“Ah! So that’s what this is about.” Naz’Tor laughed. “Better safe than sorry, am I right?”
“You are,” Leo agreed. “This thing has enough power to destroy my London. Figured best to call you before I just hit it.”
“Well…” The merchant paused for a moment. “You can go ahead and do that if you don’t mind getting blasted away. The explosion shouldn’t kill you, but not even the Bellatoure I gave you will be able to fix you up. I personally recommend you set up an explosive at the base of the core and get as far away as possible. It’s how most survivors deal with the cores.”
He nodded with a hum. “How strong does the explosive need to be?”
“Do you have any Greater Crystallized Essences?”
“A few.”
“Then there you have it,” Naz’Tor said. “Two or three of those should do the job if you place them together. The core might look tough, but it’s just an illusion. It’s almost as fragile as any other vital organ.”
The basilisk coiled around makes that a bit hard to believe, but okay. Leo noted with a glance at the dead beast. “I will do just that then. Thanks.”
“I’m always happy to help, for a price, of course.”
“Of course,” he muttered, already expecting as much. “So, how much do I owe you?”
Naz’Tor laughed again. “Nothing, kid. I was just kidding. I wouldn’t charge you for what is the most common knowledge inside the Void. I’m not that greedy… Although, I wouldn’t mind hearing more about those creatures you encountered. What did you call them? Ah, yes! Frostwraiths.”
Leo shared a look with Nyx, and she shrugged, pretty much telling him to do whatever he wanted. So he did, and described everything he knew about this layer to the merchant. He already felt he owed the alien, so this was the least he could do.
“I see, I see…” Naz’Tor muttered. “Soul and Ghost-type Nightmares are quite rare in themselves. And with an ability to reanimate and transform other Voidlings on top of that? My, my… You have happened upon some very unique specimen.”
Don’t I know it, he grumbled internally. “Should I be worried?”
“Worried? No, not really. Just continue as you are, and you should be fine. I doubt the fight against the Nightmare will be easy, but it also shouldn’t be too complicated. Voidlings with abilities like that usually aren’t the best fighters. Their strength lies in the minions they control.”
Leo nodded. “Good to know.”
Some would have argued that what the merchant said couldn’t be true. After all, his ability to control Voidlings didn’t take away from his normal strength. Yet, in his opinion, that argument was invalid. Takeover wasn’t exactly a normal skill but something that originated from the true power of the Void.
“Oh!” Naz’Tor suddenly exclaimed. “Now that I think of it, could you harvest a part of that Nightmare once you kill it? Even if it’s a full ghost type, it should leave something behind. I will pay you nicely for it.”
Leo shrugged. “I will see what I can do. No promises, though.”
“Of course, of course. Just keep it in mind… Now, if that’s all, I’m leaving you to your fun,” Naz’Tor said in his usual jovial tone. “Just one more thing. Before you destroy the core, let your people on Earth know. They will want to be close.”
“Why?”
“Not telling!” The alien laughed. “You will find out soon. Good luck, kid. Call me once you get out of the Rift.”
“Will do. Thanks again, Naz’Tor.”
With that, the call disconnected. Leo then quickly selected his sister from the contact list and wrote her a short message, just like the merchant told him to. A reply came a few seconds later with more questions than he had answers.
Just do it, he wrote back. I will call and explain the rest after I destroy the core.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
This time, Lily sent him a simple ‘okay,’ leaving him to his next task. With a bit of Essence manipulation, he hid the transmitter and took out three Greater Crystallized Essences.
“This will be fun…” he muttered, channeling his power into the shards. He went slower than usual so that he could stop just at their limit. That way, he and Nyx should get more time to run away.
And… There!
Once the crystals could take no more, he put them at the base of the pillar and dashed in the opposite direction. Nyx clung to him in her smoke form as even with the small gap between their levels, he was quite a bit faster than her.
After barely ten seconds—maybe less—of running, an explosion rocked the entire valley—no, scratch that, the entire layer. A powerful blast of wind followed, knocking Leo off his feet and sending him hurtling through the air.
He quickly corrected his position mid-air and glanced at the source of the explosion for just a moment.
Holy shit…
A towering cloud of debris, smoke, and fire rose into the sky, a view reminiscent of the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. Not even the thick fog could block the sight of this phenomenon; the previous shockwave made sure of that.
Yeah… I can see why nobody should be close to that. Leo gulped once he landed and stood up.
Nyx reformed next to him. “I’m so glad you called Naz’Tor.”
“That makes two of us.”
----------------------------------------
The site where the Supercluster core once stood became a giant crater, even bigger than the one created by Geron back in London. Still, Leo and Nyx moved to investigate, jumping down into the vast hole and trying to find anything valuable.
Yet, to no one’s surprise, there was nothing there. Well, aside from scorched rocks and tiny crystal pieces that didn’t even get a reading from Identify. They still grabbed a few. Naz’Tor could later tell them if they had any value.
“That’s it,” Leo said once they left the crater and moved to a safer position. Staying there was just asking to get attacked by Voidlings. Sooner or later, something had to come to investigate the explosion.
Nyx nodded and lay down next to him. “How much longer?”
Congratulations! You have destroyed a Supercluster Core (D rank). You shall receive your rewards once the Erasure process has been completed. Please stand by. Time remaining: 3 minutes, 31 seconds.
“Less than four minutes,” he replied, watching as the seconds ticked down.
He thought of messaging Naz’Tor to ask what exactly the process of Erasure was but dismissed that idea. At this point, he could wait. Besides, he had an inkling about what it could mean.
And so time passed until the timer dropped to the last five seconds. Leo smiled when only a big, fat zero remained, summoning another wave of notifications in front of his eyes.
There we go…
The Erasure of the London Supercluster has been completed. Beacon of Peace and Origin Safe Zone established. You are now the owner of this new instance. You may access other options related to the Origin Safe Zone from the Beacon of Peace. Do you wish to designate a sub-owner now?
What the…
Leo’s eyes grew wider and wider after each reading. Origin Safe Zone? Beacon of Peace? Him as the owner? Was this what Naz’Tor was talking about?
I swear, I will punch that guy when I meet him again. The hell is going on? Yet, before he could go on a rant, the System decided to repeat a part of his last notification.
Do you wish to designate a sub-owner now? You may do it later if you want to.
Yes, I want to do it later. I have no idea what is happening anyway. Leo sighed and took a few deep breaths. It’s fine… It’s fine… I will call Lily in a minute and find out what is going on down there.
Acknowledged. Moving on to distributing rewards…
As the sole contributor toward the Supercluster’s destruction, you have been awarded: 75000 Ether, Bonus Experience, Free Advancement Token (Epic), Inferior Weaponized Ether Pack, Superior Shattered Core (D).
Congratulations! You have reached level 78. Class and Racial attributes have been distributed.
If Leo’s eyes widened before, now they almost fell out of their sockets. The Ether alone was a great reward in itself, but the rest? He didn’t even know what to say.
I think I found my favorite thing to hunt. This was the only thought his overwhelmed mind managed to construct. It took Nyx slapping him with her tail to make him focus.
“Thanks,” he muttered, rubbing his head.
“And?” the feline prodded. “What did you get? We both got three levels, but what else?”
“Didn’t you look through my eyes?”
She huffed. “I try to not make it a habit. Not without your permission, at least.”
Leo shrugged. “I don’t mind, but whatever. Look at this.”
As he said that, he reached into his soul and pulled out all the new gifts. In a flash of crimson light, a large metal box landed before them. On the top of it lay a small yellow badge with a big ‘A’ engraved into it.
Then there was the last item, a massive shard, easily the size of a large dog. It glowed with the same myriad of colors of the Supercluster Core, bathing the area in a soft light.
“Wow.” He heard the feline mutter, making him grin.
“Wow, indeed.”