Chapter 34 Undead
34 Undead
Keles had to intervene to halt this destructive process, but she hadn't found a solution yet. As she contemplated tackling the issue of offspring, she was encouraged by some success. Her son showed promise, but when her son presented what he intended to use as a medium to create offspring, she was taken aback. "Humans were the medium he chose".
For a moment, Keles felt a surge of anger at the audacity of his choice. Her son then explained, "I don't hunger, but after laying eyes on these creatures, I felt a desire to feed, drink, and infect." Suppressing her initial reaction, Keles realized she hadn't informed them of Nana's rules. She calmed down, deciding to discuss this matter with them later.
After regaining her composure, Keles returned both of her creations to her realm, ensuring the environment they had disturbed was restored and healed.
When back in her realm, Keles delved into research, determined to understand why her son desired to feed on the humans she was forbidden to interact with. The answer that came to her mind was that perhaps it was due to her son's unique physique or his connection to death. After all, life opposes death, and their relationship is intricate.
Driven by curiosity, she questioned Roth about what it was in humans that made him want to feed. His eyes darkened, and his pupils glowed red as if he was reliving a memory. "It was the first time I heard something so flowing, and then the drums-like beat that makes the flow go faster—it was music to my ears," he responded.
With her heightened senses, Keles immediately understood what he meant. She, too, could hear the blood flow and heartbeat of mortal creatures. Roth craved to feed on blood, and she decided to allow him to experience it. Teleporting out of her realm, she found an animal for him to feed on and witness what he meant by "infect."
In a matter of moments, she returned holding a tiger in her hands and tossed it to her son, instructing him to eat. However, her son hesitated, leaving her perplexed. When she inquired, he replied, "The flow doesn't feel appetizing, but the mana in it makes it feel tasty." An uncertain look adorned his face.
Without further delay, Roth bit into the tiger's neck, and the once-powerful creature thrashed around as it sensed its impending doom. Keles watched as the tiger's life force drained away, leaving it dried up and lifeless.
She noticed her son hesitating again, so she called out firmly, "Infect! Now!" In front of her eyes, the once dried up and lifeless tiger twitched and stood up, its eyes now emitting a blood-red light.
The tiger surveyed its surroundings, searching for something, but seemed unable to find any scent to latch onto. Frustrated, it began roaring loudly, causing Roth to look at it with disappointment and disgust in his eyes.
Confused, Keles questioned her son about what was happening. He replied, "It needs to feed."
Deciding to act, Keles teleported them all to a forest. As soon as the tiger arrived, it took a deep breath and sprinted towards its target like a guided missile. She followed closely behind and watched as the tiger skillfully took down a deer. However, instead of tearing the prey apart, the tiger bit into the deer's neck and started sucking its blood.
With each suck, the deer grew thinner, while the tiger's famished appearance slowly transformed. The dried-up look it once had began to change, and its vitality seemed to return.
Keles observed the blood-lusted beast's rampage through the forest, leaving every prey it encountered dried up and seemingly growing stronger with each feeding. However, disappointment washed over her as she observed the beast's behavior.
While the experiment had been successful, in a different situation, she would have been thrilled. But if left unchecked, the insatiable hunger of this beast would lead it to clear an entire forest and then turn its sights on humans.
It wasn't the beast feeding on humans that concerned her the most, but rather the potential repercussions she would face if it were left to its own devices.
Waving her hand, she halted the beast just as it was about to pounce on another prey. The startled prey watched as the tiger-like creature turned to dust, scattered by the wind.
Returning to her realm, Keles sat alone, pondering how to find a solution to her problem. As she reflected on how Roth had transformed the beast, she realized a crucial detail she had missed.
"It was dead, but after he infected it, it came back to life," she thought to herself, recognizing that the creature's revival held a vital clue.
After the tiger died, its soul didn't depart from its body. As the goddess of death, Keles was well-acquainted with souls and knew that they tended to linger around their bodies for a while before eventually moving on.
However, unlike the usual course of events, the tiger's soul remained attached to its body even after death. Once Roth infected it with his power, the soul returned, and the tiger was brought back to life, but not as it once was. The infection caused changes in its body, resulting in a living dead creature.
Keles sensed the potential significance of this discovery. As the goddess of death, she had no shortage of souls, but her current dilemma was whether she could successfully reanimate a deceased person. This was uncharted territory for her, and she wondered if Roth's infection would work the way she expects it to. If successful, she could have Roth repeat the process on other deceased individuals to explore further possibilities.
Without hesitation, she initiated the experiment, randomly selecting one of the souls from her realm and finding a lifeless body. She attempted to return the soul to the body, and Roth was on standby, ready to lend his power when needed.
However, the experiment hit a roadblock as the soul seemed to reject the body. Keles, using her divine understanding, sensed that the soul was protesting, claiming, "This body isn't mine."
This revelation left Keles puzzled. While she had an abundance of souls in her realm, they did not come with their bodies. It was impractical for her to search for a matching mortal soul and body to achieve her goal.
Frustrated by the failed attempt, she turned to her divine abilities for guidance. As the goddess of death, she was well-versed in the nature of death itself. Death surrounded her, ever-present and imminent.
In the midst of her contemplation, another death occurred somewhere in the world. Keles instinctively shifted her focus to the scene, instantly teleporting to the location of a deceased human with a sunken chest.
Surveying the area, she noticed it was inhabited by an abnormally huge rabbit. She studied the wooden spear held by the dead human and the paw print on his chest. It was evident that the hunt had not gone as planned.
Dark smoke billowed from under Keles' robe, its eerie presence seemingly conscious as it enshrouded both the human and one of the huge rabbits. In an instant, they vanished, and Keles reappeared in her realm, her focus fixed on the human body with the lingering soul. She gestured for Roth to proceed immediately.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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