Wizard: I brought the wrong system.

Chapter 448 Swamp Water Ghost
The next day, around noon.

The boy, who was running at a steady pace, suddenly stopped, placed his hand on the hilt of the cross-shaped sword wrapped in black cloth, and sniffed around intently.

Even though his face towel was soaked with sweat, he could still smell a hint of blood amidst the strong, sour, putrid stench of the swamp.

As far as the eye can see, there are clumps of tender green grass and calm, azure water.

This is a plain between two forested islands, a region with varied terrain and numerous dangers, but also brimming with opportunities.

His tattered boots gleamed faintly. He carefully crouched down, turned over the haystacks on either side, and found a few drops of bright red blood on the shiny, damp ground.

By parting the surrounding grass, the bloodstains were evenly arranged in a straight line, with faint drag marks visible on both sides.

After discerning the direction, he slowly drew his longsword, crouched low, and followed the trail of the marks.

Soon, he discovered a mutilated human corpse.

The corpse was decapitated, and dark, carnivorous catfish propelled the remains astray through the viscous swamp.

The boy glanced at the corpse; it was dressed as an adventurer, but its weapons, potions, and other personal belongings were nowhere to be found.

Turning around, they found the body's head under a pile of grass nearby.

The neck wound was eroded, and the exposed cervical vertebrae were very flat, indicating that the head was decapitated with a sharp weapon after death.

Judging from his appearance, the corpse was probably around twenty years old. His face was terrified, one eye was wide open with a large white showing, while the other eye was nowhere to be seen. Through the bloody and mangled eye socket, the empty interior could be clearly seen.

These are signs of having been harvested. Regardless of whether the body was murdered or not, it proves that the area has already been cleared.

There is no gain without danger.

The boy straightened up, gazed in the direction he was heading, frowned, and muttered to himself:

"Is this spot going to be snatched up again?"

Indeed, this person is Yaro.

This is the third location he has searched for; the previous two had already been cleared out.

It has nothing to do with any leaked information.

Such clear news of the presence of magical beasts could not possibly have been received by only Ian.

Although he knew that the location was likely to be taken by someone else, Yaro was not in a hurry. He re-enhanced his Featherfall spell and continued to advance at the original pace, exploring any dangerous places.

In places where crisis and opportunity coexist, those with strength will never go hungry.

The more accurate way to describe the so-called news about monsters is: news of monsters or demons harming people, or the appearance of valuable supernatural creatures.

The Dark Plains will never lack monsters.

As Yaro wandered around, he soon stumbled upon a gathering place of water ghosts.

Water ghosts, according to legend, are created from the corpses of drowned people, but they are actually 'cousins' of fish-men, with scales, gills, and dorsal fins.

Standing at about 1.3 meters tall, it looked like a corpse pulled from the bottom of a pond. Its bluish-purple skin was covered with a layer of moss, which appeared blue or green in the sunlight. It was covered in disgusting slime and mud, and emitted a pungent, rotten stench.

Its limbs are covered with dark, slippery scales, and you can see the webbed feet of an aquatic animal between its toes and fingers. It has fan-shaped gills on the sides of its face.

The moment Yaro stepped in, they roared and made a strange sound, like humming from their noses, and charged forward, baring their teeth and claws.

A strong, pungent stench assaulted my nostrils and even stung my eyes.

At this moment, Yaro missed his skull oxygen mask terribly.

Unfortunately, he was too poor and didn't have enough magic stones to activate the magic runes inside the skull mask.

"vomit!"

Yaro suppressed his nausea and quickly used his aura to look around.

Soaring Dragon Movement Technique - Whirlwind Slash! Not for killing enemies, but for dispelling the stench!

Step forward to the left!

Draw your sword!

……

[Ding! Defeat the enemy, 'Basic Swordsmanship' gains 27 experience points]

……

The cross-shaped longsword pierced straight through the water ghost's eye socket, tearing off a piece of its snow-white brain matter.

A flicker of heartache flashed in Yaro's eyes instead!
This is all money!
Without thinking twice, he used the wind to draw his sword and sweep it across.

Whirlwind!
The sharp blade cleaved the water ghost's head off completely, yet no blood was seen.

……

[Ding! Defeat the enemy, 'Dragon's Movement Technique' gains 31 experience points]

……

The water ghosts finally realized something was wrong, so they stopped and turned to flee into the nearby swamp.

Yaro seized the opportunity to pursue and kill him.

……

[Ding! Defeat the enemy, 'Basic Swordsmanship' gains 21 experience points]

[Ding! Defeat the enemy, 'Basic Swordsmanship' gains 28 experience points]

[Ding! Defeat the enemy, 'Basic Swordsmanship' gains 35 experience points]

……

As can be seen from the experience points, in the system's judgment, the experience points of the two water ghosts are not as high as those of an ordinary wild wolf.

But they are indeed extraordinary creatures, often attacking lone fishermen and washerwomen in packs, or passing children and drunken drowsies.

They were sporadically spotted in the Viscount's territory, but were quickly dried into fish by the enraged villagers who dug up the ponds.

Well... if they hadn't seen that Yaro was small and outnumbered, they wouldn't have 'sent' themselves up here.

"Ugh! What a disgusting smell... Harvesting seems more troublesome than fighting!"

Water ghosts have underdeveloped oral structures, making it difficult for them to tear and bite, so they only eat rotten flesh, which is why they become tainted with a strong putrid stench.

All I can say is that it's truly an eyesore.

Yaro held his breath, suppressing his nausea, and collected the heads one by one.

"1, 2... Hmm, a total of 5 water ghosts, 4 with intact heads, should be worth one magic stone?"

Although water ghosts are not monsters transformed from human corpses, their brains are low-grade necromancy materials. They can be used to refine potions and as casting materials for some necromancy tricks. They have a wide range of uses, but because they are abundant, they are very cheap.

After transferring the heads into his spatial ring, Yaro moved a short distance away and used the nearby water to clean his longsword and the stench clinging to his body.

While washing, he thought to himself, "If other people encountered these kinds of monsters every day, they probably wouldn't even be able to afford low-level swamp antidotes. No wonder Fari Terrell said that water ghosts are the mercy of the hunting god."

Yaro has a spatial ring, which allows him to slowly cleanse his body.

Ordinary hunting teams can only carry these water ghost brains with them, even the brains of which have a foul stench. With such a noticeable stench, they can forget about encountering any other monsters later on.

That is why only hunting teams that haven't had enough success will specifically search for prey on their return journey.

(End of this chapter)