Chapter 57: Failed Experiments.

Chapter 57: Failed Experiments.

If you want to read up to 20!! chapters ahead go to /cornbringer

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz

Don't forget to check the auxiliary chapter about Adam. It's like an info chapter.

Double release as promised.

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[Adam POV]

Gildarts: Wait, wait, let me fix this up real quick.

[Adam Clive POV]

Gildarts: There you go, much better! Now back to my tea time

with my baby girl! Enjoy! But know that you won't enjoy as much as me! With my sweet princess!

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[Adam Clive POV]

I had been walking beside Erza through the jungle for hours, and yet I still had no sense of where we were going. Though perhaps that was because I was beginning to feel a strange sense of apprehension that was clouding my thoughts, a strange feeling that told me that something was lurking in the shadows, prowling toward us with each step we took.

I didn't feel any magic power.

Or spiritual for that matter.

But I still couldn't shake the feeling something was off.

Perhaps it was just me being paranoid, either way, I would keep my guard up.

As we continued venturing deeper and deeper into the dense jungle, the sound of chirping birds and rustling leaves was gradually replaced by an eerie silence that seemed to be almost unnatural.

Pushing the silence aside, we continued walking, until ahead of us the dense foliage gave way to an open clearing, where a structure was placed, rising up from the undergrowth like a ghostly apparition.

A temple.

Erza was the first to speak. "Do you think this is the place?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

I stood in silence, my eyes fixed on the ancient architecture as I replied with a noncommittal shrug, "I'm not sure, but according to the information we have, it appears to be..."

The temple's walls were made of rough-hewn stone, overgrown with vines and moss. The roof, once grand and imposing, now lay collapsed in a pile of rubble, leaving the interior of the temple open to the cruel elements.

The entrance was marked by a grand archway, its intricately carved details now worn and faded by time.

"Well, let's go and see," I smiled, patting Erza on the head, before taking a deep breath, and stepping inside the crumbling temple.

As we stepped inside the temple, we were greeted by a musty smell, and the cool damp air of a place long abandoned, and long forgotten. Soon enough with little to no difficulty, we found a secret entrance leading to a staircase that led to the lower levels of the temple.

"There's nothing above... so it must be below," Erza muttered. Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

I nodded. "Let's check it out then."

Smiling, we descended into the steep and winding staircase that seemed to go on forever with each passing second. We stepped carefully, the damp stones beneath our feet slick with moss, with a chill that seemed to go by the hand of the air around, as rays of sunlight warmed our faces beaming through gaps in the crumbling stone roof, dust motes drifting in their light like tiny stars.

The staircase eventually opened into a vast chamber, seemingly untouched for decades.

The walls of the chamber were adorned with faded murals and intricate carvings, depicting scenes of long-forgotten events, and the likes that seemed to go in theme with the crumbling pillars and fallen statues that littered the floor.

"I will deal with this beast!" Erza said, her voice steady despite the fear in her eyes, as she stepped forward, her sword held high as she prepared to fight.

I suppose she has to learn

However, as she moved forward, the creature let out an ear-piercing screech that made her falter, its body convulsing for a moment, before lunging forward, its grotesque body contorting and twisting as it moved with terrifying speed.

I moved.

Calmly, I stepped between the monster and Erza, muttering, "Hado #4. Byakurai." I pointed at the monster with my index finger, focusing my energy, before unleashing a concentrated bolt of lightning at it. The lightning crackled and sizzled through the air with great speed, before striking the monster with great force, pushing it back.

"Adam I-" Erza began, but I stopped her.

"Don't worry, it seems this thing is more than you can chew on right now," I said, my eyes locked on the monster as it slowly rose to its feet, its eyes empty of emotion. "Don't lower your guard, this thing might not be alone..."

The monster let out another screech, its limbs writhing as it charged toward us.

Deciding to end this before something else happened, I stepped forward, angling my blade in a swift arc that connected with the beast's belly, cutting it in half in a single swing.

"That should do-" Before I could finish that sentence, the blood in my blade exploded with a sickening roar, sending a shockwave that knocked Erza a few feet back, as a pair of vicious claws closed around my throat.

I jumped back, avoiding the attack, as I took some distance.

"Jesus fuck, what the hell is this thing?" I said, bringing my sword to bear as I prepared to face the monster again.

Its blood had exploded.

And it was still alive after being cut in half, that was... impressive, and not in a good way.

If I had lowered my guard, that thing could've gotten a good shot at me, despite being immensely weaker than me.

"Adam! There's another!" I turned around to see a second monstrosity, slightly smaller than the first, slowly moving toward Erza, while its eyes, however, remained on me.

It seems I was right... there's more...

And like before no magic power to be sensed before they appear.

Before I could ponder on that, pain invaded my body, pain without a cause, pain for the sake of nothing.

I looked at my body, my sword arm was slowly turning black on the tips of its fingers.

I was hurt...?

No...

That couldn't be, I hadn't taken any damage.

I had dodged the attacks of the creature despite there being no reason to.

Something else was going on.

And if the timing of this was anything to go by, it had to do with the other monster that had just appeared.

Explosions...

Pain...

No magic power for the most part.

I think I knew what I was dealing with...

Demonic experiments, and if the craftsmanship was anything to go by, these things... didn't belong to Zeref, at least not directly.

How... exciting.