In the depths of the cursed dungeon, the sound of battle roars through the tunnels, corridors and hallways. The atmosphere was filled with explosions, weapons clanging off the walls, and mortal voices echoing in the dark.
"This is getting tiring," Riya said, trying her best to diminish the creatures from the abyss. "There's no end to these abominations."
"Sister Chifya," Sheila calls. "Do you still have the purification vial? The Aziru's vial, if you would." She adds, conjuring a sphere made of pure water.
"Understood," Chifya responded, tossing the vial,
Upon catching the flask, Sheila gave only one drop of the vial's essence, and when that single drop entered the sphere, it glowed through the dark.
"This should do it," Grunts Sheila, flinging the sphere into the air.
Reaching three metres below ground, the sphere explodes, sending chains of waves throughout the area, dissolving any lingering blight, even the creatures of the abyss. From that single spell, Sheila drops to her knees, covering her mouth as she vomits blood, followed by her eyes weeping blood.
"You should have told me you were planning to use such a heavy spell!" Chifya said after catching Sheila. "I told you, you're still recovering from that Scorched Magic." She continued, planting a seed beside Sheila.
Quickly, it grew into small, glowing vines that coiled around Sheila and infused her with life. A minute passed, and once all that life essence was transferred, the vines withered.
"Stay still." Chifya urge, planting another seed.
After more than two hours of rest, and once Sheila regained her strength, the group continued. Thanks to Sheila's earlier invocation, the party didn't encounter any enemies, and even the putrid smell that lingered there disappeared. When they reached the level where Natalak was teleported, Chifya could finally sense Natalak's lingering essence.
Clutching the glowing Eye of Adra, Chifya begins to see Natalak's past essence scouring through the places. She could even hear his past words, calling her name in a troubled voice. Tracing Natalak's footprint, Chifya slowly uncovers his actions. And as always, even in the void of darkness and distress, Natalak still sacks the place, be it scraps or garbage.
"In here," Chifya points towards where the cube lies.
Arriving at the spot where Natalak breached the wall, Chifya pulls another seed but hesitates to use it.
"Can you all step back?" Riya urges, pulling a scroll from her satchel.
Unsealing it burns the scroll to cinder, transforming it into twenty arrows, each glowing with flickering orange embers. With a single shot, the arrow blew the hole Natalak took hours to breach in seconds, creating an opening large enough for a bus to enter.
"I didn't know you had expensive arrows," Sei said after the dust settled.
"I just bought this. If this mission is a success, I hope it will cover it." She replied, putting the remaining arrow into her quiver.
While the Eye of Adra remains active, Chifya observes the previous battle, the cube, and the route he took. Oddly, once they enter the zone where Natalak probes, the structures gradually transform into rocks and solid mud until none are visible. And before they can reach another tunnel, the amulet's power begins to wear off; it is then that Chifya sees Natalak stopping his track.
Instantly, Chifya pauses, as a baffling emotion washes over her. It feels as if Natalak's essence sees through her, revealing a melancholy between them. When Natalak slowly turns away, the amulet's ability diminishes so does Natalak's essence.
Seeing Chifya gawk through the tunnel's façade, Sheila intrudes.
"Something wrong?" Sheila grabs Chifya's arm.
"N-nothing." The half-elf stammers. "I'm just lost in thought." She adds before resuming her steps.
More than half an hour away from the party, Natalak saw a light at the end of the tunnel. But something was amiss; he could see a fuming energy—putrid, and it gave him a feeling of dread. He would often look back, pausing, hoping to see if Chifya would appear on the corner. After minutes of waiting at the tunnel entrance, he chose to continue rather than wait for support.
Little did Natalak know that the demon he fought plunged what looked like black oil. Besides, the pond of blight is where the source of corruption lingers, where hundreds of souls, both human and animal, scream in agony.
When it emerges, the burning purification that once lingered on the demon vanishes. Moreover, the fur of mist turns to flame; the flesh torn by the shards is no more. Then the demon turns toward what lies before him: the source of his regeneration.
Back in the tunnel, Natalak treads cautiously until he finally reaches the tunnel's end.
"What the F!"
Natalak observed the demon feasting on a massive, tree-like structure. It had no leaves, only roots that extended everywhere. The scene was set inside a vast cavern, large enough to hold thirty houses. A chasm at the top let in sunlight and water, nourishing the blight. Surrounding the trunk, hundreds of souls cried out in misery. The air was heavy with corruption, reminiscent of battery acid and sewage fumes, enough to make a normal person get sick or even die.
Upon arriving, the demon paused its meal and turned directly to Natalak.
"R-round two?"
Without hesitation, the demon advance at Natalak, turning into a fiery mist before he could fish out the purification potion. Swift and with a slim chance of evasion, Natalak charge against the beast, gliding before its claws could rend him. As soon as the demon returns to its original form, the whip coils around its neck.
Retained and evaded, Natalak quickly searches for the purification vial. However, the beast's strength has changed, and it now seizes the whip easily, throwing Natalak through the walls seven times before the whip can loosen. Fortunately, both the armour and the whip saved him from becoming a paste; in a fetal position, Natalak managed to protect his nape and head.
"Fuck me!" Natalak's trembling hand rummaged through the bag as he ran from the beast.
Full of adrenaline, he didn't feel any pain from his broken bones and internal injuries. And when the purification was pulled, he coated his sword and confidently waited for the demon.
"Gotcha bitch!" Natalak shouted as his sword cut through the demon in its mist form, turning it back to its original flesh.
As the demon transformed, Natalak plunged his sword as the whip coiled around its body.
"You like that, huh—"
As the demon's shrieks echo through the place and the tunnel, a winged demon emerges from the tree-like structure, hooking Natalak with its massive hand and hurling him away, even unbuckling his satchel and spitting out its contents.
With vision blurred and spitting blood, Natalak could see the winged demon grab the other and mercilessly slam it through the walls before it set its eyes on Natalak. Battered and with little strength left, he rushes towards the tunnel, the very tunnel where he had emerged. Regrettably, the winged demon senses his escape and flies toward Natalak, blocking his path. Worse, another one emerges, and hope abandoned him.
"To hell with it!"
Too injured and confused, Natalak chooses to confront the winged demon. During the fight, he wraps the whip around the creature, preventing its wings from spreading and its arms from striking, while stabbing his sword into the demon's neck. Alas, the demon retaliates by biting Natalak's left shoulder, piercing through the areas his armour doesn't protect.
Unbeknownst to them, Amara's book was slowly absorbing the cube's energy. Just before the abomination could rip Natalak's shoulder, his sword quickly decapitated its head. When the head touched the ground, the book didn't summon the entity; instead, it produced a powerful void, sucking everything—Natalak, the things he collected, and the book itself.
More than five minutes after Natalak was withdrawn, Chifya and the others finally arrived at the source of the blight, only to find ten demons, each in a different form, feasting on the antler demon and the one Natalak killed. Bones snap, flesh tears from their ravenous teeth and limbs are torn.
Silently pulling out three glowing arrows. And when Riya gave the shot, all ten demons were obliterated, as pieces of their limbs were splattered.
Sensing danger, the tree-like structure segmented into parts, creating dozens of abyssal creatures. Each had various sizes and forms, each with different abilities. Still, they were outmatched by the party's coordination and powerful combination of their skills and equipment.
Just when victory was assured, the source released a powerful vapour, and when the party saw the colour, the lingering smell and the dreadful energy it gave—
"Take cover!" Chifya called out, and the party quickly huddled together. "Hold this." She added, giving Sheila the amulet, as Sheila erected a barrier.
Combined with Sheila's magic and the amulet's lingering holy essence, the barrier easily shielded them from the miasma. But when they saw more abominations start to merge—
"I can only shield us from the vapour," Sheila said.
Chifya looked through the cavern's opening and saw that it was still midday. She frowned and assessed her surroundings, somewhat hesitant.
"Sei, Reith, I need you to guard Sheila. And Riya, can you give me cover?" Chifya suggested as she transformed into her full elven form. "What I'm going to do will only take a few seconds. So, I need you to clear a path for me."
"Understood," Riya answered, drawing his bow.
Right away, Chifya slits her hand, feeding her pure elven blood to the two ebony blades. When the blade of darkness drinks her blood, it gives something in return. Florid energy begins to trickle from the blade as Chifya herself absorbs it.
"Sheila, the purification vial, if you would." Chifya urges, now radiating with powerful energy.
"Now!" As soon as Chifya grabs the vial, she rushes out of the barrier, taking on the miasma without struggle.
Instantly, Riya fires her explosive arrows, decimating dozens of enemies and letting Chifya pass through without a fight. The enemies that managed to enter the barrier were quickly disposed of by the two warriors, allowing Sheila and Riya to continue their purpose. When Chifya was just a few feet from the source, her body turned ethereal, letting her seep through the blight.
It took another five minutes, but for Sheila and her friends, that time felt like an hour as they held their position. The explosive arrows were now in use, and Sheila, too, begins to show signs of another Scorch Magic. As hope begins to fade, there, on the tree-like blight, an azure glow begins to emanate from its trunk, expanding in seconds. Within ten seconds, a powerful explosion rips through the place as the structural blight turns to stone before collapsing into thousands of chunks and dust. Even the creatures produced by the blight turn to stone.
The hundreds of trapped souls immediately escape, turning into white orbs before slipping through the opening.
"Where's Chifya?" Sheila calls, and when the dust begins to settle, a figure slowly emerges. It was Chifya, panting heavily.
"I think I may have overstayed in my elven form," Chifya said before her knees buckled.
"Let's take some rest. Before finding where Natalak went." Sheila suggest.
While Sheila and Chifya took their time resting, their three companions scavenge the area. They found dozens of adventurers' guild crests, most of them at the silver and bronze levels. Moreover, their equipment was scattered, and if it were Natalak, he would take it without hesitation. They continued their search and found no exit or other passage; the only way out was the chasm. Even then, Natalak would need superhuman strength or magic to reach through the ceiling.
"Sister Chifya," Sheila said, "It's getting late. We could come back tomorrow for Natalak. The guild may assist us in finding him."
Chifya gave a slight nod, hiding the mark on her palm.
"All the remaining crests have been gathered; we are now ready to teleport," Sei said. "As for their remaining equipment, the guild will come to collect it."
"Understood," Sheila replied, unfolding the teleportation scroll and transporting them to the village.
Elsewhere…
Thousand miles away from where the dungeon lies, across mountains and forests. Passing the bridge of Kresh, enter our eyes, where Natalak emerges. A few miles away, in the cave where Natalak uncovers the book, he lies in a place where flesh and spirit lie between.
Panting heavily, "W-where am I?" Natalak scans the surroundings, intrigued by where he is.
An endless realm filled with floating chunks of buildings and temples stretched in every direction. The sky was a vast expanse of galaxies and stars, with translucent green strings streaming from all directions. It was an unending night, and the spot he occupied was simply another shattered floating temple. Fortunately, his bag and all the items he collected were scattered right next to him. And with a few blinks, a shape, a shadow of mist, slowly formed right in front of him.
The entity didn't speak; it watched Natalak and his scattered items. In its appearance, even the whip of many voices stayed silent. Yet something in the entity gave off a baffling presence toward Natalak when it saw the cube, the bag.
"We haven't got all day?" Natalak spoke, desperately trying to stay alive.
"Interesting." The entity answered in a smooth, calm and perhaps aristocratic voice. "Most interesting… Who are you?"