Family. Kaelan felt a sense of alienation, yet also a profound longing for it.
He did not remember his family; he did not even know if he had one. He knew nothing about himself and was stuck in a foreign environment.
It was an unimaginable terror to know nothing, including who he was.
"The Radiant Covenant is your home," Reynold said. "It might be hard for the others to accept you right now, but I'm sure that slowly, you will be welcomed."
Reynold cheerfully struck his back and smiled. His cheerfulness was infectious and made Kaelan smile.
"Thank you."
They walked toward the depths of the untouched forest. A gray mist descended upon the forest, which looked dismal in its black coloration. The atmosphere became extremely oppressive.
Reynold raised a lantern containing a red crystal that emitted light.
Its name was Firestone. A stone originating from volcanoes and capable of shining for six months of use. This stone was also used to create fire and for cooking.
"Hmm, the atmosphere is definitely gloomier than usual." Reynold led the way, already gripping his hammer with one hand.
"Gloomier?" Kaelan asked, also holding his dagger and observing the surroundings.
"The territory outside the wall is always changing. No matter how often you go out, you will never find a place that is exactly the same."
The ecosystem outside the wall was chaotic and would change consistently. That was due to the harsh environment and the strength of the curse outside the wall.
Meanwhile, the environment around and inside the wall was much more stable because it had been given a kind of shield. That was to prevent inhabitants who were not Devourers from being exposed to the curse and turning into monsters.
"Stop." Reynold quickly covered the lantern with a dark cloth and hung it at his waist.
Kaelan immediately made a small wound. He would not be careless like before. They then hid behind the trees and held their breath.
Reynold's gaze was focused on a cliff several meters in front of them. Beneath that cliff were several tombstones newly planted in the ground.
"I don't remember there being a grave around here." Reynold remembered the surroundings here clearly. There had never been tombstones driven into the earth there.
Coinciding with his suspicion, they saw two people walking toward the tombstones. Those two people wore black robes with a skull logo on the back.
Their faces could not be seen clearly because they wore plain white masks without motifs. There were only two eye holes and one around the nose area on the masks.
One of them appeared shorter and smaller. While the other was taller and looked burly.
In the city of Aztec, no one would dress like that. Kaelan looked at Reynold, who appeared very angry and ready to lunge. However, he was also not stupid enough to act without thinking.
"According to plan, we can start the first stage."
The two suspicious people began to speak. Kaelan was able to hear them faintly. It seemed the shorter person was a woman. Her voice was soft and almost sounded like a teenager's.
"We have scattered it at several points. It's only a matter of time until the delivery occurs."
His voice was heavier and raspy; it could be confirmed he was a man.
Kaelan and Reynold remained silent and listened. They made no sound at all and avoided any carelessness. In that way, they would be able to obtain information regarding the plan of those two mysterious people.
"With this, I am sure we will take a great leap forward!" The woman laughed and seemed impatient. "I can't wait to see a true curse monster born!"
The man nodded slightly. "But before that, we need to deal with the rats."
Kaelan grew slightly tense as he had a bad feeling. He faintly saw blood dripping from beneath the man's robe. Something began to wriggle in his body. Kaelan felt very familiar with it.
In a short time, the robed man extended a hand toward him. His hand was enveloped in flesh and formed a human-sized worm with a large mouth. The worm shot directly toward the spot where Kaelan was located.
"Evade!" Reynold immediately pushed Kaelan and he jumped to the other side.
That hand, which had elongated and shaped itself into a worm, crashed into the tree where they had been hiding previously. Its mouth crushed the tree until it was destroyed before throwing it toward Reynold.
Reynold dodged by jumping acrobatically. However, his action created quite a distance between him and Kaelan.
"Fools who seek hope," the man spoke in a mocking tone. "Since when did the runts of the Radiant Covenant become eavesdroppers?"
Reynold gritted his teeth. "What are you doing here?" He ignored the previous provocation and focused on digging for information.
Kaelan intended to use that time to run toward Reynold, but the robed woman already blocked him. She appeared to have blood on her hands. The back of her right hand sprouted five sharp bones like needles.
Os Medulla... just like Reynold and Rebecca.
Kaelan had studied every stage of the three existing mutations.
Os Medulla was the bone and marrow mutation. At the initial stage, they would be able to recover any bone damage, but not skin and flesh. Os Medulla was the opposite of Sangu Carna, which could only recover blood and flesh.
At the second stage, Os Medulla would be able to grow bone according to their desires, though limited to a size no larger than their body.
Then at the third stage, the Os Medulla mutation would be able to fire its bones and reinforce them.
Now Kaelan was in a dilemma. Whether the woman in front of him was stage two or three of her mutation. He needed to be careful of that.
"We are free to do anything," the robed man replied to Reynold. "You have no right to know."
Reynold furrowed his brow. "Eternal Darkness bastards like you only show up to cause trouble!"
As if unable to hold back his emotions, Reynold shot forward rapidly, leaving behind a trail of destruction where he stepped.
The robed man stretched out both his hands, which transformed into large worms, and pursued Reynold. He laughed wildly like a madman.
"Hahaha! It's been a long time since I thrashed a hopeless person seeking hope!"
The worm-like flesh began to harden and looked like shimmering blood crystals. Reynold struck it with his hammer and the flesh shattered like shards of glass.
Those glass shards turned back into blood and immediately became needle shapes. The blood needles instantly rained down on Reynold without mercy.
Reynold was undeterred. He raised his empty left hand. His hand exploded as a large bone protected his body from the rain of needles.
Kaelan watched that with awe. He knew Reynold was already at the third stage of his mutation. However, his opponent was also at the same level. The fight between the two of them would clearly not be easy.
"Your opponent is me!" The woman blocking Kaelan began to lunge.
She swung the bone needles in her hand horizontally. Kaelan was able to parry it with his dagger, but the impact was strong enough to send him reeling slightly.
The woman did not stop as she tried to stab the neck of Kaelan, who had lost his momentum for a counterattack.
"So weak!" The woman sounded delighted, thinking she had won the fight.
Kaelan raised his left hand; he let the bone needle pierce through his hand. An intense pain hit him without mercy.
However, Kaelan was thinking very clearly. He no longer hesitated in his actions.
"It's still too early to conclude." As Kaelan said it, his hand sprouted a large mass of flesh that immediately enveloped the woman.
Kaelan utilized his blood spurting out and controlled it. His goal was to obstruct the woman's view. He forced a lot of blood into the inside of the mask.
It was a pity that he did not have enough time to solidify the blood to deliver a meaningful attack.
"Sangu Carna?!" The woman was shocked. She slashed the flesh trying to grip her body and sought to escape.
However, Kaelan had already thought of the next step. He acted quickly and swung his dagger vertically.
The woman tried to avoid it. She barely survived, but in exchange, the mask on her face shattered.
Kaelan looked at her face with shock. It was a teenage girl with black hair. Her left eye was red and black while the right was brownish. There were ugly black veins appearing on her face.
Those black veins almost filled her entire face. Kaelan might have guessed wrongly that the woman might be a monster.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
She pulled out bone needles from her other hand and approached.
Kaelan had no time to think about what had happened to the woman's face. Now he needed to fight to defend his life.