“I was not expecting to need that kind of power,” the Avatar said as he slowly brought himself down.

Elder Olg jumped down from the one side of the tree. Rieren hadn’t seen him go up. “Nor I.”

“At least it is dead now.”

Rieren followed both their gazes to the husk at the edge of the gigantic crater. There was a lump of burned flesh that gave off a charred smell and a small trail of smoke. The last remains of the Blisterskull.

She supposed he could have used that power against the Fellserpent too, but then, the Emperor would have been rather incensed at the eradication of a Sect so callously. And the use of his power to that degree as well. A power that had to have taken a severe toll on the Avatar himself.

For all that he could channel the Emperor’s power, he himself couldn’t control anywhere near the entirety of the Emperor’s capabilities. Something had to separate the master from his assistants, after all.

Rieren’s line of thinking was proven when the Avatar seemed to wince as he touched down on the ground. “I should not have used most of my strength on one simple creature. But I suppose you have not dragged in more of these things behind you, Elder Olg?”

Elder Olg shuddered. “I have not, thankfully, honoured Avatar.”

“Good. It will be a few moments before I have the strength to face a creature such as that again.”

That was bait. One that had a good deal of truth, no doubt, considering how much Essence he had just used in a manner that his body and his soul couldn’t bear. But he was testing to see if the Elder—or Rieren, for that matter—decided to attack to take advantage of the Avatar’s weakened condition.

None of them were that dumb. For all that the Avatar might not be at the peak of his strength after the incredible display, he was still strong enough to make short work of Rieren. It was perhaps a different matter for the Elder, but it seemed Olg had no such intention.

“I am awed you would display your full might against a lowly Abyssal, Avatar,” Elder Olg said.

“My full might?” The Avatar laughed mirthlessly behind his mask. “Flatter me not, Elder. This was a small taste of the Emperor’s power. I am but a conduit for it, and even then, not the greatest among them all.”

They talked some more, but Rieren was no longer paying attention. She looked around. It was difficult to hold back her curse. The Avatar’s last technique had blown the various orbs even farther away. As if they weren’t having trouble finding the right one already.

“We’ll just have to keep looking,” Amalyse said, noticing the look on Rieren’s face. “We’ll find it. Don’t worry.”

Before Rieren could reply to her friend, her attention was drawn back to the two older men. They had discovered their goal.

“Is this the Abyss Rent?” the Masked Avatar was asking, observing a small orb that he had picked up from the Blisterskull’s corpse.

“I believe so, yes, honoured Avatar. We can use it to pass through the Abyss Rent towards the Dungeon Core.”

“Excellent. After you then, Elder.”

Rieren swallowed. For a fraction of a second, the Elder looked caught, as though he was about to admit that no, the orb did not actually contain an Abyss Rent. But then he smiled so quickly, the expression of dismay might not have been there at all.

“Of course, honoured Avatar,” he said. His smiled was wide, bright, and knowing. “I hope you will not take advantage of my absence to… put the children in their place again.”

“We both understand that there is no time to waste on frivolous matters. Begin, Elder.”

Dipping his head in acquiesce at the Masked Avatar, Elder Olg met Rieren’s eyes for the briefest of moments. There was enough there for Rieren to nearly hear what he might have said. He was counselling her to not make a move. To not attempt to help him out of his predicament in any way at all.

She trusted him enough to not jeopardize whatever instantaneous plan he had come up with by ignoring his request. Didn’t matter that her mind screamed to act before Elder Olg was put in greater danger.

But no. Elder Olg was smart and strong. She had no compunction in admitting that he was more intelligent than her as well.

So, Rieren stayed put and watched events transpire.

Elder Olg approached the orb and channeled corrupted Essence again. His arm turned dark as black, rootlike tendrils covered it from the fingertips to the crook of his elbow. A brief touch was all it took for him to disappear within the orb. He had passed back into the Mortal Realm, leaving Rieren and the others alone with the Masked Avatar.

Who proceeded to look back at where Rieren was standing at the edge of the tree trunk. “Remember your place. Know that the Emperor’s prosperity comes before whatever wishes your worthless self might claim. If you can understand that, then prove it to me by capturing and returning the Dungeon Core to me intact.”

Rieren stepped out. No point in pretending to hide when he knew exactly where she was. “Are you not leaving to capture the Dungeon Core right now? That Abyss Rent will take you directly there.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Let us not fool ourselves in pretending that this little portal your Elder has crafted will truly take me to where I wish to be. A simple diversion such as that will not distract me from my true destination.”

“Then stay stuck here,” Amalyse said, stepping up beside Rieren. “We will be taking our leave.”

She gestured at Avalien to step forward. The young guardsman had looked a little overwhelmed by the way the stakes of everything they had been dealing with had risen so dramatically since the Avatar’s arrival. Maybe he hadn’t been expecting to go against the Masked Avatar, a direct representative of the Emperor, himself.

But now, Avalien stepped forward with no hesitation. He had a determined look on his face, his posture set as he prepared to use the Malformed Root.

“Where are we to go?” he asked quietly, his eyes on the Avatar.

Who replied before Rieren or any of the others could. “You will go only where I give you permission to do so.”

The Avatar stepped toward them. Rieren realized they were still under the influence of his Domain. The enormous, green-barked tree he had summoned was surrounding them, had covered the entire area to separate all the various orbs far away from each other. Of course, all they needed was to get to one and get through it. But reaching even one was going to be difficult.

But then, there was one orb that had worked away from the branches sprouting golden leaves and thorns. A single dark ball above the Avatar’s head.

One from which Elder Olg’s True Summons—Foxwolf—barged out.

The flaming Spirit Beast charged down at the Avatar faster than he could react. His tree burst to life around him, sprouting a storm of golden vines, but they were all too slow. Foxwolf crashed down with an Ashflame firestorm, then slammed bodily into the Masked Avatar. A second later, they were both swallowed by the orb just behind the Avatar.

Rieren and the others were too shocked to move. Her heart was still pumping hard at the sudden prospect of fighting the Avatar, but somehow, from beyond their reach, the Elder had still rescued them. Again.

“Well,” Amalyse said. “That takes care of that.”

They didn’t get much of a break from the surprises. A different glinting orb started twisting. Rieren’s alarm rose, but the little glowing ball stopped growing soon, resolving into two shapes that made her eyes widen.

Batcat and Folend popped out.

Amalyse was the first to find her voice. “What in the…?”

Avalien had never managed to use the Malformed Root to find Folend. Not with the overwhelming series of events they had just been subjected to. Unlike Amalyse, the rest of them could only stare.

“I wasn’t exactly expecting a rousing welcome,” Folend said as he straightened. “But this is just rude.”

Batcat seemed to agree with a huffy meow.

“Welcome back, both of you,” Rieren finally managed to say.

Now that her surprise was fading, the relief at seeing Batcat well and whole was finally washing over her. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean she could relax. There was one little bit left, as it would appear.

The dark ball that Foxwolf had come from spit out a burning arm wrapped with dark vines that looked not dissimilar from the tendrils of the Malformed Root.

Rieren’s eyes went wide as she swallowed. That was Elder Olg’s arm.

She hurried over. The orb was still twisting. By the time Rieren reached the severed arm, whose bloody end was burning away with silvery Ashflame, the Abyss Rent had completely disappeared.

The arm drew her attention again. Especially the way it was wrapped with those dark roots. Elder Olg’s Ashflame abilities was what allowed him to channel the corrupted Essene since he could remove the areas of his body affected by the Abyss-Aspected Essence. The Ashflame would then regenerate the body part good as new.

But this arm seemed to be getting worse. The Ashflame couldn’t make headway against the corruption in the limb.

Then Rieren saw why.

She looked behind her. “You all need to come here right this moment. Hurry.”

“Guess I’ll ask about what happened here later,” Folend muttered.

Amalyse was the first to hurry over, though the others weren’t far behind. “What is it?”

“Look.”

She pointed down. Amalyse’s face twisted a little at seeing the gruesome state of the severed arm, but then her eyes went wide. The Elder’s severed arm held a tiny orb.

“Is that…?” she asked.

Rieren nodded. “Our way out of here.”

“Then I shall begin,” Avalien said.

He began channelling the corrupted Essence around them. Rieren bent down to touch the orb briefly to see where it led. There was nothing but darkness beyond it. However, there was a light at the end on one side of whatever room they would appear in. No, not a simple light.

An opening.

“Yes,” she said. “This is where we need to go.”

“A disembodied arm showing us the way out,” Folend said as he walked up. He grunted. “How can you be so sure? How do we trust it?”

She would have liked to reply that it came from Elder Olg, which already meant that it was more than trustworthy. One might think the Avatar could have cut off the Elder’s arm and sent it through the orb, but Rieren was certain that such a situation was terribly unlikely. The arm had appeared bare moments after Foxwolf had kidnapped the Avatar.

In other words, Elder Olg had already severed the arm off in order to throw it into the Abyss Rent as soon as the Avatar was through.

Avalien was soon done channelling the Essence he needed. They gathered around him and strung their arms together.

Rieren looked around at the Abyss one last time. The gigantic tree around them was slowly crumbling away now that the Masked Avatar was no longer present. The orbs that had been spread apart by the tree were now returning to their original positions closer to the ground. Everything was turning back to the way it was.

She had gotten over the feeling a long time ago, but she still found it strange that such an empty, desolate place could birth Abyssals. The truth of the what the Abyss really was still evaded her, but she had a feeling that the birthplace of Abyssals wasn’t what this realm filled with interconnecting pocket dimensions had originally been.

No. There were far too many secrets lost in its vast multitude of little orbs. Even in her last lifetime, Rieren hadn’t even scratched the smallest surface of the full breadth of what it contained.

She looked up to see nothing but blanket of fog covering up what might have been the sky. The same fog that surrounded them on all sides, preventing them from seeing too far from their position.

Rieren had a strong feeling that the truth of the Abyss lay well beyond that foggy barrier.

There was no easy way to get past it, of course. One needed to channel Abyss-Aspected Essence, and even then, the fog didn’t relent easily. It was telling that Abyssals preferred to use the orbs and Abyss Rents to invade the Mortal Realm rather than delve deeper into their own world.

Frightening, really, to think what might lie beyond the fog that scared such horrific and often mindless monsters into finding an entirely different plane of existence where they were universally hated to build their home.

None of the monsters she had asked that question had ever given her a proper answer. All she had learned from a few powerful Abyssals was that the truth of the Abyss wasn’t a demonic realm that could sustain monsters for long. It was far direr, and far more inscrutable, than what could be summarized in a short conversation between enemies who intended to kill each other.

When Avalien had finally gathered enough corrupted Essence and touched the orb, they were all teleported through. Their destination was dark, just as Rieren had seen. But there was also an opening on the mountainside too.

Rieren took in a quick, deep breath and led the others outside of the mountain for the first time in what felt like ages.

Only to be faced with Essalina and a small army.