The purplish light pulsed again, brighter this time.
Amon froze, hand stained by the Hobgoblin's cooling blood.
The Black Stone gave off no warmth. It wasn't cold or freezing either. Instead, it felt like it had gotten heavier, like it was getting heavier with every passing second.
Slowly, he reached into his pocket.
The Black Stone's surface was smooth, almost glassy, but veins of faint light throbbed beneath its surface, like a crystallized heart refusing to stop beating.
'What now?'
[The Black Stone is Resonating.]
"Resonating…" Amon whispered. "With what?"
He turned the stone over in his palm.
A thin cloud of black mist started seeping from it.
Amon's eyes slowly widened as he noticed where the black mist was heading. It wasn't simply floating upwards or drifting aimlessly. The thin cloud quickly took on the form of a spiral as the black mist spun, and started descending.
The hairs on his body immediately stood on end as the tip of that black spiral came into contact with the dead Hobgoblin's pierced stomach.
The mist kept descending until the hole in the Hobgoblin's stomach was covered completely.
Amon instinctively wrapped his fingers around the Black Stone and held it tightly.
[The Black Stone Resonates with your "Evolving Monster" Title.]
A familiar sensation rose as his hand started twitching.
[The Black Stone Resonates with your "Palm Of The Devourer" Skill.]
"Interesting." Amon muttered.
[The Black Stone Resonates with the Dead.]
For a moment, the aura emanating from the Black Stone grew stronger…
[Resonance has Failed.]
Before vanishing completely.
"Tsk." Amon clicked his tongue as the mist disappeared at once. "Wait,"
Doubting his own eyes, he crouched down to get a closer look.
"Aha." Amon smiled as he tapped the Hobgoblin's stomach with a finger.
What was previously a gaping hole had now been filled by flesh. Black flesh. Rotting.
His gaze moved towards the Hobgoblin's face.
Nothing had changed there.
"Can't you give me more information about this, System?" Amon asked with a chuckle as he straightened his back.
The System remained silent.
"I guess that's something I have to figure out by myself. Just like what this is." Amon whispered to himself, gaze on the Black Stone. "The System refers to it as a Black Stone, but that's just because I think about it as such. What it truly is and what its real name is… I have to find out." He nodded. "Still, for now,"
The flesh rippled and twisted before dissolving into the veiny amalgamation of his skill, vanishing into nothing.
"I'll focus on more urgent matters."
Amon glanced at the spear and torch, took both, and started heading towards the village.
…
By the time the village's faint torchlight appeared on the horizon, the moon hung low and pale.
'How best to get this done?' He asked himself, slowing down a bit. 'If all or most are asleep, then I could simply sneak into each hut, after having dealt with the Goblins guarding the village, of course, and deal with them. Each hut, apart from mine and the Chief's, holds more than a dozen Goblins. Still, if they're sleeping, I can deal with them silently and stealthily. The Hobgoblins are occupying one hut each. There should be no problem there.'
Nevertheless, Amon couldn't shake the anxious feeling that something could go wrong.
'Something was making a nest there. In the cave where the Black Stone lay previously. It must have gone out hunting or something. It's likely that it can sense the Black Stone, and will follow me here.'
Amon had no idea what that thing was.
Still, he thought it was probably stronger than him.
'I should wait for it to show up.' Amon nodded to himself as he stealthily entered the village. 'Right now, I have an army of Goblins and Hobgoblins. When the village is attacked by it, they will all fight against it. I shouldn't kill the guards either.'
Amon felt confident that leaving the village now or killing its inhabitants would lead to him fighting the unknown creature one-on-one, which was too big a gamble to take.
'Guess I'll lie here for a bit.' Amon thought as he chuckled internally, his back slowly falling on the stacks of hay.
***
"The fuck…?" Syl muttered, her ears twitching as if catching something. She sat up, half awake, before dismissing it and falling back asleep.