According to John, after I was sent into the Lower Plane, the Drow began intensifying their conflict with the humans. What once used to be a contested border between the outer reaches of The City and the Drow territory, became a bloody battlefield.

  At first, the war was mostly even, considering the ash skins were limited by the amount of energy they could use in their attacks while being much weaker physically. At the same time, they had spare bodies they could use and throw at the problem, so even if the Drow and humans were killing each other in similar numbers, the human side was slowly losing as time went on.

  That’s when the Grand Elders joined the fight, and one just Sky Realm human could blaze through hordes of Drow puppets without a problem, turning the tide of war once more. The escalation then forced the Drow to adapt, and according to John, a year prior to my return, they started seeing monsters such as the Slob join the battle.

  Not all of them had the same shape, but all of them looked weird, misshapen, with extra limbs or parts missing. The Slobs were quite rare among the beasts, as he had only seen a few of them, and only ever killed one. The squished one was his second.

  “Master, it looks like your friend is struggling.” Bram mentioned after the Slob Adam was fighting suddenly accelerated, using its energy for an extra burst of speed that brought it close to catching up with the man.

  [Hmm, you are right. He looks tired.]

  “Should I go help him?” He proposed. “I could probably take the beast.”

  [No, no… Save your energy. That’s actually a perfect opportunity to test my Seeds.]

  “Seeds?” John turned to me. I gestured for him to wait and summoned a few of the tiny golem cores. I tossed five of them some distance away from the tower and gave them a command to activate.

  The cores sank into the ground and then sprouted like real seeds. They gathered rocks and soil around them, forming the body of an average-sized human. They then climbed out of the ground and formed a group, waiting at attention.

  [Take out the beast.] I ordered calmly. The golems did as ordered, turning to track the massive creature chasing a person across the sky. When they rushed by us the next time, all golems had their eyes glow at once and then fired two thin beams at the beast.

  The energy pierced through the thick hide and flesh without resistance, coming out on the other side of the building-sized behemoth, having severed many important parts on their way through.

  The Slob released a distressed wail as the ten energy blades did their thing, and fell from the sky with a boom. It struggled to move and lashed out with its magic. A destructive gale formed, and blades of sharp wind threatened to cut down everything around it. Before it could fully release its anger, though, the golems blasted it for the second time, killing it. All that was left of it was a pile of flesh nicely cut into long strips and cubes.

  “Damn!” Adam landed on the ground beside us, panting. “Couldn’t you do that sooner? I was almost out of energy!”

  Olivia grinned teasingly at him. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You could have escaped at any time.”

  “As if! You would have never let me live it down if I did. And we both know it!” Adam retorted.

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  Olivia just covered her mouth and giggled like a little girl, which looked extremely weird on the giantess.

  “Alright, alright! Stop teasing my man…” Alexandra pushed the playful woman aside. “Go find one of your own.”

  I kept my distance so I wouldn’t catch any drama between them. Luckily Thener, my researcher, came to examine the beast, giving me an excuse to join him.

  “Incredible…” He murmured to himself. I just watched as he poked around the mountain of repulsive flesh. Even I, someone who would eat almost anything, refused to touch the Slob. There was something there that would make me uneasy and disgusted, and I was not talking about appearance. The flesh was just… wrong. I couldn’t place my finger on what was bothering me though.

  “Hoho… So that’s how it is!” The doc exclaimed.

  [What have you found?]

  “Ah, Master… It seems to me that this beast was mutated from another lifeform recently.”

  I nodded. [That much is obvious. There are no creatures around these parts that look anything like it. Bloodline manipulation?]

  “Not quite.” Thener smiled knowingly, and I let myself be surprised. “I suspect they were mutated with the help of curses.”

  [Curses?] I frowned at that. Curses were generally extremely difficult to control as they often just went haywire, killing the victim. If they weren’t as aggressive, they could be cured over time, but they were always bad.

  [Are you telling me this creature is cursed?]

  “It is a curse, actually. Or, a carrier of it.”

  [Explain.]

  “Certainly!” Thener happily said, going into teaching mode. “So, it is like this… This creature, whatever it was originally, was cursed, and then because of it, mutated into this new form. I can still detect traces of the curse left, but it is dormant. Well, was. Now it’s dead. Inactive. My guess is that the Drow somehow managed to control how the curse develops and used it for their beastly hordes.”

  “You are kidding, right?” John said, having come to listen in on the conversation. “These things can be created with a curse?”

  “A very complex one, yes. It is theoretically possible.” Thener nodded seriously. “I would have to study a live specimen to figure out exactly what is going on, but as far as I can see, that’s what’s happening. I don’t know how they did it though, so don’t even ask.”

  “Oh, great… Just what we needed, massive cancer beasts.” John threw his hands in the air. “Wait.. you said this thing was a carrier? Can it spread?”

  “In the state it’s in? Unlikely. But I wouldn’t dare claim so for a live one. The extra limb might be more significant than I originally thought. Though, once again, I would have to study a live one to confirm my suspicions.”

  I decided to sit on the information and just think. If the Drow could control the curse, and if the Slobs could spread it as Thener had suggested, that could become a problem. I wasn’t quite sure though.

  At least I knew what was turning me off from eating it, so that was good. No cancer meat for me. I turned to John. [Have you seen any other creatures like that?]

  “Monstrous ones?” He asked. “Yes, quite a few of them, weirdly enough. There was a pack of extremely odd-looking wolves last month. They just ran past the tower and we didn’t get to fight.”

  “How did they look?” Thener asked, notebook in hand.

  “Tall. They had long, thin legs. Crimson bodies with little fur. They were fast too, so I didn’t get a good look, but they didn’t appear to be any species I know of. They were absolutely silent and laser-focused on something in the distance, almost as if they were possessed. There was also a spider-like creature, just with hands instead of insect feet.”

  John thought for a bit and then shrugged. “Then again, it was quite far when I had seen it, so I might be mistaken. I was the only one of its kind I saw and I didn’t get to fight it.”

  “Troubling.”

  [You don’t say… It’s like the creatures from nightmares are becoming real. At least we get their Souls out of it.]

  “I’m not sure that is all that great.” John frowned. “The one I just killed was filthy. Chock full of impurities and corruption, and somehow it even tasted bad. I had no idea that was possible for a Soul.”

  I looked at John and then at Thener who just stared. “Souls? Taste?”

  John’s head snapped to me. “I…” Apparently he thought the guy already knew. Nope.

  [We could just tell him.] I suggested.

  “But then he can’t be allowed to leave…”

  I waved my hand. [Let’s just do it. He’s with us anyway. He might learn something new.]

  “Tell me what? Master, what is this about?”