[You have slain a dormant demon, Offspring of decay.]
[You have received a Memory: Skeletal Chain.]
Reading the messages, I became aware of the object floating somewhere in my soul.
Manifesting it, particles of light came together to form, true to it's name, a long skeletal chain.
The chain was made of interlocking joints, almost like an extremely long spinal cord.
It bent omnidirectionally, and seemed sturdy.
I looked and found a cluster of runes that seemed to describe the "memory" I had just received.
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Memory: Skeletal Chain
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Type: Utility
Memory description: [A chain woven by the Guardian Spirit of the Rotted forest out of the bones of the Offspring of Decay.]
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'Interesting, these runes seem to have an auto-translate feature' I thought as I stared at the text in front of me
Now I had to prepare, I knew the threats that roamed the forest, and I had new-found purpose.
Whatever that tree in the center of the forest was, it was clear it was related to whatever the "First Trial" was.
I was probably tasked with eliminating it, that thing was unnatural, and the things that it sent after me even more so.
The runes described the thing I had killed as the "offspring of decay", and something tells me that whatever gave birth to that thing was the real threat.
I brainstormed ways to get close to the tree, the wyverns being the biggest threat among the abominations I had seen today.
I could combat the other animals on the ground, but the wyverns could fly, and with access to only the initial forms of my transcendent swordsmanship, I couldn't attack from a distance.
I fell into thought, the Star of Memory glowing faintly as I called upon my wealth of experience.
My eyes twinkled as I recalled a special unit that patrolled the outland, the outer edge of the battlefield of stars.
I think I figured out how to combat those rotting, moldy wannabe dragons.
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After resting for a while, I roamed the forest for materials.
Coating my hand in sword aura, I chipped away at some trees until I managed to cut one down.
Collecting the wood I got to work, using the swords I had to slowly carve away at them, making large javelin like stakes.
I sat in silence, alternating between using the sword and my sword aura coated hand to shape the wood into something usable.
By the end, I was left with three large wooden stakes resembling sewing needles. Each one was about half my current height, which I presumed to be around 5'8 (around 172cm), and was barbed.
Threading the Skeletal Chain through one of the stakes, my preparations were nearly complete.
I unwrapped the remaining short swords, placing them on the soft green forest floor.
Grabbing one of the three swords, I coated my hand in aura before promptly shattering the blade.
The weakened metal gave way, the sword fragmenting into sharp steel shards, each around the size of an arrow head.
Repeating the process once more, I had amassed a decent amount of sword fragments.
I tore apart the shirt I was wearing, using the fabric to create a small sash I could store the fragments in.
Wrapping the sash around my waist, my preparations were complete, and I started my trek back to the center of the forest.
What was I doing?
Well-
Among the numerous military units deployed by the empire to the outland, there was one particularly infamous one, the Wyvern Hunting Squad.
The Wyvern Hunting Squad was a squad specialized in aerial combat.
The soldiers in the squad were all made up of sword expert and sword seekers, none of them possessing the ability to fly or attack from range with their swords. There were no mages in the unit, and yet they were still able to deal with wyvern riding demons.
They employed Chain Stakes, large stakes connected to chains, using them to tie down or latch on to the wyverns, engaging them directly or restraining them.
While the principal was the same, I didn't have the firepower to properly eliminate the wyverns, or the other offspring of decay.
I was lacking in weaponry, having a measly three swords to my name.
4 swords was already all I could have comfortably carried from the weapons I had "Borrowed" from the corpses, and it still wasn't enough.
When I had launched the sword at the bear earlier to create an opening for my escape, my aura almost fucking vaporized the poor undead. Whatever the offspring of decay were, they were clearly not very durable.
Using the same principle as the sword grenade from earlier, I could probably imbue sword shards with enough aura to detonate them, using them as explosives instead of as cutting weapons.
I had kept one sword intact, just in case there was something that I wouldn't be able to kill without my swordsmanship, and shattered the rest to use as ammo.
Now that I had finished arming myself, the plan was simple: Fuck around and find out.
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I had almost reached the clearing, no undead obstructing my path yet.
The trees surrounding the field of flowers, deep green, full of life, and yet felt ominous.
I approached the endless sea of flowers, the sun shining overhead, the breeze gentle and cool, in the center of it all, the unnatural tree stood tall.
The cocoons were still at it's base, and while the scent of flowers filled the air, the aroma of rotting flesh was hard to mask.
The skeletal Chain was tied up like a lasso around my waist, the wooden stake firmly in my grasp.
I strolled, almost leasurly, about a dozen meters from the cocoons.
Then, the earth quaked once more, those same claws ripped apart their resting place, those same moldy wings unfurled, and those glassy, lifeless eyes locked onto mine once again.
I reached into my homemade sash, pulling out a few sword fragments as I stared at the dozen wyverns menacingly.
For the first time since arriving here, infact, for the first time in nearly centuries, a grin spread across my usually expressionless face.
A large, toothy, euphoric smile revealed itself to the world.
Some wyverns took to the skies, while others started to creep towards me.
My eyes sharpened with focus, my heart roaring to life like a car engine, my nape tingling in anticipation.
I readied the makeshift chain stake, once more adopting a javelin throwing stance.
Sword aura poured into the sword fragment, while the platinum light of my star lit up the world with its celestial light.
And with that, the hunt began.