The lesser valtivenoms stood no chance. The acid mist melted their exoskeletons swiftly; They collapsed, from each body, a clean bone-white skull hung saddly.

The soldiers, stronger than their lesser counterparts, immediately sensed the changes in the air. Their bodies flinched, recoiling from the mist, yet to Ilex's dismay, they remained unscathed. They scattered, their bioluminescent markings cast sinister, dancing shadows as they searched for the intruder.

"Bullshit," Ilex muttered under his breath, his grip tightening on his book. The valtivenom soldiers hadn’t spotted him yet, but he was half-expecting his acid mist ability to dispatch all four enemies simultaneously.

His earlier confidence was replaced by a gnawing frustration. He could snatch the core and flee, but that would do nothing for his progress. Fight or flight? The decision hung in his head as he weighed his options.

Choosing to fight, Ilex amplified the density of the mist for better cover and sneaked closer to the core.

His attention darted to a valtivenom dangerously close to his right. He quickly conjured an acidic clone that shimmered into existence far from his location, drawing the creature's attention away from him.

The distraction worked. The monsters fell for the bait, rushing towards the clone in a frenzy. The Olfactory Core, now lay unguarded, ready for him to take. With a deep breath, Ilex rushed out, snatching the Core. His fingers closed around its pulsating energy, he felt the valtite seeping through it.

Just when he thought he had escaped, one of the valtivenom soldiers noticed him, his chilling cry alerted the other. Their glowing eyes turned towards him, their wings flared out and they took to the sky.

A grim smile tugged at Ilex's mouth. "I’m ready," he murmured, his gaze hardened. With the Core in his grasp, he pivoted sharply, facing the two incoming valtivenom soldiers head-on.

With a swift, calculated motion, he thrust his grimoire forward, and the pages started glowing within its technological looking book covers.

Acidic tendrils, a furious maelstrom of virulent yellow-green, erupted from the book, hurtling toward the enemy. The wind carried raw energy in the form of toxic vapor, the ground hissed and seethed as the tendrils consumed everything in their path.

The soldiers froze, their monstrous forms bathed in Ilex’s unforgiving acid as the tendrils ensnared them, binding them in a cruel embrace. Ilex's lips twitched into a triumphant smirk. With a final, fleeting glance at his immobilized adversaries, he turned, his sights set on vanishing between two towering pillars of gnarled rock.

Just before Ilex could cross the threshold between the two weathered pillars, his legs had stopped moving. His arms fell to his side and his strength drained from his body, his spellbook fell next to his foot. The sight that greeted him made all of the blood rush out of his face.

An army of more than ten valtivenoms, stampeded his way. The sight had paralyzed him, promising to haunt his dreams for countless lums to come. He picked up his grimoire and scanned the surroundings frantically. His SpectraSight V-Scanners whirred and beeped, their red light skimming over the land and bouncing back, painting a scene of limited options. The terrain was mostly flat and exposed, then his gaze landed on a small, nearly hidden crevice to his right, a thin slice of hope carved into the rock. It was the only other possible exit.

Without a second thought, Ilex flung himself towards the small crevice, the promise of safety within its narrow grasp. Hope sprouted with the prospect of the crevice's shelter. Could he fit?

As he neared his freedom, a gentle hum resonated against his temples. His SpectraSight V-Scanners alerted him of a powerful energy approaching from above. His blood ran cold as a monstrous figure descended from the skies. Towering twice Ilex's height, the monster made him look like a mere toy figure.

“Damn. I don’t suppose–” Ilex suddenly forgot what he was about to say when he saw the message on his spectrasight.

Valtivenom Beta - Calculating energy rank…

Calculation complete. Energy rank: Flicker

Before he could take one breath, the beta's tail, like a whip imbued with the force of his descent, crashed into him. The world blurred into a vortex of colors as Ilex was hurled across the area, his flight arrested by a solid rock outcrop. His landing zone was right at the feet of his earlier victims. The valtivenoms, seemingly undeterred by his earlier acid tendrils, stepped out of the swirling mass as if they were merely walking through mist.

A memory from his childhood in Arcasium flashed through his mind. He pictured himself playing in Arcasium's streets, tinkering alone while other kids ran around in their own little groups.

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But some afternoons, one kid, Rextar, would sit next to him. Though phases older, Rextar never treated him like a child. They would spend hours conducting experiments with residual valtite - little more than games to Ilex at the time. Yet those days planted the seeds of his journey as a decimator and set him on the path of a valtite transmuter.

The problem was, Ilex lacked knowledge of acid-imbued valtite then. And he and Rextar created a recipe that proved too strong for their level. Rextar saw it as an opportunity and attempted to seize their new creation for himself. Ilex only wanted to keep creating greater concoctions with his friend. So as any pair of kids would, they struggled for a moment. Ilex tried taking back that damned vial while Rextar fled with the forsaken brew.

Being older and stronger, it took Rextar only a nivosec to push Ilex down and run off with the potent acid mixture. Rextar looked back as he fled, at young Ilex sitting stunned on the ground, covered in scrapes and bruises. But just as Rextar turned the corner, ready to leave Ilex behind, he slipped and fell flat on his face.

Ilex watched, still shocked by his friend's betrayal, as Rextar lay there a good minutiae before finally standing up. The vial was nowhere to be seen. But the acid had stained Rextar's dirty white shirt.

At first the dark yellow stain sat there, harmless. But then both boys noticed Rextar's shirt dissolving from the middle. Panic hit Rextar. He ripped off the shirt, but too late - the acid had seeped through to his bare chest. Ilex watched the whimpering boy as his veins bulged out, yellow tendrils worming under his skin.

Ilex would never forget the look on Rextar's face that day - a look now mirrored in his own eyes as he stood in Serpent's Pools. He also vividly remembered the stench of acid that had corroded Rextar's chest cavity, a stench that currently surrounded him. It wafted up from the rocks around him, from the lesser valtivenoms he had slain, and even from his own wounded shoulder.

“Oh, please.” The irony of the situation was not lost on Ilex, even as he struggled to his feet. His shoulder pulsed with agony, each throb syncing with his racing heart, while his ankle stubbornly refused to bear his weight. His hair was matted against his forehead due to sticky, warm blood.

Despite accepting that no recipe in his spellbook could save him from this situation, Ilex's focus remained undeterred, his gaze drawn to the Olfactory Core in his hand.

It is said that valtite cores are the most powerful objects one could find in Valteria. Why would Ilex doubt it, considering half of the government’s missions involve retrieving those damned things? How much power they actually held and how one might tap into it was a mystery to Ilex, as people generally didn't make a habit of breaking them given the high prices the government would pay for intact cores. However, he remembered Brian's recounting of how he absorbed the Oculus Core: he simply broke it.

With a grunt, he brought his hands down, shattering the core into the unforgiving earth, a brilliant burst of light radiating from the impact. He drew in a sharp breath, absorbing the untamed energy that thrummed through his being. His senses heightened. He could detect the hidden veins of valtite surrounding him, their unique fragrance permeating the environment. His energy, previously waning, surged back with a vengeance. Power hummed at his fingertips, a wild force that promised to defy the odds.

The experience was surreal. Not only was he more powerful than he had ever been with his valtite fully replenished, but his sense of smell was so finely tuned that it could discern even the faintest variations in the energy around him. Each scent had its own color, making his world vivid. It was as if, thanks to his sense of smell, he could distinguish every energy signature around him in his mind. The Directorate is going to be pissed, but…

“Would you look at that?”

Besieged on all sides by the relentless swarm of valtivenoms, he sprung into action. In one quick motion, Ilex dropped to one knee and placed his spellbook on the ground. His hands danced across its timeworn pages, each swift action stirring the air with a potent incantation. The rhythm was a frantic symphony. His right hand would flip a page while his left weaved an intricate symbol, then his left hand would dance across to a new page as his right palm pointed menacingly at an encroaching enemy.

With each chant, the atmosphere crackled, giving birth to a spectacle of acid in a multitude of forms. The once neutral ground was now a hissing cauldron of corrosive liquid, tendrils of acid slicing through valtivenoms with ruthless precision, their yellow ichor splattering like grotesque rain. A pair of acid-formed giants clashed with the beta, their elemental bodies contorting in the throes of battle.

The valtivenom beta seemed unbothered by the plethora of spells, but Ilex was swiftly dispatching its lesser soldier counterparts.

In the chaos, an opening appeared. Ilex took his chance and bolted through it, leaving his enemies to deal with the mess of his spells.

The young decimator ran and ran. Valtivenom squads guarded every bluff and every crag. It seemed like the beta hadn’t taken Ilex’s performance lightly as he maintained a relentless pursuit that was determined to snuff him out.

After sols, Ilex hadn't been able to catch his breath, nor had he found an exit. But he was struck with the most horrifying realization: Serpent’s Pools was expanding. New venomous pools were slowly emerging, extending the valtivenom’s feeding grounds. This meant that the longer Ilex stayed there, the deeper into it he would be trapped.

Running through Serpent's Pools felt like navigating a nightmare. Ilex had been on the run for lums. His valtite energy was running low and every moment he managed to rest was cut short by the valtivenoms patrolling nearby. Each time he tried to find a way out, he was blocked or the exits seemed nonexistent. Each step he took only seemed to take him deeper into this dangerous place.

Ilex was worn out, but the sound of footsteps on the gravel and the noise of moving fabric got his attention. Even though he was tired and scared, his improved sense of smell picked up a scent he recognized. It was a comforting smell, and with it came a bit of hope that cut through the endless dark.

"Ilex!" Brian's voice rang out, unusually high pitched, like a tight string about to snap.