Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer-Chapter 284: Corruption (1)

As the group stumbled outside, they were met with an unfamiliar place. When they entered the dungeon, the portal was in a forest-like area. However, they were faced with a barren land when they walked out. freewёbnoνel.com

"...where are we?" Ruby quizzed, but no one had the answer for her.

John immediately tried contacting the DRA, but his phone couldn’t get a signal. The rest of them were the same. It was like they were stranded in an entirely different world.

The lush greenery was gone, replaced by a vast expanse of barren land. The ground was cracked and dry, devoid of life. They stared in disbelief, trying to comprehend what had happened while they were inside the dungeon.

"We were gone for three days, and all hell broke loose?" John complained while most of them were in shock.

Adrian and Sophia, on the other hand, were worried that they had stumbled across another realm. Much like they did before, it had happened twice before, so they couldn’t be sure it wasn’t the case.

Before they could process the situation any further, a loud noise interrupted their thoughts. The sound of engines revving grew louder, and within moments, a convoy of rusty, makeshift vehicles appeared to be speeding toward them.

The vehicles looked like they had been cobbled together from scraps and kicked up dust clouds as they approached. However, while they were happy at first to see signs of life, Adrian rained on their parade and drew his blade.

"What are you doing!?" John barked, but much to his dismay, everyone, including Michaela, brought out their weapons, prepared to fight if things got down to it.

"Get ready," Adrian instructed the others. "Things are too suspicious for us to relax. We don’t know who they are or what they want. It’ll be wise to treat them accordingly."

The vehicles screeched to a halt, forming a rough circle around the group. When the dust settled, the doors of the cars flew open, and rough-looking men and women stumbled out, their weapons trained on the group.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" a tall, muscular man with a scar running down his face, holding a shotgun, demanded.

"Hunters-"

A shot rang out no sooner than the word appeared out of Ezekiel’s mouth. The man had fired upon him, but thankfully, low-grade weapons like that didn’t have much effect on them.

However, it was enough for Adrian to know the people before them weren’t friendly, at least towards the hunters.

"Kill the men and take the women to the leader!" the man yelled as everyone readied their weapons. "The leader would love having new girls in the clan."

When Adrian heard those words, he couldn’t help but sigh. He had hoped to come to an understanding with them and figure out what was going on. But it didn’t seem like those people were going to help.

"Should we restrain them?" Aris asked, her claws shining.

"No need," Adrian replied. "Let’s go all out."

Sophia was shocked to learn that Adrian was willing to kill some unawakened people. However, her opinion changed when she looked into their eyes. The people standing before them were alive but weren’t humans anymore.

They have been corrupted... by the Nether.

It was a confusing situation. How come the people of Earth were corrupted by the Nether? It would make more sense if they weren’t on Earth at all.

But judging by the weapons and gear of the ones who came before them, it seemed clear they were on Earth and not in some other dimension.

"Stop trying to make sense of everything," Adrian mumbled, snapping Sophia out of her trance. "Focus on beating the corrupt ones before."

Sophia nodded, prepping a spell.

However, it didn’t seem like it was the first time the corrupts had gone against hunters, as they had brought out weapons that could certainly kill them.

One of the younger guys threw a belt of mana bombs at them. The ground shook and cracked as bombs exploded. But thanks to Ezekiel’s shield and Sophia’s barrier, the explosion didn’t do anything to them.

However, more bombs were thrown their way—so many that even Sophia’s barrier began to crack. It was like they didn’t want the hunters to have any room to breathe and forget about counterattacking.

"Call for reinforcements," the tall man from before asked one of the others.

But before they could do anything, a spear burst out of the dust cloud, instantly hitting the messenger’s head and killing him. As the cloud cleared, Robin retrieved another spear and hurled it towards the leader, who managed to dodge the strike.

"What? How come they are not hurt at all?" one of the corrupted humans barked; unfortunately, it was the last word that came out of his mouth as Ruby’s scythe sliced his head off.

The tall man from before was taken aback. They had been against hunters before to save their community from being turned into ghost soldiers. However, none of them were as strong as the ones before him.

For the man, it would remain a mystery because Adrian had just sliced his throat without the man even noticing it. Within moments, the corrupt humans learned they were messing with the wrong people.

Unfortunately, they weren’t given any time to repent, as they killed all but one man. Aris wanted to kill the man, too, but they needed information which only a survivor could provide them.

However, something horrific happened the next moment. Before they could question the man, he turned into a beastly creature towering before them.

But that wasn’t all. The dead beside him were devoured by the creature, enhancing his strength further. Despite living in Nexaria, it was the first time either Adrian or Sophia had seen anything like it.

"...what the hell is that thing?" John yelled.

"Do I look like a walking encyclopedia to you?" Adrian taunted back before looking at the beast.

The aura around the man felt similar to that of a demonic transformation. But he wasn’t sure. Even so... Adrian’s lips curled as he smiled. After all, he had found a prey to give him an organ.