Within moments, the previously steady chimes abruptly amplified.
If earlier had been a solo performance, this had now become a chorus.
Multiple two-tailed snakes gathered together, swaying their tails in unison and emitting eerie chimes.
The powerful sound waves stirred gusts of wind, bending the green grass of the prairie.
Yet, these chimes still had no effect on Akira and the others.
Watching the black mist thicken on the field, Gengar's grin widened, its mouth stretching into a "kind and amiable" smile.
It was quite pleased with the two-tailed snakes' "considerate" performance.
Worried it wouldn't have enough to eat, they had even invited their "friends and family" to join in the "feast."
Seeing this, Gengar didn't hold back, continuing to open its mouth wide and devour the inexplicable black mist.
The two-tailed snakes' efforts yielded little reward, instead accelerating Gengar's growth.
At the same time, the progression of the Dark Sonata in Akira's mind quickened slightly.
Seeing Gengar eating with such gusto, Akira didn't disturb it and turned his attention back to the two-tailed snakes.
After a brief respite, the group had mostly regained their energy, their gazes fixed on the greatest obstacle of their mission.
On the grassy field, several bizarre-looking Snakeine creatures stood motionless.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized—their upper bodies erect, tails slightly raised, swaying with exaggerated motions.
Noticing that Akira and the others remained unaffected, the two-tailed snakes' eyes grew fiercer, and the chimes they produced suddenly changed in tone.
Then, a tiny bubble surfaced on the black swamp in the grass, floating briefly before popping.
This was only the beginning.
In an instant, countless bubbles of varying sizes emerged from the surfaces of the innumerable swamps across the prairie.
These bubbles rose from the depths, burst upon reaching the surface, and repeated the cycle endlessly.
Soon, the sound of bursting bubbles echoed across the entire grassland, with every visible swamp exhibiting the same phenomenon.
Their surfaces teemed with bubbles!
As if the black swamps had been brought to a boil.
The sudden change tightened the group's hearts, their barely calmed nerves once again on edge.
Ging's eyes sharpened as he stared at the nearest swamp.
Abruptly, a pitch-black head emerged from the mire, followed by the rest of its body.
The unidentified creature moved on all fours, its overall frame large, with an elongated snout.
At the moment, it was coated in thick, inky sludge, obscuring its true appearance.
As the creature crawled out of the swamp, its steps sank into the dense grass, leaving trails of dark mud in its wake.
The once lush green scenery was now tainted with streaks of black.
With each step, more sludge sloughed off its body until its true form became visible.
Beneath the heavy muck were thick, grotesquely gleaming bones.
The skeletal structure revealed its identity—
A massive crocodile.
Its skeletal frame suggested considerable strength in life.
But now, it was nothing more than a mindless puppet, its bones still clinging to clumps of sludge.
Moreover, an eerie red glow flickered within its eye sockets, like dancing flames.
Akira frowned, sensing that the red glow was unlike the bloodshot eyes of Usamen and his companions.
No matter how bloodshot, eyes would never emit such a vivid red light.
Moreover, the unusual nature of the skeleton reminded Akira of his past experience on Flamestone Island.
There, he had encountered bones influenced by the Harp Movement, and they bore an uncanny resemblance to this crocodile's skeleton—both emitting an eerie glow, their texture not resembling bone but rather smooth white jade.
[Soul-Devouring Crocodile]: Crocodiles commonly found in Ink Muck swamps, typically preying on creatures that fall into the swamp or those ambushed near its edges.
Controlled by the chime of the Twin-Tailed Snake, they became puppets of slaughter, later granted the ability to attack souls.
From then on, they gained the power to strike at the soul itself—the crimson glow in their eyes being their soulfire.
A single bite, no matter where it landed, would wound the victim's soul.
Once torn enough, the soul would collapse entirely, eventually dissipating.
...
'Soul-Devouring Crocodile, huh… Can they attack the soul through physical means?'
The [Soul-Devouring Crocodile]'s ability was formidable—directly assaulting a creature's soul, much like the Twin-Tailed Snake's chime.
But what intrigued Akira more wasn't the effect, but the origin of this power.
The same luminous bones, the soulfire in their eyes, and the ability to attack other beings' souls—
He had seen all of this before!
In the Dark Sonata!
So far, Akira had only witnessed two of its four movements—the Harp and the Violin.
And these two happened to have opposing effects.
The Harp Movement stripped creatures of their [flesh], granting them [soul].
The Violin Movement stripped creatures of their [soul], granting them [flesh].
The former left beings existing as intangible souls, still under the Dark Sonata's control.
The latter left creatures with powerful bodies but no consciousness, equally enslaved by the Dark Sonata.
Coincidentally, the [Soul-Devouring Crocodile] bore striking similarities to both.
No matter how he looked at it, the Twin-Tailed Snake had to be connected to the Dark Sonata.
As Akira pondered, more [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles] emerged on the battlefield, like an undead legion.
These were the Twin-Tailed Snake's backup forces—when its chime failed against certain foes, the [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles] would take action.
Their attacks could harm the soul, but that didn't mean they were limited to it.
Physical damage remained just as lethal.
A single bite could sever an arm clean off, shattering it to pieces.
And the muck covering them was no ordinary sludge.
[Ink Muck]: Any creature tainted by this muck would have their flesh continuously drained until only a skeleton remained.
If submerged in it, a creature's presence would be masked, making them harder to detect.
Additionally, Ink Muck could repair bones—fractures or cracks would heal rapidly when coated with it.
...
After reading about [Ink Muck], Akira's lips twitched slightly, a strange sensation rising within him.
This information had answered one of his questions.
The skeletal state of those [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles] wasn't caused by the Twin-Tailed Snake but rather by having their flesh and blood drained by the [Ink Muck].
In other words, these crocodiles, influenced by killing intent, entered the swamp and were then devoured by the muck.
Normally, without flesh and blood, they wouldn't survive.
But coincidentally, the Twin-Tailed Snake possessed abilities similar to the [Dark Sonata], allowing these crocodiles to become [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles]—"living on" in an extraordinary way.
What truly surprised him was that this pitch-black, disgusting-looking muck actually had healing properties?
Calling it [Hope] would be an overstatement.
Because this [Ink Muck] had both positive and negative effects, falling short of herbs like Nitro Rice and other true [Hope].
Moreover, the effects of [Ink Muck] were peculiar—applied to flesh, it acted as poison, but applied to bones, it became medicine.
Truly bizarre.
Because of this, its practical applications were limited.
For most people, even if their bones were damaged, their flesh remained intact.
To use [Ink Muck] to repair bone damage, one would either have to let it consume the surrounding flesh or manually remove the flesh themselves.
Only in rare cases, where the flesh was already gone and the bones were damaged, would [Ink Muck] be applicable.
Yet, these exact stringent conditions happened to perfectly suit the [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles].
After all, they had no flesh—only bones and eerie soul-fire.
Thus, the [Ink Muck] clinging to them only provided positive effects, as if granting them a passive healing ability.
If their bones were injured, the [Ink Muck] would actively repair their bodies.
Perfectly avoiding its negative side effects.
Beyond this, Akira realized there was another creature suited for this strange [Ink Muck]: the Bone Clan, already wiped out by the Stone Giants.
The Bone Clan, a unique race of humanoids, possessed remarkable abilities.
As their name suggested, they could use their own bones as weapons—extending them outward, for example.
In other words, their bones were their weapons.
And since they were weapons, damage during combat was common, making mere self-healing insufficient.
This was where the stringent conditions of [Ink Muck] came into play—simply expose the damaged bone and apply the muck.
It could be said this was a medicine tailor-made for the Bone Clan.
Driven by curiosity, Akira willed a thought, and Porygon-Z transmitted some records about the Bone Clan.
The Bone Clan had left behind many books, including not only their most important text, The Bone Clan Forging Method, but also other records.
Sure enough, one of their survival manuals mentioned [Ink Muck].
The Bone Clan had discovered this muck in swamps long ago.
They had even tried smelting [Ink Muck] in furnaces, curious about the results.
This showed how deeply the Bone Clan revered forging—it seemed ingrained in their very genes.
When encountering something new, their first instinct was to test if it could be smelted or incorporated into weapons.
The results, however, disappointed them. [Ink Muck] was useless when smelted—after losing its moisture, it became nothing but dirt.
Later, by sheer chance, a Bone Clan member discovered its healing properties when applied to bones.
From then on, this [Ink Muck] became the most sought-after healing item among the Bone Clan.
Because nearly everyone had a need to mend their bones.
Though they had mastered the art of forging weapons, techniques were easy to acquire—raw materials were not.
Most could only obtain ordinary weapons, forged from basic minerals like [Black Tremor Rock].
These weren't even as effective as their own bones.
Thus, most Bone Clan members still relied on their skeletal structures for combat, which led to bone injuries being extremely common.
Over a long period of evolution, the Bone Clan developed a bone regeneration ability beyond the imagination of humans from the Six Continents.
Even so, the harsh living conditions of the Dark Continent left many Bone Clan members with lifelong, unhealable injuries—most of which were skeletal.
Miraculously, this unremarkable-looking muck could heal bones, restoring many Bone Clan members to normal health.
However, while its effects were excellent, obtaining it was no easy task.
After extensive exploration, the Bone Clan determined that this muck could only be found in the swamplands nearby—and mostly in the deeper regions.
This meant acquiring the muck was far from simple.
Thus, [Ink Muck] became a scarce commodity within the Bone Clan, sometimes even traded for top-tier blades.
To the Bone Clan, [Ink Muck] was akin to the miraculous elixirs of cultivation novels.
After fully understanding this, Akira gathered his thoughts and focused on the battlefield.
In just a few breaths, the grassy field was crawling with countless [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles] of varying sizes—an initial estimate placed their numbers in the hundreds.
Their strengths ranged from A-rank to S-rank, with significant disparities among them.
Faced with such enemies, most would have no choice but to flee in panic.
So then…
Could these [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles] be the real reason Jin fled in such a hurry?
Akira pondered for a moment but ultimately dismissed the idea as unlikely.
While these [Soul-Devouring Crocodiles] were formidable—numerous and capable of attacking souls—Jin's strength had already reached the peak of S-rank, bolstered by teleportation and an array of extraordinary blades.
He could easily wipe them out without ever getting bitten.
Thus, Akira boldly speculated that this so-called [Hellbell Snake] likely had some hidden trump card—one that forced Jin to flee so desperately that even his memories were lost!
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