abcnovels
Chapter 1095: The Infected Mermen
Chapter 1095: The Infected Mermen
Chapter 1095: The Infected Mermen
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"We've placed them inside the bubbles to quarantine them from the rest of the waters... But at this pace, it'll most likely continue to spread..." sighed the guard. "Some people are already presenting large mutations... Those that have lost their sanity have been locked down, but the areas in which we can keep them are all being occupied."
"T-That's..." the King seemed unable to even give a proper answer. "Don't worry, the heroes here said they would defeat the King of the Depths, perhaps after his death, the disease might disappear."
"What disease?" I wondered.
"What's happening? Is there sick people?" Emeraldine asked.
"You mentioned mutations?" asked Lucifer.
"Ah... well..." the queen muttered.
"It's another of the problems which we didn't really wanted to bother you with, even though it's quite big..." the king said.
"Just explain, tell us what it is," I said.
"Well..."
The King and the Queen then started explaining.
Apparently, since the entire incident with the monsters began, that a strange disease started to be spread.
The blood of the smaller monsters they've been able to slay came infected with something, and once it spread inside the waters of the city, some people was affected.
Strange black spots started appearing over their bodies, they started experiencing fever, hallucinations, and severe pain over their entire bodies.
Some were so much in pain they were completely paralyzed, the disease spread out rapidly, and they quickly quarantined them inside of bubbles.
There was no cure to such a disease, their alchemy was subpar, and unable to heal anything. Trying to extract the mutated areas would only cause severe agony and pain and would make people quickly die.
"What's worse are the mutations, which started appearing on people that had been sick for over five days," said the King.
"Strange mutations, extra limbs, red eyes growing over their bodies, mouths with sharp fangs... The people were in pain and agony, some even growing strange tentacles," the Queen sighed.
"And in this stage, aside from the mutations, red-, black-, and purple-colored crystals would start growing on people, slowly consuming their life and sanity, they would become insane, losing their minds and unable to recognize anybody," the King said.
"T-This is a disease we call {The Depth's Fever}," said the Queen. "And... there's currently no cure."
That disease... it sounds too familiar, isn't it?
Black spots over the body, then mutations such as extra limbs, tentacles, red eyes, mouths...
And lastly, crystals growing over their bodies.
That's definitely Demonite!
"That's because it might not be a disease at all," I said.
"Yeah..." Lucifer nodded. "It sounds like Miasma infection."
"M-Miasma?" asked the King.
It was quite clear that these people had no idea of such things themselves, they've been living in here, away from all the dangers of the surface.
"There's a possibility the King of the Depths intends to kill everyone slowly and absorb back their powers through the crystals, by eating them once the entire Kingdom is infected," said Emeraldine. "It is called Miasmic Infection, it happens when people are exposed to Miasma for a long time, they develop horrible mutations and their bodies grow Demonite, which slowly uses their lifeforce, stamina, and mana to grow larger, like a cancer."
"Only a few people like us are stable enough to control the miasma and deactivate its harmful effects..." I sighed. "Even if you could have survived the monsters, all of you would have eventually perished against this Infection."
"I-It can't be..." the King muttered.
"What will we do now?" cried Princess Rose.
"The people..." muttered Princess Aqua.
"Don't worry, calm down," I said. "We can do something about it. We've dealt with similar cases many times already. It could be said we're experts when it comes on dealing with this sort of deal."
"However, even then, this makes me think... Could the King of the Depths have something that could help it create Miasma? I know its an ancient monster, but usually, that alone wouldn't let it just make such a corrosive component," said Emeraldine.
"Yeah, if we were to let that thing come out of the seal, it would most likely end up contaminating the entire oceans with miasma, which would be terrible detrimental for the entire world..." said Tear.
"We can't let that happen then!" Takeshi said. "We also have to protect the fishies and the mermen."
"Hmm, lots to do. But first, can you lead us to the infected? We would first need to see how its developing," I said.
"Of course, please, can you bring them there?" the King asked.
"I shall, your majesty," the merman guard nodded. "Please, follow me, everyone."
As we started following them, a new Quest popped up.
Ding!
[The Special {Main Story Quest} has been generated: [Save the Infected Mermen From the Miasmic Infection]
[After learning from the King and the Queen about a deadly disease that has begun to spread across the people of the Aquarose Kingdom, you've learned that it is not a disease, but a
Miasmic Infection.]
[If not treated any time soon, the mutations might only continue to worsen and the infection to spread uncontrollably, a bleak future awaiting the people of this Kingdom, only becoming a farm of Demonite for the King of the Depths to devour later.]
[You've offered your help to the King and the Queen, and now the fate of these people is
within your hands.]
[Completion Rewards]: [EXP] [System Points] [Special Items]
[Failure Penalty]: [Lose the Trust of the Mermen] [Decreased EXP Earned] [System Points
Tax]
[Time Limit: 3 Days]
[Do you accept this Quest?]
[Yes] [No]
[If not answered within 10 Minutes, the Quest will be automatically accepted.]
So there's actually a chance for me to just reject it, huh?
It is also showing that there's clear Failure Penalties, something I didn't see before either!
Interesting... Very interesting, I suppose the Failures are justified.
After all, the System uses a lot of resources for each Quest, if I fail it, the System needs to take
back some of that to recover the loses.
Of course, this wasn't really hard to do anyways, so I pressed [Yes] without hesitation.
[You have accepted the Quest!]
[Time Remaining: 3 Days.]
"Let's do this."