DING!
YOU HAVE ENTERED THE RECESSES OF THE LABYRINTH!
THE DOMAIN CORE HAS BECOME CORRUPT!!
AS SUCH YOU MUST DIMINISH THE CORRUPTION!
…
YOU MUST PUSH BACK THE CORRUPTION AND CLEANSE THE CORE!
…
Jazmel read the notification three times before he sighed, this was like the Xuanhuan realm all over again, he had been dropped into some crevice of the labyrinth and now he was being charged with cleaning up something.
But he simply sighed and moved forward, he could only advance. The gate had led him to an open landscape, the winds whirled across the land, and he found himself atop some moors. He couldn’t even see around him, the way the wind was pressing down on him. But he simply pushed forward, advancing through the strong winds, shielding his face with his arms.
A trail of trodden land had been worn through the moors and Jazmel simply followed it, it wound through the moors, like a spiralling snake, a serpent of the world and Jazmel was following its path. The wind smacked him and jostled him as much as he could. But Jazmel was a heavyset youth, his bones were thick, and his muscles were strong. Since he had tempered, his body had become so sturdy he was surprised just by how powerful he felt overall.
He walked for an hour, strolled along the winding path through the moors for two and then three. Just when he was growing a little tired from the journey, the moors ended, and the wind dropped. He found himself in the ruins of what could have once been a town or a city. It was old, the stone that had laid foundations, were now covered with turf and moss, overgrown in some spaces. Jazmel could tell this place was old; ancient even. It had been a ruin for a long time too, he could tell by the dishevelled layout.
He moved through the ruins, the large overarching entrances. At one time this place must have been a sight, he simply imagined with what he could see and wondered about the people who had once lived here.
He traversed the length of a large town, moving through the ruins and letting his eyes pick up anything he might have missed. The ruin were rife with life, ambient Mana floated all around, intertwined with the air around him. Jazmel simply studied it for a moment in wonderment and then continued his journey.
He moved through the ruins and after a short break, to allow his stamina to recuperate. He began his journey on foot again, following the winding path to wherever it would end. After leaving the ruins, he found himself in a cold ravine, the wind wasn’t as relentless here, but a cold seemed to sit on the stone that leeched warmth from bones. A light fog had begun to descend around and had it not been for his eyes, the keen sight his Mana eyes allowed him. He might have been worried, but he continued through the ravine and descended and then ascended, following the path.
He almost missed it but the sound of something skittering over the rocks caught his keen senses. He kept moving, but his left hand strayed to his swords, he kept two on the belt and one in his ring, but he changed them often. Currently he was carrying Nozarashi and Daishinkan his favoured swords. He heard the sounds skittering again and this time, the small patter of rocks falling behind him in the ravine.
Something was following him, hunting him. He looked back and his sharp eyes caught sight of it as it moved through the fog. It was a giant millipede, roughly twenty feet and the chitin looked sturdy, its exoskeleton was thick and Jazmel could hear its pincers clicking as it tasted the air and the skittering sound, was that of its legs moving across the rock and stone.
He stopped and spread his legs so he could get into a stance, limbering up and allowing himself to prepare for its approach. The millipede was huge, it didn’t even slow down as it advanced on him. but he wasn’t going to be eaten. No Jazmel was sure he could defeat this creature. It skittered towards him and in one fluid lurch and then rearing it screeched a chattering as its pincers clicked and clacked together.
It reared up and then descended, trying to kill him with pincers but he simply sidestepped and with a downward cut. he cut through the head of the millipede. His blade resisting the chitin and carving through it.
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DING!
CORRUPT TIER II MOUNTAIN MILIPEDE KILLED
…
CORRUPTION HAS RETURNED TO THE SOURCE!
…
+3 STAT POINTS
Jazmel nodded at the notification and made it disappear with a thought. He continued further into the ravine and was assaulted by other corrupted millipedes, but he soon slaughtered them.
DING!
+3 STAT POINTS
…
+3 STAT POINTS
…
+3 STAT POINTS
+2 STAT POINTS
…
The system seemed to give him randomised stat points as he fought off the corrupted aberrations. But he wasn’t completely unhappy with this, usually the stats went straight into his skills. But now he was garnering enough to raise a stat when he was ready.
After killing just five of the millipedes, he had managed to escape the ravine and entered a much more open space. He was simple looking around and found that he was descending into a quarry, not like the clay one. But one which was weather worn, the weather had etched away at the walls and as Jazmel stood atop the lip of the quarry descent. He could see nothing but limestone, but he wasn’t worried, his eyes told him there was no Mana other than the usual ambient Mana.
He descended into the quarry and looked to see if there were any caverns. He looked around and found nothing, but he kept looking; using his eyes to try and perceive any secret entryways if there were any.
The ground rumbled, he stood stock still when he felt the ground, but he worried it was a Wurm again. So he waited, he wanted to see if it were Wurm and he was planning to run out of the quarry as soon as he could.
But the ground rumbled, and he watched as a small spire began to ascend in the centre of the quarry, it wasn’t small at all it grew to almost double Jazmel’s height and at the tip of the gnarled spire. Was a bubbling form of energy. It looked like oil, but he immediately knew it was corruption and the spire was collecting all of the corruption around him.
DING!
YOU HAVE FOUND A CORRUPTION SPIRE!
…
DESTROY IT BEFORE IT COMPLETES ITS EVOLVING
Jazmel literally drew his sword and was about to cut through the spire when he felt the Mana around him change. He turned and dodged just as a rusty axe flew past him.
He turned round and saw a troop of skeletons rushing towards him. Draugr covered in armour rushed towards him arms raised and weapons drawn. He met them, Daishinkan swinging and the sword cutting through bone and armour.
Lacerate
He smashed into the rushing Draugr who had its shield raised for a charge. But Jazmel was sturdy too, his tempered body was sturdy and hit the shield with as much force as it was charged. The Draugr seemed startled and growled, it snapped at Jazmel. He stabbed through the head, twisted his blade, and slashed down to cut through another one.
+2 STAT POINTS
+3 STAT POINTS
+2 STAT POINTS
The system was fluttering up on his head and he watched as the different bodies crumbled and corruption ebbed from their corpses and floated over to the spiral.
He turned to try and cut through the spiral but was assaulted again. A bigger Draugr pushed through, but Jazmel saw him coming. He leapt forward too, and their weapons clashed. A long-handled axe met his sword, his katana sparked, and sparks glittered from the blade in a shower. He bucked the Draugr off, but it stood firm, he leapt back but flung his skills down even before he landed.
Lacerate
Fall of the black raven!
The skills burst from his blade crashing into the ground and turning the Draugr’s standing into broken rubble.
Smoke cleared and many of the Draugr were dead, but the larger one still stood. Minus an arm, but he still clutched his long-handled axe in his dominant arm, the bones bleached white from air and the weather.
It snarled, showing broken teeth, some sharp and others dull, but broken all the same.
DING!
THE SPIRE HAS NEARLY EVOLVED!!
DESTROY IT!
Jazmel turned to look and saw that the collection of corruption had formed a bubbling ball, which was crystalising. Forming a black and purple gem, but he could feel the impending doom that seemed to be wafting from the spire.
He rushed forward, the Draugr chasing him. He ran forward, not slowing down at all. He rushed past the spire and as the Draugr moved towards him he spun on his ankle. Spun towards the Draugr and raising his sword above his head he cut with his strongest attack.
Sunder
The Draugr tried to block the attack with its arm and axe, but the curling crescent of Mana simply parted the arm and handle of the axe. It then moved through the Draugr and then hit the spire cutting through the spire and then the crystal atop also.
The spire crumbled on itself and the corruption gem broke, popping from his skill and then literally breaking apart in a shattered form of glass particles.
DING!
YOU KILLED THE DRAUGR CAPTAIN!
+4 STAT POINTS
YOU DESTROYED THE CORRUPTED SPIRE!
…
EXP GREATLY ACCRUED!
LEVEL UP!!
YOU SHATTERED THE CORRUPTION GEM!
…
YOU GAINED A CHAOS SHARD
TIER II CHAOS SHARD! An item made from the chaos energy in the deep recesses of the labyrinth. Can be used for a tier tribulation but the unstable energy can be considered dangerous to some. High risk, higher rewards!