World Awakening: The Legendary Player-Chapter 96: The Rot

They moved through the forest like ghosts. Fena led the way, her dark form a blur as she leaped from one massive branch to the next without a sound. Serian followed, her own elven grace making the high-speed chase look easy.

Fena glanced back over her shoulder, not surprised at all that Serian was keeping pace. But the human, that was a different story. He wasn’t just keeping up, he was moving with a fluid ease that was completely unnatural for his kind.

His feet found purchase on the slick bark as if he was born in the trees, and his movements were so quiet it was unsettling.

’How is this possible?’ she thought, a flicker of genuine shock passing through her. ’He moves like one of us.’

Nox saw her look back, and a cocky smirk spread across his face. He pushed a little of his mana into his legs, his Shadow Glide skill kicking in. He accelerated, a dark shape that flowed through the canopy, and easily caught up to her. frёeweɓηovel_coɱ

For a moment, he was right beside her, and then he was past her, landing on a branch ahead before she did. He looked back at her and gave her a small, challenging nod.

Her eyes narrowed, not with anger, but with a new, grudging respect. This boy was a walking contradiction, an unending well of surprises.

Just as he was enjoying the look on her face, the god chat exploded in his vision. He noticed there were a bunch of new names, gods with impressive titles who had clearly shown up for the main event.

[Zeus, King of Olympus] So this is the mortal anomaly. He has a certain... intensity.

[Odin, the All-Father] His will is a blade forged in suffering. A dangerous combination. He walks a path between ruin and glory.

But the chat’s attention wasn’t on the new arrivals. All eyes were on one name that was now glowing with a brilliant, bloody red light.

[Lord of Carnage] A deal is a deal. I am a god of my word.

The other gods went quiet, their focus snapping to the God of War.

[Trickster God Hermes IV] Uh oh, Papa Carnage is here to pay up! What’s he gonna get?! A new stick? 😂

[Lord of Carnage] The whelp won the bet. He landed a hit. The reward is his.

A new screen opened in front of Nox, separate from the chat. It was a single, massive notification, its border wreathed in roaring, animated flames.

[You have earned the favor of the Lord of Carnage!]

[Reward Granted: Soul-Bound Weapon - The Brutalizers]

[Description: A pair of Cestus-style gauntlets forged in the heart of a dying star. They feed on the user’s fighting spirit and corrupted mana, increasing in power with every blow landed. They are not just weapons; they are an argument, and they only speak the language of violence.]

[Item has been placed in your inventory.]

His eyes went wide. ’Cestus gauntlets? Forged in a dying star?’ He had been joking when he fought with his fists before, just messing around. But this... this was a real weapon, a gift from the God of War himself, and it was made for a brawler. It was made for him.

"We are here," Fena’s voice cut through his thoughts.

He dismissed the screen and looked down. They had arrived at a place where the forest felt sick. The trees were massive, older than anything he had seen before, but their leaves were a sickly yellow, and thick, black veins pulsed on their bark like infected wounds.

The air smelled of decay and something else, a faint, bitter coldness that had nothing to do with the temperature.

In the center of it all was the Great Root. It was a colossal thing, a knot of wood as big as a building, half-buried in the earth. But it was covered in the same black, pulsating veins, and a dark, oily sap leaked from cracks in its surface, poisoning the ground around it. The thing wasn’t just sick, it was dying, and it was taking the whole forest with it.

Serian gasped, her hand going to her mouth. The sight was a violation, a beautiful thing made ugly by a foul disease. Fena’s own face was full of sadness. This was her home, her responsibility, and it was rotting before her very eyes.

Nox just looked at it. His Void Gaze skill activated on its own, and he saw past the physical rot. He saw the core of the problem, a swirling knot of chaotic, hungry energy deep within the root. It was a parasite, feeding on the lifeblood of the forest.

"This is the heart of the Rot," Fena said. "We have tried to cleanse it, but our magic is repelled. It only feeds the darkness."

"I can feel its pain," Serian said, her own eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Nox didn’t feel pain. He didn’t feel sadness. He looked at the swirling nexus of dark energy, at the immense power it held, and he felt only one thing.

Hunger.

He took a step forward, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face.

Fena put a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, human. Do not be reckless. To touch the Rot directly is to invite its corruption into your own soul."

He just shrugged her hand off. "My soul’s already a lost cause, old woman."

He didn’t wait for another warning. He walked right up to the massive, dying root, the ground squishing under his boots. He reached out and placed his hand flat against one of the pulsating black veins.

"Time to eat."

The dark energy of the Rot pulsed under his palm, a chaotic symphony of power and pain. It felt incredible, like an all-you-can-eat buffet of pure, corrupted energy just waiting for him.

He could feel his own mana stirring in response, hungry and eager. This was it. This was the shortcut to the next level of power.

He focused his will, ready to activate his Void Assimilation skill, ready to take a huge bite out of this dying god-tree.

Just as he was about to dig in, a clean blue screen slammed into his vision, its text simple and shockingly direct.

[Why do you not speak with me? You did, that one time. Was it not helpful?]

He froze. His focus shattered. He pulled his hand back from the pulsating black vein as if he’d been burned, stumbling back a step.

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