Chương 60: Overwhelmed by Corruption

Aaron looked in amazement at the new rank. This was as far as he got in Spirit healing during the entire time he was an apprentice. He didn't even know it was possible to donate power like that. It probably wasn't for most people. But the power was his now. He felt it as part of his soul.

"You will take a talent called Scourge Mana under the Corruption school. It lets you corrupt and distort the mana of a caster. Infuse it into your blade and cut him when he's not suspecting it. It will render his magic useless. He is a master though, so it will only last a few moments. Strike fast and finish the job," The man whispered. Before Aaron had a chance to protest or even turn the page in his tome, he was notified of his mana being invested into the new talent.

[Corruption Skill Unlocked] Scourge Mana: Rank 1 Description: Corrupt a source of mana, making it impossible for them to cast spells for a short time. Duration depends on the skill of the caster compared to that of the victim. At rank 1, it also prevents the user from casting spells whilst it is active. Combine with other magic to infuse its properties into creatures and items. This skill levels up through mana investment, rather than passive use and training. Casting: Innate casting.

"Wait, is this what happened to my magic when I tried to break Tim's curse? Can this fundamentally change how a class works?" Aaron barely had time to protest or ask any questions before the man evaporated into a puff of smoke. Taking the smoke surrounding the area with him, he dissipated into nothingness, and Aaron came back to reality. He was lying on the floor in the pit, a few paces away from the relic. He felt like his head was crawling full of ants. The headache was unbearable.

He desperately wanted to reach for his manipulation abilities to ease the pain, but resisted the urge for the sake of not attracting corrupted creatures.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Paige asked hurriedly. Aaron's vision slowly returned to him as the pain subsided and he opened his eyes wider.

"An entity contacted me. I think it's been trying for a while, but I wasn't sure."

"What entity? A man? What did he look like?" Giddeon barked.

"He? I didn't say he." Aaron pointed out, but Giddeon just grumbled.

"Answer the damn question."

"A tall man in a dark cloak. Pale skin and long silver hair," Aaron said.

"Selezar," Giddeon muttered in a grave tone.

"What did he want?"

"He offered me a deal. Free Tim from his curse in exchange for killing you," Aaron said. Giddeon laughed.

"That old skeleton is a fool. As if he thinks a novice can kill me. Was that his plan all along? Pathetic!" For a moment, Aaron thought he was afraid of the name, but it was quickly replaced with arrogant mockery. It was absurd to him that Aaron could even come close to doing him any harm, let alone kill him. Aaron's finger itched as it brushed over the handle of his dagger, but he quickly put his hands back in his coat pocket.

Giddeon was arrogant and cruel at times, but he fought for good and was on his side, at least for now. And if he ever turned on Aaron once his usefulness had expired, he had a secret weapon to fight back.

"Um, guys. Something's wrong with Tim," Alex said from behind them. Tim was bent over double, breathing heavily, and Alex had his hand on his back trying the same tricks as before to keep him calm and grounded.

"He's losing it and my magic isn't helping." Tim looked up at his brother, resting his hands on his knees for support. His eyes were jet black with black veins circling around them.

"Run, Aaron, I can't stop it." He croaked. He sounded like he was in agony. Aaron ran, but not away. He came to his brother's side and searched with his True Sight for anything he might be able to treat. He recoiled in terror as he saw his body changing. Tim's spine was slowly elongating and stretching, making him taller. His muscles changed with it, expanding and moving to accommodate the increased size. His limbs were growing as well. The bones lengthened and rapidly increased in density and strength.

His heart pumped faster as well, and the flow of blood around his body doubled. He yelled out in pain as it happened, but his voice had changed. It was shrill and whistled at the end of each breath. Aaron took a step back. His brother, who was supposed to be the same height as him, now towered over him by another couple of feet. His fingernails were growing and shaping into giant talons, almost doubling the length of his fingers. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

He stayed slim and didn't get any broader, meaning his tunic pulled up his body, exposing his belly, which had similar dark veins running all over it.

"Kill Giddeon, free your brother," Selezar's voice whispered into Aaron's mind. His intentions were clear now. It wasn't a deal he was being offered. It was blackmail. Tim let out a terrifying roar, unlike anything a human should be able to produce. It was loud and boomed around the mine, amplified by the acoustics of the pit he was standing in. Aaron stared at his brother. His arms were so long that they draped across the floor behind him with monstrous talons on the ends. Tim stared back, but he was gone.

There was only rage and instinct behind his eyes. Tim swung with his unnaturally long arm towards them. Bone clashed with steel as Paige drew up her sabre to defend herself. But the blow was too powerful, and she was sent flying backwards. Lurching forwards like an ape using his fists as legs, Tim charged towards Aaron.

"TIM STOP!" Aaron shouted, but Tim didn't even flinch. Tim dug his hands into the floor, tearing into the rock and stopping his charge. He lifted his legs into the air at speed and swung both feet forwards, kicking Aaron in the middle of his chest. The ceiling flew over him, and he roared in pain as he hit his back on the edge of the pit. Paige charged in and stabbed her sabre towards Tim's chest, but it was easily parried with a series of ferocious swipes.

He grabbed the sabre between his talons and slammed it into the floor. The sword hit the rock so hard, Aaron thought it was going to shatter. The other hand swung towards Paige's head as she stumbled over, trying to keep hold of her sabre. With a fraction of a second to spare, she ducked, narrowly avoiding the hit. Aaron's heart raced as he watched his brother getting attacked. All he could think about was that Tim wasn't himself and they needed to help him, not fight him.

Tim roared with rage, raising his fists into the air. His proportions were monstrous and unnatural, towering at least twice as high as Paige. There was a cut on his arm where he'd parried Paige's sabre. Blood trickled out of it onto the floor, but the wound sealed up on its own, healing just like Aaron's raised creatures. Two fists slammed down over Paige, but only made contact with the rock below as she jumped backwards. The impact was thunderous and sent a shockwave of rock dust into the air.

Aaron spat out a mouthful of dust and covered his eyes. A powerful gust of wind sent Aaron rolling over to his front. Tim toppled onto his side, but used his elbow and long arms to roll back up to his feet. He crouched on all fours, like a wolf and screeched at the old man. Gideon peppered him with a series of powerful, focused blasts of wind. Tim dug his talons into the floor and lowered his head to brace the blows.

Each hit sent him backwards an inch, leaving five scrape marks per hand on the floor in a trail from where he started. The wind spirits were powerful enough to send Aaron rolling across the pit and backing him into the wall, despite him not even taking a direct hit. Tim's strength was staggering. If he could absorb these hits from Giddeon and break through rock with his talons, they couldn't afford to let him get close to anyone. One direct hit could kill.

He screeched at the old man who was still peppering him with bolts of wind. Aaron got the impression he was holding back because he didn't want to hurt Tim. They were meant to tire him out. But he had vastly underestimated his augmented strength. Tim, now at the back of the pit, grabbed a rock the size of a melon in one hand and launched it at Giddeon. He stopped firing bolts of wind and raised both hands. A wave of wind shot up from the floor to defend against the rock. But it had caught him off guard.

The rock slowed slightly as the powerful wind braced against it, but not enough. The rock hit him dead on the chest, shattering into pieces and crumbling on the ground. Giddeon must have had some form of physical enhancing magic, or shielding. The impact was so hard, it looked like it should have killed him. Instead, he lay on the floor gasping for air and clutching his chest. Whatever was controlling Tim must have been drunk with bloodlust. It charged towards Giddeon without hesitating for a second.

A dart of silver short across the room, making a whirring sound as Paige launched a knife into Tim's path.

"Don't hurt him!" Aaron shouted as the knife plunged into Tim's ankle. Aaron was feeling increasingly desperate as his allies fought more aggressively. They were all at risk of being killed, but Aaron couldn't face hurting his brother. The blow to his ankle was powerful enough to knock Tim off balance. He crashed face-first into the ground and landed at Giddeon's feet. Blood spurted out of his leg around the dagger, which was lodged into his leg.

Aaron felt relief as none of the wounds hit anything he couldn't fix with some manipulation magic, but he was terrified it would escalate. Aaron was finally free of the wind spirits as Giddeon lay on the floor in pain. He pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the sharp pain in his back.

"Tim, stop. Fight this," he said, but it was futile. Tim didn't waste a second scrambling to his feet. He looked more enraged than ever. His black eyes had a hue of red around the edges, and a vein bulged across his forehead. He was drooling out both corners of his mouth, which was now filled with sharp fangs. His tunic was torn to shreds and hanging off one shoulder, revealing a hulking muscular body, riddled with black veins. Tim shrieked out a loud yelp, like an injured dog and fell to the floor on his front.

Alex was behind him, holding a bloodied dagger, tears streaming down his face.

"he told me to kill him if he turned into a corrupted creature. He made me promise." Aaron had to act. The wound on Tim's back healed almost as fast as it was made. The skin pulled itself back together as if the knife was never there. Alex stabbed down again as Tim lay on his front, scrambling to get his footing again. But Alex was weak, and his dagger was small and blunt. Tim pressed against the floor and began to climb to his feet. Aaron grabbed his bone dagger and stormed towards Giddeon.

His knuckles were white where he gripped it so hard. The bone felt cold in his sweaty palm.

"Kill him, and this will be over," the voice whispered in his head. Aaron pushed it out and tried to ignore it. He used his new spell, Scourge Mana, and focused it into his dagger. It felt different to how he was accustomed. The mana was cold and made the dagger feel like he was holding a fistful of snow. His hand burned, and his fingers went numb. It was difficult to put his finger on the difference, but he could instantly tell this was a Journeyman-level skill.

Perhaps it was the way the mana flowed through his body more effortlessly or the amount of mana he was able to push into the dagger, but it definitely felt much stronger. The dagger hummed in his hand as it overflowed with power. It was as if a void existed around it where it drained mana from the air. Tim was back on his feet and roared at Alex. Paige was staring at him, sabre at the ready. There was no time left.