Act V: The Scribe's Instinct (5)
Perhaps Dean had good intentions, he wanted to flee to the other ends of the street with Frick and distract Eric Hoska with noise. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. biquge。 info
However, the "monster" formed by the curse attached to him clearly did not follow its prey through sound or sight, and the reason why it was now chasing Dean and Frick was purely what they did to attract the attention of the sludge and make it so desperate.
And now, having chosen to divide their forces, the things naturally followed what they were more interested in—the potions that flowed through Frick's body. If it weren't for Eric Hoska's initiative to use those potions to burn the rotten flesh on his body, the curse might not have been triggered so quickly.
The potions were wonderful, and while the sorcerers who concocted them were originally intended to use them to suppress the restless magic in Frick's body, the potions, when mixed with Frick's blood, formed something more powerful, and thus became a target for the sludge.
Dean, who had run in the other direction, had probably rushed to the garrison's camp as fast as he could, seeking help from the soldiers there. And the last sentence he left before leaving was probably because he had somewhat anticipated that the other party's purpose was actually Flick.
The black slime that was wrapped around the old adventurer's body manipulated his body, driving him to speed as fast as he could, like withered branches, to chase Frick as he ran ahead. The viscous black substance spilled everywhere with the wave of the snake's tail, and then gradually settled into the ground.
Those scattered cloudy fragments must also contain an element of the "curse", scattered across the land with its attacks. Watching it scatter seeds in one attack after another, Frick suddenly felt that those curses were indeed alive.
It has been living like a parasite in Eric Hoska's veins for years, keeping it alive by eroding his flesh. And when he wanted to use the "red potion" to burn its trunk, it suddenly began to activate, destroying it while trying his best to leave offspring.
However, the power contained in those amorphous black mud fragments is still too weak, and even if they can penetrate this land, it will not be long before they will be crushed by the self-purifying effect of the leylines. If there is no lifeform of the same level as the current host, it is obviously impossible to maintain the continuation of power.
It will now drive Eric Hoska's body to chase Frick, and its purpose is self-evident - his blood, mixed with the "Red Potion", will either damage the cursed substances, or can be used as a catalyst to strengthen its power.
I don't know if it's an illusion of dirty sludge moving in rhythm, and the part that is entangled in the adventurer's body has a disgusting texture. Whatever its true purpose, nothing good will happen to it by being entangled in serpentine sludge driven entirely by wild instincts.
"The night is covered, but the steps are still firm, and the fog is thick, but the vision is still clear......," he recited the prayer of the scribe as he ran, "and the observer who walks on the path of thorns, even if his hands and feet are bound, should always keep the will of clarity and seek the guiding light ahead......
Words have power, and although many of these ritual prayers do not have the actual "power" between the lines, they can sometimes give people a sense of courage and encourage those who recite them, so that their tired bodies can be rejuvenated again.
Flick, who saw these scenes through his closed right eye, didn't actually look back, but just fled intently along the road towards his destination. Eric Hothka may not have pursued him tirelessly out of his own volition, but the arms in the depths of the dazed seemed to yearn for his flesh.
The combination of the power that could easily destroy the wooden walls of a house and the curse that was a potential threat would have been a terrifying thing that Lin Wen feared. But unlike when he encountered monsters or sudden attacks on a sorcerer in Lemongrass, this time Flick didn't feel the slightest fear.
If only the strength and danger are considered, it does not seem inappropriate to call that the volatile mass of "black matter" a formidable enemy. But if he really wanted to find a way to fight it, he didn't feel much of it...... I almost thought I was hallucinating.
After all, what happened in less than a moment was too exaggerated, and he thought that the abnormal changes in his body were plagued by the "hallucinations" that appeared from time to time. I am afraid that it may be more "normal" to think that it may be more "normal" to think that the curse that resides in the adventurer's body suddenly activates and turns into a serpentine monster and begins to destroy the streets.
If you really want to investigate it seriously, maybe it's because the way of observation that is directly reflected in his consciousness after the abnormality in his right eye has given him some kind of delusion—if he doesn't check the scene in his head again and again, he will even think that he is just watching what is happening to other people.
After all, the vision of the right eye is completely uncontrollable, and I don't know why it is focused on Eric Hoska. As he walked, the angle of vision was also adjusted in strange ways, and sometimes he could even see his own figure in a blink of an eye.
Initially hallucinating, with the true right eye, seeing things that should not exist in the physical world, and then after the injury, it progresses to the point where it is possible to obtain image information without the act of "seeing...... And now, even seeing things from a different angle.
The so-called "eyes on the back of the head" are no match for Frick's current abilities, because he can't even figure out what senses this information is obtained. He was sure that there was no organ on the back of his head like an eye, and now he didn't know how to directly react to the "vision" in his consciousness was obviously some kind of special phenomenon that transcended the basis of the senses.
The so-called "extrasensory sense" is probably the ability to sense things in the outside world without the action of the sensory organs. Frank's body gradually changed under the impression of the magic, and now this ability is obviously still slowly developing.
So what will it develop next - will it be mind reading, foresight, remote sensing, or telekinesis? In fact, Frick doesn't care what form this ability will eventually develop, there is only one thing he wants to know, and that is whether this ability can be controlled by himself.
Strength is a useful tool, and great power also earns the awe of others...... The premise is that this power can be controlled by the owner. Rigor and self-discipline are virtues, so only if you can control your own power can you be considered powerful in the true sense.
Like Eric Hoska, who became the host of those serpentine monsters made of sludge, his power is now far superior to that of Frick. But instead of being able to control these forces by his own will, he was robbed of control of his body by them.
But these are actually just pretty words in a sense, after all, it is Frick who is now cursed and chasing after him in the slums, and the latter can only desperately flee the dark-covered streets ahead. The invisible black serpent was still forcibly driving his decaying body, but the limbs that were as thin as dead branches were no longer able to support them, and black fluid flowed from the withered muscles.
The curse in his body had eroded too deeply, and Eric Hosca was now undoubtedly irreversibly a cursed creature. This monster between the living and the dead is a literal "walking dead" that only moves under the drive of a curse.
For some reason, this scene in my mind is full of immediacy - something that should not have been experienced once, but when I actually experienced it, I felt a sense of déjà vu. Frick certainly hadn't been chased by such a monster, and shouldn't have seen a creature that had been cursed to become the walking dead.
There may be a sense of weirdness that comes from extrasensory observation, but the impact of this incredible ability may be more than that. The flood of information in his mind allowed him to get a glimpse of the future, and to dodge the attacks of his pursuers more easily.
The massive "tail" swept behind Flick and smashed into the outer wall of a hut, crushing the debris that lay there into pieces. The filth should have swept over Frick's head, but it was dodged by a sudden acceleration of his progress at just the right distance, and the black mud did not even touch the corners of his clothes.
At this moment, I don't know if it was because of the excessive force used by the sludge's frequent attacks, one of Eric Hoska's arms collapsed entirely, splitting into several dry pieces. At the same time, his body staggered, and he almost fell to the ground due to the sudden loss of balance, and the surging black mud also smashed into a mass of nearby clearing with his tilt.
The power of the curse, which was like pitch-black sludge, was still too strong for the human body to withstand its power after years of erosion. Their instincts drive Eric Hoska's body, forcing him to chase Frick tirelessly.
However, the body was close to its limit long before it was controlled, which is why the entire arm collapsed. So by the chance of the curse forcibly driving the host's body due to his manic instincts, and falling to the ground to entangle himself in a heap, Frick had already slipped away.
Dean's whistle as a gathering signal could already be heard from the front of the street, and orderly footsteps could be heard, apparently reinforcements had arrived.