The two slowly moved towards the wooden house. When they got close to it, they noticed that the boards that made up the house were so dilapidated and old that it seemed like they had stood here for at least a thousand years, maybe even more.
Lin used all his mind to remember any news or place where there were such old houses. But not remembering any, he sighed and quietly said to Yulan:
"To the east of Fort Post - Hope, there shouldn't be any such houses. At least, I've never read or seen that there were houses of this type near Fort Post."
Yulan frowned and also tried to recall houses of this type, but unsuccessfully. She looked at the rest of the house and realized that the house was completely destroyed!
"This house... It's completely destroyed."
Lin also decided to examine the house and realized that there was no living space left in it, as if it had been destroyed hundreds of years ago.
They both came out of the back of the house and ended up on the main street of the village. Along the wide trampled road, there were many house debris, they were located near the road or directly on it. The houses also decayed, each house looked like something from a dump. And the smell coming from there was quite specific: — old, fresh due to the grass, and the smell of pleasant flowers?
Indeed.
Lin looked at a purple flower, from which a pleasant and unusual smell came. He approached it and picked one, not inhaling but instead breaking it into several pieces and examining it.
"They are quite strange. Their smell is definitely bliss; if those noble ladies who came to watch the fights smelled this, they would immediately buy it. But why do I feel a sense of anxiety?"
The sense of anxiety was one of Lin's main weapons, without it, he wouldn't be standing here examining the flower. Throughout his journey, this feeling saved him, and once again, it was warning him.
"Stop," he said to Yulan, who was about to pick the flower.
"Something wrong?"
"How can you be so careless? We are in the Magic World, and everything here can be dangerous, so put the flower down and step away from them," Lin warned Yulan.
She nodded and did as Lin said. When she stepped away, Lin also stood up and approached her.
"This place is very strange... My sense of anxiety is directly telling me not to do anything here."
"Maybe we should leave here then?" suggested Yulan.
Lin nodded.
"Yes. Let's leave here, this place seems very dangerous to me."
When the two decided to leave, they heard a sharp squeak, the kind made by rats.
Squeeeek!
The two immediately became alert, Lin took a stance, and Yulan grabbed several eagle feathers. At that moment, they saw a mouse slowly coming out of one house. It was completely purple, its eyes black as darkness, and its size reached half a meter!
"Calm down... Calm down... Calm down... It's just a regular mouse," Yulan tried to calm herself with all her might.
But Lin frowned and decided to check the stats of this unusual mouse:
[Distorted Creature: Infected Mouse.]
[Rank: Beast.]
[Abilities: (None).]
[Description: Once an ordinary mouse, it became infected after eating an unknown purple flower... It is very dangerous...]
Purple flower?
Lin's eyes widened, and he immediately checked his status:
[Status:
— Physical health: 86%
— Mental health: 97%
— Distortion: 15%]
"15% Distortion!" Lin shifted his gaze to the purple flowers and immediately understood everything.
These beautiful and pleasant-looking flowers were actually distortion spreaders. They lured their prey with a pleasant scent. Once a creature breathes in this toxic aroma enough, it becomes a Distorted Creature!
That's why Lin had 15% Distortion, even though he used his skill just a day ago.
"That's why I've been feeling anxious all this time," understanding everything, Lin turned around, grabbed Yulan by the wrist, and ran between the houses!
Yulan let out a slight squeak but quickly followed him. Although she didn't understand why they were running from an ordinary mouse, if Lin decided so, there must be a deeper reason.
When Lin saw the forest, he smiled. He quickly slipped between the houses with Yulan, and when they ended up behind the house, it seemed to him that he had seen these views before.
He frowned and walked further, after a few meters — the large and lush forest ended with a moldy stone wall, which he had seen at the main building of the village.
"Yulan, we are hallucinating!" Lin suddenly turned back and shouted to Yulan, but upon turning around, he didn't see her.
"Yulan?!" He called her name again, but there was no response.
In this full "forest" of greenery, there stood only one figure — Lin, but no other trace was found. Lin's face twisted with anger, which was rare for him. But calming down, he regained his rationality.
"So, we ended up in an unknown village that I haven't seen on any map of the Magic World. There are strange purple flowers here that spread Distortion... But also create hallucinations," he speculated.
"As I understand, this village is teeming with all sorts of Distorted Creatures, and Yulan has disappeared... Although she has grown significantly and become an Awakened, I feel that she cannot escape alone. Should I save her or run away alone?"
"But... Can I escape alone? Do I have enough strength? Why am I doubting now?" he sighed.
"Anyway, we'll see along the way. This girl is quite important, especially after becoming an Elemental Awakened. Leaving her would be a bit of a pity..."
Having decided, Lin looked at the passage he came from and saw a purple mouse there.
"Well then, attack!" Lin shouted loudly and took a stance, ready to take the frontal blow.
The mouse squeaked sweetly and used its four legs to quickly shorten the distance and attack Lin!
"Seriously? That simple?" Lin was a little surprised by the mouse's simple attack, but did not relax and sharply swung his sword, cutting the mouse in two!
The two halves of the mouse fell down, and its purple blood, which hit the grass, quickly sprouted and created several purple flowers.
"So that's how these flowers appear. You need the blood of the infected to get on the grass." But this information wouldn't help Lin in any way, so he quickly ran out of the forest back to the road.
Squeeeek!
About twenty purple mice appeared, squeaking at Lin and wanting to tear him to pieces and eat them.
Lin snorted and quickly ran at the mice, swinging his sword.
One... Two... Three... Four...
One after another, the mice fell down, cut in two, their blood staining the road purple, and from their corpses came a rather pleasant aroma.
Of course, Lin tried not to breathe much, so as not to become Distorted and become one of them. Only in a larger form. He also didn't use his skill because he felt that there were much more dangerous opponents with whom he would soon collide.
Having killed all the mice, he did not dare to search them, because even from the smell alone he could become Distorted, and if he touched their blood? If he didn't instantly turn into a Distorted Creature, he would die!
Lin looked around and noticed a strange black silhouette standing at the end of the street, simply watching everything.
Lin frowned.
"He is already dangerous."