?Nick and his team carefully navigated around the hills and traveled further to the east.
From time to time, Nick ordered them to assume the defensive formation.
Nick was still certain that nobody was following them.
A bit later, the team found a crater that was about a kilometer wide.
At the bottom of the crater was something that looked completely different from the dry world around it.
It was a purple swamp.
The purple and viscous liquid of the swamp slowly and lethargically bubbled, releasing small black clouds.
Some decaying grass and ferns could be seen on top of the swamp, partially covering it.
As the group stood on the edge of the crater, their Barriers flickered from time to time.
The gas that was released by the swamp was poisonous and would quickly kill normal people.
This was the Swallowing Swamp, a Specter.
"I want to search through it," Nick said as he descended the crater. "You wait up here and keep a lookout of the surroundings. Stay hidden, if possible."
"Yes, Boss," Nick's team said before they went close to some of the hills.
Nick was not worried as he approached the Swallowing Swamp.
The Swallowing Swamp was probably the unluckiest Specter in the world.
It was a Force Specter with a huge body and a powerful ability that could kill normal people and animals from far away.
And yet, it spawned in the middle of this dead world where nobody but powerful Extractors walked around.
Because of that, the Swallowing Swamp was an Initial Hatchling, the weakest Specter.
While it had the potential to kill hordes and armies of animals and people, there simply was nothing to kill.
The Swallowing Swamp had the potential to become as terrifying as the Crimson Sea, and maybe even more terrifying, but it would never be able to realize its potential in this world.
Everyone who had left Crimson City knew about the Swallowing Swamp. After all, it wasn't very difficult to spot.
However, no one had even attempted to suppress and contain it.
The effort and money required to suppress such a huge body of water was vastly bigger than what a mere Initial Hatchling was worth.
Additionally, where would one even keep this huge swamp?
So, the Swallowing Swamp was just left here to keep existing in the lifeless nothingness that was the outside world.
Nick reached the edge of the swamp and stopped.
Nick had deactivated his Barrier for now since the Swallowing Swamp's poison wasn't even nearly strong enough to affect him.
He didn't move for a while and focused on his ability.
From time to time, his ability was activating and deactivating.
After looking around for a bit, Nick could see that this came from Jason occasionally glancing at Nick from one of the edges of the crater.
He was the only one who could see Nick from his position.
A moment later, Nick took one of his shoes off and touched the Swallowing Swamp with his bare foot.
Then, he waited.
When Nick felt his ability activating and deactivating with Jason's looks, he narrowed his eyes.
The fact that his ability was still acting this way could mean only one thing.
The Swallowing Swamp could not perceive Nick, even though he was in physical contact with it.
But that didn't make sense.
After all, the Fog had been able to perceive Nick via touch, and the same thing had been true when the weak Crimson Sea had touched Nick for a bit.
Force Specters still had some form of consciousness, even though they were not really sentient or sapient.
Force Specters would realize if something touched them.
They might not react, but they would still feel it.
Nick had come to the Swallowing Swamp to investigate it.
It had been investigated by a couple of Manufacturers in Crimson City before, but after they had come to their conclusion, it had basically been ignored.
There was no point in looking at this Initial Hatchling anymore.
However, Nick had something that the other Extractors of Crimson City didn't have.
The Null's ability.
When it came to sensing someone else's perception, nothing was better than this ability.
Nick knew that this ability had amazing investigative properties, and he was relying on it almost daily.
That was why Nick had come here.
Maybe his ability would uncover something that the other Manufacturers had overlooked.
And sure enough, it did.
'The fact that it can't sense me means it is either not a Force Specter or that I'm not touching it right now,' Nick thought.
After a bit, Nick turned to look at Jason, who was on the edge of the crater.
"I'm going to dive in and investigate. If you see anyone approaching, tell me immediately," Nick shouted.
"Understood, Boss," Jason shouted back before relaying Nick's orders to the others.
Nick turned back to the Swallowing Swamp and started to undress.
He didn't want to use his Barrier since he wanted to use his sense of touch to find the actual Specter.
After about a minute, Nick only wore his two wristbands, which were his deactivated fist weapons.
Nick's ability hadn't activated in a while, which meant that Jason was probably watching Nick's naked behind with quite a lot of focus.
He got a bit annoyed by the constant attention, but that wasn't really important right now.
Nick slowly approached the Swallowing Swamp and stepped into it with his bare feet.
It was surprisingly warm.
'This reminds me of the time I jumped into the old sewers,' Nick thought.
He took a couple more steps forward and was soon submerged up to his chest.
Going into the Swallowing Swamp wasn't nearly as bad as going into the sewers.
Yes, the Swallowing Swamp was technically filled with acid and poison, but it didn't smell as bad as the old sewers.
It had a very chemical smell to it.
Nick took a deep breath after a bit.
Then, he jumped forward and dove in.