Chapter 714: Huge Heart and Vines? (1/2)

”...yep, this is no ordinary Vampirism. There's more to this.”

Vendrick came up with this conclusion after inspecting some more subjects that he encountered so far. Although he already guessed that this was the case, he still wanted to confirm it, and now he could.

Vampirism is an art that is centered around blood consumption. Typically, the host will have to consume blood in order to sustain itself and become stronger. Those who are afflicted with Vampirism typically experiences extreme hunger that can't be satiated with any kind of food, only by drinking blood would they be able to satiate their hunger, however repeated consumption of blood can be addicting to those who are affected.

There are ways to spread this affliction, the most common way is preying onto someone without draining all the blood in their body. Leaving them alive will cause them to be infected by Vampirism and they'll become fledgling vampires too.

But see, what's happening around Vendrick isn't simple Vampirism. If anything, it's more like a plague really.

Vampirism will only drive its host insane if their hunger for blood isn't satiated after some time. If they have a stable source of blood, they will maintain their sanity as well as possess the enhanced strength of vampires and their acute sense for blood. It absolutely can't reanimate the dead, which is what's going around him.

In addition, these deranged demonic beasts aren't doing this out of need to satiate their hunger, no. Once they got infected, they will lose all sense of reason and will proceed to destroy every living thing around them, nothing can stop this unless they were killed. But to be honest, leaving an intact corpse behind would just delay this process.

After all, whatever this 'illness' is, it can re-animate the dead. It will only take a single bite from a carrier to re-animate a dead corpse and it would start its rampage again.

Vendrick had been searching around for quite some time now. Trying to track where this 'illness' is coming from. Unfortunately, his senses can't pick up anything useful. Its like they were appearing from out of nowhere.

”Should I just kill every single one of them? That might just solve my problem right away.”

Vendrick was really tempted to do this, but alas he can't justify it...for now at least. Well he does have the ability to kill every single demonic beast in sight but even with his current strength, it will take time before he could eradicate them. What if he runs our of energy and all of a sudden the Vampiric Serpent appeared to ambush him? Wouldn't that spell death for him?

Additionally, what if the problem doesn't lie on the demonic beasts themselves? Wouldn't the act killing every single one, be not worth it if that ends up being the case? Vendrick didn't want to waste time for something not worth it, so he turned this idea down.

”...maybe I should go deeper into the wilderness. The answer I'm looking for might just be there.”

---

”Uh...what the hell is this?”

Vendrick was dumbfounded,

He had thought that going deeper into the wilderness of the Western Continent would at least give him answers. Well, it somehow did, but it also lead him to more questions.

There is something in the depths. It was big and freaky.

It pulsated as if it was alive. Looking closely at it, it looks like a beating heart only it's a hundred times bigger than the normal one and more gross looking. It's covered in black slimy goo, it glows with a crimson color whenever it pulsates. Its also wrapped in vines that are pulsating rhythmically in accordance to the large organ.

Vendrick inspected this thing from a far, at first he thought it was a hill but it pulsated and looked weird so he went closer.

The large organ was surrounded by Demonic Beasts who stared at the pulsating organ like they were entranced. Every single on of these demonic beasts are infected, Vendrick knew it from the first glance. All of them were covered in warts and had crimson colored eyes that pulsates in sync with the pulse of the heart.

The only sound that could be heard from the area was the sound of a beating heart. Vendrick made sure to suppress his presence in order to not alarm the demonic beasts around him.

He hid amidst a thick bush. His eyes glowed with rainbow colored light, a sign that his ocular technique is active. He inspected the 'Heart' and was surprised with what he saw.

The heart was anchored to the ground by the vines. Each time it pulsates, its actually releasing an invisible steam that blends into the air. Give it enough time and not even Vendrick's ocular technique would be able to see it.