“Surround the opening! They can only come through here so fast, if we control the flow we can manage! Casters find us a way out!”
Lisa shouted over the chaos.
The sound of another ice wall crumbling beyond the room could be heard above everyone’s voices.
Mark raced through possibilities, turning to face the Corruption, he focused [Light control] into a ball and flooded it with Mana. The spell pierced into the rapidly growing mold, in an attempt to burn it away. He had never tried to destroy the stuff expressly. It did crumble, melt, or fade under the right circumstances, but as he expected, the light magic seemed wholly ineffective after a certain point. The same could be said for the fire Sam launched, though it wasn’t like there was no effect.
The Corruption did become singed and slow in that area for a moment, but soon enough the stuff was regrowing with a vengeance, even though she kept a continuous jet of fire on it. The mold almost seemed to adapt to the conditions after enough time.
Cutting the Mana to his spell, Mark took a look at the woman in his arms. [Regeneration] was keeping Patrica alive but Mark was running out of Prana.
The room was in a state of disaster. Their path was blocked off, Corruption pouring into them all, and the bloody monsters were knocking at the door.
To make matters worse the mold was slowly filling the room, if things continued like this they would either be buried alive or ripped to pieces by the Corrupted.
As a test. Mark coated his hand in a Construct and shoved it down into the mold they were standing on. As of yet the layer between the rock and them was not too thick, so he was able to make contact with the surrounding earth. [Earth control] reached out in an attempt to pull a pillar of stone away from the ground. If he could do this, he and Sam could lift them all out of here in minutes. But when his Mana came into contact with the earth, it melted away in seconds. Something already owned the surrounding earth and it didn’t care to give him even an ounce of control.
They were well and truly trapped.
Mark shook the thoughts aside, clawing for an option that could save them.
His mind moved to Patrica, with only one follower remaining, he didn’t know how long she could hold this Corruption back, but at least it would buy them time. Sending his will into her wounds, he examined the punctures with [Prana pulse] and cursed. It was much worse than he thought, one of the prongs was buttressed right up against her heart. Removing these things delicately was not an option.
He could save her, but he had hoped to avoid this method as it would take more than seventy percent of his remaining Prana. Letting out a breath Mark made his decision.
The last ice wall was still up so he had time.
“Jonathan, I need you here.”
The guy must have heard the urgency in Mark’s voice because his head snapped up from strategizing with Lisa.
He was next to Mark in a flash and his condition became apparent.
While Jonathan was not hurt, Mark could see he was exhausted. He knew from experience that only ever happened when an Aura user expended a huge quantity of their energy. That last strike against the Naga must have cost him more than he was letting on.
The follower looked at both Mark and Jonathan in worry and trepidation. Mark didn’t have time to coddle the guy and spoke to Jonathan directly.
“I need to heal her, but these obstructions have to go. When I give you the word, you have less than a second to tear both barbs out. Don't worry about being delicate, we are way past that point, just get them out.”
Then for her benefit, Mark whispered to Patrica. She was paralyzed but still awake, Mark’s Prana made sure of that, but she had to be in a world of pain.
“You are going to live, now brace yourself.”
Jonathan was already gripping the two barbs protruding from her back. Glancing at Mark he waited for the signal. Mark summoned most of his remaining energy and triggered [Benediction], the Prana flowed ceaselessly into her body, moving through it and charging every cell to the point of unparalleled vitality.
Mark could feel the presence still residing within Patrica. He could feel her Ideal, her god was watching the proceedings emotionlessly.
“Now!”
Mark had his eyes closed, but he could hear the sound of flesh tearing and bones cracking, only for them to right themselves immediately. Mark felt the wounds close all at once and followed it up with a [Cleansing surge].
When Partica got her body back she let out a soul-torn scream that had been trapped in her paralyzed frame.
With unfocused eyes, she stared at them, Mark could hear her muttering a prayer where she lay.
At that point, the last ice barrier began to crack as something started scratching at it from the other side.
Jonathan dropped the barbs on the ground and dashed back to the frontline, getting there as the wall crumbled.
Corrupted came streaming in and the frontline executed them without fail, but the next wave crowed into the shrinking space.
“Mark! Shield!”
Mark turned his head away from the frontline to see Sam, Jade, Terry, and Bonnie struggling with growing corruption. The mold had accelerated at this point and they had lost a good portion of their remaining space.
Hearing her, he summoned the last of his energy and charged it into a construct. Sending it toward the approaching Corruption. When the two energies came into contact there was a hissing sound as they fought for territory. Mana alone could not stop the Corruption from approaching, so the moment Mark attempted to halt the mold he began burning through his remaining Prana at a terrifying pace.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He was about to tap his ring for Prana when he felt that purifying light appear once more. It looked like Patrica had gotten the spell back in place, which helped greatly.
Her light was weakening the Corruption and Mark could handle the rest.
For now, the Corruption slowed to a crawl.
The problem was they could not maintain this for long. Another tremor ran throughout the room, as though it were angry.
“Sam we got this, help the front!”
She didn’t need convincing, working to freeze the entrance shut once more.
In an attempt to conserve energy, Mark and Partica shrank their spells to cover just their group and let the Corruption take up the rest of the space.
The ice was stemming the flow of Corrupted, that was until the Naga arrived. It took up a majority of the passage and broke through the ice with ease, slinking into the space. Mark only caught a glimpse of this over his shoulder as he contended with the Corruption.
They were trapped between a rock and a hard place. They couldn’t retreat and they couldn’t fight forever. The Naga screeched as it tried to strike out at Lisa and Jonathan. The two of them kept it busy while Gibby led their frontline against the tide of Corrupted filling the space.
Mark looked up at the mold pressing against his dome. It reminded him of when he had first seen this stuff in the sewers.
This sparked a memory and a desperate plan began to take shape in his head. Mark didn’t put it into action right away, instead, he looked back at everyone.
The situation had not changed, they were all still fighting desperately and losing, but even then, Mark still hesitated.
Static filled his ears and the sounds of battle and shouts faded into the background. The last time he did something similar he had nearly lost himself, but he had to believe things were different now. He was stronger and he knew what he was dealing with, he could do it. He needed to.
Taking a breath Mark calmed himself. He was going to need a clear head if this was going to work.
He then called out to everyone, his voice firm.
“In a second I’m going to attempt to make a path out of here! I don’t know how long it will last, so when I call, you all retreat”
Mark's voice was heavy and Sam being right next to him noticed it.
“Mark, what are you thinking? Let me help”
Nodding he said.
“If this works I may not have the energy to get out, If that happens I need you to get us out of here”
Sam stared at him with a worried look on her face, he knew that was not what she meant but he could not let her help him with this.
The sound of the Naga screaming tore through the space, but Mark pressed on and went down on one knee. Pulling the Prana from his new ring, Mark used it to create the complex net he had copied from the Lord of Brilliance to cover his Resistance. He then sank his unprotected fingers into the icy ichor. Immediately the mold on the ground latched onto him.
Direct contact with the stuff was never pleasant, but he ignored it and with an exhale he cast [Draw Corruption].
Almost a second later Corruption tried to flood his body. Ignoring the torrent of twisted energy, Mark once more found the little world of pathways and networks opening to him.
Reaching out toward those strands of Corruption once more, he felt them respond with the smallest touch of his will. Mark's plan was simple, its was based on how he had been able to unconsciously direct the growths down in the sewers.
What he felt now was an absolute jumble of connections in front of himself. Millions of hair-like mycelium stretched out in front of him. All he needed do was direct the strands towards himself and they would latch onto him, and with each one, his control over the area would increase, but so too would the flow of Corruption entering his body.
The difference this time was that he understood Corruption better now, his Prana attributes were much higher, and he had the staff. All of these factors gave him the room to contest the Corruption like this, with a flex of his will, Mark began to move the connections a little at a time.
The energy flooded his body, but Mark made sure not to use any of it. Relying on [Draw Corruption]’s natural flow to to sheer a path through the growing blockage. With each second that passed he could feel his Corruption level climbing.
Slowly the network in front of Mark began to change as a hole formed in the wall of mycelium. When he began this process his [Corruption resistance] had already been half full, so now as it overflowed into Mark he felt the Corruption's influence grow and the itching pleasure return.
Keeping himself on track, Mark wrestled the other connections out of the way as a path opened up.
Still, Mark continued to deepen the connection and burrow straight up, he knew the moment he broke into the level above because it felt like his head had broken the surface of the water.
Not wasting time he gave the signal in a hash growl.
“Everyone out! Now!”
He heard movement and strangely enough he could feel the physical contact as it was made on his strands of Corruption. It felt like an extension of his sense of touch, he knew without looking the mold had climbed up to his elbows already.
That was also when his connection became wide enough to feel a presence taking notice of him.
It was still juvenile but more mature than when he had first met it.
Joy and pain bombard Mark through the link. It wanted to know why he had left it. It then began to reach out toward Mark, at that point, he should have cut the connection, but he could feel people in the tunnel he had created, he couldn’t risk it collapsing on them.
So he steeled himself and waited.
The entity came screaming down the connection, slamming into his mind. The weight was incredible and Mark almost buckled under the strain. It wanted something from him but he couldn’t tell what that was, and this frustrated the entity more.
Pain wracked Mark's form, similar to absorbing Corruption through his Resistance, but this time the net he had created lessened the severity to manageable levels, while the staff stopped the presence from completely encompassing him.
This thing was desperate and pure unbridled power, there was no direction to it, for if there were, Mark would have been overwhelmed and killed in an instant, even still his consciousness was fading. He was being pushed under by the trashing presence as if it were hanging onto Mark like a life raft. He could feel his Cv accelerating and rising over 50% as the mold was wrapping itself around him like a harness. The presence didn’t want him to leave this time. Mark could vaguely feel Sam trying to break the fragile pieces away, but just kept his mind on the task at hand.
Mainly, survival.
Mark’s mind, body, and soul were left bare and battered by the entity’s tantrum, and it was all he could do to hang onto himself. His survival so far was attributed to the silver rod strapped to his back, but even that was becoming less effective as he fell deeper into the darkness. The network became more and more attractive as it lured him into its quiet world. The presence seemed to calm as Mark drifted below the waves.
Then a couple of familiar voices pierced the quiet, shattering the void. His connection was forcefully severed, but it would reestablish itself in a second. The entity was screaming again, but Mark used this time to pulse out the last of his Prana and physically pull free of the Corruption. Opening his eyes Mark saw Sam and Jonathan staring at him in relief. Jonathan had cut the thick cords of Corruption tying him to the network, while Sam had kept the hoards at bay with walls of air and ice. The room was otherwise empty, the corpse of the Naga lying in one corner. Mark tried to stand but his body gave out, Jonathan caught him and they moved to the already closing tunnel, Sam covering their retreat. It started at a steep incline allowing the two of them to move shoulder to shoulder, but when it got to the vertical shaft Jonathan told him to hang on and jumped straight up.
The journey up was not pleasant but when they crashlanded on the floor of the top level Mark wheezing a sigh of relief. Sam flew out after them, and sealed the hole, landing gracefully next to them.