Soul of Negary

[I was breathing white smoke! You wouldn't believe just how much despair a mountain of nothing but white snow can give a man]

[If Chris wasn't with me, I think would've already gone mad. Maybe I already am for helping Chris lure away the pursuing soldiers]

[Chris seemed very calm. He told me that my breathing was becoming chaotic from fear, and my life's rhythm was the same. I needed to calm my breathing in order to keep on living]

[[Respiratory Art] is so amazing, he actually managed to calm me down. Chris admitted to me that he wasn't sure if he was going to live through this one. He told me to be ready]

["Are you ready to risk your life?"]

...

[Snow Mountain Journey] was a novel written by Sakri in his own perspective, retelling the story of Sakri, who was still a nameless bard at the time, running into the legendary adventurer Chris. Chris was on a mission to escort the eldest son of a Duke back to his country to inherit his peerage.

Perhaps attracted to Chris' personal charms, Sakri chose to follow along. On the way, in order to lure the pursuing soldiers away, they separated from the Duke's eldest son and wandered together on a large snowy mountain.

It was also during that time that Chris told Sakri about his exploits. After coming out triumphant against the pursuing soldiers and finishing Chris' mission, Sakri compiled the stories that Chris told him into a book, publishing and spreading his name across the continent as the legendary adventurer.

The [Snow Mountain Journey] story was also the last chapter of the book, as well as the most exciting one. During that snow mountain battle, Chris' face was scarred and Sakri was hurt quite badly, so not long after he published his book, Sakri passed away from disease.

All of Chris' tales from then on were stories made by exaggerating witness' retelling, although most of them followed the general vein of the story, there were quite a few falsified details.

"Chris" Chris mumbled his own name nostalgically, then glared back at Tesa with a determined expression: "I've already wasted a lot of time here, please get out of my way, miss Tesa. Even if you're a lady, if you stand in my way, I won't hold back for the sake of my beliefs"

Tesa smiled, her originally plain face suddenly felt a bit more charming: "I'm not Nozades, and 'I won't hold back' is my line"

"I'll ask you one more time, Mr Chris" Tesa pulled out a ceremonial sword from under her robe, a large black pattern appeared on her hand, showing where she was implanted with the [Black Crow] germs: "You have qualities that Lord Negary needs, surrender yourself to Lord Negary. That way, not only will your wounds be healed, you will even be granted power by Lord Negary"

Chris' expression didn't change as he threw a punch at the woman in front of him without hesitation.

…

"What hateful bugs" Yadley pulled his hand out of a corpse as a black substance gradually went back inside his body through his wrist. This dead body, like the rest of them, had a blank look on its face, as if they hadn't even realized that they were dead.

This group of people set up an ambush near Isabella's home, waiting to kill her and Nala as they returned. Unfortunately, because the Crowmen existed, not only did they not manage to accomplish their goal, they even lost their lives in the process.

Both Isabella and her daughter were clueless to the ambush that was supposed to happen, they came back home with complicated expressions on their faces as normal.

The [Black Crow] germs were a kind of wonderful virus, increasing a person's constitution was only their most basic ability. Before being implanted, they were no different from each other, but after implantation is completed, different abilities would manifest according to the difference between who and where they were implanted.

Like how Nozades' implants gave him his ability to sense and copy an opponent's ability, Yadley, the literal first Crowmen, also manifested an ability of his own. He was the one who managed to explore the [Black Crow] germs the most among the Crowmen, one of the strongest among all of Negary's subordinates.

"Captain Yadley" a merchant-looking person walked in front of Yadley, his skin was constantly morphing and turning into a black hue before finally becoming a mud-like substance, then settled as a plain face without any notable features.

"What's the news, Garnan?" Yadley asked.

Garnan was also one of the Crowmen, like Nozades, he implanted the [Black Crow] germs all over his skin, but how he used them in battle was different from Nozades. He had the [Black Crow] germs completely devour his skin, giving him the ability to shapeshift into any disguise.

Because of this, he's normally disguised as someone else to collect intel in various locations.

"The latest reports stated that Cardinal Augustin of the Church of Divine Grace was spotted not too far away from Reya with a squad of Warriors of Divine Grace" Garnan's voice was also featureless, like his appearance, unobtrusive.

"Reinforcements?" Yadley nodded, gesturing that he understood.

"Additionally, there is one other unconfirmed report" Garnan hesitated for a bit before continuing: "I got a tip from a Royas merchant that the Royas Kingdom might have sent some people to Reya"

"So the Royas Kingdom wants to join in on the fun as well?" Yadley frowned, feeling things becoming more complicated: "I got it, continue to collect more information, pay attention to safety"

"Understood!" Garnan's skin twisted and turned black again before transforming into a young man with a naïve look on his face. Once he changed his outfit, he would have turned into a rookie mercenary who just left home.

"Lord Negary…" Yadley whispered as he looked at Garnan walking away, then turned to the direction of the forbidden zone. Over 1/3rd of his body now consisted of the [Black Crow] germs, so he was able to sense some of Lord Negary's changes through the viral connection.

〖Yadley〗 

An exhausted-sounding voice was transmitted to Yadley through his [Black Crow] germs, causing him to immediately kneel down on one knee and deeply lower his head, then he respectfully answered: "I'm here, Lord Negary, how can I serve you?"

〖I will need to hibernate for a short while. During this time, Noah will be by my side to protect me, so he won't be able to leave. You will be responsible for keeping Reya's order, don't let anyone disturb me〗

〖Additionally, Nozades was defeated by Chris, Tesa is going to lose as well very soon. I will tell you the method of controlling the Bizarre Scales. Have them intercept Chris and kill him if possible. If it seems too difficult, you don't need to force it〗

〖The most important thing, for now, is to make sure my dormant period passes smoothly〗

"Understood, Lord Negary!"

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TN: From this chapter onwards, Negary's dialogues will be put into his own 〖〗brackets, this is to show that he had fully discarded his previous human self (Wang Yuan) and become a different entity altogether.