Chương 39

The northern logging trail was an absolute mess. Shattered pine trees littered the dirt path. Deep, heavy claw marks gouged the massive wooden logs left behind by the fleeing villagers. The whole area smelled like burnt ozone and something sickly sweet.

"Keep your eyes open," Elysia whispered, stepping lightly over a broken branch. Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.

"A Light Lion is a master of its domain. It usually strikes from the blind spots."

"I'm looking, I'm looking," Rudra muttered, scanning the dark treeline.

"I just hope it didn't ruin the truffles." They walked for another ten minutes in tense silence. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Rudra's neck stood up. A low, vibrating growl echoed through the trees. Rudra stopped. He gripped his Abyssal Ironwood Staff with both hands.

"Found it." A massive beast stepped out from the shadows of the pines. It was easily the size of a carriage. Its fur was a brilliant, glowing gold, and a faint halo of white light hovered around its thick mane. But it looked terrible. The bright golden fur was matted with patches of thick, black sludge. The lion's breathing was heavy and ragged, and its glowing white eyes were completely bloodshot. [Feral Imperial Light Lion - Lv. 85]"That doesn't look like a holy beast," Rudra said, frowning behind his mask.

"It looks like it rolled in a tar pit." Elysia's eyes widened.

"That black aura... that is dark magic. Pure demonic energy. Something infected it." The lion didn't give them time to talk. It let out a deafening roar that literally shook the dirt under their boots. It kicked off the ground, clearing the distance between them in a single leap. It swung a massive front paw aimed right at Rudra's head. The claws glowed with a sharp, blinding white light. Got it. Don't get hit, Rudra reminded himself.

Tapping into his high agility, he dropped to his knees and slid forward across the dirt. The glowing claws sliced cleanly through the air above him, entirely missing his leather hood. He didn't run away. As he slid under the lion's massive body, he spun his staff around and brought the blunt end up hard, aiming for a heavy strike to its ribs. But right as he looked up, he stopped. His new [Beginner Medicine Making] skill suddenly flared to life.

He wasn't just looking at a monster anymore; he was looking at its physical condition, just like checking ingredients for bruising or rot. He saw the swollen, distended shape of its belly. Then, he noticed the black sludge wasn't just resting on its fur. It was oozing directly out of deep, infected wounds along its side, pulsing aggressively against the lion's natural holy light. Wait, Rudra thought, his eyes going wide. It's pregnant. And it's dying. He immediately killed his momentum.

He completely pulled his punch, letting his heavy staff just lightly tap against the lion's side before he rolled out from under the beast and popped back onto his feet. The lion landed heavily, stumbling a bit before spinning around to face him again. It bared its fangs, ready to charge.

"Rudra! What are you doing?!" Elysia shouted from the edge of the clearing.

"You had an opening! Strike it!"

"I can't!" Rudra yelled back, keeping his staff raised defensively.

"It's a feral beast! It is going to kill you!" she warned, drawing her longsword.

"No, stop! Put the sword away!" Rudra barked, dodging another heavy claw swipe. He used his staff to safely deflect the lion's snapping jaws, pushing it back without hurting it.

"It's not feral, Elysia. It's scared. It's pregnant!" Elysia froze. She looked closer at the beast's heavy movements and the black sludge leaking from its side.

"That dark energy..." Elysia muttered, her face going pale.

"That is the signature of the Yatan Church. They worship the Evil God. They must have ambushed it and injected it with demonic essence."

"Can you cure it?" Rudra asked, side-stepping a clumsy lunge.

"No! Light and Dark magic actively destroy each other," Elysia yelled over the lion's roaring.

"The demonic energy is trying to consume its holy core. That is why it went crazy. It is in absolute agony. The only merciful thing to do is put it down!" The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Rudra looked at the suffering lion. It was fighting a losing battle against the black sludge eating away at its side. He thought about the village quest. He thought about the truffles. Then, he opened his interface.

[Do you wish to abandon the quest: 'The Mad King of the Forest'?] [Warning: Abandoning this quest will severely decrease your affinity with Silverwood Logging Village.] Rudra didn't even blink. He tapped 'Yes'.

"I'm not killing a pregnant animal just to get some mushrooms," Rudra said flatly, dodging another swipe.

"There has to be a way to make an antidote."

"I told you, standard alchemy won't work!" Elysia argued, dodging a stray blast of light from the lion.

"To purge Yatan corruption, you need a highly concentrated dark-magic catalyst to bind the poison! We don't have anything like that!"

"Then we go find some," Rudra said. He pointed his left hand at the dirt between him and the lion.

"[Minor Tidal Push]!" The blast of pressurized water slammed into the ground, exploding into a massive wall of mud and water. The sudden distraction blinded the lion for just a few seconds. Rudra used the opening to sprint away, grabbing Elysia by the arm and dragging her into the thick brush.

"Let's go," Rudra whispered, pulling her behind a massive pine tree as the lion roared blindly at the mud.

"Where there's Yatan poison, there has to be Yatan cultists nearby. We just have to track them down and steal their stuff." Elysia knelt in the dirt, examining the broken branches and dead leaves.

"Yatan corruption is incredibly sloppy," she whispered, pointing at a patch of grass. It was completely withered and black.

"Dark magic kills the environment. We just have to follow the dead plants."

"Lead the way," Rudra said. They moved quickly through the woods, leaving the roaring lion far behind them. Rudra kept his eyes peeled, his heavy staff ready. He was still a little bitter about abandoning the truffle quest, but letting a pregnant animal suffer just felt wrong. After twenty minutes of following the trail of dead grass, the trees thinned out. They reached the base of a steep, rocky hill. Tucked behind a thick wall of thorny vines was a dark cave entrance.

Two men in ragged black robes stood by the opening, holding curved daggers.

"Cultists," Elysia noted, narrowing her eyes.

"This must be a stronghold. Be careful, Rudra. Yatan outposts are usually crawling with dark mages and heavy guards."

"Got it. Stealth mode," Rudra nodded. He didn't sneak. He just tapped into his high speed and sprinted straight out of the bushes. Before the two guards could even shout a warning, Rudra was already between them. He didn't use a skill. He just grabbed both of them by the back of their robes and smashed their heads together. Crack. The cultists went limp and dropped to the dirt.

"Okay, stealth mode complete," Rudra waved her over. Elysia walked out of the brush, staring at the knocked-out guards.

"That was... surprisingly easy. The perimeter defense is terribly weak."

"Maybe they're all sleeping," Rudra shrugged. They stepped into the dark cave. The air smelled like burnt incense and old blood. Faint purple torches lit the stone walls. Rudra expected a massive ambush. He expected traps, high-level dark knights, and waves of magic. Instead, they only ran into a handful of low-level cultists.

"Intruders!" a robed man yelled, trying to cast a dark fireball. Rudra didn't even slow down. He pointed his left hand forward.

"[Minor Tidal Push]!" A blast of pressurized water slammed into the cultist's chest, interrupting the spell and launching him backward into a group of his friends. They all tumbled to the stone floor in a wet, groaning pile. Rudra just jogged right over them, casually tapping them with his ironwood staff to knock them out completely.

"This is weird," Rudra muttered, resting the staff on his shoulder.

"I thought you said they were dangerous."

"They are," Elysia said, her voice tight with confusion.

"A Yatan Stronghold should have hundreds of believers. We've seen maybe ten. Where is the main force?" They reached a set of heavy iron doors at the very back of the cave. This was obviously the boss room. Rudra kicked the doors open, ready for a huge fight. The room was completely empty. It was a large alchemy lab and a shrine to the Evil God. Tables were covered in bubbling vials, weird bones, and dark purple crystals. But there was no Yatan Servant. There was no cult leader waiting for them.

"Nobody's home," Rudra frowned, walking over to the main desk.

"Look for a catalyst," Elysia ordered, quickly searching the shelves.

"Anything holding pure dark mana. We need it to bind the poison in the lion." Rudra started rummaging through the papers on the desk. He shoved a few glowing purple rocks into his inventory. Then, a black leather journal caught his eye. It was left wide open. He picked it up and quickly skimmed the messy handwriting.

"Uh, Elysia," Rudra said, his voice dropping.

"I think I know why the base is empty."

"Did you find an antidote?" she asked, walking over.

"No. I found their experiment log," Rudra read from the journal.

"'Subject: Imperial Light Lion. Objective: Inject pure Yatan essence into a holy host. Goal: To see if a divine beast can be corrupted to bear a dual-attribute child of Light and Darkness.'" Elysia's face went completely pale.

"They didn't just poison it. They used it as an incubator." Rudra kept reading, his grip tightening on the book.

"'The subject's holy core is finally collapsing. The collision of energies will kill the mother shortly. The Servant has taken the main force to the northern logging trail to observe the death and harvest the mutated cub.'" Rudra dropped the book. The cultists weren't hiding in the cave. They were back in the forest. The lion wasn't just roaring at the mud earlier. It was fighting off an entire army of dark magic users while slowly dying from the inside out.

"We have to go back," Rudra said. His voice was completely cold. He didn't care about the quest or the truffles anymore. He was genuinely furious.

"Right now." He grabbed a handful of the dark purple crystals off the desk and bolted out of the room. Elysia drew her longsword and ran right behind him. They sprinted out of the cave and back into the dark woods, racing to reach the logging trail before the cultists could finish the job.