Chapter 17: The Hidden Path and the Chaos Energy

After finishing all that, Eliza decided to explore the path that wasn’t blocked first.

Behind the pile of rubble, deep in the passageway, a young girl was cautiously exploring her way out, unaware that the path behind her had been completely blocked. Soon, she arrived at a somewhat spacious area. Judging by the arrangement, it seemed to be a bedroom.

In the middle of the cave, there was an extremely crude wooden bed. It appeared to be a temporary wooden frame with a few rags thrown on top, making it incredibly shabby. Gern thought her own little shack had a more luxurious bed.

In the corner of the cave, a row of somewhat rotting cabinets and a few locked chests were placed there. Gern went to check and found that this area was just for storing miscellaneous items, with nothing important kept there. Important items were likely stored in storage artifacts.

Further into the cave, there was only a very narrow crevice, small enough to fit only a child.

Gern bit her lip, using her own power to touch the gem within her.

A flash of white light, and Gern’s body began to shrink rapidly, soon becoming the size of a small girl. She looked at her body and touched her chest, feeling a jolt of electricity that made her quickly pull her hand back.

Over the past few days, she had noticed her body growing, especially her chest, which felt hot, like two flames. Even a light touch would bring a deep sense of disgust from within. This was an instinctual reaction, as if ingrained in her from birth. If she were in her male form, she wouldn’t experience such emotions.

Gern felt a bit afraid, worried that her perception might be replaced, and she would completely become a girl.

“From now on, unless necessary, I should avoid using this power that isn’t mine,” Gern thought, carefully slipping sideways into the crevice.

Her small form was very agile in the narrow space, but she had to be careful not to scrape her chest. It was extremely sensitive, and even a slight scrape would be unbearable.

As a small girl, Gern panted, trying to calm herself.

Finally, she saw the exit, and the path ahead opened up. She had crossed the crevice and, after a short rest, began to survey the space before her.

This was also a long corridor, but it had a small pond. It wasn’t large, and it emitted a foul odor, indicating it was stagnant water. The corridor inside was winding, and it was impossible to see how long it was.

She first restored her male form, then cast a light spell with her hands and continued deeper inside.

After walking for a few minutes, Gern felt something under her feet.

She looked down and saw a dried-up corpse. It appeared to have been dead for a very long time, and Gern frowned, feeling a bit unsettled.

As she was about to step over the corpse, she noticed something in the palm of the hand. She opened the dried-up palm and saw a storage ring.

The seal on the ring was weak, and Gern easily penetrated it with her mind. Inside the ring, there were many items related to the Evil God Sect. Among them, she found a diary.

She opened it and found that the person had escaped the control of the Evil God Sect and was unwilling to be controlled by them. However, due to the lack of food in the cave and the fact that he had been corrupted by the Evil God, his mind had collapsed in his final moments.

Besides that, Gern discovered something valuable.

It was an ancient tome, and after flipping through a few pages, she recognized it as the ‘Chaos God Child Control Technique’ from her past life. However, the tome was quite damaged, with signs of tampering, making many parts illegible.

Gern flipped through it briefly and found that only the first few chapters were intact, while the rest were unreadable.

Gern was a bit disappointed and stored the ring before continuing her exploration.

On the other side of the cave, Eliza and her group finally reached the deepest part of the cave, where the space could accommodate a hundred people.

In the center of the cave, there were complex formation arrays emanating an ominous light, clearly not a good sign. Above the formation, a man floated in mid-air, his body surrounded by black mist, like a lifeless corpse with no movement.

Eliza carefully sensed the corpse and detected no sign of life.

“Oh, new guests have arrived,” a voice echoed from all around, with a seductive and slightly elegant tone. Just the sound of the voice put immense pressure on Eliza. The aura was clearly at the fourth or even fifth stage.

“Prepare for battle!”

Eliza, without wanting to waste words, took out a sword from her storage ring. The others also prepared for combat, but the voice’s owner did not appear.

“Aren’t they adorable little ones? Let them play with you,” the woman said.

As soon as she finished speaking, the cave walls trembled. What had seemed like a single passageway suddenly revealed several new openings.

“Come, enjoy what’s to come,” the woman’s voice faded, and in the next moment, several human-like monsters, their bodies completely covered in black mist, charged at the group.

The monsters caught the group off guard, but fortunately, these creatures were no stronger than first-stage knights, making them easy to defeat.

However, they soon realized something was amiss.

Their weapons, upon touching the monsters, were stained with black mist. This mist quickly spread, turning the weapons black and then creeping up their arms.

It was Chaos Energy, capable of corrupting anything it touched.

The academy’s students, familiar with the Evil God Sect, reacted quickly, and no one was contaminated by the black mist.

Eliza took out a completely holy light-infused amulet from her storage ring and placed it in her cleavage. This item, developed by the church, was used to resist the corruption of the Evil God and Chaos Energy, allowing one to move in areas contaminated by Chaos Energy for a short time.

To ensure the amulet remained secure, the safest method, as Eliza had discovered through numerous battles, was to place it like this. Of course, this only applied to female students with ample bosoms. Male students would bind it to their arms or thighs as instructed by the academy.

With the amulets out, the surrounding black mist dissipated, and the remaining black monsters, upon approaching, were burned by the holy light until the black mist disappeared, causing the monsters to vanish as well.

These people had been contaminated by the black mist for too long, and their flesh, bones, and souls had all turned into black mist. The moment they were touched by the black mist, their fate was sealed.

“That was quite a performance, you hounds of Theoviga Academy. Can you handle the next gift?”