[Vol. 8] Chapter 186: The Bleeding Earth Yam
It was like pouring cold water on a burning hot iron… or like holy light scorching a filthy evil spirit, wherever the faint black pure magic passed, it instantly triggered soft but piercing crackling noises across the area!
It was as if countless tiny bugs, hiding in the air and invisible to the eye, were suddenly wiped out by that wave of power, bursting apart one by one. Only the pure magic elements remained untouched.
“That's enough. Stop.”
Just as the ripples of magic were about to expand beyond the barrier, the priestess gently spoke.
As if obeying her words, the rippling, deep magic came to a sudden halt under the control of the gem. Then it quickly retracted along its original path. Violet raised an eyebrow and subtly looked around.
As expected, the [Demon God's Gem] could purify the magic here. And since the surrounding air didn't get re-contaminated while inside the barrier, that meant the valley's environment wasn't caused by a law of nature, but rather a physical phenomenon.
Knowing that much was enough.
Violet removed the barrier. The small area that had just been cleansed by the artifact was quickly taken over again by the polluted atmosphere, and the pure magic dissolved back into the corrupted whole.
This whole process was clearly observed by the two girls leaning against each other.
“……”
Violet and the dragon girl exchanged a glance, silently understanding each other.
“Xiao Guang, can your Fire do something like what just happened?”
The dragon girl didn’t say much. She just nodded.
“I can.”
“That’s good…”
Without letting anyone else know about the little experiment, Violet quietly put the [Demon God's Gem] away again. Still leaning against the Dragon God's slender but strong shoulder, she watched the dancing campfire, lost in thought.
The purify-then-contaminate process just now might not look like anything from the outside, you couldn’t even see a clear change in the air with the naked eye. But for someone like Violet, who had divine perception and observed the world from a much deeper perspective, what had just happened had already revealed a lot.
The reason Chaos Magic Valley caused so many problems… was because the magic here is polluted.
To put it more clearly, the magic in this area was mixed with some kind of "toxin". Something that, to anyone who used magic, was as dangerous as poison. That’s why, the moment anyone tried to absorb magic or let their own magic leak out in this place, it would instantly trigger a magic overload inside their body.
It was just like a poisoned lake. The poison was so strong that, even when diluted across the whole valley, just touching it would be enough to “kill” the magic of any living being. And since magic itself was the only way this poison could spread, even the strongest fighters had to walk on eggshells here. But for normal people with no magic, this place was completely harmless.
Now that Violet had confirmed this, the next important question was:
Where is this “poison” coming from?
And why is it completely contained within the Chaos Magic Valley? Why doesn’t even a little of it leak out into the surrounding areas?
To be honest, since the valley was unclaimed land, Violet didn’t think it was some kind of targeted curse. So the most likely explanation was that the poison was either:
A byproduct of some past event,
Or a defensive measure designed to seal something or prevent outsiders from getting too close.
And it was very likely connected to the strange, sunken pit in the middle of the valley, the one that looked completely out of place compared to the lush surroundings.
If that's the case, then this place isn’t far from their destination. The ancient ruins where, according to legend, the remains of the [World-Eater Serpent] were sealed after the Mythical Beings War three hundred years ago. However, the appearance of Chaos Magic Valley wasn't recorded three centuries ago. It seems to have formed only within the last one or two hundred years, so between these two events...
“Ahhh!”
Just as the priestess was lost in thought, a sharp and frightened cry suddenly broke the calm of the night like a bolt of lightning, shattering the silence!
Even the brave adventurer squad, who had still been chatting excitedly about experiment plans, fell silent for a moment, then sprang into action.
“Fwoosh!”
In the same moment that fear-filled cry echoed out, Mevis, the silent and stoic foxfolk assassin, who had quietly watched the others’ chaotic experiments, suddenly vanished like a shadow, disappearing before anyone else could react. The others, led by Elunie, quickly wiped the playful expressions from their faces and turned toward the sound.
“What happened?!”
“Eudora! What’s going on?!”
On the other side, Mia and Selna, who were closer to the source of the scream, had already reached the small pink-haired girl before anyone else. But when they saw what was lying at Eudora’s feet, even these elite, calm-and-collected maids couldn’t help but change their expressions.
The members of the hero party, who rushed over a moment later, were even more shocked, some of them even gasped out loud.
“Oh my spirits! W-What is that freaky thing!?”
“I… I’m okay! I was just startled. Don’t worry, everyone…”
Eudora, who had dropped what she was holding because of the shock, tried to calm down. Her pale face slowly regained color, and being someone who always hated wasting food, she instinctively reached down to pick it up again. But then, a smooth white hand gently stopped her.
“You shouldn’t keep that thing.”
The little girl blinked in confusion and turned her head, only to see that Violet and Xiao Guang were already standing beside her. For a moment, she looked completely lost and unsure of what to do.
“Sister Violet… this earth yam… it started bleeding. Did I cut it too hard with the knife? But earth yams never bleed before…”
“…Heh, don’t worry. That’s not blood.”
The black-haired girl smiled softly, then turned her head to glance at the cause of all the commotion lying on the ground.
It was shaped like a sweet potato, called an “earth yam” in this world. You could sometimes find them in the wild, and they were a common food among travelers and traders. But…
Right now, one side of its skin had been peeled, and from inside, it was oozing something like juice, but not the clear or sweet kind. Instead, it was black and slimy, with a filthy, sticky texture that gave off a deeply unsettling feeling. It looked more like some sort of creature bleeding dark ichor, and just seeing it made everyone’s skin crawl.
Violet didn’t speak right away. She gently took the small girl's soft hand. A faint golden glow shimmered from her fingertips, and the black goo that had gotten on Eudora’s skin vanished instantly, like it was burned away by holy fire.
Once that was done, she glanced again at the now grotesque, eerie yam on the ground, something that no longer looked even remotely like food, and finally asked.
“Eudora, where did you find this yam? And did you do anything to it before this happened?”