him immediately, wanting his attention. Horam chuckled and patted its head lovingly.
"Good morning, my fellow bald friend. It looks like we will have some entertainment today." Horam chuckled. In response, the snake hissed. Both of them then shifted their attention to the huge mirror in their base, where they could clearly see a lone man standing in the poisonous miasma.
"How long do you think that this one would last?" Horam smirked. The snake hissed. "I think so too buddy. Maybe a minute. Even that would be giving him too much credit.
The two continued watching when, suddenly, something surprising happened. A lot of miasma started gathering around the man, or to be more specific, his corpse. Obviously, no one could survive all that miasma. But his corpse seemed to possess something unique.
Horam's eyes immediately lit up with excitement. A lot of his order members were currently on the move, and right now, he was the only one in the base. And it looked like this was his lucky day. He had stumbled into something truly extraordinary.
The corpse should have an amazing item on it to make the miasma react like this. Without wasting any more time, Horam immediately took out a potion and drank it. He then started climbing up a spiraling staircase, his slithering friend hissing alongside him.
As Horam reached the top of the staircase, the potion's effects kicked in, turning his pupils slitted and his skin faintly translucent. His veins glowed faint green as his body adapted to the outside miasma.
When he reached the final gate, a massive door carved with various sigils, he pressed his hand to the center sigil. The gate moved, allowing him passage. Horam enthusiastically stepped outside, but the moment he did, he froze. The sight that greeted him was not what he had expected.
The man, no, the "corpse", was standing upright. Not dissolving. Not melting. Not even breathing heavily. The swirling miasma that should have erased his existence was instead orbiting him like a living storm. Each breath the stranger took pulled more venom into his body.
Horam's grin faltered. His snake hissed uneasily. "What… in the name of…" he muttered, eyes widening.
Damon slowly turned his head, his crimson eyes glowing faintly through the haze. The corners of his lips curved upward in a dangerous, almost amused smirk. "Found you."
Horam's blood ran cold. The miasma itself seemed to obey the man's will, coiling and tightening around him like a throne of poison made flesh.
"You…" Horam began, but the word stuck in his throat. The miasma pressure alone made it hard to breathe. His snake hissed violently, baring fangs, but even it seemed reluctant to lunge forward.
The members of their order had some resistance to the poisonous miasma, but even they weren't completely above it. They needed to consume the antidote potion beforehand, and even that granted them only a few seconds of immunity. But this man…
Damon stepped through the swirling poison casually as if none of it bothered him anymore. His gaze locked on Horam with predatory focus. "You're with the Venom Sigil, aren't you?"
Horam instinctively took a step back. "Who… who are you?" he demanded, voice breaking slightly despite himself.
Damon chuckled. "Does it matter?" he replied. "You'll find out soon enough."
Before Horam could react, Damon raised a hand. The miasma around him converged instantly, forming a sphere of dense green-black energy that pulsed like a heart. A flick of his wrist sent it streaking across the dune.
Horam dove aside, barely escaping as the sphere struck the ground behind him and erupted in a silent explosion, not of fire, but of rot. The sand itself changed into oily sludge.
The man… No. It was a bloodsucker, and he was able to manipulate their miasma to such an extent? What the hell was going on? Horam's eyes went wide.
Damon's smirk deepened. He extended his arm, and the swirling miasma thickened into blades of poison floating beside him like ghostly wings. "Now then, let's have a chat, shall we? I've been looking for your little Order."
Horam hesitated for a heartbeat and then bolted, activating a green rune on his wrist. Immediately, several bursts of poisonous geisers erupted from the ground.
The ground beneath Damon's feet hissed and split open. Jets of viridian gas roared upward, forming walls of venomous smoke that twisted into serpentine shapes. Each geyser carried a corrosive sting so strong that even metal would melt within seconds. But Damon didn't move.
Instead, he simply tilted his head, watching the display with mild amusement. Once again, the order managed to surprise him. These poisonous bursts actually harmed him and took down his health quite a bit. A big chunk of 20%.
"You guys are really talented." Damon grinned and continued walking forward.
Horam couldn't believe it. He thought that their defensive mechanisms would do the trick, but the nightmare was still not over.
The snake on his shoulders hissed, its scales splitting open as it expanded into a colossal black serpent with three heads. "S'kar! Restrain him!" Horam shouted.
The massive serpent struck, fangs glowing with liquid venom that could melt through mountains. Damon didn't even blink. His blood flared crimson, wrapping his body in a shimmering aura that turned translucent green wherever the venom touched it, absorbing it, and digesting it.
His shadow clone then emerged to take care of the snake. At the same time, Damon appeared in front of Horam in the blink of an eye, one hand gripping the man's throat before he could even blink. "All I wanted to do was talk. Is that so difficult?" he said calmly.
Horam tried to speak, but his voice came out as a choked hiss. The veins around his neck began to blacken where Damon's fingers touched.
"Now," Damon continued, leaning in close enough that his fangs gleamed through the haze, "Tell me. Where is your base and all your members?"