There was a city at the border of the forr Divine Empire of Sydnia.
Not a single soul to be around, in this place, there was only one… thing? that could be seen.
Held by two human arms protruding from a tree ford from an amalgamation of body parts, the baby, despite being born only just recently, had now grown to be a dark grey-skinned, red-headed one year old child.
The dark grey-skinned child suckled from a teat of this Flesh Tree[1].
The strange beings, Grotesquelings[2], that once took care of the huge Flesh Tree had undergone an extre transformation with the birth of the grey-skinned child.
Although they were still far from humanoid, they appeared more refined, and were now able to move smoothly and with more freedom in comparison to how they were in the past with their impaired movents.
Their strength and intelligence were at the level of goblins back when they first turned grotesque, but now it’s at the level of orcs.
If they had been adventurers, then this would be a different matter. However, they were once priests of the Light God Faith. They weren’t the devoted religionists that threw themselves into ascetic practices, but rather greedy individuals who borrowed the authority of their church and only had their vested interests in mind.
Because of that, their magic capabilities and skills weren’t high, and their levels were that of commoners.
And before Sydnia’s collapse, these beings were mainly the lower ranks among the church officials who had been encroached by miasma who weren’t allowed to escape to the Demon Continent and didn’t participate in the final battle there. When they first turned into grotesque monsters, their ranks were higher than a sli but lower than a goblin’s.
However, they changed dramatically with the birth of that child.
This remote region had beco a monster nest that centered around the Flesh Tree.
Mana was still relatively thin, but the dense miasma was comparable to a mid-sized monster nest scattered across the continent.
To the grotesquelings born from the Flesh Tree, this monster nest was the ideal place for growth.
As it was a newly ford monster nest, the monsters were weak enough that even the grotesquelings could defeat. Moreover, among the grotesquelings, there were so variants that were once warrior priests capable of fighting and they were the ones who mainly collected the offerings to for the Flesh Tree.
Seemingly having received the blessing of the grey child, the Grostequelings hunted monsters in the monster nest, growing in cycles, changing appearance, and the intelligence that was the at the level of goblins was getting closer to how it was when they were priests.
The fact that it’s a newly created monster nest was a blessing for the Grotesquelings.
As the mana gradually grows denser in the monster nest, where the ranks of monsters infesting it was rising bit by bit, it was the best environnt for the Grotesquelings’ growth.
Beneath the grey child cradled by the Flesh Tree, the Grotesquelings slowly gathered strength.
While cursing the world.
To dye the world with miasma.
Covertly, but steadily, to accumulate the power to destroy the world……
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Footnotes:
1. Changing at Tree to Flesh Tree.
2. 異形 There was no monster na that I know of that would be fitting but there is a need to differentiate them from other monsters, so I will start calling them Grotesquelings or maybe Fleshlings because they’re from the Flesh Tree. �
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