Xerion sent a thick stream of essence into his [Sentinel’s Embrace] barrier, trying to block that deluge of fiery darkness from consuming him whole. It clung to him and pushed at the golden construct, as if looking for a gap to enter and turn the Practitioner to ash.

His saber made its way through the air and the flaming cloud, parting both as it hurried to reach its destination. Varsteel blade cut into the open maw of this monstrous creature, sinking ever deeper as he pressed, using every ounce of strength his refined body held to split this beast in twain.

This thing had to die.

But it didn’t. No, it didn’t even care for what was done to it. After the weapon retreated, its protruding abyssal eyes spun and looked at the gush on its form. A slimy tongue shot out of its central mouth and licked at it, and the wound closed in response.

The monster cackled, the sound wet and cold enough to chill the hearts of all who heard it.

Just as the boy’s eyes widened at that sight, Ether took action. The pup seemed to take offense at the derisive laugh the thing released, and so it snarled and exploded with power. It jumped from its maker’s shoulder and flew straight for the abomination assailing them both.

Ethereal fangs sunk into flesh made of the Dark and little else, ripping it to shreds. As a being of sheer essence, the damage inflicted by the wolf caused considerably more distress to the Void-warped hybrid of a serpent and a human. As mouthfuls of its scaley form disappeared into the misty maw, it wailed, now full of pain and desperation.

The monster thrashed about, twitching and wildly swinging its head, trying to get to the snowy pup hurting it so. Its blade-like tail stabbed and stabbed yet caught naught but empty air.

Ether moved as it attacked and used its tiny body to the fullest. Being so small might’ve reduced its offensive potential, but it granted it unrivaled maneuverability. Essence-made claws found purchase on the creature, digging deep into its flesh, and leaving furrows in the wake of the pup’s passage.

Xerion didn’t watch idly as his companion dealt with the thing that assailed them.

Lines of golden magma-like essence ripped their way into existence and sunk beneath the boy’s skin as he employed [Resolve Augmentation]. A hot wave of agony washed through him, pure power now flowing through his channels.

Yes, this was it. Now he could help.

His heart opened and released a stream of the most primal of energies. It burrowed into the mutated serpent, seeking its nucleus. What it found was but a shriveled seed of what a true core should look like, the thing set into a permanent shape, unable to be influenced.

With no time to ponder the implications, Xerion halted his attempt at [Conceptual Manipulation] and went with the most straightforward of solutions to this monstrous conundrum.

The muscles of his arm bulged as he swung for the monster’s head. He found little issue in striking the beast now, for not only were all his Attributes enhanced, but he knew where that fang-filled maw would appear at any moment.

Awareness of his Spirit’s exact location was something intrinsic to the [Ether] ability, and so all he had to do to hit the monster was to aim at the spot his pup was in milliseconds earlier.

Ink-like blood dripped down from up high as the damage accrued on the creature. The duo worked in perfect sync to disassemble it, and it showed. And yet, no more than a fifth of the wounds left on this mutated serpent were inflicted upon it by the young Practitioner.

Xerion cursed himself for not creating an external essence-based offensive ability before he departed for the Void Lands. He knew the Dark to be the combination of Negative Emotional Essence with Elemental Darkness, so in hindsight, it was obvious the biology of things living in its depths would be largely composed of energy rather than matter.

Just hit it, he thought while doing just so. He’d simply have to rely on his companion until he fixed the gap in his skill repertoire.

The beast grew more desperate as the fight progressed, clearly aware that the pair it faced would be the death of it. And yet it didn’t retreat, didn’t even try to. All it wanted was to kill, to rip apart and consume those that entered its sight.

It wouldn’t fulfill its purpose today, destined to die at the hands of a boy and his magical dog.

Ether’s misty fur remained as clean and dry as at the moment of its creation. Having access to its maker’s abilities also allowed it to use [Sentinel’s Embrace], and so when that void-tainted blood tried to stain its form, the dark essence within it evaporated, while pure liquid just slid from the pup.

Xerion envied that quality of his companion, for he was covered in that black goo from head to toe. His heart bled as he looked upon his robe and armor, very much aware he didn’t take any change of clothes with him, as the summons for the mission came too unexpectedly. He’d have to stay this way till they went back to Virsha. Lovely.

It took less than a minute from the creature’s appearance till the moment the final of its death throes finished. It now lay dead at the feet of the duo, half of its scales gone, and over a third of its head consumed by the gluttonous wolf.

The young Practitioner breathed in, taking pleasure in that simplest of activities. With his lungs filled with air and his life no longer threatened, a barrier seemed to break inside his mind, letting it wander down a line of thought barred from him earlier.

When that monster emerged from the ceiling, it wasn’t alone. It hissed then, and hundreds of its kin had answered.

Xerion spun, noticing at last the battle raging all around him.

A giant of metal and pure physical might stood in the middle of the tunnel, the aura wafting off of him enough to put fear into the hearts of the most ferocious of fiends. In his hands laid an enormous shield blazing with enchantments, and as big and stunning as this item was, the most breathtaking thing about it was the essence construct that used it as a base.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

It released a wall of liquid golden power, one that stretched from side to side and from floor to ceiling, over a pace in thickness. Monsters threw themselves at this brilliant barrier yet all were rebuffed, their flesh melting at the slightest contact with this most positive of energies.

As the boy gazed at this marvelous creation, he remembered the words spoken by him and by everyone else during the Initiation ritual. Vaikus embodied the concept of that reef, the one upon which the Void’s tide would break.

Nadia stood behind the giant, her bow in hand, mystical arrows flying from it multiple times a second. The ability of her team member didn’t impede her attacks at all; in fact, having the beasts so neatly lined up allowed her to cut them down more efficiently than ever.

Her chained wolves paced along the edge of the barrier, patiently waiting for one of those twisted serpents to cross through it. Some did, only to be met by maws filled with dagger-like fangs.

Philip’s watery tentacle changed into a small pond of the liquid. It floated above their heads, and the cultivator used it almost like an archer would use a quiver, separating thick blobs from it and sending them forth behind enemy lines.

Once there, they’d start buzzing and writhing as if in pain, before exploding and shooting out an uncountable number of extremely sharp droplets. Those made quick work of the beings so bent on Team Hylkiö’s destruction.

Duene wasn’t a person but a storm, her blade moving quicker than Xerion’s [Penetrating Gaze of the Sorrowful] enhanced eyes could track. The sword’s movements sent out razor-thin lines of essence, and each of them silently flew through the air and dug deep into the flesh of their assailants.

Upon a closer look, the boy noticed that the pink-clad woman had her eyes closed, aiming her attacks through the use of senses he could only speculate on. Then again, most of the means available to the Practitioners of a higher Rank were things he had trouble grasping.

The gap between him and the rest of his party showed here, and feelings of inadequacy bloomed in his heart at what he witnessed.

They were decimating those creatures by the dozens each second, while he struggled for close to a minute with one of no notable strength. Yes, his cultivation journey was just beginning, but to be so useless, so unneeded, pained him more than he’d ever admit.

“Wait…” he said out loud as a sudden thought struck him. If they were killing so many of them, how was it possible that the battle didn’t end already?

He focused his sight on the tunnel, on that onyx and gray rock, and noticed something that chilled him to his core. The vilest of liquids dripped from the ceiling, as Dark as the night and distinctly flesh-like, before condensing into those abominations.

First, a screeching maw would emerge, the almost human face twisted as if in pain. Then its surface would split and form the side mouths, releasing those slimy and long tongues. It was only after that the serpentine features of those things would appear, the whole process finished by the completion of the tail-blade.

Xerion gulped as he looked at the hundred monsters replacing the seventy that the team killed. Then again, and again. Their numbers were growing.

“Empyrean help us…” he murmured on reflex, then inwardly scolded himself. Their survival wasn’t a matter to be decided by some mythical Progenitor of their clan, but by them themselves, by their powers and teamwork.

“How can I help?” the boy asked his mentor after running over to the woman. His Spirit sat on his shoulder with its misty fur bristled and its lips raised to show its fangs.

“You can’t,” Nadia answered, continuing to shoot at the endless waves of the Dark’s minions. “We won’t be able to deal with them. Can’t use our strongest means or the tunnel will collapse.”

She stopped for a second, took a deep breath, and hollered. “Everyone! Start retreating! Moderate speed.”

Xerion looked at his leader and teacher, then at the seemingly endless mass of fangs and scales. What did she mean by ‘retreat’? There was nowhere to retreat to, unless… no.

“You mean into the depths?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“No other choice,” she answered and nocked another arrow onto her bow. This time, however, she didn’t release it immediately. The woman’s eyes focused on the arrowhead, and it glowed in response, sending golden rays so bright, the young Practitioner felt the darkness at the edges of his Heartspace flinch due to their proximity to them.

As if existence stopped for a moment, everyone froze in place as the bowstring was released.

The projectile flew slowly, especially when in comparison to the archer’s previous shots. It bobbed up and down, following a certain rhythm, not dissimilar to continuing to move while being battered by waves.

Its radiance diminished with every second of its flight, yet not a person would think its might lessened due to that fact. No, it was concentrating its power, waiting to release it all at once.

A gentle wind blew through the tunnel, tickling at the skin of every participant in this battle of light against the Dark.

Quiet overtook this space before the first wail echoed, then a thousand of them followed, sounding as if death by being flayed alive would be a release from this brightest of tortures.

For today, in the depths of this nameless mountain, a sun was born.

“I call it ‘Nova,’” Nadia said, as mesmerized by the sight as the boy and the rest of the team. “Won’t damage those who hold my Trust, nor the terrain. The Void? Well… you can see for yourself.”

“It’s beautiful,” he said and meant it, then he cleared his throat. “Should we run then?”

“No. This won’t be enough.”

“What?!”

“No time for words. We go, now.”

With perfect timing, a hiss – one quite unlike anything Xerion experienced before – reverberated through the tunnel. There was a quality to this sound, a depth, that reached beyond the mortal senses and made the hair of all who heard it stand on end.

Something was coming, and it was big.

Their retreat proceeded in an orderly fashion, each team member moving with such familiarity as if they’d done this a thousand times.

Vaikus raised his shield and took a step back, then another, the golden wall still projected from it. The rest of their party continued what they were previously doing as well, moving back at the pace set by the giant.

Xerion and Ether, both eager to help yet with little to do, joined the defensive line with Nadia’s wolves. Whenever one of those serpents managed to get through, they’d pile up onto it, decimating the abomination as fast as possible.

Despite that hiss, nothing came for them. Well, nothing else aside from that horde of weaklings. They were being guided, following a grand design set by those creatures. They all knew that, and yet, with no other path of escape apparent, they had no choice but to continue.

Over half an hour passed before they arrived at the destination set at the start of their descent. The tunnel came to an end, and the hole appeared.

A good ten paces in diameter, it looked as if some titan’s fist slammed into existence itself and left a crack leading into nothingness. Despite [Penetrating Gaze of the Sorrowful], the boy’s eyes saw only the Dark there, thicker than ever, spilling from it like an endless stream of corruption.

Their silent defender set down his shield and ability both, sending a cloud of dust billowing in all directions. In here, they’d make their stand, braving the waves of monsters until the last of them experienced the wrath of the Expendables.

Xerion took a peek at his Sui Scroll, checking on his Attributes. The boost from [Resolve Augmentation] reached sixty percent. Good. His power rose and rose, and in this place in which fear kept forcing its way into the hearts of all, his Courage-attuned essence regenerated fast enough to keep up with his skill’s energy consumption.

Ether jumped onto the ground from its maker’s shoulder, growing to its full adult-size form. It, too, was under his ability’s enhancement, golden energy lines crisscrossing its body.

Yes, they were ready. This time, they’d make a difference to the battle, the boy felt that in his soul. He wasn’t sure how, yet, but he’d figure something out.

Or so he thought, before a serpent’s tail emerged from the hole, wrapped itself around his arm, and pulled him into the depths of nothingness.