Chapter 231 Dangerous Existence



"Ugh~ that looks repulsive," Nikol thought as he noticed that some of these people didn't have any skin on their muscles.

"Nikol, are you okay?" Alva shouted worried about him and he also replied to her with a little sign saying he is alright and moved on to the strange humanoid creatures.

Their otherworldly appearance struck him with a mix of curiosity and unease. With their misshapen limbs, elongated torsos, and grotesque features, they seemed like beings from a different realm altogether.

"What are they?" Nikol whispered to himself, his voice barely audible over the distant howling winds. He leaned forward, squinting his eyes, trying to make sense of their existence. But then, something caught his attention. The creatures turned their heads, their eyes locking onto him with an eerie intensity.

A sudden thought ran down Nikol's mind as he felt an uncanny familiarity emanating from those gazes. It was as if these creatures shared a connection with him, a connection that stirred a dormant power within him.

He blinked, realizing the resemblance they bore to the girls he had changed with his own power, albeit in a more primitive and underdeveloped form.

"So this is one of the effects of Jormungand's presence? But unlike when I completely helped the girls to remove the mana from their bodies and embrace their new energy, these creatures are still in the process," Nikol thought as he tried to understand what they need to do, so they can become successful in whatever they are doing.

Nikol's mind raced with questions, each one more puzzling than the last. Could these creatures be an earlier stage of the transformations he had witnessed? What purpose did they serve? And most importantly, why were they eyeing him with such a greedy, hungering expression?

And his question was suddenly answered as Usha gave him the answer about how they transformed.

"So they consume other creatures with the energy-"

As Nikol pondered, the creatures began to stir, their disjointed movements causing a ripple of unease within him. Slowly, they began to advance toward him but none of them could walk like humans, some of them crawled and the other group just ran onto him with their four limbs.

"Nikol!" Usha shouted, but he asked her not to worry and caught one of them by the head and created a barrier around him, so others won't be able to disturb what he was about to do.

He expected to see them trying to break his barrier but instead, they started to kill each other like wild animals, and the winners started to become more and more human-like with their skin colour changing and hair growing on their heads and body.

Usha and Alva were able to look at it, but other girls were terrified to see this, so most of them closed their eyes, but Nikol just ignored it and looked at the captured creature and started doing what he has to do.

He cautiously examined the body of the captured creature, his hands trembling slightly with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. As he observed, his eyes fixated on the chest area, where he discovered a pulsating heart unlike any he had ever encountered. Its ethereal glow emitted a faint energy that resonated with his own being but in a significantly smaller quantity.

A wave of realization washed over Nikol's face as he connected the dots. "Usha, Alva," he called out, his voice tinged with hurry and fear of something happening near the hollow.

"..."

Both Usha and Alva looked at him with confused eyes, but then he suddenly appeared before them and touched their hands and teleported to the place he wanted to visit and he knew his guess was right.

In front of them were the dead bodies of thousands of monsters lying on the floor lifeless, but most of them were messed up bodies like somebody purposefully took a bite out of them.

"It already happened, we are too late, because of this energy coming from the hollow, I didn't even know something like this was happening," Nikol looked at their hearts and saw them missing the same quality others had.

Usha and Alva, their initial shock subsiding, cautiously approached Nikol to get a closer look.

"What is happening here?"

Velian walked through all the bodies and decided to take a peek at the hollow to see what is going on there, and he knew whatever he is going to see, he won't like it.

Nikol's brows furrowed, his mind racing to piece together the vision before him.

Before him, upon a thick miasma-like substance, lay a group of naked men and women, their bodies entwined in a grotesque tableau.

The air grew thick with an oppressive weight, suffocating any glimmer of hope that dared to remain. The sight before him was not one of passion or intimacy; instead, it reeked of despair and a profound emptiness that seemed to swallow their souls.

Their gazes, once filled with vitality and life, now stared vacantly into the abyss. Hollow and devoid of emotion, their eyes were windows to darkness unimaginable.

The eerie stillness of their forms, suspended in a macabre dance upon the ethereal surface, sent a chill through Nikol's very core.

"This is not good!" Velian thought but then he suddenly heard a thud sound behind him and when he turned his head, he saw the thing that he didn't want to see ever.

Both Usha and Alva were lying on the floor with their mouths fuming showing how badly they got affected by this energy-full environment. So he carried both of them and quickly teleported back to the hollowatch and quickly cleaned their bodies of the excess energy that tried to corrupt them and laid them on the beds.

"Tsk, I'm so stupid, I should have known their limits," He thought while looking at the two girls, who slowly woke up feeling fresh rather fast as they felt much better with Nikol's fast treatment.

Usha slowly opened her eyes, her head throbbing with a dull ache. Confusion washed over her as she tried to remember what had happened. As her vision cleared, she noticed Alva beside her, also awakening from unconsciousness.

"What... What happened?" Usha groaned, rubbing her temples and looking around the room, as her last memory was standing beside Nikol.

Alva blinked, her voice filled with concern. "I... I don't know. The last thing I remember was... was us checking on the hollow and we suddenly felt dark-."

Usha's eyes widened in realization, and she turned her gaze toward Nikol, who was sitting nearby with a guilty look etched on his face. "Nikol, what happened? Are you okay" she demanded, her voice laced with confusion and care.

Nikol's expression twisted with anguish as he struggled to find the right words. "I... I didn't know what else to do. Jormungand's consciousness was overwhelming, and I couldn't let it consume us all. I had to do something to stop it. I'm sorry for taking all of you there, I should have known better"

"Don't worry about it Nikol, It's not your fault, we are stupid for not telling you how we felt, we thought we could take it and overestimated our abilities just because you gave us some powers, It's not your fault," Alva said, her voice trembling.

Usha and Alva exchanged worried glances, realizing the gravity of Nikol's actions. The Hollow had been their only chance of sealing away Jormungand's power once and for all, but it had also been a dangerous gamble. If Jormungand's consciousness was still intact, they could be facing an even deadlier battle.

Their concerns were interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps approaching the room. Eva, Emily, Zenda, and Nym burst into the room, their faces filled with a mix of fear and relief.

"We heard what happened! Are you both okay?" Eva exclaimed, rushing to Usha's side and embracing her in a tight hug which surprised all of them, as this was the last thing everyone expected to see.

Emily quickly checked Alva for any visible injuries, her voice filled with worry. " I should have come with you instead of staying here, Nikol, are you okay? Did you get attacked too?"

Everyone was worried but Nikol asked them to calm down, as making unwanted sounds near a patient was the worst and most annoying thing.

And Nikol explained to them everything that happened without leaving anything to their imagination.

Zenda stepped forward, her voice filled with determination. "We'll figure it out, Nikol. We've faced countless challenges together, and we'll face this one too. We'll find a way to deal with Jormungand, no matter what."

Nym nodded in agreement, her eyes shining with unwavering resolve. "We're not going to let our friends down. We'll do whatever it takes to protect each other and put an end to this nightmare."

Usha felt a surge of determination course through her veins. Despite the uncertainty that lay ahead, she knew that they had a bond that could withstand any trial. They were a team, and together, they would face whatever awaited them.

With renewed strength, Usha looked at Nikol and extended a hand towards him. "We've come this far together, Nikol. Let's face whatever comes next, side by side."

Nikol looked up, his eyes filled with gratitude and determination. He grasped Usha's hand firmly, a small smile forming on his lips. "Together," he whispered, but deep down he knew this isn't just a simple problem for them, as he was the only one that actually saw the horror down that hollow.