Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Byul couldn't help but put her palm against her nostrils and mouth to cover it. The reeking of the nasty stench was omnipresent in the atmosphere, making the gloom clouded and hazed. But there was not just one type of smell. She could tell there were at least two kinds of stink mixing together to make it even more awful. She knew one of the kinds that stench belonged to. It's the rotten flesh of humans. While the other was as terrible as the rotten stink, it was rather limited for now. But its density was enlarging at every step they took.

Kevin stood abruptly in his lead with the spear in his arm. He had prepared for anything the moment they started advancing. Byul wasn't sitting still either, as the new wand was on her right arm glittering with a faint light, making the surrounding less gloomy.

"What is it?" She asked.

Kevin said nothing, pointed the spearhead in the front. He was masking his nose and mouth now as well.

Byul glanced at where the spearhead was pointing and the moment she discovered it, her heart whirled out. It was the torn limbs of some creature—almost unrecognisable in its current state. It was so darn wrecked she couldn't even put a gender on it. It could be human, and it may even be those god-forsaken infectors.

The bread—she ate a couple of hours ago tried to heave out of her stomach, but she gulped it down before that.

She didn't have to open her nostrils to tell how awful it reeked. It's almost like rotten wood that lost its colour and looks. Even the blood in it had frozen as hard as stone in black. Whatever's work it was, it shouldn't be human. If not, they wouldn't leave it in such a state.

"It's about a day old." Kevin judged. His expression was grim, with a deep scowl on his face. This was the first time they came across this. Even though they were prepared for it, as the reeks were omnipresent in the tunnel, it was still awful. Awful enough to raise goosebumps on their back; awful enough to judge their situation again.

Byul shook her head and tried to ignore what she saw or smelled. She looked at Kevin before opening her lips. "Should we. .. leave?"

"No, we already covered so far. It's inconvenient to go back the way we came." Kevin shook his head as he started leading again. He didn't put away his palm from his nose and Byul neither.

They continued on the path as Byul circulated the Maha Mana throughout her body. Though rather slowly, as she was moving, it still had some effect on her body. It was only because Kevin was there, so she could afford to put some of her senses in Mahasaying. If she was alone, she wouldn't even think about it.

As they advanced, they came across more torn flesh, bones and other organs as far as a fractured or bitten head of a human body. Some of those were still hardened, while most were rotten with flies and insects all over. It was a nauseous scene, but that wasn't the end.

"This isn't human. . ." her eyes widened in horror, looking at the devastated body of an Infector. There were bite marks on it all over in large teeth. Whatever that devoured it was quite large, as the bite marks were almost eight or nine inches long and plenty deep enough.

Kevin frowned. "Do infectors eat each other?" He asked, unsure.

"Maybe…," Byul said. It was not like she was an expert in this area. "It doesn't look like the works of any typical infectors. It's more like a. .. wild animal."

She felt horror imagining the size of the wild animal, with the size of its jaws being a dozen inches long. If they encounter that thing here, their chances of survival would be close to zero in their current state.

Byul panicked. "We should leave here as soon as possible." She warned immediately.

Kevin was about to nod but took a battle stance instead, with the spear in a defensive position. His eyes turned sharp, gazing around in alert.

Byul's heart skipped a beat, and a worried expression manifested in her countenance. She knew Kevin had some special quirk; he can perceive an impending danger of some sort ahead of time. 'Please, don't be one of those.'

"Stay close to me, be prepared." Kevin didn't look back at her. All his attention was forward. "It's coming."

And then she heard the horrendous screech of the creature that was advancing towards them.

• • •

Aasan crippled his way slowly as he advanced on the gloomy, narrow path. Behind him was the middle-aged mercenary man—Laman—still smoking the cigar.

"Aasan, are you listening? Why are you so eager to die?" Laman yelled in a controlled voice from behind. "Look at you, you can't even move properly. .. we'll die if we.. ."

"I'm listening." Aasan didn't let Laman finish. He stopped in his walk before yelling out, gritting his teeth. "But I didn't consider it to be. .. important."

"Now, it isn't important? Remember how many times it saved your lives. .. remember in Ravanka or Taralat. . ."

"Stop it. I know. You don't have to remind me of those days."

"Then why were you still advancing?"

"Laman, you know," Aasan looked his friend in the eye before continuing. "You're becoming crueller by the day."

"I prefer being cruel than dead."

Aasan looked carefully at his friend before continuing to move.

"Or maybe I'm not being cruel, Aasan." Laman exhaled a deep breath of smoke before continuing. "Maybe you're growing soft these days."

"Maybe," Aasan didn't deny, not he stopped moving. "But I didn't ask you to follow me, you have your own agenda in it."

The mercenary man sighed, "How many times, I have to tell you, our goal is the same.. ."

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