The Record of Unusual Creatures

It was almost an undisturbed, primary forest. There were hardly any trails on the rugged landscape. It made Hao Ren Hao Ren wonder if there were any human settlements there. But Hesperides’ answer had confirmed Hao Ren’s suspicion.

“The last time I came here was three centuries ago, where this place was already desolate.”

“Three centuries ago? You have not checked if the servant is still alive for three hundred years?” Vivian glanced at Hesperides in astonishment. “Is he still hiding here?”

“To be honest, I am not sure, but since the demon hunters have not found this secluded place in the past three centuries, I guess the guy would still be here,” Hesperides said while leading in front. “Human settlements may be deserted, but the recluse will stay. An abandoned town is excellent camouflage. Many old beings who survived the Mythological Era and lived alone chose to stay near the ruins. It might be inconvenient living in such places, but they could evade the detection of the demon hunters.”

“What is the name of the servant?” Until now, Hao Ren had not learned the identity of the target, the Olympian divine hero who survived the Mythological Era and killed a dozen demon hunters with a divine artifact.

Hesperides paused. “He used to be known as Hercules.”

Hao Ren nodded and kept walking until the name registered. “Wait! What’s the name again?”

“She said Hercules, also Herakles in Greek.”

“Holy moly! It’s him!” It surprised Hao Ren that the servant was such a famous figure. “The Greek demi-god, awesome guy who took the challenge of the twelve labors? How did he become a Zeus’ servant?”

“A hybrid of the Olympian and Earth’s human, why couldn’t Hercules be the servant of Zeus?” Hesperides said. “Yeah, he was pretty well-known, though a mixed-race, he had made quite a name for himself and made many gods on Mount Olympus jealous. Later he was taken to the Mount Olympus where Zeus personally gave him an identity so that he could officially become one of the members of the Olympian gods. But due to that there was no more ‘position’ Zeus could canonize, Hercules stayed beside Zeus. For this reason, it was not wrong for the demon hunters to regard him as a Zeus’ servant.”

Seeing Hao Ren was still confused, Vivian reminded, “There is always some deviation between history and myths. I am a little surprised too.”

“Hercules is such a strong man. There is little wonder that he could survive,” Lily said as she scratched her chin. “Ordinary servants mightn’t have shown that kind of combat strength even if they had the divine artifact. It must because he had excellent mental strength. With this understanding, things became much more reasonable than before. When Mount Olympus collapsed, it must be Zeus who entrusted Hercules to run with that ancient artifact and the research materials.”

Hesperides nodded. “Like many survivors, Hercules did not use his real name. His last pseudonym is Fernan. If he hasn’t moved in so many years, maybe he still uses this name.”

Before Hesperides’ voice trailed off, a little voice suddenly rose beside her. “Haaazzzz—”

“What the heck?” Hesperides screamed. As soon as she turned her head around, she saw a bunch of dark-red energy arrows flying toward her, the next second she knew it, the arrows had hit her face. “Wow! What the heck is that?”

The little energy arrows could not cause any damage at all. But Hesperides was shocked to see a palm-sized Vivian flying unstably around her making threatening but powerless gestures. “Vivian? It’s your bat again—”

“Ahh, no. It’s different from Hessiana,” Vivian quickly explained. It split from me!”

Suddenly, the expression on Hesperides’ face became weirder than before. “A split? How did you develop this new feature?”

The little Malevolence continued to dance and shoot energy arrows at Hesperides’ face, complete with sound effects. *Gshaaaa—*

Hao Ren quickly grabbed the little guy back and shoved her into a glass bottle, which he took out the dimensional pocket. “Tough guy, she was only half-dead a while ago. Hesperides, it’s kind of hard to explain to you now. Could you pretend not seeing her for now? By the way, Vivian’s splitting isn’t new; she has always been like that.”

“What?”

Hesperides was confused. Since she knew that Vivian possessed many secrets, she did not say anything. But she still could not help herself looking at the little Malevolence in the glass bottle where the miniature Vivian had never stopped firing her energy arrows like a mad devil. It was amazing, she thought.

Vivian hemmed, trying to divert her this old friend’s attention. “Have we arrived yet?” she asked.

“Right ahead,” Hesperides replied as she looked up and into the distance, her expression suddenly became strange. “Hmmm, it’s still there.”

Looking through the deep woods, smokes and wooden houses were visible in the thickest part of the forest. It was still far, but it appeared like there was a human settlement there.

“The village has not disappeared.” Hao Ren was just as surprised as Hesperides.

Vivian could not help but glance at the primary forest around her. A strange feeling hit her. “Something is not quite right. Look around, the forest around the village shouldn’t be like this. It seems that there are no traces of human activity at all.”

Things about ancient supernatural creatures always appeared strange. Deep inside the forest, some forces were still having a subtle influence on the wood. A secluded village, hidden and forgotten for three centuries, even existed until today. But there were no trails that connected to the outside world around the village, which aroused Hao Ren’s suspicion.

“I have detected unstable environmental readings, but no traps found.” the MDT reported.

They weaved through the forest and came to the isolated village.

There was an open space in the middle of the forest, where the wooden fence, only half a person’s height, surrounded the village. It was doubtful that this broken and low wooden fence could protect the settlement. More like it was just a border mark of the village, not to defend against the beasts in the forest. There had never been proper planning of the village as old wooden houses scattered randomly in the village. Trails paved in gravel and bricks, narrow, curvy, and filled with potholes, seemed to be only things connecting the houses in the village together.

Even from the perspective of three centuries ago, this was still a terrible place.

But what amazed Hao Ren was not the houses but the villagers.

People were living in this closed, ghostly ancient place that filled with a moldy smell. The villagers were wearing rough garments from some unknown era, and having a wrinkled face and numb expressions as if they had been living in hardship for centuries. Seeing the appearance of the strangers, the villagers gathered around them, rudely pointing and gesturing at the visitors from the outside world.

It was hard to believe that there was such a group of people living deep in the forest. They were like completely cut out from the rest of the world.

“This place is the same as when I last came three hundred years ago,” Hesperides whispered in surprise. “Except for this wall, which did not exist back then.”

“Someone is coming up to us,” Lily said as she poked Hao Ren.

The villagers, watching from afar, began to step aside as a smiley old man, stooped and walking with floaty steps but appeared healthy, came up straight before Hao Ren and greeted him in some heavy-accented French dialect. “Ahh, my guests, there have been no visitors here for many years. My friends from afar, please come in for a rest. What can I do for you?”