Chapter 327 - Bone Calamity
Lumi followed Leon's line of sight and gazed in the direction of the Black Swamp's outer perimeters.
The cloud of miasma covered the entire Black Swamp and made it impossible to see anything inside.
Lumi could not find the people mentioned. She whispered in a doubtful tone, "Where are the people being..."
She did not finish asking before she began hearing the sound of splashing water. It came from the Black Swamp.
Shortly after, she saw the humans came out of the cloud of miasma and continue rushing straight towards their direction.
These humans did not see Lumi and Leon hiding on one of the Weeping Trees. They intended to enter the Weeping Forest.
"Eh? Why are they running over here? I thought this forest is supposed to be dangerous for living things..."
"Maybe they believe running to this Weeping Forest will give them a better chance at survival."
Leon already deactivated [Spirit Eyes], but he continued to observe with a serious gaze.
The six humans ran with frantic looks and urgency. In their hurry, their hoods dropped and revealed their facial features. A hint of horror could be seen in their eyes.
It appeared that whatever was chasing them must be quite powerful, if not outright horrifying.
"Who's chasing them, Leon? Could it be the demons?" Lumi asked. She was quite curious about demons. She heard of them in the stories, but she has never actually seen one.
"There's a chance it could be the demons, but there's also a chance it could be something else. Whatever it is, we will find out soon enough." Leon answered vaguely with a bit of speechlessness.
"What the heck? What difference is there between saying that and saying nothing at all?"
"I don't have the Heavenly All-Seeing Eyes or something like that, alright? You ask me, but who do I ask?" Leon shrugged.
"Ahh... I was just asking anyway." Lumi pouted.
"Let's just observe quietly for now. I'm curious to see what is chasing them."
"Are we just going to observe? If we help them, they will become grateful to us, you know?"
"Ha... that goes without saying. But if we want to help them, we must first ask ourselves if we can even help them or not."
From what Leon could see, these people had very robust bodies. They might be body cultivators, and reasonably strong ones at that. They might not be all that much weaker than he was.
If Leon were sent out his divine sense, he would be able to gauge their level, but doing so would also give away his location.
…
After the six humans entered the Weeping Forest, they did not stop until they were roughly 50 yards deeper into the forest.
The group leader swept the others a look and frowned immediately. He barked, "What are you all waiting for? Quickly put on your gas masks! Do you want to hug trees until death or something?!"
Everyone hurriedly wore their gas masks after hearing the group leader's stern reminder.
"Big Brother, can you tell us why we needed to give up on the mission? We haven't even found the people were tasked to find, nor did we get time to look for treasures! How are we going to explain to the Chief?"
"Yeah, what exactly is going on, Big Brother? Demon patrols are easy to spot, but I did not see any signs of them. Even if we run into one, there was no need for us to fear them, right? We did finish off the last group of patrols we encountered last time…"
"We rarely get the chance to enter the Black Swamp. Why did we have to leave without looking for some treasures? Boohoo, I still want a Tier 4 soul weapon…" The youngest male complained.
No one except the group leader seemed to understand what was going on. They were suddenly told to quickly get the heck out of the Black Swamp and run towards the Weeping Forest if they did not want to die.
They had never seen the group leader so fierce before. But because of that, they were able to understand that they were in a dangerous situation.
"Shut up! Forget about the mission. We will just tell the Chief that the people we were looking for are dead! As for the treasures… We can forget them too! We need to worry about our own lives right now!"
Beads of cold sweat ran down the side of the group leader's face, and his eyes darted between the Black Swamp from time to time.
Evidently, the group leader was incredibly nervous. Everyone noticed this and frowned.
Their group leader was by no means a coward. Otherwise, he would not have been able to become their group leader. Only the more valiant of warriors within the tribe can become group leaders.
The group leader was someone who can go toe to toe with Lesser Demons on their own. Although he stood no chance against Greater Demons, he would not show such fear. Only Archdemons could instill such fear in the group leader.
Could it be that they were being hunted by an Archdemon?
While everyone was guessing the danger, the group leader exhaled a wisp of foul air and recovered his wits. He then swept everyone a sharp look, and his ferocious aura exploded.
"Alright, which one of you motherf*ckers laid your hands the ancient bones? Have you all forgotten about the number one law of the Black Swamp?! Soul weapons can be looted, but NEVER touch the ancient bones!!"
The group members all looked at each other with confusion.
The Black Swamp's number one law was ingrained into every hunter before they are allowed to explore the Black Swamp. This is something enforced by not only their tribe but every human tribe that neighboured the Black Swamp.
After the initial confusion, their bodies shook upon realization.
"Oh, no! The Bone Calamity! Is it happening again!?"
"That's right! Whoever did it better come forward and admit now! I promise I won't beat you to death!" The group leader's eyes blazed with fury as he spat these words.
If the culprit could not be found, the blame would fall on his shoulders! Sparking the Bone Calamity had always been punishable by death! Even if the Chief spared him, the other tribes would not.
How can he not be angry?! Was someone scheming against him for his position?!
"It wasn't us, Big Brother! We would never be so stupid! We wouldn't dare even if we had ten lives!"
"That's right, Big Brother! How could you suspect us?! Don't you know what kind of punishment awaits lawbreakers?!"
"It must be those people, the Chief sent us out to find! I don't know where they came from, but only they would be stupid enough to break the law! That must be the reason why the Chief sent out to look for them!" The youngest member shouted.
After listening, the group leader found this reasoning quite sound. He retracted his ferocious aura, and his anger was somewhat abated. Afterward, he apologized, "What you said makes sense. I have blamed you all injustice."
"Never mind that, Big Brother. We need to hurry back and warn the tribe!"
"It's too late for that. We won't make it. Every tribe will be affected by Bone Calamity. We can only brace ourselves for what's to come." The group leader shook his head and sighed.
Back on the treetop, Leon overheard everything. After Lumi flashed him a peculiar look, Leon rubbed his head with a slightly guilty conscience. Obviously, they both knew who the culprit was.
It did not take long before there was a great stir in the Black Swamp.
The low rolling clouds of miasma began to gather and rise to form a colossal ancient demon's visage with two horns and three eyes.
"Wretched humans! For the act of profaning this sacred land with your insatiable greed, I grant you death!"
"Arise! Arise, my children! Arise and punish these wretched humans for disturbing your king's slumber!"
The colossal figure spoke with deafening volume that seemed to ripple across space and entered the ears of every being within a 10-thousand-mile radius.
After that, the colossal figure slammed into the sea of bones with its billowing body of miasma, disappearing shortly thereafter.
For an unknown period of time, the darkness looming over the Black Swamp was cleared, and the land within was revealed for all to see.
The endless miasma had disappeared without a trace, and the sea of black water dried up. All that was left behind was the rattling of bones.
The rising of the undead army was nigh.
Leon stared dumbly as he watched everything unfolded.
Unexpectedly, taking a few ancient bones would summon a fricking army of endless skeleton soldiers!
"Leon, Leon... You shouldn't have taken their bones... Look, you made them mad. Do something."
Lumi tugged his sleeve.
"Do you think they'll be happy if I return their bones and apologize?" Leon asked rhetorically with a stiff smile. He wanted to cry, but no tears would come out.
If the people found out he was the culprit, he would most like be hunted by every human tribe.