Chapter 97: New Issue (1)

Chapter 97: Chapter 97: New Issue (1) Ten hours had passed since the start of Blaze’s experiments. Until now, the room had remained sealed. It was time to unseal the room and check for results. "Make a fire pit right about here," Blaze instructed the undead, tapping his foot to mark the spot. While the skeletons and zombies gathered wood, Blaze created another corpse pit and a series of pipes. The gas from the pit would flow into the fire through the pipes. Usually, it would be difficult to get ammonia gas to act as an explosive agent. However, a lot had changed since the old times. Once the wood was assembled, Blaze took out a lighter from his pocket. One would think finding food and water would be difficult in an apocalypse, but Blaze had the most trouble fighting a lighter. It was as if the entire world wanted to smoke once things went to shit. He clicked it, and a tall, bluish flame appeared in his hand. Most undead walked away as soon as they saw the fire. It was good because they weren’t prepared to see what’d happen next. Blaze lit the firewood, and it was instantly covered in flames. It didn’t burn brightly, and released a less bright greenish-blue flame. All because of the higher oxygen concentration in the air. Once the flame was running, he walked back to the pipe and dragged it back a couple of yards. After the recent evolution, fire had become more dangerous than ever. Perhaps it was the most dangerous element on earth. Forget about forest fires; if not kept in check, the flames could turn an entire state into a husk. That’s why Blaze didn’t want to risk the flames traveling into the pipe and destroying the pit. Hence, the distance. Under normal circumstances, burning ammonia would yield dinitrogen and water molecules. But in an oxygen-rich environment... Bang! A short explosion caught Blaze’s attention. The fire grew more intense, burning the corpse wall in front to ashes. It was as if the pipe was shooting fireballs at the walls, burning them. "Magic." Blaze smiled as the flames grew taller. The experiment that the students often did in controlled environments was being performed without any precautions. In an oxygen-rich environment, ammonia didn’t break down into water molecules. Instead, it broke into hydrogen and oxygen. The burst of flames that appeared as fireballs was because hydrogen had an extremely low ignition point. Even the tiniest of flames to burn it. Couple that with the oxygen released from the reaction and massive flames, and you’ve got a fire roughly twice as hot as a regular flame. "In numbers, it would be around 4100 °F (~2300 °C) where the reaction happens," Blaze mumbled to himself. The undead around him scattered away. Even Marrow, despite her unwavering loyalty, couldn’t stay put. That was the fear of flames within the zombies. Yet again, it showed how different Blaze was from them. What exhilarated him scared others. "This should be enough to destroy those spores." Just as he said that, the final corpse wall collapsed. The next second, a huge cloud of black spores emerged from within. They covered the night sky, and Blaze hurriedly aimed the pipe at them. Whitish-blue flames engulfed the spores, destroying them without leaving any residue. After making sure all spores were destroyed, he had Marrow cut the ammonia supply. The flames turned to their usual greenish color while Blaze had the skeletons push forward. While the spores were gone, the fungus was still alive, and so were the creatures it had possibly infected. In the first room was the skeleton soldier. The fungus had had no effect on it. It was pretty much what Blaze expected. After all, the fungus would attack a host’s nervous system. The skeletons didn’t have those. So it was safe. In the next section was the ant. That’s where they came across the true horror of the blightspore. Its black exoskeleton was cracked and had strange, mushy growths on it. Thin white stalks pushed out of the joints as it moved around. It had similar growths around its mouth. Suddenly, it felt Blaze’s presence and rushed towards him, clanking its mandibles. Stop. Blaze tried commanding it. The ant showed some hesitation, but in the end couldn’t stop itself from charging. It jumped, lunging towards Blaze’s throat. Tendrils appeared out of his back and stopped the ant in midair before slamming it down on the ground. He kept doing it until the ant was turned into a sloppy mess. He trapped the ant’s remains in a small corpse box before turning towards Marrow. "Send it to the institute for tests," he said, scratching his chin. "Something went wrong with it, and I want to know what." "At once, my lord." She placed the box aside and followed Blaze to the next section. The one with the walker. Appearance-wise, it was the same as the ant. The only difference being the flower-like masses all over its body. Its lower jaw was out of place and was hanging on by pieces of its skin sticking to it like threads. With a low, hungry groan, it stumbled toward Blaze, dragging one leg. Its hands reached out, ready to grab him. "Stop." Blaze tried again, and this time the zombie did stop. Unlike the ant, the walker remembered who controlled it. However, that was it. The spores had infected the walker, but if anything, it made the zombie weaker by breaking its body to make space for its strange outgrowths. Kill it. The skeletons jumped at his command, bludgeoning the walker into a mush. Blaze then did the same thing it did to the ant’s corpse and handed it over to Marrow. Finally, it was the frogkin’s turn. The frogkin’s once-slick skin had turned into a mushy mess. Dozens of clusters filled with Blightspore stalks covered it. Its poison sacs had become full of spores, which leaked on command, much like poison would. "Okay... not good. Don’t kill it, or go anywhere near it." Blaze said, backing away. He didn’t want the spores to come anywhere near him. However, it seemed he had run out of luck as the frogkin launched its spore-filled tongue at him.