In this chaotic and twisted world, Corrupted and Evil Ones were everywhere. Many fanatical people, influenced by Corruption, worshipped them and sacrificed their lives and everything they had.

For nearly a thousand years, countless organizations of this nature had appeared worldwide. They deceived ignorant followers, harming innocent people.

Regal Ones and their humans around the world fought against the Evil Ones, but in this world of rampant mysticism, cults remained active in the darkness.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

But Felix never expected to come across one of them so soon.

Having been discovered, Felix stepped forward and out of their hiding spot, his voice steady despite the storm raging within him. “Let them go. Whatever you’re doing here—it ends now.”

Internally, Felix was surprised at himself for sounding so stern and brave. Who knows, he might just be able to pull off this heroic front, unexpected and unwanted though it might be.

Dr. Hart chuckled, a low, chilling sound. “Do you even understand what you’re looking at? This is progress. A gift from the Goddess of Life herself. These poor souls were broken, incomplete. I’m making them whole again.”

“By turning them into monsters?” Sorath growled, drawing his dagger.

Dr. Hart tilted his head, his pleasant smile never faltering. “Monsters? No, no. You’re thinking too small. This is evolution, perfection. The Goddess’s vision brought to life.”

Dr. Hart stepped closer, his movements unnervingly smooth. His gaze flicked to Felix, lingering for a moment before his expression suddenly shifted into something uglier.

“And you, Regal One. So pristine, so untainted. You could never understand how weak and flawed humans are.”

Felix’s fists clenched at his sides, his voice sharp. “I understand enough to know that you’re an insane fucker. I mean seriously, worshipping a thing like that?”

“A deluded cultist, that’s what he is.” Albrecht remarked, a slight sneer curling his thin lips.

Hearing these words, Dr. Hart became very displeased. “What cult? I worship a god! A god! The greatest god!” His eyes suddenly shone with incomparable brilliance, like an octopus baring its suction cups lined with fangs and claws. “She is everywhere, at all times. She is the origin of all life, the greatest god! To offer everything to Her is your blessing!”

Dr. Hart laughed loudly, the sound echoing through the cavern. “And I? I am a Blessed One.”

To demonstrate, he held up his arm and dragged a scalpel across his forearm, splitting the skin open. Before their eyes, the wound closed almost instantly, leaving no trace of the injury.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Dr. Hart said, his tone now almost conversational. “The Goddess’s blessings are boundless. Pain, death—mere inconveniences to one such as I.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed as Dr. Hart turned back to the table, picking up another instrument. He gestured toward one of the cages, where the only intact young woman, clearly the kidnapped Clara, cowered in the corner.

“Perhaps I should show you more,” Dr. Hart mused, smiling affably at them.

“No,” Felix snapped, his voice echoing through the room. “No more crazy shit.”

Dr. Hart met his gaze, his expression darkening. “I do not listen to you, Regal One.”

The air grew heavy as Dr. Hart stepped away from the table, his movements fluid and unhurried. His confidence was unnerving, and Felix’s instincts screamed that this would not be an easy fight.

“Be careful,” Felix said, his voice low but firm. “We don’t know what he’s capable of.”

Sorath moved to Felix’s side, his dagger gleaming in the dim light. “Whatever he is, we’ll take him down.”

Thel’s eyes scanned the room, calculating. “Focus on him. The captives—especially the pregnant woman—must be prioritized. We can’t allow the thing inside to come out alive.”

The words sounded ruthless, but knowing the purpose and fate of the fetus monster, it was necessary perhaps even merciful.

Dr. Hart spread his arms wide, several spider legs tearing through the flesh of his back before the skin knitted back into themselves. A smile full of teeth and malice stretched impossibly wide on his face and he stared at Felix with unnerving focus. “I have never had a Regal One as a test subject before, but I find myself eagerly looking forward to the prospect.”

The battle for the captives—and their own survival—was about to commence.

The dim, claustrophobic space of the underground facility was now charged with an ominous energy. The air felt heavier, oppressive, as though the very walls themselves were bearing down on them. Dr. Hart stood at the center of it all, his grin sharp and predatory, his glowing eyes locked onto Felix. 

Felix stood poised, his body tense, his senses honed by hours of training. With a soft exhale, he shifted into his hybrid form. Muscles rolled underneath deceptively velvety skin, his ears sharpening and his claws glowing faintly with an ethereal light. His tail lashed behind him, signaling both readiness and apprehension.

The next second, two extended spider legs struck with horrifying speed, aiming straight for Felix’s neck and chest. The rest sliced through the air with Felix’s humans as targets.

“Stick to the plan!” Felix called, his voice carrying a commanding edge that was surprisingly authoritative for the boy always out of his depth since arriving in this world.

Sorath met the hairy black arachnid leg aimed at him head-on, his dagger flashing in the dim light. It stabbed at him, but he dodged and parried with precision. He slammed his shoulder into a second one, gritting his teeth at the heavy impact not assimilar to being rammed against an uprooted tree trunk, but still managed to push it back and away from Albrecht and the captives.

“Got this one!” Sorath crowed, his confidence palpable.

Thel moved swiftly, never staying in one spot but always positioning himself with a tactical view of the room. His eyes scanned the chaos, calculating every movement. “Focus on deflecting them. Don’t let them cut you off! Felix, try to get to the woman!”

Virgil darted toward the cages, his nimble fingers working quickly to pick the locks. “Just keep the freaky appendages away from me, yeah?” he shouted, ducking just in time to avoid a blunt impact to his head from a spider leg striking nearby.

Albrecht, unexpectedly steady and methodical, knelt beside an unconscious young man with his arms replaced with shark fins, quickly checking his pulse. “They’re alive,” he announced, relief in his voice. “I’ll stabilize the victims. Cover me!”

Dr. Hart stood in front of the surgical table with an outward calm, one eye locked onto Felix while the other remained trained on his masterpiece. “Without the Goddess I would have been just as worthless as those worms you are trying to save.” He taunted, his voice low and reverent. “Oh, but to have the Goddess’s gaze on you. You will never know anything more powerful or intoxicating.”

Felix grinded his teeth, his claws slicing through one of the spider legs only for it to regrow in quick succession from the severed stump, preventing him from reaching the center of the room. Dr. Hart hissed, clearly feeling the pain, but smirked as it regenerated itself.

“That’s not power,” Felix shot back. “It’s decay.”

Dr. Hart sneered, raising a hand. In it was a familiar small, opened vial filled with murky liquid. Tendrils of dark energy began to coalesce around it, pulsating with malevolent intent. “So proud. You Regal Ones seem to forget. You are not the only ones with power in this world.”

He downed the liquid in one gulp and at the same time, those several foot long spider legs seemed to only increase in length and circumference. They struck out, drilling into the ground around Felix. He dodged, his movements quick and fluid as he danced through a veritable forest of legs, but the oppressive energy made it harder to breathe, harder to focus.

Sorath, spotting Felix’s struggle, picked up one of the empty cages and threw it at the doctor, distracting him. “You okay, Felix?” he called out, not waiting for a response before fending off another attack from his left.

“I’m fine!” Felix replied, though his heart was pounding. He glanced at his humans, watching our of the corner of his eye as they moved with surprising efficiency.

Thel snapped out, “Virgil, the left cage is clear. Move on to the next! Sorath, keep assisting Felix!”

“On it!” Virgil called, freeing another captive before rolling away from a flailing spider leg.

Albrecht injected the contents of a small vial into a man suffering the most signs of Corruption. He glanced up, his eyes meeting Felix’s. “We’ll get them out. Focus on the target!”

Felix nodded sharply, the trust in Albrecht’s voice steadying him.

As the battle raged on, Dr. Hart’s attacks grew more frantic the closer the clock ticked towards the birthing. There was no longer any plan to the strikes dealt by his arachnid appendages, and he seemed uncaring that his laboratory was being destroyed around him. His only concern was the successful birth of his masterpiece no matter the relentless assault by Felix and his humans.

“You’re ruining everything!” Dr. Hart snarled, his expression thunderous. The spider legs around him thickened, the dark energy coating them growing more volatile.

The air grew colder, heavier, as though the cavern itself was reacting to his displeasure. Felix felt it then—a deep, unnatural pressure settling over him. His breath hitched, his fur standing on end.

It was born, the Corrupted in the pregnant woman’s womb was born! 

As the woman screamed in pain, the nearly S-Rank Corrupted was officially born. The powerful aura of Corruption around it made Felix a little breathless. 

After Dr. Hart saw the creation of his most satisfying work, he was so overjoyed that his arachnid appendages flailed wildly and he quickly prepared for the sacrifice. 

Dr. Hart knelt on the ground, clasped his hands, facing the sky through the openings in the cavern above that were punched through by the force of his spider legs during the battle, and recited an invocation with piety and gratitude before anyone could stop him. 

In this world, S-Rank Corrupted and above had a corresponding invocation. As long as their invocation was recited, their attention could be attracted. 

The invocation was like a string of incantations. By reciting these incantations, one could summon Evil Ones. 

The situation here was already chaotic enough. If another actual S-Rank Corrupted was summoned here, they would have no chance of survival! 

At some point, Thel had managed to slip through the wall of spider legs around Dr. Hart. He lunged at Dr. Hart with all his strength, one of the doctor’s own surgical blades in his hand. 

After a human bonded with their Regal One, the physical power of the human would become ten times stronger than that of ordinary unbonded humans. The weakest bonded human could also beat three strong men. 

Unfortunately, he was not dealing with an ordinary human, but with Dr. Hart, who was a B-Rank Corrupted, and he couldn’t get any hits in at all.

Felix moved a beat later than Thel, heart in his throat, half of him flabbergasted at Thel’s actions. He, too, didn’t make it to Dr. Hart in time to stop him from reciting the invocation though he did manage to meet Thel. The two could only stand back to back as they watched Dr. Hart warily. 

“O’ Lady of Life and Renewal,
Beacon of hope in a decaying world,
Great Goddess of Life,

Your devoted follower calls upon you.
I humbly beseech you to come to my side,
To hear and answer my prayer.”

The invocation had the contamination properties of the Corrupted, but at the same time, other people would also be affected by the powerful mystical energy, thereby infecting them with Corruption. 

Almost as soon as Dr. Hart finished reciting the invocation, Felix and others in the half-destroyed laboratory felt as the surrounding air became thinner and the temperature, which was originally quite chilly to begin with, began to drop below freezing temperatures. 

And unbeknownst to them in the distant sky, a cloudy white eye the size of a grapefruit appeared out of thin air. It opened lazily and looked towards the underground laboratory. 

This intangible gaze caused a splitting headache to form in the humans around Felix. They didn’t even dare to raise their heads, because an S-Rank Corrupted was no longer something they could just look at casually. 

Who would’ve thought that the invocation recited by Dr. Hart would really summon an S-Rank Corrupted!

“She’s watching,” Dr. Hart whispered, his voice trembling with mindless awe and reverence. “The Goddess of Life sees us now.”

Under this malevolent pressure, even Felix’s body seemed to slow down a notch. Although he was less affected by the Corruption, being an A-Rank Regal One himself, beside him, his pets and the humans who were captured were in very bad condition, and grotesque signs of Corruption began to grow all over their bodies. The captives began to cry and despair. In the end, they would still die at the hands of the Corrupted. But they really want to live… 

Save them, save them! Who could come to save them?

Amidst the crying around him, Dr. Hart looked particularly ecstatic. He couldn’t control his excitement and exclaimed to the sky, “Goddess! Goddess!” 

He waxed his praise and love for his goddess and master. Then, he pointed at the newly born Corrupted and presented his masterpiece to the Goddess of Life. 

“O’ Great Goddess of Life, this is a sacrifice given to you by your devout follower, please accept it.” 

The Goddess of Life seemed to be very satisfied with this sacrifice, and the surrounding Corruption seemed to rise a bit more. The gentle sound of rocking water could be heard, as if enveloping Dr. Hart in embryonic fluid. 

Dr. Hart’s face was a little flushed, and it seemed that even if he were to die for the Goddess of Life right that instant, he would be more than willing. 

Felix was nearly out of his mind with panic. What should he do? What should he do? How on earth could this be stopped? He was just an A-Rank trainee, how could he save everyone here? 

For the first time, Felix regretted taking his humans along with him. He had only endangered them! Some owner and master he was.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Felix felt extremely helpless and angry in his heart, and hated himself for being weak. If only he were smarter. Maybe he would have acted differently. If only he were stronger. If he were stronger, he might be able to save the others. 

Felix felt as if his head was going to explode. He tried his best to adapt to this world, but in the end he found that his best didn’t mean anything. 

Just what the hell kind of world was this?!

AN: So sorry for the delay! 😖 irl and my other wips got in the way. Add to that my stockpile is at 0 😱 I will likely not be updating as frequently as before. Need at least a week or so to rebuild it before I can go back to the old schedule🤦‍♀️ so please bear with me 🙏 thank you💛