Partica’s voice had a sense of urgency to it.
“We shouldn’t go down there. It’s practically oozing menace and shadow.”
They had put some distance between them and the hole and were discussing whether to proceed. As far as Mark could tell, if they moved forward, the levels of Corruption would approach the same volumes as the Guardian they had fought on the surface. Meaning, a red zone.
Just being down there would eat through their defenses in minutes, not to mention the quantitative jump in strength all Corrupted seemed to gain in these zones.
Lisa had her arms crossed with a thoughtful look on her face.
“I understand that. And, we have made it a decent ways in, with this knowledge we will be able to plan an offensive. But, all of this means nothing if there is an unknown ahead. We’re still in good condition. How long do you think you can hold out?’’
Patrica’s eyes once more glanced warily at the hole.
‘If I had more people it wouldn't be such a problem, but as we are right now. At most half an hour, probably less.’
Lisa acknowledged this.
‘Then we should give it a try because no one else can. If their numbers are too great we retreat, but we need to see what's down there.’
Everyone looked around, there were some hesitant faces, but she was right. Only a few could fight their way down here, the sheer numbers alone would have done in any other team.
They were here, and in as good a condition as any of them could ask for.
Mark himself was of two minds. For one, he could sense what Patrica was seeing, and he didn’t feel much better about what was down there. But, on the other hand, they had come here to do a job, and it felt like a waste to turn back at this point.
Both Sam and Jonathan looked to be on board, while Gibby didn’t seem to mind either way.
Everyone gathered up and Patrica took up the center. Her men both had one hand on either shoulder and the other on their weapons, before stepping out over the hole.
Slowly they descended on Mark's construct into the turbulent energies. He could have helped Patrica keep the Corruption at bay, but the problem was he was already stretching himself thin. If he took on another task he would be putting them all in danger by not having the energy to heal when they needed it. Patrica let out a shaky breath when the Corruption pressed against the boundaries of her light.
The walls were covered in smatterings of mold and ichor. Tiny biomes of life twisted into agony grew off the walls.
Descending further down saw the limits of their vision reaching out into a chaotic chamber. The things down here had probably never seen the light of day, and judging by their reactions they wanted to keep it that way.
Mark and Patrica’s light terrified the changed life on the walls, causing them to retract if they were able. Pods hung from the ceilings and walls, purple glimmer feeding into them through thousands of strands of mold. Mark felt as though he were in some alien stomach as the light reached the nearby walls.
When Mark brought the construct to the ground, Patrica's cleansing energy burned the mold away from the stone, but even the rock it was made from seemed permanently changed and blackened. A minor tremble shook through the cave, concerning, but not the focus right now.
Their arrival was met with hostility; as no sooner had they landed, than the Corrupted crashed into them from all sides. The frontline spread out to surround them and Mark kept his barrier up. The sheer variety of Corrupted in here was worrying. They were both stronger and more cooperative than any of them had seemed before. Mark saw many Ordinators in here, but this was different. More than being directed, it was as if they were aware of one other. Corrupted were usually selfish stomachs on legs, so even a minor behavioral change made things more difficult.
The only saving grace here was the fact that the room was not large, so while they were harder to deal with, their numbers weren't impossible.
Mark used his Mana lavishly, making sure to conserve what little Prana he had left, relying on his regeneration to keep him going.
Ghasts and Ghouls were Mark's main targets, but even the Ghasts who were physically the weakest, seemed more resilient than they were used to.
What should have been an easy clear, became a draining task. Unhatched pods were destroyed to clear a path of retreat. When they cleared the room, Lisa drove them forward. Their time was severely limited, and so when they found a narrow passage they traversed it. It was single file from that point on, so Lisa and Jonathan took turns at the front, mowing through any obstacles. By the time they got to the next open chamber, they had already been down here for half their time.
Patrica was already looking pale, her breathing coming in shallow pants.
The room they arrived in was similar to the last, though twice the size. On the opposite end, there was another opening leading forward.
Getting to it, however, was not going to be easy. The room came to life as Lisa took her first step in, the purple glow was stronger here, and Mark could feel the Corruption’s strength tick up by a degree.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The number of Corrupted in here was more than double the last room, and they came with murder in their eyes.
Sam was focusing on the Naga while Mark shot down the fliers that peeled off the ceiling. Terry and Bonnie had taken to sending out cones of vibration at Ghouls and Jade joined Mark in their defence. On multiple occasions, she saved him a ton of energy by blocking the Titans whenever they got too close. He had worked out that she could essentially multiply anything that was thrown at her. She had no control over how she replicated it, but it made for the perfect shield against concussive damage. For instance, a Titan’s fist would rebound off her mirror as she created the exact amount of force the Corrupted hit her with. The Mana cost was high to maintain, so it was more effective against a single powerful attack, but it could handle continuous attacks as well.
Things were progressing smoothly until a Leviathon unfurled itself from the center of the room. Mark cursed as it stretched out its full wingspan while still hanging from the ceiling.
The hundreds of eyes within those bat-like appendages opened and Mark felt the frightening pressure weighing down on his barrier. The distance helped to reduce the effect, but Mark realized the thing was perfectly content to remain right where it was.
Gritting his teeth, Mark called it out to their backline for removal. However, he was interrupted by the sounds of tremors once more shaking the room. It was because of this that he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinct drove him, and he toughened up his construct at the same time.
Mark’s quick reactions stopped the first hit but the second splintered through his shield, shattering it and sending their backline flying.
Mark recovered in time to see two gargantuan Naga lifting themselves from the floor. The dammed things had been hidden underneath the Corruption. When they had advanced Partrica’s light had revealed them, prompting them to attack.
These two looked different from the others, having a more chitinous exterior, along with a sharper beak and double-pronged tail.
Which the Corrupted struck out with now.
They were all still recovering, the chaos having separated them. Mark could see it happening but his mind was reeling from the spell backfiring on him. He still tried to make a new construct, but the threads that came were a jumbled mess, and the spell fizzled at the threshold.
Their target was clear, they were going for the origin of the light. The one who dared to burn away their precious Corruption, both strikes were directed at Patrica.
Sam reacted in time, sending a chunk of Ice to knock the attacks off target. The problem was with their size, the ice only managed to knock one off-course. The other continued towards Patrica, who was still unsteady on her feet.
One of her followers had recovered quick enough to move in front of her trying to defend against the attack, but such was the force that it pierced straight through his guard, then chest, and into Patrica’s.
The flickering candle in the storm blinked out and her spell failed, all the Corruption came rushing back at once.
Everyone felt it when Patrica went down.
Lisa bolted from the frontline and slashed through the tail of the one that had hit. Her presence was immediately missed as Jonathan tried to cover the gap. Mark was running towards Partrica even as his [Sculpt Mana] trembled back into place.
Lisa was already batting back the two Naga, but she was not going to be able to do that for long, these things were three times the size of a normal Naga and incredibly fast.
Mark got to Patrica just as the light was fading from her eyes. The other man was dead, probably on impact, but Mark could still save her.
Flooding her dying body with [invigourate] and [Regenerate] simultaneously just seemed to prolong her agony, even as the energy animated her.
Sam fell in behind Lisa and started manifesting massive amounts of ice and water.
Jade dropped beside Mark and surrounded them in a cube of reflections. Bonnie and Terry’s tune changed on demand and Mark felt his pulse rising to meet it. He didn’t lose himself in the magic, but instead let it drive him.
Patrica’s situation was desperate, but he could save her, the biggest problem was that the Naga’s prongs were still inside her. Mark could see they were serrated in one direction, meaning they would go in, but not out without ripping apart whatever they were in. The fact that Patrica was still thrashing around didn’t make it any easier.
A glance at the frontline saw them raging to the magic that tore through the air. Lisa was sent flying into one of the nearby walls with her chest armor dented inward. Sam kept them off herself with swirling torrents of semi-frozen water. The one that had lost its tail had already regenerated and was stabbing it into Sam’s defenses.
Patrica’s thrashing was becoming weaker as the paralytic took hold. The prong had grazed her heart and the moment Mark stopped the stream of Prana to her she would be a goner. He needed to remove it but not here, one wrong move and he could do more damage than he could heal.
Lisa was back at the two Naga’s but Mark could see the frontline was failing. Jonathan was holding it together but he kept glancing back at Sam and Lisa.
The Corruption was already setting into their flesh, as black patches began to appear on their exposed skin.
Mark's voice tore above the music.
“We need to fall back to the last room! Jade cut the tail!”
Lisa glanced back at the situation and made a snap decision, shouting for a retreat.
The frontline began shrinking their half circle and moving back towards Mark. The backstepping gave Jonathan the space he needed to disengage and rush to join Lisa and Sam.
Mark, Jade, Terry, and Bonnie headed for the exit. Patrica’s other follower had remained beside her the whole time Mark was busy.
Jade used a disk to cut through the prongs connecting to the body of Patrica’s follower. His last act had probably saved her life, Mark pulled her to his chest, but by now the paralytic had almost completely taken hold. That did not stop Patrica’s hand from trying to reach out toward her fallen man, eyes unable to look away. Even as Mark left him where he died, carrying her as best he could without moving the prongs.
Luckily the exit was not far and their backline dove through it. Lisa and Jonathan worked together to keep the two Naga at bay. A concussive blow ripped through the space as Jonathan used a skill charged with Aura. The force of which took off one of the Naga's heads.
When the frontline fell back to Lisa they all scattered, disengaging completely and moving around the remaining Naga. The last thing Mark saw was more Corrupted flooding into the chamber from the tunnel at the other end.
Everything happened fast from that point, as the inhabitants of the chamber were not happy to let them leave. The moment the last person crossed into the exit, Sam closed it off with ice, but it would only buy them a minute.
Shouting and cursing bounced around the passage as they ran towards the exit, Mark had not stopped the stream of energy going into Patrica, he could hear more layers of ice being put into place as they ran.
When they burst into the empty room, Mark expanded his construct, getting ready to lift them towards the exit and out of this hell. Only the room had changed, the mold had grown exponentially since they had left the space, taking up the better part of the room. The half that had once held the tunnel leading up to the next level was completely overgrown. Their exit was gone and it was almost as if the Corruption itself was attempting to stop them. Shouts of desperation went up from the group as the rest of them saw the blockage. Mark turned back toward the way they had come, the sounds of Corrupted screaming made it obvious that they were still being chased. The ice walls behind them were crumbling one by one, and they were trapped. Mark glanced around as he tried to think of a way out of this.