Master Of None

Chapter 1942: 1942. Eating Roots

This wasnʼt all Walker could do though. He had somewhat felt what the effects of the corrupted mana were. He could use this to be able to sense it if he was careful and remained focused on the task at hand.

But he couldnʼt base it off of this one experience. He had to accept that there were more monsters affected by the corrupted mana than just ones that might become monsters or were in that princess already.

The monsters that were already monsters for many generations were the monsters that he needed to worry about. They were the monsters that adventurers, merchants, and even farmers all relied on for materials and food.

These monsters might be the horned rabbits that provided many useful materials to alchemists and for food, along with merchants for their fur. But they could also be the cattle bred to be able to feed entire armies.

The demi-humans had bred a unique species of bovine monster that was able to be used as food. They bred them to be able to feed the armies that wanted to train non stop because that was their culture. Yet, what would happen in the red leather cows were found to be corrupted? They had stronger bodies and tougher hides just as they had been bred to have.

This meant that they would be a harsh corrupted monster that would easily tear through the weaker warriors that worked with the farmers to help maintain basic safety on the farm. It would require the army to come to the farms and maintain safety all the time. It would be a massive chunk of the army lost before the real war with the demons causing the corruption that they had to handle.

But this wasnʼt everything. The risks only continued as more people would be needed as crops and other things were infected with corrupted mana. It was literally a snowball effect that would get worse to the point that no one could survive.

”If this is their goal…” Walker stopped for a second and believed that this might be the goal of the demon lord. To cause trouble and chaos and destroy all things in the world. However, something about that struck him as off.

The corrupted city had not stopped moving from what they all understood. Therefore, it had a goal. A place to go. If the corruption was the goal, then they might just be running to hide, but that didnʼt match the progression.

Right now, the demon lord, sloth, and Envy had all the strength they needed. But if they werenʼt fighting and causing more trouble with it, then what were they about to do?” Walker just grumbled as he had no idea what the overall goal was. He had to keep studying the corrupted mana and see what he could do to handle it before they managed to get to the corrupted floating city.

Before his mind could drift off, Walker sensed an awkward pulse of earth mana. His eyes tracked the direction while he flew through the air using the wind mana he had grasped on to earlier.

This brought him to a place where the grasses had all been flattened. Not because of battle, but because something had been digging underneath the grass and caused them to die. Something had eaten their roots. This was the work of a monster that many knew.

”Letʼs see where it is. Normally they donʼt use their earth control like that.” Walker knew of these monsters because they were opposing to farmerʼs will. Specifically, these jewel grubs ate plant roots and the farmers planted plant roots. It was opposite goals in a way.

”There!” Walker stepped in to the air and leaped ahead spotting a pile of dirt rising. The small shiny yellow head of the jewel group poked out as it crawled on to the ground. A very unusual scene.

ʼJewel grub

The jewel group is known to cause many plants to die off due to its voracious appetite for plant roots. It stores the nutrients and takes a pupa form after it has eaten enough. Eventually , it will hatch back out as a yellow gem beetle.

They live for a year and will often go dormant if they do not have enough food. However, they are very sensitive to the earth mana that they have an affinity with. They will rarely come above the ground unless there is a good reason or a predator after them. If there are multiple above the ground, it is recommended to avoid the area.

Their shiny yellow head is considered a great embellishment for those that wish to add color and shine to their armor. Otherwise, it is too weak to be of much use to anyone for defensive purposes.ʼ

Walker was sure that this one had a reason for coming above ground. When he noticed another patch of dirt moving, he was worried that there might be an earthquake about to happen. It would explain why the jewel group moved out of the earth using a pulse of earth mana. That made a lot of sense. However, a large earthquake could make a problem for Genesis which was nearby.

Yet, when the second and larger jewel grub showed itself, Walker noticed that there were bloody streaks on the yellow shimmy head. The earth mana around it was also too similar to that of the turkey he had seen before. ”Corrupted!” The jewel grub was running from the corrupted jewel group. It was going to be eaten!

Without any waiting, Walker used his mana control. The jewel grubs were all too weak compared to what he could do. They were a weaker beast that the farmers could easily deal with in their farms. A single shovel strike was exactly what they needed to handle their soft bodies.

The corrupted mana was making the grub erratic, but Walker used his wind mana manipulation to literally pull the corrupted jewel grub in to the air. With it separated from the earth, it lost all means to attack or even move. This was a simple task for him, but for the average person, would have proved slightly difficult.

From the appearance of the jewel grub, Walker could spot the differences. The corrupted one was faster and easily moved compared to the normal one. The head was also covered in its own blood which meant that the corrupted mana was destroying its weak body.

From there, Walker could see that the pincers used to eat through roots were also jagged. They had cracked by the jewel grub had persisted. It proved that the corrupted mana was driving it in to madness. Regardless of pain, corrupted monsters would still try and attack.

These were worrying effects, but since Walker wanted to try more to experiment with his natural mana clashing with corrupted mana, he saw the perfect opportunity. This corrupted jewel grub would perish sooner than later if he left them alone. But with him using it to learn as a being holding corrupted mana, its death could save many people.

The normal jewel grip was twisting its body even though it couldnʼt feel the earth. It wasnʼt as panicked and could even be seen as calm but comparison with the corrupted jewel grub.

The corrupted jewel grub reacted trying to snap any anything that might be around it. Walker even felt that it could somewhat send the wind mana around it and the grub wanted to chomp down on that to release itself. The violence and madness was much higher and worrying.

As material mana became denser in the air, the normal jewel grub remained calm. This was normal. Natural mana was always around it. Yet, the corrupted grub was flailing more and more as it felt the natural mana growing. It could clearly sense the danger compared to before.

This was similar to when anyone sensed something danger. Being too close to a fire made people jump back since they knew of the danger and risk. It made sense that the corrupted monster would react similarly.

This grew worse as the natural mana was focused by Walker and pushed toward the corrupted grub. Itʼs skin showed the stress of the flailing small tears bled while the corrupted grub tried to escape.

When the natural mana came in contact, it released a hiss of pain that not many people knew such a monster could make. Then the skin ruptured more as it was colliding with chaotic manas.

What Walker felt with his true mana sense was enlightening. He felt the corrupted mana was pushing back but also trying to become smaller and more dense to match the natural mana. It wasnʼt being manipulated but reacting in its own way.

Before Walker could sense more, the group perished and all the corrupted mana shot out and away to dissipate. It happened too quickly but had shown him exactly what he needed.

….

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