Reincarnated As An Extra With The 10x Link System-Chapter 51: Weird Wall
Chapter 51
Glancing at the vast sea that lay beyond his field of vision, he sniffed the air, the brutal tang of blood instantly assaulting his nostrils. He contorted his face and quickly covered his nose, trying as best he could to shield himself from the brutal stench.
But it was pointless; the metallic sting on his nose was just too strong.
He turned around, gazing at the immense expanse of pristine white sand that spanned the distance. Well, he couldn’t swim and needed to get away from the horrible stench as soon as possible, so there was only one path left for him.
With his index finger and thumb perfectly clasped together against his nose, he began to proceed forward; his gaze glanced around the sandy white beach. He was unable to see anything else but sand.
The sound of crashing waves continued to echo in the distance behind him, and he had to activate the enchantment of his charm to save himself from the burning rays of the sun.
After a while, traveling south, he lost count of how many steps he had taken... how far he had gone. But one thing he did know was that he was making progress—the sea was now out of view, with the stench of blood disappearing along with it.
To think that he would appear in the coastal lands of all places and without anything to aid in his survival. If anything, he would have preferred a rocky coast, maybe with a few mountains behind, but instead, all he got was white sand endlessly burning his feet.
Luckily, he couldn’t feel the pain of his burns, but his feet and skin would still retain some amount of damage regardless. His talisman only shielded him from pain; it didn’t make him invulnerable.
Traversing the blistering white sands for a while longer, something finally began to appear in his field of vision. It seemed like dark blurs built around a certain perimeter, and coming closer, he could see another blur rising around them.
Something else also caught his attention... After traveling for so long in the scorching heat, his eyes finally rested on something that wasn’t white; they were weathered, steep stone steps with vines slowly curling around them.
Above the steps was a minor heel, and atop that heel...
His eyes glistened.
... It was a peaceful cluster of trees, their leaves fluttering in the wind. The lush woods were only a few meters away; about forty more steps, and he would be able to reach them, but before he could do so, he felt something tug at his feet.
With a frown, he looked down, only to see a strange creature with golden skin biting down on his feet. It was as large as a crab but looked like a misshapen mite with ten legs and a golden shell.
Not thinking twice, he bent down and punched hard on the back of the critter, careful not to turn it into a bloody smudge. He heard loud cracking noises as the exoskeleton of the creature broke under the weight of his punch, and then it was crushed, its insides splattered as his fist continued to descend.
He cursed under his breath and quickly got up; the voice of his system resounded in his ear.
[You have slain a Dark Beast.]
[Rank: Dormant]
[Class: Great]
For a moment, he stared at the dead critter and then bent down to pick it up when the system sounded once again.
[You have grown stronger.]
[Dark essence: 61/10000]
Just as his fingers were about to touch the shell of the deceased creature, he froze and stared at the numbers for a while. They were bold, shimmering with white light and clear as day for him to see.
He had gained two dark essence from slaying a great dormant beast, which made him stop to think for a moment. All he could come up with was a theory that if he were to kill an Awakened dark beast of the same grade, then he would gain twenty dark essence and not ten.
Somewhat pleased by his new discovery, he flipped the dead critter over and pulled it up by one of its ten legs. With that, he continued forward toward the steep steps in the distance.
It only took him about a minute to arrive at his intended destination, and without slowing down for a moment, he ascended the weathered stones, arriving at the foot of the peaceful woods.
He moved further into the woods and crouched by one of the trees. Leaning his head back, he gasped, relieved of the burden of the sun and hot white sand. The pleasant wind gently caressed his cheeks, with nothing but the rustling of leaves echoing in his ear.
For the first time since his arrival at the cursed place, he felt bliss.
From under the canopy of the large trees, he was able to spot the blurry view he had caught sight of earlier. He knew that it was the sun affecting his gaze all along, as he could see a tall, grey wall standing in the distance, and within those walls were tall towers, their spires slightly reaching past the weathered fence.
He couldn’t see what else lay beyond the grey walls, but if he could guess, then it would be the perfect place for one to hide in, the perfect place to find a lurking demon, and the perfect place for him to look for his fellow aspiring exorcists; thus, he had every reason to go there and see for himself what was beyond the wall.
But before that, he went around the forest and picked up a few twigs, which he carefully placed together around each other, and with his flame ability, he started a fire. After that, he attached the critter he had brought with him to the twig and carefully roasted it over the wild crimson flames.
In a few minutes, his meat was done, and with the help of his fingers, he broke through the hard outer skeleton of the creature, devouring whatever meat remained of it without the slightest hint of delight on his face. Meat from Dark Beasts certainly wasn’t the best.
But they were still edible; that was all that mattered.
Licking his lips, he left the fire burning and continued onward toward the grey wall that stood in the distance. Having finally had somewhat of a breakfast, his body felt revitalized, and though his stomach felt relief, his tongue was in desperate agony.
’Damnit, this is way worse than tea. But I was hungry and couldn’t help it... Ahh, why does it taste so horrible?’
"Ptui."
He spat out a few times as he moved forward, and before he knew it, he was under the imposing shadow of the wall he had long intended to reach.
The wall stood at over thirty meters in height, but besides that, it seemed rather strange. It lacked the... it didn’t seem like a wall should and more like someone had molded mud and somehow gotten it to remain together while still retaining its smudgy texture.
He frowned, glancing at the strange mud walk, and cautiously took another step... at least he thought he had been cautious. His feet suddenly sank into the ground, and before he could react, golden chains sprang up and wrapped around him.
He grimaced under the crushing embrace of the chains, gritting his teeth, as the ground hardened, trapping his foot inside it. He didn’t do anything reckless, knowing to whom the chains belonged. It would have been stupid to try to resist either way.
’Hime, huh... then whose ability is this mud?’
Just as he finished his thought, his shadow slowly began to grow bigger, and as his frown deepened, a nimble human figure began to ascend from it. In the next second, a small-bodied boy with curly white hair and hazel-green eyes stood a slight distance away from him, a look of surprise, which later turned into a gleaming smile, plastered on his face.
Megumi felt a deep sense of relief as soon as he saw him, and it seemed the boy was pleased to see him as well, though he had been a bit surprised earlier.
His voice echoed silently with glee.
"Megumi."
