Lord of Rot

Spiritual Power surged in instantly.

’Strong!’

This was Leech’s first thought. The man had truly been a Caster; his Spiritual Power was far greater than Aina’s. Leech made a rough estimate. His own base Spiritual Power was 26 units, while this one’s was only slightly weaker, probably around 20 to 25 units.

The Corpse Ghost’s memories from its life followed.

Guy Halsea.

He was the illegitimate son of the Bill family of Shanzhang Castle. His father had cared for him enough to send him to the subordinate Marvin Clan, giving him the status of a true noble rather than that of a despised bastard.

Thus, Guy gained a surname of his own: Marvin.

Life after that was relatively peaceful. Guy was summoned to his birth father’s side to serve as his attendant, growing up in Shanzhang Castle. If things had continued this way, with a father who was reasonably fond of him, he would have surely been knighted. He might even have had the chance to marry his own half-sister and reclaim the Bill family name.

His days seemed repetitive, but beneath the calm surface, danger was always lurking.

A small-scale conflict broke out between East Gorge and Giant’s Foot. Shanzhang Castle, being right next to Giant’s Foot, couldn’t stay out of it. This was Guy’s chance. If he could just make a name for himself on the battlefield and achieve some merit, being knighted was a sure thing.

But Guy’s luck wasn’t good. His unit was scattered, and he was wounded and hunted.

After fleeing for a long time, Guy fell into a deep cavern.

The cavern wasn’t very large, and it contained a huge pool of water.

Guy huddled by the edge of the pool. After a simple bandaging of his wounds, he chose to hide in the water.

He quietly listened as the pursuers above came and went, leaving empty-handed. The search went on like this for a day, with them coming back and forth several times. Guy’s luck held; he survived.

The pursuers never found the cavern.

With the tension gone and his body injured, Guy slowly drifted into unconsciousness. When he came to, he heard a beautiful singing voice.

Moonlight spilled down from the opening above. A beautiful, naked woman was dancing on the water’s surface. The gentle water merely rippled, softly supporting her.

The woman sang to Guy.

In that moment, Guy felt his very soul being purified. He was captivated by the woman.

When the woman noticed Guy was awake, she looked at him with a mix of shyness and fear. She hid her body in the water, revealing only the lower half of her face, as effortlessly as a fish.

”You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I love your singing,” Guy said.

Hearing his praise, the woman in the water smiled and drew closer.

One sat wounded on the shore, the other had only half her head above the water.

The cool moonlight shone down.

A handsome Knight meets a Water Nymph. Oh, what a romantic scene.

”Are you a Water Nymph?” Guy asked. ”I’ve heard that Water Nymphs can bless a Knight. I’m badly wounded, and I hope to recover and win a great victory.”

Guy recalled the legends of the Water Nymph he had read about in books. They were said to be monsters who liked to lure men with their songs before pulling them into the water to drown.

They were incredibly beautiful, but in reality, they were evil.

Wasn’t it the Lady of the Lake who blessed Knights? It didn’t matter. Guy had no intention of receiving any blessing. He only knew that it was dangerous here. Being with a monster that fed on humans terrified him, but with pursuers still outside, he didn’t dare to leave.

But the Water Nymph didn’t know his thoughts. She was naive, her gaze pure.

She began to chant softly, and to his surprise, Guy’s wounds actually began to heal.

Guy found it magical. He became increasingly gentle toward the woman in the pool, showering her with praise and poetry.

Finally, the Water Nymph let down her guard.

She climbed onto the shore and walked unsteadily to Guy. Her tender feet seemed unable to bear the hard stones of the ground, and every step she took left her bleeding, but she pushed on.

All for love.

If the story had continued from there, it would have been a typical, tragic tale. Either the Water Nymph would be unable to endure the land, covered in wounds but happy in her heart...

...or Guy would have gained a bride from the water, and the two would live a fairytale romance.

But Guy drew his sword and plunged it through her heart.

After killing the Water Nymph, Guy shoved her corpse back into the pool in disgust. His reasoning was simple: his attraction to her must have been due to the Water Nymph’s enchantment. Now... he could finally get some sleep.

But when he awoke, he realized something was wrong.

He opened his mouth to speak, but a powerful sonic wave blasted out instead.

Moreover, he became intensely afraid of sunlight. It didn’t injure him, but it made him extremely uncomfortable.

His face had also changed. It was no longer the same as before; instead, it was becoming more and more bewitchingly beautiful.

If that were all, it might have been tolerable. But he found he had an overwhelming craving for fresh blood and raw flesh.

”It’s the Water Nymph’s curse!”

Guy dragged the Water Nymph’s body out of the water and hacked at it madly with his sword. He carefully controlled his strength, ensuring her body was mangled into a bloody mess but not completely torn apart.

The bloody corpse made Guy salivate uncontrollably. Unable to stop himself, he threw himself onto the Water Nymph’s body and began to devour it.

He managed to relieve his hunger this way.

When Guy regained his senses, he tried to master the shrieking ability. He discovered that his body was now extraordinary; he could leap out of the cavern in a single bound. He had changed!

Returning to the battlefield, Guy was unstoppable.

His father from the clan wanted to reward him, but he had become obsessed with eating raw flesh, singing, and dancing.

’It’s a curse!’

Guy cursed the dead Water Nymph.

His behavior grew bizarre, and rumors began to spread through Shanzhang Castle about his strange habit of eating living things raw. People subconsciously avoided him.

But Guy didn’t care. He possessed the Water Nymph’s curse, which made his body stronger and more agile, and gave him that terrifying shriek.

In the days that followed, in order to suppress—or rather, satisfy—his craving for blood and raw flesh, Guy sought out Magic Potions to fulfill his needs. Eventually, he met someone who, upon discovering his abilities, brought him to an organization called the ”Round Table.” It was a gathering of people similar to him.

The Round Table had twelve members, and they were hatching some sort of evil plan. Guy had only been a member for a short time, so he didn’t know the others well. He only knew that it was a place where they could exchange information and trade what they had.

Guy obtained two spells. One was the ”Slow Fall Skill,” which allowed him to fall from the sky without injury, like a feather.

The other was ”Mind Fortification,” which allowed him to resist spiritual attacks.

These both came from that skeletal old man.

The old man was very good to Guy, always smiling cheerfully. He even taught Guy how to use his powers. The rapid improvement in Guy’s strength during that time was due to the old man’s kind tutelage.

However, Guy remembered that the other members of the Round Table looked at him as if he were an idiot, their gazes filled with ridicule.

And they seemed to both loathe and fear the old man.

Then, not long ago, Guy received an order from the Bill family. He was to use his extraordinary charm to win over the Baroness of Longship Castle, and in return, he would become the Baron of Longship Castle.

His family also saw him as a monster. Using one’s charm to influence others had always been a demonic, evil power.

Guy didn’t refuse, because he had already lost the chance to marry his sister.

The family bloodline could not be tainted.

However, after arriving at Longship Castle, Guy was shocked to find that his ”cursed charm” was ineffective. Lady Jie Lin was utterly disgusted by him, which repeatedly delayed his mission.

After that, he encountered Leech, who had attached his Spiritual Power to a raven. That was their first contact.

Next, he was tracked by Leech, and then taken down by Leech and his two Corpse Ghosts working together.

Leech retracted his Spiritual Power and smacked his lips.

’He looked so effeminate, yet he was charming enough to have a Water Nymph throw herself at him?’ Leech thought it was unfair. He was much more handsome than Guy, but he hadn’t seen any beautiful dragonewts, elves, or Tieflings throwing themselves at him.

Leech also hadn’t expected Guy’s Extraordinary power to come from the ”Water Nymph’s curse.”

’A curse can turn someone into a Transcendent?’

He suddenly had the urge to catch a Water Nymph and have it curse a few death row inmates. Then, he could kill the inmates and turn them directly into Extraordinary Corpse Ghosts.

’Low cost and fast results.’

’Even if there aren’t enough Extraordinary Magic Potions or artifacts, just creating mindless Extraordinary corpses would be fine. I could mass-produce them.’

A red dot had already appeared in Leech’s vision.

After Guy became his Corpse Ghost, the Water Nymph’s cavern was now in a ”scoutable” state for Leech. As long as he got close enough, he could bring it under his control.

’Shanzhang Castle is too far away. Besides, the only Water Nymph there was already butchered. After a year, her body has probably been eaten by microbes. There’s no point in going.’

’But having a red dot constantly glowing in my vision, like a notification in a game... anyone with OCD would go crazy.’

Leech figured he could bear it for a while. He would send a few corpse-birds over first to see how far it was, then decide what to do.

He didn’t gain much experience this time.

Only the ”Slow Fall Skill” and ”Mind Fortification”—two Magic spells.

That strange shriek was Guy’s Extraordinary power, somewhat similar to the Water Nymph’s song, though it seemed like a degraded version.

The curse, like the Extraordinary power itself, wasn’t experience; it couldn’t be transferred directly into his own head.

”You came alone. That makes things convenient.”