Kingdom of the Malaise (12)

'So this is interesting... to day the least.'

Staring right at the pulsing red crystal that slowly beat in the middle of my inventory, I didn't know what to think.

'A Life crystal... Who would've thought I would be seeing this here?'

Taking out the red crystal of my inventory.

A sudden weight appeared on my hand.

Staring at the red crystal that had red light seeping out of it's cracks as it pulsed like a real heart despite looking nothing like a real heart.

I sighed and clasped it with both hands.

'No use in delaying the inevitable'

---

After enduring the striking pain that reconstituted my entire body from the ground up... again.

I felt more vitality course through my veins.

It was an unexplainable sensation that was hard to put in words but I definitely felt stronger.

'My aches are also gone'

Freely swinging my shoulders that felt like they had been rusted by the waves of time for a dozen years earlier, I marveled at how they now felt something you would find in a well oiled machine.

'It's not just my arms'

I now had a surprising amount of limberness in my body that wasn't present before.

I also felt the armor restricting my body from completely and freely moving now that I had a new sense of limberness.

The restrictions though were light and only appeared when I strained my body and tried to reach around with my new flexibilty.

Nothing else had changed besides that.

'I guess I should look at the rest'

Putting aside the Life crystal that immediately attracted my attention and somehow slipped my mind as I was making sure that I didn't have to strain my body and face hoards of different monsters.

I seemed to gain a great haul of goodies.

Besides the natural crafting materials that all had their uses such as the Silk that had some use I'm pretty sure to create clothes.

Maybe...

The rats seemed to have eaten various gems during their time in the sewers, albeit it isn't an overwhelming amount of them.

But the amount of gems that were gathered within my inventory could still make a sizeable pile that I couldn't hold all of them in my hands.

Staring at the gems of various colors the image of a chain that was made of these gems surfaced within my mind.

I once had one of these gems within my inventory so I was able to see that I was able to craft the gem hook.

But due to unavailability of the gems and inability to get more of them I was unable to craft them and ended up selling the gems.

But with this amount...

A small smile appeared on my face as I pocketed the gems within my inventory.

'I guess I can become a web slinger like him'

Recalling a the young child icon in red and blue spandex that had webs coming out of his hands, I grinned.

I'm pretty sure that I looked like a fool but I didn't mind.

I could become like a superhero! Although I guess I already could technically be called one.

Letting out a sigh I looked at the rest of the items, taking a look at them and understanding all of their capabilities carefully.

Their crafting results weren't disregarded either.

'I should go back to my base later and craft them up for future use'

---

Somewhere, left behind in the carnage that the unknown man with flaming black hair and piercing orange eyes had left behind.

A gigantic bonfire was burning profusely as the corpses being swallowed by the large blaze of death.

Monsters of various kinds, attracted by the corpses that were being devoured by the flames appeared near the bonfire.

And besides the copious amounts of monsters that appeared nearby they were loitering around now that they had reached their destination.

Some of them idly reaching into the flames disregarding the flames licking their bodies and taking out various still burning things.

A zombie that reached into the flames and was now burning from the feet and arms grabbed a chunk of still burning rat flesh and stared at it for a moment.

Opening it' s grisly mouth it swallowed the giant burning rat flesh into it's body without regards of personal health.

Not that zombies had any health to speak of any ways.

And strangely enough, the zombie suddenly started to convulse strangely as the burning flesh seared it's insides.

If one looked closely at the monster that was curling up onto the ground, they could see that it's body was shifting from underneath it's skin.

As whatever strange changes occurred within the zombie.

Several other monsters were also reaching into the flames or at the untouched rat corpses and ripped chunks of something off of them.

Whether that be Scorched Rat Bones, Bloody Rat meat or Toxic water soaked rat ogans.

The Monsters seemed to be searching for something specific from the rats before digging into the corpses and ripping them out.

And when they did.

Regardless of what state they were in, almost instinctively the monsters put it into their bodies in whatever ways possible.

A rat dug into it's comrades corpse and swallowed a trail of pink intestines with gruesome vigor.

Skeletons thrust bones into their bodies and let their bodies change visually underneath their old armor and clothes.

A gigantic worm swallowed a rat whole as wisps of flame travelled into it's gullet, the rat getting sliced up by the sharp knife like teeth.

Green bats dived into the flames and came out burning as they swallowed small teeth, eyes and bits of flesh.

A scorpion with three arrows sticking out of it's purple carapace clawed it's way through the corpses and even took two different parts from two rats and ate it.

Not all of the monsters took part in the gruesome feast that was occurring as the monsters seemed to only being selecting specific, more special... body parts.

But due to the immense mass of corpses that was present, their were enough monsters partaking in the feast that if felt like a festival.

And when they swallowed the body parts or thrust it into their bodies, without discrimination they immediately paused and let their comrades have a turn in looking for monster parts.

And the ones that paused...

They partook in a transformation that modified their bodies completely.

The Zombie that first took a bite out of the burning rat flesh finished it's convulsions as it's transformation finished.

Roaring to the air, a gout of flames left it's mouth as an orange glow appeared from it's lungs.

"GrrRROOAAAR!!!"

The flaming pillar coming from the mouth of a zombie that was previously... normal was the least of the surprises however.

The rat that ate it's comrade nearly doubled in size as the pink pustules on it's back doubled in number, spikes growing amongst these pink pustules a crazed look appearing in it's blood red eyes.

The Skeleton's bruised and battered skeletal frame took a new sheen to it as if it's bones had become metallic as the greyish bone made it's presence known by the sudden increase of weight in the skeletons weight on the corpses.

The Worm with knife like teeth screeched as it doubled in size, the pink rocks on it's back now lining the entirety of it's body like a crust of stone armor.

Very explosive armor.

The Green bats that took part in the feast changed as well as their skin turned from it's green coloration to a red one, the big green bulb that was attached to their abdomen now containing a swirl of red within it's depths.

The Scorpions change was the most noticeable of them all despite the series of changes appearing around it.

Gaining a new set of sharp, poison tipped stingers on it's back, the carapace covering it's purple armor now had a series of sharp bristles that lined it's body like a spiky armor.

It's grey carapace that didn't gain the new additions gained the purple plates around it in an increase of armor instead of the spiked additions on top of it's body.

The Wide maw that was at it's head that was surrounded by several very sharp mandibles and teeth now gained even more sharpness as a new set of teeth appeared.

The three arrows however that were embedded in it's purple shell however still remained like gaping wounds as the armor grew around the pierced wounds.

That transformation that was the most eye catching of them all however wasn't the most impressive one as something else stole the light of the show.

And that was the flame itself.

At some point in time the flames had gained a reddish hue to their orange flames, tinges of black making it's way through the fire and the flames.

Coalescing to form four reddish black orbs within the flames, the flames seemed to become more alive than they already were as they hungrily ate the corpses.

Makeshift fiery tentacles formed as they tentatively inched towards the corpses of the monsters out of it's reach.

Without knowledge, in the depths of the toxic sewers.

A force of elite monsters started to grow within the Kingdom of the Malaise, the force of monsters having been only seen a few times since the fall of the kingdom.

+++

;D 

Tree that probably subconsciously wants more chaos