Even before the fire of the boar had died down, it had turned into nothing but skin and bones; its majestic body looked like a sculpture.


    Lucian then retracted Velm, before the insects would start eating it away.


    Finally, the fire died down, and with it gone, the insects began to devour its skin even crazily.


    Without any lingering threats, they were actually after its flesh, organs, and bones, but they were going to be disappointed very soon.


    He had allowed Velm to absorb all the Fog from the boar''s body, since he needed to use Velm quite a lot here.


    "The best way to reach the queen bug will be by flying; it is also the fastest. But I wonder if there are any dangers in the sky too, what do you think, Zero?"


    Lucian questioned, though his trust in this strange book was plummeting with each passing day.


    [Yes, you might face some dangers, but aside from those beetle bugs, I doubt any other creature here will pose a threat to you.]


    Lucian nodded, and after taking a look around, he decided to fly towards the south, but to keep Velm fully prepared for any kind of situation, he might need to feed it a few more beasts.


    After all, he was just going to fly a veryrge distance, a few thousand kilometers.


    He spread the wings and then pped them, making the grass around swing because of the wind. In the next moment, he was up in the sky, flying at a very high speed.


    "Haa, flying is such a great experience, but I probably won''t want to fly for some time after leaving this ce," Lucian mumbled as he flew away. Each p of his wing increased his speed.


    ...


    After a few minutes of Lucian flying away, he missed a shocking scene that might have made him want to be even more cautious and made him believe that this ce is even more dangerous than he expected.


    The beetle insects ate the entire metal-like skin of the boar, and then they finally covered its skeleton.


    It was like all the bones were covered by a dark ck liquid.


    And within a few minutes, the skeleton trembled. The insects had not devoured the bones.


    The skeleton of the boar soon stood onto its shaky, thin, and ck legs, almost as if it was back to life.


    Soon after, the insects were inplete control of the skeleton.


    They moved it around as if the brain was controlling the body; its movements were fluid and intelligent.


    As if observing its surroundings, the skeleton boar soon ran off in a random direction, probably in search of food.


    ******


    The sky looked orange, with thin mist giving it a sparkling effect. If not for the dangerous environment, Lucian might have waited to admire the beauty of this ce.


    There was only one sun in the sky, but its shape was kind of oval, with pointy corners.


    He wasn''t sure if it was going up or down since he had not been here for long, but night and darkness are dangerous everywhere.


    He pped his wings after every short interval of time, flying smoothly in the sky and observing the forest below him.


    Lucian hoped to find some water for himself and a few creatures for Velm; that would make his journey a lot better.


    ncing at his severed arm, Lucian asked: Discover hidden content at m,v l''e-NovelBin


    "Zero, a wise man once said, ''The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.'' Do you know what it means?"


    [In simple words, a mother ys a vital role in the shaping of society. But why are you asking that?]


    "Yeah, right, no reason. I don''t know if I will find water or die of thirst, but for now, I''ll let the fate ''hand''le it since I feel the hand of fate is guiding me in this direction.


    Damn, even making jokes here is difficult; I really am handless— I mean helpless here," Lucian sighed.


    Just as he expected, he was able to cross arge distance by flying in just a few hours.


    The forest had started to get thinner, which made Lucian believe that the number of insects in this ce might be way higher.


    After flying for a few more kilometers, he finally saw the first beast.


    It wasn''t a boar, but a creature that looked like a mixture of a fox and a giraffe, with a long neck but short size.


    It was moving carefully through the thin forest, keeping its distance from the surrounding trees and grass, moving very slowly.


    At first, Lucian was tempted to just go down and kill the strange creature, but he sensed danger from that ce; it was like a sixth sense.


    "Zero, you know another wise man spoke: A bird in the ''hand'' is worth two in the bush. I don''t think it''s worth the danger." Saying that, he flew away from there.


    [...]


    Not long after he had left, various types of creatures ran towards the fox-like beast, but just like the boar, they were only bones with a ck liquid like substance over them.


    Frightened, the fox beast tried to escape; its speed was very fast.


    But it couldn''t outdo the skeleton creatures, and within a few minutes of chase, its body was devoured by the insects, not leaving anything behind.


    Lucian heard the painful cry from the distance and knew that he made the right choice.


    "Sigh, thankfully I didn''t go there, or I would have been at a ''hands'' length from death," he spoke, releasing a relieved sigh.


    [...]


    Trying not to think about his missing arm, Lucian began to hum a song to himself. He was deciding which song he should release next after his previous one.


    "At least the air of this ce is breathable, or maybe it is because of the Chasm.


    After all, being from any can freely move to the others without worrying about anything," he thought while keeping his gaze on thend below.


    A few more hours passed, but Lucian didn''te across any more beasts or any water source. He had started to feel hungry already but decided to conserve the food for now.


    Lucian''s luck didn''t disappoint him again, as the sky soon began to turn dark. The oval sun was actually going down; he might have to stop somewhere at night.


    FLAP FLAP CRACK CRACK FLAP


    Just then, Lucian heard a strange sound approaching him from behind, and he knew danger wasing.


    ncing back, his skin tingled as he saw arge bird at least a few times his own size. It was thirty to forty feet in height and simrly long.


    But it was only made of bones.


    This bird was previously on a simr power level as the king of this, but after its death, the bird beast was devoured by the beetle insects and its body was taken by them.


    "H-How the fuck is that non-like creature even flying? And are those bones covered by those disgusting little bugs? Ugh, my body instinctively hates them. I''m so going to kill every single one of them."


    [A/N: One should never bite the hand that feeds you.]


    ________________


    Thanks for reading...