Starting with the goblin extermination

Chapter 106 The Red Seal: War

Logan continued his soft steps through the grey-green forest, each stride large and accompanied by a wary posture. He was heading deeper into the forest to find a special herb called One-Star Grass, which only appeared in the deepest parts.

This was the mission that Adele had entrusted to Logan about two weeks ago. Although Logan had already received the bonus for this mission a week ago—Adele's hot and crazy first time—Logan still decided to take advantage of this trip to complete the mission.

If you've made a promise, you should keep it.

Sometimes the path would suddenly become steep, requiring Logan to use both hands and feet to climb over the slope. Other times, Logan found himself walking alone through the flat woods. Without Elsa, he felt as if he had lost a keen eye, and had to be more cautious of any movement.

Moreover, he was about to cross that dividing line, that newly demarcated boundary that had just been drawn due to the recent disturbances in the forest.

Logan was initially skeptical of this.

Even if the original outer area was forcibly reclassified as the deep layer, would the Star Grass, which is only found in the deep layer, really grow out of thin air there in such a short time?

After all, monsters have legs and can migrate, but plants can't just pull out their roots and run away on their own, especially since the boundary expansion hasn't been going on for very long.

"Infused with magic." That was Adele's answer to him.

In this Ash Forest, the growth of herbs cannot be judged by ordinary standards. Whether they are monsters or magical plants, they are all created by magic.

Influenced by the overflowing magic from the central [Labyrinth], once the original outer soil is violently washed away by magic, those expensive deep herbs will break their growth patterns and appear out of thin air in a very short time.

This was already confirmed and publicly known information within the Adventurers' Guild.

Unfortunately, this intelligence became a fatal temptation. Many low-level adventurers, hoping for a lucky break, went to the familiar outer areas to scavenge for valuable medicinal herbs, forgetting that along with the deep-seated herbs, deadly monsters also appeared in the forest during this cataclysmic event.

The recent removal of those dead members from the guild roster is the best proof of that.

Logan crossed the new boundary, and as he came to his senses, the gray spots on the leaves around him had spread to more than half of the leaves. What came into view was a somewhat familiar building, his destination: a large black hole, the abandoned mine where he and Elsa had entered before.

The massive, heavy pillars of the mine still stood at the entrance. At first glance, the mine didn't seem any different from when I first came here; it was still shrouded in impenetrable darkness, filled with the stench of cold wind. However, there was one difference.

A tremendous roar came from the depths of the mine, louder and more direct than anything Logan had ever heard before. Logan could even feel the heavy, thunderous breathing of the enormous creature at the bottom of the mine.

Even just hearing the sound, Logan still felt immense pressure. He had thought that after taking the job, he might be able to go deep into the bottom of the mine to see the true face of that giant creature, but now it seemed that the risks were still very high.

Fortunately, he doesn't need to go all the way into the mine today; he only needs to harvest his target at the mine entrance.

Logan stepped into the dim cave entrance, listening to the enormous howling and smelling the pungent stench, searching for hidden corners where light and shadow intertwined, using the sunlight outside the cave as a guide.

He quickly found his target: the plants with stems as transparent as glass, the Star Grass. They had no leaves, and at the top grew a cluster of spherical corollas resembling miniature dandelions. When the cold wind blew through the mine, hundreds and thousands of extremely fine silver hairs on the corollas shimmered with a faint silvery light.

Against the backdrop of the deep darkness in the mine, the flickering lights looked as if someone had crushed a handful of brilliant stars and scattered them on this dirty soil—truly living up to its name.

The process of collecting the Star Grass went smoothly, without any ferocious rats emerging from the mine or any other monsters suddenly appearing outside.

Logan carefully collected all ten Heavenly Star Grasses and then quickly left this place of trouble.

Left behind in the dark mine, the sleeping giant monster let out a piercing howl.

Following the endless darkness downwards, passing through a maze of abandoned mine tunnels, deep within the mine lies a massive underground cavern.

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In the center of the cave, a colossal creature, as imposing as a small mountain, lies dormant.

With a giant body and a terrifying bull's head, it has its own name, a name bestowed upon it by the Creator.

Astaroth

Since being summoned here a thousand years ago by a man-faced rat that coveted the power of the gods, Astaroth has been trapped here, trapped in an endless slumber. The master who summoned it has long since become a pile of bones, while it continues to wander in an endless, bloody dream, just as it always has.

In the dream, it stands within the ever-changing, blood-soaked labyrinth of the great [Chaos Witch Diskerdia], filled with despair and madness.

It roared madly, waging an endless battle with its deformed brethren, other terrifying creations casually conjured by its creator. It tore, hacked, and slashed, venting its war-mongering fervor, a primal force bestowed upon it by its creator.

Just like it is now.

The pale light of the sky intertwined with the writhing dark purple walls. Astaroth let out a roar as its massive arms gripped a three-headed wolf tightly, slamming it against the labyrinth wall.

With a tearing sound, it ripped flesh off the cervical spine, chewed it casually, and spat it on the ground.

But this is far from over.

Heavy footsteps echoed from around the corner of the maze. It was its brother, another smaller minotaur, charging towards them, brandishing a giant axe.

Astaroth did not dodge; its eyes, burning with frenzied flames, were filled with a thirst for battle. It charged headlong into the axe blade, and just as the blade pierced its shoulder, its massive arms gripped its brother's thick, curved horns.

"roar--!!"

Wild power exploded between his arms, and with a loud crack, his left horn snapped off first. Then, Astaroth grabbed the bleeding broken horn and plunged it into his opponent's eye socket, piercing straight into his brain.

Bones flew everywhere, black blood splattered, and it pounded its chest on the corpses of its kind, roaring to the sky.

More enemies flocked to it, and it reveled in the pleasure brought by this endless war.

All of this is not an illusion.

As it tears its kind apart time and again in the labyrinth, in reality, deep in the darkness of the mine, its mountain-like body is constantly being torn apart, repaired, torn apart again, and repaired again.

The minotaur, originally a level one monster, had grown taller and stronger, with faint dark red magic patterns creeping up its massive feet.

One day, when the time is ripe, when the Creator who stands silently above the labyrinth once again descends to call, this behemoth will open its burning eyes in the present world and tear everything on the surface apart.

By then, it will abandon its old name.

It will awaken and gloriously accept the true name bestowed upon it by its Creator: [War]