The undead nature of Crawlers naturally attracted the attention of Wizards.

Years ago, many Wizard Organizations specialized in capturing Crawlers for dissection and behavioral studies.

But in the end, nothing was discovered, and the reason for their immortality remains unknown.

Based on conventional theories in the Wizard World, it's speculated that Crawlers' immortality stems from pollution, characteristics originating from certain existences in the Abyss Plane.

Crawlers are humans that were polluted after death, causing their corpses to acquire some unknown traits, enabling them not to die.

However, this immortality is not truly immortal.

Researchers believed Crawlers don't die because their power comes from some distant existence in the Abyss Plane.

As long as that existence lives, these Crawlers can continue to be undying.

After many studies yielded no concrete conclusions, gradually, no one conducted research on Crawlers anymore.

Because Crawlers aren't particularly powerful, they merely possess an undying trait.

But they're not invincible; you can just burn them down.

Once, a Wizard attempted to transfer the undying trait from Crawlers to himself, resulting in execution after being discovered by the Land of Dawn's higher-ups.

Because this Wizard's experiment failed, he not only didn't gain immortality but also attracted attention from the Abyss Plane.

His experiment was extremely dangerous, almost transforming himself into a creature of the Abyss Plane.

Although he wasn't an Abyssal Cultist, his actions were no different from one.

The Land of Dawn considered a broader context since pollution inherently has a spreading nature.

If this Wizard caused any pollution to spread in the Land of Dawn, it would be disaster.

Thus, since then, the Land of Dawn established a new prohibition against attempting similar experimental operations with pollution.

"This is a Crawler..."

Herag observed the Crawler in the distance.

Just as its name suggests, although it looks human, it moves by crawling on the ground with its hands and feet.

Its speed is fast, almost on par with a Knight Level person running at full tilt.

This Crawler wandered aimlessly over the ruins, seemingly searching for food.

Finding food in a polluted area isn't easy; most captured Crawlers were dissected and found to have stomachs full of stones, dirt, and not even a single insect.

This causes Crawlers to go insane upon encountering fresh human blood and flesh.

The scent of human blood and flesh is an enormous temptation for them, irresistible in every sense.

Once they spot a human, Crawlers will frenziedly pounce and bite.

The instinct for food drives them to hunt. Even when their heads are chopped off, they continue to clench their jaws at humans.

A breeze passed by; the Crawler suddenly sniffed the wind.

It looked towards the direction the wind blew, right where Herag's palace was located.

The Crawler's body had turned pitch black, and its facial features blurred, showing no expressions.

Yet Herag could still sense the mania emanating from it.

"Bad news, it caught my scent."

Herag hadn't expected the wind to carry his scent over like that.

He wasn't afraid of the Crawler but worried that dealing with it would attract other entities' attention.

Already fast, the Crawler sped up considerably upon sensing food.

It was only a few hundred meters away from Herag, reaching him in the blink of an eye.

The Crawler crashed through many buildings, charging straight towards him.

These buildings were already decayed and mostly weathered over time.

The Crawler had great strength and speed.

Its collision resulted in a cascade of collapsing structures.

"Damn!"

Herag cursed under his breath.

This Crawler making such a grand scene would bring him lots of trouble.

He took out the World Tree Bow, aiming at the Crawler barreling down on him.

An arrow shot out—the green arrowhead disappeared instantly.

The next moment, the green arrow appeared in front of the Crawler, piercing its chest and exploding immediately.

The Crawler had already made such a commotion that Herag stopped hiding, dealing with it directly with the World Tree Bow.

The power of the World Tree Bow could blast the Crawler into tiny pieces.

He didn't intend to annihilate it completely; incapacitating it was enough to prevent further interference.

Herag initially opted for the Longsword due to its silence.

He was grappling with the thought of how many chops it would take to dissect it.

Unexpectedly, the Crawler charged forward without stopping, causing such a racket throughout the city that he used the World Tree Bow instead.

The arrow from the World Tree Bow exploded, reducing the Crawler to fragments, its limbs severed.

The Crawler's undying trait was indeed mysterious. Even its severed limbs kept moving.

Its hand continued grasping towards Herag, unable to move, clawing only air from its spot.

The spectacle seemed eerie yet absurdly comical.

Herag wanted to laugh but couldn't.

Because at that moment, in the deep blue environment detection, countless Crawlers were rushing towards this location.

Many Crawlers hadn't moved for years, just lying in one place, their bodies covered with dust and rubble.

But now, awakened by the commotion, they slowly came to life.

Only then did Herag notice that the city's depths harbored so many Crawlers.

Previously, he only scanned the outskirts and hadn't delved deeper; the deep blue environmental detection couldn't reach that far.

He discovered this was practically a Crawler nest with many dormant Crawlers.

The scent of Herag's blood and flesh drifted with the night wind, shining like the night's brightest beacon to these Crawlers.

Roar...

Many Crawlers began emitting hoarse howls.

Their howls sounded bizarre, likely due to damaged vocal cords, akin to a torn trumpet.

Soon, over ten Crawlers reached the palace's exterior, charging at Herag.

Herag fired two arrows, shattering a few, then took out a Fire Salamander Bomb to blow up several more.

One Crawler reached him; Herag kicked it hard, piercing it through with immense force.

Herag's foot lodged in the Crawler's chest, releasing a stream of black goo from the rupture.

Uncaring of its punctured chest, the Crawler clung to Herag's leg, gnawing at it.

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