Chapter 28: Eerie—Two Guardians?

At the moment when Skinny Monkey suddenly realized his fate, he saw his own palm gradually dissolve, turning into luminous white particles that drifted through the air. In that instant, it was as if all the things he had deliberately tried to forget came rushing back—when he lay outside the parched, barren land, in that blank area the group had always assumed to be harmless, he had struggled back and forth between two conflicting urges. One part of him was utterly exhausted, longing simply to close his eyes and never wake again; the other part urged him to get back up and continue his watch.

Now, thinking back, he understood that the latter impulse had merely been a pretext conjured up by his instinct to survive. In comparison to life itself, what importance did surveillance really hold? As he was pulled between these two thoughts, another “self” rose from that shell of a body, took a look at the one still lying on the ground, and forcibly erased the memory of what had just happened. As if nothing had occurred, he continued his task of keeping watch over Wang Chen.

The dissolution of light particles spread from his palm to the entire length of his arm, until gradually his whole body became transparent. He reached out to his fellow scavengers, his lips moving as if to say something, but those final words, like his body, were swept away by the wind.

Bald Biao stared at the spot where Skinny Monkey had vanished. He felt as if a block of hard iron had lodged itself in his chest, and his eyes reddened. The rest of the scavengers fared no better; one by one, they lowered their heads in silence, a heavy mood settling over the group.

“All right, enough with the moping. Go bury Skinny Monkey!” Fu Yunsheng clapped his hands, jolting everyone out of their grief. Two scavengers stepped forward from the ranks, dragging Skinny Monkey’s body away and beginning to dig a pit in the earth.

Bald Biao strode over and smacked them hard on the heads. “You want Skinny Monkey to turn into a Dark Guardian? Bury him somewhere else!”

They weren’t yet within the true range of the quagmire, but after what had just happened, he no longer dared to trust his limited judgment in this endlessly mysterious place. The two men hoisted Skinny Monkey again, preparing to find another spot.

Fu Yunsheng frowned. “If that’s the case, let’s just burn the body!”

Bald Biao stared at him in shock. “Boss, isn’t that a bit much? Skinny Monkey always said that his people back home required burial in earth, or their souls would scatter!”

Fu Yunsheng replied coldly, “You’ve seen how bizarre this place is. We’ve been here for days and there are still curses and dangers we haven’t encountered or understood!” He stepped in front of Bald Biao, his tone still grave. “Can you guarantee Skinny Monkey won’t turn into something else? If he mutates, we’ll be the first ones he comes after!”

Seeing Bald Biao’s face grow dark, Fu Yunsheng snapped impatiently, “Don’t look so gloomy. Look on the bright side—at least we’ve learned the effect of the curse in this area! When Old Huang goes for supplies next time, pass on this bit of information. That’ll earn us a few decent meals!”

Bald Biao fell silent. The two scavengers carried on with Skinny Monkey’s corpse. Just a moment ago, Bald Biao had wanted to ask—if they hadn’t spoken aloud of Skinny Monkey’s death, would he have continued to exist in that strange state? But now, he understood what Fu Yunsheng was thinking.

They both believed there were secrets here beyond their understanding, but Bald Biao hoped those secrets would bring his brother back, while Fu Yunsheng only wanted to make sure the mysteries did not threaten the scavengers—or, more precisely, himself.

And so, Bald Biao decided to say no more.

…

Wang Chen trudged alone through the mire. Every step was a struggle, but there was nothing to be done—he couldn’t possibly use magic scrolls just for travel. At the same time, he realized that in the future, he couldn’t focus solely on buying powerful scrolls; perhaps bronze scrolls with specific effects would prove unexpectedly useful in terrain like this.

When he first read about this place in the guidebook, he’d been full of confidence. Wasn’t it just a swamp? He could easily do as wilderness survivors did—cut some wood, increase his surface area, and float right over the mire with ease. But who would have thought—not a single tree of usable size could be found anywhere nearby.

Wang Chen quietly told himself that he must always have a backup plan from now on.

Back to the matter at hand: he still needed to acquire two more Dark Hearts, so he was searching for other Dark Guardians.

The Dark Guardian was a beast that lived in large groups but held small individual territories—meaning, in each region, there would be clusters of them, but each one would fiercely defend its own patch, not tolerating any others within its borders.

This, of course, had its advantages. At least Wang Chen wouldn’t have to worry about being beset by a pack, leaving him defenseless. The downside was that finding his way became much more difficult.

With a high-powered headlamp strapped to his head, he lit the way ahead as bright as daylight. Naturally, his defenses were ready too—three arcs of lightning shield floated slowly around him.

Crack... crackle...

A noise like interlocking gears came from all around. After the battle in the arena, Wang Chen had become quite familiar with this sound. He was instantly on high alert, scanning the area; it seemed as if every inch of the black-purple mire concealed a prehistoric crocodile.

Whoosh—

A dark shadow flickered at the edge of his headlamp’s range. Wang Chen gripped his Forest Gale tightly, ready to strike the moment a Dark Guardian showed itself.

Bang!

A blast of wind roared up behind him. More than one Dark Guardian? Wang Chen’s heart leapt.

He tried to leap aside, to avoid the attack from behind, but the mire clamped his feet so tightly that he couldn’t move. The blow landed squarely.

It felt as if he’d been strapped into a sports car accelerating to 300 miles per hour—an overwhelming force slammed him forward, his feet yanked free from the swamp. Even though he tried to brace himself with his hands, he ended up with a face full of muck and a burning scrape along the edge of his palm.

But there was no time to worry about that. He immediately tore open a magic scroll.

“Frost Shield—Silver Grade!”

A biting chill erupted from the magical sigil, instantly coalescing into an ice-blue barrier that enveloped his entire body.

Almost at the same moment, another impact crashed into the other side of the shield with a thunderous noise.

“So there really are two Dark Guardians!” Wang Chen was certain now.

The Dark Guardian he’d fought earlier had also launched sneak attacks while submerged in the mire, but never with such speed. He doubted that a higher level alone could account for this dramatic increase; if so, it shouldn’t be called “Swamp Stalker” but “Swamp Teleporter.”

“But why are there two Dark Guardians?” he wondered, perplexed. “In nature, creatures with such strong territorial instincts only share territory with mates or offspring.”

The thought gave him a strange feeling.

A Dark Guardian, strictly speaking, should be some kind of amalgam born of the Dark Heart—do they need to mate and reproduce? If so, would putting two Dark Hearts together produce a baby Dark Heart?

In that case, maybe opening a Dark Heart breeding farm wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.